Life in Bear Lake

During the winter months of 1922-3 we prepared to leave Ogden in the following spring, to make our home in Dingle, Idaho.  We expected to engage in farming, stock raising, and gardening, planning to sell what we raised in Montpelier. 

Joseph Oborn, Heber’s brother had some years previous, made his home in that settlement; at that time he was homesteading a quarter section in what was called Cherry Hollow, because of a spring came out of the ground up on the hill, and was surrounded by a growth of choke cherry trees.

Joe’s cabin was located in the piece that was being homesteaded; our cabin, a dirt roof, one room cabin, was situated on a few acres just inside the fence.  The canal, which furnished the water for the owners of the land inside the field, ran close to our cabin.

During the winter previous to our leaving Ogden, we set aside some of our means every payday to buy implements to use for the garden work, seeds, plants, cultivator, fence wire, etc.

A two acre plot was planned across the canal for the garden, trees were planted also; today this spot is called Oborn’s Grove.

Before we left to begin our new life in Idaho, April came, and the Dedication of the Salt Lake Temple took place.  We planned to attend.  Leaving our son Ernest to stay at my brother’s home while we were absent, we took our son Earl with us.  He was the baby, so we carried him through in our arms.  Arriving at last to the assembly room where the dedicatory services were to be held, where it was our privilege to join in the Great Hosanna Shout, which to us is a valued memory.

On returning to Ogden we found that my brother’s son had contracted measles, but while playing the two boys climbed up to the tank of a windmill my nephew falling into it, getting a good soaking, but suffered no after effects while having the measles.

We made the journey to Idaho about the 18^th of April, going by train to Montpelier; we took our bird with us, our boys and made us a group of four people, having the bird along too attracted peoples attention along the way.

Joseph met us at Montpelier; so we began our journey over to Dingle.  It was a cold and stormy night, so it was a cold 10 mile ride over in an open wagon with a spring seat, also it was only April in Bear Lake country.

However, a fine class of people lived in Dingle at that time, and they received us kindly.  Brother Samuel Humphreys was Bishop.  There was Hyrum Ockey and family, William Henry Lindsay and family, the Nortons, our neighbors across the field, the Dayton family, the Nate family, and many others.  We were always made welcome in their homes.

At first we used a heating stove to warm our cabin.  Our beds were sent by freight, so we were at a disadvantage for a time to make our cabin comfortable.  We went back and forth to Joe’s for eating, washing, etc. until our stove, table, chairs, etc., arrived so we could keep our house; we got along quite well all sleeping in one bed, except that Ernest broke out with the measles, and not understanding how contagious they were we went to Church the Sunday before he got sick, the result being that the disease spread through the settlement.

Ernest was quite sick, but finally recovered; the seed grain was stored in one end of our cabin, so the mice made us a lot of trouble.  At one time we had no flour & sold our best Jersey cow and calf or a sack of flour.

Before we left Ogden, Ernest had whooping cough, but had not been at all sick; but of course there was the baby Earl exposed to two diseases, both of which he came down with at the same time.  Joe and Bell had two children, Isabel and s son Josie who was the same age as Earl.  Isabel was next to take the whooping cough, Josie the next, but Josie passed away; the grandparents in Ogden were notified, grandma came to comfort and help with her presence.  After a stay of a week or so, it was arranged for Joe to take her back as far as Logan Canyon, the folks in Ogden to meet them there.  They would have Nellie with them to meet them there, bring her back to Dingle to stay a while with us as I was expecting to be a mother again.

But while they were away, Earl became worse and passed away.  Kind hearts and hands came to our rescue.  He suffered convulsions; we had only one lamp to use, so that had be used to help those that were helping with the little fellow.  I was shut out in the kitchen lean to without light, and I suffered greatly too.  Our good Bishop Humphreys was there to help, he stood right by most of the time until after the funeral, which was held at Bell’s sisters home, which was a mile and a half away on the main road, in fact were taken there after our little boy passed away, so that she and her cousin Mary Newman who lived in a part of her house could help more on account of their own small children.

After grandma left to go to Logan to meet the folks, Earl being so sick, and his grandmother having left, Ernest became very lonesome.  We lived right next door to her in Ogden and seeing her again, and then going out of his sight again, he was homesick for her, so he laid down under a sagebrush and cried hysterically, “Grandma’s gone! Grandmas gone!”  The atmosphere was very sad, not a playmate within a mile or more.

The folks returned and time went on, so we had to turn our minds to our crops, for June, Earl had died on the 14^th of June, so were very late for Bear Lake Country.  Of course, Heber and Joe had gone along trying to get things going but had been hindered by the sickness and trouble.

On the 21^st of July a frost threatened, the pea-vines had to be pulled in order to save any, and if we managed to obtain any cash, it was through the sale of our garden produce at Montpelier.  The peas were stacked in one end of the room, onions and radishes gathered, tied in bunches, then placed in washtubs to keep them fresh, for they had a long journey to town the next day.

