The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-04-07
Nv MRS, W, X. WILLIAMS
a.. Washhurn

tlOU Vi UClIlS WIG AA0I WlAsS "OAhssA'
to reside in Mclean county. Coming
to Bismarck by team in 1873, where
the family lived in q tent until =
crude house was erected, Mrs. Merry
took in boarders. Her husband ana
four sons soon went up the Missouri
about IS miles north and established
a woodward at Dry Point near Paint
ed Woods to supply wood for the
Mrs. Merry soon follow
ed and lived for years In q floorless
log cabin. cooking daily for dozen
or more hungry wood choppers. never
leaving the place. or seeing an
other woman for months at . time,
leading lonely, gruelling existence,
deathly afraid Of the Indians, who
came begging 80 often. Her sons,
John, Fred, Hite and William, were
great hunters and supplied Bismarck
with Wild game Of oil sorts.
Experience with Indians
William married Winnipeg girl
and brought her from . sheltered
home life to live at this woodward.
Some 10 years after Mrs. Merry and
her four small daughters took the
steamboat to join her husband at
Williston, and return with him by
rowboat. One morning on their re-
turn trip they were breaking camp
when Indians appeared. They snatch
cd up their belongings, jumped into
their rowboat and hurried down stream.
Miles distant they camped on an
island, thinking they would not be
lnolested. But it wasn't long before
several Indians came swimming their
horses across, terrifying them. But
all they wanted was tobacco. Mrs.
Merry and the little girls never for
got the big guns and long knives
those cruel-looxing Indians carried.
Ncighborliness. that fine charac-
teristic Of the pioneer, IS exemplified
in Mrs. Olaf Gradin, who was the
grandmother Of Lloyd spetz. for
whom the Bismarck,s Legion post is
named. The Gradins came to live in
q small floorless log cabin on home
stead at Elm Point on the Missouri In
Mclean county in 1853. Amid home
made furniture. rag rugs on the dirt
floors, make shift conveniences, she
raised her family and did the work Of
several women. Her hospitality knew
no bounds and her home became the
stopping place for wood choppers,
fishermen. hunters. mail-carriers,
freighters and travellers. But In
her busy life, she found time
to be neighborly, to exchange work.
assist at births and deaths, and nurse
the sick. She was known to walk 10
miles to q bachelor neighbor. Isaac
Westman's, whom she had known In
Sweden, chop wood to bake his bread
and cook for the threshing crew. She
was religious and found time each day
to read her Bible and would trudge
miles to the little schoolhouse to At
tend the occasional religious service.
She also befriended the Indians, who
were frequent callers en- route to and
from the Berthold reservation. Among
them was Sitting Bull. who often sat
cross legged on her Kitchen floor while
she fed him.
All pioneer women feared the pra-
irie fire and many have heroically
combatted that dreaded menace.
Prairie fires we're prevalent In the
spring Of 1908 and one Of great ex-
tension swept through Cromwell
township in Burleigh county. All the
countryside was out fighting It. among
whom was Mrs. A. Twillinger, whose
home was endangered. She was beat
Ing back the licking flames with vet
grain sacks, when her clothing caught
fire, burning her so extensively she
died q few hours later. As II It were
not enough to appease the demon
prairie fire." two days later when her
little funeral procession was vending
It's way to the grass-erovn burial lot.
another prairie fire driven BY . high
wind blackened the prairie before it;
then when the short burial service
was over and the caslEet was lowered,
4 freak whipping Of the wind drove
the fire into the cemetery, burning
the grass to the very edge Of her
grave.
Billiards brought hardships and
sufferings and often loss OF life. In
the adjoining township Of Crofte.
Burleigh county. in the fall Of 1905.
Baard Baardson and . neighbor were
en- route home from Bismarck when
. binding blizzard overlook them.
They soon Lost their way and could
60 no further. They turned the horses
loose from the bobsled and turned
over the wagon box, under which they
took refuge for three days and nights.
literally buried alive In the swirling.
drifting snow. Luckily they had Z few
groceries and robes, which helped
them to survive. After their recovery
In the Bismarck hospital from the
exposure, with the exception Of : few
frosen toes and fingers. they were
none the worse Tor this narrowing ex.
perierce.
Walke1 . 81. rau1
Men walked long distances 70 and
from work for lack q . horse and b
save transportation money tor their
needy families. Swan swanson q
the Elm Point district II Mclean
county walked the entire distance 70
st. Paul in the fall q looo. arriving
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