Death of a dream, farm houses in the heartland PBS

[reddog]

Excellent post Red Dog:10sign:

That post took some real time and effort. These kind of posts make these kind of threads really worth while. All of the posts have been excellent. views from both sides of the fence. Good job guys.

Red Dog, you are doing a real justice to that farm place. It's really refreshing to see that there are those who still long to preserve the past.

KB, I feel just as you do. A shame that buildings with so much history can't be saved. Grab all you can if he lets you. Lots of things a person can do with the old siding, lumber, Etc.


Onpoint

Thanks OP,, I grew up with nothing,, everything I have, was earned the old fashioned way, with armstrong labor and long hours..

Before my father passed away in 73 (I was 14) he instilled a lifelong love of hunting and fishing, and more importantly, a love for the countryside as it was back then and before..


I was just part of cleaning up one of the old acreages in SD earlier this year. Not for cropland though, It just needed to be done, as it was beyond repair.. It was very interesting to see the things that were left on that property, and try to salvage some of the items. It seems you would salvage one level of stuff, then then the next time back, the stuff that wasnt good enough the first time, looked good enough to keep.. Its sad to do, but there was no bringing back this piece of property.. Look what I found on one of the last times thru, on the bottom layer.. Its a shame, because I know there was still good historic things in there still.... but its gone now.

I got his military dress uniform inside a coonshit covered suitcase, and its in pristine condition. This photo album, is absolutely gorgeous.. Im in the process of trying to locate someone in the family to give these to. The people that owned the place previously, washed their hands of everything in the old house, so I going back a couple generations.. I did find his grave site in Mitchell..

http://imageevent.com/okoboji_images/conradegrosz?n=0

Heres the album from the 1800s homes west of Mt Vernon.

When theyre gone, theyll still be here.



http://imageevent.com/okoboji_images/1800shome

My Morton grainery, has a story of its own. I would guess that it was a package building from the original Morton Buildings as we now know them to be..

This grainery, was manufactured in Morton Ill, and came complete with a grain leg and 4 overhead storage compartments.. Its in some disrepair now, but not terminal, I just can only focus on one building at a time..

 

[onpoint]

The farm house and farmyard of the home place on our farm around 1900-1910. The house it still standing and used for storage for the most part. we had a lot of good times in that house not too many years ago It stayed with 5-acres and the buildings that the owner chose not to sell.

This was the barn. It was struck by lightening and burn to the ground many years before we bought the place.

Getting the hay put up back in the day with horses

We believe these to be a load of small Balsam tree's. The only thing we can think of, is it was fall and they would be Christmas tree's destine for the Twin Cities to sell.

More pictures of the farm yard looking towards the house. They had a small dairy heard. The Chicken house or grainery is the small building we believe

 

[reddog]

Very cool pictures OP! I got the original skeleton key to the house from the owners when I bought the place. He kept track of it for 80 some years, I dont think I was able to keep track of it for 80 days.. lol Is that house in SD? as that is a ton of trees around the farmsite for the vintage of the picture, or is that in Mn?



KB, Heres the Morton grainery on my place.

Heres the gearbox assembly for the grain leg/above storage.. Sounds like is similar to yours.

Prehistoric bird tracks across the barn floor at my place.. Chicken or Pheasant?

 

[onpoint]

More cool pics Red Dog.:coolpics:

The place was our Minnesota place. Lots of tree's up here in the arrowhead.

 

[kansasbrittany]

reddog,

You're right, it's almost exactly the same as the place I was referring to. I would feel safe assuming they were probably built in the same decade.

I guess I have an excuse to hunt there next w/e afterall.....gotta take some pics for my friends at UPH

Thanks again for sharing your pics and stories gents (OP and reddog especially)!! It's nice to know my family and I are not alone in our genuine interest and concern for preserving this part of our cultural history.

 

[reddog]

Heres the cardboard poster stapled to the side of the grain leg..

Predessesor of Morton Buildings as we know them today..

