MY LIFE HISTORY Daniel Brown I have been thinking for some timex I would write my life history for my children's use. My father, Henry Bartholomew Brown, was born at Maple Grove, Quebec, Canada; X February 8, 1856. He died at Bridgeport, Nebraska on August 15, 1929. He was a graduate of an English Academy in Canada. He was a well read man, always kept a dictionary at hand. As I understand, he came to Vermont and later to Iowa, where he met Mother, Lettisha Yaunt. They were married June 2, 1879. My Mother, was born at Brown Point, Indiana, and as a small child came to Iowa with her folks in a covered wagon. Horse thieves tried to steal their team, a pair of cream colored buckskins. I slightly remember the team. Her folks were of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock to this union. In her family there were seven girls and one boy. As far as I know of my people, there were seven of us-- two girls and five boys. May, Frank, Daniel, Blanche, Willard, Glenn, and Lewis, in the order. May married John Omara about 1906. Frank married lottie in California. I was married to Emma Anders in Lexington, Nebraska May XX 28,1902. Blanche Berniece married John Rasxxsen. Willard married Minnie Young. Glenn married Alta Dyson. Lewis married Meredith Livingston. I was born in Mason City, Iowa, September 5, 1883. We came to Nebraska in 1887 in an imigrant railroad car. We unloaded near Lexington on Old Plum Creek, as it was first known. the name changed about this time. I was just a little kid, but I remember a few things. We boys had a little wooden wheeled play wagon. Dad gave it to a man named Hugh Fisher. When we left Iowax, we used to say bad things about Mr. Fisher for having our wagon. We had a dog and he would take the tongue of the wagon in his teeth and give us a ride. We went from Lexington to Prestion, close to Buzzard's Roost, about six miles east of where the town of Lomax is now located. We were not there very long. Dad sold the place. We went to a fars right on the bank of Wood River. We lived in a two-story log house which was owned by a Mr. O'Brien. I think we were on it when that blizzard of 1888 hit. I went to my first day of school from that place. I remember I was carrying my dinner pail and dumped it on the ground. We had the Horsins girls with us and Laura, a rather big girl, picked it up and saved the day. We did not stay more than one year on this farm. Dad traded corn xfx for some cattle. He got 10 cents a bushel for corn in trade. I don't know what he paid for the heifers, but they were as wild as any cattle could be. We moved about three or four miles north on a ranch that belonged to Simon Young. He ran a little store and post office-- I believe that they called it Clax. He was quite a merchant-- I got to know hime quite well later on. I remember the folks got some sugar from him, only iit was brown sugar. I don't think we had white sugar yet. Young had a new well and curbed the bottom with pine boards. He used this water in the sugar to maake it weigh more. Talk about a rotten taste in coffee or anything warm! I don't know what was done with the sugar, but things were popping when we first tasted it. The first fight I ever had was with one of his boys, named Elmer. On our road home from school, there were several of the Young kids, but we had some kids named Strong. They were good friends, they seen fair xxx play/ I think I got the best of Elmer, but his folks came up to our place about it. I don't think the folks did anything to me about it. I met Elmer when I was in the store at oconto years later. I thought of the fight we had as xx kids. I did not think any better of him at that late date. We were both short stubs, xxxk built alike. My first teacher was a Miss Lizzie Edmenston. It was a very large sod school house, In xxx school I sat with a boy name Orlo Watts. One day, the teacher passed our desks and women in those days wore bustles. As she passed Orlo he layed a book on her bustle and it rode there for a while but finally it fell off. I got punished for laughing, or maybe she thought I had done it. The bustles maade quite a xxx nice shelf over the hips and I guess the bigger they were the better for style. We left this farm for a homestead. Dad traded some horses for the relinquishment. We moved in the spring of 1890. The home stead had a sod house with two rooms, dirt floors, brush and sod roof, and gobs of bed bugs. Those kind of roofs leaked for a day after the rain quit. There were no other buildings on it. There was a dug well, but not much good. We had to haul water about three miles. Dad had a well drilled that summer, put up a mill and tower and x dug a large eistern, 8 feet deep by 12 feet wide. Wells were fairly deep, 225 feet to 350 feet. Lots of people hauled water at that time. I don't think anyone was ever turned away but about four or five barrels were all they could get into the wagon box. We never had much trouble about water. We had three neighbors that hauled from our place. Some of the people had eisterns. They would have little ditches and fill them with rain or snow water, then they would haul for house use only. We farmed some,lots of free range-- there were very few fences. We kids harded the cattle-- we xxxxxxxxx went out real early in the morning and back at night. We milked 12-14 cows during the summer and just 2 or 3 in the winter. We put them in the barn and grained them. in 1894, there was no grass at all. Our corn got up about three feet high and hot winds burned it off. One day some neighbors went up in Cherry County and put up hay. We put all the cattle and horses together and drove them up there for the winter. It was about 100 miles. We lost horses and cows as they were not climated and got bogged down in the swamps. We were not used to the bugs and the swamps, and wexx were always pulling something out all the time. Along about Cristmas, Dad heard that people were tearing down xxxx shacks to get the wood to burn. So Dad fixed the wagon and Mother and us kids went home to hold x down the fort. That made it hard for us, for there was xxx no milk or beef, which we had up there. That is the only year that we went hungry at times. They shipped in aid all over that country. The 1930 years here were a picnic to them then. We had no irrigation at that time, which helped here in the 1930's. But we pulled through somehow. Dad came down along in the spring to see how things looked. We boys would take the team and wagon in the hills where the grass had grown years before. We would pull the old dead stuff, haul it home, and put it in a little barn, about 16 feet sqaure, for feed. Every nice day that was our job. The blue joint grass in spots would grow from five to six feet tall. Lots of vacant land with no cattle on it sometimes for years. Dad took Will and went up and brought what stock was xx left back. When the grass was started and the stock had done well, about June, the bank sent a drunken son up to take the cattle on a mortgage that Dad had signed a note for. I want to mention here that when the bank came and took our cattle, we had one cow and six calves left. The man that took them, sold them at Cozad and got drunk and then lost it all at cards that night. Uncle Lawrence, Dad's brother, and Bill McCarter went to buy wheat seed the year before, 1894. As I remember, we had fair crops in 1895 and lots of big strawstacks all over the land. Dad and Othis bought a thresher, horse power outfit. It was an Auttman-Taylor. Machines were all made of wood at that time. Hand fed straw ran up a flat deck with belts on both sides and cross bars to carry the straw. We kids quite often had to stack the straw and cut bands on the bundles. We got a xxxxxx chance to eat lots of dirt. it was a big job to set the power and stake it down. The machine men would not change it unless we got a bad tail wind after