Ml Class I Book PRESENTED BY* Portland Prairie IN PRESENT TIMES PORTLAND PRAIRIE PRE SEISTT TIMES IXCLUDINO 60MK rHlKTY DESCIUPriVE FA KM SKETCHES AND FAMILY RECOIlhS LAKIMORK, N. P. PRINTED BY H. V- ABNOLT> 1919 PuBLisHBB'g Booklet No. 22. PRINTED FOR PORTLAND PRAIRIE RESIDfeNTg, THEIR SONS AND DAUGHTERS. PREFACE In 1911 the pabliiber of this pamphlet iuved * b*«klet of lio pa^es entitled **01d Times on Portland Prairie." Most of the month of Deeember of the previous year was spent in the conamunity and this enabled us to gather quite a fund of information concerning settlement and later tinar^, though much of the work was derived from memory owing to a long residence there, beginning with the year 1864. In a general sense the present work supplements the earlier one. Having again upeot most of what chanced to he a mild winter, and the early spring, in the community, it may be said that the fact hai rendered this work possible. It ha3 often been the case that an author will make some use of his preface in pointing out what he considers to be the defects of his work. Parts of this work weie written out be- fore leaving the community, but not very closely followed when the copy cime to be put tn type, since we are accustomed to put whole pages in type without using any written copy ex- cept lookihi; over some nofes for reference — provided the pans being set «p are not actually quoted matter. Now the farm sketches were not written out before our return, bwl remained in note- book form. Hence certain details, largely of a personal nature, will occarircslly 1 e fcund lacking in some sketches hut present in otlTers. Had the sketches also been put in writing the absence of the^e details might hav« been noticed and tn some measure supplied. But, on tb« whole, the present w>ik will be frmnd to contain a larye fuixl of informatirn^rncerning Pot ilacd Prairie farn^^j, so far •8 the sketchs po, ai c? > fyrrd what i» tuuf 1 ir a county history. Details involving Agures, such as the dimensions of fann bouses anrf barn«, depth of drilled wells, etc., arfe aceordittfT to the statements of owners of farm properties. In printing this work parts that are of a special character have beett pn^ in a smaller sisod If jaetbato that commonly use t>eters, 119- - August Wiegrefe, 120. Scbool HouneH nnd (Church |21 FortUiid I'rairle Necrology Since 1900 13^ Portland Prairie IN PRESENT TIMES I. BY WAY OF C0NTRA8T~A GLANCE AT OLD-TIMR CONDITIONS THERE is a tract of country in the southern part of Houston County. Minn., which, since settlement times has been called Portland Prairie. It is not comprised in any single township, but is bisected north and south by the line separating Wilmington and Winnebago townships and it also has a limited extension across the state line into Iowa. The country surrounding most of this tract is gorged out by valleys, locally called ravines, with their intervening broad-topped ridges. Each large ravine sends off branch ravines which are apt to be narrower and- steeper than the main one. The ravines are occupied by dry runs, except that these may for brief intervals become raging tor- rents in times of rapidly melting snow or after a heavy summer thunder shower. The ravines are drainage ways leading from rolling prairie tracts to some water course, usually a creek valley. b PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES The tops of the ridgea -between the ravines tor gether with the swells of the prairie are on about the same level and approximate 1150 feet above the sea. Were all of the creek valleys and ravines filled up to a common level this part of the county- would be essentially a plain, or one but slightly uneven, with the exception of the Spring Grove and Wilmington system of upland ridges, approx- imately 100 to 175 feet higher than the tracts of prairie land that spread outward from about their Portland Praarie is four miles or more in length from north to south and southeast, and about 1} i^ule in breadth, its ridge-and-ravine borders being sojnewhat irregular. Its surface is what is called roJiijig, consisting of broad swells of ground which dip more or less gently into synclines or hollows which are continuous drainage lines leading down into the larger ravines or their branches. The prairie has something of an axis or drainage divide, extending from near the east end of the Wilming- ton ridge to the vicinity of Eitzen, in a southeast direction. From this divide drainage waters flow off in nearly opposite directions to the Winnebago creek, Waterloo creek or the Upper Iowa river. The branchlets of the ravines lessen in dtpth until they fade out at the prairie axis mentioned. The prairie soil is of a kind called loess loam and is underlaid at a depth of a foot or two by yellow clay which at no great depth grades into a mixture of clay and decayed limestone rubble, beneath A GLANCE AT EARLY CONDITIONS 7 which comes the more firm bedrock. The swelling rolls of the prairie surface were found by the first settlers to be quite generally treeless, but the sections round about characterized by ridge-and- ravine features was in part timbered or covered with brush and scrub oak with more or less open spaces on the ridge-tops that were grass coyered. The soil on these broad ridge-tops, though good, was not so deeply spread as over the prairie tracts. On the south sides of the bluffs, where these steep elopes received the direct rays of the sun in winter, they were usually bare of trees where the ravines were of considerable breadth. Portland Prairie began to be occupied by its first contingent of settlers during the first half of the decade of the fifties. They did not come in colony form so as to spread over a considerable area and establish something of a community in a single year, but dropped in singly, or by a few small families at a time in different years. Usually the men who purchased land were young and where married, had only one or two small children. First a few settlers began occupying lands on the Iowa side of the state line in 1851 and 1852. In the latter year the state line had begun to be run from the Mississippi river westward, and marked at the township corners by setting up large oak posts. This was soon followed by the government survey of Houston County and by the year 1854 a land office was opened at Brownsville at which settlers 8 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TlMx^u could purcha«eland at $1.25 per acre, which was the method of disposing: of government lands prior to the Civil war. The settlers bought land accord- ing to their means, a quarter section or more or it might be only an eighty. Some who possessed the means bought up considerable tracts of land to sell at a profit to later comers. About 1853 three or four Irishmen crossed the state line and located in the south part of Wilming- ton township, but they did not remain long ere they sold their claim rights to others and sought locations elsewhere. By the years 1854 to 1856 a number of settlers came from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine, and either entered land where still vacant or purchased it of the land speculators. Some located on school section 36. A number of these settlers having come from Burrillville, R. I., the pioneer community was spoken of in the fifties as the "Rhode Island Set- tlement." For some years the community devel- oped slowly in breaking the open prairie land and fencing farms wholly or in part, with split rails. Meantime, while a living was m^ide on the farms, the people bettered themselves mainly in such rise in the value of their land as had ensued, which, in the late fifties, amounted to hardly more than a thousand dollars for a good quarter-section. Th^ main object of this sketch is to depict con-^ ditions as these existed in the prairie community after the pioneer stage had passed, and so remain- A GLANCE AT EAELY CONDITIONS 9 ed afterwards for quite a number of years. The conditions to be described here are particularly in* serted in this work for the sake of contrast with the more prosperous and improved aspect of the prairie farms in present times and after the elapse of between fifty aud sixty years. No hard and fast time limit is intended, but, to give an ap- proximate date within those years, we have in mind the close of the Civil war in 1865, since about that time and a little later a few changes began to ensue in the community, though changes of a minor character had been taking place all along, since the general status of no large community can remain wholly stationary from year to year. First as to the houses in which the people lived. Usually they were moderate sized framed build- ings a story and a half high, sometimes with rear shed-roofed additions of later date, it might be, than the body of the house itself. The present generation is not lacking visible specimens of them among the outbuildings on some of the farms, their additions gone and what was their body part now used to store things in, or in some cases for a work-shop, and generally moved to one side. A few dwellings were mere cabins with one or two small rooms below and a low loft above. They were built of scantlings and unplained boards, the latter nailed to the frame vertically and the cracks battened over. Inside, the boards were papered oyer, it might be with old newspapers. A hole was dug under the cabin for a cellar, reached by a trap iO PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PflESEWT TIMES door in some part of the floor. The lumber to build both the houses and the cabins was teamed from Lansing, Iowa, then the nearest river point, the journey being more apt to be made with oxen than with horses. Around the borders of the prairie where timber was near, the log house was not uncommon. In dimensions they were not over 20 by 14 feet, but usually of less size than that. Sawed lumber was used for ground and loft floors and for the roof. The logs were sometimes partly hewn. Small window sash were set in spaces in the end walls and the home-mad« door opened to the weather. The cellars wer^ the same as with the cabins. The stove pipe tor a chimney went with the cabins, nor were all of the framed houses in the community provided with brick chimneys. The furniture in the farm dwellings generally was of a very common kind. The people had box- ,ed up and shipped from the East by freight the things most needed or prized, particularly blankets, quilfts and clothing, and common furniture could be purchased at Lansing. Living in restricted quarters with no spare rooms, display was out of question. Cupboards were more common than pan try s, though some such space might be provid- ed partly beneath a stairway. A common cook stove was essential, and this was usually the only one in the house. There was scarcely a musical instrument in the community, though some fam- ilies might possess an accordion or a fiddle. A GLANCE AT EARLY CONDTTIONS 11 In the time of the Civil war there were hardly any framed barns in the entire community and the few that had been built were small ones. In gen- eral, the farmers constructed what were called "straw barns," the frames of which were large crotches set in the ground, poles and fence rails, with a large amount of wheat straw run upon and around them during threshing time. The frames might last a long time, but the straw had to be re- newed each year. The ground, littered with straw, formed their floors. For horses, mangers and stalls were constructed in one end. Hog barns and the cattle sheds were of the same sort, usually combined. On the C. F. Albee place the sides of a iong tarn were of logs, but otherwise covered like those just mentioned. These structures were fair- ly comfortable for the limited amount of stock then kept on the farms, though they were mere makeshifts for more durable buildings. It is a far reach from them to the large gambrel-roofed red barns in the same community to-day. Although a wheat-raising section, there were but few granaries at the time specified in the whole community. Makeshifts had to be resorted to, such as building bins of fence rails, lining them with straw and heaping up a covering of straw over them. The wheat had to be cleaned in a fan- ning mill and sacked up to transport it to market (Lanoing) and this was done in a wagon body plac- ed on the ground beside the bin. Corn cribs were nlpu made in the same way without the lining. 12 PORTLAND PRXIRiE IK PRESENT TIMES Here agrain a contrast may be drawn between the paucity of buildings on the farms in those days and the half dozen to eight or ten outbuildings, including the barns, on the same places in present times. One of the inconveniences of those times was a lack of sufficient water, both for stock and household uses. Drilled wells and windmills then lay y«ars in the future. In some measure this lack was obviated by scooping out pondholes in syncline hollows on the farms and also allowing the cattle to range down the ravines where springs then existed farther up them than any springs exist now. At favorable places on some of the farms surface wells, six or eight feet deep, fur- nished some water which had to be hauled to the farm premises in barrels. But more than this, every dwelling was supposed to have its cistern, dug down into the clay subsoil and cemented so as hold rain water. At times in dry seasons there was also some hauling of water from the springs down the larger ravines. These springs have long since disappeared owing to the clearing and cultiva- tion of the adjacent ridge tops. A considerable number of hogs were raised in the community, but they were of the common western breeds of that time. Nor were the cattle different. No one then had any large amount of young stock growing up on their farms. In sum- mer and fall the cattle had the free range of the ravines and ridge tops for pasturage, these lands then being neither fenced or occupied. A GLANCE AT axftf^Y CONDITIONS 15 The principal crops raised on the farmi were wheat, corn, oats and potatoes. The corn wai mainly for the hogs, the oati for horses aid th« potatoes for home use. Two or three patents of reapers were in use, but they did not bind the grain. This had to be done by hand, four or five men keeping up their ''stations" around the field. The ^raiti was generally stacked near the barn- yards. Harvest, and threshing with horse-power machines, involved considerable changing of work among neighbors, though in harvest some extra help was often hired. As late as 1865 wheat was being sown by hand, but the Van Brunt broad-cast seeder appeared on the prairie farms not long afterwards. The corn was generally planted on fall plowed land, culti- vated in the summer and in the fall cut and shock- ed ten or twelve hilh square to the shock. Some husking was done in the field from the shock, but largely it was hauled from the field in winter and used as needed. At the date mentioned the prairie had been fairly well settled, at least from the year 1856, but as an agricultural community it had made but little progress beyond the pioneer stage. Not all the land on some of the farms so late as the close of the Civil war, and here is meant parcels of the original prairie land, had been brought under the plow. Some of it had been kept for hay owing to a lack of seeded ground. The quarter-section next north of the Geo. L. Watson farm had not been i4 PORTLAND IPRA'PRWC m SPWE^ENT 'TRtfES touched by the plow. The quarter was then own- ed by parties who did not reside upon it. What are now the Wiebke and Frank Thies farms also awaited breaking and occupation, so far as any one living on these places was concerned. Much of the Watson and the Wiegrefe place adjoining, still grew the original prairie grass and also some hazel brush and, small poplar groves besides. (This variety of tree has mainly disappeared and been replaced by tall, thick tracts of red oak timber.) The main road thru th« Wiegi«fe place then kept on southward up a gentle rise of ground on the Thies farm, and swinging around when near the fl. Haar farm to a road on the township line, it intersected it at the point where a road now starts ^own the Wiebke ravine. Farther south on the prairie, the farms were mainly eighty and forty acre tracts and had been more generally enclosed with rail fences and brought under cultivation. There was no railroad nearer than North La Crosse, then the terminal of a line from Milwau- kee, and young children were growing up in the community who either had never seen anything pertaining to a railroad or, where brought to the prairie in infancy, remembered nothing about one. There was a mail route between Brownsville and Dorchester which brought mail to the community once a week. The mail usually consisted of letters, Chicago, St. Paul and other weeklies and a few monthly magazines. Daily papers formed no part of :the contents of the mail bag^ but in those tim^ A GLANCE AT EAULY COWDTnOl^ lb the offices of the city dailies also issued excellent weeklies designed largely for country circulation, and these found their many readers in communities such as Portland Prairie, isolated from the outside world. The prairie was a charge on the Caledonia Circuit of the Methodist Church and once every other Sunday the minister assigned to the circuit drove down and held services in a school house that stood close east of the one in the McNelly district. A Sunday school was also maintained, at least dur- iifig th« warm months of each year. There were about thirty American families in the community, without including those of the * 'Ever- ett neighborhood" across the Iowa state line and on the Lansing road south of where Eitzen was started a few years later. The people had little occasion to assemble week days except for Fourth of July picnics in some shady grove. They got their milling done at Dorchester where a fair sized mill had facilities to grind flour, feed and corn meal. Trading at a store was done there, also at Lansing and Caledonia. In general the residents of the prairie possessed no buggies or light rigs, but went about in the common farm wagon. Yet it may be added that every family lived in the hope of sometime having more conveniences and better surroundings. Some mention of the families of those times will next be made, beginning on the north side of the Wilmington ridge and following the principal roads in the community. 