Chapter 20
New Responsibilities

By 1946 it was time for Kenneth to start school. I'm not sure at this late date if he walked or not, as it was quite a long walk for a beginning scholar, 6 years old. Also it was that fall that I was asked to let my name stand for a school trustee. There was no other nomination and I was declared a trustee. I had no idea that I was never required to face an election and I was to serve in that capacity for 27 consecutive years. When our son Michael was one year within graduation I withdrew from being nominated as I believed it was time for younger parents to serve on the board. Serving on the school board was always interesting, sometimes a bit frustrating, but occasionally rewarding. School trustees have ample opportunity to get well acquainted with teachers, parents and at times, provincial members of the Department of Education, some of them very interesting individuals.

The winter of 1946-47 was one of heavy snowfall. Roads were piled high with snow and I was very busy doing chores and making two trips a day taking Kenneth to school. There were three families hauling children to school that winter and for many winters to come. Clifford Carlson's were one, Lawrence Ironside and ourselves. We met at the school twice every day. It was also that winter that I chose to break and drive the two young horses foaled in 1941 and 1942, the last two of May's colts. One had been driven some, the last one I hitched up a few times with a quiet horse and having no problems I started using them together. They were willing to go and I let them go. It wasn't very long, especially when we had to break a new trail, until they were willing to walk with slack lines. By spring Dan and Polly were quite well broke, as I had used them for doing chores also. We had quite a spell of rough weather but we got so used to it that if we could see two telephone poles ahead we thought nothing of going out into it.

This was when we were still handling loose hay, and at times I was hauling home a rack full of hay every day to keep a supply on hand. It was windy and the hay stacks had four feet of snow around them. It was real work just to keep up with the chores and make it to school twice a day. We were using covered sleighs on the road so we weren't out in the wind. Almost everyone had a covered sleigh at that time.

Hauling coal from town was sometimes a problem. The snow along the railroad in town was as deep as the floor of the boxcar was from the ground. It had to all be shoveled uphill. Many times I fell asleep while reading the paper after supper and I was thoroughly warmed up and thawed out.

Natalie was a much better night watchman than I was. I would try to sit up till 11 p.m. when the weather was real cold, mostly to keep the fires going. Later in the night Natalie would get up at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. to restore the fires.

In May 1947 daughter Carol was born. We had been uneasy the last few weeks wondering what the weather was going to be like. Lorraine, Carol and Charles were all born at Mrs. Hultein's. Robert and Michael were born in the "old hospital".

The winter of 1946-47 was also the time we received new neighbors in our community, namely Paul and Pearl Young. We didn't see much of them that winter, if at all. But they had a car and no children to keep them home. It was easier for them to come to see us which they did the following summer. We became friendly neighbors and remained such. Paul and I used to trek cattle to and from the community pasture together. We were co-renters of a hay flat at the river along with Teddy Rhinas and Arden Sorsdahl. We all worked together at it for several years. Paul and I were co-owners of two hay balers and a small field sprayer for a time. Pearl and Natalie were the closest friends until the time of Natalie's passing. I don't remember much about 1948, it must have been just an ordinary year.

Lawrence Ironside had purchased a Massey Harris No. 21 combine before this time and he did some combining for us one or two years. Lawrence was a very good all round neighbor and helper, and we worked together castrating hogs and calves, vaccinating and dehorning. Also we helped each other butcher hogs or cattle when our families were growing and we were providing these items ourselves.

One item of great interest in 1947 was the summer visit of cousin Melvin and Marion with small son Larry. They were driving a new 1947 Dodge, four door sedan. I believe it was one of the models with what was then called "fluid drive transmissions". Melvin hadn't been back to Midale since they moved in 1937. He was amazed, he said, "Everything looks so small, especially the trees and buildings." I later rationalized this statement when arriving home from visits to Illinois that indeed our houses, a lot of them at least, were not as large as many of the "old mansions" built in the 1850-1900's in the midwest and southern states. These houses were built to accommodate large families and are not needed today. Melvin and Marion were slightly shocked to learn that our women folk were doing without washing machines. When they left to return home they promised to ship us a Maytag gas powered washer from Newton, Iowa. It arrived in the early part of that winter, 1947. I don't recall who it was addressed to, but I believe Carl and Margaret were in a better position to pay the freight on it so they took delivery of it. They were still out on the farm north and east of town. I'm also not sure if we later ordered one from Newton, Iowa or if we found one in Estevan or Weyburn. We must remember that this was not long after World War II and many manufactured goods were in very short supply. We used that machine until well after we obtained rural electricity and I later put an electric motor on it.

