I left
Minetto, New York, partly on the advise of David Page who's summer home
bordered our property. I asked him for a job in the Columbia Mills and
his answer was he didn't have any at that time but he had understood that
I was going west. I explained that I, and a few other lads, had talked
about it but they had all backed out and I didn't think much of starting
out on my own. Mr. Page said he thought it would be a good thing for any
young man to do, get out and see the west. He said "When you get back,
possibly you can get a better view of things back here."
I reached St.
Louis one December day 1903, the World's Fair was going to start there
in 1904 and I thought I might find work there. I knew one man in St. Louis,
Seth Bascomb of Minetto and I looked him up the next day. Seth was a clerk
in the office of the Washburn Railroad and he introduced me to the Superintendant
of Transportation, David I. Forsyth, who was born and raised in Oswego,
New York, which is the reason, I am inclined to say, he gave me a job in
his office. He had a brother in the Water Dept. in Oswego and every trip
I made east during the 3 years I worked there, I had to look up his relatives
for him. He was a wonderful man, one of the best men for a boss that I
have ever known and he had lived long enough in the west so that he had
that true western spirit. He would take young fellows on in his office,
train them, then help them get work.
Among the thousands
of people out there, I found out what it really means to be homesick. I
spent many a day later on the plains of the northwest where there was no
neighbors within many miles and at times you didn't see anyone for days
or weeks at a time, but I was never as much alone, it seemed to me, as
I was those first few months in St. Louis.
We had a neighbor
family in New York who always seemed like relatives to me, one of the boys,
Bruce Dutton, had gone up into North Dakota while I was in St. Louis. He
went to work for a lady formerly from Fulton, New York, Anna Petrie, she
and her sister had gone to North Dakota about 20 years prior, one age 18
the other 20. They each filed on 160 acres of land just outside of Linton.
They bought a team and other necessities and built a small house. To borrow
a wagon they had to travel two miles in either direction to
reach a neighbor. Eventually one
of them taught school and finally they got enough money together to start
a store. One of them ran the store while the other freighted goods from
the railroad about 75 miles away. As it would take several days to make
the trip over the rough roads with horses, she had to hobble or picket
her horses then sleep under the wagon at night.
At that time there
were many Indians in that country, in fact there were plenty 20 years later
when I went there. But the girls had nerve and initiative and they prospered.
They never married, they had an agreement that if one should die the other
should have the property they worked so hard for. At the time Bruce reached
there, one had died and Anna, the survivor, owned about 3000 acres of land
and rented about 2000 more to run her stock on. She had 300 head of cattle
and about 100 horses, headed by a thoroughbred she had shipped in from
England at a cost of $2000, and with her hired help, she was running the
ranch alone.
Bruce had been
writing me all the time after he reached North Dakota that he would like
to file a homestead and wanted to know if I didn't want to file with him.
I had taken a night course in stenography and was working at this in the
office, and as Mr. Forsythe had been so nice in everything, I really hated
to quit. I finally decided to go up with Bruce and Mr. Forsythe secured
me a pass from St. Louis into the Dakotas.
The Milwaukee Railroad
at that time had only built into the edge of South Dakota, but had surveyed
on thru to the coast. We decided that by crossing the Missouri River we
could file on land near where the railroad would probably go thru. We bought
a team from the Miss Petrie Ranch, on time, and then bought a wagon, harness
and outfit for the trip. We filed at Seim, South Dakota on the Grand River,
our land was 12 miles north, each of us on 160 acres. The land was good,
but we were about 85 miles from the nearest
railroad in Glen Ullin, North Dakota.
We had neighbors that taught us how to build sod houses, they were cool
in the summer and warm in the winter and were very popular in those days.
Within a few months
after we established our residence, the Milwaukee started building their
line thru toward the west. They built the town of Lemmon, South Dakota
at the nearest possible point to us, about 1 1/2 miles north. During the
time we were waiting for the railroad, we saw hardly anyone. We could look
out across our place just about any day and see antelope and coyotes running
over them. Sometimes the antelope would come up near the buildings as if
to find out what we were doing in there. And one trip we made with our
team a couple wolves followed us for several miles.