they and the machine all set up to start. They would put in one or two extra tumble rods, that way when the straw stalks got too big, they would take out a rod and pull the separator up, connect it, and thrash more. I have known them to run two or three days on one horse power set. We farmed preet heavy, all walking tools. We boys could do most anything. Dad never let us run the xxxxxx binder. They were pretty touchy but we did the shocking of all the grain. In the spring of 1898, I left home to find work. Dad had bought a team and buggy from a salesman of shop tools. He bought what tools he had, a bench vise, a force feed drill, and bits. He gave the team to Frank. They were a nice team. Frank and I took the team and buggy and went to Cozad. We went up West of town and there was a worktrain popping off steam which scared the team. The team started running away and fell into a swamp and the mare carried the neck yoke. The mare broke her yoke strap, the yokes were quite pointed, and she xxx turned a somersault and ran the end of the yoke in her breast. We caught them, got re-hitched to the buggy, and went back to Cozad. When we reached Cozad, the mare was quite puffed up from the ears to the tail. We were scared because we thought it was swelling but it was just wind or air under the skin. We went to the veterinarian, where he put something on her for the cur. That mare like to tore that livery barn down. Frank then took the team and went home the next day. I stayed in town. I went West. It was on a Sunday when I went to the Owen Brothers Camp and got a job driving a slip scraper for a man who had teams that he hired out for so much per day. It was awful because it was wet and muddy. The bosses all carried a shovel so they could clean out scrapers. The mud down there was mighty sticky. I worked awhile but it was too heavy for me. I was only 15 years old at that time. To turn my slip, I had to stop and turn it back. Ordinarily you flipped it back, but xx not in gumbo mud. I was a pretty green kid, and the men were going to take me snipe hunting but a young fellow cam to work. I did not know him but did know his uncle, and he set me wise. After supper, that evening, they tossed him in a blanket, about six men, and they threw him up high. When he came down, he went right through the ground. That was the first and last time I ever saw it done. He left camp that night. I went back to Cozad. I don't know if I went at all home or not. There was a circus in town. That afternoon Frank McCarter and I started West on foot. We got to Owens Camp where I went to get my money for the work that I had done, The paymaster had gone back to North Platte, so we had 13 cents. I think they gave us something to eat at camp. We walked on in gothenburg, about five miles, and we caught a freight train to North Platte. We got in early in the morning, so I took the 13 cents and went to a little store and got some crackers. I don't know what else, but we made out until afternoon, when we got to Frank's people. I think we got a train to Hershey, where we walked about six miles to McCarters. We had some ditches to build for Bill Paxton of Omaha and some drain ditches. We first built the ditches for irrigation, then we started the drain ditches. We used an elevator grader to start with, and then finished with slips. My job on the elevator was to drive six horses on the punch cart on the rear end. I think we had about eight horses in front. Before we could get down to grade it, it was a regular guagmire. The horses got down in the mud and had to be pulled out. I think we had to give up on some at the lst end, which would be the head of the first drain ditch. Ditches built with slips from lower end were so water couldn't be too deep. We finished sometime in July, then we loaded up the whole outfit, family, and all the teams and wagons. I don't remember how many we had. I drove four horses with a load of plows and slips. We headed West through Sutherland. At Paxton, we turned Northwest and just on the east side of Ogallala, we headed for Ash Hollow. We didn't see a house clear across that table land. We saw only one or two sod walls where people had lived. That was the first time I had ever seen Black Root Grass. We arrived at Ash Hollow about three P.M., these were the first rock hills that I had ever seen. They looked pretty tough, no road, down, just a trail. We had to double rough lock the heaviest loads, that is, we used a log chain and left it just long enough so the chain would be down under thewheel. It would plow the ground. We finally got down all the outfit. We stopped at the mouth of Ash Hollow, all night, at a Mr. Taylor's. He had a blacksmith shop, so Mr. McCarter and Mr. Taylor spent the next day repairing xxx our outfit. We got an early start the next day. We passed a little building, a Post Office, just north of the River Bridge. I expect that was the fore-runnerof Lewellen. We went West that night. We escaped ina flat bottom and the mosquitos like to eat us and the horses up. I have been around them xxxx lots of times since, but I believe that was the worst ever. I don't know where we were when I first saw Chimney Rock, but it was a long time before we could see it plain. We got to where Northport now is, about noon one day and we camped and had dinner. There was one xxx sod house Southeast of us. I was told it was a family by the name of Youngs. I have talked to Jesse Young since then, and he said that their place was there at the time. Mr. McCarter left us and went to see about work on the railroad grade. He got either nine or eleven xxxxxxxx stations in all, to fill, just North of the road under the pass, about two or three miles Northwest of Northport. This was on the CB&Q Alliance to Denver route. We camped at Millard Robinson's, close by water as all the outfits watered there, about three or four outfits, took lots of water. We finished that and took two more jobs, one was a cut about one mile on the South side of Hobo Rock, and the other one was about one-half mile South of Hobo Rock. Mr. McCarter, I don't think, had ever built grades, but had done lots of ditch work. There is a lot of difference between fills and digging ditches. You can waste lots of yardage if x you don't keep your slopes rights. My first experience, on a Fresno, was on the job one-halt mile South of Hobo Rock. It was made of wood and steel, a horse killer and a man too. Thy put George Dugger and me to taking the top sod off. Sometimes I would get a load on that one I had and I couldn't dump it, so George would help me. I had a little experience one day. We would hit on one of those big roots of a Four-O'Clock, sometimes they would be three or four feet long and eight inches thick. We would dig and plow around it in the morning and then I hooked my team after dinner. To load a Fresno, you had to have a low place for the runners to go. I started up and this hump was just right, so I started to load. The team started to rush the first load, I had a good firm hand hold on the Johnson Bar and they threw me good and high. I hit right between the team, in the middle. I grabbed the harnes, hollering"Whoa", and they stopped. If they xxx had spooked, probably I would not be here now. I have had first come up, a sock side the head, and in the ribs, lots of times later. I got so I Could put a Fresno with the best of them. Any place we did our own loading except on government work, they always had a mucker and they never gave a damn how much you plowed with the Fresno, which was hard on the horses. When you fill up, there was no need to hold, just to run over several feet. When we filled our own, we wouldn't break them out. After we finished with CB&Q about November, we moved all the stock to Mrs McCarter's people, Mr. Johnson's, in the hills South of Bayard. I hauled hay and took care of the horses while