16 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TI»?»jS In coming south on the main or Caledonia road, two f«rB» residences were to be seen in the vicinity of ihe WilmingtOB ridge or its spurs. One was a quarter of a mile o£E the road, under a northwardly projecting and wooded spur of the ridge, a moderate sized framed house, the home of Knut Anderson, a well-to-do Norwegian farmer who probablj settled there ia the late fifties. He had considerable ridge land but not Terj i^uch of the prairie embayment in that vicinity, since eighty %cres in the midst of the embayment or re-entrant of the ridges, acquired later, then belonged to the next place east. Anderson had something of a family and his farm premises were where Edwin Robelle lives now. The other place was that of Harley P. Kelly whose house, built of small hewn logs, stood near that now owned by Mrs., L. Haar. Kelly came from Blackstone, Mass., about 1863 and had a wife and two children. He had quite a large body pf land, all of the northeast quarter-section 23 and two forties adjoining it in Section 14. The south part of the farm extend- ed up to the lop of the ridge. At its fool in the south part of the embayment mentioned there existed a considerable body of timber, since in part cleared off, particularly at its east end. With all his land, Kelly was not a successful farmer, but held out until wheat raising failed in the late seventies. The next place on the road where there was any house was that now owned by H. L. Lapham. It was then owned to the extent of eighty acres by Edin B,all,oiji who built and came on th|| place ia 1863. It may be remarked here that between 1^855 and 1865 several of the farms about the north end of the prairie were owned or had been by persons who neither built, cultivated or resided upon them. A(Ir. Ballou had a wife, two soits and two daughters, all grown up^ During part of the war the sons were absent from bosc^e L^ the Federal army and A GLANCE AT EARLY CONDITIOSK 17 the oldest daughter, called Mrs. Martha Maxwell, appeared to have come to reside with her parents while her husband was also away in the army. The Watson quarter, the northeast section 34, was owned by Amos Arnold, grandfather of Geo. L. Watson. It had been in his possession since 1856, there having been two pre- vious owners. He came out from Connecticut in 1861 and had the local carpenters of the community build a framed house 34 by 16 feet on the place, which was not wholly finish- ed inside. The lumber was teamed from Lansing. Mr. A. came from the East with part of his family in June, 1864. Two elder sons, Horace and EUery C, had come previously, the first in 1856 and the other in 1861. In the summer of 1864 a house of the cabin form, about 18 by 13 feet, and about twelve feet posted, was built for E. C. Arnold and family (wife and three young childern) on the east side of the farm and at the summit of the hill that slopes up from the deepest syncline on the place. At that time this hill side was largely covered with brush and trees. The south part of the farm contained three groves and some considerable tracts of ihazel brush now gone except the timber tract in the southeast corner, which is only a part of an extensive woodland domain about the corners of four differently owned farms. The next place south was that of Charles F. Wright who lived in a log house with his family, consisting of a wife and tiiree small children. Mr. Wright came on the place in 1863 from Blackstone, Mass. His wife was a daughter of Corne- lius Metcalf Sr., at that time one of the farm owners of the community. The farm consisted of an eighty and what is now the west forty of F. Thies' farm. The log house stood amidst some large red oaks where the present house now stands and is thought to have been built by Amos Lapham, a brother j-of the late L. L. Lapham, sometime in the later fifties. 18 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES The next occapied place on the main road was that (»f Charles K. Albee, father of Alfred Albee and Mrs. Alke (Albec) Haar. He entered from the government in 1S54 Of '55 theXoftheasl quarter-section 25, and also a forty adjoining on the eas^ across both the road and township line. He did not, however, occupy the place until the year 1858, in the ^ Hieantijae living on a rented place across the Iowa state line. He intended to move on to what is now a part of the W. E« Mc Nelly farm, in 1858, but the Cass family arrived from the East that spring and occupied a honse then on that place until they could build on their own, partly adjoining the Albee quarter on the east. C. F. Albee had some white oak logs that he intended to split into fence rails. He took some ef the best of them to a sawmill on Waterloo creek, near the mouth of Duck Creek ravine, and had them sawn into house lumber. Mr. Albee had been a carpenter and builder at the East and with the help of others soon had a house on his farm in which the family lived until the fall of 1875. The old house is still on the place used as one of the outbaildings. A log stable was also built on the forty across the road east of the house. Mr. Albee was from Burrillville, R. I., and came west in 1854. Mrs. Albee was sister to James and Duty Paine, also to Mrs. J. Sbumway, to be mentioned later in these farm sketches. There were six children in the family born in the years 1848 to 1S64. Edgar, the eldest, died June 4, 1866. Mrs. Alice Haar was third and Alfred Albee fifth of these six children. John Albee, a brother of Cbaries, and at one time local physician of the community, lived many years with the family, having came to the prairie in 1856. Across the township line road, in Winnebago, there were two framed houses built on land that William Cass Sr., had bought. The farm at first consisted of 160 acres on the west side of Section 30, minus, perhaps^ twenty acres out of this A GLANCE AT EARLY CONDmONS 19 aiuount that had been deeded previously to Mrs. C. F. Wright* The land south ot C. F. Albee's forty to the Lansing road, as it «ra3 called, and for a half mile east of the township line, had been entered by David Salisbury and Asa Shermaa who were brothers*in*law and resident land speculators in the pioneer community of the fifties. Mr. Cass built where the Alfred Deters preaii&es are now. The Cass family consisted of himself and wife, two daughters and two sons, the youngest, William Jr., having been born in 1853. The family came west from Blackstone, Mass. The other house on what had been the original farm was bmlt in 1S64 by David P. Temple who had bought forty acres off from its north side. Mr. Temple was no farmer but sought civic offices instead. The house stood near the main road opposite the present Alfred Aibee place, and was occupied by dvx Eddy family, man, wife and two sons, the oldest of whoa watered the army during the summer of 1864. The land where the road comes to corners had been bought of Asa Shermaa by Cornelius Metcalf Sr. Sherman had built a framed house on the place which stood about a half mile east from the township line road and some distance back from the Lansing road. The farm was an eighty extending east and west, having the main traveled road thru the community bor> dering it on the west and south. Mr. Metcalf was born ia 1806 and his wife had died before himself and family, two sons and two daughters, came west. The place was carried on by Cornelius Jr. and his brother David. The former married in i860 a daughter of Leonard Albee and had two small child- ren at the time to which these sketches refer. The daughters of Mr. Metcalf were Mrs. Wright and Mrs. R. E. Shumway. They were another of several families who had come west from Blackstone, Mass., which is located close on the Rhode Island border. 20 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES A little to the east of the Metcalf place and on another eighty there was a neat looking white bouse that had been bailt by Asa Sherman in iS6o. Sherman's wife was a dau^h* ter of Edin Ballou, but she died Jaly 3, 1S62. Sometime the next year, Sherman went to Rhode Island and returning west with Mr. Wright, was missed from the beat one morning at Lansing. The supposition was that be fell ofi the boat in some way in the night and was drowned. At the time to which these sketches refer the place was owned by Christian Flessa. The only house on the Lansing road in Section 31, Winne- bago, was where Otto Fruchte resides. It had been owned by Henry Kohlmeier, who also was a missing man. He had been in the Civil war, but at its close was sick in an army ho^oital for some time. After leaving the hospital he myster- iously disappeared. The place then passed to Henry Flegg, an adopted son, also a Civil wir s:)ldiir, who toak the family name Kohlmieir. There were then a few Aoiericaa families in the vicinity of where the village of Eitzen was yet to be. A Williams* fam- ily lived in a log house on the corner where a stone-built store stands now. Samuel Evans lived s .)uth of the road corners a short distance; Joseph MeWin at the next road corners east and also a Calkins family west of the village site. There were also (ierman families in that section, since in 1864 they built a church south of tiis roid coniirs wh3r2 a larger church ed- i£ce has been erected in recent years. At the McNilly school house the main road diverges cast and west. That part leading east and souih was commonly called the Laasing road, for people turned that way in making their trips to Lansing. The opposite way west for about forty • In a pamphlet called "Old Times on Portland Prairie,*' printed in 1911. this Williams family is spoken of (p 20) as that of Spafford Williams who yr&f a former hotel keeper at Caledonia. ''^is was an error, the two Williams families being unre],ated> A GLANCE AT EARLY CONDITIONS 21 Todi and then south thru the east part of Section 36, Wil- mingtoD, was called the road to Dorchester and was the aain route followed in taking grists to the mill, though a less easy road led down the Oack Creek ravine to the sane place. There were two cross roads connecting the two, the tirtt along the north line of Section 36 which was then and still is, a west continuation of a road from the last corners mentioned; the other was the east and west road thru the middle of Sec- tion 36. Dr. Alexander Batcheller, who, in the old days was the local physician of the community, came west with his family from Burrillville, R. L, in October, 1854, and entered the south half of Section 25, Wilmington. This large tract, com- prising 320 acres, now contains the W. K. McNelly quarter, most of August Wiegrefe's farm, and part of that of Otto Diiers. Th? tract did not remain lorji» undivided; in fact, in 1864 it had tive owners — the doctor, John O. Cook, William W. Kverett, Leonard Albee and James Vreeland. The place had been split up into forties and eighties. The doctor built a small house where the McNelly residence is now. There were seven children in the family, sons and daughters, bom 1836 to 1858. In the late fifties the doctor transferred the forty acres adjoining the main or township line road to a man named Tidemon Aldrich and built another house on an eighty further west, part of the original tract. In 1862 the doctor sold this place to a man named McDan aud moved with his family to New Jersey for about two years. In 1S64 the fam- ily were back in the community living, as before, in the first house just west of a school house at the corners, then called the Batcheller school house. Aldrich had now moved away. The most eastern eighty of the half section that Dr. Batch* cller entered had been split lengthwise into forties a half mile long and forty rods wide. The forty next west was owned by John G. Cook, who was a cooper by trade. Himself and wife 22 PORTLAND PRAIHfE IN PRESENT nWBB lived io a itatM house oear the section line croM road. He skHo had i cooper's shop nemr the house. The Aezt eighty west wm now owned by William Walker &f erett, who at this time had seven children in his family, the two oldest by a first wife. In 1864 he was drafted into the army as was also the ca«e with several other men of the prai* rl«, and was killed at the battle of Nashville on Dec. t6lh of the same year. Afterwards the farm became commonly known as the "Widow Everett place." The old house that Dr. Batcheller built on this eighty was still standing well back (rom the road, in the spring of 1919. The eighty oett west of that last mentioned had bees toM about 1858 fo Leonard Albee who was a consin to Charles F. Albee. He had two living children, grown up, a son and a daughter; the Utter, as has been stated, married Coraelim Metcalf Jr. The son, named Wesley, born in 184a, carried on the place until hit death, July 5, 1868. Mr. Albee was born in Massachusetts io 18 to and his wife in Connecticnt in 1812. The family came west from BurritlviUe« R. I. The body part of the old house in which they lived, is still standing on the place a few rods east of August Wiegrrfe's residence, who IS the present owner. Next in regard to families who were living in school section 36. This section was divided up into small farms as thofolf as it very well could be. The Dorchester road, instead of iollowing the township line south from the school house, waa placed forty rods further west so as to run south a m)It tbra the east part of the section. As the eighties in the eaat half of Section 36 extend east and west, this cut twenty acres from each one, not reckoning wiih the land taken by the rMkd» thereby leaving a strip of land about forty rods wide and a mile in length between the road and the township line. This Sitrip was owned by a German samed August Gubl and b^ A GLANCE AT BARLY O0KDITION8 23 Jeremiah Shumwmj. A man named Nelson Smith built a hoase on the north part of the strip, but about 1864 he lold oat to Gahl and moved into Iowa. The ttrip and road redaced the farms bordering it west to sixty acre tracts. The one bordering on both roads was owned hj Duty Paine whose log house stood somewhere toward the west end of the farm, bat not as near to the section line cr«ii road as the present Schultz house on the same place. Paine't wife was a Nova Scotia woman and a few children were bora while he lived on tbe place. He was born in 1830 Mid wai living in recent years in Montana. The next tract south bordering on both the Dorchester and the center cross road of the section, was owned by James M, Paine. He lived in a small framed buuse close to the Der> Chester road and a short distance north of the cross road. He married, as a first wife, a sister of J. Shumway, by whom he had four children, all born on tbe place from 1855 to 1861. Mr. Paine was born in 1S35 and was living at Worthitigton» Minn., early in the present decade. The sixty acre tract next south of the cross road was owned by Henry Robinson, one of four brothers who had settled just across the state line. He built a house 00 the place in i86t where he resided with a sister until her death in 189^, and afterwards until he died in 19 13. ^ C I The next tract south was owned by Jorgen Guhl, who was a brother of August Guhl. We have no information coneerning the family relations of either of the Guhl brothers of that time. The eighty next west probably belonged to the Kobin. son farm. A man named Elisha Cook, cousin to John G., own- ed the forty next west of the Henry Robiosbn tract. He had a wife and several children at the time in mind. We think that the father of Geo. C. H. Meyer occupied the forty next west of Cook's place. The west side of the section is near the Duck Creek ravine and the tops of the bluf!s were then timbered. ■^ 24 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES John McNellj came «rest in 1855 and was liTing during the war period and for some time previoaslj} in a hoase of the cabin kind on an eighty next west of the Paine brothers farms. His cabin stood near the south end of the eighty not far from the center cross road of the section. His wife was sister to Jeremiah Shumway. He had at that time three children, one of whom was Wm. E. McNeily, born in 1857, and had also lost three ehildren, one of whom was a boy nine years of age. There was a framed house at the southern end the land strip mentioned, in the southeast corner of both the section andiownship, which was the farm home of Jeremiah Shumway. A part of his land was located on the Iowa side of the state lime. A few rods to the northwest of the house there stood a ioj^ cabin, the oldest habitation in the community on the Minnesota side of the state line. It had been built about 1853 by a man named John Edger whom Mr. Shumway bought out. A roadway from the Dorchester road led by the house and cabin. Mrs. Shumway was a sister of the Paine brothers and also of Mrs. C. F. Albee. J. Shumway, C. F. Albee, Doty and James Paine, came west from Burrillville, R. I., in 1854 and John McNelly and the two Cook families came the neat year from this same township, which is eight miles long by tive^ in width, located in the northwes>t corner of that small state. Rnfus E. Shumway, brother to Jeremiah, came west in 1856 and after his marriage occupied the log cabin, which was the community postoflTice from 1863 to r866. Dunng the last year of the war both the Shumway brothers were absent from home in the army. While Rufus was in the army his wife, Hannah, attended to the mail. J. Shumway had five childre* 4n his family at that time and Rufus two. J. Shumway was born in Oxford, Mass., in 1827 and is stiil liTing in Nebraska; R. f:. Shumway was born in 1833 and is still a resident of Por^tland Prairie. The fansily to which they belonged moved into 'Rhode Island about the year 1842. A OLAHCK AT EARLY CONDITiaKS At thettftte line the Dorchtiter road t«rnt westerly snd «p a gentle rise ol ground lor a quarter of a mile, then proceeds aoath again toward what is still called the Archie Creek ravine. (The creek was a small brook coming Irosa a spring). Just around the second turn of the road a widow woman of the familj name Kobinson, located with her four sons and two daughters^ in 185 1. Thej came from Columbia Coaatyt Wis.* tut earlier had lived in Pennsylvania. The children of the tamilj had been born from 1B39 to 184a and were aamad William, Henry, Anne, George, Esther and John. At the time of their settlement on the Iowa side of the line, Williaas only was old enough to make entry on government land. Is it9 time of the Civil war the original log house on the farm had given place to a neat framed house painted white and we ihmk there were other framed buildings on the premises. vv hen the Robinson's came there only an Indian trail from the towa to Root liver crossed Portland Prairie. Returuini* along the township line road to where this turns down a ravine to the Winnebago creek, the land thereaboQl was owned by several Norwegian settlers, tive of the name ol Hanson. There were five brothers of them altogether, who were commonly spoken of collectively as **ihe five brothers*' whose names in the order of their age were Iver, Frederick, James, Peter, and John. Frederick occupied a quarter-sectioa of land, the southwest Section 18, Winnebago, its west eighty being mainly j laixic land. The farm buildings were neat the road on an adjoining tract that belongs to the place, where the modern ones are. Peter Hanson lived in the north p9Jr% ©I Section 13, Wilmington, and another Norwegian farmer iani' ed Searns Nelson owned part of what is now Albert Baaga^t farm, his log cabin having stood on the same farm pr««ifea. At that period much of the north bah es of the tao sectioat mentioned largely comprised brush, poplar and oak tiasberi not having been cleared so much as in prcaent tiBsa. 