Looking Back

The next highlight was crossing the continental divide at 5200', then only 30 minutes later, seeing the high plains. Talk about contrast.

The plains hold a special interest for me as I remember my mother talking about homesteading in Montana.  With the help of my Minnesota based cousin, Judy Rys, and long ago notes from talks with Mom, I realized that we would travel through Havre, Devils Lake and Grand Forks, where my Mom lived at various times.

Judy, a retired librarian, had just the book for background.  The Bad Land, by Jonathon Raban, chronicles the times of the homesteaders in Montana in the teens, twenties and thirties.  We had already selected Highway 2, which would allow us to cross the top of the US on an uncrowded highway.  Coincidentally, this route parallels the Great Northern Railroad that played such a role in the homesteading of Montana.  It is an area known as the Hi Line of Montana.  The rail route was the vision of James Hill, who worked to secure passage of the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909.   Most good land west of the Mississippi was in private hands, so in order to develop the "dry land farming"  area on the rail route, Congress was encouraged to pass laws enlarging homesteads from 160 to 320 acres. The economics of the railroad depended upon development, so much lobbying took place.  Once the Act passed,  brochures aggressively recruited people to come west and homestead the land.  Most who came knew little about farming and less about the pitfalls of Montana dry land farming.

When we arrived in Havre, the largest town on the Hi Line, I knew from Judy that my grandfather Herbert Erickson had left Minneapolis with his wife Ellen, twin boys and two girls (one my mother Verna, and all born within 3 years of one another) in 1914.  Ellen had inherited some money the year before from a relative in Sweden, which may have provided the grubstake.   They took out a homestead near Havre.

We decided to spend a day in Havre and took the wonderful Underground Tour, which represented the early 1900's.  The brothels, bars and opium dens were underground as were the more legitimate business after the town burned to the ground.  The tour is better than the famous Seattle Underground Tour.

Where you would go if you selected "girl" # 15

I then decided to head to the local courthouse to see if there was any information about the reports of two Montana homesteads.  The story was that my grandfather Herbert took out a homestead in 1914 but lost it the following year when he pledged it as collateral for a loan to sponsor a rodeo.  The rodeo was rained out and he lost everything.  His father, Frank, who immigrated from Sweden with the trade of shoe making, then took out a homestead so the family would have some land.  He was late in the process and only two were left.  They were on the Canadian border, near Simpson, Mt. and were "bad land."  Well, the ladies at the courthouse were gems and I got the record of Frank's homestead, "proved up" in 1920 and then lost in 1923 in a Sheriff's sale.  The normal process is that you "take out" a homestead, live on and improve the land and then after 5 years when the homestead is "proved up," get title or a "patent."  There are exceptions to the time and it is sometimes shorter according to the courthouse ladies.  They also located Herbert's "patent" dated 1916.  There are certainly questions regarding timing since the family stories suggest he took out the homestead in 1914.  We then took a ride out to Simpson, MT, which is no longer marked in any way.  We found the general area and it looks pretty sparse.

Land near Simpson, MT

It seems the promises of viable farming held true in the early teens.  The rule of thumb was that 15 inches of rain was a break even point and those years were good.  Property values increased and the banks were handing out money (isn't this a novel idea).  Homesteaders took on debt in the expectation that mechanization would further increase their yield.    Then came 1917-1919 when there was less that 12 inches of rain and the winter of 1919 saw months where the temperatures were in the -20's and -30's.  By 1922 there was a deserted homestead for each occupied one.  Herbert lost his property due to a bad gamble;  Frank, who had "bad land," lost his during the bitter times.  Looking back it seems clear that the homestead hype was a cruel hoax.  Those who succeed now have significantly larger farms.  I think the characterization of Frank's land should be changed from bad land (which most was) to very bad land.

I never expected my Maritime trip to include such a rich experience along the way.  I just wish I could ask Mom some more questions about this time in her life.  She would have been between 5 and 10 years old.  I can really appreciate how comforting it was to her to be married to a school teacher who was financially conservative throughout his life.  Her father disappeared in 1918 during the Great Flu, when she was 9, and her mother died when she was 17.  Those were hard times for sure.