Mr. McCarter went looking for work. He did some railroad work at Hartville, Wyoming; Rock and District both. We went from Bayard about December 15, 1899/ We got there just a few days before Christmas. We had to build a camp along a dug-out along a sort of creek, just South-East aroung a bend from town. The house just had canvas for a roof and it was used for the cook house and living quarters. We had a man cook, Mrs McCarter's brother. It was pretty cold in the mornings, getting things started. I was barn-dog, so it was up to me to get up and feed the horses. Also, if there was any snow on the boys beds, I had to get that all swept off, then start a fire. The men slept in the tent on the ground. A tent heats up fast and cools fast. I had to haul freight from the main camp, five maile down by where X Guernessy is now on the river bank on the West side fo the river. Olsen had a big camp and there were several hundred men and they seemed to be mostly Italian. Hartville was quite a place. It had eleven saloons and some of them had women in them. The town's population was about 200 people. That did not include railroad workers, miners and the such. I don't remember but one store and that was where we did our trade. I don't think they had any lawmen, every fellow for himself. Sun Rise Mine was just opening up in 1900. All the ore there was taken out up to April 1900. It was hauled with teams and they took it to a place called Porterville, just west of Guernesy on the West side of the river. It was dumped and later loaded with wheel barrows into cars. a small pile over each set of wheels of the ears. All I saw loaded was boxcars. That was a light load but that left a bank level with the floor of the car. We finished our contract about April 20. McCarter was broke. The rock he thought would make money, done it. He told me when he came back after the outfit, that a row of shots would blow the side of the mountain off. He did not understand the seams and cracks. They ran back in the mountian at quite a slant. We were getting drills stuck in those seams and putting a shot in a hole with a bad seam, the load or pressure from the shot would follow the seam and never leave a rock. So that mean three or four days work for several men and a xxxxxx bunch of powder. When we were finishing up the road bed, we wereputting in small pot shot to make a ditch to carry water on the upper side of the grade. One shot took a rock about 4 x 10, and sailed it over a quarter mile and it went through the roof of a house. It was a two story house but it did not go throught the top story. No one was hurt but some got a good talking to. The house belongd to the xxx blacksmith. I think his name was Belsher. I saw him in 1916 in Wheatland, Wyoming, and he said that he moved it to that town and was living in it. I left McCarters and went back to work driving wheels for John Logan on CB&Q. Where I worked at the Logan Camp, that must of been about as big a crew as I had been in. xxxxx Owens Brothers were bigger and more men. I have been in lots of big crews. Yet set down always in the same place, no talking, just ask for what you wnat. Food was close enough, so it didn't have to move far. A soldier boy came to Logans and some said he was a seserter. I don't know as to that, but he did not fit in that outfit. At breakfast, one morning, he and Whitey, the dump boss, sat just across the table from me. The soldier asked for something and the boss passed it to him and I heard him say "Here Dog" real low. When x he came out the big boss knocked the soldier down. He had him all bloddy. The boss drew back to kick him. XXXX I slept with this boss, so I was not afraid he would hurt me. Kids didn't have to worry much in a crew of men, because some one would take care of them. I went back to Guernesy, there wasn't much there at that time. There were only five saloons and they moved in from Hartville. I got a job in the livery barn working for Billie Seward. My job was driving bus to the old Fort Laramie with passengers and meet the CB&Q work train in the A.M., then pick up passengers and go back toXGXXXXX Guerasey. Sometimes I would not get in until Midnight. If I had people to talk to, I was okay, as I could stay awake, but lots of times I would go to sleep, if I had no one to talk to. If I was xxxxxx alone, I would fix my lines so they wouldn't fall down, and I worke up lots of times, and the team would be running away. I just had one team to the rig. I drove that until just a few days before the 4th of July. That ended xx an easy job, but it was long hours Then they put me to hauling bricks for the hotel. Before hauling bricks, I worked the the drayline that Seward owned. I hauled bricks just one day. Just think a kid past 16 doing that kind of work. That brick "killer" was just just south east of town, they mad them there. It was eight to ten feet high. They would take four brick at a time and toss them down at you and if you caught them that xxxx meant 16 pounds xx at once. If x you didn't them, they came just the same. Your head and shoulders didn't xxxx make much difference to the old fellpw above you. I was so stiff and sore, that was on a Saturday, then on Sunday I don't x think I could have raised my arms straight up on a bet. Mr. Seward came into the office and said "Hey, dan, Hoe come so and so hauled one more load that you have?" "Well, I said," "e got just ahead of me in the A.M. and I would have to wait till he got his load on and that ledt me behind all day." "Well", he said, "you will have to do better next week . I Told him, "No, I won't, because I already quit!" While I was at Hartville, I saw two railroad cars run away from the miners. A boxcar in the lead and the wooden gondola in the rear. John Covington was on the boxcar sitting down and holding to the brake wheel. I was working on a wagon road about 200 feet from the railroad track andhe waved as he went by and just in a few minutes people from the railroad track were coming, following the runaway cars, some in buggies, some horseback, and one handcar. We didn't know what it was all about, but about one-halt miles after he passed me, the gondola jumped the track at a small dry creek.bridge. All that was left of the gondola was xxxxx kindling. Then we heard the steam shovel whistling like mad. It was at a graven pit one mile from the river. The road bed to the mines was not blasted yet. Those cars made lote of racket ehwn they hit. The baxcar ran the last mile, they said, in 3/4 of a minute. It hit an engine at porterville, headon, and caved the front in. John Covington was on the rear of the box and it flipped him clear to the other end but not quite to the engine, but still on top. Fred Seward told,me, he was there and helped take him down. He had no broken bones, they thought, but later the doctor said one of the leg bones had a fracture. There were no x-rays then. I asked John one day how he would like to try it over again, and he said "Not for all the Money in the world!" How those cars got loose at the mine, was the engine would spot empties and move them above tto the loading chute. They would load one car and take it down the tracks aways, set the brakes, and so on till all the cars were filled or picked up by the engine. But somehow, they stopped the first car too close the the days run, so John went down to move it farther down the track. Somehow this gondola got loose and hit him as he was setting the brack on the boxcar. There was a bridge crew on the trestle working, They saw it coming slow as yet, so they put a tie on the rails to stop it. Some way the tie got lengthwise and the end flew up and hit the brakebeam and broke it. (They were wooden beams) John said he had no brakes at all. He was trying to find a place to jump off but there were too many rocks all along the road, so he rode it for five minutes. That road