26 PORTLAND PRAIBFE IN PRESENT TIMES Immediately south ot the HansoD quarter-section and boT« during oa the road, was an eighty then owned by Hosea W. Ftase who came from Maine with his family in 185S. He bought the eighty of John Aibee, who could hardly have en> tered it as government land since he did not come west ntttil 1856. The house on the place stood near the road and en the summit of a swell of ground between two rarines that cross this eighty, the north one being in part a prairie syacUne. There were some twenty acres of timber at the south end of thia eighty, part of the forest tract mentioned p. 17. Mn. Fease was a daughter of Josiah Everett, the patriarch of the "Everett neighborhood" whose birth year was 1797. There were four children in the Pease family, three daughters and one son, all born in Maine. Next south of the Pease eighty came the lOO acre farm of Levi L. Lapbam. He purchased it in 1856, hut did not coae to reside on the place until i860. In the meantime his brother, Amos Lapham, occupied the place, and likely built the small framed house on it which stood near the road to the northwest of the present brick residence on the farm. With the purchase twenty acres were included, which, according to land lines,, belonged to the Wiebke place. Probably the original owner possessed both places. The north part of the farm, sloping down toward what was then called the Peas« ravine, was well timbered, but this hillside woodland did not have in those times the vieorou* growth that it has now. Mr. and Mrs. Lapham, originally of Burrillville, R. I., and Dudley, Mass.,. respectively, were residing in i860 at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Mr. Lapham fitted up a team for a journey to the Pike's Peak gold mining region, but himself and wife drove to Portland Prairie to visit Amos before crossing the Plains. After their arrival they never left the farm again to reside elsewhere. Mr. Lapham was in the army in the last year of the war, a man named Isaac Gaull taking care of the place. At that A GLANCE AT EARLY CONDITIONS 2T time there were two siaall childrea in the family, Fraaces and Cora, both born on the farm. Mr. Lapham also owned an eighty which he had bought or entered, located next east of the Pease farm, bat at the time speciSed it was unfenced and mainly covered with brash and a scattering of small trees. Nor were there any fenced and occupied lands east of those that have been mentioned as bordering the township line and roads from Hanson's to what was then the Cass farm, these unoccupied lands, mostly of the ridge- and-ravine type, then constituting a free cattle range. In those days there were about the same number of occupied places over on the west or Duck Creek ravine road m there &re DOW, from the top of the Wilmington ridge down as far as tt»e cross road on the line of sections 25 and 36. The west road has been changed somewhat, the most marked alteration being that where it goes up to the top of the ridge. In the sixties there were no corners as now near Stigen's; instead the road continued north to the foot of the ridge and turned up along its side as may still be seen near Herman Schoh's resi- dence, who uses that part of it as a farm roadway up the hill. An unfenced road then occupied the summit of the ndge and passing ofi from it on its southeastern shoulder it intersected the Caledonia road near the school house. It can still be traced for about Bfteen rods up on the bluff west of the Watson residence, though not used since 1869. There was then no cultivation of the lop of the ridge until the farm of Arnold Stone was reached whose premises were where those of Arther Dierson are. Mr. Stone had as much as a hundred acres of land south of the ridge road and one or two forties north of it. His farm lay somewhat broken by the ridge and one of its spurs, these being partly wooded. The family were from the same Rhode Island township as others that have been mentioned, and came west in 1856, living in 28 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES Winnebago township until i860. At the time to which these annals hare reference, Mr. and Mrs. Stone had seren childrea in their family, two sons and five daughters, horn in the years from 1846 to 1862. The Stone farm is now divided up iats smaller tracts owned by different persons of the vicinity. West and southwest of the former Stone farm was a quarter- section owned by James D, Emerson. He came with a sos and three daughters from Massachusets. They lived near tba foot of the wooded spur ridge where William Schroeder'i farm premises are. Emerson's quarter was largely ridge laad. What is now land belonging to Herman Schoh, William Bramme and we think also, the forty in the northwest corner of which the Haar residence is now located, was owned in Civil war time by a man named Benjamin Robbins. He lived la a log cabin a dozen or Bfteea rods south by east from the site of ihc Schoh residence. The cabin stood close to the road on its west side, which then crossed that part of the farm and, as mentioned, turned up the hill side north of it. What was unusual for the community in those days, Robbins had a granary with a basement part under tt and in the base of the short spur ridge up which the road goes now. Both the cabin and granary had probably been built by Silas Perry who had made the original entry on the land. In 1864 the farm was purchased by Joel S. Yeaton who came to the prairie that year from Maine. At that time he had a wife, one daughter and |:hree boys. During about five years residence on the farm} little was done by the new owner to alter the premises, etcept to add a lean-to on the cabin, though he was at considerable expense also in hauling from Lansing pine lumber for p«st aBd board fences on different parts of the rather large farm. Next south on the road came the farm of Alfred Ifarcy wliich consisted of two forties, one each on either side of the road. The house on the place was of the cabin form located on the south side of a then bare sandstone mound where the A GLANCB AT SARLY CONDITIONS 29 btigea resideaae staads. Mrs. Marcy was a tUur •! Leaaard Albee, aad died io 1867. There wa» a creva up Mk aad daughter litiag ea the place priar to her death. The Geo. H. Mejer place was owned bj Heory and Fled Hannebuth. The farm premise* were where those of Mr. Mejer are, a quarter of a mile east of the road aad near the upper part of the Duck Creek ravine. Henry Hannebuth wat a CiTil war soldier, but we have no inf armation conceraing hia (amilj. The place comprised 120 acres. Next south of Marcy's west forty and part of the A. Stane farm, came an eighty extending east and west owned by Fred* , erick Meitrodt, who bought the place about 1861. In war, time himself and wife had two chlldrea, William aad Anftit, born in 1863 and 1864 respectively. Two twin brothers! wha were, born in 1868 were named Gnstav and Otto, the first of Whom now owns the old home place. Further »outh, and on both sides of the road a Norwegiaa tarmer named Eslen Olson oi^ced considerable land, sinco divided up.— The last occupied place on the road near the ravine was owned by James Vieelaud, being the most western eighty of the half section that Dr. Batcheller had entered aa government land (p. 21). Vreel&nd bad a wife and at leaat one small boy in his tamily, so far as remembered.— Over west from this place, Amos Lapham and wife had a farm. At the Vreeland (now Otto Deters) place the Duck Creek ravine deepens so as to expose ledge rock along its sides* The creek, if it stilt flows any water, is a small streamlet within the last mile of the ravine before it opens into the valley of Waterloo creek. Following is a list of the Civil war soldiers who served far longer or shorter periods in the Federal armies, and who either went from Portland Prairie or took up their residence there apt long after the close of the war. 30 28: PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES Ellery C. Arnold, 5tb Minn. L. L. Lapham, 1st Minn. Arty, Edward L. Ballon, 6th Minn. Frederick Monk, I2th Iowa. Henry C. Ballon, loth Minn. August PottraU, 5th Minn. John Burmester, 5th Minn. John Robinson — Iowa CaY. Henry Eddy, iith Minn. Jeremiah Shumway, 5th Minn. Wm. W. Everett, 5th Minn. Kufus E. Shumway, 5th Minn. Henry Flegg, 8th Iowa Cav. Geo. T. Shumway, loth Minn* Amos Glanville, loth Minn. Wm. H, Stone, 6th Minn. Wm. H. Going, 4th Minn. Frederick Thies, 2d Minn. August Hannebuth, Ill's Regt. Oliver Wait, loth Minn. Henry Hannebuth, 5th Minn. Jasper Williams, Ind.Vol. CaT« Franklin Healy, loth Minn. Joseph Winkelman, loth Minn. Henry Koblmeier, 5th Iowa. There was also a soldier, name not remembered, who went with Henry Eddy in the summer of 1864 and presumably was in the same regiment. He had been working for Edin Ballon. There is a small soldier's stone in the Portland Prairie cem- etery that marks the grave of Wm. H. Stone, but it has no date. He died at the Arnold Stone place, January 31, 1869. Jasper Williams died at Fort Snelling, March 2«, 1864, An inscription on his gravestone in a cemetery at Caledonia reads '*Ind. Vol. Cav." which might mean either Indian or Indiana Volunteer Cavalry. In the spring of 1865 there ensued a re-emigration from the prairie to the extent of several families. Those who went at that time were Dr. Batcheller, John G. Cook, Duty Paine, James Paine, Marcius Eddy and Edin Ballou. They located in Plack Hawk and Grundy counties,^ Iowa. II. AN INTERMEDIATE STAGE PRESENT time conditions, or more broadly speaking, those that have been prevalent in the new century, were very srradually attained, having had something of a beginning in the last decade of the other century. But between the old time conditions of the prairie community describ* ed in previous pages, and the decade of the nine- ties, there ensued a rather long intermediate stage of which some note may be taken. There was some improvement in regard to resi- dences in the seventies, a few new and more roomy houses replacing old ones on some of the farms and additions were built on to others. The people also began to add some things to their belongings not possessed previously, such as buggies or oth<»r form of light vehicles to get around in instead of having to rely on the common farm wagon; this decade too was a time when some of the prairie people began getting musical instruments in the form of organs into their residences and something in the line of furniture not possessed before. Framed barns of a moderate size had now began to replace, in some instances, the straw barns that have been mentioned, and -more granaries were also built. The first attempts to introduce drilled wells on any of the prairie farms were made in 1873 and in the years next following during that decade. They were less than a hundred feet 32 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES in depth and at first provided with common iron hand pumps. Next wooden windmills were used, placed on wooden-built towers of moderate height and to this equipment water tanks were added made of plank and housed over. It now becirae apparent that these wells were hardly of sufficient depth but that the windmills would, after running an hour, more or less, temporarily exhaust the supply of water standing in the drill-holes. It was true, however, that these early drilled wells were quite an advance upon the inconvenient methods of obtaining water experienced in earlier times. Beginning July 1, 1870, the community received mail twice a week instead of once as heretofore. The route was still between Brownsville and Dor- chester, but in 1872 a route was established from W^ukon to Caledonia which was maintained for several years during that decade. This cut off the part of the other route between the prairie and Dorchester. The prairie postoffice was at Rufua Shumway's place and the starting for Brownsville was made from there, J, Shumway providing the rig. This service took the best part of four days in the week even in the seasons when the days were long. Tuesdays and Fridayi the driver was on the road to Brownsville; six or seven hours of each of the succeeding days were occupied on the return trips. As in earlier times no city dailies reached the community. In later years the route was .changed so as to start from New Albin up the Winnebago Valley and around by Eitzen. AN INTERMEDIATE STAGE Down to the year 1878 it had been customary to slaughter th« hogs early in winter, dress them and pack them away to freeze in a granary or in a bin made of fence rails and straw. This was practicable, since no great number of hogi were then raised on any single prairie farm. It was thought that later along in each winter the market price for dressed hogs would be more favorable than in the early part of it. When marketed the pork was loaded into wagon bodies on bob ileds and teamed to Lansing, New Albin or Brownsville. The winter of 1877-8 was mild, open and muddy, that sort of weather including November. Here- tofore a freezing temperature could be counted upon from early in Deeember forward into March. Dressed hogs now had to be hurried to market on wheels irrespective of prices. The next season the prairie farmers began the system now in vogue, that of transporting them to market in racks fast- ened to wagon bodies and selling them live weight. The first year loads of hogs were taken to New Albin in that way, and the same fall G. M. Watson began shipping hogs to Chicago by car load Iota. In the fall of 1879 the Preston Branch was built thru Caledonia and the road immediately opened a hog market there convenient to Portland Prairie. The construction of the railroad, altho with a. three feet or narrow gauge track and correspond- ing rolling stock during the next 22 years, finally came to exert a potent influence on Caledonia and the surrounding country; in fact, the railroad at 34 PORTLAND PRiRIE IN PRESENT TIMES once began to modify conditions in the southern half of the county, and the influences it exerted increased gradually, more especially in Caledoaia itself. The first railroad built in the county was called the Southern Minnesota and the part of it within the county limits was constructed up the Root River valley in 1865 and 1866. This line was too far away to favor the south part of the eonnty to any extent. In 1871 the west side river line waf begun at Dubuque and during the next year was continued along the foot of the river bluffs to a connection near LaCrescent with another line that had been built south from St. Paul by another company. The new line from Dubuque to LaCres- qent was called the Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad and it was that company that sevea years later constructed the narrow gauge as one of three branches of their line into the country back from the river. The building of the river road at once started New Albin upon a fine townsite previously called Ross' bench, and thus opened in the seventies a railroad market to which Portland Prairie farm- ers could cart loads of wheat, do some trading, and return home the san:e day Each trip made to Lansing or Brownsville had occupied two days, including hotel expenses. Co-incident with the grading and track laying of the narrow gauge railroad thru the county, some- thing else was engaging the serious attention of the farmers, particularly those living on the small sized farms. The wheat harvest in 1878 had been AN INTBRMEDIATE STAGE 35 rather poor owing to hot weather before harvest which shriveled unmatured curnels; of the harvest of 1879 it was said that the grain was no better than chicken feed. The farmers of southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa were confronted with a fact that some had anticipated by reason of experiences in the older states; that a time would come when owing to some climatic change or other cause Wheat raising would become uncertain in regard to securing a crop or might fail altogether. This the people of Portland Prairi* fully realized. The prairie people now?said that they would have to engage more in stock raising than hitherto and also must pay more attention to improving breeds. which some were already doing in regard to hogs. The early eighties was a sort of transition period which gradually brought about more prosperous conditions. Wheat had been the principal farm product upon which the prairie farmers had relied, the marketing of batches of hogs and occasional sale of a few steers to cattle buyers having been almost incidental to the first; but wheat raising days with the annual busy harvest on all of' the farms, were practically at an end. During the transition mentioned, creamaries began to be es* tablished in the county which kept bringing in ready money to farm<*r3 from the sale of cream, and eggs could be traded at stores for grocerici. But it should be said that matters went hard with the county at large during the early eighties in respect to loss in papulation as well as in other 3« PORTLAND PRIRfE IN PRESENT TIMES ways; in fact, some of the smaller farmers whose farms were mortgaged began turning them over to the mortgage-holders in the late seventies and seeking homes in the newer west. A caravan of this sort of emigrants gathered from the Winne- bago Valley and neighboring ridges, left in the spring of 1879 and journeyed in their canvas-cov- ered wagons across the country to Nebraska. This caravan was said to comprise thirty-four persons, but since it was made up in part by families, that number included children. According to the gov- ment census of 1880, the population of Houston County then contained 16,332 people, which num- ber had decreased in 1890, mainly by emigration, to 14,653. The thousands who went from southern Minnesota and northern Iowa and from Wisconsin and Illinois in those years, went far to help spread a population over the eastern half of Dakota. So far as Portland Prairie was concerned, some emi- gration ensued to the extent of a few families. H. P. Kelly, James Hanson, Christian Flessa and John Sinclair (the last named person from the Otto Deters place) left in the late seventies; E. C- Arnold and James Emerson in 1880; J. Shumway in 1881; Frank Healy also left about that time, August Guhl in 1882, and Mrs. Anne Sneesby and family a year or so later. Threshing had been done at the prairie in wheat raising days by powerful horse-power machines, propelled by eight or ten horses attached in spans 1;p A heavy rig and kept circling around by a driver AN INTERMEDIATE STAGE 37 Standing on a platform over the center of the •'horse-power" as it was called, this rig of course being separate from the threshing-machine. But in the early eighties steam engines were first used on Portland Prairie, though in use for threshing in some other parts of the state for some years previously. It seemed hardly in place to see an engine running a threshing-machine then with only oats, barley and clover-seed to thresh. But it was a sign of changing times. It was remarked of farmers in southern Minne- sota along in the nineties that some of them whose farms had been mortgagt-d in wheat raising times DOW had their lands clear of such incumbrances and their owners were beccming money-loaners. The change was attributed to creamaries and stock raising. Ihere were many farms in the county in the seventies and early eighties that had gone into the hands of banks and money-loaners; in the nint- ties these began to be bought by resident farmers. It was during that last decade of the century that the first of the big red barns b«gan to show up on Portland Prairie, together with other buildings necessary to stock raisirg. Toward the clcse of that decade the telephoLt ctn t into the commun- ity, the excharge at first beii g at the Cass place. In shipping stock a trsnsfer to standard-gauge cars had to be made at Keno, and incoming mer- chandise also had to be reloaded there. In the fall of 1901 the track of the branch was altered to the standard-gauge width of 4 feet 8i inches. HI. IN PKESENT TIMES TvT OT to jfive to the title of this section any very -*- ^ restricted meaning, we should state that the conditions now referred to on Portland Prairie are those attained in this second decade of the new century, now nearingits close, and for that matter as one would find them in the current year 1919. The contrast between conditions and farm life in present times and the same back in the decade of the sixties, is markedly wide on several accounts, as has already been described. In the older settled farm communities, largely improved conditions are usually the accumulated results of years of effort and their attainment is further influenced by the character of the times whether prosperous or hard^ Present day conditions on Portland Prairie were not attained in any one decade. To anyone familiar with the trend of farm life o-n Portland Prairie in the days of straw barns and generally indifferent houses, a marked change in these same respects is the various buildings now to be seen on the different farms. The old houses of former times have either been torn down or mov- ed aside for shops, woodsheds or storage- purposes and large roomy residences, usually two and a half stories high so as to provide square chambers above with a loft or attic beneath the roof to et.ore away things that are but seldom used. Several of these houses, built „within the present .