Driscoll, North Dakota, 1883-1970

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library 2014
• Subjects: Bismarck; Canada; Carroll; Clear Lake; Harper; Haystack; Ida; Leith; Lookout; Spirit River; The Lookout
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/13114

son's farm. The building was fixed up for a school. The first that when the storm let up and I could get the snow shoveled day was an interesting experience. I remember that we kids away from the doors so we could get them out to drink. It stood and looked at each other. We were too bashful to speak, seemed as though we could not get them filled up then. If my memory proves right, there were ten children enrolled When spring came father was feeling better so we both at school that fall. There were four Freiborg children; Mahn, were kept busy shoveling snow away from the barn so we Abraham, Harm and Annie, Tillie Ambers, Kealla and Gene- could get the water drained away. That was a big job. The vieve Olson, Robert Sharp, my sister Ragna and I. I am not snow had drifted so high and packed so hard that we drove sure but I think the teachers name was Mr. Harry Robbs. on top of the snow. I am sure that the snow was eight feet I must not forget the threshing. It was a real experience, deep. I had never seen a threshing machine before and as there I know a lot of people questioned us as to how we got our were no large fields, most farmers stacked their grain. I trees trimmed so even. We told them that the rabbits had remember so well when the threshing rig came to our place, done the job for us through the winter. The tractor was a Hart Parr and it sounded like a canon. I Sister Ida and brother Henry were working in Minneapolis don't remember the make of the separator but to me at that and they came up to visit us whenever they could get away, time it looked very big. I think the owners of the outfit were Father was township assessor in Clear Lake Township the Harper Brothers from near Sterling.'- two or three years. He liked this job a great deal as he so The first cowboy I ever saw was with this threshing crew, enjoyed meeting people and had a great sense of humor. He put me in the saddle and he rode behind the saddle. Then He could always tell a joke which would fit the occasion, we galloped around the yard. After that I thought he was one In June 1912 dad sold his land to a man by the name of hundred percent. "Naas". I do not remember his first name. Piairie fires- were rather common early in the spring and We then moved to Minneapolis again. I got a job at Min- after harvest. We were always on the lookout for smoke, neapolis Steel and Machinery Company. I worked for them I remember onefire which came from the north. It sounded until in August 1913 when dad and I went to Canada, like the low rumble of a train as it came. It was a fearful Dad filed on a half section of land . south of Scotsguard, thing to see. Saskatchewan. Mother and the girls came up in 1914. My sisters Alma and Ragna walked to Lein Post Office My sister Alma was not at all well. She had been ill for one day when another fire came from the north. They thought sometime. We found out that she had tuberculosis. She passed they could hurry and get home before the fire got so near away on March 7, 1915. but Bertram Lein made them stay at his place until the fire Dad passed away in Minneapolis in 1934. Mother passed had gone through which was a good thing as they would not away in 1936. Brother Henry passed away in 1955, Sigurd in have made it home. Mother and I were home alone and we 1959 and sister Ragna in 1965. were busy putting water on sacks and horse blankets to pro- I was married in December of 1925 to Inger Solland. She tect a haystack which we had. This fire did burn up to some was born in Minnesota but her people moved to Leith, North breaking which was northeast from our buildings. Mother Dakota in 1906. She came to Canada to cook for her brother was afraid that some sparks would blow in that far. John. The day that Sigurd Wenaas and Nellie Jacobson got mar- We had four boys. Carroll, the oldest, is now in Ottowa, ried was a day that I will never forget. After the marriage Ontario. Gerald, the second oldest, farmed at Spirit River, ceremony was performed we drove to Jacobson's place and Alberta for a while. He passed away July 23, 1962. Vernon, the kids proceeded to enjoy themselves. It seemed like we the third son, is going to the University in Ottowa, Ontario, were eating all day long. Then towards evening the crowd He was married September 6, 1969. Our youngest son Rolf decided that it was time to dance. The music was very lively is married and lives in DRAYTON Valley, Alberta. They have and as the evening wore on it got faster. During a very lively two boys, Dennis who is ten years old and Dwayne who is polka Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson got up and danced with the two years old. best of them. As they went by the big door, Mr. Jacobson As for me, I am now seventy-four years and am in fairly must have slipped because he went sailing out the door and good health and I am living in hopes that I can be down landed on his back but that didn't hurt him a bit. He got up there July 1970. , on his feet, ran up the stairs, got a hold of his wife and away they went as fast as ever. It seems so strange why it is that when a few youngsters get together they always think of some trick or mischief to get into. It was at a Young Peoples' Society meeting at Gundersons one Sunday when a bunch of us boys caught a stray torn cat. Someone suggested that we put some turpentine under his tail. We had thought that he would take across the prairie like wild but instead of that he made for the house and, as the windows were open in the room where the meeting was being conducted, he jumped in one window, slid across the floor on his seat and with a big "MEOW" jumped through another window and away he went. I don't think he was ever seen again. Those inside had been very solemn before but their meeting ended in this very undignified manner. The winter of 1910 and 1911 was a very cold and rough winter with a lot of snow. Father was sick almost all winter with asthma so it was up to mother and I to take care of the stock. Our barn was low with a straw roof. The snowdrifts were as high as the barn. I had to put a fence on the top of the barn to keep the cattle from walking over on the roof and falling in. There were several days that we could not get the cattle out to water so I had to make holes in the roof and shovel snow down for the stock to lick up. They could not get enough to quench their thirst but they made up for 242 Taken from Driscoll Paper 1908-1914 We will pny SI 25 per dozen for jackra bbits, carloads or less quati- litifs. Mttcalf & Christenson, Advt 3000000000000000000 to a fine community Bismarck Paint & Glass Co. Dunahey Paint & Glass Co. Vantines Paint & Glass Co. coooooooo Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.