From the title of my 1800s house album:

WHEN WE BUILD, LET US THINK THAT
WE BUILD FOREVER. LET IT NOT BE
FOR PRESENT USE ALONE. LET IT BE SUCH WORK AS
OUR DECENDENTS WILL THANK US FOR. AND
LET US THINK,AS WE LAY STONE ON STONE,
THAT A TIME IS TO COME WHEN THOSE STONES
WIL BE HELD SACRED BECAUSE OUR HANDS
HAVE TOUCHED THEM, AND THAT PEOPLE WILL
SAY, AS THEY LOOK UPON THE LABOR AND
WROUGHT SUBSTANCE OF THEM, "SEE! THIS OUR
PARENTS DID FOR US"


JOHN RUSKIN

 

[quail hound]

From the title of my 1800s house album:

WHEN WE BUILD, LET US THINK THAT
WE BUILD FOREVER. LET IT NOT BE
FOR PRESENT USE ALONE. LET IT BE SUCH WORK AS
OUR DECENDENTS WILL THANK US FOR. AND
LET US THINK,AS WE LAY STONE ON STONE,
THAT A TIME IS TO COME WHEN THOSE STONES
WIL BE HELD SACRED BECAUSE OUR HANDS
HAVE TOUCHED THEM, AND THAT PEOPLE WILL
SAY, AS THEY LOOK UPON THE LABOR AND
WROUGHT SUBSTANCE OF THEM, "SEE! THIS OUR
PARENTS DID FOR US"


JOHN RUSKIN

:10sign::10sign::10sign:

 

[kansasbrittany]

I love the pics guys. I am by no means a tradesmen but I greatly appreciate the attention to detail and craftmenship that went into these old homes. Simply beautiful and my dream is to own an old farm or ranch house on a little quail sanctuary some day.

We share the very same dream QH, except my quail sanctuary will most likely be "filled" with bobwhites.

SDJIM, thanks for helping keep the heritage alive. I had the pleasure of seeing that house in person and I'm glad it is still standing and being lived in. I also saw the old barn and it warms the soul to know it will stand for so long as mother nature will allow it to:thumbsup:

 

[quail hound]

Bobs or valleys matters little. Its the love of the song, the fury in the wings and the whirl of feathers of the flush that make all quail hunters kindred spirtis.:cheers:

 

[UGUIDE]

Well habitat and access may not be a problem to you, but I assure it is in most places. I lament the days where almost every quarter had a farmhouse. If you asked, somebody in a couple miles owned it, or farmed it, you could gain permission, make friends, discourse ideas, gain a perspective of anothers viewpoint. The only thing I see here are buildings which are razed to cut the taxes down, and the barnyards are bulldozed into the vastness of the field, nobody knows who lived there, what dreams they had. The idle weeds and bushes become rowcrop, and a moonscape of dirt in the winter. In my defense, you did not say that it was yours, and what you did there. But I do like the scenery of some clapboard, gray weatherstained structure, maybe a one room school house, with rusted playground equipment, which harkens back the times past, and now shelters a family of bobwhites, a covey of huns, or a rooster amid the tumbleweeds around the foundation, and the lack of the farm families who lived there and are no more. I am happy with your business plan, and it's habitat, but most of these "improvements" are designed for profit,because they can, because it's neater, and not for scenery, soil conservation, or wildlife improvements.

I admit O&N I over reacted and apologize. No offense meant. Just as upset as anyone over things changing and I agree land access is a quandry and isn't getting any better.

I did some numbers on what hunters rates would have to be to cashflow the farm based on todays rates vs. when I bought 10 years ago. SCARY!!

 

[UGUIDE]

I can't believe your doing all that work to propagate an invasive species. A species which consumes food and nesting habitats that could be used by native species. What about the tons of tall grass being planted where short grass or mixed prairies was native, might as well be planting corn. What about all those shrub plantings and cutting down native cottonwoods so birds of prey have no place to perch.

200 acres of CP-25 planted this year. CP25 is rare and declining habitat....alll native species as I understand. They wouldn't even let me plant switch had to plant prairie sandreed instead.

 

[oldandnew]

I admit O&N I over reacted and apologize. No offense meant. Just as upset as anyone over things changing and I agree land access is a quandry and isn't getting any better.

I did some numbers on what hunters rates would have to be to cashflow the farm based on todays rates vs. when I bought 10 years ago. SCARY!!

