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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 1955)
Corrigan, Wettlaufer Methods Different By MRS. N. D. 1CKES, SR., Things have changed down on the farm since the turn of the century. The last word in machin ery 50 to 55 years ago now com mands a good price as a museum piece. But the farmer’s physical work load has been lightened. The con trast is the basis for this story. Back in 1905, Bill Corrigan re sided on a farm a few miles west of Emmet. He was a hard-work ing Irishman, a master horseman, and his delightful brogue enter tained the neighbor kids. Let’s talk about Mr. Corrigan’s » farming methods. The walking plow had lately been replaced with a nifty three-horse hitch—■ a riding lister, no less. The walking plow quickly lost its appeal when horse pow er was brought into use com plete with an iron seat. Mr. Corrigan brought his fam ily from the East at a time when land could be had for the taking, either as homesteads or as timber claims. Even his daughters, Katie and Sarah, now deceased, staked out adjoining claims and lived to gether in a shack built on the line while “proving up” on their land. Neighbors and friends found the Corrigans fine folk and good neighbors. It was a pleasure to engage Mr. Corrigan in conversa tion. His son, Patrick, lives on the homeplace and a daughter, Mrs. Julia Staples, now resides in At kinson. The go-devil was invented as a means of tending the listed com, readying it for the third opera tion — laying it by with the cul tivator. Its inverted trough for the protection of the small plants and the dished-wheel departure label ed it as something new, indeed. Horses of all breeds and types went to the fields and were driv en on the roads. A good deal of the fanner’s wealth was repre sented in his lineup of horses. Some bred their horses for size and strength and took pride in their stables of matched teams. They fed them well and provided them with fly nets for their sum mer comfort and blankets to keep them from taking cold after exer cise or work had warmed them up to the sweat stage. A good horseman reflected good judgement in the fit of the collar, adding a sweat pad as the season progressed and the horses work ed down in weight, slimming his neck to where the collar was too loose. Resting his horses at the ends of the fields and pausing to let them blow after a hard pull on a hill gave the master time to shift the horses’ collars and cool the necks, often easing the weight with a folded handkerchief while he speculated on the advisabiltiy of changing the length of the tugs to maintain equal draft. It made a difference to a horse who was his driver. The care made a lot of difference, too, in the amount of service the farmer received in return. Some farmers were careless op erators and cared not a hoot what the horses looked like or how poorly prepared they were for a summer’s work. Some with a <m trader’s instinct were apt to swap animals right out of harness just for a change. It was not uncom- j mon to see a slim-legged Hamble > tonian requested to pull her share > alongside a draft animal built for ■ rugged type. The heavy type were often asked to take to the ; road when trips to town were im perative. The colt crop each year was certainly a nuisance. A man needed help in hitching and un hitching, whether the colts were left in the barn or allowed to fol low the mares. Colts always have had the habit of getting into all the mischief possible, causing tangle-ups in the harness and run aways. The accident hazard was ever present threat to a family’s safe ty. Who could predict what a horse would do when it became entangled or when it saw a piece of paper swept along by the wind? “Kicking over the traces” was not just an idle phrase. Things could happen fast. Some drivers were easy on their teams while others were careless and thoughtless and tried the endurance of their horses each time they hitched up a team, rac ing to the hay or cornfield at breakneck speed just for the thrill. The moderns of that same stripe are screwballs behind the steering wheel of a ‘hot” car. A few hundred dollars would start a young couple up In farming and the hard working, frugal ones were soon among the prosperous inhabitants. Roads were maintained by men who worked out their poll tax each year, supervised by a road boss or overseer. County and pre cinct bridges had a way of going out with every hat’d rain. Traffic was not very heavy those days. Towns were equipped with hitching posts and at least one was placed near the gate to the house yard where the team was hitched while the man of the house chang ed into his Sunday best and waited for the missus to appear. Buggy whips, lap robes and foot warmers were standard gear and a spring seat atop of a two- or three-box wagon was a luxury. A man’s legs could take a lot of punishment stand ing, absorbing all the bumps and jars before some back-achey, leg-weary, thoughtful individual accomplished the invention of the spring seat to take his weight off his feet. Grain was bound, stacked and threshed. And the men followed the horse power or the steam en gine threshing machine from har vest to snowfall time. Corn was picked with a peg and the day began long before it was light and choring was done by lantern light. However, farmers had smartened up some since their boyhood in the East where they picked, three to a wagon, a man on each side and a boy man fully