I believe we received rural electricity in the fall of 1951. Five of us subscribers east of Midale namely John Molberg, Rollie Wedin, Paul Young, ourselves, Lawrence Ironside and Fritz Emde's also got on the list, perhaps Hauglum's also which extended it to seven by the time the contract for construction was let. Within a year residents in all directions were asking for construction of electrical transmission lines in their area. (It was strange coincidence that many years later our area was designated for the first underground telephone line, in what year I don't remember.) A few years later, 1956 I believe, the first new wide road leading to the Shell Oil office was constructed past our place, It was so wet it was squashed out and down and had to be raised again within a few years. Accordingly a few years after, black top road pavement had been laid west of Midale and down to the Mainprize Park. We were to receive road pavement past our place and either as far as the Macoun Road or was it to the Shell Office, I'm not sure. Incidentally, the rural road pavement was not as successful as was hoped for. Much of the early laid pavement broke up and much has been resurfaced in some way.

1949 was a dry year, crops were light and Art Clausen and Gilbert McAllister combined much of our wheat that year. A son, Charles Grant was born to us on July 8. He was strong and wasn't always easy to care for. Natalie was very tired a lot of the time and not in very good health for several months. We had a severe electrical storm that night. Lightning struck a haystack that Ewald Holtz and I had made the previous day and it burned up during the storm. We had our garden these years on a level piece of ground west of the barn. It was a good productive area. We also grew our potatoes there. I looked after the potato patch but Natalie preferred to do the gardening. Eventually we moved our garden along the driveway where the new house now stands. We planted three rows of raspberries where we formerly had garden and for a few years, we had more raspberries that we could use. Natalie invited friends to come and pick so they didn't go to waste.

I should have mentioned that in the fall of 1948 I bought one of Paul Berndt's 15-30 McCormick-Deering tractors. It was on steel wheels, and I think I paid him $500 for it. It was in reasonably good condition, considering its age. It gave me a minimum of trouble and within a year or two I had Jim Arts put it on rubber.

I had bought a four year old bay gelding, Prince, from Paul Berndt a few years before, probably about 1945 or 1946. He was broke and had been used one year but was not very quiet or steady. All that first summer I owned him, "Prince" was in any team I was using, regardless of how many horses I was driving each day. After seeding was over I started summerfallow promptly and Prince was one of my lead horses. He and Bill and Bud were real lead horses, the best I had ever driven.

As the work went on Prince began to get tired but I used him and Nellie to cut hay with and by fall he was a tired, well quieted work horse. I can safely say Prince was one of the very best work horses I ever drove. He grew to be a big strong horse I really enjoyed driving. I used him in a team with three different horses, King, Nellie and Johnny but he was always just a little bit the best.

My farm operations slowly changed after I got the tractor, although I had very little equipment specifically suited to use behind it. I bought a used, partly homemade 14 foot disc and I pulled an eight foot trailer disc behind it. I bought a twelve foot (24 run) drill up at Yellow Grass. I could really seed with that in third gear. In 1949 I used the new swather behind my tractor.

In January 1953 I traded the 15-30 McCormick in on a one year old Massey 44 tractor. Lorne Kramer and Norman Rosengren were Massey dealers in Midale at the time. It was fun getting used to an almost new tractor. It didn't have any more power than the 15-30 but was much more maneuverable. I farmed with the Massey until 1962 when I bought a used 55 Massey. It wasn't in very good condition and I kept it only two years. I had bought a swather in 1949 and decided to buy a combine in 1950. I didn't really like it that much and I never enjoyed harvest until about 1958 when I traded it on a pull type Massey. Grain augers had been around since 1942, maybe even 1941, I finally bought a 24 foot about 1952. It made quite a difference in harvest operations.

The fall of 1950 was one of wet and difficult harvesting conditions. I was way behind and eventually finished up on frozen ground in early November. The grain was tough. Paul Young also had some tough grain. In February or March 1951 we arranged to help each other haul two carloads of tough wheat to be shipped before warm weather arrived. We each had a team and sled to haul on. The snow was fairly deep when we started but the hauling went well. We hauled ours in first, making several trips a day. Paul's brother, John was also helping. I had more chores to do than Paul did so when mine was all hauled I loaned him my team and sled and they were able to haul his in before the sleigh road broke up.

Young's first child, Paulette was a few months older than son Charlie, and Pearl and Natalie spent much time together the next few years. We bought a used 1946 Chevrolet two door about 1961 and so we were more mobile and Natalie soon learned to drive.

In the early 1950's Kenneth was old enough to be of help with chores, and helped Natalie milk cows and feed calves and pigs. He was very fond of sports though, and as soon as the chores were over, he would jump on his bike and head into town to play tin can cricket with his friends. He was always good in sports and won many ribbons for his athletic pursuits while in school.

