BARNS

109 YEAR OLD BARN

BY R. AUBREY LA FOY

The history of our past should be preserved. Towns and farms of today are quite different from 50 or 60 years ago. Many small communities have almost ceased to exist and many struggle. The post office is probably one of the last establishments to disappear and we observed the many closings this past week. Farms have now become primarily grain producers. 100 years ago a barn was a must to store hay and house the milk cows. It is indeed sad to see a once fine barn slowly deteriorate, lean and collapse. Kids today don’t know the thrill of playing in the haymow or seeing the excitement of bringing in the hay and elevating it into the barn. Remember the horses pulling the long rope to put the hay up and in. Any kid that grew up on farm can relate to pitching hay down for the horses and cows. Do kids today even know what a pitchfork is?? We need to try to save and preserve at least a few of our past for future generations-Save the barn.

The big white barn directly back (south) of the Dickinson County Nature Center building was built in 1902 by Sam A. Holcomb. A news article in the July 18, 1902 Spirit Lakes Beacon reads, “S.A. Holcomb is building a barn on his farm 40 X 80, 16 foot posts. It will hold 75 tons of hay and furnish Sam’s stock excellent quarters.” It is a well constructed building with huge timbers. Some of the lumber was secured from the oak trees located on the property and the land across the road to the north. Another article in the Spirit Lake Beacon, February 18, 1901, “S.A. Holcomb will move to his Center Grove farm about the first of March. He will have one of the nicest farm homes in the county and have it stocked and equipped without a burden of debt. Sam’s many friends contemplate his property with real satisfaction.”

Samuel Anselum Holcomb is my grandfather. Sam was born at Castilia, Iowa, November 9, 1861, and my grandmother, Georgia Sperbeck Holcomb was born April 4, 1861 at La Crosse, Wisconsin. Both families came by covered wagon to the Iowa Great Lakes. The Lewis Holcomb family (Sam’s father, mother three brothers and one sister) settled on a homestead several miles east of Big Spirit Lake and the Sperbecks (Eight children and wife) homestead was on the east shores of Big Spirit Lake. The Sperbeck family came to Dickinson County in 1867 and the Lewis Holcomb family came in 1870.

The Holcomb family came by covered wagon drawn by oxen. Sam and his brother John walked the distance herding the family cows. The family lived in a sod dugout when they first came to the area. The Lewis Holcomb family lived in the area until 1885. Lewis was sheriff of Dickinson County in 1882. He was also engaged in a stagecoach line traveling from Jackson, Minnesota to Spencer, Iowa. He left with his family, all but Sam, first to Kansas, then to Oklahoma for the Land Rush. The families of Sam’s brothers still reside in Oklahoma.

Sam Holcomb, my grandfather, left home at the age of 13 to work at a farm in Diamond Lake Township where he also attended school in a one room schoolhouse. Later he worked in the Minnewaukon Hotel at Spirit Lake and two years in the Schley Hotel at Jackson, Minnesota.

Sam and Georgia were married on December 10, 1884 at the home of her parents James Sperbeck in Minnie (Orleans), Iowa. After three years they moved to a Diamond Lake Township farm and stayed there for five years. Leaving the farm they moved to Spirit Lake and Sam was involved in a livery concern with a Mr. J. Mott. Spirit Lake Beacon article, January 12, 1900, stated that, “Mott & Holcomb are now entirely out of the livery business. The firm will not dissolve, as they have extensive farming interests which will engage their attention. The relations of these parties with the community have been such as to make their movements of interest. The junior partner (Sam) came here as a small boy and has made a record for honesty and general good conduct. S. Mott came here in 1869 and is a good man.” January article reads, “Big Sale-Mott & Holcomb on Lake Street, 40 horses and vehicles.”

In 1901 they purchased the farm now known as Kenue Park. (North one-half of the Northeast one-fourth of Section Eighteen, Center Grove Township of Dickinson County) They also owned some land across the road to the north. The family lived on the farm from 1901 to 1905. While there as stated before he built the farm and other outbuilding for the use in the farm operation.

The Sam Holcomb family consisted of Sam, Georgia his wife, Freda, Ollie, Ferol, Charlotte and Jean. Freda, the oldest, graduated from Spirit lake High School in 1902. She rode a pony from that farm into Spirit Lake each school day and the rest of the children attended a one-room school that was on the corner where the Barns are today. My Mother Jean remembers sliding down the big hill (kane) directly to the west and south of the barn. She was born in 1898.

