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REMEMBER WHEN STORIES FROM THE LOUP COUNTY |
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REMEMBERING A SOD HOUSE I remember when I lived in a sod house. My father, Ed Locker, my mother, three brothers, two sisters and I moved to one in Loup County in 1932. The house doesn't stand anymore, but it was located northeast of Taylor, what at that time was the Bridges place. The farm is now owned by Stanley Peteresen, about one mile north of where Terrell Sanders lives now, or one mile east of where William Sitz lives. The house had two rooms which were quite large. The house was approximately 28 feet long by 18 feet wide. One half of the house was the bedroom with the remaining half the kitchen, dining room, and living room all in one. The bedroom had four beds, three dressers, and a wardrobe in it. We hung curtains for partitions in there. The kitchen wood cookstove was used for both cooking and heating. This latter part was no problem as the house was warm in the winter and cool in summer. The house was plastered on the outside with cement and the inside walls were also plastered. It had a wood shingled roof. Inside there was no ceiling...it opened right into the wood rafters. We used kerosene lamps and lanterns for light and carried our water for house use from the stock well. This well was out by the barn..quite a distance away, about one town block! We owned a car, but it was mostly used for necessary trips to Taylor for groceries and supplies. My oldest brother and sister and I would ride horseback to the neighbors for dances and other entertainment. At home entertainment consisted of playing cards, checkers, and reading. We also exchanged reading materials with friends and neighbors. The family owned some milch cows. We separated the milk, and sold the cream to buy our groceries. We also had a few laying chickens, extra eggs were sold to help out. 1932 was a very dry year. Feed and hay for the cattle and horses were very scarce. Horses were used for the small patches of farming and haying that were done. Compared to anyone's way of life now, it was quite a rugged existence. But then it was endured and accepted as standard of the times. transcribed by: Melody Beery |
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CENTENNIAL STORY Some of Howard and Amy Helmkamp's memories include: Dust storms of the 1930's Selling hogs for two cents a pound. Old hogs which only sold for 1 1/2 cents per pound were canned. Cattle sold for 18 dollars a head. They raised 40 turkeys, dressed them then sold them to Depend-On Store at Sargent. From there they were shipped to Chicago. Howard played ball with the Almeria team every Saturday afternoon at Brewster; some Sunday games were held also. Some of the other men playing were Yocum, Drake and Nelson. Howard and Amy remember trading at Strong's Store in Almeria. Amy, as a child, went to town and had to help push the Model T up a hill near Garska's. A chicken brooder made in the ground under the coop continually smoked up, making the chickens black. They used an incubator to hatch about 200 chicks. Howard received his first suit at age 16; until this time he wore knee pants. Howard recalled his 31 years as custodian at Taylor Schools with wife Amy as helper. His father, Bill, was custodian for 20 years at Taylor School. Amy went trading or to programs at Almeria in a sled on occasion. They remember bricks were used to keep feet warm while riding. transcribed by: Melody Beery |
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The Winter of 48 and 49 Our four year old son and his dog had fun sliding on the snow but his dad did not think it was fun scooping a path to the chicken house each time that more snow came. The path became deeper and deeper until it was like an open tunnel. It was not until the last of January that the resuce operations began with bull dozers, graders and weasels that were sent out to pen roads and make roads to the hay stacks. It was like music to our ears when we head the big caterpillar dozer roaring two or three miles away. As it opened the road, it stopped at each farm house to clear a road for the cattle and our case to also clear a road so we could get out of the yard. Collier's Magazine edited a long story about the winter entitled "The Great White Death" written by Quentin Reynolds. It described the disasters of the storm in South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming as well as in Nebraska. It was an experience that a lot of us will not forget and hope we won't see another storm like it. transcribed by: Melody Beery |
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Modes of Travel All farmers owned several teams of horses, the draft horses for work in the fields. Also, most of them owned a driving team. The best team of my memory that my dad, John Dunbar, owned was a black team named Nig and Coley. They traveled at a good speed when hitched to the top buggy. Strange but true-they would trot fast going up a hill and walked going down. Then there were some teams that were not so gentle. One day my sister and I were going to accompany our dad to town. We girls came to the buggy wearing new sunbonnets that our mother had made for us. But as soon as the horses saw us, they began jumping and acting frightened. Dad told us we would have to discard the bonnets as they would cause a run away. So off came the pretty pink and blue bonnets, as the sight of a run away team would be a frightful sight. Next came the Model T Touring cars. They could sail along at a good speed until they hit a sandy spot or a high hill. Then it was necessary for manpower to get into action to push and help it over the hill. These cars had a top that could be put up in case of rain, but they ran much better with the top down. transcribed by: Melody Beery |
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LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE The first Nunda School house had homemade seats and desks. the homesteaders were young people with families, so to was a good sized school. ther were literaires, a dilogue usually two or three minutes long plnned by two or three families. Humerous or serious plays were copied for easier learning and others might be drafted to help. Some singing was done by individuals, sometimes debates were held, usually during election year, and a literary paper of community gossip put into joke form was read. Debates were dropped in later years as being to controversial. Spelldowns were held, and always a Christmas program, Santa Claus, and a wild plum tree decorated with crepe paper, strings of popcorn and cranberries with the children and parents all receiving sacks of candy and nuts. Pupils all receiving sacks of candy and nuts. Pupils all received gifts from Santa, which were on the tree. The lights on the tree were pretty waxed candles. A free finger lunch was enjoyed after the program. As a daughter of a homesteader, I can say "we always had plenty of good food" and most were home grown. In the field we planted potatoes, soup beans, field turnips, sweet corn, pumpkins and squash. Mother (Mary Mattley) dried lots of sweet corn and made hominy with the white corn. In the garden was cabbage for sauerkraut, cucumbers to salt down for pickles and tomatoes to can. Mother had no glass jars in the early 1900's so she used one gallon and one half gallon syrup pails which had contained our pancake syrup. To seal the pails she melted sealing wax in a pan and pured wax around the lid. We always had cows, chickens, and eggs. Pork was put in wooden barrels and dry salted; other meat was salted or canned. Ham shoulders were smoked , salted and wrapped in muslin and painted with a flour and water paste and hung on the north side of the house, high as possible and beef was done the same way. Lots of wild plums, chokecherries, sand cherries, gooseberries and currants grew in the sand hills or in the canyons and they made good jelly and jam; sometimes we grew tired of the wild plum jelly. Cow chips were picked up by the members of the family for fuel for cooking and heating. In the more severe weather some coal was used. The men and boys did most of the work and the school boys took sacks into the pasture during the noon hours to gather. They were picked up in wagons with sideboards on , brought home and put on the north side of the building to do through the winter, piled like teppes and covered with boards. It might sound like it was all work and no play for these people in their new homes, but there was lots of visiting and card playing among the adults. As I remember they played a game called "High Fire". The children made molasses taffy (candy) or popped corn. The mothers and fathers also had their spell downs and literaries the same as the children and they were held in the local country school house. The neighborhood barn dances were so much fun for both young and old. The ladies took cake or sandwiches along with coffee for our midnight lunch, then there was more dancing. The music was furnished by a friend or neighbor who played the fiddle, piano or organ. Who would want better music? To sort of pay our faithful muscians a hat was passed...for a free will offering. We were all happy and had good times together. Money was scarce but somehow we usually had, or were able to get the necessary items. (Above told to Marilyn Mattley by Elva Mattley Griffith, October 1982. The Mattley family were early settlers of Garfield and Loup Counties). transcribed by: Melody Beery |
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