Homesteading II

The house that Grandpa built, with the help of his family, had two stories.  There were three small bedrooms, a kitchen, and a small living room.  Bathroom facilities were located out back of the house in a separate building.  Water was carried into the home in buckets from the hand-dug well.  In the kitchen was an old cook stove.  In the living room was a small parlor heater stove.  Coal was used for fuel in winter, but dried cow pies were used in summer when available.  Any extra were stored in used feed sacks for winter use.

Each summer many of the neighbors joined Will and Cora and family, and with horses and wagons made a temporary move to some berry fields about 40 miles from home.  The wagons were rigged with canvases for shelter.  It took four days each way for travel time.  Everyone including the smallest children would pick berries.  Then the women would build a community fire, put on a large kettle and can the berries on the spot for winter preservation.  This went on from two to three weeks until all were satisfied they had a sufficient supply for family use.  All those fortunate enough to own a cow, including my grandparents, took it along with them for fresh daily milk while away from home.  The cow needed milking daily anyway.

The area around Ernfold was entirely flat prairies overrun with gophers.  The government in an attempt to eradicate them, or at least cut their numbers, paid a ¼ cent bounty on them.  Evidence of their departure was a gopher’s tail.  Lloyd and Floyd were the designated gopher hunters.  A slip knot was made at the end of a heavy cord.  This was placed over a gopher hole.  When the gopher stuck its head up to reconnoiter the area, one of the boys would pull the noose closed, while the other one bashed the gopher with a club.  The gopher’s rearmost extremity was removed and the carcass thrown back in the hole.  School clothes money was obtained in this manner.

Every family had a dugout which was ramped into the ground, had a plank cover, in turn covered with earth.  The animals were housed there in winter, and the family also occupied them during infrequent tornados.