Chapter 4
Expansion And Change

Edgar and Lillian were married in fall 1925 and moved to a farm two miles north of Heward in the spring of 1926.1 suppose they started out on a shoe string and would accept all the help offered. Papa decided we would give them a milk cow at least. So some time just before seeding started we loaded "Lady" and a crate of chickens from Goranson's in the triple wagon box, and Papa and I drove 32 miles to Heward. We were driving Dan and Robin. We stopped half way (east of Froude by the old Pearson place), fed the horses some oats, ate our lunch and arrived there by early evening. A year later it was decided to give them Nancy so they would have a buggy horse. She was to raise three colts after that, one while they lived at Heward and two more while they lived on the Lancaster place between 1929-1933. Also while they lived at Heward, Edgar was to reclaim the team that he called "his" before they were married. This was after one or maybe both of his parents had passed away. On the day he was to drive them home he asked if I could take a team from home and we would hitch four horses on a bobsled. He had received two cows from Goransens that we loaded and hauled those same 32 miles. Edgar and I went to a hockey game at Heward while I was there. I caught a dreadful cold and had to stay a few days to recover. Later I drove home alone, again with the team of Dan and Robin. Goransens had two straps of Swedish sleigh bells which we conscripted for the trip. I heard all the sleigh bell music I wanted for a while.

Our farm operation at home expanded in the early 20's, we had a lot of work horses, plus a driving team and lots of help. Papa drove an outfit in the field to some extent- His days were short as he was looking after S or 10 milk cows and a few hogs. as well as helping with garden and trees. The southeast quarter of section 1-7-12 was added to our operation, possibly in 1921. It was owned by a P. F. Lofgren and was west of the George Johnson land, a mile and a half from home. It had a barn, room for twelve horses, a small pasture, the remains of a poor house and a well beside a slough. The pasture fence was fixed up and the pasture had good grass as it hadn't been used for many years. The work horses were left there at night while working there. We called it the "Russ" place since Henry Buss had lived there. He was a brother of Billy Russ who lived on the old Haslam ranch just a couple of miles south and west of Halbrite. Henry had a son Norman who was drayman in Halbrite for a year or two. Norman later moved to Weyburn and lived there several years. We farmed this land until one of the Orsted brothers bought it in the late 1920's.

My first experience of operating a binder in 1923 took place on Lofgren's where Johnny and I were cutting wheat. I was running the blasted old Massey. Although I was big for my age, I was hardly strong enough to drive the horses, handle the bundle carrier, which took both feet, and it was almost impossible for me to raise the reel. The best I could do was to tilt the binder up or down to compensate for the change from short to tall grain and that wasn't always quite enough. I dare say my binder made quite a few ragged bundles. At least Johnny was there to help as my trouble shooter and we got the job done. Johnny was using the old McCormick and it seemed to me he just never stopped - the old binder clackety banged and seldom ever missed tying a bundle. I wondered at that time if I would ever reach that level of performance.

In 1922 we undertook to rent the south half of section 31-6-11 in co-operation with the John Nord family. It was at that time part of the Haslam Land Company holdings. Papa signed the first lease with Horace Haslam. This land was half a mile south of home and was farmed east and west. We each (Nords and us) had some long narrow fields. This land probably added only 140 acres to our operation and Papa was willing to add some more. We farmed this land through 1926.

