, 1922-10-12

President Of the United States, No
vember 6. 1860. His parents were of
French and scotch ancestry. In the
Civil War, which began when young
MOndell was Il few months old, his
father was u Captain of Missouri
Union Cavalry. At the age of five
he lost his mother, during II scourge
of cholera produced by war condi-
lions, and Il little more han n year
later his father died from the effects
of his army service, leaving six or
phan children, of whom Frank was
the youngest. 1t being impossible to
keep the family together. Frank was
taken by Il relative to Northern Iowa,
where, Il year later, upon the death
of the relative who had befriended
him, he was taken into n became Il
member of the family of n Congrega-
dional minister.
Life On An Iowa Homestead.
a little later the minister and his
family moved to a homestead in the
extreme northwest corne of Iowa, u
hundred miles from a railroad, taking
Frank with them. This pioneer Iowa
homestead was the home of young
Mondell for nearly ten years. The
country was new and sparsely set
tied. The pioneer preacher served
several churches of a considerable
distance from the homestead. The
boy had the usual experience of farm
boys under pioneer conditions. First
he did the "chores" and, as he grew
older and stronger, gradually took
over the farm work and the manage
ment of the farm. There were more
than the usual vicissitudes of life in a
frontier settlement, for, in addition to
short crops and poor markets, there
was the grasshopper scourge of the
seventies which for several years
swept the country bare. Only the fish
and wild owl of the region saved the
settlers from hunger. The skins of
the muskrats which young Mondell,
in common with the other boys of the
neighborhood, trapped in the neighbor-
ing marshes, were trade for powder
and shot with which to kill the feath
cred game with which the country
%abounded. They lived on the land,
for there was little or no cash. Few
had store clothes; the boys wore the
cut-dOwns of their elders. In winter
there were three. or four months of
district school, and this young MOI
dell attended when he could be
spared from the farm work. There
was in the home, however. Il compar-
lively small but thoroughly good Ii
brary, and with the aid Of this and
the instruction which he received ut
home the boy secured an excellent
fund of general information and an
appetite for knowledge which served
him well.
On a Cattle Train for Chicago.
firing of the diseouraging condi-
lions on the farm, when near the age
of seventeen. young Mondell took ad-
vantage of n neighbours cattle ship
ment from the nearest railroad pSnt
and. prod pole in hand, worked his
way to Chicago. He lived in the
"Niudy City" about eighteen months,
during which time he ran II station
AIRY engine in IA stone quarry was
night car checker in the yards of the
Pennsylvania railroad; ran n street
car. worked in the South Chicago roll
ing mills, and drove n purchase and
delivery wagon. Blu the West culled,
and II friend got him II pass to Den
yer, where lie took the first job that
was offered-that of driving n mule
team hauling brick. In six months he
was foreman of the outfit. AMI then
the mountains called, and he rode in
a box ear to n railroad construction
camp near Kokomo, where he engaged
as corral boss n timekeeper.
To the Golden West.
Thus at the 6 of twenty Mondell
took up the outdoor life of railroad
and general construction work, which
occupied his time h next twelve
years. Beginning MS corral boss. team
stcr. frcighter. timekeeper and rock
man. he became In time foreman, su-
pcr.ntendent and manager. His work
carried him throughout the western
mountain states and as far east as
Illinois and Wisconsin. Most of the
winter and summer was spent In tenn
pOrnry camps, I'm cabins, IN in tents.
n always the work was In the opeil
and OF the most strenuous sort. Dur
ing all his period, however, time was
found in the evening for the reading
and study OF such books as We're OBJ
tainable, particularly those on engi-
neering. geology and law.
He Starts for Wyoming.
In the fall of 1887 Mr.. Mondel took
charge of a party organized mt Ster-
ling. Colorado, for the exploration OF
Northeastern Wyoming. In the hope oi
finding a workable vein of coal ut
Tor engine use, the northern lignltes
no being Mt TINT time considered
disable for such purpose. The trip
across the Black Hills from Buffalo
Gap through the snow of nm early
winter ended u few miles northwest
OF where Newcastle now stands. where
camp was made. The winter was hard.
but establishment OF n permanent
camp and prospecting and drifting
Went steadily on. Not. however, until
the following fail. after the country
from Powder River TO the Cheyenne
had been explored and p~rospected,
was the burned and buried outcrop of
she coul vein discovered which became
she Cambria mines. The G, Il. \ O.
wus at Alliance, Neb., $50 miles dis
tant. and Cambria became the lode
stone which drew the railroad on. a
TOWNSHIP was needed on the main line
nenr the mines. The present site OF
NaVvruetla Nvns tho onlV logical place, /