The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-12-21
LONELY Romesteaders Enjoy
Christmas in The Woods
BY EDWIN M. CONNER


He was a homesteader holding dowi
II claim of leo acres of Uncle SANS do.
main in the northern Minnesota woods
1t lay in an II" shape, three fortieS
running in one direction and The Other
forty lying along u tote" road.
In the early fall he feiled some young
cedar trees and With the help of settlers
With whom he traded work. soon had
his cabin up. Before frecZe~up time he
had ''chinked" the cracks With . plas-
ter made from the clayisl virgin soil
and With a "froe" had prepared enough
shakes to cover the roof. Among the
woodsnen, shakes are his shingles.
and made with II simple tool resembling
a piece OF broken scythe.
BY the time the deer began to u he
was snugly housed in mis- little 16 by 20
cabin. His furniture was rough. In
one corner was an improvised table, the
top hewed ont of a knotless log, the
shaped out With the simple tool. His
chairs We're huge cedar blocks with
three legs making up the supports.
Along the side CT the cabin was his
bunk" fashioned after q bedstead like
he slept in when a boy. The mattress
was nothing more nor less than green
cedar boughs with a piece of canyas or
tent cloth as 4 shield from the sap
which they held. And with plenty of
quilts. Il modest cooking stove and
enough provisions. such as pork, sor-
shum, a few bushels of potatoes. some
onions and r~utabagas, carrots protected
from the frost in Il dug out, he was
ready to put in the winter and to begin
a life OF eight consecutive months in
the timber in order to meet his obliga-
tons to Uncle Sam as y homesteaGer.
Then he could commute his home-
stead by the payment of Si.2o per acre,
or he ould live out the five years and
/ yDnl.n G,Nn1 ,oyN@e ,N,,+ H. 1-l ,. .,,.1.
intention. for he was q wanderer who
could not live down the desire for u
romantic life which seemed to have
been bred in the bone.
His weapons consisted Of q Savage
rifle, a double-balreled, ten-gauge.
traps, and a quartet of axes.
He had planted his cabin upon the
crown of his land with drainage i'm all
directions. And in this little cabin
amid the snow covered pines he spent
Christmas Cay. During the days of
a beautiful Indian summer he had
worked about his hcvsed log palace in
the wilderness. thirty miles from q
railroad and fifteen miles from Il store
and the village rostoffice. His nearest
neighbor was an Old Irishman named
Mi}lc-nobcdy knew his last name
only old Mike Ela YVES a sort of
r%ecluse. But he ives hospitable. kind,
courteous II over all, accommodating.
Anything he had you could have for
the asking. but he seldom bothered
anybody.
Christr.a7 morning broke clear am!
coid-cold for a tendeyfoot. but mod
crate weather Cor tae hardened woods |
man. And CT this type was Mike. He
had blazed the first trail into the dense
forest after tic government cruisers
had laid out the ccrAer pests and sec
ton lines. He WIS q %squatter in the
sense that he planted himself upon a
choice quarter section with q million
and q half feet of white and Norway
pine. and when the government threw
the land open for settlement his prior-
ity gave him n llomesteader's right and
he flied upon il.
And SO or the morning when in the
city the churches We're tolling their
welcoming chimes welcoming men and
women to the houses OF prayer. TO hear
the story so often told of the child in
the manager the wanderer wendell his
way through the snow banks along the
olaZed trail to the cabin of "Old Mike"
w miles away.
1t was lonely in the dense forest, but
here were two men with a common
purpose: both planting the seeds of
in the northern woods and
building for the future.
The wanderer raped on the little
door.
Merry Christmas. Mike" he called.
Mike started back with surprise.
And is this Christmas" he asked,
he could recover from his aston
ishment.
YES. Mike. Christmas all over the
world, and Christmas for you and me
away UP hero in the woods of Itasca
county" added the younger man as he
grasped the old fellows hand.
They stood for a still holding
hands. Tor Mikes min was wandering
md his mind nl;St have hanp ij11a6
with memories OF many Christmas
days of the sixty odd years he had
Travelled this earth.
Mike" began the newcomer. I'VE
don't know each other very we'll and 1
don't want to drag you from your little
cabin, but l want you to come over to
my cabin and We'll eat a bully good
Christmas inner together. drink some
of the S-year-old h a ] brought in
anticipation of the celebration we will
have today, and put i'll the day with
Mike quenched the fire in his little
stove. put on his top boots with rubber
feet. bGttoned his mackinaw. grabbed
his little handax. and as the door
slammed behind him. he remarked:
"Pard. this is the first Christmas in
three years that 1 really a known
that it was Christmas day. 1t ought to
be an enjoyable one for I have liked
you ever since you asked me to run
your lines and help you select Il spot
Tor your cabin."
They trudged along the trail with an
Indians stride. Mike leading the way.
What a Teller won't see when he
amt got a gum he called out as he
spied a big buck deer making for COW
,r, frightened by the sudden approach
Of what the animal considered an en-
He trudged on with rapid stride
ind, looking back, beheld his compan-
on standing transfixed.
Buck fever" yelled Mike half deris-
lvely, half 1%okingly, waving for his
host to follow.
Through the winding trail. over a
piece of corduroyed hay creek, hopping
dead and down timber, the two
plodded along until finally the little
snow-covered cabin made OF cedar
stood out in bold relief upon the crown
Of the newcomers land.
There was a death stiffness in the
woods saw for the roar which sounded
like a railroad train, but which came
from the signing of the pines. The big
pines, spruces, balsans, cedars and 9TH
sr trees seemed to be as lonely on that
bright Christmas morning as these two