During our
wait for the railroad, we decided to take our saddle horses and go into
Montana to see if we could buy some work horses, as we had decided that
if the railroad did come there would be a lot of freight to haul and we
would need horses. It was on that trip that I discovered the true western
hospitality of which the poets wrote. We had nothing to eat with us and
no beds. The ranches were few and far between but at every place we struck,
we were treated as though we were old friends. We were invited in, help
us take care of our horses, get us meals, fix us a bed and try to
keep us a day or two longer. There were no exceptions and they all acted
as though they were truly sorry to see us go. If it was evening and we
came to a ranch house and no one was home, we would take care of our horses
and go in the house, which were never locked, look up their cupboards and
get our own supper. There was always plenty to eat, bacon, ham, eggs and
other things with which to get a
good meal for someone who had been riding all day. If they came home while
you were there, it was always the same, glad to see us. We would stay all
night and sleep in their beds and that was what all travelers were expected
to do. There was just one thing they expected of anyone, that was to wash
your own dishes. Of course Bruce and I were always glad to do that.
We didn't buy
any horses on that trip, but we did make one horse trade. We stayed one
night at the O-X Ranch. They were all away except for one man that worked
there. The pony I was riding wasn't worth much, it was a small sorrel mare
about 800 pounds, lazy and not to young. The lad on the ranch said he had
a nice big gelding about 1300 pounds that we might trade for. He brought
him in from the pasture and that horse looked like a million dollars, he
was so much bigger and better looking than ours that it seemed strange
to me that he would want to trade. He said his horse was dependable and
his teeth showed that he wasn't much over 7 or 8 years old, so we traded.
I rode him home and though he acted different than I thought he should
at the time, we figured we had made a good trade. I'll tell you more about
him later.
There was
a section about 50 miles north of Lemmon on our route thru to Glen Ullin,
from which we freighted, where all of the residents were German-Russian.
In many instances they were unable to talk any English, and as I was told
English was not taught in their schools, although I have always doubted
that statement. But I do know driving thru that section, which was about
20 miles, it was often impossible to make yourself
understood. I have found it necessary
to stay several nights with some of those German-Russian ranchers and they
were always courteous and in most cases were prosperous, at times more
than the majority of Americans in that country. I am inclined to believe
one reason was the women were of husky build and helped on the ranches
just as much as the men, and in some cases, more than the men.
I remember one
custom that they had that I thought was peculiar. They would cut up their
pork in small square chunks and serve it on the table uncooked. They never
served milk until they had boiled it. It always seemed to me they had become
a bit confused in which should have been cooked, but as they were neighborly
in every way, we didn't criticize.
The homesteaders
started coming into the country in hordes. It was a common sight to stand
along the main trail and see 8 or 10 Parrie schooners, as covered wagons
were commonly known, coming down the trail at one time. They literally
came by the hundreds and filed on everything, rough land, rocky land, anything
they could find. They would have chickens, cows, pigs, furniture and sometimes
lumber, they were always loaded with
something. It was quite a sight
and in many cases it ended in tragedy, for when the droughts came, they
were forced to leave without anything. I'll never forget one family that
came in at that time, they had lost one team of horses so they hitched
up the cow and she was pulling her share of the load that she could. Those
people had no cover on their wagon and when night came, they had to unload
their stuff, which wasn't so much, turn the wagon box upside down and sleep
under the box.
Bruce and I freighted
from Glen Ullin, North Dakota at this time, 85 miles one way. Roads were
rough, streams has to be forded and sometimes we would be a week on a trip,
sometimes less but not much. We had a four horse team and a three horse
team. Within a few weeks of when Lemmon was first started there were two
grocery stores and seven saloons, they all did a big business, especially
the saloons. I have seen the fellows from
the grading crews come in on pay
night and throw their full pay on the bar, about $20 a week that included
board and rooms, and tell the crowd in the bar to drink it up, and another
would do the same thing until the bartender would ring up all the money.
They used horse drawn grading machines that would have 20 horses on one
machine and they would buy new horses every few days and keep shifting
them and putting on new ones. A man was hired as a horse buyer by the contractor
and he was suppose to know all about
horses.