Sam earlier had a meat market in Milford so he knew the butcher trade. While living on the farm in Center Grove he continued that trade an during the summer months would get up early, butcher a beef, cut it into cuts, throw them into a horse drawn wagon and peddle the meat up  and down the east shores of West Okoboji. Ice was harvested from the lake in the winter and kept in an ice cellar. The ice was covered with sawdust and taken out as needed.

On March 31, 1905 the Dickinson County Supervisors met in a Special Session. “Members present were: J.T Webb, C.C. Gregory and W.C. Edmunds and County Auditor-C.C. Hamilton. Supervisor Gregory introduced a resolution authorizing the purchase from S.A. Holcomb farm for a poor farm for use and benefit of Dickinson County for the consideration to be $7,080.00. That we also purchase from S. A. Holcomb nine head of Aberdeen Angus Cattle, consideration $700.00”

The Board of Supervisors, April, 1905 session, “appointed Geo. Machesney as Superintendent of the poor farm for the period of eight months beginning April1’ 1905 at $40.00 per month. Also a garden was allowed by the board as well as cows and chickens. There would be milk, butter, eggs for table use. Each person placed on the farm to be boarded and cared for by him and his wife as conditions may require, the county shall pay him $2.00 per month per resident, bills payable for each month. Mr. Machesney was to have the management of the farm. J. T. Webb was appointed to purchase horses, machinery, feed and seed necessary to operate the poor farm.” The above information secured from the 1905 Minutes of the Dickinson County board of Supervisors.

Sam Holcomb family moved to Spirit Lake and later to Milford. Sam owned and operated several meat markets over the years. Sam kept the farm area north of Kenue Park and harvested many of the oak trees there. The Holcomb’s burned oak in their furnace in Milford and I recall going with my Dad to cut and saw up the trees. The area was also covered with gooseberry bushes and many times we would accompany grandmother Holcomb to pick gooseberries. Grandma Holcomb was noted for her gooseberry pies. Sam died in 1940 and Georgia in 1958.

Dickinson County worked the “farm” for many years producing garden produces: milk, butter chickens and eggs for consumption at the “poor” farm.

The barn my grandfather, Sam Holcomb, had constructed in 1902 is still in fair condition. Several years ago a metal roof was installed which helps preserve it. The 40 X60 white barn in Kenue Park is over 100 years old. The location in Kenue Park makes it an ideal place to preserve some of Dickinson County’s history. Save the barn.

GREEN

DOWN MEMORY LANE

GREEN

BY R. AUBREY LA FOY

       Green is the “hip” word today, meaning we should do all what we can to save the environment. I take offence to the implication that older generations contributed to the contamination of our world today. The suggestions, by some, are that we did little to help save the environment are far from the truth. While, in fact, we were not a wasteful generation but did many things that saved material, time and energy.

The other day an e-mail came through lamenting the use of “throw-away-plastic water bottles. It has always amazed me to see young people tilting a bottle of water when they are standing next to a water facet. Why in heavens name would you pay money to get water in a bottle from who knows where to drink? When I was a youth we got our milk, pop and beer in glass bottles that we returned to the store. Milk bottles were washed, sterilized and refilled at the creamery. I recall Mother doing the same with the glass milk bottles, giving me a dime and trotting over to the neighbor who kept his cow back of his house in a barn to pick up a quart of milk. Money was hard to come by in those days and many times we walked the road ditches and picked up discarded pop and beer bottles, taking them to the store and receiving a penny or so for each. When I was a kid an old fellow from Arnolds Park walked the road to Milford and back each day carrying a gunny sack to put discarded glass bottles. I asked my Dad about him and Dad told me that was about the only income the old fellow had. Good thing we lived in a tourist area

In 1940 several of us pooled our money a purchased a Model T Ford. We spent a great deal of time getting it to run and after several attempts made it go. Only one of us had a driver’s license so he was our driver. The Model T had a top and side curtains but most of the time we drove it with the top down. None of us had much money so one afternoon we all piled into the Model T and drove to Estherville. A real adventure as it is over 20 miles. We started in Milford, took Highway 71 to Spirit Lake and then Highway 9 to Estherville. Jim drove the car and the rest of us ran alongside and searched the ditches for pop and beer bottles. If we got tired, we rode a bit, rested and jumped out to look in the ditches. It was surprising how many bottles we found and upon reaching Estherville turned them in at a grocery store. Forget how much we got but know it was more than enough to resupply our car with gas. We even had enough after that to reward ourselves with a hamburger and malt. It was fun and the ride back was delightful just reclining and letting Jim do all the work. Today the kids can find pop cans the same way but the returns are not nearly as much. We recycled our bottles and we didn’t have the green thing in those days.