-decade are IN PRESENT TIMES for the community in general, what might b« call- ed first class residences, but concerning which the people generally are apt to speak of as swell houses Y/hen referred to descriptively. They are provid- ed below with concrete partitioned basements with cemented floors, and are apt to contain a small gasoline engine to run washing machines, churns, pumps, or to compress air for air-pressure tanks that will force water to the rooms above. The mention of fine dwellings also implies house- hold furnishings to correspond with the houses. Some attention is also given to lawns and orna- mental shrubbery. Some of the things which the Portland Prairie farmers have in their homes now, including the telephone and phonograph, were scarcely conceivable to the residents of the same community back in the sixties, but though they had their longings for better conveniences, they never raised their hopes very high in regard to the future, their dominant wish, probably being this, a larger and more roomy house than those generally that they had to put up with. The big red barns, as indicated, present a strong contrast between these dfivs and the makeshifts of eld times. They are usually sixteen feet posted and vary in length from seventy-live or thereabout, to one hundred feet. Some of them aretprovided with modern barn equipments designed to save labor in taking care of stock and disposing of barn refuse. H«re, too, a contrast may be drawn between water- ing stock from a tank or water trough inside and driviil^ thert in winter some distant to a dug otit pond h6le 4ind choppinfr holes in the ice so the;^ cb^M'dritik. The prairie barns are quite geaerall:^ provided with stone walled basements. We have mentioned the lack of outbuildings^ particularly granaries, on the farm premises in the first half of the sixties, though in the last half of tS^at decade a beginning was made to better things i'n this respect. Besides the big barns, on6 of i^sik size i^ lised on some of the farms for work horses, and this also may be fpfoVided with a wall- ed iinder part. Then other 6f the outbuildings in present days are such as a hfog-house, granary, silo, corA-crib, wa^on shed, woddshed, hen house, housed over water tank, and quite generally now, an automobile garage. On gotne of the farms, as already mentioned, the bddy part of the old house {likely with former additions gone) still remains as one of the outbuildings, used as a repair shop or for any other convenient purpose. These old relics of the early times of the community, for one thing, go to show the young generation of present days just the sort of dwellings their grandparents lived in, for the torn off ells or shed-roofed parts were often of some years later date than the main part of the house. On the whole, the number of buildings now to be seen on the prairie farms, in- cluding the residences and tnain barns, varies fVohi five or six to a dozen, according to the needs of the plac6 fiind dioice of the owner in regard t6 what he might have or get along without. > '" •<* ' . * . '■ — i *' ' ■'■'■ " « From the experience!? of well-drillers in the county it was found that wells put down from 2&(l to 300 feet below what is the general surface levei of the county, would be very apt to furnish a con* fltant supply of water which the windmills would not exhaust. Deep wells on Portland Prairie were put down back in the nineties and now they are <;o]nmon to the farms of the community. The early wooden constructed towers and windmills were inadequate for practical use where the deeper wells are concerned, hence high steel towers and windmills are common to the farm premises. As the wind is far from being: constant, small gasoline engines are commonly used to supplement wind power; water tanks made of plank and housed over, have accompanied drilled wells on the prairie farms from the early days. It has been supposed by some that the deep wells go down to the level of the creeks, but evidently the water bearing rock strata lie somewhat at a higher horizon. The standing water in the bottoms of the drill holes varies rather widely, from ten or fifteen feet to as much as fifty or more. The farirers take better care of their land than in former times and plan ahead more in regard to their general farm arrange merts. There is a greater division of the farms into fields separated by barbed wire fences than when the zig-zag rail fence or those made of posts and boards Were commonly prevalent. There is much more seeding pf fields to grass for hay and pasture purposes. POR-TLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES rotation of crops from field to field, mixed f arminfir, and carting of the barn refuse to the land. By thesd means in bringing up or fertilizing the soil, wheat can be raised, as in the old days, if the sea- son is favorable for it, though the fields sown to it are now apt to be limited in size, nor is its cultiva- tion g^neral . Owing to the general raising of hogs in the community, a good deal of corn is grown and' may be rated as the principal crop. A few traction engines are owned on the farms and it may be inferred without saving that they are now much better equipped with farm machinery, labor saving appliances and tools than they were thirty or forty years ago. To one who knew the community in the sixties or seventies, quite a noticable change about the farm premises is the groves or triple rows of pine trees cultivated mainly for windbreaks, usually on two sides outward from thd groups of farm build- ings. It was not supposed in the early days of the community that pines would flourish in the soil ef the prairie. Presumably the oldest pine groves in the community are those on the premises of Edwin Shumway and Willism Wiegrefe. In some instances, as where farms border on the ridge and ravine tracts, oak groves of natural grown timber make good windbreaks. The main dependence on the Portland Prairie farms is raising hogs and cattle, of course of much better breeds now than in times when, in the case of the pattle, which, with their rather free rlTnge IN PiiESENT TIMES 43 over ridge-aud-ravine sections were said to have become "bred in and out," so that cattle buyers in filling out their lots had to select from among them. In transporting hogs to Caledonia, either on wheels or on runners, as the case may be, it 19 customary for neighbors to supply any extra num<> ber of teams that may be needed on a given day, and so exchange similar assistance in regard to team work of that kind. We should contrast trading and market facilities between present times and those of long ago. As before stated, Lansing and Brownsville were the nearest market towns to dispose of wheat cleaned and sacked for transportation, and dressed hogs— and that was about all the prairie farmers had to turn off that would bring in ready money. Trips to the places named ''spoiled two days" as some of the farmers expressed it. Eggs had a nearer home market; they could be taken to Caledonia or to Dorchester and traded in for store goods at ten cents per dozen or thereabout. In 1867 Christo- pher Bunge opened a store in a vacated log house where the village of Eitzen thereafter began grow- ing up. The prairie people had little occasion to trade at Dorchester except in connection with the taking of mill grists there and in going after the same, but after 1867 the farmers generally took their grists to either of two mills in the Winnebago Valley, where a store was maintained at times. As already stated, Caledonia was the principal trading point; but the amount 0^ business tran^^ 44 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES acted there in the old days really seems ligrht in comparison with these times and the advantas:e of railroad shipping facilities at that place. About the year 1868 certain parties erected a stone-built warehouse close to a navigable slough one mile north of the site of New Albin. This was about four years before that village was started. A store and a house or two were erected besides the stone building, but there was no room there between the foot of the bluff and the slough for a townsite, but the place had a temporary existence until the river line of railroad was built. In the interval considerable wheat was sold at the "new landing" or Jefferson, as it was called, and barged awa.y by a small steamer. Lumber was sold there and the house in which Alfred Albee resides was yriginally built of materials hauled from that place by J. Shumway. With the starting of New Albin in 1872 the near by place rapidly declined. New Albin furnished a nearer market to which wheat and live stock could be takea than Portland Prairie people had possessd before. The changing of the narrow gauge track of the Preston Branch to the standard gauge doubtless was a move advantageous to the business men and farmers of the central and southern parts of the county in many ways. While doing away with the transfer of merchandise, wheat and live stock lit Reno, loaded cars from any part of the United States or Canada can be side-tracked at Caledonia or any staition along the line. All this is quite an IN FftESENT TIMf^S advantage to such of the farmers who ship car loads of hogs and cattle direct to their commission man at the Stock Yards near Chicago. Caledonia has made great advancement in the last twenty years for an inland town and county seat and has become the chief trading point of the county. In some measure mercantile business there has been facilitated thru standardizing the railroad track, though the roadbed lacks somewhat the uniform smoothness of either of the river lines. We think there was no bank at Caledonia in wheat raising days, though A. D. Sprague and probably some others were money-loaners there. At the pr<*sent time, practically all the farmers of Portland Prai- rie have their bank accounts at one or another of those at Caledonia or one fit Eitzen. It is hardly twenty years since the automobile first began to attract attention in country towns and villages as a new sort of vehicle, and no very ornate machine at that, since the earlier ones did not have covered sides and tops and made more noise in running than the much improved modern ones do. Now the ownership of autos by Portland Prairie farmers is quite genf^ral and this change in modifying farm life has mainly been brought about in the last half dozen years. They may be a more or less expensive machine to have on the farm and maintain, but their owners would gener- ally agree that they are a convenience on several accounts, especially in making quick business trips to town and being at home again by noon. 46 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN RESENT TIMES There have been many changes made in the location of the roads in the county, but the devia* tions from where they became fixed after the pioneer period had passed, usually haye not been very wide and most of them have been altering locations from the beds of ravines and hollows into the sides of the bluffs and hills, generally ten to twenty feet above their bases. Quite a marked change in the Caledonia road was made later than the sixties, where it crosses over the Rask hill in the north part of Wilmington township. Here the change made, along a distance of fully a mile, was to re-locate it from a few rods to as much aa a half mile farther west and minor changes in this re-located piece of road, of the kind mentioned, have been made since. On Portland Prairie itself the roads remain as to location where they were in the sixties. For many years there was but little wearing down of the roads, even on the long slopes, into the surface loam. In present times the slopes are cut down two to five feet below the original prairie surface and into the clay subsoil. This erosion is mainly due to rain wash, but in dry weather the automobile tires grind the clay to dust so that much of it is easily removed by winds and showers. Clay mud makes the roads diflficult to travel in moist weather with any sort of vehicle, and ultimately they generally will have to be graveled or macadamized, not but some such work may already have been begun in the county, and so t,his road topic often .elicits .discussion. IN P ABSENT TIMES 4? The silo, built of reddish colored hollow-tile blocks 13 becoming common in the community aa a useful appendage to the barns. They are usually constructed 14 feet wide inside, 38 feet high, ex- tend several feet below ground and are plastered oyer inside with cement. The first ones on any of the prairie farms were built several years ago for H. L. Lapham, William Deters, Albert Bunge, Alfred Albee and Lewis Deters, all in the same working season. The daily delivery of mail in boxes by the road aide, by rural service, has been in vogue in the community since the early part of th^jiew century. This renders it possible for the farmers to take one or more daily papers published in the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, LaCrosse and even Chicago, though usually a day old when they reach the community; but here one may hark to early days with a weekly mail service and weekly papers, which in the case of those printed in Chicago, now and then, though not often, failed to get thru the same week they were printed. One mail route from Caledonia now supplies the major portion of the prairie commun- ity and other districts on the route both in coming from the starting point and in returning. Portland Prairie tarn ers generally own wood lots in the ridge-and-ravine districts. It has ever been the practise to sled the year's supply of wood to the farms while the snow lasts, the wood being largely in the form of tapering poles ten to four- teen feet in length, some of the larger onet eight '48 PORTJLAND PRAiKm IN PRESENT TIMES to ten inehes at the butt ends. The old way was to chop and split up the wood in the spring prior to the commencement of field work, good sharp axes being required for the chopping, though to some extent a bucksaw was used. In regard to logs, and those formed a large part of the wood then hauled in, a beetle and wedges were used as in the days of splitting fence rails. In contrast with this, of late years a portable machine consist- ing mainly, besides frame and its truck wheels, of a gasoline engine, large buzz-saw and movable table, is taken around from farm to farm and the piles of wood awaiting it are expeditiously sawn up in stove lengths to be split later. As it requires at least five men to tend the machine, some chang- ing of work is made among neighbors. Without doing more than merely mention the social gatherings at the farm residences, inter- change of family parties, etc., it may be sard that in these times the organ or a piano is a common adjunct of the parlor and the phonograph is quite common in the farm homes of the community. These and other things, including books of modern authors and occasional pleasure trips in summer or fall with the automobile, all contribute toward making the farm life of the community worth while. We shall next list the owners of land properties in 1919 in the eight Portland Prairie sections that border the Wilmington- Winnebago township line, IN PUESEICf TIMES 49f^ comprising the greater portion of the prairie as well as some of the ridge-and-ravlne land. The sections gone over will be listed alternately, first in one township then in the other, and from north to south. It is hardly necessary to say that a section comprises a square mile or 640 acres, large enough in a region of small farms to contain sev- eral of them within its limits, for instance, eight eighty-acre farms. Before listing the land owners in the sections indicated, we shall make some mention of such large county maps and township plat-books as have thus far been published for Houston County, and we refer to those on a scale large enough to show farm bounds and owner's names. In 1871 a large map of the county was gotten up by some LaCrosse parties and probably printed in Milwaukee or Chicago. Around the margin werr some pictures of residences, mills, etc., and it made some at- tempt to show the topographic features of the county, something lacking in plat-books. Inquiry at the court house in Caledonia developed the fact that nothing of either kind mentioned of earlier date concerning the county was known there as ever having been published. A township plat- book of Houston County was issued in 1878 and another in 1896, probably the only ones for the county ever published. In 1901 another krge farm map was issued and later one was gotten up by Caledonia parties which is not dated but was printed about 1915. 50 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES Section 13, Wilmington, la the north half of the section, Albert Bttnge 135 acres; Wm. F. Deters lao acres; (this tract located io iu northwest qaarter wais formerly known as the Ingvaldson place); also a five acre tract in the so«thwest part of the northeast quarter; John Hoher 60 acres on the west side of the northwest quarter. (The north half of this section is not divided on lines of forties and eighties.) Io the south half of the section, Wm. F. Deters 90 acres; S evert Holter 70 acres; Herbert L. Lapham 60 acres; Henry Sebroeder too acres, the last two farms comprising the sonth* west quarter of the section. Section 18, Winnebago. This section is mainly ridge- and-ravine land, the broad ridge tops having been mostly cleared of their original growth of brush and scrub oaks. In the north half of the section, P. Anderson 55 acres; Sever Davidson 20 acres; Sever John- son 62 acres; Henry Stehr 80 acres; Carl Hanson 20 acres; Albert Bunge 69 acres. (The division line between the tracts of A. Bunge and S. Johnson is a road that leaves the township line near Bunge's residence and passes down a narrow and wooded ravine northeasterly into tbe Winnebago valley.) The southeast quarter of the section is owned by Peter Hol- ier and the south>vesl quarter by Carl Hanson. Section 24, Wilmington, This section comprises gently rolling pr»irie land, a little in the line of forest, and the eastern portion of the Wilmington ridge. Northeast quarter, Geo. L. Watson 160 acres. The west half of this section is considerably divided np and wilt have \o be treated as a whole aside from the order mentioned. m RRESKKT TllffiS 51 The two oortb forttei of the aartbweft quarter of section 24 are owned by Ceo. L. Watcoo and Mrs. Haar, and border Ue Caledonia road, the first 00 two sides, east and north. Next sonth of these forties are the farms of Herman Schoh and WiUiam Bramme. The first named consists of 7$ acres with an additional tract of 29 acres adjoining in section aj. The farm of WiUi«m firamme contains 85 acres. Next south of the Watson quarter, WiUians Wiegrtfe 8q acres; south of that, Frank Thies 80 acres, these two eighties constituting the southeast quarter of the Kction. In the sonth half of the southwest quarter Geo. H. Meyer and Christopher Stigen each own 40 acres, these fortties in both inttnaeei being of the nature of parts of farms situated in other quarter sactioni than those in which the farm buildings are located, rather common among the farms of the community. Section 19, Wianebago. Like section 18 next north of it, this section is mainly of the ridge- and-ratine type. Lands of this character have changed ownership more frequently than the land originally covered with prairie grass. In the northeast quarter, W|n. Kruger 40 acres; Frank Thies 40 acres; Wm. F. Deters 40 acres; Carl Schoh 40 acres. In the northwest quarter, oast eighty, George H. Lapham; west eighty, Wm, F. Detefs. The southeast quarter of this section is owned by Carl Schoh. bouthwest quarter, Frances P. Laphato 99 acres, the remainder of the quarter belonging to the Wiebke estate Section 25, Wilmington. Northeast quarter of section, northeast forty, Henry Hta 40 acres; the remaining three forties owned by Alfred Albee. The north half of the northwest quarter, 8e acres, is ofwned by jGeo. H. Meyer. 