At this time I
would like to revert back to the nice big roan horse that we traded for
out in Montana. We weren't using him as one of the seven that we
were using to haul freight with, he had principals, we discovered before
we had him to long, so we kept him for company for the other horses. When
we first hitched him up he would work with another horse and haul a small
load a short distance, but it wasn't long before he decided that was to
much work for him and it wasn't before long that he decided it was to much
bother to work at all, and from that time on he wouldn't even pull a light
wagon. In fact, he finally was so that he would balk in the saddle, so
we just let him run loose and as we had plenty of pasture, he just stuck
around and got fat. He would follow us and the other horses all over, even
to the railroad and back, he was somewhat of a nuisance, as he would often
get into the other horses grain and steal it from them. He was gentle and
kind, was bigger and
nicer looking than any horse we
had, but as I said before, he wouldn't work.
We started for
Glen Ullin one morning and in going from our place to the railroad, we
drove thru Lemmon and got our orders for freight for the loads. As the
horses were standing in the street, the big roan came up behind the wagon
and was eating the hay that we carried for our horses. We saw Mr. Blair,
the horse buyer, looking over our horses and when we came out he asked
if we would sell any of them. We said yes sir, we'll sell anything and
he told us to put a price on them. We told him he could take as many as
he
wanted for $100 each. He said those
don't look so good that have the harnesses on, but this one behind looks
good to me.
The ones in the
harness were working every day and they didn't look so good because they
were thin, but I explained they were really good horses and that I wasn't
sure he would like the one behind. He asked why, wasn't his wind all right?
I said yes, his wind was all right I think, but he's a funny disposition
and really we've grown rather fond of him. He said he thought so and told
me that he knew horses and he'd hitch him up and if his wind was all right
then we'd get our $100. He couldn't find anything to hitch him to in
town, so he led him up and down
the street. Lead good was the only thing he would do well and he had never
worked enough to hurt his wind in any way, so he came back and gave us
two $50 bills. Before he gave us the money we told him again that we weren't
sure he'd like that horse and one of those in in harness we would guarantee.
His only answer was "Young fellow, I buy horses every day, I ought to know
something about horses."
When we came back
from that trip I asked a lad I knew what had happened to the roan.
He said that they took him down at the camp, but when they hitched him
in with the other horses he would lay down and they would have to pull
him too. So they roached his mane and brushed him all up and took him down
the line and traded him to another buyer. When I delivered some goods in
at one of the saloons, Mr. Blair the buyer was in there. He said
"Say boys, come on up and have a drink, I'm buying." He never mentioned
the horse.
The Dakota blizzards
were at one time known all over the United States. There seems to be no
place where the snow blows as fine, and there is something about the way
the wind gets a sweep across those plains of Dakota, it just seems to take
your breath. I have seen it so you couldn't see your hand in front
of you right in the middle of the day. I have known ranchers to have ropes
they would string from their house to the barn so they wouldn't get lost
going back and forth. One of our neighbors got lost just that way one day
when we were visiting his house. When he was sure he was lost he just stood
still and called until we heard him and then we hollered back to him so
he could get his direction. A school teacher and her 12 year old
sister stayed at the school house one Friday night, as the storm was pretty
bad. When Saturday came she evidently thought they could make it and they
started out for a neighbors house a little over a mile away. They found
them both froze to death after the storm.
We helped a rancher
named Walt Mowry and lived about three miles from our place. When he went
to town, Bruce and I would take turns doing his chores. I had been over
doing the chores one night in December, I had finished the chores about
4:00 and had started walking home. It was cloudy and hazy but I had not
thought especially about a storm, but before I got a third of the distance
home, it started snowing that fine snow and the wind started to blow. I
was following a dim trail that we had between our places and before I had
gone more than a few minutes it was storming so hard I lost all trace of
that trail. I wasn't worried then, as I had been over the road so many
times I was sure I could tell the lay of the ground the right way home.
The country was slightly rolling and by the time I had gone a bit further,
those small knolls looked like hills thru the mist and snow. I knew just
how long it would take to get to the cabin, Bruce was there and I knew
he
would have a light, but by that
time you couldn't have seen a light four feet away. I realized I had been
walking enough to have been home, but I could see nothing, I stood still
and shouted. The wind by that time was blowing so hard that I knew the
sound wouldn't carry very far and I realized I was lost.
I knew the distance
couldn't be far from the house, but which way it was and how far, I didn't
know. I can confess that is a peculiar sensation. I remember thinking,
well you're to old and have seen enough of these blizzards to get panicky.
