Movin Out

I am starting a new feature called Story Sunday where I will in broad strokes tell stories I remember about my family. I know when I was younger, like most kids I didn't listen to the family stories, they bored me. I might not remember the stories the best but I will try to relate them to the best of my ability. I will not guarantee a story every Sunday but that is when they will be posted.<br />n<br />nI recently heard some embellishments on the story about how my dad's father, my granddad, come to move out to this country and I wanted to write them down to remember them. My granddad was born and raised in Chicago. His father was a Pharmacist there in a little neighborhood (I do have some copies of pictures of the store in Chicago, very interesting). It appears, I didn't know this, that my granddad's father wanted my granddad to become a Pharmacist just like he was and take over the business. After my granddad graduated from high school his father sent him on a trip to visit his cousin in Montana. This cousin and her husband lived on Sarpy Creek which is when he first come to visit here.<br />n<br />nNow whether he fell in love with the country, the lifestyle or what, I don't know. After the summer he went back to Chicago and started in college to be a Pharmacist like his dad wanted. At the end of his first year of college it appears that he had enough for whatever reason and he moved to Montana. This was sometime in the late 20's and he had a car which he decided to drive out with, he had traveled by train the first time to Montana but this time he was taking all his possessions. He was heading to his cousins place on Sarpy Creek.<br />n<br />nThe story goes gas and roads were few and far between on the way from Chicago to Sarpy Creek. More than once he just cut across country heading towards the next town that he had heard had some gas available. He eventually made it to Sarpy Creek where his cousin and her husband let him use their original cabin (still standing but I have no pictures) and let him farm 5 acres so he could stake himself.<br />n<br />nBeing from the Midwest, he thought the most appropriate crop to plant would be corn and planted his 5 acres to corn. I guess all the neighbors in the area got a heck of a chuckle out of this. After he had it all planted they informed him this was Montana and dryland corn just didn't work here and he was going to have a big crop failure. He ignored them and tended his crop and guess what, he got enough moisture and the right weather and he got a hell of a good corn crop for Montana. He got the last laugh.<br />n<br />nThis reminds me of another story I recently heard in the area. This one family came to the Sarpy Creek area even earlier than my granddad. They were from the Deep South and the woman of the house planted cotton in a plot behind her house so she could have some for personal use. She got cotton out of her patch for quite a few years until somebody told her that cotton didn't grow in Montana. She quit growing it then and said she was glad to not have to grow it anymore, she hated the damn stuff. She always got a crop while she was growing it though. Just goes to show you what you can do if you don't know better.<br />n<br />nAnyway, while granddad was living his first year at his cousins he scouted around and finally found the place he wanted to homestead which he then filed on and homesteaded. It was actually on the next creek over, Tullock Creek where he homesteaded and started his family. That's a story for another time.<br />n<br />nLike I said, I don't know what motivated this man to leave the big city and move to such a country as this. Love of the country, love of the lifestyle, didn't want to be a Pharmacist, I don't know. I wouldn't be here is he didn't though so I guess it was a good thing, I just wish I knew why. It's to late to ask, He's gone now and I don't know that anybody knows the why.<br />n<br />