Several years ago our local YMCA in Spirit Lake built a wonderful facility. We built one here in Leisure World also for people to exercise and keep in shape. In my folk’s days they didn’t have an escalator in many stores and office building let alone an elevator. They walked to the meat market, school, bank, dry cleaners, and post office. During the Depression years our one car was jacked up on blocks during the winter in the garage and we walked to everything. School was five blocks away.  Downtown Milford was three blocks and church was four blocks from our house. We shoveled snow with our scoop shovels and mowed the lawn with a hand pushed mower and got all the exercise we needed.

We had one radio in our house and to really save one windup clock in the kitchen. The radio was a big Atwater-Kent that picked up about six radio stations not 150 like our TVs do today. About 4:00 p.m. my sister and my favorite programs started on the radio. We listened to Sky Harbor, Jack Armstrong, I Love a Mystery, Little Orphan Annie, Renfrew of the Mounties and a few others. In the evening we had all the great radio shows like Jack Benny, Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee and Molly, Amos and Andy and the Lux Theatre. We really saved on electricity and gas and for refreshments Dad would make a dishpan full of popcorn. When we wanted water it came out of the tap and put it in a glass not a plastic bottle like today. We were green in those days already.

Mother did have an electric clothes washer but put the damp clothes on a clothesline in the backyard. Diapers were washed, hung out to dry and not bought at the store and disposed of in the land fill. In those days we used solar power long before the new meaning came around that we use today. In those days most of the boys had only one or two pairs of pants-one for everyday and one for church and when if they tore or ripped Mother would put on a new patch. Today I cringe when I observe young people wearing jeans that are ripped and torn and pay through the nose to look scuffy. Think how much we saved in those days but the pants were always clean. Many nights after I had gone to bed Mother would wash my pants and hang them over the register to dry so I could wear them to school.

Several years ago I was cleaning out my parents home and opening a drawer found a Parker’s Lifetime fountain pen. In those days we refilled the pens and didn’t throw them away when they went dry, like today. It is almost impossible to find refills anymore for pens-want a waster. I recall that when I first started to teach in 1950 somebody had given me a fountain pen for graduation which I used at school. There was no law or rule that I know of but men teachers were supposed to wear white shirts, necktie and a suit. The fountain pens were not always perfect and many times they would leak and stain the white shirt. What a mess but we had our wives bleach the shirts and refilled the fountain pen. When I first started to teach I really saved on clothing as I had only two suits that I wore on alternate days. I’ll bet the kids got tired of those two suits but we had many neckties to seek some variation. When school was out practically all the students walked home, rode their bikes or rode a school bus and didn’t turn their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

I recall getting invited to spend the weekend at a schoolmate’s home on a farm. We had electricity in our home in town but as I recall most rooms had one electric light bulb hanging from the ceiling and very few outlets like today with multiple outlets. We didn’t use or waste much electricity. My visit to my friend’s farm was a real awakening as they had no electricity. When it became dark out came the lanterns. We stumbled around in the dark to milk the cows, ate supper and even did some school work with only a feeble lantern for light. It wasn’t until REA came around in the 1940s that my farm friends had electricity but they sure didn’t use much energy as we do today in our homes and on the farms.

Unfortunately I have read many articles that lament how wasteful older generations were because we didn’t have the “green” things we have today. Horsefeathers! I think we had lots of savings and the present generations could learn from us old geezers. I do know that many of the unemployed today have had to cut back. Maybe they could or should read about us and how we lived in the 1930s.

SPRING

MEMORY LANE

SPRING

BY R. AUBREY LA FOY

“Spring is sprung, the grass is green, it’s time to get the blankets clean.” So went the popular ditty when I was a youth.  Lots of things happened in the spring like a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts that the girls have been thinking of all winter.  Teaching young people was always a thrill especially in the spring of the year.  Love would blossom right before your eyes and it gave one acknowledgement that the human race had not really changed.  Trying to teach about the American Revolution was a lost cause when the love bug bit.  Students could care less about George Washington or the Battle of Bunker Hill but if you could find a historical incident of George Washington dancing with Martha maybe, just maybe you could get their attention about history.