No offense taken. As you know, there is little good news for wildlife out there. You're in a virgin business, maybe the last hope we can have actual orginal hunting like we used to have. I am sure the property is better wildlife habitat than it was before you got it! I hope it succeeds, and other converts take the plan and go forward.

 

[Tombstone17]

Red Dog, Thank you for the pics! I and my wife would give our eye teeth and first born to live in a place like that. You do great honor to the era past , and I feel sad that it is going so quick. But a last we are stuck here in Low-Cal. with the nuts and chews of Suburbia....

 

[reddog]

Red Dog, Thank you for the pics! I and my wife would give our eye teeth and first born to live in a place like that. You do great honor to the era past , and I feel sad that it is going so quick. But a last we are stuck here in Low-Cal. with the nuts and chews of Suburbia....

Thanks Tombstone.. About the time I get the place finished up and ready for the market, you should be about ready to retire to Iowa!

Were moving to South Dakota! Plenty of places there that need my assistance..... if theres any left..

 

[UGUIDE]

This isn't your typical structure but......here is the coverted loafing and milking barn now used to bring sporting men out to the prairiie from the smoggy cities. You would see this if you did a 180 where the guys are standing in the first burning building picture. Across the lot is the bird cleaning shack where the new one stands and the old one got blown away (old one was the milk parlor taken off the shed and moved across lot.

Come to think of it we lodge quite a few hunters at our camps in old farmhouses, etc.

 

[onpoint]

This isn't your typical structure but......here is the coverted loafing and milking barn now used to bring sporting men out to the prairiie from the smoggy cities. You would see this if you did a 180 where the guys are standing in the first burning building picture. Across the lot is the bird cleaning shack where the new one stands and the old one got blown away (old one was the milk parlor taken off the shed and moved across lot.

Come to think of it we lodge quite a few hunters at our camps in old farmhouses, etc.

Hey, I been there..:thumbsup: It's surrounded by acres and acres of pheasant supporting habitat too. That was nice to see when the wife and I stopped by. Still haven't met you Sir but I'm sure that will happen eventually.

 

[onpoint]

This place is in Madison South Dakota(Links at bottom of page). I'm not positive but I believe they are still standing buildings today but I could be wrong.

Something I have thought about is, what is the one thing that we have geared farming with?

Not only farming but just about every forum of production work?

We gear everything to unemploy as many people as possible. Everything has been geared to do as much work with as few people as possible. These two big barns were filled with square bale hay and straw. up top and dairy cattle most likely in the bottom. It took a lot of hands to keep this operation running. Everybody involved made a living. They had a roof over their head, food in their belly and a few bucks in their pocket.

That's the kind of business that kept this country doing well for everybody for the most part. Think about all those farms back then and just how many people they supported. What we done is innovate our country into unemploying as many people as possible in the farming industry. We continue today to invent as many machines as we can to replace as many people as we can. It all surrounds around the greed of a few to become richer and richer. If this countries people were to settle for just a good life not a insanely rich life. I believe we would have more people above the poverty line, working a good job and small towns wouldn't be drying off at aalarming rate. We wouldn't have went from 80,000 farms in places like South Dakota to less then 40,000. Sometimes what's better for a country as a whole, isn't how many people are on the Forbes richest peoples list but on how many people are above the poverty line. IMO, the system we are using is promoting hardships for more then it's helping. That is what's leading to the loss of not just farms and farm steads but many, many things that kept American's employed and working.

GO VIKINGS TODAY!!

Onpoint

 

[oldandnew]

This place is in Madison South Dakota(Links at bottom of page). I'm not positive but I believe they are still standing buildings today but I could be wrong.

Something I have thought about is, what is the one thing that we have geared farming with?

Not only farming but just about every forum of production work?

We gear everything to unemploy as many people as possible. Everything has been geared to do as much work with as few people as possible. These two big barns were filled with square bail hay and straw. up top and dairy cattle most likely in the bottom. It took a lot of hands to keep this operation running. Everybody involved made a living. They had a roof over their head, food in their belly and a few bucks in their pocket.