52 PORTLAND RPAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES The southeast quarter of section 25 is owned by William E, McNelly. Next west of this qaarter-section Augnst Wiegrefe has a farm of 127 acres, which takes in a forty of the north* west quarter of the same sectioo. Partly west of the last, Bernhard Schoh owns 87 acres in the two quarter sections, a3 in the other case, and also has land and the farm bnildings in section 23. Lastly, a tract of 26 acres in the southwest ccjrner of the section is a part of Otto Deters farm. Section 30, Winnebago. Northeast quarter, which is partly bisected by the upper parts of ravines, is owned by Diedrich Thiele. West half of section, Wiebke estate 120 acres; the northeast forty of section Henry Haar; south of the last the former Cass place is owned by Alfred Deters 60 acres minus a small Tract c'eeded by George Cass to the Methodist Church for a church site and cemetery. South of the last Edwin Shumway 50 acres, mainly the soathwest forty of the section; E. Carstea 4^ acres on the east side of the section; the remainder of the section comprising three forties, owned by Fred Deters. Section 36, Wilmington. The map of the county issued in 1871 showed that there were then ten land holders in school section 36. Thas this section was more thoroly subdivided than any other section wholly or in part within the pra rie limits Presumably for a term of years the land owners merely paid to the school fund interest on the rated value of the land with taxes on such farm improvements as had been made and their personal property. The size of these farms varied from forty to eighty acres and little change in this respect had ensued since settlement times. The whole section drains to Waterloo creek by the Archie Creek ravine for the east part and th^ Pu<^ Crock ravino for its western portion. IN PRESENT TIMES 53 In northeast quarter of the section east of the Dorchester road, Otto H. Fruchtc 40 acres. The rest of this qaartor lying west of the road, is owoed by Emma Schultz. Easi eighty of the northwest quarter Oeo. C. H. Meyer; west eighty Otto Schulti. ( This eighty prior to 1S65 was John McNeUy'« first farm.) The southwest quarter of this section is owtttd by George C. H. Meyer. (In 1896 this quarter had three owners.) To ttie east of the Dorchester road the south half of the mile long strip between the road and township line is owned by George Deters (36 acres), except a small tract of four acres vpoa which the old Shumway house and log cabin once stood, tbit tract being owned by John Deters. West of the road there are two sixty acre tracts, the former farms of Henry Robifticft aud August Guhl, a son of jorgen Gnhl who in the sixties attd iater owned the place. The first is now owned by Herman burmester and the other by Fred Deters. Section 31, Winnebago. This section is somewhat rolling as it intersected by some branchlets of the Archie Creek ravine. It has the Lansing road along its north side. The northeast forty of the northeast quarter of this lection, E. Carsten; the forty south of that, Frank Deters; Lanrperl i-inde 40 acres; Fred Deters no acres; west eighty 0* tb« northwest quarter Otto Fruehte, all of these laodt being in the north half of the section. The southwest quarter of the section is owned by George Deters; southeast quarter, west eighty, Lampert Linde who has 120 acres in the section; east eighty, W. B. Meyners. IV. (OUNTBY VI>W FHOM THK RIDGE WHAT w€ have spoken of as the Wilmington ridge is the easterly portion of an extensive ridge system covering a considerable area in each of the townishij^s of Spring Grove, Wilmington and Caledonia, some less in the last named township than in the other two. Our meaning, therefore, while restricted to the part of the system in Wil- mington township, more specially applies to th« portion of it rising a hundred feet, more or less, Above the general level of Portland Prairie. Considered in its entirety, the system is very irregular in its outlines mainly owing to numerous spur ridges projecting one to two o-r more milee north and south from the main body and axis of ihis upland terrain. From near Newhouse station in the southwest part of Spring Grove township to a point one mile west of Caledonia, in a general northeastern direction, the main axis of the ridge system stretches thru a distance of about fifteen miles and forms a water parting or drainage divide. This axis is not wholly cci tiruris as It is inter- rupted in a few places by gaps. The ridge and its spurs is mainly formed of white sandstone and above that is a layer of about fifteen feet of hard limestone, unless broken up into flaky fragments mixed with clay as is apt to be the case on the less elevated spurs under the top soil. The sand- stone does not extend very deep below the base of COUMT:prises numerous swells of ground the summits of which do not appear to vary much in elevation. The intervening drainage synclines are not very apparent except within less distance than a mile. Within the prairie area, not taking account of iti COUNTRY VIEW FROM THE KIDGE 59 ravine borders, there is little to be seen of the natural growths of trees and but for the cultivated windbreak groves around the farmsteads, almost the entire prairie district would form a treeless, though farm-cvltivated, section of the county. The separate groups of farm buildings, being in the main scattered along the principal road, are not as numerous over the large area covered as might be supposed for one generally consisting of small farms. The longest stretch of the prairie dis- trict is toward the southeast and the view in that direction includes Eitzen, but the place s partially obscured by trees in its vicinity; however, the large new church just south of the village is more clearly defined as seen over lour miles away. In a southwestern direction, from one to three miles di^tunt, the viev is teimirfitid ly two southerly projecting spur ridges which in part ftre timbered. When the longer of these ridges oeases to intercept this southwestern prospect, one sees still farther away be> ond the upper part of Waterloo creek a broad highland which lies between the creek valley and that of the Oneota or Upper Iowa river of which stream the creek is a tributary. The northern slope of this high- land has a gradual descent toward the creek, since along its upper reaches its immediate valley is of moderate depth and ii« IciceitCi ly hill sides quite unlike the high steep blufis a few miles below. The summit of the highland has a timber- ed horizon but the slope is partially open, cleared 60 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN FRESBNT TIMES farming land. This terrane, physically, is a sort of combination of the common ridges between ravines and those of the Spring Grove and Wil- mington type, having the same rock formations and evidently of about the same elevation. The highland terminates with a wooded point about south from the viewing location. Southward you look across the Waukon ridge beyond the Upper Iowa river, with wooded bluflf tops north of the river and the western side of Portland Prairie and groves along the course of Duck Creek ravine in the nearer foreground. The Waukon ridge is an extensive upland terrane though intersected to some extent by small creek valleys and ravines, but these features are obscur* ed owing to timber tracts and distance. The long view beyond the Oneota stretches from a little west of south around to the southeast with a wood- ed horizon like a continuous stretch of forest, but probably consisting of separate timber tracts and farms which blend together in the distance. While speaking of long and short vistas we may as well correct a misconception held by some per- sons, to. the efi'ect that if they stood upon a large and perfectly level prai/ie, they could see low objects many miles away. The surface view, in fact, is limited to about three miles ©wing to the curvature of the sphere of the earth, and in re- gard to a timber belt 10 or 12 miles distant, yon could only see its top, unless from higher land. V 3()MR OF THK PRAIKIE FARMS IT will now be in order to present some sketches in regard to the various Portland Prairie farms within the major limits of the community, giving 8ueh details concerning each one noticed as were observed, or in most instances, obtained directly from farm owners themselves. The farm sketches will also contain historical notes relative to most of the farms described, but we are not enabled to go back to original entrys from the government in all cases, nor specify all of the changes in own- nership that have ensued during more than two generations. No attempt will be made to de- scribe places in Section 32, Winnebago, and there id a deficiency of detailed information in regard to lands in Section 31 of the same township; also some of those in Section 36, Wilmington township. It is our opinion that the family records attached to the farm descriptions will be the portions of this booklet appreciated most of all, but these we were not able to obtain as thoroly as desirable, ROBELLE BROTH KRS. The two farms of Edwin and Oscar Robelle will here be considered together, since they are the two parts of a once larger estate. On the north side of the Wilmington ridge there extends in th«> same direction a considerable wooded sub-ridge, or projecting spur of the main ridge which is 62 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES about a mile in length. Three quarters of a mile to the east of this sub-ridge there is a smaller one about a quarter of a mile in length which termin- ates near an east and west stretch of the road to Caledonia, and mainly covers the most northwest- ern forty of Section 24, Wilmington, Between the larger and smaller sub-ridges there is quite a large embaym«*nt enclosed on three sides by the main ridge and its spurs. At the southern end of the embayment there is a conisderable body of timber, as mentioned on page 16, in the old days called "Kellys woods," and which extends up on to the main ridge. A piece of road leaves the Caledonia highway in a hollow below the Haar residence, winds around the west bas^ of a sand- stone mound or conical hill in the woods mention- ed, and intersects the road that comes up Duck Creek ravine from the south, on the ridge top. For the most of the way this short cross-road separates the Haar and Robelle farms. The Robelle brothers farms occupy the west half of the embayment and also extend up on to the timbered sub-ridge bordering it on the west. Edwin Robelle's farm comprises four forties in the south half of Section 14, making 160 acree. The farm buildings stand at the foot of tlie spur ridge, the timbered slope of which protects them from west and northwest winds. There i» a fair sized residence on the premises, the usual ted barn, and about a half dozen outbuildings used for farm purposes. The premises are those once SOME OP THE PRAIRIE FAKMS 63 occupied by Knut Anderson and after his death by Ole E. Robelle, father of Edwin and Oscar, who was a relative of Anderson by marriage. He built the house now on the place, the old one being moved over west from the farm. The new house was built in a style to present several ga- bles to its roof. The drilled well on the place goes down 315 feet, some deeper than is common. Matters in regard to family relations in connection with these farm sketches will generally be presented in a smaller siied type than that of the descriptire text, since they are something of a different order. Edwin Robelle was born Oct. 15, 1883. Married Amanda, a daughter of Severt Johnson. :Sbe was born in 1897. Children: Obert, born March 11,1916; Moriss, born October lo, 1918. Ole E. Robelle retired from farming and went to live with a son Carl, dividing the home estate between two other sons, Edwin and Oscar, the latter receiving three forties in Section 23 imme- diately south of his brother's farm, and twenty acres besides south of his east forty, mainly the west part of the old-time Kellys woods tract- making a farm of 140 acres in all. The house and a few other buildings and windmill are located ^n the southwest part of the embayment that has been described. Oscar Robelle married Blla, a daughter of Andrew Myrre. They have two ckild- ren, Lenora and Sophia, the oldest between four and five years of age. [Dates in regard to the Robelle families were only partially obtained,] 64 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES THE HAAK FARM. This farm was once a part of what has been referred to as the Kelly place, except the most northwestern forty of Section 24, now part of the farm in question, and upon which the resi* dence is situated. The Haar farm comprises the forty just mentioned, largely covered by the east sub-ridge referred to in the preceding sketch; and 110 acres adjoining next west in sections 14 and 23. The farm buildings are located under the northwest shoulder of the sub-ridge and near the road to Caledonia. The Haar place has something of a history. The northeast quarter of Section 23 was entered from the government and the land deeded to a man named Pomeroy Angell, October 19, 1854. The next possessor of the quarter was Gershom Pope. In 1863 the quarter and two forties north of it was purchased by Harley P. Kelly of Blacks stone, Mass. Probably to that time the land had not been occupied or built upon. In the spring: of 1864 W. R. Ballou and Marcius Eddy put up for Kelly a house of hewn poplar logs cut in the woods on the south side of the quarter. Kelly had been living in the original house on the Watson farm, meanwhile doing something in the way of breaking up and fencing his rather large place, of which people said in those times that he had been unwise in having bought so much land in the first place. In 1871 Kelly made some sort of deal S0M6 OP THE PRAIRIE FARMS 65 with Cornelius Metcalf Jr., by which he acquired a house lot in the northwest corner of the sub-ridgre forty. The log house stood a little east of this on the full quarter-section of the farm and in trying to move it, its lower portion broke up. Kelly now concluded to build a new house and during the year hf erected a rather large one where the Haar residence stands but it was not fully finished inside. A granary was also built on the lot under the hill. Whether Kelly ever sold off any of his outlying forties or not, we have no information, but in building the house his land was mortgaged to A. D. Sprague. In 1878 the farm was turned over to Sprague and the former owner moved to Nebraska. Sprague put renters on the farms he acquired and that was the case with the Kelly farm. At flome time or other Knut Anderson purchased two forties of the original farm that are now owned by Edwin Robelle and Andrew Myrre. Lewis Haar came on the place in 1892 and then or later made a purchase of it. After the death of Corne- lius Metcalf early in 1899. his farm was divided and the parts bought by several different parties. The forty in the corner of which the Haar resi- dence now stands, was acquired in that way. The buildings on the place are not many and are located in the two sections 23 and 24 though not far apart. The barn on the place was built in 1910 and the residence, one of the better class, about 1913. the other house on the same site having been torn 66 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES down to give place to the new one. Lewis Haar was born March 26, 1863. In putting down a well on the place he met with an accident from the effects of which he died on his fifty-second births day, 1915. His widow resides in Caledonia and the farm is managed by relatives. ANDREW O. MYRRE. The farm of Andrew 0. Myrre consists of three forties lined east and west and located in the south half of Section 14, also an eighty north of these. Two of the forties were once owned by Knut Anderson The road to Caledonia turns north a quarter of a mile below the Haar premises and bisects the east parts of the middle forty and eighty. The residence and farm buildings stand upon an eminence or low broad topped hill between upper parts of two branches of a ravine that drains northeasterly to the valley of Winne- bago creek. The farm residence is a large framed one and there is the usual large red barn amonsr the buildings. Just west of the house stands a windbreak of cultivated pines. A. 0. Myrre married a daughter of Knut An- derson. The children of the family are grownup and most of them reside in the county. In the order of their birth came Ole, Carl, Martin, Celia, Albert, Amanda, Ella, William, Sterk and Neu- man. A child was also lost in childhood. SOME OP THE PRAIRIE FARMS 67 HENRY SCHROEDER. In so far as the publisher has any information in regard to former owners of the southwest quarter of Section 13, Wilmington, in Civil war time its south eighty was in possession of Edin Ballou. Since Asa Sherman, a resident land speculator of settlement times, married a daughter of Ballou, it seems probable that the whole quarter-section was one of those which Sherman made original ..entry of government land, but not having access ^ to the county land records, we cannot verify this , supposition. In the spring of 1865 Ballou sold his eighty to William Hartley for $1,300, the new owner moving up from the Upper Iowa river .where he had been keeping a tavern on the road to Lansing. In the seventies the north eighty was owned by James Hanson, one of the "five brothers" (p. 25), who built a house on the place that stood a quarter of a mile north of the build* ings on H. L. Lapham's farm. In the late seventies Hanson sold his eighty to Hartley and emigrated to Douglas County, Minn. This sale brought, the quarter-section under single ownership. Hartley died about 1890 and prior to the death of his wife in 1896, she sold the former Hanson place to Henry Schroeder, also twenty acres off the west end of the south eighty of the quarter, making a farm of one hundred acres. The north side of the farm borders a wooded ravine, there being a grove of natural oak timber 68 PORTLAN^D MtAIKIB W FRSSBHT TIMEB ■ " ■' ' ' ' ■ ■ ■ ■ ' ■ I ' .III ,, on that side of the farm buildings and northwest^ which makes something of a windbreak to th^ farm premises, though there are also some cultb vated pines on the place. The farm premises are reached by a lane from the Caledonia road, this passway bordering the west end of H. L. Lapham's farm. The main part of the farm, residence was the former James Hanson house moved to its present location. This measures 24 by 16 feet and an addition was later built on to it of the same dimensions. The barn measures 60 by S2 feet, and was built in 190S. The owner gave the depth of his drill«Ki well as 218 feet. Besides the residence and barn there are additional farm buildings to the place, as has commonly becoma ihe case with the Portland Prairie farms. H«arjr Schroeder wat born to Hanoverf Germany, Mttrch .6, 1862. He cane to this cfountry wUti hi» parenu in 1875, who at first lived on a rented farm near Eittcn. Mri. Sebroe* def was born Auguit 6, lS68, the date of her varriagc t* Henry Schroeder being Febroarj 14, 1890. They have ai icbildfen other tban an adopted son, Elmer Schroeder, Bg« fourteen. HILKBERT L. L^PHAM, The remainder of the qusrter-section under con- sideration in the preceding sketch, ameunting to ?i?ty acres, is owned by Herbert L. Lapham wh^ came on the place in October, 1897, after the deatk of the previous owner, Mrs. Hartley. Onita soutK dOHS or THE ItRAIHIfi: FABM8 $9 aide the farm is bordered by an east and west stretch of the Caledonia road which turns south at right angles at its southeast corner. The farm buildings are located near this road corner. Edin B^allou came to the prairie in 1862 and built a house on the eighty he owned either that year or the one following. The existing house on the place, at first a small one, is the same that Ballou built after undergoing addition and other alter- ations by Hartley and the present owner. The barn on the premises measures 64 by 32 feet and among the other buildings is a silo built of red tile blocks, and a large circular hen house constructed of the same materials. The drilled well is 26fe feet in depth with about twenty-two feet of standing wateHn the bottom to draw from. The children of Levi L^. Lapbam, four in number, were ail bora on the old home fari^ in Section I9, Winnebago t&vfk- ship, Herbert L. Lapbam being the youngest, born Aagtist 13, 1869. Married October 6, 1892 Flora j. Taylor whoi«ai born at Popes Prairie, July ao, 1870. Children: Florence J., born October 30, 1893; died jua« 16, 1894. Lola L., born August I, 1895. Grant L., born February 5, 1898. Gladys H., born April 7, 1903. Bernice, born June 13, 1905. Eloise, born October 4, 1907.