Chapter 18
Starting Over

It was 1940 and we would get ready to seed another crop. That was probably the last year Earl and I would farm together. That whole summer is very vague in my memory. It's just like nothing happened that year. I don't even remember what the crop was like. I believe it was that fall Earl rented the Swanson place and there was quite a lot of repairs and moving to do. The company that owned the land bought a small barn in Macoun from Billy Peterson, and some of the Pick family and ourselves moved it to the farm. It was also necessary to build a new chimney in the house. They got moved before winter set in, and I was now on my own.

I had a couple of cattle, a few horses, Bill and Bud, the bay team I had bought at John Fossum's sale, and old May who was raising a colt every year. The four standard bred colts were not all old enough to be broke. The oldest, Zip, was five years old. He was well broke to ride and drive single. He was my most available mode of travel. Pete was traded to Paul Peterson for a pair of Holstein heifers, both in calf. They were mine. Jerry, no. 3, was run into while I was away in camp and broke a leg so he had to be destroyed. Peggy who was three years old in Spring, 1941 had not been broke. I traded Zip and Peggy to Jim Pick for a good sound black gelding, King. I'm not sure of his age, but he wasn't old. I also bought a bay gelding, Ben, from Elmer Kramer, so I had four work horses. Earl and I bought a used 28 run drill from Fred Isley, and we had to work together sometimes because of lack of equipment. Earl had a pair of Clyde colts from May born in 1939 and 1940 (Buck and Buster). May raised me two more Clyde colts, all from the same stallion, in 1941-42. One a bay mare (Polly) and a sorrel stud colt (Dan). Also in the fall of 1941 I bought a gray mare (Nellie) at Tom Granbois sale, about he 8 or 10 miles north of Halbrite. Pete Kristenson hauled her home in his "Rugby truck". We had quite a time getting her loaded until I took off my jacket and put it over her head so she couldn't see. I talked gently to her and got her so she would follow. The truck was backed up to a manure pile and presto, she was in the truck. Nellie and King were my chore team and they became a very good team.

1941 wasn't really a big crop but it was better than we had been getting. That summer I had spring ploughed 30 acres on the southeast of section 24 and seeded it to barley. It was an unusually good crop, yielding 40 bushels to an acre. It was a pretty sight to look back when I was cutting it with a binder and see the bundle carrier dumps of bundles so close together. Most of this quarter section had lain unfarmed for the last three years. We just didn't have power enough to work it. The crop that year was threshed by Hauglums, with Carl Hauglum running the machine, I think. His brothers, Lloyd, Melvin and Haaken and myself hauled bundles. It must have been slow going but I believe the weather was good and I don't remember having any tough grain around.

I think 1941 was also the year I broke a big 4 year old sorrel gelding for Roy Draves. Jerry Pick and I drove Ben and King over to Drave's place that morning and harnessed the young horse and drove him home. Roy had him in the barn and we didn't have much trouble getting him harnessed and hitched up and away we went. We hitched the unbroken horse with Ben, a good, strong, steady horse. I believe Roy called him Colonel - we led King behind. Everybody was pretty well warmed up by the time we arrived home. The horses were willing to go and we let them go. Jerry was very good help and he came down from Earl's place twice a day for a whole week to help me get hitched up. After that I managed alone. Colonel never did get gentle but he was big, strong and useable.

That spring of 1942 I had a housekeeper for two and a half months named Emma Staicue. She had two children, Roy 7 and Joan 6 years. She had left her husband and had hopes of starting a new life away from him. Apparently he wasn't a stable worker nor a good provider. The children went to school while they were at my place. Emma was a good reliable person and not afraid of work. I soon learned she was used to getting by economically. She washed clothes on a wash board, planted a garden and even set some hens. One day on a Sunday afternoon, a man came walking down the driveway. I told Emma there was someone coming. She took a quick look and then met him at the door. I hadn't ever heard a man take a scolding like he was subjected to. Anyway, I said I'd go out for a while and allow them to talk in confidence. She called me in later on and asked me to take them to the train. I'm sure she was sorry to leave and I was sorry to see her go. Many years later I was to learn that Emma passed away in 1957 following surgery due to goitre problems. There is no doubt that she was under stress continually.

In 1942 the crop was better than usual. in fact it was one of the best crops for many years. Harvest was interrupted in September by rain and was slow as there were no large threshing machines like those used in the early years of 1910-1930. Clarence Hammond undertook to thresh for Bob McGregor. Earl Truman and myself, plus some of his own crop. The oldest son, Eugene (commonly known as Bubs) was operating the combine, but being young and inexperienced, he wasn't making very good progress. Ewald Holtz who lived on the John Fossum place at that time, worked for Hammond as separator man. My brother Earl and I and a hired man, whose name I don't recall hauled bundles steadily except at our own premises, where we were taking care of the grain. I don't remember who the fourth man was, possibly Eddie Schmidt or Basil Hoium. We did have four bundle haulers at all times. It rained while we were at McGregors, so of course when the weather improved everybody was anxious to get going, even at the risk of threshing some tough grain for the first day or two. It wasn't an easy decision for Bob McGregor and Clarence Hammond to agree when the grain was dry enough to start. But I believe we started threshing again without moving away from McGregors. Bob's crop was very good and we threshed barley that made 50 bushels an acre. Most of it was threshed into temporary round bins made of snow fence and building paper. Ewald was driving a Model T Ford made into a small truck and he picked me up every morning long before daylight. We arrived at the McGregors and harnessed our horses. Bob fed the horses every morning while we threshed there. We had breakfast and were out in the field by daylight until threshing was finished. From McGregors we moved to finish up Hammond's crop and then on to my place.

The ground froze while we threshed at my place. The household help wasn't very satisfactory and at times we had less that satisfactory meals. From my place we moved to Earl's and it was getting very cold at nights. Much trouble was experienced getting the tractor started some mornings. We threshed into a granary while at my place and at times Ewald would crawl in the granary to shovel the grain back into the corner. He wrote on the rafters "threshing at Trumans" Nov. (the date) and "damn cold".

We finished at Earl's on the 22nd of November and there had been some light snow. What a relief to be done threshing. Most of the crew had not seen home in daylight for a month except Sunday or some day unfit to thresh. All I remember about the winter was that we had little snow until the 9th of March.