had a one foot fall in 100 feet. I left Guersey about July 8th and xxxxx came to Bridgeport. I got a job on a extra gang for the CB&Q Railroad. The only lasts a few days, then we were all laid off. We were sent to Alliance to be paid, We had to wait for payday except that would be july 15th. I never did get mine because the day they paid off, I was with some other men, just killing time, waiting for our pay. A Paymaster came up to us and aked if anybody wanted to work in the hayfields for $1.25 per day. I said I did, so I went ot work for them. I tought that I could pick up my money when I came in from haying. I asked for it about Christmas time, andthey told me at the office, that it was marked back to the Paymaster. I tried a few years ago to collect it, but it was still no go. I could, had I I been there the same afternoon, got my pay. I took a train and went to Denver. I leafed around til my money was all gone. I had to eat, so I took a job working on a dairy doing common labor, hauling xxx hay. That was my first experiened with alfalfa. I did not know you had to flake it off. No one helped me, so I made a poor showing. The boss wanted to know if I could drive four horses on a wagon. That was right up my alley! He xxx sent me to get a triple bed load of pea coal at the miners. That would be a wagon box 38inches hight 10 feet long. I made the trip in one day. That is wuite a few scoops of coal. I ahd to stop and onload part of it at a station, where they separate milk with steam. They seemed to be just buying the cream I xxx went up one day and helped them. I unloaded half of the coal there and took the balance to the main dairy. This was in January 1901. I got left out because I was too light for the job. The next job I got was in a livery barn. There were just four men working, just to clean horses. We has about 18 head each and I could handle that kind of xxx work. I learned that from Mr. Seward at XXX Guernsay. He was a real horseman. I stayed at the barn which was on 23rd and Lorman Street. I had what they called third string when I started and when I quit/, I had number one string. That was the fancy bunch of teams for hire. We used to call them Fancy Lady String, for people who could pay for style. Everything was bought new for any horses put on the Number One String, new blankets, harness and halters. They gave me this Number one String and all new stuff. This sis not set well with the old hands, so the old No-Good and I got into it. I whipped him but another man, that was cleaning the barn, hauled off and knocked me galley West. I quit but the bosses wanted me to stay, but I told them I was tired of them damn drunks. Mr. Pratt and Mr. Furgison owned the barn. I'll give you a sample fo the care we gave the fancy stuff. Pratt was a common sort of guy, we took orders from him. Fergison was always dressed up. I took care of his private horses. You could almost see yourself fhor she was so click. I had to polish er hooves. He had a bike buggy, rubber tires with air in them. I always thought that the way I took care of his horse was the reason I got the Number One String. I bought a ticket to Cozad and went out home to the folks. They were glad to have me at home. I stayed home until sometime in the spring. I went to work for Boyd Allen at Cozad on a form about three miles Northwest of town. I worked there til the bed bugs got so bad and I slept in the barn. I wuit and went to work for Mr. Brownfield. I got along fine there, he was a big cattle feeder. That is where I picked corn for 2 1/2 cents per bushel. It was along about this time that I met my wife. She lived at Lexington. We did not see each other very often, but we wrote letters and I rode a bicycle 14 miles to court her. Them days you did not go 30 miles too often. The folks went to Lexington and started to run a hotel. Dad made me an offer to go up on the farm, so I got a lad to help me. We batched and got the crops all in and done some fencing. We milked about 10 cows. We used a water seperator that worked okay but we had to churn the cream and sell the butter. There was no such thing as cream stations at that time. Then I got married and we moved in at the old home place. Ther eis where I came down with the measles and had to quit as I was not in shape to care for the crops I put in. December 20, 1968-I started to write a little history of xxx my life about February 24, 1965. I kind of sketched up going out in the xxxxxxxxxxxx homestead ten miles Northwest of Bridgeport. I was at Hermiston, Oregon when Father wrote me that some land would be opened for homesteading. Work was getting scarce out there, I had five acres, a house, and a barn, and I sold it all in the deal. We moved to a farm 14 miles North of Cozad. There I cam down with the measles, so I sold my interest to Father and moved down to Cozad. I worked on a steam Thrasher. That fall we moved to Lexington to keep house for Father Anders when Mother Anders went East for a visit. We picked corn and did some team work to make ends meet. We got 3 cents a bushel for shucking corn- we didn't get very rich but could live on xx.it. The first calves I bought before I got married, I picked corn by hand for 2 1/2 cents a bushels, to pay for them. I averaged about 80 bushels per day. In the springs of 1903, we rented 80 acres, mostly alfalfa. We lost the first crop, froze it off in May and even killed the leaves on the trees. We milked five cows and done fair. I sold what hay I could for four dollars per ton in the stack. Hazel our first child was born August 18, 1903. In the spring of 1904, I rented 320 acres, mostly farm land, 30 miles North east of Lexington, known as the Latin farm. Mr. W.F. Hill owned the place. We made some easy money on this farm. Each year I raised about 4000 bushels of corn. the last year, 1906, I had about 2000 bushels of wheat,1500 bushels of oats and several hundred bushels of spelts ( they look like between oats and barley), but we didn't get much for any of it. We got 25 cents for corn, 20 cents for oats, 50 cents for wheat, and 15 cents forxxxxxx spelts. I raised quite a few hogs. A wagon load would bring about $100.00. It was on this farm that Kenneth (Bud) was born, June 26, 1906. We also lost Hazel on August 19, 1906-- she was staying in Lexington with her grandparents, Anders, when she died. We had a sale in December and old out to Mr. Wenderli. I got 19cents for the corn in the field, per bushel. I think I xxxx sold about 3000 bushels. Frank, my brother, went through the earthquake in 1906 in Frisco, California. We moved to Lexington, where I bought a pool hall, building and all, from George McCarter. While I had it, I made a little better than $500.00 per month. I didn't like the business too well. A Mr. Shabe came one morning just as I was opening up and wanted to xx buy me out, xxx cash on the spot. I sold out and wentto Oconto, Nebraska. There I bought one-half interest in a General Merchandise store. Irma Fay was born here October 30, 1908. I did not xxxx like this business too well, the credit people kept jumping payment of xxx bills, so I sold out to Bill Pierce. I did not lose money nor did I make any in the store. I did nothing for a while- then I bought one half interest in a steam merry-go-round. We made money but traveled pretty fast around, so I sold that for some land in Perkins County, Nebraska. So in March of 1910, I went out to Hemiston, Oregon. I bought horses and did day labor, and later got to do some contracting-- cleaning and putting land into shape for orchards. I hid in an emigrant railroad car and got to Bridgeport in a week. I loaded on Sunday and stopped at Pendleton for Brand & Vet Inspection. Got out of there Monday night or Tuesday A.M> I let a man ship one horse in the car for one third of the friehgt bill. He rode free and I had trouble all the way, keeping him out of