Does anyone still do spring-cleaning? Many of you can remember mother really going all out with cleaning up the house after a long cold winter. Spring-cleaning was a tradition and religiously followed by grandmother and mother.  Most of the homes were heated by wood or coal stoves and with the house being shut up all winter that old coal dust and smoke would penetrate and get into everything.  In many houses all of the curtains came down, washed by had and stretched to dry on a wooden frame known as a curtain dryer. Drapes were dry-cleaned in white gasoline and hung up to dry.  This operation was done outside as a safety precaution. We always had a can of that gas on the back porch that mother used to dry-clean other apparel.

The other day we were at an antique shop and one of the items for sale was a rug beater. People of our generation know what one looks like but kids today wouldn’t have the slightest hint of what that goofy looking apparatus was intended for.  Many of you can recall pulling up the living room rug, taking it outside to hang on the clothesline and beating the dirt and dust out of it.  The beating of rugs was great practice for baseball batting but it was hard work.  No matter how hard or how long you beat the rug it never was enough for mother.

Mother always wore an apron and had her hair tied up with a dishtowel that hung down her back. When she got that garb on we knew that springhouse cleaning was for real. It was an all day or two affair and meals were pretty skimpy.  I recall that one spring we had several painters come into the house and after my parents had washed down the wall they painted the dining and living rooms. It took them several days to do the job and I recall the smell of fresh paint and turpentine really smelled up the house.  That paint job was great because it hadn’t been redone in all the years we lived there which were something like 40 years. The paint in those days was nothing like our water base paint of today in drying time, odor and ease of cleaning brushes.

 Robins arriving signaled the advent of spring and even if they have to dodge snow we knew it would not be long before the temperatures would be warmer.  With their arrival and seeing one we would recall and do the traditional good luck ritual. Wipe your right thumb across the palm of your left hand and doubling up your right hand strike the left palm. Do this routine three times and it was suppose to bring you good luck. In the early spring mayflowers came out on the pastures west of our community and we would go and pick a bouquet for mother.  She was always so thrilled to get them and put them in a vase to set on the kitchen table. One of the best things about spring was that you could shed your overshoes, winter coat, mittens, cap with earflaps and feel 20 pounds lighter.

We really knew that spring had arrived when recess time came and we could play marbles.  Sometimes it was a bit of a chore to find a dry spot but the south side of our school building afforded a great location. We would draw a three foot round circle in the dirt and then go back a number of yards and scratch a “lag line.” Lag up to the circle and then get our your favorite shooter. Some fellows had a great way of pushing the shooter with their thumb and other used a knuckle flip.  I could never master that knuckle flip but managed to knock a number of marbles out of the pot so kept pretty even. But marbles and spring went together. Another place we played marbles was in the center of the street.  The streets were graveled and the center seemed to dry out early. Nobody bothered us or told us to get off the street nor did we worry much about traffic, there wasn’t any.  If a vehicle did come it gave us the courtesy of driving as far to one side as afforded so as not to stop our great marble game.  Many of you can remember the embarrassment of accidentally spilling all of your marbles in the schoolroom.  That little commotion really interrupted the class schedule as well as getting the teacher mad at you.

Another sure sign of spring was the return of flies. Our farm friends had cows, pigs and chickens that helped the fly population but we city folk were not exempt.  Many of our neighbors raised chickens and ducks and within one block of our home. There were also several cows quartered nearby.  Flies are equal-opportunity pests and early on we heard “Don’t open the screen door!” Flies could form a solid mat on the screen door, as they wanted to get into the house, so one had to be constantly on guard to keep out the unwelcome guests. One of our defense weapons was ribbon of sticky paper that uncoiled from little green tubes, which were hung from the ceiling. A thumbtack was even provided. The long sticky strips hung from the ceilings of butcher shops, ice cream parlors, drugstores and grocery stores as well as in our houses. Flies that were seeking you out would bump into the strips and get caught. Another seeker of flies was a large sheet of sticky paper placed where flies would land. The fly would land on the paper and stay. It also caught cats and little children.  If you anchored your fingers on those sheets it was a mess to extract them and usually the paper could find your other hand and chin before you escaped. I recall a gag that Red Skeleton did trying to get untangled from those sheets of sticky flypaper.  It was hilarious. Other weapons in an attempt to rid the farms, animals and homes from flies were fly spray and fly “guns.”

