Trees finally started leafing here
along the Missouri. (The picture was taken last fall.) What was it, three weeks ago we had one heck of
a snowfall. Now I've got to get the lawnmowers serviced. We may or
may not need them, it's dry. The snow melt didn't do much. As we
drove along I-94 on Saturday, I couldn't help but notice how large
the fields have gotten. Of course, that happened so as to
accommodate the large machines that cover the ground quicker so more
land can be farmed so that larger machines can be bought... Endless
cycle.
If timely rains don't sprout the seeds
to make them grow and hold the soil, we will be in for some terrible
dirt storms this summer. Strip farming and shelterbelts? Nah,
they've been forgotten. Even yesterday afternoon the winds were
raising dust clouds right in the city, and I could see on the horizon
clouds lifted high in the air.
I just finished a very good book of
historical fiction: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. In
it he recounts the Battle of Gettysburg. An interesting story about
him deals with his early death after having written the book. It so
happened that his son helped him research the topic, and after his
father, started writing books of historical fiction as well. The
book I'm working on now will be historical fiction. A definition I
found tells that this type synthesizes fact with fiction dealing with
another time. Authors couldn't know what words were spoken by their
characters in conversation, but they can place them in authentic
situations based on research.
My story will deal with a man who owned
the livery stable in my hometown who had the past experience of being
a teamster with Major Marcus Reno. The man had a daughter who
married a man in Ransom County, so I contacted relatives in Sheldon to see if they had information
and/or photographs. She referred me to the only surviving
granddaughter who in turn referred me to a family historian living in
St. Paul.
We visited them last Saturday
and Tom furnished me with many photographs. When the stable owner
bought the place the previous owners then purchased the Buffalo Pitts
agency to sell harvesting equipment. Tom gave me an 11” by 14”
picture of this scene: a Buffalo Pitts steam engine pulling a
threshing machine across a low water point on the Sheyenne River.
Also in the scene are a water wagon, a buggy, and a rack filled with
bundles. Information on the back says, “The Wall Bros. threshing
crew the 'Froemke” crossing Sheyenne River crossing south of
Anselm, ND. This is just west of where Argil Froemke now lives.”
It makes me wonder if that wasn't the very same “low water”
crossing that freighters hauling supplies from Fort Abercrombie to
Fort Ransom used when the river ran low.
Another large picture of a group of men
gathered in front of a cook car with two ladies in the background
says, “Cooks for this hungry threshing crew: Ella Wall (Mrs. Chas.
Wendler) and Gertie Bjugstad Evanson.” When you look at it you
can't help counting the number of men in it – 22 of them that
these two ladies cooked for. The main point is to think how labor
intensive harvest was. Going back to the earlier idea in this post,
now a couple of men can do more.
