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Dundy County Nebraska Genealogy Trails |
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Job Hunting in the Gay Nineties as told by Homer
Bowers
Printed
in the Benkelman, NE Post, July 1955(Down Thru The Years, written by Pat Ketler) Homer Bowers Tells of Jobs and Job Hunting In the Gay Nineties  In the
spring of 1954 I had a little interview with Homer Bowers concerning
the early days of Dundy and Cheyenne counties. On that particular day,
Homer was especially reminiscent because it marked the seventieth year
that he had been a resident of the two counties. Homer sort of relived
those days in the story he told me and then, for some reason, our
little interview was interrupted and we agreed to continue it later,
and then days and weeks and months passed and it seemed that the time
was never exactly ripe for getting together again, but remembering that
Homer's story would interest a lot of my readers, I finally arranged
for a second meeting and got the rest of the story which I am bringing
to you in this installment. And as far as possible, I am bringing it to
you in exactly Homer’s own words, as follows:"We came to Dundy county from Iowa in 1884 and my father filed on a homestead in the Walsh and Schrader neighborhoods. Jerry Walsh later owned our land and he also bought the homestead owned by Gus Benjamin which was an adjoining quarter. “My first job was with Jim Nesbitt in 1889. Herded cattle for him that summer and winter. Got caught out in a terrific blizzard that winter but succeeded in rounding cattle into corral. But when I reached the house, trousers were frozen to the saddle and boots to the stirrups. Mrs. Pringle, George and Jennie’s mother, thawed out my feet and legs, which were almost frozen, in a tub of snow. She was indeed a wonderful woman–more like a mother to us youngsters. My father left the farm in 1890 when was 14. I hired out to L. R. Heaton of Big Timber in 1891-63 years ago April 1st. Stayed with the Heaton family until 1894. Two families from McCook, one by the name of Goodro and the other by the name of Furr, came through Benkelman one day headed west. Goodro at one time operated a brick yard in Benkelman and Furr was a moulder. They made the brick that was used in the Walker store, court house, school house and the then Baptist church and other building in Benkelman. "They invited me to go with them and I accepted the invitation. They had five moving wagons. We left on September 10 for Denver. We had cows, dogs, cats and chickens. Camped first night at Haigler and the second night at Wray. Then we headed south from Wray to the Arickaree, then south on the Divide and then west. Cactus so thick on Divide that a horse couldn't lay down. Came to a big lagoon and camped. Little water in lagoon. Bunch of antelope came down to the lagoon to drink. One fellow with a big rifle took a shot at them and missed. No fresh meat for supper. Traveled two days and came to a ranch where Mr. Goodro sold his cows. There were eight or nine head of them and he got $8 to $10 per head. Here we saw a sign on the pasture fence: 'Take all the horses you want but be sure and shut the gate so that no more will get in.' "It required about ten days to get to Denver and we drove thru to a place called 'White City' and camped for a week. Beautiful trees and grass and here I really got my fill of mushrooms. Stayed one week and then headed for Boulder. Got four miles north of Denver and stopped for water. Man came out and asked, 'anybody want to work?' I told him I wanted to work and grabbed the flour sack containing my clothes out of the wagon. And then he said 'young man, can you dig post holes?' and I said, 'I sure can.' He then gave me a pick, shovel and crowbar and showed me where to dig the holes. Started digging in rocks and magnesia. Wasn't down over ten inches at end of an hour. Then I looked around, saw no one, threw tools in tool house, grabbed sack, jumped fence and down the road I went. Caught wagons before they got to Boulder and camped on Boulder Creek beside a big dairy. The owner had an empty house into which we moved. I helped him milk a few days and during the daylight hours went up town looking for work. Went to a livery barn. Helped hitch and unhitch teams for a day or two. Then the boss said, 'Homer, would you like a job ?"I said, 'sure I would.' He said, 'I'll give you $12 per month, board and bed.' I worked for this man for two weeks. His name was Bill Carnahan. He seemed pleased at the way I hitched and unhitched his spirited horses and took care of his rubber-tired buggy. Rubber-tired buggies were just coming into use and there were few of them. I was amused at the way he looked when I unhitched his horse before he got out of the buggy. One day a stranger showed up and seemed to take a lot of interest in me. He said to my boss, 'you don't really need him around here.' The old man replied, 'this is a pretty good kid and I want him on the ranch.' Then the old Man says to me, 'Homer, do you want to work on the ranch?' I says, 'its up to you—I was born and raised on a ranch."Well, Homer,' he says, 'you can go out—it's a wonderful place.' So I went out to the ranch and when I got up the next morning the boss says, 'Homer, go hay the hogs.' I didn't quite get what he meant by haying the hogs and was looking at him and he continued, 'you'll find the fork stuck out there.' I says, 'this is the first time that I ever hayed hogs.' After breakfast, he says, "Homer, you are going to peddle apples all Winter to Erie, LaFayette, Longmont and Boulder.' "He made the first round with me. My first trip was to Erie, a coal town. It was mostly Dagoes and big, ferocious dogs. My next trip was to Longmont. I had delivered my apples there and was driving up the street when I saw a fellow leaning against the corner post of a store and I thought I knew him. I hitched my team and went back to where he was standing and it turned out to be none other than George Williams of St. Francis. I said to George, 'what are you doing here?' He says, `I can't find nothing to do—no work —and I haven't had anything to eat for three meals and I am awfully hungry.' I says, 'come up to the wagon—I am peddling apples and have a few left.' We sat in the wagon and talked while he ate apples—plenty of them. I said, 'George, are you broke?' and he replied, 'Homer, I haven't got enough money to buy a post card with which to write home.’ I had two dollars of my own money and I gave it to George. In those days two dollars went quite a ways considering you could buy a good meal or a good bed for 25 cents each. “I worked on the Carnahan ranch during the summer and winter of 1895 and then well into the next spring. Then I hired out to a transfer company in Boulder where I worked until in September of the next fall. Then I went to Longmont shortly thereafter on foot looking for a job. I had walked about three miles when I noticed a team in the field where they were filling silos to I went over where a fellow was loading. And who was it but Charlie Ellison! 'Why,' he said, 'I thought you were working on a ranch near Boulder — what are you doing here?' I told him I was looking for work. We loaded the wagon and drove it into the silo where I met his boss whose name was Peugh, and Charlie said, ‘Mr. Peugh, here is a friend of mine from the same town, and he wants a job.' The boss said, 'get in that silo and tramp the ensilage down.' I was in there about twenty minutes when the boss came to the door and told me to come out. I was wet as a drowned rat with water dripping from all over me when I came out. Then he asked if I could drive a team and when I told him I could he told me 'to get on that wagon, get a load of fodder and bring it in,' which I did and it was noon when I got back. "Finishing the silo job, both Charlie and I returned to Boulder, this time going in Charlie's covered wagon. Charlie got some kind of work and stayed for a while and then came back to his Indian Creek homestead, while I got a job working for a transfer company and my work was mostly helping haul rock and materials for one of the state university buildings. Then in 1896 I returned to Big Timber and went to work for J. D. Elliott. Went to Rexford, Kansas, during the 1897 harvest and stayed there threshing with Bill Pegg's outfit from Bird City. Amby Smith was the engineer and Damer Smith was the feeder. Others on the threshing crew were Gabe Wilkens and Davy Moores. I have forgotten the names of the two pitchers. "After the threshing job was finished, I hired out to Ike Jones of Cheyenne Wells, Colo., to drive cattle from Fort Dodge to Oberlin, Kans. Left Oberlin with team and mess wagon and five riders. About four days in reaching Fort Dodge where Jones brought back 1,000 two-year-old steers. Left Fort Dodge grazing cattle back and it took two days to get to the Smokey River. When we reached the Smokey we were told by a rancher to be careful as there was a mountain lion in that neighborhood. There happened to be a V-shaped fence where we bedded the cattle down for the night. Two men night-herded and about 11 o’clock this mountain lion stampeded the bunch. As I had been up two nights, I had gone to camp, left my horse saddled and settled down for a night's rest but when these cattle stampeded, they divided into two different bunches. I got on my horse. It was dark and raining. I got to one bunch. They were still running madly. I got in the lead and they finally slowed down to a trot and then into a walk. That was when I sang every song I had ever heard to quiet them down. Finally they stopped and I circle-rode around them until they bedded down. I then got off my horse and also laid down. It didn't seem long until daylight. Then I got up and looked around and about 100 rods north of where I stopped this bunch was one of the deepest and steepest canyons I had ever seen. Had these cattle run 100 yards farther they would no doubt have run me into this canyon because I was in the lead. A ranch house was down in the valley and I rode down and asked for breakfast. I asked the rancher how far it was to the ford of the Smokey. He says, 'you're twelve miles.' I was the only rider with this bunch. The other four riders rounded up the other bunch. I had about 500 head and got to the Smokey just as the sun was going down. The other bunch came in about an hour later. Their bunch had gotten mixed up with another bunch of cattle and it was a lucky thing there were four riders as they had to cut their cattle out. "We moved our bunch two miles north of the Smokey and camped. The boss says, 'Homer, you and another one of the boys take these cattle and night-herd them. I will send two riders to relieve you at twelve o'clock and then you come back into camp for the rest of the night.' The fellow he gave me to help was a great smoker. We had our cattle all bedded down nicely and everything was quiet so I had laid down with my yellow slicker over me when the other fellow lit his pipe with one of those old-fashioned red-headed popping matches. The cattle all jumped to their feet and started to stampede in direct line where I had laid down. Not having time to get on my feet, I threw my feet in the air draped in the yellow slicker which separated the