American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-03-11
PIONEER DRY FARMERS
OF R0CkLAND VALLEY.
Editor American Falls Press:

ing n "reminiscences of W, II. oliver
of happenings among the irrigation
farmers of Power county and hat re-
minds me of some of the experiences of
some of the dry farmers down in the
vicinity of Landing.
l was in Spokane in 1910 when some
Washington Johnies came there and
reported that they had located in the
beautiful Rockland valley and were so
enthusiastic over the country that a
number of us left (as soon as we could
organize) for the "land of the free
and the home of the brave"
Mike Unger, Charley Unger and my
self were located here by Hyrum
Frodsham.
AS times were none too lively on
our claims at the time we all went up
to American Falls and went to work.
Soon after, Fogarty, Jack Weed, Otto
Barthold, Lars Jensen and Harry
Knudson blew into the Falls and l
Immediately took them down and To-
Gated them In my neighborhood so in
a short time we had a snug little bunch
all clustered together in hat everlast-
ing sea of sage brush. The only mar
ried people in our vicinity we're DR..
and Mrs. Marsh, Mr.. and Mrs. Collins,
Mr.. and Mrs. Elsempeter, Mr.. and Mrs.
Unger. Mr.. and Mrs. Coleman came the
next year. Mike and / stuck to our
claims but Charley made his getaway.
The winter of 1910 was a tough one
for us all. The various ones with fam
lilies moved somewhere. Jack Weed
and Tom Jensen were the only ones In
our immediate crowd who had a bank
account, but Fogarty had a pension of
So per month and l had a lot Of traps
and went after the muskrats In Rock
creek and would occasionally get a
coyote and bob-cat too. and when l
sold my fur l could grub stake until l
could make n raise. / distinctly re-
member that sold some rat skins to a
Frenchman who came along. l went to
Rockland to lay in a stock of supplies.
| bought potatoes, beans, rice, flour
and bacon. The only bacon l could
get was about an inch thick and four
wide and four inches long and
1t was home cured" and was the only
bacon Sam Morris had on hand Mt the
tune and think a sheep herder bought
1t back after he had kept II all summer.
How he got 1t worked down to its
nr1gAnf nrnnnrtinnu 4 naunr ,..1l 49,.
derstand, after our experience with It;
we couldn't cut 1t with a knife or an
ak or saw II, so we used It to cook
beans with. One day Tom Jensen came
over and borrowed It to cook his beans
with He kept It three weeks. Jack
Weed came after It and cooked his
beans with 1t and for some reason we
never could explain, Jack brought II
home. We could have proved up on
that bacon II 1t hadn't been for Fogarty
He had some beans to cook and moth
ing to season them with. We had our
approximations OF F'ogarty's careless
ness and didn't want to lend Il any
more, but he begged so hard we final
ly let him take It and 10. and behold!
HE BURNT TT
That winter Harry Knudson was,
strictly speaking, "up against IT," All
he had was his shack and stove, a
morris chair and a straw tick filled
with straw which was made and do
mated to him by the ladies aid of
R%ockland, and that tick was so full of
mice that all the old maids, to this
day, jump up on a chair and scream
that tick is mentioned. Well as
| was saying. Harry's income that
winter was very limited 80 Jack Weed
boarded him that winter and let him
fence in the spring. Harry built
fence by contract and sublet the
work to me and made enough to pay
me and satisfy Jack. AS nearly as VIC
could ascertain all the ready money
Harry had that winter was what he
collecting subscriptions on a
commission for the Rockland Times.
One day Harry came over with a
chicken under his arm and said he had
II and wanted to have a feed
at u shack. Not that we doubted his
veracity. We wished for proof, for IL
was strictly against the rules OF our
little colony to do any foraging, 30
insisted on his taking US TO where
he got the bird and proving to our
satisfaction that he bought II I'm good
SO Harry agreed and myeelf
and Fogarty started out to the place,
Just over the hill. Now. Harry was a
good pedestrian and had both the in
and the ability. Fogarty had
he ability but was deficient in his in
;linations, while ] had the inclination
but was lacking In ability. After wan
iering about In the sag brush (there
we're no roads) for az It seemed 10 me
indefinite length OF time, / asked
much further It was. Oh, Harry
says, Just over that hill. so we tramp
on until Fogarty was distracted and
was feeling my rheumatism quite
plain. We called a halt and told Harry
were satisfied he bought the chick
en-.