I had visited Illinois once more during the early 1950's, but I can't recall very much about it. In 1958 sister Margaret and I traveled to Illinois by train and enjoyed the trip and visit. All our Truman relatives were still in good health, and they had all made satisfactory economic progress in the 20 years since they had gone there. Some of them had purchased land, others were renting land and they were all within a few miles of each other. Each time I visited with them, one of our uncles. not always a Truman, but those uncles who were Mama's brothers-in-law, would take us to visit other families that we hadn't met before. Mama had four sisters and three brothers all married but one. The first visit I made in 1938 I was fortunate to meet nearly all aunts, uncles and their families. Some lived in the Galesburg area which was at least forty miles from Aledo. We had twenty-one cousins on Mama's side of our relatives. I saw them all except three. two were deceased and one lived too far away to be convenient to visit. Uncle Elmer and Aunt Maud took us to visit their adopted son and his wife, in Bettendorf, Iowa. Dwayne was working for Alcoa Co. after he was out of the navy. Their adopted daughter, Edith, lived in Keithsburg, Alan, her husband, worked at the Mississippi Locks. They had two boys and I believe they (Alan and Edith) are still living in the house they inherited from Aunt Maud, it is known as the Ed Whitehall residence.

During harvest in 1951 brother Earl had the misfortune to have a serious injury due to fuel problems with the tractor he was swathing with. He was severely burned and lived only a few hours after. A number of relatives from Illinois attended the funeral, I believe there were nine adults besides our Canadian relatives. Glen and Beulah had been up several times. Uncle Elmer and Aunt Maud were up at least twice. The last time they visited us was in 1959 when Margaret and I went with them to visit Lillian and Edgar at Naicam and all six of us went to visit brothers John and Charlie at Nipawin. The weather was damp and we experienced a lot of heavy muddy roads in the Watson area.

We had bought Uncle Charlie's farm by this time and within a year of buying his land we also bought the half section to the east side, making it a square section divided by the road. Some years seemed to go by without many important things occurring.

The used cars we were buying didn't last very long. It's possible we were hauling our school students by 1963 which put a few miles on them although when I count them I find we only bought four different autos between 1951 and 1971. Carol started school in September 1953 and it wasn't long until our children were involved in extra school activities. The first years we had children in school we went to the Christmas school program with a team and sleigh, probably two or three Christmases. It was usually a program in each room and we spent a little time in each room.

Robert Mark was born in March 1953. Our small house was getting more and more crowded. We had Ed Torgenrud build a cupboard across one end of our kitchen which helped out for more cupboard space, but water facilities left much to be desired. Lawrence Ironside cemented a cistern for us right close to the house. It was just a bowl shaped hole with two applications of cement on the dirt wall. It never leaked a bit. We put a pump on it and I hauled water from Isley's well. It was used almost entirely for drinking and cooking. In the winter we used the traditional water and snow barrel for wash water. In 1959 when Pantaluk's rebuilt the Shell Road we had them dig us a dugout after it was too frozen up to work on the road. So we had a dugout to use soft water from after it filled the following spring.

Michael David was born in July 1956. Natalie was in better health than formerly. She was much less afflicted with migraine headaches that were a real problem in the earlier years since I had known her. Although we now had six children, four of them in school, we were able to get along without any help.

During the late 1940's we had started peddling fresh, raw milk and cream to a few steady customers in town. All our customers were on the north side of town. At first I did the deliveries myself when we were selling to only six or seven householders. We tried not to interfere with other milk producers, namely Nick Schnider at that time. For awhile we tried to accommodate subsidizing an uneven demand at the locker plant, which was being supplied by Lawrence Ironside. On days when they needed more than Ironside could supply, we were asked to meet the needs. This system did not go very well, as we never knew if the day's supply would be needed. So accordingly we sought to find every day, or every other day customers to use up all we could supply. In less than one year we were selling up to about fifty quarts a day. This was the time when the oil fields were being developed and there were a great number of transient people in town. Many of them stayed as permanent residents.

By this time our school children were able to help deliver the milk each morning on their way to school. This worked very well and required only fifteen or twenty minutes to unload the milk at each house and end up at the school. Saturday was sometimes a problem as we tried to avoid any delivery on Sundays. We were selling milk and cream in the amount of nine or ten dollars a day. It was easy enough to buy our groceries and car gas. We felt that we had never been better off financially than we were those few years. It was quite a lot of work milking five or six cows, keeping everything clean, especially the barn and cows. Natalie washed and scalded many milk bottles every day, and our "fridge" was loaded twice a day to cool the product. The fridge that we bought in the Spring of 1952 was equipped with plastic support pegs. and occasionally one would break. Eventually we had many wooden supports put in to carry the shelves. Incidentally, this 8 or 10 cubic foot fridge is still in use as an overflow need at my son Charlie's home.

The milk business came to an end because of an enforcement of health regulations. We continued to sell table cream and in bulk to the creameries, but it couldn't compare in terms of everyday net income with the whole milk industry. Even to this day, the milk supply industry is one facet of farm production that has stabilized in terms of steady prices and continuous production. Stabilized production control has much to do with it.