So I decided the thing to do was to start walking in a circle and each
time around try and take a larger circle, and that if I walked long and
far enough, I would undoubtedly find the house. I tried walking then I
would stop and shout, but soon realized that I was just getting tired and
out of breath doing that, and I was beginning to think that possibly in
order to keep from freezing I would have to walk all night, but the next
morning the storm could still be raging. I also knew that had been tried
and that after hours of it, one was inclined to sit down and rest a little,
and that was flowers. In fact as I look back, I know a person can do a
lot of thinking in a couple hours.
I believe I knew
I was lost around 5:00, at 8:00 I walked up against our window, with a
light in it. I am sure I was two feet from it when I saw it. Of course
it was an oil lamp, and probably not to bright, but folks, that was the
nicest looking light I have ever had the privilege of seeing. Bruce said
that when it started storming he had just taken it for granted that I had
stayed all night at the Mowry ranch.
I sold the land
in Dakota for $1600, $10 per acre. Due to the location of our land, it
was no doubt worth considerably more, but I needed the money. Bruce and
I moved to Roundup, Montana, it was a young town and business was good.
Bruce and I built the Montana House, one of the first hotels in the town.
Later we went to Melstone, a town that was a division point on the railroad
and looked good for future business, and there we built another hotel.
Bruce ran the place at Melstone and I ran the one at Roundup.
Neither Bruce
nor I was married, but I had met a girl from Kansas and we were engaged.
I found there was still some homestead land not to far from Roundup and
when my future wife came, she filed on 160 acres four miles from town.
We went to Lewistown, Montana to be married in February 1909. We built
a set of buildings on her homestead, lived on it a few years and a few
years later sold 60 of those acres for $5681. During the time we were holding
down that land, we were running the Montana House, I clerked in the store,
one of the largest in town, and the Mrs. was driving back and forth
with a pair of twins, which were
born before the three years was up that was necessary to prove up on her
land to get title to it. We both worked very hard and did very well during
those years. By the time we sold the ranch and the Montana House, business
in town was doing fine, there were three banks, two newspapers, several
coal mines had opened up near the city and everyone was looking for Roundup
to become another Chicago.
After selling
the hotel, I started the City Feed Store, handling flour, food, seeds,
hay, etc. I ran it for two years and had a chance to sell it for a profit.
We then started the Roundup Fruit Store which ran for another two years
before I sold it for a profit. Bruce Dutton was not in with me with these
last two businesses as he had started a ranch up in another county.
The Great Northern
Railway had started a new line from Lewistown to Richey, Montana. They
had already built a tunnel out of Lewistown at the cost of about a million
dollars and were also building from the Richey end. We drove up into what
was then Dawson County and picked out a place in a valley known as Big
Dry Creek. We bought 800 acres right where the Great Northern was going
thru. During the time we were on the ranch, The Diamond Bar Ell, as we
called it, as that was our brand, we had about 50
horses and 50 head of cattle.
The Jack Dempsey
- Tommy Gibbons fight was scheduled at Shelby, Montana and at the time
I had a Reo Speed wagon, it was really a truck that had seats on the side
so you could use them for passengers or hauling, and I thought there might
be some hauling business in Shelby. The idea wasn't so bad because I did
haul both freight and passengers. I hauled the Blackfeet Indians from their
camps near the city around to different things, and really became pretty
well acquainted with them. I recall they had a dance one night at one of
the dance halls in town and I trucked down several loads of them down.
As you probably know their dance is not like ours and is more of a jump
around, pow wow proposition. Anyhow, they were having a big time when some
of their women saw me in the crowd watching them, they came right out after
me and I had to get into the ring and dance with them. As I was perfectly
sober, it was pretty hard for me to dance Indian dances, in fact I never
had danced much anyhow. Some of the fellows from Roundup that I knew, never
did quit trying to kid me about that.
When the day of
the fight came, they didn't seem to know whether the fight would be held
or not, Dempsey had been guaranteed a certain amount of money to fight
and they weren't able raise that amount. Some of the trains that had been
chartered in the east were cancelled and everything was pretty well mixed
up, but they decided to hold the fight anyway. I was hauling passengers
from the town out to the arena, which was circular built
and held about 1000 people. There
was a big crowd there, but no where near enough to fill that building.
