boyhood experiences

acquired Indian land six miles from Parshall, North Dakota. At the
time I was about old enough to start school so I walked alone two
and one half miles across the open prairie to a one-room temporary
school which at times also doubled as the teacher’s living
quarters. I shall never forget the day I was stopped by several
Indians driving a horse and buggy. The one Indian wondered if I had
whiskey in my dinner bucket. I explained that I carried my lunch
that way, but he insisted I must have whiskey until his partner
reminded him that the kid was scared and they better move on, which
they did to my great relief. Apparently he was having fun at my
expense. You may be sure I lost no time the rest of the way home
that night.

After setting up living quarters which consisted of a
‘modest’ three-room shack and a barn large enough for six
horses and a couple cows, the next item was to have the native soil
‘broken’ which was done by a huge Aultman-Taylor tractor
pulling twelve ‘breaker bottoms’. After the breaking was
done my father farmed mainly with horses during his ten year stay
on the Reservation.

Of course the high point of the year was Fall when that huge
steam threshing rig would pull into the field and set up. Those
were thrilling sights for a boy. The engineer became so skilled
that he could back the engine into the belt and throw the pulley in
gear and start the separator in motion all at the same time lined
up too. The accompanying pictures are a sample of the old days on
the prairie at harvest time.

The first photo is of a rig operated by Gotleib Kelm around
1923. My father, Ross Leyder, is the nearest spike pitcher on the
first bundle wagon. Mr. Finney is on the grain wagon and the
separator man, Olaf  Edwardson is adjusting the blower.

Some years, due to dry weather, the grain was too short to get
with a binder; in those years a header was used and the loose grain
was elevated into box racks as shown in the third picture. This
outfit with exception of the tractor was owned by my father. He and
Mr. Brey, a neighbor combined equipment for the season. Mr. Brey
pulled the machine with a Heider tractor. When changing wagons, the
driver of the team would hang on the elevator then hop down into
the empty wagon. When turning at the corners, my father on the
header would move off the guide paddle that he straddled and hold
onto it with one hand while he was swung around at high speed until
the turn was made when he resumed his position astride the paddle
that controlled the crazy-wheel. This particular harvest took place
around 1916.