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This photo is of a sawmill probably around 1916 to
1918. My dad (Clyde) said when he was very young, the family spent
one winter in a camp tent on the Bourbouse river. Allen ran the
mill, while Clara watched the kids (Lilburn, Floyd and Clyde) and cooked
for the camp on a pot-bellied stove in the tent. This was one of
the hardest years the family faced. This may be a picture of that
camp. If so, the lady in the picture is probably Clara holding
Clyde, and the young kid near her is maybe Lilburn. I can't figure
out any of the men in the picture, but if I had to guess, Allen is next
to the steam engine that they owned. I can't say this is the same
camp, but it seems to fit. |
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Allen and Clara were having some good years financially earlier at the Grus Farm site. He had a steam engine and a threshing machine that he used during custom work at other people's farms for extra money, and it sounds like he was doing pretty well at this. One spring, Dad said they were all working down at the Funk farm below us threshing their wheat crop for the year. At lunch time they were all called in to eat, and while they were away from the steam engine, a spark set off a large fire that destroyed the threshing machine. It also took out a large part of the Funk's crop. Allen and the Funk family worked out some sort of agreement to pay for the damages the fire caused. Like I mentioned, times were good for them at the time. Allen
got a team of horses and a buggy together and rode with someone who's
name escapes me to Illinois to buy a brand new threshing machine.
They were gone for a couple of weeks, and when they made it back, he
said they bought a new machine for what Dad remembers as a thousand
dollars and it will be delivered soon by rail car from the factory.
Keep in mind that a grand was a huge amount of money for them at the
time. A few days later, the machine was at the Stanton railroad
spur and the whole family had to go up to town |
