life.html

The Mt. Adams Sun, Bingen, WA., July 10, 1955, page 7

"WHO SAYS LIFE ISN'T INTERESTING?" ASKS OLAF BAKER, LYLE FARMER-LOGGER

Last Saturday Olaf Baker took time out from surveying new land he intends to buy and dissected a mushroom with his fingers.
"Pretty, it isn't it? Who says life isn't interesting?" Olaf said to Fellow Surveyor Emile Stratton.
Olaf and Emile have known each other since the Baker's moved to Appleton in July 1923. Olaf was a champion tie hacker whose daily output was checked by Emile. Unable to believe that one man could hew that many ties, the office sent out a checker to check the checker. His count was 12 ties higher than Emile's.
Before Olaf and Ethel Grace Pearson were married December 22, 1914, at the Lewiston, Montana, they had both proved upon neighboring homesteads in Fergus County.
Olaf staked out his claim in 1912 and Ethel the year following. Before coming to Montana, Ethel taught school (1907-1913) in Minnesota. This experience with a big help when years of Montana drought plaster every-thing the Baker's owned with the mortgage.
"Ethel went back to school teaching to keep us alive," Olaf says. "In fact, she never got over teaching. She's been trying to teach me for forty years."
"And he's the worst pupil I ever had," Mrs. Baker says.
Both laughed and hustled their preparations to spend the weekend in Prineville with their daughter Myrtle's family, the Loren Addisons and two children, Danny 12 and Janet 8.
Myrtle is a twin to Mrs. Harold (Fern) Lewis of Bingen whose husband and this sun and Bruce, 9 the next month, joined Mr. and Mrs. Baker on the trip.
The Baker's son Carol works for an aluminum plant in Spokane. He and his wife Betty have a 6-year-old-son named Harvey.

LOTS OF LAND

By hard working and concentration, Olaf and Ethel had acquired two places, 1560 acres at Appleton and 35 acres, now be expanded, two miles west of the Lyle.
Years of logging makes Olaf proud to be a tree farmer with an ardent interest in making burn areas green again with range grasses. He should be able to count 50 head of white-face "beefsteaks" in the coming roundup, providing hunters and didn't get any.
Not that he objects to hunters. He'd just rather see deer alive than dead. Anyone is welcome to hunt on his land providing they don't strew a trail of whiskey bottles and beer cans.
Time was when Olaf couldn't see the country for the trees, but now he likes to get a mower and rake hay. Appleton neighbors envy his summer pasture and call it the nicest piece of range in the whole country.
What's more, there's plenty of water from five good springs.
The Baker cows winter at Lyle where with the help of nitrogen and land plaster Olaf raises alfalfa. Last year he had to buy quite a bit of hay, but this winter he expects to meet his needs with what he was able to buy from his neighbor, S. I. Stratton.
Rain is much more important than fertilizer in getting crops the Lyle ranch. Underground, there's plenty of year-round water. Olaf hit two good wells - one at eight feet and the other at 18 feet down. This summer he linked them into one unit just for Ethel's piece of mind. Every-one knows she uses plenty of soap and water and loves flowers.
"My hobby is work and her hobby is housekeeping," Olaf says. "But there's many things I could like if I have the time to do them. Rocks, for instance. In fact by like all outdoors."
In 1943 Olaf was a master of Masonic lodge No. 163 of White Salmon. He has held many chairs including Master of Columbia Grange #87 of Lyle. Mrs. Baker belongs to the Grange, Eastern Star and PTA.
"Although we bought our Lyle ranch from the of the Charley McNabb estate in 1942, we spend most of our time in up the sticks," Olaf says.
Standing on the edge of a sheer bluff above Chamberlain Lake and the Columbia, Olaf pointed out schools of fish drifting in the green waters 500 feet blow. Mt. Hood shimmered dreamlike in the fall haze. Does slipped like shadows in the little groves which divided the fields.
"This would have been a nice place for Sam Hill to build his castle," Olaf say. "You can see everything."