The arena was surrounded by a 6' or 7' barb wire fence, inside there were
mounted police riding back and forth to keep anyone from sneaking in. I
was sitting outside in the truck when I noticed something unusual happening.
There had been a crowd of several hundred people outside the barb wire
fence, trying to dicker with ticket sellers to let them in at a reduced
price. I have forgotten just what the cheapest seats were, but they ran
up to $50 each, depending on where you sat. The crowd hadn't been able
to get in as cheap as they would have liked and down the line, a fellow
started cutting the wire with a pair of pliers. One of the mounted police
shouted at him, and as soon as all the police were over on that side of
the fence, others with pliers started cutting the fence, right in
front of me, and before you knew it the crowd was going up the gangway
without paying anything. I thought I may as well go in too, so I went along
and down to a $33 seat. It was just the beginning of the third round, but
we saw practically all of it, and it was a good fight. The way that crowd
went was never printed in the papers.
Shortly after
that I was appointed Deputy Assessor for Dawson County, I had a section
of 10 country miles to cover to the North and South and 30 miles East and
West. Every place in that area had to be seen and assessed. There were
but a few roads and in the majority of instances I would have to go right
across the country without a road at all. I started with a saddle horse,
but soon found that it was often difficult to arrive at a ranch at
night that would have an extra bed.
Practically every place would feed me but finding a bed became a problem.
So then I drove a light buggy with a small team of horses and carried my
own bed and assessing equipment. I never carried anything to eat, as I
said I seldom had trouble in that respect. One night however, I was in
a desolate part of my territory where the ranches were long distances apart.
I arrived a short time before dark, and by the time I had completed my
task, it was dark. The family was of foreign descent, and the man informed
me that the reason he could never get ahead was that all of his eight children
were girls. He said they weren't any good for farm work. As I had been
working all day and he had advised me the next ranch was several miles
away, and with dim light to follow, I inquired if it would be possible
for me to get supper and breakfast, that I had my own bed which I could
roll out under the stars. He said "I'm sorry mister, but we
haven't hardly anything to eat."
That was bad. I told him I would pay him if he would take a saddle horse
and show me the way to the next ranch. This he agreed to do. While he was
getting the horse ready, one of the little girls came out and hollered,
"Daddy, ma says to tell the man he can stay, she just found an egg." Well,
as I said before, I'd been driving over rough country all day, and felt
that one egg would be just a beginning for me, so I
succeeded in getting the man to
show me the trail to the next ranch.
In getting our
assessment list of the property, it was in most instances necessary to
get the ranchers and property owners to tell us what they owned, and to
take their word to a large extent on telling the truth. In the majority
of cases, when they found I was the assessor, their stock was not worth
much, and they didn't have but a few. One instance I recall, the lady of
the house insisted that it wouldn't be necessary for me to wait for the
husband, she knew all about everything
they had. So I drew it up and she signed it. Horses and other animals were
listed in different groups and the values depended on size, age and other
conditions. I asked the lady about their horses and she said "We haven't
only two, but they are nice ones." I asked how large the horses were and
she said they were great big ones. I thought that possibly her idea of
big horses and mine might differ, but I did class them among the good grades.
She told me that I probably would meet her husband coming home from another
ranch. I did meet him and after that I don't think I took another woman's
word about the kind of horses they had. Their horses might have weighed
1000 pounds each, but I doubt it. Probably their outfit looked good to
her, but if she hadn't kept a copy of my list, I would have dropped about
half the price that she had placed on her team, wagon and harness.
Most people were
inclined to be like another case. The owner came out, shook my hand, invited
me to dinner, gave me his listing and as I remember it, he said he had
3000 sheep, 8 horses, 2 sheep wagons, 2 other wagons and 10 head of cattle
among other small items. My listings went in to the head office every week.
Before I had finished my territory, I had a request from the State, there
had been an affidavit forwarded from a section of my territory, where in
reality the rancher had owned 9000 sheep, over 50
horses, 60 head of cattle and 14
wagons. There was a request for me to find out if that report was true
and take all the time that was necessary to report to them. I did as they
suggested and found that the report was correct.
During the time
we were on our ranch, the twins would ride three miles to school with the
small team of horses that we had. One evening while riding two on a horse
bareback, Lorance fell off, but threw his arms around the horses neck as
he fell and due to that, fell immediately in front of the horse and was
stepped on in the center of his stomach. I believe he was about seven at
the time. We saw that he was quite badly hurt and I headed
for the doctor, about 15 miles from
our ranch.
