REMEMBER WHEN STORIES
FROM THE LOUP COUNTY CENTENNIAL
BOOK
REMEMBERING A SOD HOUSE BY:
Helen Locker McFadden
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
CENTENNIAL
STORY by: Howard and Amy Helmkamp
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
The Winter of 48 and 49 by
Hazel Dunbar Stapleman
It
began snowing on November 18 and continued off
and on for a period of over two months, with
much wind and drifiting. All roads were
drifted shut so each family was quite
isolated. We were able to get some oat
straw hauled in for the cows with a team and
rig. It was impossible for our mail
carrier to make the route from Milburn, but
after three or four weeks he (Glen Freeman)
hired an airplane to fly over and he threw the
roll of mail out at each house. He became
quite adept at making the roll of mail land
right at the door of the porch. When it
landed, the outside of the daily was split
somewhat but we didn't mind that as we were so
glad to get some reading material.
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
Modes of Travel by Hazel
Dunbar
Stapleman
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 into 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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