^ There were four young men of American paientafv, waa of Portland Prairie farmers, who were with the Amaricsn Bxpi4i^ jlionary Force in France. Grant L. ratiroed Feb. !•, if If . TO PORTLAND PRAmiE IN PRESENT TTOES SEVERT HOLTER. In presenting these farm i^ketches the order is to take them in succession as they each border or are near the principal roads in the community. The farm of Severt Holter is part of the south- east quarter of Section 13, Wilmington, borders on H. L. Lapham's land and merely corners on the Caledonia road. The farm buildings are on its westean side some forty or fifty rods north by east from the road corner. The north part of the farm is intersected by the upper part of a ravine which renders it somewhat uneven. In the time of the Civil war the west eighty of the quarter-section mentioned was owned by Wm, £. Baliou. a local carpenter who lived here and there. He also owned the forty attached to the Watson farm. About the year 1865 Baliou sold his lands which had never been cultivated, to three young men of the community who had come from Wisconsin earlier, known as the Sinclair brothers. They built a house at the south end of the eighty about midway between corners and broke the prairie sod. About 1870 they sold the eighty to Ole Moen and it was long known as the **01e Moen place." Jn the early seventies the house was moved to the present premises and ten acres of the eighty was sold off the east side of its south forty to E. C. Arnold who lived where Wm» F. Deters premises are now, and who previously only had forty acres of land. SiJiAR OV THB PRAIKIE FAKMS 71 t« -— ' : ^ : 1 _. The farm house is a fair sized one with ell part on the east side. The barn measures 48 by 30 feet. Severt Holter and family came on the place in 1911, it havinjr previously been rented for some years. North of the buildings the land slopes in to a hollow, the ravine mentioned, which branches eome distance below the farm premises, one part making a deep syncline on Holters land and fading <>ut near the township line road north of Wm. F. Deters' residence; the other part runs to the north lof Schroeder's and Myrre's farm buildings and iiies out on E. Robelle's farm. The main ravine is a deep, ledgy one, wooded on its slopes, and runs northerly to the upper part of the Winnebago valley, being the flood drainage way of all of the farms thus far described. Seven Holter was born in Winnebago township in 1879. Mrs. Holler, a daughter of Ole Moen, was born on the far.ns in 1883. There are three children in the family: Ina, born ,September 23, 1907; Olga, born September 29, 1910; Bernice, born December 17, 1912. THK WATSON K^RM. The northeast quarter of Section 24, Wilmington township, has been held in the family line since the year 1856. Some historical notes concerning the farm were given on page 17, which can "be supplemented more in detail in the present con- nection. In the first place, the land was one of ^hose quarters which Asa Sherman entered from 72 PORTLAND PfUIHie IN PRBSEWT TIMES the government, preaumably during the last half of the year 1854. Sherman transferred the land to James K. True of Burrillville, R. I., May 19, i,855. In the spring of 1856, Horace Arnold, one of the elder sons of Amos Arnold, left Rhode Island and located on Portland Prairie where he had acquaintances among the early settlers- Mr. True had decided to locate in Iowa and sold the quarter-section to Amos Arnold for $1,000 upon recommendation of his son, already located in the community, the deed being signed Oct. 6, 1856. About the first of August of that year, A. Arnold and fumily moved to Danielsonville, a cotton man* ufaaturing town in the eastern part of Connecti- cut, and did not come west until about eight years later, except to build a house on the place i{k Jfci(31, In the meantime Horace Arnold did something to fence and break a large part of the place, mostly in Civil war tin e. A forty acre "wood lot in Section 17, Winnebago, also belonged to the farm. The owner of the farm with some part of the family arrived on Portland Prairie June 19, 1864. The house was occupied by E. C. Arnold, oldest son of the owner who had come to the prairie m the spring of 1861, and had to be provided with another dwelling on the farm (p. 17). The Kelly family had occupied the house in 1863. The farm buildings were found to consist of the house with- out any addition and not wholly finished inside; a straw barn that had become partly open around dOME OP THE PRAIRIE FARMS 73 the aides and a corn crib made of fence rails. Much had to be done that year to get things in better condition, such as relaying the cellar walls and fixing up the straw barn in which to winter 3 yoke of oxen belonging to E. C. Arnold, a cow ^d some poultry; also a stoned up well 7 or 8 feet iQ depth in the ravine a quarter of a mile east of the house which furnished considerable water after a pondhole was dug near it. The extent to which the farm had been fenced in may be shown by the following description: wholly across the north side from corner to corner; thence south along the township line road to the top of a hill that slopes up from the deepest syncline or shallow ravine on the place; thence west to the Caledonia road near where the scale house now on the place atands; thence in a northwesterly direction and lastly north some forty rods to the corner near H. L. Lapham's place. The jog made by the road on the north side of the ridge did not then exist. The greater part of this large field was in crop, some of it being rented that year. In the fall of 1864 E- C- Arnold was drafted asd had to serve in the army about a year. The farm was managed by Horace Arnold until the spring of 1867, when Geo. M. Watson assumed charge of it. He had come to Portland Prairie from Maine in 1865. As the years passed improvements wer^ made over and above what had been attained to the year 1867; the next year a granary waa built ion the place; in 1870 the house was enlarged on 74 PORTLAND PRAIRIB IN PRESSKT TIMES its weflt 8ide;1n 1873 a porch was built mainly around three aideg; the same year a drilled well was put down 34 feet below the bottom of a pre^ viously dug and blasted out stoned up well some thirty feet deep, which thereafter furnished a fair supply of water, raised at first by a hand pump and later by a wooden windmill. The south part of the farm was largely covered with groves of mixed pqplar and scrub oak, and tracts of hazel brush. In the seventies this sort of land was grubbt;d out and brought under the plow, 4&xcept a body of timber in the southeast corner of the farm and the hill slope across the ravine north of it which latter tract was cleared at some later date. A large amount of post and board fencing was built on the farm during that decade, replacing the old rail fences. About the time that wheat raising on Portland Prairie ended in the late seventies, Geo. M. Watson began buying stock and shipping to Chicago. On April 1, 1887, Amos Arnold deeded the farm and woodlot to G. M. Watson for $4,000, the price being an indication of the value of the prairie lands back in the eighties. Besides the hoUae there were no valuable buildings on the place At that time. The large barn across the road with stone basement, measuring ICO by 3H feet was built in 1894. An upper horse barn at the fodt of the end of the ridge, measuring 48 by 82 feetv was built about 1901. Other farm buildings were added to the premises at different timea- *>ME OF THB FRAIRTE Tkime 75 In 1897 the house was rebuilt over in enlarged form and raised above hlghef than before so aa to provide square chambers and a garret under the roof above them. The main part extending east and west measures 34} by 24 feet; addition axtendihg south, 24 by 16 feet.* The porch re* mains much the same as on the former residence. Water is brought into the house from a cistern near the windmill at the foot of the ridge, this being higher than the ground Aoor of the house 80 that the water passes thru an underground pipe by gravity. West of the house is a wood and eoal hause with upper part which was built in the middle seventies. An appendage to the farm is the forty acra tract which has the Caledonia road on the east and north sides. It lays nearly leveU but haa a mound-like wooded hill near its south side where the forty abuts upon the north slope of the ridge, fringed there to some extent by small oak treea. W. R. Ballou owned the forty in Civil war time and about 1862 started to build a house on it on the east side of the mound » but after excavating and walling up a cellar he abandoned the project. In those days the road struck across the forty, passing just north of the mound. Chas. P. Albee acquired the forty in 1871 and sometime in the nineties he sold it to G. M. Watson. • The dlm«nsion« of tht houge from 1170 to wn ««>«: Oftin part 24 by 16 feet; ell 18 hj 14 feet, with §he« totfed p»tl to ft to* feet wMe. Arrangement oi roomi below ilnCUr itk >TM«&t hOMft. i 6 PORTLAND r«Al«ra: 5N nt^ENT TIMES The Watson quarter-section is moderately roll- ing: or consists of broad low swells of the surface between rather wide concave hollows which w-e have designated as synclines to distinguish them from the actual deep, ledgy, and steep sided ravines, whose slopes are more or less covered with brush and trees (p. 6). There is no such thing on Portland Prairie as a large depression of the surface with raised ground all around it so as to enclose a marsh, lake or pond, though these are very common to parts of the country oyer which ice-sheets once moved- The prairie hollows are always continuous drainage ways, the fading out portions of ravines and their branches, having concave grassed-over bottoms ai)d more or lc8« gentle slopes that do not impede cultivation. The largest of these drainage lines on the Watson farm begins on the eastern side of the forty men- tioned and runs southeasterly thru the quarter- section, the bottom of the hollow leaving it some twenty rods north of its southeast corner. The north slope adjacent to the township line road forms a hillside forty or fifty feet high, but on the south side the vise t« the Wiegrefe farm is of the gentle sort. A minor branch of this syncline runs up to the school house. A few other minor synclines influence the lay of the farm, its drain- age, as in times of rapidly melting snows, being mainly down the Deters ravine. In the soutlieast corner of the farm there are several acres of forest land; a part of a larger dOMB O!" THE PRAIRIE FARMS 77 tract about the corners of three other quarter- sections. A part of the Wilmini:ton ridge extends fifteen or twenty rods upon the southwest forty of the farm, this being its most eastward exten- sion, its base width being about a furlong, and at that point about eighty feet high. The brow of this hillside is crowned with a grove a hundred or more feet in width. This and the elevation make a natural windbreak to the residence which is near the foot of the ridge end. There are two orchards and a few pines on its lower slope where the same is not steep. TheVe are two high tower windmills at the farm prerriises, the well in the yards of the lower barn being 256 feet in depth. The other well at the foot of the hill slope is conveniently near the upper or horse barn and the pump is sometimes operated by a gasoline engine to keep the water tank filled. This well is about fifty feet less deep than the other. The farm is well provided with wagon sheds, stonewalled basements to the barns, a corn-crib 68 feet long into which a wagon can drive, and a hog-house has been built east of the lower barn the present year. The place is called Fairview Stock Farm, the raising of cattle and hogs having been carried on for many years, first by Geo. M. Watson until his death in 1917, and latterly by his son, Geo. L. Watson, the present proprietor. George M., made it a specialty to raise specimens of fine blooded steers, taking some of these animals to stock expositions. 78 rORTLAHD PRAIRIC fK FRBSBNT ITIfBB Gioorge MortMi Wataon was bora io the state of If aiae, April s$, iS|9. Died at Portlaad Prairle» March 19, 1917. Married oa Christoias day, 1867, Lacy A. Araoid, joaageet daaghterof Amos Araold. She was bora ia BarriUfiUt^ k. X., Juae 6, 1846* Oae son, George Leaader Watsoa, bora Ootaber % 1879* * George L. Watsoa married October t6, 1903, MatUdi johaioa ^ Bloomiag I*rairie» Mina., bora Aagasr 3» 1879. ^ Chitdrea: Gertrnde A., bora Maj 10, 1903; Arthar L., bora November 30, 1906; Helea O., bora September I, I9»4* WILLIAM WIEGREFE. The eighty of which William Wiegrefe is the owner lies next south of the Watson farm. For upward of half of a century it was commonly known as the Wright place and until 1874 also included a forty south of the west half of the eighty, the forty during Wright's ownership, we think, never having been cultivated. It is pro}y able that the entire quarter, the southeast of Section 24, was entered from the government by some one person. Previous to the time that Mr. Wright purchased the place about 1862, a man of the name of Bsten owned it. ' Sometime before coming west in 1863, the new owner had been a storekeeper in Blackstone, Mass. In 1864 the only part of the eighty fenced and cultivated was what lies west of the Ca]ede«> nia or main road thru the community which from early days has always cut through its west forty owing ^o the barrier made by the ridge. There rfOME OF THE PRAtHlE FARMS wa8 a log cabin on the place where the present house now stands when Wright came with his family and this he occupied until 1868 when the body part of the house was built. A well just •outh of it dug down into sandstone furnished considerable water. In 1877 the north addition io the house was built. The owner never had aay expensive outbuildngs, such as a barn, on the piremises. A woodshed just west of the house was built first and having pulled down the cabin, the family lived in it while the carpenters were at work on the house. The farm lies at the average height of the drainage axis of the prairie which extends south- e first named one. Frederick Thies had eleven children, seven daughters and four sons, born from 1859 to 1879, Of these children, Frapk Thies, now in posfiesaioB of the place, came sixth. The elder Mr. Thies retired from farming and resides at Eitzen. There are about a dozen buildings on the farm premises, the most conspicuous of which is a fine H2 PORTLAND PRAIRIB IN PRESKNT TIMES residence built of cement stone blocks, the only one of that kind in the community. It was built in 1915, the blocks being hauled from New Albin. Without taking account of projecting parts, the house measures in the clear 34 by 32 feet, is two stories and an attic high, conveniently arranged in regard to rooms, stairways, etc. The cellar has concrete walls and is divided into compart- ments. The largest barn measures 66 by 32 feet. The well on the place is 275 feet in depth with 15 feet of standing water. The buildings are con- venient to the main road at the east end of the farm and are enclosed on the north and west by rows of pine trees. FraDk Thles was born on the farm where he now resides, May 14, 1868. Married Louisa Frtuchte November 34, 1896. She was born at Portland Prairie July 25, 1873. Children: Lorah, born August 30, 1897. Martha, born April 30, 1900. Roy, born March 25, 1903; died July 4, 1915. £lia, born August 23, 1906. Walter, born March 20, 1912. Elmer, born July 30, 19 14. WIEBKE FARM. What is now called the Wiebke ravkie is a valley some four or more miles in length t» where it opens into the Winnebago valley, at which point it is about a quarter of a mile wide and as much as 250 feet in depth. In the old days the ravines dOME OF THE PRAIRIE FARMS 83 were usually designated from some settler who lived in or near them, but being a minor feature of topography, names may change with each gen- eration in case there is no longer any association between person and locality. For many years after the settlement of Winnebago township the valley in question was commonly referred to as the Tippery ravine; the family of that name lived ht the Home place near a spring on the south aide, but left the county in the spring of 1879. The Wiebke farm is bisected by the upper part of the ravine where it is of moderate depth and the slopes gradual, the ravine there blending wUh the prairie synclines. The farm consists of 60 acres in Section 19 and 120 acres in Section 30, Winnebago township. The west end of the sixty acre tract borders on the main road opposite Frank Thies farm; the other three forties are in line north and south a quarter of a mile east from the road. A road leading down to the Winnebago valley borders the south side of the sixty acre tract, but below where the farm buildings are located, it followed the bottom of the ravine. Then in the early seventies it was changed to the slope of the ravine on the south side and on the section line for a half naile or more. William H. Going was in possession of the sixty acre part of the farm in the sixties, also the first of the three forties south of it. After returning from the army, he built a house where the far^n buildings now are, in the fall of 1865. In the fall 84 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES of 1873 Going sold his farm to Henry Wiebke who had been in the country since 1856. During his ownership of the place he made some improve- ments on the premises and acquired the two for- ties that are located next east of Alfred Deters' place, this being sometime after 1896. A large barn was built on the place in 1897 and the present farm residence, which is one of the better class of houses in the community, was erected in 1915 a little to the west of the old one, the foundation having been prepared the previous year. The house has additions, but the body part, two stories and an attic high, measures 36 by 32 feet and is of the hipped roof kind with dormer windows to light the attic. There is a porch and balcony on the south front of the house. The old house has become one of the outbuildings of the farm, as is usually the case where they are not entirely torn down. The farm buildings oc- cupy a position near the foot of the gradual slope on the north side of the upper part of the long ravine mentioned, where this is of moderate depth and begins to spread out somewhat wider than the narrow and winding portion below. Henry Wiebke died March 1, 1916. He had been twice married and had eleven