Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-07-04

Globe in which there is long person
al sketch of Senator M. N. Johnson
CT North Dakota, with a photograph
Of the Nelson county statesman. Jas
E. Morrow, a Washington correspond
ent, writes of the senator, who tells
some of his early day experiences
beginning with his campaign for cleo.
tlou for states attorney. OF one OF
his experiences in Dakota Senator
Johnson says:
"Another Iowa man and myself
went there to examine the country,
to find land on which to settle. We
travelled in the spring wagon, of
which have spoken, carrying plenty
of oats for our horses, eating prairie
chicken, which we cooked on an aIcO-
hol stove, and sleeping on the prairie.
We picked up another man and took
him along. After looking at the
country for couple of hundred miles
we settled on some government land
in the northeast part of the terri
tory. A homesteader, under the law,
had to provide himself with habi-
tation. We hauled 1000 feet of lum-
Der from Larimore, the nearest rail-
,
and built three houses, each of which
was seven feet wide and nine feet
long.
1.-THE next spring I returned to my
land. accompanied by my wife and
children, several relatives and their
hired men. There were eleven men,
women and children in my family.
Mrs. Johnson was graduate from
my old university in Iowa, and could
read Greek and Latin, but she could
bake and cook and do everything else
that was practical and womanly. I
contrived a shelf, like the upper berth
in a sleeping car and there Mrs. John
son and the children slept at night.
The rest of us went to bed on the
floor At first we had no door and
wild animals. gophers and son came
and went just about as they pleased.
One night a COW got into the house
and frightened the children. After
that I tied a piece of carpet across
the opening we called door.
Lived on Frugal Fare.
1.-TWO empty nail kegs were used for
chairs-one for Mrs. Johnson and the
other for her grandmother, who had
come all the way from Massachusetts,
with her aged husband that. they also
might get a free farm from the gov
ment. We lived on side meat, black
coffee and cornmeal. Mrs. Johnson
would make sandwiches Of pork and
and craved butter I walked three
meat on an oil stove. and the men
would eat them on the prairie. be-
cause there wasn't room enough In
the honse.
"Orce when Mrs. Johnson was i'll
and croved butter I walked three
miles to a settler who had cow.
He asked 60 cents pound for his but.
ter. and as had no money I borrow.
ed pan of frozen milk and took it
home. Whether she meant it or not
Mrs. Johnson said that milk, after all,
was exactly what she wanted. We
were poor, but we didn't suffer. More
over, we were young and strong
and didn't need doctor. BY and
by I bought more lumber and enlar-
ged my house, making it 10 feet wide
and % feet long. and covering it on
the root and at the sides with sod to
make it warm.
story of young man who had come
with us from our former home in
Iowa. He entered quarter section
of public land not far from where l
lived. The law required him to pro.
vide habitation, but it didn't speci-
fv the kind. the size, the shape or
the cost-all of these matters depend.
ed on the means, the skill, and the
strength Of the settler. A habitation
simply meant, in a loose sense place
in which to live. I gave the young
man a piece of board seven feet long
and sixteen inches wide, a spade,
and an armful Of hay. He dug q
shallow trench in the prairie and
lined 1t with hay That was his
habitation. At night he would lie
down in the hole and pull the board
over him. From that humble begin
ming, made honestly, but without
apenny, became prosperous citizen
and man of family. j.
.. Railroad Followed Them. -.
AT first" Senator Johnson said
In continuing his personal narrative
I'VE were a. miles from railroad
Within six months the tracks of the
new line were SO near to my from
door that had to move my house
One winter passenger train with 81
| men and one woman ran into a snow
bank and stalled right on the edge
OF my farm. Mrs. Johnson, with the
| help of the woman, cooked for the
men-fed them on pork and corr
meal sandwiches three times la,
and read them classical literature ii
the evening. Pioneers must be re
sourceful, self-reliant, and generou,
toward one another. II something
breaks they should know how tt
mend 1t. even though they have only
a Ratchet or hammer. Atr
| Il remember that l had car
| load Of household furniture and grair
coming from Iowa. The nearest sta
ton was many miles distant, which
| meant long, slow haul with a yOks
OF oxen. / used oxen altogether II
those early days. Indeed, / was al
| OK driver when elected to congress
being one Of the last men Id my re
gion to depend entirely on mules b
horses. Near a corner Of my farm
there was 4 prairie slough, out d
| which freight engines took watel
with a siphon. When my car OF fur
| niture and grain stopped On its wa,
to station q long distance on, N
| riDDed omen both Ir1rH and flnlnadnf