sight. The railroad caught hima at Bonners Ferry. I had to pay fare for him. The car was loaded to that point. I had a place he could go, cleardown through that lead to the floor of the car. They asked me if I had a man and I said "No." They got up to the door of the car and called for him to come out, and out he came. I paid for his fare and I gave him Hell! That was the last time he showed his fave, but they tried all xxxx kinds of ways to nab him, coming up from Sidney. One man held the legs of the other, so he could look in the side door, so I nailed a sack curtain ever the top of the door. That fixed that. When we were coming into Bridgeport, I made him get out and walk a mile or two. We got there about 3 P.M. and I unloaded feed and watered that stock. I took one horse and rode it out to Father's place. Had some trouble, the man would not or could not pay his share of the freight bill. so what I had paid for being caught, I put his horse out to pasture with my bill attached. I got all of it in time. The last night from Cheyeene to Sidney, they broke Train in two, two or three times. I paid $25.00 for that rough night ride. They moved everyxxxx thing in the car, and knocked all the Horses flat. We arrived in Sidney sometime early in the morning. When I xxxx work up, I was on a transfer track to get on the CB&Q to Bridgeport. I got up and fed the horses and got breakfast. I went to the depot to see when I would get out, they told me 10 P.M. that night. I said, "Are you the Agent?" He said "No, the agent will be back at 8 A.M." I went back at 8:00 and he told me the same, 10 P.M. "All right," I said, "Get me to some place I can unload the horses." He said they could not do that and I said they would unload or get me out to Bridgeport. The flies were awful bad and the car stunk. That was about the 8th of July, aso the agent told me there would be a special train in and he would get me out. I guess the train crew were mad as they came into pick it up, they knocked the horses down. This crew tried to catch the man riding with me, but no good. They were the crew that one held the legs while the partner couldlook, but I saw the mans hat, and then made a curtain and fixed that. No more trouble with the train crew. We unloaded that evening. The next day, Dad and my two brothers came back and unloaded all, and put the wagons together. I xx had two wagons, one , alarge flat bed, We took the stuff out to Dad's place. That would be about the 9th of July and this land opening was to be July 15 at 10 A.M. So I looked that man up that was to locate me. We spent one day surveying and finding corners, so we could post notice on the land that I was claiming. We got that all done. I had to have a house up, or a shack, was was quicker. The quicker that better. I built me a chack in four sections, side walls and end walls. I had these on the flat bed and all the tools to put it up. At 10 A.M. July 15, I was stopped about 200 feet from the line of the land that was tobe opened for settlement. The first man in was what counted. I set my watch the day before so I would be right. I drive my wagon about 80 rods in on Section 23. I had three men with me as witnesses of my settlement. Cost of homesteading was $14.00. At the xxx right time, we entered the land and started to put up the shack or house, and then we posted the xxxx notices of size and location. We had the house up when we saw people coming in on the land. We took the time of day as this land counted . The kind of land opening for these men was different. They did not know where the lines to the land they claimed were. They unload- ed the shack about 40 rods or more off the land they wanted. I saw them the next morning early, so I told them, they were not on their land, so they moved their shack. We had dinner and we set up housekeeping thatfrist day. It had been awful dry, but that first night, it rained hard. We liked to drown in the bed that night. I had a large tent I had used as a cook tent in the contract work in Oregon. The next day we put it up. Everything was wet, so I spread every thing all over the place to dry. I put up the bed and stove and cabinets. I had thing all okay, so I wrote Mom. She went on a train to Lexington to her Father's place. I told her to come that we were on out own land andhome. So she came to Northport, and I met her at the train. We had three children, two girls and one boy. We got out home about 3 P.M. Mom took one look, threw herself on the bed in the tent that I thought was cozy, but she like to cry her head off. About the first thing I did was to see Mr. Kelsey to drill me a well. The well was 113 feet deep. That fall I cut hat and stacked it so I could have it for the winter. I bought a milk cow and we kept it on a picket rope. We hauled water about 80 rods from Nelson Mitchell's place. It had to be pumped by hand til we could get out own well going. After we got well going, I got some lumber and made frames to build a house 16 feet by 24 feet, in 1913. There forms were filled with rocks and cement- took 16 sacks of cement When the cement set, we raised the forms filled with rocks and cement, til we gpt the height we wanted, Mom and I did this. We pumped water, I mixed the cement by hand, and it was hard work, but we made it. I hired a man to frame the roof and the rest I could do. I shingled and xxput the ceiling of what they called in those days Cornell wall board. Cement houses were cold but we got by fair that winter. I hauled beets that fall for Mr. VanDevter. We were thrashing alfalfa seed about October. I fired the engine we got down on Cans place and moved to Mr. Moes farm. We worked just a short time in the forenoon and then it started to rain. It rained all day and most of the night and the wind blew hard. some said it wet four feet in the haystacks. Then it turned cold, and then froze the beets in the silo piles, so we started to haul to dump, we had to use the pick to dig the beets out of the silo. In those days, the beet pile was on the farm in long piles, 5 to 7 feet highx, then covered with dirt. We would scoop in as far as we could reach them, andthen cave the roof in. We then would take picks and knock all the chunks in pieces so we could get the beets loaded. It was hard work. We would be wet with sweat. Then we would get on the load and drive 5 miles to the dump. I had it better then most, as I had a big xx fur coat and I put it on. If you had common clothes, you had to walk to keep arm. I think I got $2.25 per day and keep. We finished hauling about January 1st. This was in the fall of 1913. Along about spring, I worked for Mr. Robinson. He has court duty and I worked just a short time. In the fall of 1913, Mither and I bought 15 head of heifer calves. as I remember, Dad kept htem the first winter. Next year I put a wind mill and fenced some land, and we ran them on my place. I built a xxx cement tank 10 feet vy 14 feet and I used this as long as we lived on the ranch. Sold out in 1944. In the spring of 1914, I broke sod, about 25 acres, and put it to seed corn. It xx didn't ddo very good as it was dry. I bid on a ditch job and got it, but couldn't make bond, so Frank McCarter said he would take over and hire me and my team on Fresno. So I got in quite a bit of time, close to $7.00 a day. This kind of work was right up my alley. I could do anything that was possidble with a Fresno. We had about two miles of this ditch that we used elevator grader on top and had to finish bottom with scrapers or Fresnos. Bottom was three feet so we had to what we called " cross fire" as Fresno if five feet. Frank put all the teams onto bottom up. I was way up the ditch. Frank had about three teams down on the shallow work. I kept my eye on them The horses would want to jump the ditch. I could see that they were in trouble. Frank stood it about one hour, then came up where I was