bunch with but one exception, and this steer made an effort to jump over me and would have cleared entirely had not one of his back feet contacted one of my suspended feet as he kicked viciously. When they got by I got up and got on my horse and started to follow them. Rode about a mile and then had to get off my horse. My ankle had swelled so badly that I couldn't get my boot off and it pained me terribly. "The cattle had run about two miles when the other boy got them stopped. We drove the cattle to Quinter, Kansas, and I never saw such fine buffalo grass as we found there. I stayed with the boys there for about a week and we close-herded these cattle, both to rest and give them the advantage of this wonderful grass. Then I left the gang at Quinter and came home. "In 1898 I leased the Heater ranch, married Alfretta Maud, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. R. Heaton, and we lived on the ranch until 1908 when she passed away. Four children were born to us, they being Ella, Gladys, Greta and Willard. Gladys died at the same time her mother passed away, their deaths being caused by typhoid fever. "In 1911 I married Zetta A., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Cowden and we lived on the Heaton ranch until 1931. Four children were born to us, namely, Lee, Blanche, Byron and Raymond. "There were seven children in the original Bowers family when we came here from Iowa in 1884 as homesteaders of whom five are still living, they being Mrs. Ada Hansen, Mrs. Thomas Speake, Mrs. Maud Stalcup and Mrs. Eva Weatherby and myself. All of my sisters, except one, live in Centerville, Iowa, Mrs. Weatherby being the exception since her home is in Des Moines. "I was born at Freeport, Illinois, on August 8th, 1875, and most of those years have been spent in Cheyenne and Dundy counties and I still believe that there are few places that offer better opportunity for health, wealth and climate than do these prosperous communities of a section of prosperous states." Printed in the Benkelman, NE Post, January 1961 Homer Scott Bowers Homer S. Bowers, one of the early pioneers of this community, passed away at the home of his son, Lee Bowers, in Benkelman on Sunday morning after a long illness. He was 86 years of age. Funeral services were held at the Laughlin Funeral Home on Tuesday morning with the Rev. Fred Mansfield officiating. Mrs. Anna Benge was the organist and Mrs. LaNeta Anderson, the soloist. Casket bearers were Tom Ballard, Harley Howard, E. H. Ahlemeyer, August Warning, Ellsworth Wilson and T. E. Maranville. Honorary bearers were Clyde Ketler, Jess Grigsby, L. J. Daum, Purl Newman, A. C. Hoff, Clarence Oakley, Ted Herring and Glen Main. Interment was in the Benkelman cemetery. Mr. Bowers witnessed the great changes in the development of the west, having come to Dundy county as a child of nine years in 1884. He knew the life of the cowboy on the plains, traveled by covered wagon and lived in the homestead era when the valiant pioneers were converting the plains country into a new area of opportunity for a growing America. He is survived by his wife, Zetta, and six children: Mrs. Ella Wilson, Mrs. Greta Wilkens, Lee and Raymond Bowers, Mrs. Blanche Ketler, all of Benkelman, and Willard Bowers of Fort Morgan, Colorado. Sisters are Mrs. Eva Weatherly and Mrs. Maude Stalcup of Des Moines, Iowa. There are 13 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and one great, great grandchild. Homer Scott Bowers was born August 8, 1875, to Orange E. and Phoebe Anne Bowers at Freeport, Illinois. The family moved to Dundy County, Nebraska, in 1884. He attended school in the Marshall School District northwest of Benkelman. In 1898 he leased the Heaton ranch which was located in Cheyenne County, Kansas. He was married to Alfretta Heaton in 1898. To this union four children were born: Ella, Greeta, Willard and Gladys. Gladys and her mother passed away at the same time in 1908. These deaths were caused by typhoid fever. On June 7, 1911, he was married to Zetta A. Cowden. To this union four children were born, Lee, Blanche, Byron and Raymond. Byron Bowers passed away in 1960. In 1931, the family left the farm and moved to Benkelman. He was active in various business activities after moving to town. As a boy and young man he worked for farmers and ranchers. He made a trip by covered wagon to Denver. He helped with some of the last big cattle round-ups in Kansas and Nebraska. He was a great lover of the out-of-doors and was especially interested in fishing. His friends were numbered by everyone who knew him. One of his favorite poems was "The House By The Side Of The Road." He was preceded in death by two children, Gladys and Byron, and by his first wife, Alfretta. His parents, two brothers and two sisters also preceded him in death. Mr. Bowers was a quiet man with a warmth of human understanding and kindness which have endeared him to his neighbors for his entire life. He was a kind father, a just and upright citizen. His memory will long endure as one of those hardy pioneers who have watched the West change from buffalo grounds to a rich and abundant country, and who has carried, without complaint, his share of hardship and privation. This community will miss Homer Bowers. House by the Side of the Roadby Sam Walter Foss There are hermit souls that live withdrawn Let me live in a house by the side of the road I see from my house by the side of the road I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead, Let me live in my house by the side of the road, public domain |
House by the Side of the Road |
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