 We came to Nebraska in the fall of 1885, by train, arriving in Arapahoe and stayed over night there. That day was election day. They voted to see whether there would be free range or not and the homesteaders beat the ranchers. My wife's mother and I chartered a car to bring our household goods. My brother-in-laws, Frank Lehmann and Dick Foster came to Arapahoe to help us across the country. I had come with the car to take care of the team of horses and cow which we had brought. My wife came later by train with our two small children. We lived in my brother, Kirk Brown's house through the winter and in the spring of 1886 we took a homestead in Frontier County, four miles south and one half mile west of Farnam. We sent our two children to Highland school. We made us a home of sod of four rooms. We had brought lumber with us to make a house, but the neighbors said the sod house would be much warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. We built a shop of it and later in the first winter I made a forge of a barrel at the side of the house and shod horses for the ranchers and did other work in the blacksmith line.
The country was not very thickly settled between Ingham and North Plate, Circle Bar Ranch was the only house between there and the mouth of Snell canyon on the East Deer at that time. There was the Larne Ranch, Thompson Ranch and Robbison Ranch. We raised good crops in those years. The soil was new and rich, our gardens were fine and Oh the delicious watermelons and musk melons we did raise. There were wild currants, plums and cherries in an abundance. There was no Farnam or railroad when we settled there. We had our groceries and blacksmith coal brought from Arapahoe. Fuel was scarce, I would go and get wood at the head of Deer Creek and Cotton Wood canyon. It would take me two days and two nights to make
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the trip. Once when I was gone my wife was badly frightened when awakened by a terrible noise in our kitchen. In the morning she found the east and west windows broken out and coyote hair on the glass. We supposed the dog had chased it, and it saw the light through the window. Our neighbors were a mile and a half away. There were some terrible storms too in those days. There were no roads, we just cut across the prairie or followed a trail, no fences to speak of. We lariated our horses and cow out with ropes. Our cow was in the canyon one time when there was a hard rain, I got on my horse and went to see if she was alright, the weeds and brush had gathered on her rope so she soon would have been drowned, I was not long in getting out my pocket knife and cutting that rope.
We hauled the water we used two miles until we had a well made. Had to go deep for water.
Our third child was born in Nebraska and attended school at the Ohio school. They all three had a long walk to get their early schooling, but when Farnam built up we moved to town and the children finished there.
I must not forget the little pests we had, they call fleas, oh how they did bite and how we did scratch.
There are not many of the old homesteaders here today, but the ones of us that are left will always remember the good times we had. There were ministers who came along now and then to keep our minds fresh with the word of God. On Sunday we had our neighborhood Sunday school. We visited and had our socials. We had our rough times too, but after all they were happy times, that will linger in our minds as long as life last. Later we had new and nearer neighbors, some that are still living in Farnam.
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