trying to keep up the down row created every round. The invention of a bang or throw board, and the scoop end-gate, was indeed appreciated by the corn pickers. _ l a i • W16 wwjo anu OUUICU1I1C5 UH2 big girls helped pick the com, then went to school till farm work started in the spring. The age limit was 21 instead of 16 them. Fifty years and a whale of a lot of inventions have changed the farm picture into something like an Aladdin presto-change af fair. Farm equipment has stepped up in tempo so a farmer equipped with a line of modem machinery can tend a very large acreage. If it seems expedient, a 24-hour working day can be maintained with a change of men (not hors es). In fact, if he did not farm a good deal of ground, the expendi ture would not be warranted. Let’s drop in on Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wettlaufer and family. They make extensive use of a four-bottom plow and diesel-pow ered tractor—just a part of their mechanized layout. The Wettlaufers reside three miles northwest of Page. They own and rent 480 acres of land. They have four sons who will be handling the tractors and ma chinery very young, in accordance with modern custom. Mrs. Wett laufer gives a hand with the chores and with the errand run ning. They are trying to build up their place and improve it as they go along. The high cost of equip ment and maintenance make it a slow go, but if a man farms he has little choice except to buy a farm because there are few to rent. Since the modern farmer uses multiple-row machinery he can do his work without much hired help. Often the missus and the kids can help out enough to get by. Some times brothers or friends team together to keep things going more smoothly. Many of today’s labor-saving machines were born directly out of the man power shortage era brought about by World War II. The farmer at the turn of the century would have held up his hands in horror could he have glimpsed this four-bottom plow turning the sod ait such a rapid rate and followed by the planter, rotary hoe, cultivator and corn picker, all multiple-row inven tions. Small grain farming includes drills with seeding and fertilizing attachments, windrower and com bine, eleminating the need for a threshing machine and the feeding of the crew it took to operate it A power mower, side delivery rake and a one-man baler make short work of the alfalfa and wild hay harvest. atraw piles' mere are none— thanks to the straw spreader at tachment on the combine that scatters thinly a film of chopped straw evenly upon the stubble field in wait for the one-way that will turn it under in time for the rains to bring up a nice cover ing of green manure that will be incorporated in the soil, come spring. Midwesterners have borrowed a page from the thrifty European peasant and do not allow compost material to pile up and leech out, as was formerly done. Now it’s hurried out to where it will en rich the land. The term “hybrid” was prac tically unknown a half-century ago. Practically all of our best seeds are hybrid varieties and the hybrid crosses have invaded the animal kingdom as well. Hy brid chickens are much in de mand. New, too, is the seed coating which gives a boost to fertility and brings the seed up quickly. Seed coating gives strength to make a fast growth to meet the infusion of liquid or gas fertiliz er, which gives them what it takes to withstand that critical period when a crop waits patiently for belated rain. Modern man does not trade his bed for a lantern in the morning but arises at a more reasonable time and climbs onto a comfort able seat on a trcator that houses hidden and unlimited power. Chores are a small part of the daily grind and some have done away with them altogether. For those who still believe dad’s statement that your profit lay in your chores, there are conven iences that take the drudgery out of their doing. The price of modern machin ery heretofore mentioned, aug mented by power grinders, rub ber-tired and flare-board wagons and all the household gagdets, would buy the best farm in the country. Acquiring a farm and standard equipment is represent ative of a lifetime of hard work. Modern man’s missus thinks she is so busy flipping switches that control her modem conveniences that she seldom gives thought to the ways of her mother and grandmother. Judged by the standards of her grandmother’s day, she would scarcely measure up. _ However, the pattern of birth, education, marriage, parenthood and death proceeds according to the tradition. Modems can’t guess the changes that will make us back numbers and relegate our present modem equipment and ideas into complete discard. O’Neill News Mr. and Mrs. Bud Lanman and Larry of Verdel and Mr. and Mrs. George Mellor of Spencer visited the Roy Lanman’s on Sunday. Mrs. John Grutsch entertained six guests Thursday afternoon in honor of the fourth birthday an niversary if her daughter, Ann. The Robert Devoy family moved to O’Neill from Sioux City Sunday. Mr. Devoy is a partner in the Gilligan Drug store. Mrs. Betty Mayes and sons of Joplin, Mo., came Wednesday, July 27, and stayed until Sunday in the C. R. Foree home. Mr. and Mrs. Don Godel of On awa, la., spent the weekend with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd 1 Godel and family. Dr. and Mrs. R. L. Owens and children left Saturday night for their home in Kansas City, Mo. They have been visiting for t the past two weeks in the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Golden. Mrs. Z. M. Sessler of Denby, S. D., is visiting the Roy Lanmans. Misses Margaret Ann and Mary Sue Donohue of Bonesteel, S.D., are visiting at the Dr. E. M. Gleeson home. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Spittler of Ewing visited Sunday in the Fred Grage home. Mrs. Len Webb and son, Jackie, of Mitchell came Sunday to spend two weks with Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Eby and relatives at Page. Mother Virginia, formerly of O’Neill, came Wednesday and will remain until Friday. She is visit ing her brother, Felix R. Sullivan, and other relatives here. Kitty and Susie Donahoe of Omaha spent from Sunday, July 24, until last Thursday at the Bernadette Brennan home. The late BUI Corrigan, an Irishman with a delightful brogue, farmed about the turn of the cen tury between Emmet and Atkinson. In the photo (above), taken in 1905, he poses aboard a four-home go-devil. The equipment, complete with riding seat and dished wheel in rear, caused farmers to aban don the old walking plow. Norman Wettlaufer, only a lad, drives his father’s diesel-pow ered tractor which is shown (above) drawing a four-bottom plow. Multiple-row mechanized equipment means fewer hired hands; also necessitates a larger all-around operation to justify the ex pense of buying and operating the equipment. Graze Cattle on Treated Pasture Pasture may be top-dressed with superphosphate at any time without danger to livestock or pasture. Cattle or sheep may lick up some of the phosphate, but it is not harmful to them. Actually, phosphate will supply some of the mineral that cattle need, reports an article in the August issue of Successful Farm ing magazine. However, super phosprate should not be used in mineral supplements for livestock because it contains some fluorine. Before nitrogen or mixed fer tilizers are spread, livestock should be removed from the field and not turned in until the next day. If there are any lumps of nitrogenous or mixed fertilizer, livestock should not be permitted in the field until these lumps dis appear, warns the article. Nitrate, ammonium salt, and urea are somewhat poisonous to livestock, if there are lumps of these minerals in the field, the animals may lick up enough to make them sick. But if these ma terials are free-flowing pellets or powder, th animals are most un likely to get enough to harm them, says the article. Miss Marilyn Fetrow of Omaha spent the weekend here. ... - I Prairie Schooner Mobil Homes I ■rMMnT^TTTf I WE FINANCE — WE TRADE O’Neill Trailer Sales — Phone 254 DICK TOMLINSON, Prop. I ._ NATION - WIDE FITTED fl SHEETS! SANFORIZED! bJ COLORED SHEETS and CASES l ; o Firmly-woven muslins, long-wearing, first quality. Maize, blue, green, rose, lilac. Sheets, 81x108” 2.39 Cases, 42x36” 49c Penneys Nation-Wide MUSLIN SHEETS! 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Weed tiller, insecticides and fungicides may be mixed with booster and sprayed on at same time. j T For cere, boons, small grains, legume crops, potatoes, cotton, tobacco and J permanent poster*. Other Numbers and Types Available WM. G. HANSEN O’Neill, Nebr. (Meek Route) Royal Theater — O’NEILL — Sunday-Monday-T uesday August 7-8-9 "A FINE FILM... PP A GEM!"..-, life |®j, "WONDERFUL!" y|r4 ...Time ir "A SMASH!" fl h ...Newsweek I \ “SUPERB,WARM, H I RICH!" ...Cue HECHT-LANCASTER presents TY ERNEST BORGNINE- BETSY BLAIR Stay ml Screenplay by MOOT CHttEFSKY Directed by DELBERT MANN ■ Produced by HAROLD HECHT Assocale Protar. Paddy Quydriy • Rrimd ttri UNTED AHT515 Adults 50c; children 12c. matinee Sunday, 2:30 All children unless in arms must have tickets. — Rural & City PHILLIPS “66” PRODUCTS New & Used Tires Greasing & Washing Borg’s ‘66’ Service PROMPT TANKWAGON SERVICE Phillips **66" Station Phone SOS | shampoo in lovely, lasting new f T COLOR in just 15 MINUTES I I CARA NOME I | co/m b/mni/ioo I t colors, cleanses, and w 4 conditions at one time J ▼ Choose your best shade and add new W JL glamour to your hair in a few min* JL utes. It’s so easy to do... leaves hair # soft, beautiful with natural-looking • i) color and highlights. fl Your choice of 1 2 125 JL 1 loitering thados I pi** ta» JL Use Care Name Color Shampoo Today ^ Available Now at Our ii&sm Drug Store \ ’jjJjT 1 * NOW! Enjoy Sweetness ^ Without Sugar Mokki. WW- ,tee!i"S • NON-FATTENING SUCARYL* You con now include sweetened foods in your reducing or diabetic diet, thanks to non-caloric SUCARYL Stays sweet even ie pressure cooking and baking. Delicious In hot or Iced drinks. No bitter aftertaste Try SUCARYL todoy. 100 tablets, 65c 4 oz. solution, 69c 1000 tablets, J3.4S 1 pt solution, J2.ll GILLIGAN R «L 1 Phone 87 AT PUBLIC AUCTION AUGUST 8, 1955 Sale 1:30 p.m. Courthouse Lobby, O’Neill O'NEILL BUSINESS PROPERTY * Parcel 1 Lot 27, Block 22, Town of O’Neill. The former P. J. McManus store building, two story, brick and frame building, located on O’Neill’s Main street, Ya, block from center of town. An excellent location, with ample space for mercantile establishment. Second story is suitable for conversion to living quarters. Parcel 2 Lot 26, Block 22, Town of O’Neill. Lot size approximately 21 x 1 60 feet, now occupied by small frame business building. Locat ed in the heart of the business district, this lot would make ideal location for new business building. For details on terms and conditions of sale, see Legal Notice of Referee’s Sale WM. GRIFFIN, Referee I — O’NEILL, NEBR. —