That's the kind of business that kept this country doing well for everybody for the most part. Think about all those farms back then and just how many people they supported. What we done is innovate our country into unemploying as many people as possible in the farming industry. We continue today to invent as many machines as we can to replace as many people as we can. It all surrounds around the greed of a few to become richer and richer. If this countries people were to settle for just a good life not a insanely rich life. I believe we would have more people above the poverty line, working a good job and small towns wouldn't be drying off at aalarming rate. We wouldn't have went from 80,000 farms in places like South Dakota to less then 40,000. Sometimes what's better for a country as a whole, isn't how many people are on the Forbes richest peoples list but on how many people are above the poverty line. IMO, the system we are using is promoting hardships for more then it's helping. That is what's leading to the loss of not just farms and farm steads but many, many things that kept American's employed and working.

GO VIKINGS TODAY!!

Onpoint

The everybody working theory, made personal involvement necessary. The hassles of living together, with relations coming back to the ancestral home for generation. It also made us involved and interested in the kids who needed encouragement to fit in society. We had grandma's granpa's aunts, hired man, somebody who as we said then, "take an interest in the boy". This is how we avoid Sandy Hook. The buildings are a symbol of what was. Now we send send the kids to boarding school, send the old people to nursing homes, so nobody with experience and the time at home to mentor anybody is gone, People get divorced because it's to hard to communicate with each other, divorce and being distant evades the responsibilty to a kid you don't want to fix. Believe or not, it's the cash society. In the old days people got along because it was to hard to make it on your own! Necessity made fine bedfellows, and a work mates. We were to busy surviving to be trivial. Cash, greed, and idle minds make us this way. I remember a time when people wouldn't vote for Nelson Rockfeller for president, because he was divorced! Now our canidates freely admit using, non-prescription drugs, had multiple affairs, and of course, questionable financial transactions. We don't care! 50 years is the span. Maybe the house, the property, the work, the community you don't want to let down, defines us more than we think!

 

[onpoint]

The everybody working theory, made personal involvement necessary. The hassles of living together, with relations coming back to the ancestral home for generation. It also made us involved and interested in the kids who needed encouragement to fit in society. We had grandma's granpa's aunts, hired man, somebody who as we said then, "take an interest in the boy". This is how we avoid Sandy Hook. The buildings are a symbol of what was. Now we send send the kids to boarding school, send the old people to nursing homes, so nobody with experience and the time at home to mentor anybody is gone, People get divorced because it's to hard to communicate with each other, divorce and being distant evades the responsibilty to a kid you don't want to fix. Believe or not, it's the cash society. In the old days people got along because it was to hard to make it on your own! Necessity made fine bedfellows, and a work mates. We were to busy surviving to be trivial. Cash, greed, and idle minds make us this way. I remember a time when people wouldn't vote for Nelson Rockfeller for president, because he was divorced! Now our canidates freely admit using, non-prescription drugs, had multiple affairs, and of course, questionable financial transactions. We don't care! 50 years is the span. Maybe the house, the property, the work, the community you don't want to let down, defines us more than we think!

:10sign::10sign::10sign::10sign::thumbsup:

 

[kansasbrittany]

The everybody working theory, made personal involvement necessary. The hassles of living together, with relations coming back to the ancestral home for generation. It also made us involved and interested in the kids who needed encouragement to fit in society. We had grandma's granpa's aunts, hired man, somebody who as we said then, "take an interest in the boy". This is how we avoid Sandy Hook. The buildings are a symbol of what was. Now we send send the kids to boarding school, send the old people to nursing homes, so nobody with experience and the time at home to mentor anybody is gone, People get divorced because it's to hard to communicate with each other, divorce and being distant evades the responsibilty to a kid you don't want to fix. Believe or not, it's the cash society. In the old days people got along because it was to hard to make it on your own! Necessity made fine bedfellows, and a work mates. We were to busy surviving to be trivial. Cash, greed, and idle minds make us this way. I remember a time when people wouldn't vote for Nelson Rockfeller for president, because he was divorced! Now our canidates freely admit using, non-prescription drugs, had multiple affairs, and of course, questionable financial transactions. We don't care! 50 years is the span. Maybe the house, the property, the work, the community you don't want to let down, defines us more than we think!

I'll give you a :10sign: for that one.