I was taken sick, but worked as long as possible, but preparations had to be made for the arrival of my first daughter; she was born that evening, both of us getting along fine, when the 24^th came, Bell went to the garden in the morning to find mushrooms (?) for dinner, they were plentiful down in the garden, she brought them to the bed showing me the treat we were to have for dinner, we enjoyed them.  The men returning afterwards to their job in the hayfield, but they soon began to feel sick and on returning home found that we were sick too.  Before they returned I had got Ernest up on the bed with me, noticing he acted peculiar.  I began to tell stories in an effort to get him to sleep thinking he would feel better.  The men arrived feeling sick too, so we decided we were in trouble.  We drank the cream off the milk, mustard, olive oil, anything we felt would create a nausea and relieve our stomachs.  The celebration was going on in the grove situated on Main Street, so with great difficulty, Heber rode down there to notify the Bishop of our trouble, the celebration was broken up, the people beginning to gather at our place, we were sick all the afternoon, but finally recovered, but our sister Nellie escaped because she had an opportunity to attend the celebration over at Paris.

We made our own lye for washing from dry willow brush, we also made our soap even using it for our skin, we were to far away from any other.  The flies and mosquitoes were very troublesome.  We kept the doors shut all day to keep the flies out, then when we opened the door in the evening we built a smudge to keep the mosquitoes out.

Our broom wore out, when we resorted to wild bird wings to sweep our floors with.  We brought some nice pictures with us too, one was a sketch of the Prophet Joseph as Commander of the Nauvoo Legion, seated on a beautiful black horse; the Poet and Peasant; another was a pastoral scene oil painted, a small copy, but a real painting.  Also others, we hung them around our log walls.  Other people enjoyed looking at them.  We did all we could to keep it clean and as attractive as we could, and we actually did enjoy our home there.

We enjoyed the friendship of Sister Norton very much, because she was a gifted Alto singer, Brother Hyrum Ockey led the choir, both Heber and I loved to sing, so the result was Heber joined the choir too, all this created a happy situation for us.  Since we lived so far from the main road, we found it difficult to get home from Sunday School and back again by 2 o’clock.  We had to make a big effort not to be late.  One Sunday we were determined to be early like some others were.  The Bishop lived across the field from us, but close to the meeting house.  They could see when we were leaving.  The Bishop’s wife notices we were leaving, so she told him he would be late if he didn’t go that minute for the Oborn’s had left for church, so he hurried, but it was a record for us.

We had lots of trouble with the rodents, prairie dogs, and mice, but we obtained two cats.  We had to keep them in the house at night on account of they coyotes.  When Lorene was born, I could hear them running around under my pillow.  When we had the thrashers in the fall, we managed to make a nice meal at noon.  The boys had made a trip to Montpelier Canyon for wood, taking a cross cut across the valley, fording Bear River.  They took the gun along with six loaded shells.  Seeing some pheasants, Joe fired the first two shots but got no results.  Heber asked to try, he managed to shoot one for all four of the shells, making the meat for the first part of the meal for the thrashers, with the vegetables, we had. For the dessert we made some pumpkin pie; the first and last I have ever tasted, but it was very good, but there was not any fruit to use.

One day in November, Heber went to the Mud Lakes, taking his gun along.  He waded in mud knee deep and managed to bring down a huge fat wild goose.  It hung on a nail close to the top of the door, it reached to the floor; it was a real treat and furnished both families with meat for three days.

During the first part of the winter, when the ground was covered with snow, Heber would take his gun making his way across the fields where the surplus hay was stacked for feeding the stock before spring came.  On moonlight nights especially, the rabbits gather around the stacks.  He shot enough to keep up our meat supply, which was running low; in fact we had no surplus of anything, I never lit the lamp except when we had visitors or the children were sick.

One night when I went to turn out the lamp, Ernest spoke up, saying; “Mother, don’t put out the light.” so we went through many long dark nights that winter.

Because of the death of our little boys we had become indebted to the Burgoyne Mercantile Co. of Montpelier for their burial expenses.  To help us to clear ourselves of the debt to them, the Co. allowed the boys to feed their dry stock for the winter, but through the delay of getting the hay in at the right time the fox tail in it had ripened, so it worked through their noses, kept their bodies thin; our cows went down in their milk, so our milk supply got low.  We did not have enough.  When we ate supper we would allow Ernest to fill up, then we shared the rest with each other.  A condition that made it worse was that the stock was driven to water only every other day, as they had to be driven to Cherry Hollow which was a mile and a half from the corral. 

We worked hard, melting snow for washing, even drinking, by keeping a five gallon can on the back of the stove, we fed the chickens warm mash to make them lay so that we could buy some groceries.

We attended Mutual during the winter.  Sometimes it would be held at one of the homes.  Henry Wm Lindsay’s wife Mary was the President.  She asked me to write the paper which was written monthly.  I did not feel capable, but I had a feeling I should like to try.  Sister had confidence in me so I undertook the task, since I could not make use of a lamp, I made use of some white pine in the stove, and this was reserved for that purpose.  We would open the front door of the stove, the flame sent out a white light, and by sitting on a low chair I could see quite well to write.  We also used the same wood When the snow was deep we used the sled when we traveled, using straw in the bottom; we also used almost all our bedding to keep the children warm, but we had good times. 