children, two daughters and three sons by his first wife, and three daughters and three sens by his second wife. Herbert and Fremont Wiebke, born respectively December 6, 1899 and July 23, 1901, now manage the farm . aUmE or THE PRJLlim f AHSB 8S \ HBNRV HAAK. ^ While taking: under consideration the farm of Itenry and Alice (Albee) Haar it will be conven- ient, ao far as any historical notes are concerned together with any description of the lay of the land, to include also the farm of Alfred Albee, since both places originally formed one rather large farm of two hnndred acres; moreover, the land titles have practically remained in the family line since purchase was made from the govern^' ment, with the exception of eighty acres from 1869 to 1887. It appears that the land in the southern part of Houston County was open to settlement as early' as the fall of 1854, and that entries on the open prairie lands in that part of the county were quit* generally made at that time. Charles Fenner Albee secured the northeast quarter of Section 25, Wilmington, and either entered or purchased of some party who had made entry on it, the most northwestern forty ot Section 30, Winne- bago, which is separated from the quarter-sec- tion by the main road that for one mile and a quarter runs on the township line. The circum* stances regarding Albee's first occupation of the farm in 1858 have been mentioned on page 18.' Whether any thing was done in previous years to fence in and break the farm we have no informa- tion, but the quarter was all under cultivation before the close of the Civil war. During that Sti t-OKTLA^D PRAIRIE IK PRESKKT TIMES period a threshing-machine was owned on the place. In 1867 a granary was built on the premises with loft above to lodge hired men, which is now one of the present farm buildings moved from its original location close by the road. The present house on place was built during the fall of 1875 ^nd has undergone no essential alteration. The old house is still on the premises, having been moved back to give place to the new one. The prairie drainage divide or axis, whereby surface waters find their way either to Waterloo or Winnebago creeks, runs thru the midst of the quarter-section. A drainage syncline runs south thru the south eighty of the quarter belonging to Alfred Albee, its bottom run dividing the eighty nearly equally, though the slopes on either side are, for the most part, gradual. The west half of the quarter is but slightly uneven. The forty across the road contains a broad shallow depres- sion which is the fading out portion of a branch of the uppermost part of the Wiebke ravine. The farm of Henry and Alice Haar comprises the forty mentioned and the most northeastern one of Section 26, on which the farm buildings are situated. The dimensions of the house are 28 by 24 feet for the body part and the ell part on its north side measures 24 by 16 feet. The barn 1neasures64 by 34 feet and was built in 1906. The drilled well has a depth of 806 feet. Henry Haar was born in Cook County, lUinois, December 4, 1850, and came to Portland Prairie riOJffE OF THE PftAlfitlE TAHMS In 1868» working raany years on the farms, in e^^ pecial for C. F. Albee. Alice (Albee) Haar wad born December 18, 1857. She was united in mar- riage with Henry Haar January 7, 1914. ALFRED ALBEE. Having already spoken of the earlier history and principal topographic features of the northeast quarter Section 25 in the preceding sketch, there will be no necessity for but little in the way of references of that nature in the present connec- tion. In the fall of 1869 Jeremiah Shumway who •Bince 1854 had been living in the southeast corner of Section 36, purchased of C. F. Albee the south ♦eighty of his quarter-section, though the title to it may not have been completed that same year. In the spring of 1870 the granary a few rods south of the house with its stone walled basement, wa« built, and as soon as completed the family move^l up from the old place and occupied it while the iiouse now on the farm was in process of erection, this work going on thru that summer and fall. The lumber was hauled from the *'new landing,'^ the starting of New Albin then still being two years in the future. Besides the house and granary, there waa the •usual paucity of buildings on the premises that characterized the prairie farms in those days. Mr. Shumway neyer had any real barn on the premises, but maintained from year to year a J^S PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRtlSBNT TIMB* ' ' ' ' ' III i ■ . !■ I I IT long straw shed south of the granary, upon and uround which the straw was piled in threshing ^time. The cattle and hog yard was in between the dhed and the road. From this location a small syncline j-uns south to a larger one, in the ifirst of which a pond hole was dug. Mr. Shumway moved to Nebraska in 1881 and Alfred Albee became the next possessor of the iMghty. The deed conveying the property to him was signed January 12, 1887. Since the preseut owner has occupied the place the house has not been very materially changed; the front has been remodeled and dormer windows added to the roof to light better parts above, and some alterations were also made in connection with the ell part. The main body of the house measures 26 by 22 feet and the ell part on the west side, 20 by 16 feet. ^Ji barn measuring 70 by 32 feet with a lean-to 40 by 20 feet was built on the premises in 1907. ^ The barn has a silo at its north end. The well has a depth of 281 feet, reaching down into sand- stone and has 13 feet of standing water. The farm comprises the eighty mentioned and also the forty next west of Henry Haar's place, th« l^hree forties bHving been part of the original farm of C. F. Aib«*e. . Alfred Albee had two sons over in France dur- ii>g the last year of the war, namely, Alfred L., and Edgar J. Albee. The first named, the oldest jof the two, arrived home February 26, and the second, April 6. 1919. £)OME OP THE PRAIRIE FARMS 89 Alfred Albet was bom oo the old home place ]m\j 33, |S63. Married September 35, 1889 Charlotte G. Ratcltfie of the Mt. Hope neighborhood, Iowa river. She wai born October 23, 1864. Children: Charles Benjamin, born January 28, 1891. Alfred Leonard, born August 27, 1894. Edgar Jay, born September 22, 1898. Halph Halstead, born November 29, 1900. Mabel Cailotta, born May 24, 1903. Donald Ratchfie, born November 4, 1906. ALFRED DETERS. This was the old Cass place, or part of it, ftrst occupied b.v William Cass Sr., and family in 1868. fle purchased the farm of D^iyid Salisbury who had entered it as government land. The owner- ship of part of the land for some ten year* Ky David P. Temple has been m^^ntioned OD page 19. Mr. Cass died suddenly December 8, 1883 and th« place passed to Geo. Cass who moved his own house from opposite Alfred Albee's to the ^ome premises. In U;89 he rented the farm so as t«i give his time to the piactice of niedicine, and about 1907 he .«old it to Alfred Deters. The farm is located on the west side of Section 30, Winnebago township and as reduced in sie^ before the present owner bought it now comprise sixty acres. As originally entered by Salisbury it probably consisted of a whole quarter-section. Much of the farm is nearly level, occupying some 9^ PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES portion of the prairie axis, but its southwest part i3 depressed by a syncline with quite a slope on iCs south side in the vicinity of the road. The farm buildings stand back about thirty rods from the main road and township line, and are reached by a driveway bordered by trees. The house on the premises, built four or five years ago, standi & little to the west of the site of the old one, and in its outward aspect resembles the one on the Wiebke farm. The barn on the premises wa§ buiit about 1870 by Mr. Cass. The old house or part of it has become one of the outbuildings of the farm premises. Alfred Deters married Ma- tilda Thieie, a daughter of Diedrich Thiele, but they have no children. EDWIN SHUMWAY. This farm is situated next south of that last described and comprises the most southwestern forty of Section 30, Winnebago, and some addi- tional land which according to original survey lines belonged to the Cass place, now owned by Alfred Deters, The farm has the main road of the community bordering its west and south sides. The forty is one of several adjoining ones entered from the goverument by Asa Sherman. In the late fifties Sherman sold the eighty bordering the Lansing road to Cornelius Metcalf Sr. Some ten years later, Mr. Metcalf deeded the west forty to l^is daughter, Hannah, wife of Rufus E. Shum- dOME OF THE PRAIfUE FARMS ^l way. The latter was then living on part of the McNelly farm. About the year 1867 he moved the houae that John G. Cook had vacated in 1865 to the forty and on the present farm premises. In the decade of the seventies the house was the postoffice of the community to which the mail was brought from Brownsville twice a week and» toward the end of the decade, from New Albin. The farm occupies ground at what is the com- mon prairie level, there being a slope on the north side to the syncline mentioned in connection with the preceding farm sketch and which takes the surface drainage to the Duck Creek ravine. On the south side of the forty there is also a shallow syncline, the fading out porticn cf a branchlet of the Archie Creek ravine. Otherwise the farm is nearly level. The farm comprises the original Metcalf eighty and the twenty acres mentioned as appended to it from the eighty next north. R. E. Shumway had five children, of whom Edwin, born October 13, 1871, was fourth in order of birth. In the early nineties he was employed in a lumber mill at North LaCrosse and had the lumber shipped from there tor a new house on the place which was built for him by W. R. Ballou in 1891 on the site of the old one, the latter being moved back to become one of the outbuildings on the premises. The lat<»r house, fronting the main road where this is on the township line, measureg 24 by 16 feet with a rear addition of the same dimensions. A barn and other buildings, includ- 92 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES ing a silo, were from time to time added to the premises. The well goes down 290 feet below the surface, with the water standing at 15 feet, the bottom reachintr quieksand which presumably is the top of the same white sandstone seen in the base of the bluffs along Winnebago creek. In front of the house there are som# large pines set out by R. E. Shumway in the later sixties. The telephone was introduced into the commu* nity in 1896. At first the central was located at the Cass place and later moved for some time to Eitzen. For many years it has been installed in Edwin Shumway's honse in charge of his sister, Bertha. R. E. Shuumway resides with his son Edwin and in this year 1919 is the sole survivor living in the community of those of American birth who came to Portland Prairie in the fifties. He was born on a farm in Oxford, Mass., June 1, 1833 *nd came West from Burrillville, R. I., in 1856. FARM OF W. E. McNELLY. Some of the prairie farms have changed owners only a few times since the land was entered from the original title vested in the government under the designation, Public Lands. Changes in owner- nership are apt to be more frequent during the earlier period following settlement times when the land has only a nominal value, than in later years when its price has advanced several times aOUB OP TBB FRAIHIB FARMS 93 over and above the price received in earlier days. The farm of Wm. E. McNelly comprises a quarter section, the southeast quarter Section 25, and practically speaking, the east half of it has been owned by the McNelly family by inheritance and by purchase since the spring of 1865, Mention has been made on page 21 of the fact that Dr. Alex. Batcheller made entry on 320 acres of land comprising the south half of Section 25* Wilmington, and in the later fifties divided up this large tract to an extent that it had five own* ers in Civil war times. The east eighty border- ing the township line and main road had been eplit lengthwise into two long forty acre tracts, the doctor retaining the one adjoining the road, on which his residence was located, while John G. Cook was in possessien of the other tract. In the spring of 1865 both the doctor and Cook sold out and John McNelly, who had been living during the previous nine or ten years in Section 36, pur- chased their farms. This brought the divided eighty again under single ownership. The Everett eighty next west was first owned after Dr. Batcheller sold it about 1862, by a man of the name of McDan, but he did not retain the place long ere he sold it to >^ m. Walker Everett. The doctor had also resided on this eighty several years, having built a house and small barn on it about the year 1857. As before stated (p. 22) Mr. Everett was killed during the war and for many years thereafter the eighty in question became ^4 PORTIAMD rRAififE IN PRESEKT TIMES known as the ^^ Widow Everett place.*' Josepli Wlnkelman of Mound Prairie township, who had been a Civil war soldier of the 10th Minn. Regt., came to Portland Prairie in the fall of 1866 to work in threslaing time, knowing that he wouW find several of his soldier acquaintances in the community. From that time onward he remain- ed at the prairie, managing: the Everett eighty. io 1875 he married the widow Everett. She died in 18^4 and Mr, Winkelman passed away October 19^ 1^12, having survived the war 47 years. Th« farm now passed by will to the McNelly family. John McNelly died April 21, 1918 and the farm property next passed to Eugenia, a daughter by isi 3econd wife. Eugenia married August F. GuW and having decided to move to Canada, they sold in 1918 the quarter-section to Wm. E. McNelly— who had been living since 1893 on the Otto Deters place— for $25,000, including a twenty-acre wood lot across the state line. The present owner took possession the following spring. The lay of the quarter is a little rolling, its most marked topographic feature being a rather prominent synclire across its north eighty that «omes from Alfred Deters' farm and runs down to the Duck Creek ravine, of which it is a large branch. Though somewhat deep, the 8loi>e8 on either side of it on the quarter itself are mainly of the gradual kind. Two or three shallow hollows leading to it further modify the surface, but to no marked extent. ;i01fE OF THK PIUIHIE FARMS 95 The hpu^ Qr> the place fronts the road that is on the 6F THE PRAIKIE FARMS 97 the part of the one mile strip in Section 36, WiU ^uni?ton, adjoining the eighty, and which Ilea between the Winnebago W iln irgtcn township line and the Dorchester road, the jait acquired by H. F. Kohlmeier comprising forty acres, once the Nelson Smith farm and later owned by the elder August Guhl. Otto Freuchte came on the place in November, 1896, Kohlmeier having sold to him and moved away. Kohlmeier died in Missouri about the year 1910. The original house on the place was built about 1S60. The present house stands back from the Lansing road some distance en a rise of ground between two syncline hollows. Main part 18 by 13 feet; ell 18 by 16 feet, and a kitchen part 20 by 12 feet. The barn was built by H. F. Kohlmeier lind measures 60 by 40 feet. The well has a depth of about 290 feet. The premises has its addition- al buildings, trees and shrubbery. Otto H. Freuchte, a ion of one of )he early fettlcri of Portland Prairie, was born May 34, 186S. Married EnUj, fifth daughter of Frederick Thies, February 18, 189a. Ska was born on the Frank Thies farm, April 23, 1870. Children: Frances, born December 13, 1892. Herbert, born June 22, 1897. Edwin, born November 5, 1900. Lnia, bora July 30, 1903. Raymond, bora January 3, 191 1. P-ORTLAND T'RJki&RfE *m T^KSBNT TIME8 ALBERT BU'NUK. WB shall now pass to the north of the last mentioned place about 2} miles and take note of several farms that border the Winnebago* Wilmington township line road, and along that portion of it not forming the main traveled road of the prairie community. The farms hitherto sketched lie adjacent to the main road. The farm of Albert Bunge is situated on both nidea of the township line, the portion in Winne- baj?o comprising 69 acres in the northwest part (*f Section 18, and lying -north otf the road that turns from the township Hnf near his building* and runs down a ravine into the Winnebago vaK l^y. This part of the farm 'belongs to the ridge- and-ravine district borderirg the oripinal open prairie land and the tract itself was once more or less timbered. The main part of the farm, compriafng 140 acres, takes in the most of the northeast 'quarter of Section 13, Wilmington, the farm buildings being locjit* d on tVe esst side of this body of land near the road. The north part of this tract also came within the limits of the timbered ridges and ravines. Our historical notes concerning the farm are rather scanty, since we have no acccFS'to county land records, and what we car give only appliet to that part of the farm in Wilmington township. lAOIfS OP THE PRAIKIE FARMS 99 Back in the sixties the land around where the farm buildings are located was owned by Peter Hanson who lived in a lo^ hou^^e Vvhere the pres- ent farm premises now are. In those times this pkti of the farm was considerably wooded with poplar and oak timber. There were twenty acres pfT the south end of the east eighty of the part in v/ilmington that belonged to a Norwegian named B^arna Nelson and was a portion of his sixty-acre farm. He lived in a cabin-like house near the rt>ad, and on the forty next south of A. Bunge's farm, the forty in question being now owned by ^m, F. Deters. When wheat-raising failed the two parties mentioned were still on their farm«, but later on the land was acquired by Christopher liunge of Eitzen. The house on the present farm premises ia one of the finer class in the community, built iti 1916, and measures 87 by 36 feet, nearly of the square form, two stories and an attic high. A larf* red gambrel-roofed barn on the place meaaore* 90 by 36 feet, with a silo on its north side. AmoQ0 the buildings is a smaller barn and also a loQg building sheathed outside with galvanized Ah«^t iron. The well has a depth of about 270 f€«l. AU>ert Bunge was born at Eitxea, Maf 30. 1878. Ris father, Christopher BuDge, opened « store there !o )8^7* ^^ first building used being the vacated iog bouie ol » WHtUjli family. Albert Bunge maraied Matilda Det«ri, ft dtftgbler of Geo. DelerH, October 16, 1907. She was born at KitiM^ August 29, 1S81. 100 PORTLAND PRAIRIfi IN PRESfiNT TIMES ^ilmirjjton. borderina: the township line road; the forn er Ingvaldson place, 120 acres, in the north part of the same aection and lying next west of Albert Bunge's place; what was originally the Pease eighty in the northwest part of Section 19, Winnebago, ami lastly a forty farther east in the same section and in the ridge-and-ravine district. Barring Mxe township Une road, the former Pease eighty would corner on the home place near the farm buildings. Attached to the southeast corner of the Ingvaldson tract are five other acres off from the A. Bunge place accord ir.g to what otherwise would be regular farm lines. Our historical notes srd references to the ley of the land can only apply generally to the home place and the cnmering eighty mentioned. In the spring of 1865 the whole of the southeast quarter of Section 13 lay untouched by the plow and waa not fenced where it bordered the road. The eaat eighty was owned by a non-resident of whom Searns Nelson and Horace Arnold purchased it about 1867. Nelson kept the north forty, but H. Arnold soon turned the soUtfe forty over to his brother, Ellery C. Arnold, so that we doubt 1D2 POHTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRKSEKT TIMES wh<*ther the name of Horace Arnold appears on the records as en internicdifiry posscesor of the forty. In 1867 E. C. Arnold had a small hoii«e moved to the forty from the east aide of what is now the Watson farm, fenced alon^ the road aa4 b«i?an breakini? the land. In 1873 a body paitt was added to the house and about that time tea acres were bought off the Ole Moen eighty next west, makingr the place a fifty acre farm. In the spring of 1882 the place was sold to a man named Carl Busitzke, probably a German Pole, the pre- vious owner having emigrated to North DakolA in the spring of 1880. In 1893 H. W. Pease sold his eighty, toi?