at and he daid"How are you doing?" I told him just fine. Frank said,"Dan, can you finish this?" I told him "yesxx", give me time okay, and I'll let the rest go. You see my team had worked for three years in Oregon before I came here. They did all kinds of work. My brother, Will, and I ahd some cuts eight feet deep and four feet bottom and it had to pass government inspection. So I wasn't worried about a three foot cut and three foot bottom. I would like to mention Frank and I grew up together so Frank knew if I said I could do a job, that was okay with him. Sometime that summer Frank bought a big Capstan Wet Ditcher. Lots of farms in the valley had lakes and seep and I got to help run that in the fall of 1914. We had three Capstans to pull the ditcher, each about 200 H.P. I am not sure of the year I went to McGrew and worked for awhile on the cement bridge across the river. I got sick and came home. I guess I had smallpox. I had just a few scabs in my hair on my head. But some of the men in camp had plenty of trouble. I saw the boss carpenter, he was marked bad, This Mullen xxxxxx Bridge Contractor, then, later that winter, they came to Bridgeport to put the bridgeacross the river. I worked in the job here. It was the one and only time I was fired from a job. That was because I found a way to bend stell easy, in place of using our henads to bend it. I got a piece of pipe about eight inches long. I was bending about three to one as by xxxx xxxx xxxx hand. The boss told me to throw it away, and I said"No". He came and grabbed the pipe and threw it away. At noon I got it. They told me nothing nor I didN't ask. The next summer, I broke some more sod on my East 60 and I planted corn, melons and turnips. The largest I ever saw, the kids took them to the fair. I think they got first prize. I don't believe I did much work, only on the ranch. As I remember that fall I drilled wheat around the shocked corn. It took four horses to pull the single plow in the black root. I am just a little bit hazy on just what I did in 1914 or 1915. In the spring of 1916, I went up to X McCarters and went to Mr. Henry Randall to run elevated grader on company road at South Bayard. I lived at McCalvin's and took care of four horses he had on the grader. I finished the job and brought the grader to Bayard and started to grade past where the schools are now in Bayard. We didn't use horses, They had a steam engine and John Austin to run it. I killed several days on the work but they kept the engine going. I got fed up with the set-up. One evening McCarter came with Mr. Randall. Frank wanted me to come run his outfit. I told him" No". You got one boss and I know all those men and I won't take a job from them. Frank said "I can fix that." They were xx doing some work in alkali sod so he went down and plowed four or five rounds withthe plow. Then they were to scrape out and they were using Fresnos. They are five feet to the plowing would be at least five feet. The man worked a short time. They seemed to feel Frank was up to some trick. They quit. Frank came by next and said "Well, I got no foreman now." So we spent about two or three says hammering out a deal. I knew Frank well. When I would run the crew, the men didin't like to take orders from someone that had been one of them, and if they could get you in a tight spot, that's okay. Sometimes Frank would pop off before the men and that won't go. They have to have the respect for you and yourxxxxx orders. I told Frank of Xe Xad a gripe or an order, to give it to me, not to do it in front of the men. He did just that and I had awful good luck. In 1916, Frank turned the crew over to me, men and all. He thought I should can every man and hire them again but I said no. I knew most of them well, so I started out cutting ditch west of Bayard in North canyon. Things went fail til about the last week. They would go to town and get a few drinks in them and come into camp and wake men up. One night, they grabbed the barn man by the nose. He was old and kind of crabby. Saturday xx evening we were sitting out on the ground at camp and one said "Lets go to town." The barn man complained to me about pulling his nose. I told the men, I don't care if you go to town but hwne you come back to camp, don't wake the camp by loud talk. They came in quite and nice. They thanked me, but just a day or so two men called for their time. I gave it to them. They got liquored up and was coming out and clean the camp. I camped at Lute Roberts farm. Lute found out about it and he told them Brown is out there doing his job. If youcome there, Brown will send you back feet first and I would have. They never came out, but I was in town in a reshappedntaurant one night and a bunch of men blocked the door as I started to leave and they were going to take me. I called Frank and told him to xxxx come over with the car. He came and we got out of that okay and it was okay iwth me. Well, I just finished several miles of ditch then I loaded out of Bayard for Wheatland, Wyoming. First day we got Guernsey we unloaded the horses and feed. We stayed at a hotel that night. When we get loaded we couldnot find my two cars, cook house and machinery. They took them to Wendover so I had no place for the men to ride. I could ride in the caboose but only one. They picked the cats for Wendover and I get to Wheat land, then I unloaded stick. The boys came later on a passenger train. They was on Sunday. We got unloaded and set ditcher. then made a short pull. We had two miles of ditch and one 45 degrees angle. I got a letter from Frank and he said " Well, Dan, you might at least first let me know how things are there." I was too bupy to write much, So I MaMe it short. I said " All okay andwill finish Saturday night." and we did. Eighty rods was counted a fir days job and I kept four four-up teams and changed every hour The boys stood reasy. When I gave the sign to changed, we sent on high. Frank got my letter and he said " I figured you were crazy to think you could cut one mile a day." He got up where we had finished about 5:30 P.M. We were pulling the ditcher out just as he got there. Ted Relung, one of the boys, first saw him and said " Here comes Frank." He had to leave his car and walk, and he was feeling good. I said " How can you tell, Ted?" "The way he walks." Well, he was more than happy. No one to our knowledge had cut that much ditch I worked on ten per cent of the gross receipts. Weget $600.00 per mile, I cut about 27 miles of ditch that season. I had a crew of boys. This ditch was for the Swan Land Cattle Company, the head office was in Scotland. One of them came out on the job. He had plenty of Scott brogue All of them belonged to the Swan outfit. I was keeping Frank on the jump to keep me going. He did his own contracting. I had nothing to do with it. I cut some for Judge Carry, a big shet in Wyoming I just finished him, when something happened. I took two of the boys and went to a Grange blow-out. out at the schoolhouse. The others stayed in camp. I had a hunch one of the men was a troublemaker, but not sure enough to can him. The next morning after breakfast, one of them, I think it was the one I suspected, came and asked for his times I said "Okay." I made out his time and handed it to him. The others stood just behind him. I said "Anybody else?" Two more said Make mine out. I did. They had went to call a taxi to pick them up, and they came to the cook house. The office was in the back. They talked to the cook and the cook wa quite the old man. He told the boys what all he told me. I listened to the talk. It was all a lie, for there had not been one word spoken between us. I should not have said a word, but it was so absurd. I said "Oh, Hell, Charley." He came running to my door. He had a meat cleaver in his hand and bellering like a mad bull. I grabbed a gun I had. I headed