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Beverly Waters Hunstad
I was born one mile south of Montevideo along the Minnesota River in 1935. My parents were Del and Lucile Waters and I have three siblings: Virginia, Lyle and George. My parents were truck garden farmers along with my Grandfather George Waters and Uncle Orville Waters. During the dry years of the 1930’s they irrigated out of the Minnesota River, with a chassis of an old Model T. I don’t have a picture of that.
There wasn’t much water running at times so we could cross the river to our neighbors on the other side. When the river was full, we crossed in a boat and in the winter, my folks put us children in sleds and away we went to visit the neighbors to play cards or play musical instruments for a house party.
The summer down in the woods, as we called it, was cool pleasant memories. We would run barefoot thru the woods towards the river, but we were warned not to go near the river, as the current was very swift. There was an abundance of wild flowers blooming along the river banks and in the trees, to name a few were the wild blue phlox, cow slips, jack in the pulpit, and violets. On the rocks were plenty of cactus and snakes. We weren’t afraid of the snakes; we would pick up the snakes by the tails and chase one another or hang them on the barbwire fence.
In the summer, there was a sandbar about one-half mile from our home that Mom and Dad would take us to in the evening to swim. The water was so clear and cool. The big bend in the Minnesota River was a great place to fish.
During the 1930’s, people from town had wood lots along the river and they would cut wood in the summer to have for their winter supply. Dad would help people with that. Dr. Roust had a wood lot and Dad helped him, I think that took care of some doctor visits.
The ladies of the neighborhood had a sewing club that met once a month on a Thursday afternoon in each of the homes. The ladies brought either crocheting, socks to be darned, or embroider work. There was always such good food, if us kids were lucky enough to stop after school. They all had their specialties, such as chicken noodle hot dish, red devils food cake or ground meat sandwiches and the home canned dill pickles.
In the wintertime, we had the rock hills by the Lindeckers on which to sled. Mrs. Lindecker would invite us in for hot chocolate and warm bread. We wore out a sled or two. My folks never let us have a toboggan as there were fences and so many trees, and they thought we would run into them. We ice skated on Long Slough to the east of the Minnesota River. If there was much snow, we had to shovel it off, but with any luck, it froze without snow and we could skate for a mile.
We had a lot of good neighbors, George and Mae Marholz; George kept the ditches mowed so the road was always well groomed. Mae always had some good cookies or cake, when us kids went over there. She played the piano and taught me, “Your are my Sunshine”.
In my memories there were lots of nice trees and pastures with cattle, no weeds and the river ran clear and cool. Dad and my brothers would hunt and fish. I can remember the Thanksgiving of 1944, we were looking out the dining room window and 13 deer ran across the field to the south. We had never seen many deer before that.
During the war, with gas rationing, people shared rides. We had a Model A Ford, it didn’t hold many people on the inside and the neighbor boy was going to high school so he would stand on the running board, and if it was cold Dad let him put his head inside of the car. Once coming home, the wheel came off by Doc Steven’s garden. Dad figured someone needed a tire and was loosening the bolts while Dad was at work. My first words that I learned to read was from the back of the gas sticker on the window, “Is this trip necessary?”.
We were all neighbors helping each other. When someone was sick, the neighbors did the chores. When an animal needed butchering, all were there to help. People shared what they had.
When I learned to ride the bicycle, I started at the water pump and got part way up the driveway and fell, but came back, when I finally got out of the driveway and over by the neighbors and fell, Mrs. Van Sickle came out and helped me on.
After the floods came in the 1940’s we would have to move out to some farmer friends on higher ground. We had cows, pigs, chickens so all had to be moved. After the water went down there would be water in the ditches so brother Lyle would spear the carp. The floodwaters never went over our house floors, but they came close. In 1946, Dad raised the house by three rows of blocks. The spring of 1947 was the worst and the water was just under the floor. That is when Dad bought some land north of Montevideo and we moved all of our buildings in June 1947. Us kids didn’t think we would like it out there as there wasn’t a tree around. Our mother brought some trees from the Minnesota River bottom and planted them. The neighbors didn’t think we would live long enough to see them grow, but the trees are still there. The people that purchased my folk’s property in 1997 had lived along the river and liked all the trees.
In the spring before the floods, we would all take a ride up to the Lac qui Parle Dam to see how much water was backed up and just when we could expect the flood at Monte. We usually got moved out before the water went over the road, but one of the last times we moved out the water came to fast that there was water over the road while hauling the cattle out. After the flood, there were large holes in the road from the current of the river washing over. They is why; don’t travel on roads with water over the road.
Beverly Waters Hunstad
Jasper, MN
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