*»ther with a detached forty a half mile farther east, to ftusitzke, and moved to South Dakota. This gave him 170 acres of land. The Seams Kelson forty was at that time owned by C Bunge. In 1903 Bufiitzke sold out to Wm. F. Deters, who then or later also bought the once S. Nelson forty. The iogvaldson farm was purchi j-eci early in 1919. ,The home 90*acre tract is moderately roUinp, a few synclirfs canyi' P du iraje waters lo thie ravine north of l^tvcjt Holtt i'f ylact {p. 71) tOkd to a less extent to the ravine down which the township line road turns near A. Bungc'a place. The former Pea«t eighty if creased rather deeply thru the midst of it by a syncline lectitg fouth- ^ait; which is a branch of the Deters ravit*; then the south part of the eighty is hollotved by the tipper part of the Deters ravine, once called tbt Mmn OF THK FRAIRIR FARMS \0Z FeaM; rftvine. On the north side is something of uhllS with a few ledges in vkw in its base, but qA the south side the siope Is gradual and is covered by part of the forest sometimes referred tc in these sketches, though several acres of the timber in the southeast part of the eighty have recently been eleared off. The eighty is separat- ed from the Watson farm by the townline road. The W. F. Deters place is a stock farm, th^ owner of which gives considerable attention to raising hogs and cattle. From the time that the place was tirst occupied, the farm buildings have bt^cn located on a level area of ground about the southeast corner of Section 18, Wilmington. The pf\{ nt the poiat where the latter has "papst d thiu Wm. Wiegrcfc'S farm. Tb^ c)?o3S'road has a length of thu <- quf tter» ct B isaile and on the south border ui' Bramme'e farim it makes -i iip into the lessering part of the Dack Creek r?iv'r.r. Some further particuh-isccRcert' ing the west ropd ^^^■■^■<^ 1 cf-n pi' oi en page '27, The'farn's vf F J^^h^h rtV V r . Bramme will partially ix-coi f if t ifr togt^ther, uirre crigirjiHt they were parT-- -f a single ff.rm that included fllso a forty nc^ owned by Mrs. Haer. It is probable tbfit Silas C. Perry fr=fide the original entry or the entire quarter pertion ic Which the two farms are situated* for the land entries in the fifties generally, Itt net aiwByf 108 POKTIAND FJttAittlB IN PRESENT TIMES mMce made in that way. In that case, the forty mentioned as belonging to Mrs. Bti&r srd the Watson fortj next east of it, whl included in thifiland purchase. More than that, Perry also appears to have owned part of the Arnold Stone 4"%rm as may be inferred from the fact that the original lo£ cabin and a granary belorgirg to the piace were located in Section 23. Benjamin Robbins and Joel S. Yeaton in bu«- oi*«aion owned the rather large farm before the close of the Civil war (p. 28), but in the fall of 1869 the last named possessor pold it to Corneliua Metcalf Jr.. and moved to Nebraska. Metcalf built the house now on the h. Scich farir, in ^875, but it waa not finished ingiHKR 8T1GKN. Thk farm of Christopher Stigcn consiste of two iurties in sections 23 aiuJ 24, separated apart by the wcat road, while the north side of the eaat toTty borders the cross-toad that has been n^tt" tioned. Besides the two forties, the owner also hi4 I tvaity-acre tract upon the ridge, part of ch^ former A. Stone farm. Hie east forty of the t^xm is moderately roUinfr, beirg cotirred thru hy the upper part of the Duck Creek ravine, bat there it is of moderate depth. The west forty la ^ore level. It contains a conical hili that ia several rods wide thru tha base, the farm buSl^- ingi being located on its east and south side* Adjacent to the road. After Marcy and his son sm he bought. It was deeded to him MarcbS, XtH- Christopher Stigen had been t^orkicg ca th« Watson farm several seasouK; the Bealy placavaa next sold to him and he took possession In USB. Th^ present owner has built a baru aa4 ftauV ^tan^Jal hovse on tl^a pliice. The boiiee atattda i . c PORTLAND i^li/vlRIS- IN PREaENT TIME8 south of the mound-like hiil irentioned where the cabin of Marcy onco stood, which Healy and wife also occupied when they lived on the farm. The house ii« two BtorifB hi^h and has an east and west lenfiTth of 66 fe^t, with gabled projections on itB south front. Th. in i.SYii, »nd c«nic to thm cruniry in i88l. He married Mat < ha Schoh, » sister ef Herman, fiernbard and C«rl Schob, who vas born in 1864. The chidrcn were all born on the home place, namely, Martha, born May 3, 1^90^ Anna, born Ma» 23. 1893; Bertha, k>otn April ao, 190© GEO. H MKYFK. Eighty acres of ti.is farm is located in Section 25 and a forty north in Section 24 has Stigen's erfst forty on the west, Frank Thies' farm east, while its north side borders on the cross road. The east part of the eighty as well as the forty, are cut to a moderate depth by the upper part of the Duck Creek ravine which in part spreads in a broad syncline, especially on the forty, rather aoUE OF THU IPVJklRlE FAKMS 113 t^an forminir »t€ep-sjded «lop€i. Otb€rwi8e Ui« farm does not have any very uneven surface. Concerning the earliest hittory cf the place «« are without information. In the time of the Civil war and long afterwarde, the eiirhty waa owned by Herry Kftrrcbuth who served for fiome tim«* in the army, ^hile the forty washe-ld by ]P*red Hannehyth» preauirably a brother of Henry. In 191S all three forties were oweed by the last named person. In 18?3 Wm. E. MeNeUy bou^fht the farm and lived on It until 1892 wheo he sold it to the present owr.er and moved on to whftt is now the Otto Deters farm. In 1908 the present owner built a new house and baroonth<) place, making use of the old dwelling aa a shop. The farm buildings are located about a quarter of a mile east from the ropd atjd near the pitcfc that the ground makea there into the ravine. The house is a eubstantial one, n'ain part 80 by 16 feet, with four rooms above and below; alio a basement; two wings ea«h IS by 16 feet» all 16 feet posted, and an addition PO by 16 feet Th* barn meagur^p 70 by t2 feet bfing IB feet posted. the well has a depth of 2BZ t^^t.l The prairie farms are usvalb fi rc^dalo>be roads and property lines and divided into fielda by barbed wire strung on oak pests. Mr. Meyer has largely used concrete postE, moulded on his premises, and strengthened with wire- They measure 6) inches square at the bottrm and taper fto three inches at the top. 114 POHTL4ND PRAIRIB IN PRESENT TIMES - -*»»'-• -Geo^ H. Meyer was born in Haoover, Germanj, October 95, 1364. He married Minnie Brinker February it, itn^i, bl*e wad bora March S9, 1866. /* t.> Childrea: t r. ^jju h 'Emma, bora December 18, 1891* . . 1 ♦ J?earl» born November 24, 1 893. * . ♦ . Ktsie, born June 22, 1897. vLftwin, born February 25, 1901. ' • ,* il^tjfv, born M«rch 8, 1904, ... ' Aloert,. born Jone 3, 1908. » GUSTAV MEITRODT. ,s Tms farm conBists of an eighty in the northfast p^rt of Section 26. It extends east and west, ite east end bordering the west road. Besides the home place the owner has fifty acres that once belonged to the south part of the Arnold Stone tf^fjn. At a few intervals north of Section 36^, t^>e Dpck Creek ravine throws off toward the Westjbranchlets or drainage hollows, betweeii which the land forms broad swells, but the hoi- lows lessen in df^pth and fade out along a south- erly extending v oodrd ?rrr ci the Wilmington ridg^. - The iny of the farm is in some measure influenced by tV^^se congiderstione, but not as much so as fonr other farmsteads farther south along the road, where both the ravine and ita branches increases in depth. About thf? yesr 1J?61. Frederick MeJtrodt, father of Guptav Meitrodti rvTch/»ftd the furm of a man named William Voight. Some mentiom SOME OF ll-iii; i^-«Ain5E FARMS 115 of Frederick Mettrodl and children ha? been jnade on page 29. As is now usually the case with Portland Prairie farms, the place has its f roup of farm buildings, though generally ia these farm sketches only the residences and the large red barns have been specially mentioned, together with the depth of drilled wells where the f.j^ures could be obtained from owners. The farm buildings are located at the east efhd of the eighty near the road. The house is a suhstakitial &ixteen>feet posted dwelling, the dimensions of tiie main part being 28 by 18 feet, with an ell pftrt 20 by 16 feet. The barn was built some fifty y«ar^ ago by the father of the present owner and measures 68 by 28 feet. The well has a deptk of 236 feet, contains about forty feet itanding water and the windmill is supplemented by a gasoline engine. Some of the Portland Prairie farms hare been given chosen names which are registered at th« county seat. Mr. Meitrodt calls his plae« the Royville Farm. GmtUT Meitrodt, on« of two tvia bfotberf, vm Wr* oai tbe farm he now occupies, NoTcmber lo, lfl6t. Ko mnm94 i* 1S99 Aai^usta Kanscmberger who wm bof a oeof ter, Jttlf 6, 1876. Chiidrea: Ida, bora Janaary Ji, ifoo. Rpy, bora Jaoe M, 1904. Martba. bora Jalf 7. 19>* Aaaa, bora May si, 1911. M.6 rORTLAKD PRAIRCIk; tt^ FRBSENff tIMSS BERNHAKD SCHOH. ' • The topography or surface features of the last four fartns of which any note will be taken ia more or less influenced by proxin^ity to the upper portion of the Duck Creek ravine. The ravine has two moderate sized branches extend* injj northeast until they fade away on the Alfred Deterft and Wm. Wiegrefe farms, respectively. Then on its west side are the syneline branches referred to in the precediBjr lam. t'ketch. lYe road keeps to the west and above the main ravine, ac.?a3ionaUy dipping into the hollows mentioned, i^ati! Otto Deters farm i^ reached, where it de- scends into the main ravine. There is a concrete «;oAd bridge across one of the hollows some rods ' fiartheastof Schoh^sfaim buildings. The farm of Bernbard Schoh comprises an ^eij?'h(y in the east part of Section 26, next south of that of G. Meitrodt; also two forties across ^hp rnad in Section 2^ the second one being next .south of the.fir.9t »nd east of Theo. Thiele'sfarm. The-.eijfh.ty biiiUvrat fortT n ike 110 celt's lined .east and west. Ihe Ity of tb* t\\o forties is ijendered uneven by slopirj? into the Duck Creek ravfne and by two branchUts cf the same, the latter also influencing the surface of tbe eighty. The farm in whole or in part was land that Esten Olson owned back in the sixties. In. the seventies Ole E. Olsjjraard Jr, owned at 1«Mt the first forty and two others south of It; then later l50liE OF THE FRAIMir: FAPMS •. ' 117, in the century a man named Jacob EvensoD wan "' a possession of Ihe three foiues. -The farm buildingfs are located on- the weit Me of the road upon one of thesutnmitfi'between hollows that hfive been referred to. Thcie is m ^ood house on the place built in 15)02, with "the wipj;rs or additions now con men to the farzns j»f the prairie, but rather sadly lacking in the old ♦lays of the commvnity. The n^aih part meas- ures 22 by 16 feet; kitchen part 16 feet square, and an addition to the house 16 by 14 feet, the iimensions of the barn are 66, by 32 feet. There iValso a hopr-house on the premiees 50 by 24 feet f^Mls sheathed outside with galvanized sheet iro^n. The well has a depth of 280 feet, contain- inisr «a much as fifty feet of standing water. Pi«e8 are growing in front of the house; ' *Bernhard Schoh is a brother of Herman an4 Carl Schoh (the latter lives at the old home place next east of the Laphpm iiMii) «rd ^i.fboin September iJ, 18»^9, He ^married, June 6, 1896. Anna Schultz who resided on ^he New Albin ridge. Mrs. Schoh was born Novenber 19, 1876. They have one son, Alvin, born September 27. 1898. THEODORE THIELE. After the remarks that have been made in th« last two sketches in relation to the lay of the land on either side of the Duck Creek ravine road, jnothing further in regard to details of that kind 118 PORTLAND PRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMES l^eeds to be added in the present instance, since the farm now under consideiatidi lies on the wmt side of the road. It is an eighty ne3tt Bouth ot Bernhard Schoh'e eij?hty and located in the east part of Section 26. The farm pr^TiUis of Theo. Thiele are situate'd >vhere Esten Olson once lived, also Ole Olsgsarid at a later period; then next, Ole B. Olsgaard Jr. The last two were distinguished by way of refer- eace as **Big Ole" and "Little Ole." The former emigrated to North takotfi. The latter sold the eighty to Theo. Thiele in 1908. The farm b'aildingsare situated near the road, in the east end of the eighty, and upon cr e of those sweUs {)t the surface previously referred to. The house is one of the substantial frtn td kind and waa built in 1902. The main rart n casures 26 by 18 /eet; east addition 16 by 14 feet and a west addi- tion 18 by 12 feet. The barn ^f ts upon one of the usual stone- walled bapew ents now quite common to the large red b»rr.s of the prairie community and measures M> by 30 ftet. The well is 250 feet deep. The F.monrit of water in wells along the west road is unusually large, but we do not have the figures in thia instance. Theodore Thiele is a fonof DiedrichThieljJ&uA was born May 2, 1880. He married on June 17, 1909 trouisa Ranzemberger, a sister of Mrs. Meit- rodt. Mrs. Thiele was born May 23, 1885. They ^are one son. Benjamin, born Sept. W, 1.910. Mmm OF THE FttAiHIE FARMS lift OTTO DETERS. The farm tf Otto Deters compi if es adjoining ^ract^ of land located in three different sectiont iff Wilmington township, rtmely, 26, 26 and S6. 'lh?re ar« 26 acres in the first nrentitrc(i tec* lion, 40 in the second, (its most southeasterzf Iv^rty;. and 75 in the last. Being so far down the Duck Creek ravine, yet still in the aeighborhood of its upper portion, the lay of the farm is ther^ by rendered somewhat uneven. So far a3 aay of the land is located in Section :i5 it is included in the originalentry of theeotith half of that section made by Dr. Batcheller in 1854 (p. 21). In the sixties James Vreeland w^b on theplflcf, liYiiig where the builoirps are sit- \»ated on the east side of the forty mentioned. He moved to Lansing, Esten Olson being the next own^T, in 1893 Wm. E. McNelly came oo th« place, having bought it of Ole E. Olagaard. Early in V)i\\) he sold it to the present owner, the consideraticn beinp $15,000 The house and oiher huildirpF stard on one of the'eminencvis m^»ritioned. rrotctted Vy an oak grove. The dnrneions of the howse are 26 ty 14 feet with an ell part. The barn mewtire* 12 by 20 feet, and the well has a depth of 236 ft. Otto Deters married Emma Meyer, a daughter of Geo. C. H. Meyer. They have no children •nd we have no dates in relation to them as we liad no opportunity to call at the farm. 120 PORTEAND FRAIRIE IN PRESENT TIMEfS AUGUST WIEGREFE. l-Hti fftrm of August Wiegrefe compriies 120 &cre« in Section 25, in part text west of the qaarter-sectton owned ly ^ . E. McKellj ; fileo a email tract bordering on the Duck Creek ravine road, which at that point makes a detour eatt away from, the section iice of i:6-26 into the ra- vine*. The main part of the farm consists of three forties lined north and south, the north forty being: in the north half of the section. Owinj? to proximity to the Duck Creek ravine, the Uy of the land is more than merely rolling^ besides, ihe farm is trenched acre Fs by the ra- vine thjit, extends northearterly to the Alfred Detefs, place. The f&rm has eome oak groves. As. has, been said in other sketches, the south half of^he, section was entered by Dr. Batchellef who aja^utl&fjK BC)W an eighty of it to Leoiiard Albee vijho lived on the place until hif death in 1893. A bafh'Was built ou the place in 1870. In the early eighties a hcute was built on the pTevr- ises for Geo. W. Mctcalf, grcncK n of L. Albee, whi€fi,*wi^h changes, i? the ere rrcirpied by the presett'tr (Jwjier^ who cisime on the place in 1903. Augusrt Wregefp. wvVborft at the Winnebago Va11«y, )«a- «ary 2I,r8j7.,. He uiaffied on March l$^ »co3, Fre4e, » dmnghter of Fred Detcfr, born Febr«mry 12, 1880. Children: Alma and Verna, twint, born Mareb B, 1905. Pdna, born September 21, tqio; died May 17, 19II. Rlm«, born June si, 1912. BCHOOb HOtJHftA AKV CHUKCIf 12f Wijr.fiRRpR School House, District 66.— This schooft iMitldini; w«3 bailt in the summer of 1867 bj W. R. BalIoa« As oiigtnaHy coostiucted it had three cempartments or entry ways in it« east end, the seats being arranged so that the pupils sat facing east. Some twenty years ago the entry» were taken out to enlarge the school room, a storm house ^oilt outside and the arrangement of the seats and teacher's desk reversed. The building measures 28 by 20 feet. Mis» KUen Heaty, later the wife of Geo. Cass, was the first teach- er and during the winter of 1867*8 had about twenty pupils ^cNei.ly School House, Districl 59. — The first school house on Portland Prairie was built at the road comers, a little etst of the present one, in 1858. and was a smaller sized bvnidmp. The first teacher was presumably Mary Ann Cook«. a daughter of John G. Cook. This school house was also» used for church services until the existing one was built. When it fell into disuse it was moved to the farm of Estem Olson, havini; served its purpose about ten y»ars. The existing school house was built in the early summer o# 1868 The door near the southwest corner opened directly into the school room, no shelter being added until sometimo in the eighties. The dimensions of the building are 3a by 20 feet. It wa< also used for church services until 1876. The belfrys and bells of both school houses were added to them some ten or n^orr yeaas ego The Mh Hor>isT Chitrch buildipg of the rommnnity wa« erected in 1S76. No preacher was assigned to the Caledonia circuit for one ^ra*^ and the society took that cpportonity to erect the church. Land for a church site and cemetery was given on his subscription by Geo Cass. Much work was also contributed by different peraons. Rev. W. M. Bowdish was assigned to the circuit in October, 1876, but there was tran- sient preaching in the building before he came. Portland Prairie N'kcrolo(;t Sfncs 1900. \ft». Eliza Albee, born August 8, 1812; died June 11, 1901^ Esther KobiBfiCD, bcrr Jacuarj I, 1839; died Sept. 15, 1901. Mrs. Kluabeth Metcalf, born Aprtl 3, 1841; d. Oct. 13, 1903^ £lisha Cook, born 1815; died 1904. Horace Arnold, born April 8, 1833; died August 21, 1904. Charles F. Wright, born October 7, 1831; died Jan. 6, 1907, Mrs. Sarah Albee, born August 8, 1825; died Aug. 21, I909. Frederick Hanson, died March 31, 191 1. Mrs Sarah Laphatr, born Ma; 28, 1834; d. April 24, 191 1. Joseph Winktlman. born Feb. 13, 1838; d. Oct. 19, 1912 Henry Kobinson, born March 15, 1831; died June 26, 1913. Mrs. Hannah Shumwav, b. April 25, 1834; d. Nov. 30, 1913, Lewis Haar, born Mcrch 26, 1863; died March 26, 191$. Roy Thies, born March 25, 1903; died July 4, 191$. Levi L. Lapham, born April 11, 1829^, died Jan. 2, 1916. Henry Wiebke, born February 20, 184^; d. March I, 1916. Geo. M. Watson, born April 25, 1839; d. March I9. 1917. John McNelly, born March 25, 1830; died April 21, 1918. Frederick A. Wright, former res., born Mardt 2, 1862; d4«d in Chicago December i, 1918. (122) IBI-c'2^