outside and that man followed me swining that cleaver. Finally he cooled down and he got his time too. We were all through on the job and all the stuff was ready for the road move to the next job. I rode with them to town in the taxi. I told Frank what had happened and he said the two boys were pests. They were not but I don't think they were too thick with the older men. They were with me from the start to finish. I finished the job in Wyoming, got a new cook, a woman. Her husband was the barn man I shipped to Mitchell, Nebraska to cut ditch Northwest of town. We had lots of trouble. Horses bogging down in the mud on this job. We moved to Minatare, Nebraska, to cut ditch Northeast of tow. My cook and her manquit here. I moved to Lovet form and cut ditch in the Southeast, toward Bayard, and finished at Bridge, Northside of where I started in the strping. I moved all to Bayard. McCarter lived there. This was getting close to Christmas. I settled up without any trouble. I had close to $3,000xxxxxx coming. I came home and Decemmber 24th bought a new Ford car $450.00 for a Christmas present for all. We had a time, it was awful cold, as there was no xxxx antifreeze at that time. I got busy to get feed up for t he stock. Hauled it about 12 miles. Millard Robinson was the closest. I leased my place to Milligen. No crop but thitles galore. I stayed home 1917, and farmed, broke more sod. Cecil was born December 6, 1917. We had awful nice weather up to December 6th. We had a blizzard about the 8th and couldn't get out, so I had to cook and take care of Cecil. Mom engineered the job. We got along fine. Mrs Moate came up after the storm. I had to bake bread. I had good luck. Mom helped by telling me how much of this and that. I had told Mrs Moats I would like yer to bake for me at dinner. She said, "Dan, who baked for you?" I said, "I did." She said "Darn you, don't ever ask me to bake for you." I think in 1917, Dad and I put up Mr. Robinson's hay on Shares. We had good luck all season. I don't recall ever hauling any hay getting rained on This gave us plenty of hay for stock. We miled about 10 cows and separated the milk and sold the cream. After we got going, we milked the year around. In the barn I put in stanchions and gutter, so it was clean. I think that fall I bought 20 acres of corn ona Noris sale. It was good hard corn. They sold itso much per acre. I think when I got all through, 12 or 13 cents per bushel of corn. We had to do our own picking. We had close to 8 miles to go. I took my dinner and picked about 35 or 40 bushel per day. It made a long cool ride home after sweating all day. You got a good seat if you got any corn. xx I used to pick in the East part of the state and 80 to 90 bushels per day, but you got loads like that and it took daylight to dusk and got 2 1/2 to 3 cents per bushel. When I farmed in Custer County, I used to pay 1/2 cents more that going wage. xxxx I had two boys that pucked for me every year. We ususall had 3000 to 4500 bushles of corn. It was some job to haul loose hay so far. I used four horses strung out, flat bed rack, no sides or ends. I used four stakes in each side, I would load and weave around those stakes til the load would be 10 to 12 feet wide and would almost sweep the road. I expect close to two ton. It took me close to four hours to load by myself. In 1918, Dad, My brothers, Frank and Glenn, all farmed together. We had the land that Beyers Airport in on. Now all the land East of the tracks that Consumers Power District has now. Also the est side of the old road under the pass or the old Millard Robinson Farm. We raised corn, beans, potatoes and oats. We had hay on the old Dobson place, mostly cat tails. Now I have drive sweeps, mowed all over it. We sold lots of potatoes on the land just South of the everpass Northwest of Northport. We farmed all of that land clear to the U.P. tracks. We had oats in some of it that made 75 bushels or more to the acre We raised corn on the olf Rxxnson place that made close to 50 bushels per acre. I bought a Case Thrashing machine. We did out own thrashing. I tried it on beans but it broke two many times, so I gave up. I sold my share of beans to Dad as he had some man with a bean machine to thrash them. In 1919, I built 18 feet by 28 feet onto the house. I made a concrete mixer out of a barrel. Kenneth was big enough to scoop sand and run the mixer. Mom and I put it in the forms. It took quite a lot of puddling to get cement around the rocks we put in the forms. It took hardly any cement, just enough to tie the rocks together. I got Frank Pooler to help me frame the roof. I put on sheeting and did the shingling. I think I had pooler hand doors and do the finishing. This was a better house. I hung rubber roide paper on the walls and studded it, lathed it, and plastered. I hired the plaster put on, by Mr. Wolfe. This gave us a nice house, four rooms and a pantry. I bought 6 by 8 feet pickle tank and put water in the house, I think I was home most of the year. I built a cement barn for Henry Slattery, a neighbor, Mr Bassett and I framed roof and all it was 24 x 32. We put a hip or gable roof on it. We got a ggod job ttoo. Some these roof would sag. This stayed straight to the last. About this time I moved the xxx house from just East of Northport to Slatterys place whiere I built the barn. I moved a fouse from Broadwater for Smith and Spangle to their farm south of the Catron place, about one mile. About this time, I bought a building in Bridgeport 24x48. It had been used to make cement blocks. It stood on the bank of the river just west of Standard Oil Station. I took it down in sections, moved it and I got a lot of railroad ties. I built a side hill basement and put this building up for a hay mow. This gave me a good low barn. I put shanchions on one side and horse stalls on the other side, and xxx two box stalls for the xx calves or sick animals, very handy. We were going aling fine now. (Note: Our old homestead had 640 acres. Dad bought the bassett place which gave him about 1320 acres and he got about $7,000 for it when he sold and went to live in Northport in the Spring of 1945. He bought 3 lots for $1600 where they now live.) MCCarter came one day about this time and wanted me to run the ditcher for him down by Curtis, Nebraska. I took the job on the same terms as in 1916. The bank of Bayard xxxx went broke. He had sold the ditcher to Argel Waren, I suppose on time. He had to pretent to take it back to save himself. I didn't know the setup til I got down to Curtis. First of all, he had a bookkeeper and I didn't know what else he was supposed to be. He and I locked horns right off. This didn't fit with the 1916 way of doing xxxxsthings. No one but Frank was over me. This fellows name was Charles. He went ot Frand and said "Frank, Dan goes or I go." Frank said" Alright, you go." xxxxxxThis relieved things som. I got all the ditch cut, then they took my outfit and put on slips to cut grade three on high spots We could only cut 3 1/2 feet, so we had to make cuts. My deal with Frank was, I would be working for nothing. I was Capstan ditch per rod, so one morning I blew up and quit this time. We had too many bosses. I never did get a complete settlement. They got things xx so Warren took over the outfit. I don't think he ever made a dollar in the business. I Came home. I had leased the land, the farm part, so I took a job running a big thrasher, for Carl Wagoner and thrashed alfalfa way up in the winter. I got along fine all fall. About thins time I bought a well machine from Ralph Golden at Lisco. I hired his brother to run the machine to Swartwoods. I had quite a lot of bad luck. I tried blasting in Brule clay to make a bigger chamber for water. These wells are whet is known as seep wells. I finally got a fair well at 279 feet. I had one that I blasted that was better but I was afraid