Summer on the ranch

In his memoirs, Wesley recalled a June day in 1900. He was eight years old and his sister, Eva was ten. His oldest brother, Nate, was twenty-three and he had come to Laramie to move them home for the summer, driving a good team and a wagon on which he had put a cover. Wes wrote: "This day in June of the year 1900 was a red letter day.... because school was out for the summer and we were moving to the ranch... By four o'clock in the afternoon we were ready to start. The day was perfect and, in fact, was one of those days that the poet wrote about:

'Oh what is so rare as a day in June
When all the world seems in tune'.

Well, all the world was in tune. No school until next September and we kids knew we could live like wild Indians through those glorious days.

"Well, it was the horse and buggy days. The roads were just wagon trails. The city of Laramie was small -- about 6,000. It's streets were of mother earth, not even graveled, and at times could be very deep in mud or very dusty to the disgust of the housewives. Travel time to the ranch with a team and a heavy load was from six to eight hours. With a light rig it was four. The country being new and just emerging from the open range days were more verdant than now...

"After we left the city and crossed the Laramie River we kids, as kids will do, ran along behind the wagon picking flowers and trying to catch frogs. A great many of these frogs lived along the way in low places along the road. For the first seven miles, out to the Seven Mile Lakes, the road was, as a rule, quite swampy. But after about two miles of this activity we were glad to get into the wagon. Before it got dark, we went to bed, as a place had been fixed for us to sleep. No one nowadays will have the pleasure of lying in a covered wagon and being lulled to sleep as those wheels just kept rolling along.

"When we awoke it was daylight, we were at our summer home and adventure lay ahead. The river was high, the meadows were beautiful; robins, flickers, killdeers, bluebirds, blackbirds, magpies, swallows and many other birds filled the day with a joyous chorus. And there stood old Jelm Mountain, an invitation to great adventure.

"So summer had begun. We spent it as only two healthy young people could in those times of no radios, television, or cars. Mother kept us well fed, clean and well disciplined. We made stilts to walk on, but tried to wade the irrigation ditches and sloughs. This didn't always work out and many a soaking we act when a stilt got caught in the mud. We walked on the top rail of the buck fences where we got many a fall. We climbed the trees and watched the young birds in their nests. We helped with chores and learned to milk. And sometimes, as kids will do, we got many a bump riding the bigger skim milk calves. We, of course, had a gentle old horse that we rode single, double, or quadruple. When old Curry got tired of so many on his back at one time, he would throw his head down so that we would slide off." Many years later, another horse, Pancho, would do the same thing with Everett's children, Joyce and David and visiting children. His rule was, "no more than two"!

"There was one thing that we loved to do and that was to climb to the top of what we called 'Home Hill', which is just across the highway from the ranch. From this vantage point we could watch the freight outfits of which there were quite a few. These freight outfits had from one team and wagon to two wagons pulled by as many as four to eight teams to the load. In those days, all of the supplies for up the river (Big Laramie) and North Park (in Colorado) were freighted in during the summer and fall months.

"We had good mail service for many years as a stage line was operated between Laramie and Walden. The stage arrived at our mailbox at ten A.M. going west. It passed going east at four P.M.

"One could always get a ride to town for a dollar and many a time that came in real handy. Eva and I got well acquainted with Sid Lawrence, the stage driver. Sid drove the stage from Laramie to Mountain Home and back six days a week for many years, summer and winter. Most of the time the stage used two horses, but if there was snow, four head were used. Horses were changed every twelve miles. Mr. Trabing, one of the first merchants in Laramie, had the contract to run the stage. After Sid Lawrence retired from his job, he met his death by falling out of an open haylift door."

Wes's account continues: "The Laramie River in those days was a fisherman's paradise. We learned to fish early. The fish were a big part of our summer diet and a great attraction to the sportsmen who came by livery rig or on bicycles. Money was scarce but one lived off the land. The folks planted potatoes as well as a garden, milked cows, and raised their own beef, pork, and chickens. We lived well. Taxes were no problem, the country was free and the United States was at peace with the world."

NOTE: Because there were no home freezers or refrigerators in those days, meat was either eaten fresh or it was canned or salted for later use. Root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, turnips, etc. were stored in a "root cellar". This cellar was built mostly underground so that vegetables kept cool but did not freeze. Carrots were placed in sand to inhibit their drying. Many vegetables and fruits were also canned.

Back to Wes's account: "Mother made sixty pounds of butter a week which she sold to the Laramie Grocery. This made it necessary to go to Laramie once a week. Dad built what we called the 'butter box' in which the butter was put and ice packed around it so that when it got to the store it was still in good shape. Whoever took the butter in usually left the ranch at four A.M. during the cool of the morning and as a rule got to town by eight o'clock."

NOTE: Ice was "harvested" from the Laramie River and later from Sodergreen Lake and stored in sawdust in an ice house. More about ice harvest later.

Wes related a humerous incident which happened one day when they were returning from Laramie. People along the road kept the coffee pot on and travelers would stop for a brief visit and have a cup of coffee on their way home. One such family had six children and were living under poor circumstances but were must hospitable and Mrs. S. always insisted that they stop. "It was a hot afternoon in July. The knats and mosquitoes were bad, so we were glad to stop as was the horse. Now imagine, if you can, a building of 20' by 30' with a flat roof and a lean-to built on the north side. It was into this lean-to that we were taken for coffee. The room was about 8' by 10'. There were only a table and some chairs as furniture. Under the table were four pans of milk. These pans were about 15" in diameter and four inches deep. They were used for the purpose of letting the cream rise to the top for skimming."

NOTE: Making butter to trade for groceries was a common practice.

"Well, Mrs. S. took us to the kitchen, which was in the larger room, and in her excitement in having company, she left the screen door to the lean-to open.

"Now here is where disaster struck. For outside was an old sow with eight little pigs and, while we were in the kitchen, the lean-to exploded with small pigs who, with great joy, came in and got in to the milk.

"What happened next was classic. Mrs. S. grabbed a broom, knocked the table and chairs over, and sent the pigs and milk all over the place. She came out the winner. Mother was all sympathy, but I enjoyed every minute of it!"

In addition to butter, ranchers sold eggs and, early in the summer, they sold dressed fryer chickens to the grocery store if they had plenty of ice to pack around them. After the automobile came into use, it wasn't as essential to use the ice. In the fall, they sold potatoes to the store. Ranchers' products were often exchanged for groceries such as flour, cereals, etc.

It is interesting to note how women worked to augment the ranch income. Because of distances and the fact they were needed at home, they brought in money by making butter, selling eggs, fryers and other ranch products in addition to exchanging as much as necessary for groceries and other items.

People living in Laramie also often had cows and/or horses and this made a market for the surplus hay, wheat and oats which many ranchers grew. Custom threshing outfits would come through the country in the fall and thresh the grains. These were steampowered giants. Everett recalls when he was a young boy walking to school, passing a neighboring ranch where grain was being threshed. He and his friend, John Perry Sodergreen, would stop on their way home and watch and talk to the crew.

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