Hay, Hay, Hay!

Page 7

1916-1917

Sold     4 sheep     $35.30
  "         1 cow           50.00
  "         1 bull            60.00
  "         1  "               25.00
  "         1 horse   $120.00
  "         1 mule     $125.
rec'd check for $115 and service
fees of colt $10 for balance.

Sold 4 sheep May 21, 1917 for
$102.95.  Paid $20 on them
$  20.00
$  82.95 - due on sheep
$  25.00 - paid May 31st 1917
$  57.95
$  35.00 paid June 17th 1917


Sold 2 hogs          $50.40

Put 3 horses in Yorks pasture
May 2, 1926

2 horses in Hale's pasture
July 13, 1926

                             $10.50

[The pasture information above has a square around it, & the word "Paid" is written over the 2nd entry concerning the horses placed in Hale's pasture.]

  "  [July] 15     make hay (1/2 day Sim took hay home)
July   14           1 day both
June 14           1 da.
June  15          1 da.
July    11          1/2 "  put hay rope on
July    12          1    "  made hay (both)
July    13          3/4 "  "     "    "        "
                         took load home


Wow.  Sounds like a lot of fun on the farm doesn't it?  [Snort.]  More like, a LOT of work.

Image via WikipediaLooks like Sim helped out with the making of hay.  There are a couple of references to "both" kinds of hay.  Huh.  Who knew there were different kinds of hay to be made?  Makes sense now that I think about it.  Different kinds of grass.  Different kinds of hay.  For all you ever wanted to know about hay and more, click here.  


Image via WikipediaIn Google Books, I found on pp.853-854 of Iowa: Its History and Its Foremost Citizens, Volume 2 by Johnson Brigham that Iowa ranked first in hog farms, first in "proportion of land in farms", and second in value of crops in 1917.   Additionally, Iowa was on top in total livestock in the early 1900s and "headed the long list of hay and forage states in 1909."

Old Heintz Barn courtesy of Donald Pointer.

Seems the Pointer's were in the thick of the growth of the agricultural industry in Iowa.  But they weren't the only ones.  Pearl makes references on this page of using other farmers' pasture lands.  Why would they need to do this?  Perhaps the Pointer farm left something to be desired.  Perhaps it didn't have a water source.  I found a map/atlas on historicmapworks.com of Collins, Story Co, IA of where the Pointer farm was located in 1919, approximately 2 years after these entries.  I located Harve and Pearl's farm.  [How lucky can we get, right?]  Just click here to view the map and zoom in to locate the farm.  It's in the top right hand corner in section 12 (right underneath section 1), and on 2 sides of the Pointer farm were 2 Heintz farms.  And lucky for you, I know the relationship.  Harve's maternal grandmother was Mary Ann Heintz.  And because Great-Uncle Donald is so awesome, I'm able to share a picture of their old Heintz barn.  [Cool, huh?]

Now getting back to these other farmers' pastures.  When you look at the map closely, you can find both the Hale farm and the Teed farm that she refers to.  Notice how there's a water source on their land?  However, this map doesn't show the marsh on Pointer land.  And I do remember Great-Uncle Donald talking about a swimming hole.  However, maybe it wasn't enough or perhaps the pasture wasn't enough or I don't know.  [I didn't grow up on a farm.]  But I love when I can find a map like this where I can "place" them in it, so to speak.  Don't you?

~Caroline

Hazard: Road Work

Note

Image via Wikipedia

King Rd. Drag in Operation

The 2 Day Books (which are really farm account books) of Pearl's have mostly all their pages. The oldest one has the 1st four pages missing and some pages missing from the back.  They are mostly in chronological order, especially when expenses are listed.  However, road work, culvert work, egg accountability, loan information, farm animal placement, and the like are scattered throughout, which leads me to the first page that is intact.

Page 5, Road 1924

Put 2 horses in Teed's pasture May 5th 1915

[Line drawn underneath the above entry.]

Work in 1922
Aug 15 worked 1/2 day at school
   "   16 worked 1/2 day at school
$5.30
[The word "Paid" is written on top of the listing of work above & a line is drawn underneath this entry.]

Twship 1 Road Drag 1924

Mch. 12     2 3/4 mi. 
   "     13     4 3/4  "
  "       27    7 1/2  "
Apr.   4      8         "
  "       14   5 3/4 1 1/4 " [mi.]
  "       28   6                 "
May   22   5
  "       26   9 1/2
June  6     5 3/4
  "       9     7 1/4
[The word, "Paid" is written across the above writing and a line was drawn underneath the above last entry.]

June 23     7 3/4 mi.
  "      30     6 1/4  "
July  15    11 1/2  "
  "      22     5 3/4  "
  "      25     5 3/4  "
Aug    1      6 3/4  "
  "       5      5 3/4  "
  "       9      5 3/4  "
  "     29      5 3/4  "
Sept  2      5 3/4  "


$46.72


[The word, 'Paid" is written across the above entries.]

My Thoughts

Image via Wikipedia

Road before King Rd. Drag

Image via Wikipedia

Crowned Center After Use if King Rd. Drag

Now that was a pain in the butt to copy and type, but it's not even in the same ballpark as the work it took to clear the roads and make them passable for the wagons, horses, and cars back in the early 1920's in rural Iowa.  The farms were responsible for road work near their farms unlike today where the county takes care of them.

I was very privileged this past summer to visit where the Pointer farm once stood.  We took some back roads to get there.  And you know what?  These back roads are still dirt roads.  In later posts, I'll share more about what Great-Uncle Donald had to say about the roads, and I'll share my photos of the area as well as Great-Uncle Donald's photos of the area.  [Folks, do I need to even tell you how lucky we are to have so much about this farm?  Soon we'll be smellin' fresh eggs fryin', hearin' the bacon sizzle, and smellin' horse, cow, and goat poo.  That's right.  They had 2 goats.  And Great-Uncle Donald has some stories about 'em.  Hilarious ones.]


Below is a map of Collins, Story Co, Iowa & the surrounding area.  I've placed a marker at approximately where the Pointer farm once was, which is outside of Collins proper on the way to Rhodes.


View Pointer Farm in a larger map
 
~Caroline

Image by justmakeit via Flickr

Purple Iowa Sky