to dig in it on account of I came awful close to losing a drill, so I started a new hole. I was done with the idea of blasting to make a bigger chamer for water. One well man give me six months to be out the xxx well business, that wawas in 1921 or 1922. I drilled my last well in 1944. We had lots of funny deals come up. I just give in, let them take over George Hall owns it now. Thad three wells drilled about 300 feet each. The Government xx did not have much water to speak of, in any of them. Then later, I bid on three wells for the ditch rider camps. Mr. Perry, the man in charge, wanted to know if I would care if they tried one more well ofthe bid. I asked where and he said at the old camp. I got water at about 70 feet but it ran down to about 140 feet. It was just a fair well. Mr O'Neal bought the camp and land and he watered about 300 O- 400 shhep, no trouble. Later they rented the place out and the man had trouble keeping 3 or 4 cows. This tenent moved. A new one came in. Mr O'Neal had left the country and he put it in a gaents hands to look after it. He called me and said the well was no good. I told the amount of stock watered without trouble. The camp at one time served several houses there . But they sold the, People broke the pipe in the plumbing, maybe a small leak, so the supply tank was always empty unless the well ran. I told the agent that I had offered to drill a well and guaranteed it. If they would let me pick the place, double price or nothing. He wanted to konw if I would still do it. I siad I I had quit but my boy was running the drill but I thought he would. I saw Bud and hewasn't anxious as he just had a double or nothing as lost. He said you will pick the place? I said "Yes." I picked a place about 100 feet from the barn, and about 125 feet deep and water galore. We put about a 600 gallon tank in. An electric pump never phased it. I never had any luck drilling a xxxxxx xxxxxxxwitched well. All the tools I got with the machine are still on the job. I never stuck any tools in a well myself. Bud stuck the drill twice, one for me and oncefor himself. It took us three days to lay it on the top ground. Both times were about 100 feet down. I always said I wanted to quit with all the tools on the ground. I drilled lots of wells in the valley and put up lots of mills and towers. I never dropped a tower or drill in all my years in the business. Never got a man hurt or never dropped a string pipe. I had one man hold the dog open and let it go through that was when I was new at the business. I learned a lesson right then, to never let anyone sit down and take care of the dog. Of Course, I don't do things that way anymore. I never allowed any nonsense or gamble when putting or letting down pipe, nor did I want any time, more than two men as helpers. I put them in the proper place, to do a certain job, and saw that they stayed there. I xxxxx never hesitated to cuss them out and never allowed xx one of those xxxx xxx wise guys around. I pulled two wells with no one to help me but women, Mrs xxxxxx Vassos and Mrs Lanka. One was 200 feet and the other was about 80 feet of casing. I have pulled a few times deeper wells by myself, but that makes lots of walking. I put up mills and towers all by myself because of a misunderstanding on time, so no one came when I was ready to raise, so I put it up xxxxx. alone Along about 1924, I bought the Anderson farm. It would come under irrigation. I was wanting to raise my own hay and get rid of hauling feed so far. I put soso lots of work on it. I ran a Fresno for many days over a period of years. I gave Bud the south 80 and Cecil the north 80. Bud still has his But Cecil sold his for a small price. I am going to go back of saying, I never got hurt or hurt anyone. In 1945 the County Fair, start with no water at the Pavillion, so they came over to see me, and wanted me to see what was srong with the pump. It had no water at that depth, only 13 feet, so I pulled it and was getting ready to drive a new well, when I got knocked off the ladder and broke my left leg, one sliver of bone just missed the ball socket of my hip. That was Sept. 4, 1945 and I was laid up till January 1st. I could get around on crutches before that. I didn't do any well work til spring. To start, I just bossed the job. They used to say a man with a stud horse and thrashing machine would go broke. I went them one better. I bought a jackadd and a well drill. Very few men could make money in the well business. I went to a sale one day and two well men werer talking, and one said no man could make money in the business. Then one turned to me and said "Brown,can you make any money in well work?" I said, "Yes, I make money at it or I would quit." There are a few rules always followed, no liquor or any horseplay on the job or carelessness, and I might add if you gave a man a story about his job, tell him the truth. I always aimed to put my soul/ into my work. Tell a man the truth and he will think more of you in teh long run. When hard times hit in the 1930's we had quite a few irons on the fire. Some made a little money and some didn't. We built up a grocery store credit with eggs and butter close to $100.00 One hundred dollars more then we traded out. I always said, Give a Man 10 good cows, some hog, chickens and you couldn't starve him out. The trouble with most men out onr way is they borrowed and was in debt. I think I was the only man in our neighborhood that came out with more then I went in with. The Melvin's, Mitchells, Bassetts, Slatterys, Middleswarts, and Kings are some of the others, they all hit the rocks. I nver borrowe a dime that was not paid back. I am now 85 years old and never had a mortgage foreclosed in my life. I still have the first note I ever signed. I was only 18 at the time. You can't accomplish all these things without a good helper and Mrs D. J. was tops. All the produce money Mom spent to suit herself. That was her lookout and believe me, she could do just that. My brother, Lewis, used to say Mom's pastry looked like a store. Sometime in the 1930's there was an awful crop of sweet clover. / I cut and threshed about 80 acres for W. O. King. About xx 15 acres on Bill Ackerman farm and some for O. J. Dean. They got their share at machine in the rough but I put mine through a Burr Grinder that knocked the hulls off and slo scarified the seed. I sold to a seed house in Denver about $800 of clean seed. I had a power binder and my own thrashing machine. I tried to get 80 acres for Mike Haggerty, but he was going to have Fred Raddish combine his. They made one round, got as I remember 30 bushels. They fooled around for sometime, then Mike came and wanted me to take over. I xxx went, took one look, and said "No." Too much seed had fallen off. I have an idea that he lost$1000. You got to cut clover just right for ripeness We cut with a power binder and left it in the windrow, no shocking, lined the racks with canvas as when we thrashed. I paid for the thrasher and binder and had a nice profit left. I don't want anyone to think I bought the thrasher and binder new. xxx John Beldon had a sale. I think it was a foreclosure sale, because the Case salesman was there and checked the sale of what I bought. I think I bought some horses at the sale beside the machinery, which was not worn out, but badly used. I ran the thrasher one fall. I averaged $30.00 a day with one small breakdown. I broke a feeder shaft and I went ot Sidney, got the shaft, came back and put it in and thrashed 800 bushel of oats for O'Neal. Ernie Bateman was my engineer. We used an Allis Chalmer engine, the nicest power I ever used, no steam eninge had it beat. School Teachers Dad went to: 1. Lizzie Edmundson 2. Annie Reyder 3. Mrs. Smith 4. Elija Duval 5. Mrs Bert TXX Tottom 6. Horace Gardner 7. Bert Attechson 8. Frank Gardner 9. Mrs McKimey, his last teacher