Chapter 15
Working In Illinois

The following summer of 1937 was a complete loss. In our area there was no crop, pasture, feed or gardens. Earl and I moved to Uncle Charlie's farm at Midale. Uncle Charlie left us a stack of wheat and Russian thistle hay. It was good quality feed and we used it entirely for our few head of cattle. He also left us a big stack of old wheat straw on the Pete Mattson place. I don't know what year it was threshed, probably 1933. It had a lot of mold in it but we hauled it home before winter set in and it almost filled our hayloft. It was a big help along with the feed allotted to us by the RM council.

Earl and I farmed together for two or three years. It wasn't altogether good and he was looking for a place to rent on his own where they could be completely independent.

1938 was a better year for rainfall, but rust problems became noticeable in the wheat and most of it wasn't worth harvesting. We cut and threshed some and it was so light it would hardly stay in the separator or run out through the grain spout. I don't think it was even useful for seed.

In October of that year our neighbor John Fossum quit farming and had an auction sale. I bought an old team of horses, Bill and Bud, bay Clyde geldings. I guess they had been involved in more that one run away. They were thin but very much alive. The first thing I did was take the "double wire scissor bits" off their bridles and replace them with ordinary straight bits. I believe Earl used them more than a few times until spring as I went to Illinois on the 15th of October. Our passenger trains were still running and that was how I traveled to Portal, North Dakota. From there I went to Bismarck by means of a small bus service - just an ordinary passenger vehicle. It was crowded and full of cigarette smoke all the way. Prom there I bought a "Grey Hound" bus ticket to Aledo, Illinois. At the border crossing in Portal I had been asked how much money I had along and if I intended to work. Today I don't remember how much money I had or even how I obtained it. It must have been a pitifully small amount. yet I was allowed to go without any further questioning.

The bus to Minneapolis was on a transcontinental schedule and it traveled all night, arriving in Minneapolis about daylight. It was my first experience of being in a big city that far from home. It was also probably one of the largest bus depots of its day where the buses drove in one side and out the other. It contained a good restaurant also. The bus I boarded there went through such places as Rochester, Minnesota, Cedar Rapids and Charles City, Iowa. It was necessary to change buses at some place in Iowa and eventually I arrived in Davenport, Iowa long after dark. I found a hotel room and didn't venture out until morning. I found my bus to Illinois and arrived at Aledo about 10:00 in the morning Aunt Mabel and a neighbor, Mrs. Laird, were there to meet me. All the way from Minneapolis the corn fields were predominant and the corn increased in height, corn eight and nine feet high was quite common. I don't know what the yields were then, but with the use of fertilizer and 2-4-0 weed control, corn yields up to 140 bushels an acre are quite common now.

It amazed me to see the large farm houses, many of them being 60 to 70 years old. A very coincidental item was that Uncle Charlie moved onto the same farm in 1937 that he had his sale on and left in 1913. It must have happened to be available for rent, as it had not been planned that way. Everyone was well, Grandpa was still at Uncle Elmer's house and everybody had work. Uncle Clair and Darwin undertook a farm management job just a couple of miles south of Uncle Charlie's place. The owners were the "Dryden" brothers who lived in Keithsburg. This place was below the Bluff, the land was lighter but still produced good corn crops if rotated with grass, hay and oats. They worked for Drydens for many years until they decided to buy a small farm and live a more relaxed life. Corn harvest was just beginning and many farmers were still picking by hand.

Glen and Beulah were getting married the day after my arrival and we didn't do much that day. We all attended a reception at Beulah's parents' home that evening. The next day almost everybody was picking corn. Uncle Charlie was working by himself, Glen was doing farm work, but I'm not sure where. Melvin was involved with a farm south of l

Uncle Charlie had a neighbor, "Jim Hottles", an old couple that lived on 40 acres. He was sure Jim would give me a job helping pick his corn. Jim had twenty acres of corn (big deal). He farmed with two horses, they milked three cows and he raised as many hogs as he could provide feed for. I believe it took us three or four days to finish the job. He had harvested some before I arrived. Some pickers did one row, some two, Jim and I did one each and we picked only two small loads a day. At least I got a good look and a beginner's education working for Jim. From there Uncle Charlie and I went to see Earl Kielman. He lived about two miles east of Uncle Charlie. They knew each other quite well and Earl was a good operator. He needed a man to haul his corn from the field and of course it would speed up his harvest. I don't know how many acres he had but he was using a mounted two row picker. It was about ten times as fast as picking by hand. He had three wagons with stub poles on them, and I had to change a short pole every time I changed wagons. There was always a load of corn ready when I arrived back at the field. We would be out in the morning by daylight and I haven't any idea how many loads a day we handled. We would quit about 4:30 in the afternoon so Earl could fuel and grease, ready for the next day. Mechanical pickers did a cleaner job when the corn husks were damp as they didn't shatter and put so much husk material in the wagon. I rather enjoyed working for them. Mrs. Kielman was a pleasant person and they had a small daughter about ten or eleven years old. The corn was elevated with a long drag type conveyor. powered by an old automobile motor. A hoist raised the front of the wagon, so no shoveling was involved. The job didn't last long, I dare say Earl was one of the first to be done husking corn in that area. Another neighbor of Kielmans still had part of a field to pick and a recent wind and rain had blown a lot of corn down. I used Earl's team and wagon to help finish that job. It was terribly back breaking as over half the corn was very tangled and close to the ground. You could see a dog half way across the field. I could hardly straighten up when I got to the end of the row and had to shovel it off by hand. I always felt that I really earned my pay on that job and now I have completely forgotten what I was earning. And to top it all off, I wasn't supposed to be working, but did earn the expenses of my trip.