This was suppose
to be an especially healthy part of the country and due to that fact we
had this doctor that had come out here for health reasons, he was a good
doctor. He did the doctoring for a territory larger than the State of New
Jersey. He came over at once, by that time Lorance was running a rather
severe fever. The doctor had us carry the couch that he was on out in the
open air and said he would sit with him and if his fever started going
higher, we must have a car ready to take him to the nearest hospital at
Miles City, 100 miles southeast of us. The doctor sat with that boy's hand
in his all night, until the next day when his fever started to go down,
eventually he fully recovered.
The Mrs. and I
drove to Billings to get help to put up the crop of hay and corn we had
grown to winter our stock. I believe we were gone about two or three
days, but when we got back the crops were taken care of, by the elements.
We had a hailstorm the day before we arrived and the fields were as free
from crops as though they had been cleared with a broom. There was nothing
left. We shipped cattle to the Chicago market and brought a car load of
horses back to New York State.
From then on things
did start happening. The World War started. Offices that had been rented
in our county by the Great Northern Railway were given up. Railroad work
stopped at all points. Then the droughts came and there were no crops of
any consequence for several years. We left some of our horses at the ranch
and rented it to a sheep man and went into Roundup and into the Real Estate
business. At about that time the banks started failing. Checks of considerable
consequence that were given us from a bank in Ingomar, Montana, and that
had been deposited in the bank at Sumatra, came back after some weeks advising
us that due to the Ingomar Bank closing, the checks were no good.
We had some money
in a Roundup bank and some more coming from New York on some sales I had
made when back there when taking the horses there, but that money came
in to the Roundup bank just before that bank closed. We lost in three banks
and when the banks stopped failing, 17 or 18 I believe, there was just
one small bank left in a small town down the line that hadn't failed. Every
other bank in the county was gone. The bank failures brought about a chaotic
condition. People bought what they had to have to
eat, had very little to wear and
practically every business was at a standstill. No matter what you tried
to do, you lost. We did a fair business under the existing conditions,
in real estate, but there wasn't much of real estate moving.
We had a friend
that had sold his ranch for $3800 some time before the banks closed. Two
banks in town had closed and his money was in the third one, he went down
to the bank to draw it out. The cashier told the bank President that
he had just presented his check for all his savings, it was all that he
and his wife had worked for, for a number of years. The President called
him into his office and told him that they were all right, and that if
the depositors would just give them a chance, they wouldn't have to close.
He
talked him into leaving his money,
two days afterward, the bank closed it's doors.
Two of those banks
I believe eventually paid the depositors a very small percentage of what
they had on deposit and the third bank paid nothing. Our friend nearly
lost his mind over that loss. Eventually people forgot or tried to forget
their losses, banks got started again.
There came a time
during those years when the homesteaders were coming in so fast that the
west nearly lost that hospitality that had always been such a strong characteristic.
There was a time when it became necessary to lock your houses, as some
that came in from the east evidently never knew what true hospitality and
friendship signified and violated every known courtesy shown them to the
extent of stealing things they found in
unlocked homes. To some who enjoyed
those privileges, it seems almost unbelievable.
After a time,
the railroad sent out crews to look over their surveys, but those surveys
and stakes were never used. The railroad was never built and the town they
had promised to build on our land, of course, never materialized. Our foundations
of everything that looked so secure crumbled, it seemed to me just like
a house of cards. Everything seemed so good, that eventualities that came
to pass were almost unbelievable. I have asked
bankers and financiers at various
times just where my figuring went wrong. It seems as though with results
like that somewhere along the line that I must have been all wrong in my
calculations. I have never found one yet that told me, after hearing just
how everything worked out, where I had made any radical mistakes. It was
just one of those things, that could happen and did happen.
I have heard it
said that after you live west for a number of years, that there is something
that you can't explain that makes you want to go back. A great many people
have seen adversities in that country. Droughts, bank failures, etc. but
never-the-less, we all have that something, that seems to attract us to
that country.
He was born
March 14, 1882 Granby, New York - Died August 6, 1956 Massena, New York
Contributed by Julie
Robst, a descendant. |