The Harris Centennial
Harris --The past 100 Years
Emigrants 100 Years Ago
(February 8, 1888)
Page 30-31
The following appeared in the May 10, 1988, issue of the Rock Rapids Reporter
“Carload after carload of emigrant goods accompanied by the emigrants are reported as having arrived already in different parts of the country. Several carloads of emigrants are expected soon from Scott County. They are solid Germans.”
Since the above reference concerns my family, I shall elaborate further. In the middle 1890’s, Conrad Dietz from Walcott in Scott County, Iowa, decided to look over the West territory. People were going west and Conrad, the father of 15, thought it time that some of his family should try it, although he realized it would be much hard work.
Eventually, the town of Harris, Iowa, was the place he chose. It, indeed, was in the west and the people were friendly and helpful. It would be a good place to start a new life and a nice place to raise a family. he also found relatives and friends already in the area. Harris was a thriving village with two Rock Island Railroad trains going east and west each day. There was also a bank, lumberyard, mercantile store, drug store, shoe shop, machine shop, cafe, barber, a Doctor Cady and other businesses. In addition, Harris had a school and a Methodist Church.
Conrad Dietz purchased two farms near Harris: William and Jessie (Hintze) Dietz, which was my family, settled on one 1 ¾ miles straight west and a mile north of Harris; Henry and Metz (Dietz) Guelck and two sons went to the one 1 mile north and 1 mile west of the Dietz farm. Our neighbors were the Henry Millers. Later on, that place belonged to the Jake Burkes. Our other neighbors were the Lees and the Webster’s. A few years later Emil Dietz came as a farm laborer and insurance salesman. He settled in the Spencer/Hartley area. The Guelck family did not stay many years. Henry and his son Raymond passed away. His widow and other two sons went back to Scott County.
The Dietz farm originally had a small, two-story house which was destroyed by fire in 1903, so a new and larger one was built. There was a large barn for hay and straw storage. One end of the lower level was a cow barn; the other end was for horses. There were two large granaries, a long shed, a large smokehouse and a two-holer for the Sears catalogue.
Dad planted a large orchard which had apples, plums and cherries, and raspberries, currants and gooseberries. We always had a large garden so there was plenty for us and for friends. The fruits and vegetables provided jams, jellies and canning for winter storage.
We always had chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. Feathers and down from the geese made bed pillows and comforters. The chickens were eaten anytime, but the geese and turkeys were for special dinners. Both beef and pork were butchered. They had to be hung and cut up by hand; the grinding was also done by hand. Much of the meat was canned – some was cured for hams, bacon, dried beef and many kinds of sausage. Turkeys were smoked too. The fat from hogs was fried out for lard. The cracklings were used in making homemade soap. Some cracklings were used in a cereal made of barley and raisins cooked in beef broth. The cracklings were added and put in crocks to freeze. When eaten, it was warmed in a skillet and served with Karo syrup – mighty good!
Cream was skimmed off the milk and sold at the cream station. Some went to folks in town as did butter and eggs. Other eggs were sold in crates to the store. Milk was fed to the hogs after the cream was removed. Some of the milk was set aside to sour. When it was thick enough, it was put in a dishpan on the back of the stove for cottage cheese.
My mother baked four to six loaves of bread twice a week. She also baked many cakes, cookies and pies. All of the cooking and baking was done on a cob-burning stove both summer and winter. It also provided the water for the Saturday baths. We carried in lots of water and cobs. The washing and churning were all done by hand. After some years we got a washing machine and cream separator with an engine which did the arm work.
At threshing time all of the farmers helped. It usually took a couple of days if it didn’t rain. We took lunch twice a day to the men and boys in the fields. Everybody had dinner and supper at our house.
Lloyd, Harold and I attended country school 2 ¾ miles west of Harris. There were about eight students. The school had one room with a narrow hall where we stumbled over dinner pails and overshoes. We had the usual water pail and dinner, and wood stove. We walked to school when the weather was nice. Yes, we could speak English. After consolidation we attended town school. They had a horse driven sort of bus, which we didn’t ride because it would have been too far, and we wouldn’t have had time to do all of our chores. Many times in deep snow and mud the bus couldn’t make it. In town school my favorite teacher was Gertrude Mohr; I took piano lessons from Mrs. Mack.
In real bad weather I got to stay in town – sometimes with the Robertson’s. They had a lovely home. The evening meal was always served in the dining room. Mrs. Robertson had such pretty glass-footed fruit dishes. If they were going out I could read stories and put Robert to bed – yes, you, Robert.
When I stayed with the Gradys I thought they could have anything for free because Mr. Grady worked in the store. There were lots of games at the Burley’s. Mrs. Burley always baked bread in the evening so we could eat it warm. Marjorie, Helen and I all three slept in one bed. Grace was a little too young. I had Ferne (Snyder) Wheeler, Lulu (Zehr) Johnson, Gladys (Umland) Beck, and the Burley girls as my friends. I didn’t get to play outside too much; I was mother’s helper with baking and taking care of the little ones.
So, Harris was a fine place to live. We had a good life and I have very fond memories of growing up there. There was always lots of entertaining and family dinners with friends. My folks belonged to card clubs; friends from school could come and spend weekends with us; grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins came from Walcott – some would stay a couple of weeks. There were ballgames and church picnics, or you could go down and watch the train go through. It had such a great big engine. It was fun to see who got on or got off. The men were all dressed up with hats and white gloves.
I remember one trip to Hartley on a very hot day. We were going to have our pictures taken. There were six of us; we rode in a four-seater buggy that had just a top with no side flaps. We left early but stopped several times to give the horses a drink and let them rest. We also visited friends and then came home again that same hot day. That was a long trip. After we got a car, a brand new Essex, places were not so far away.
We liked fishing for bullheads and perch at Silver Lake. In the fall we got those nice big frog legs and fried them like chicken legs – they were so good. Once a year there was a big picnic at Breezy Point which was just across the Minnesota line and was a nice place to gather with neighbors from north and west of us. We had baseball games, played horseshoes, and always had plenty to eat. We could go wading if Mother said, “Yes.”
Oh, yes, there were Sunday school picnics at Arnolds Park. We would ride the train to Superior and then take a six or eight-seated buggy thing to the Queen and then on to Arnolds Park. We’d go roller-skating, ride the merry-go-round, eat popcorn and have a picnic lunch. About midafternoon we’d go back to the Queen for the trip home again.
After a couple of wet years, cold winters and his ill health, Dad had a farm sale in January, 1918, and we moved to Rock Rapids where he purchased the first motor driven hearse in northwest Iowa.
In later years I visited Harris a number of times with my mother. We would visit Mrs. Burke, Mrs. Paterson and Bertha Miller. I spent many of Bertha’s birthdays with her at Harris and Lake Park nursing homes. Those were always joyous visits.
Here are a few notes and dates from Mother’s short diary:
Dr. Padgham of Walcott, Iowa, (no date, but about 1914) built what he called a little hospital. He brought a nurse named Miss White.
January 30, 1916, the Methodist Church burned to the ground early Sunday night.
January 3, 1916, Cornerstone for the new consolidated school was laid. It was one of the first consolidated schools in the state.
March 18, 1917, Miss White, the nurse passed away.
December 1, 1918, All are getting over Spanish influenza. People very sick – some died. A very cold winter with lots of snow.