Heber’s sister gave me a coat of hers to make over for Ernest.  It was full length, so there was plenty of material, so I made Heber some gloves, as he used them up quite fast through handling so much wood, buckskin gloves being out of the question.  He would get up about 4 o’clock in the morning when they were going for wood.  The horses needed time to eat before starting out, having a long journey ahead.  I would get up too using the light of the fire to stitch his gloves and prepare breakfast.

One evening during the winter season there was a good program given by a group from another locality.  We were remembered by having complimentary tickets sent us.  It was an unusual performance, the memory of which remains even now so many years later.

A dramatic group was formed of people living around in our locality, the play to be given in all the settlements in Bear Lake Valley.  Heber was invited to be one of this group; I helped him to study his part.  25 cts. was the admission fee, but if you had no cash one could pay in groceries to that amount.  Heber chopped wood enough to make a layer of wood higher than I could reach behind the stove, for they expected to be gone a week.  He received his pay for taking part in groceries, not the ordinary staples, but the better class.  We appreciated this attention for we were far away from the same thing we had been able to obtain in Ogden.

When the show was to be put on in Montpelier I was to go along.  Deep snow was on the ground; still it was late winter.  The snow was getting soft, so Heber fastened a spring seat to one of the sleigh runners.  I took Lorene along, leaving Ernest with Bell.  I wrapped my skirts around my legs and we started the journey, but we were only a mile or so when one of the company who had been watching for us to come along, called to us informing us that a relative of one of the performers had died and that the date for Montpellier had been cancelled, so I never had the pleasure of seeing my husband perform on the stage in dramatics. 

On one of the trips to Montpelier Canyon for wood, a rainstorm set in making it hard to get their wood, delaying them, so their food ran short.  Having the gun along Heber managed to kill a prairie chicken, so they both stood over the fire with their overcoats on keeping the rain off the fire while their prairie chicken cooked.

They arrived home at last twenty-four hours late, cold and hungry.

When spring came the chickens laid lots of eggs.  When May came my shoes were worn off my feet.  One Sunday morning I put my overshoes on although the ground was dry and warm.  I carried Lorene, leading Ernest by the hand.  I followed the hill road, which led to the main road, then on to the meeting house; a long walk, it was quite two miles.  We went on saving the eggs until we could buy my new shoes; it took 27 dozen, as we were only allowed nine cents a dozen.

When the alfalfa began to develop nicely but the bloom not quite headed out, Heber like taking it over to town and sell it for feed.  He found a buyer; this happened in the second spring we were there.  Soon after the sale was made we went to a store to get a few necessities.  We felt that we should not part with to much of our means, so we started homeward, but I felt unhappy and finally expressed myself so because we did not get starch for my baby’s Sunday dress, her one dress that I kept hung on the wall to keep it from being wrinkled.  I had used potato starch, but this was between seasons.  So Heber turned around, we went back for the starch.

The 4^th of July celebration was held in Paris that year.  Heber and I sang a duet on the program.

That same summer the quarterly conference was held in the Paris Tabernacle.  We desired to attend, so Heber used his team.  We packed lunch and got off to an early start; we went across the bottoms from Dingle to Paris, otherwise it was about a twenty-mile drive.  The road led through sloughs, thus taking a chance you might have trouble if the horses were not used to wallowing through mire.  Our horses did get into trouble.  Dex, our young horse, had long and large feet; being young and clumsy, he went down with his head under the tongue of the wagon; Joe helped to release him and both horses were taken off the wagon, both men were soaked to their hips.  Hyrum Ockey who was going to meeting too came along, he drove his team alongside of our wagon, so Bell and I got our children over into his wagon, so we got over on to dry ground, after which we got back into our own wagon.  We arrived at meeting late, afterwards attended afternoon meeting.  Brother Spence from Salt Lake City gave an interesting talk.  It took all the rest of the day to get back home for we did not care to cross the bottoms again. 

Heber felt at times that he should like to make things better in some way.  Other people around us seemed to be more prosperous, but the people who rented our home in Ogden did not pay their rent; we could not pay the taxes when due because of the scarcity of cash; we did not realize enough from our efforts to get necessities for both families. 

In August our people from Ogden came to visit us in two covered wagons; they offered us the chance to return to Ogden with them if we wanted to.  We felt reluctant to go back leaving the other family there, also the real friends we had made.  We felt too, we had a real effort to live there; we felt too we could not afford to lose our home in Ogden; so, having in mind that Heber could again find work there we took advantage of the chance to get help to move back; I rode in one of the folk’s wagons with the children; Heber drove our team with the cow tied behind the wagon.  After getting through the divide between Cache Valley and Box Elder we went on arriving twenty-four hours ahead of him. 

We have returned some years to renew acquaintances.  Other families came to Ogden to live in the course of time.  They have always and always will be our friends, for we always felt we made a place for ourselves in Dingle, Idaho.

Emily Millgate Oborn