The John and Gertrude Milder Story continued...

The North Dakota Years

After eight years in Nebraska, John and Gertrude had become discouraged and decided to try some other place. They thought that North Dakota in the wheat belt might prove profitable. After selling the livestock, the family moved to a farm near Blabon, North Dakota. It was a Norwegian and Dane community.

The people there were agreeable but not overly friendly. They lived more than two miles from the public school, so they had to walk or be taken to school. Sometimes John took the children in his motorcycle, which had a sidecar.

The farm at Blabon wasn't very profitable, so after a year the family moved to another farm near Page, North Dakota. Since this farm was about 20 miles from their previous farm, they moved by horse and wagon.

Louise and Wilma drove a team and wagon during the move. They were chilled and stiff when they finally arrived at their new home. The school was located in Page, about a mile and a half from the farm. It was a combination elementary and high school.

All the children attended school except Mary, who stayed home to help her mother. Edward was in high school by this time . The family attended church at St. James Catholic Church in Page. Gerald was born in 1927.

The children helped with gardening, chores, and farm work. The main crop in North Dakota was durum wheat, which was a very tall variety. The wheat was cut into bundles during the harvesting and had to be shocked and threshed.

The children did most of the shocking, which was a process of standing the shocks together. They started with two bundles and filled in until there were eight and one on top. This was very hard work. The wheat was very heavy and the stubbles were hard on bare feet. After the wheat matured a bit and dried, the threshing crew would come traveling from farm to farm. They threshed the wheat, separating the grain from the straw.

Things did not go well on the farm. Sometimes there was nothing in the house to eat, except wheat that was made into buckwheat pancakes. John tried to make ends meet by doing carpentry work, Sometimes he was gone for several days at a time.

The cold climate meant that more clothes were needed. Sometimes temperatures got down to 40 degrees below zero.

One cold, windy day when John was away doing carpentry work, the children were walking home from school and had their faces and hands frostbitten. Louise actually froze her fingers. Gertrude thawed her fingers in wash pans of snow and also soaked them in kerosene. Louise went through many weeks of suffering, with swelling and blisters on her fingers. But they were saved.

After this experience, John and Gertrude decided that North Dakota just wasn't for them. In 1928 they sold everything they owned except their car in what was their third farm sale. On top of the car, John built a sort of minibus so that everyone could travel and sleep in it.

The family took off for Missouri in this odd looking vehicle. They camped out and for their meals ate food they brought with them. There were 13 of them in the car along with the dog.

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