Animals really suffered in the warm months with those flies.  Horses seemed to attract flies and the owners put on fly covers on their backs and even a sort of round screen attachment on the horse’s mouth and nose to keep the flies off.  Cows were forever swishing their tails and I have from good authority (Connie) that while milking a cow the tail is not a soft touch when twirled in your direction across the face. She told me it stings getting smacked with a cow’s tail plus the tail is not the cleanest part of the cow.

 Spring is a rebirth of life and a time for planting. Gardens are planted and seeds sprout and grow in spring.  A sure sign of spring was seeing the farmers in their fields preparing the ground and planting the seeds.  Watching mother and father robin build a nest is awe-inspiring.  Each flight by one of the robins with bits of straw and paper will eventually form into a nest.  Many times we have observed one of them sitting on the eggs and knowing full well that spring has arrived. The buds come out on the trees, weeds grow and the grass needs mowing are all signs of spring.  It is a great time to be alive and it renews our spirits to the wonders of nature.

Learning

The weather here in AZ is just right now. Everybody asks, "When are you going back?" We don't know as we both have appointments at Mayo this week, I for a check up and Connie for a sleep disorder. Probably the middle of May. Our golf leagues start at 7:00 am next week.
This month I learned two very important things:
                1. The male connection for electricity has a larger prong on the left side. Wow! and here i had been just inserting the plug and saying I have 50 % to 50 % chance of getting it wrong or right.I used to say if it connected it would be a great day and if not right, well.
                 2. Ladies wouldn't know but I learned last week that many men's urinals have a button on the top to flush. Wow! and here I thought all along that gravity would do the job..
   Several years ago Connie and I were up at Las Vegas and went into Caesars Palace restroom. I almost died laughing as there was some old geezer sitting on one of the urinals. Why there I never knew but several young fellows were really having a laugh at the old fellows expense. 

Duck or Eagle

This was a new one on me.  I'd never seen it and liked it.  I thought you might, too.  
 

 

Ducks Quack - Eagles Soar   This puts "life, living, and leading" in a whole new light--" No one can make you serve customers well....that's because great service is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing  Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for  Harvey . He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.' Taken aback,  Harvey read the card. It said: Wally's  Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.... This blew  Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice..' Almost stuttering,  Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.' Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and  USA   Today..' As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.' And as if that weren't enough, Wally told  Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised  Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if  Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts... 'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?' Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always.  In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do.  Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself.. He said, 'Stop complaining!  Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.' 'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.' 'I take it that has paid off for you,'  Harvey   said. 'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action. Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about us?  Smile, and the whole world smiles with you.... The ball is in our hands! A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up... let us do good to all people. Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.  Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.         SORROW looks back, WORRY looks around, and FAITH looks UP...   "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." Have a sparkling day

 

OKOBOJI SWINGERS

Sunday we had several of the Okoboji Swingers here at our house in Leisure World. It was a great day and great time. Had lots of catching up and talking. We also invited our very dear friends and neighbors from the townhouse on Emerald Hills-Jim and Marline Avery. They area all "snowbirds" living the great life in Arizona.  The weather was great and they all sat around on our west patio. Fun!

Photo Contest

Castle in Ireland

Window Box in Ireland

Entrance to Horse farm in Ireland

Bathtub outside of Antique Shop-Cottonwood, AZ

Canal in Ireland-Honorable Mention Ribbon

Depot at Perkinsville-Verde Canyon RR

Hello,This week our Art Group held and art show. Many enter photos and paintings. Part of the show is photography and the photos are judged. Every year think I should enter some of  our photos so this year took the plunge. Going to an Estate Sale purchased six or more frames. We have hundreds of photos so picked out six and ran them through Print Shop and placed them in the frames. Many of the participants buy beautiful frames and get the frame shops to matte their photos. I put borders on mine using Print Shop 23.  Not knowing what to expect I entered six and hung them for the judges. One of my photos did win an "Honorable Mention" which pleased us. Looking at the photos that received blue ribbons it appeared the judges like animals and birds but we were happy. Have a little better idea of what to place in next year. This is just one of the "perks" living in Leisure World.