In 1927, a group of immigrants from Fox Valley shipped to Halbrite and occupied several farms in the district. The northeast of section 6-7-11 was raw prairie just north of George Johnson's, half a mile from home. At this time there were six or seven quarters of prairie between our place and Crowe Lake school. The northeast of 6 was owned by A. J. Ayhart in Iowa. He was in Canada visiting (or whatever) and called on Papa to make a bargain. He offered and agreed to give us the first two crops for doing some breaking. Papa broke 30 acres in 1923 with four horses and a low lift sulky plough. This was seeded to flax in 1924 and another fifty acres was broken, this time with our Wallis tractor and two bottom plough. Another 40 acres was broker in 1925 to make 120 acres under cultivation. We had bought a threshing outfit in 1923 comprised of a 15-27 Wallis tractor and a 24-40 Sawyer Massey separator. This was bought through our Massey-Harris dealer in Halbrite, then Tim Murphy. I think the salesman's name was Baldwin. The price? - $23.00, I think. Also in 1924 Papa had made the same deal with a Mr. A. A. Nelson of Britt, Iowa to break some land on the northwest quarter of section 5-7-11, just north of our home quarter. I think 60 acres was broker there in 1925. Our total acreage under cultivation from 1924 to 1926 (only three years) was 1050 acres. I know we had over 600 acres of crop those few years, and these were good crop years up through 1928. A lot of prairie was broke up those years. 1926 was one of the wettest springs on record, just right for breaking new land and getting a crop off it. Willie Goranson and his hired help broke up a lot on the west half of section 32-5-11. It brought an end to our grazing area close to home. Goransons did their breaking with horses on a gang plough. Accordingly, Papa decided to seed down more area close to home. We had seeded ten acres just east of the house to brome grass about 1924, forty acres more was seeded to grass in 1926. It was so wet that spring that our horses in the furrow walked in shallow water while Charlie and I were spring ploughing that forty acre field. Papa had fenced 45 acres on the north part of our east quarter for pasture about 1917. It too was broke up about 1926 or 1927. Then was very litte native grass left in our home area by 1928. To add to our novelty, Papa bought a part Shetland weanling pony in 1921 or 1922. It was at a dispersal sale of Connor and Hutchinson's, close to Goodwater. He was very small when Papa brought him home some time in November, and he didn't thrive very well that winter. He was kept in a pen with several small calves and we even tried to feed him milk. He made it through the winter, although close to spring he developed distemper and was further run down as a result of that infection. He recovered and did well all that summer. I was never very interested in him as I knew he was too small for me to ride, however Earl and probably Pearl were amused and interested in looking after him, and it was due to their efforts he was broke to lead. Earl rode him a little when he was two years old. We called him Trixie and he was left a stallion. By the time he was three years old, Earl was riding him a lot, and Earl and I along with Russell Nord went every place on horseback. By then (1924-25)I was riding May whenever and wherever I wanted to go. Trixie outlived his usefulness after Margaret had ridden him quite a lot after the age of ten. She and Lilac Nord were together a lot. Lilac learned to ride a horse they called Topsy who was almost white - "flee bitten white". What does that mean? white with brown specks. By 1930 I'm guessing Lilac was using Russell's saddle pony, "Mook". Mook was a small roan Indian pony and won quite a few horse races. Trixie was eventually traded for a two year old heifer who proved to be a fence crawler and was soon sold for a few dollars in the early 1930's when cattle hit the low price of $5 a head.

Another development in the mid 1920's was that a lot of farm boys (young men) were given a team of horses, something to call their own. I expect one reason was so these boys would take a bit more interest in farming, and develop a sense of pride in taking care of all the horses. It isn't with any difficulty that I will name the young men of several families in our community with the names of their own first team of horses. There are many, and I hope the reader won't be bored with repetition. I will start with our own family: Johnny's first team were a well matched team of bays, Billie and Dolly; Charlie's were Dan and Molly, a gray and a bay; mine were a well matched team of sorrels with white faces, Robin and Bird; Paul Peterson's team was a well matched bay team of "Jock" colts, Gyp and Rose; Clarence's team was a fairly well matched team of Jock colts bought from John Swanson, Buck and Buster, who were exceptional quality horses; Harold Hodgen's favourite team were a pair of bay Clydes, Jessie and Dovey; Elmer's were Dick and Stubb; Roy Nord's team was a pair of black mares sired by Cole, Star and Beauty; Clarence Adderly's team were bay Clydes with white faces and white hind feet, Trixie and Clyde; Willie Goranson's team were a pair of "June boy" bay mares, May and Ruby; Edgar's team was Rose and Lila, also June boy sired; Albin Goransen's best team was Bud and Sandy, a bay and a roan.

We knew the names of all Jesse Ashbaugh's horses partly because he was one of our nearest neighbors, and because we threshed for him for several years from 1923-1930, every year but one. John Smith did his threshing that time. Also of note were Phil Jone's big mules which were brought from Missouri about 1910. These mules were well matched. nearly black. They were Joe and Molly Dave and Judy. They had two sets of matched heavy brass mounted breeching harness for them. Phil's father, Roy, used to haul grain with them every fall, one team at a time, not all four In tandem. Hans Halberg worked for Joneses the summer of 1924 and drove these four mules on a fresno. Hans didn't talk very plain English, but he could sure talk Norwegian even to the mules. Then there was August Goransen's big team Tim and Magnet, a sorrel and a bay. He hauled grain from the threshing machine with them, always carried a buggy whip and consistently used a "spring seat". My memory of all this is as clear as the days when I saw it in action. I was interested in horses even in 1915 when part of Section 31 across the road from our house was being broken with a steam engine. There was quite a crew of men involved, engineer (driver), fireman, (tankie), waterhauler, and at least one or two men on the plough , and a teamster. I guess he hauled water mostly. He drove a big team of roan Clydes which were nicely harnessed, including scotch collar tops, adorned with red wool ornaments. This was the standard ornament at that time but is seldom seen today, even in today's heavy horse show rings.