By this time it was getting well along into November and close to the United States Thanksgiving, the last Thursday in November I believe. It was also close to a sin to not be done picking corn by Thanksgiving day. Uncle Charlie had finished at home and Glen was done wherever he was working. Glen. however. wanted to take the job of picking a field just across the fence near Uncle Charlie's, and he wanted both of us to help. So the three of us, each with a team and wagon took on that field. We finished it early Thanksgiving day. I have a photo taken of us with our wagons lined up at Uncle Charlie's barn.

It was customary at that time to have an oyster supper to celebrate either Thanksgiving day or the completion of corn harvest, maybe both. So that evening the "Illinois Trumans" met at Uncle Charlie's to do just that. It was the first time I had tasted fresh oysters. I immediately enjoyed them and we put away a lot of them that supper. Oysters were a seasonal item at that time and were brought up the river for fall festivities. Electric refrigeration was not very common yet.

After the Illinois winter set in Uncle Charlie and I went to visit some of Mama's relatives. We spent one day at Charlie Johnson's over at Alexis. We also visited the Earl Morrows south and east of Joy. Uncle Earl kept a hired man the year around and he sold milk and cream door to door in Joy at that time. One of his favorite hobbies (I'll call it) was raising a few heavy horses. He kept a Belgian stallion and had previously raised well bred Percherons. Uncle Charlie Johnson at Alexis owned a matching team of black Percheron geldings that Uncle Earl had raised.

Aunt Nellie was very much a housewife. I believe cousin Lois was at home still going to high school. I stayed with Uncle Earl and Aunt Nellie a few days and they, along with Aunt Celeste and Aunt Hulda drove over to Rapatee to visit Aunt Mabel and Walter Brashear. Only three of their children were home, still attending school - Walter, their only son, Bernice and I forget the third one at home then. The three older sisters were married, Thelma, Lois and Clara, but by some means I met all of them and their husbands. I spent a day at Aunt Celeste's in Aledo, this was while they lived in the north part of town. In fact I stayed over night. Uncle Ralph and I toured their establishment downtown and he told me how his father and grandfather started their hardware business. Their family name was Thede. It was to become the largest independently owned business in Aledo. They sold hardware, farm machinery (John Deere) and automobiles along with complete repair servicing. Cousin Glen worked for Thede's in the machine shop, setting up machinery and as field trouble shooter. I visited with Aunt Hulda and Uncle Merlin Hawkins in Aledo also. Their children were all away from home by 1938. I may have briefly seen Marie who lived in Galesburg.

Christmas 1938 was spent with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Mabel Truman on the farm. I believe Grandpa was with us very briefly. He passed away before I was to visit in Illinois many years later.

In January I traveled by bus to Minnesota to visit Uncle Gus and Family. It was very much winter there, snow was deep and it was cold weather. Time seemed to go very fast considering we weren't outside that much. One day Adolf, Carl and I, maybe Bill too, went to Duluth by car. It was 20 below zero and we had the misfortune of getting stuck while meeting another motorist. Some one (Carl I think) had to walk to get a municipal snow plow to come and pull us out. Cousin Leona and husband Elbert Walden lived in the area and I spent one evening at their place. Uncle Gus seemed quite depressed and it was very hard on him when we said good-bye and I started out on the last lap towards home. It was the last time I saw him and Aunt Lizzie, as the entire family moved to Washington state and the remaining members live there still. Carl is the last surviving family member but there are many grandchildren living in the Seattle area. Carl and Bill both worked for Boeing's at one time. Carl was in the Navy during World War II. This may be a very personal note, but I can't fail to comment how enjoyable it is to visit with Carl and his wife, Marj and other members living in Mount Vernon, Burlington and Sedro Wooly, Washington. Carl is an almost exact duplicate of his father both in appearance and personality. Marj is a person easy to visit and takes good care of them both. They are overseers of a "trailer home" court. Marj keeps the records and Carl does the outside chores.

Going home wasn't easy traveling from Bismarck because of snow and heavy roads. I was running out of money and sponged a ride with a grocery wholesale truck from Minot to Portal - an all night ride and it was cold. I helped unload all the way in order to be active and keep warm. My last lap home was by way of the "local" CP [Canadian Pacific Railway] train arriving in Midale at 6 p.m.