The Gilbert Family History

                                                                    Written By Elsie K. Gilbert Nelson

We left Snyder, Colorado, after the South Platte River flooded and ruined all the crops. Papa had planted sugar-beets; corn and 5 acres of cucumbers, contracted for by the pickling company which had furnished the seed. Banks were closing all over the U.S. and the Snyder bank was among them. The folks had saved $100.00 which was lost except for $10.00 which Mama had withdrawn the day before for shopping. Mama was always happy that she got that $10.00. She told us about it down through the years.

It was the summer of 1921 that we left Snyder in our covered wagon, with our team, Frank and Duke, and a young saddle horse, Bill, behind. We kids took turns riding Bill. It took all summer to reach Worland, Wyoming. We stayed there as Papa thought trapping would be good there. We kids had to start to school. Mama was carrying our sister, Lilly, who was born in March, 1922. Since the invention and usage of the water-bed we tease Lilly about having had the water-bed all the way on that trip. Papa and Mama had a bed spring and a straw tick fixed on over-jets on the wagon box. We kids slept in tents. We covered an average of 20 miles per day. We stopped at noon to feed, water and rest the horses and to have our own lunch and some exercise after riding in the wagon. Of course, we kids got out and walked when ever we wanted more freedom.

When we arrived at Worland, Papa had only 17 cents and 9 kids. He mortgaged the team, harnesses and horses to get starting money. Papa got a contract for beet harvest work from Mr. Reece. We kids always had to help. All work was done manually, at that time. Beet raisers always furnished a house for the laborers. We were about ten miles from town and when we started to school we rode on the bus. 

The next spring Papa got a contract to do summer beet work - blocking and thinning, plus first , second and third hoeing if that was needed. Blocking and thinning required short handled hoes. One cut a couple of swathes on the hoe, then cut each side of a small section of beets from which all those growing in it were pulled, except the largest one. Any doubles and any weeds left by over-sight, were hoed or pulled out, in the later work. Weeds between rows were controlled by cultivating and Papa did that, We worked for a Mr. Likum. Papa told us he would get us some firecrackers for the Fourth of July if we got done with the beet work. WE DID! When school started that fall, we rode on the school bus to town at Worland, Wyoming.

The schoolhouse was a nice brick building. The next summer we worked beets for a Mr. Marple who had a large farm with extensive holdings. The beet house was the nicest we had ever been furnished. It had an upstairs and plastered walls. The place was about one mile from the town of Manderson, Wyoming. There were four laborer houses nicely grouped and an irrigation ditch ran near-by. We were permitted to have gardens and to irrigate them. Our drinking water came from a well. We walked to school and Sunday school from that place. The minister was a farmer who lived up the road from us. His name was Reverend Ayers. Five of us were baptized in the little baptist Church at Manderson, Wy. (In 1977, mother, my sister, Zella, her husband, Andy, and I, made a trip to Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas, all former states where we had lived. We visited our little Baptist Church. We traveled in a nice motor home to retrace the route we had made in previous travels.) 

When we left Manderson, Wyoming, another family, also employed by Mr. Marple, decided to go with us. We had covered wagons and were bound for Portland. "Oregon or Bust" became our motto. We had our same team, Frank and Duke and our saddle horse, Bill. We went through Yellowstone Park. We kept a camp-fire going all night to keep the bears away. We had a pot of beans on the camp grate. but the altitude was so high that the beans were nowhere near done. We were camped closer to Old Faithful geyser than people are permitted to be nowadays. 

We kids were disappointed that we never did see a bear as we went through Yellowstone Park. We saw some gypsies who wanted to tell Mama's fortune, but Mama didn't have money for such an expenditure. Another interesting sight was a motion picture crew, their faces looked so white, all powdered up.  

When we entered Yellowstone Park the guns Papa had were wired and sealed until we were to leave the park. If the seals were broken the owner was to be fined.  Brother Quentin was fooling around with the wiring and seal and he broke it. Mama was so worried as we had no money to pay a fine; When we reached the check-out station Mama explained how the seal had been broken. Quentin was only four years old so no fine was charged.  Guns were always kept in our home as Papa and the older boys trapped and hunted, both necessary for our livelihood. The guns were always unloaded when not in use at home. Papa had trained the boys well. We were thankful that the check-out ranger accepted Mom’s explanations of the broken seal. Andrew and Charlie told Lewis and I if a bat pooped on our heads we would get bald-headed. We kept caps on whenever that might happen! 

We kids really enjoyed the trip, we thought store-bought bread was a real treat and Mama's camp-fire cooked meals tasted delicious. My reader had had a story entitled "How The Frog Lost It's Tail." I was filling a pail with water when I saw a small frog with a tail. I was astonished; I ran to tell Mama about it. She told me that tad poles go through a metamorphosis, getting legs and losing their gills and their tails. That is the only time I have ever seen a frog with a tail. Papa shot big rattlesnakes that were shedding their skins during "Dog-Days'. We put a heavy rope around the outside of the tent as we had heard that snakes would not crawl over a rope. We slept better, having taken this precaution. One day Andrew and Charlie saw a bee-tree and they were going to get us some honey. When they came back all they had was an empty pail. Their eyes were swollen shut and they needed larger hats for their heads!

We traveled as far as Paul, Idaho, just a small town, but it had a grade school and a high school. Papa decided to stay there. He contracted for fall beet-topping and harvesting.To harvest beets, the beets first have to be lifted from the ground by machinery called a puller. Then the workers knock them together to remove some of the dirt or mud that clings to the beets. The beets are then piled about three rows to each side, leaving a space in the middle so a V-sled can be pulled by team down the center to smooth the ground where the topped beets will be tossed. The smoothed ground cuts down on the dirt (tare) that gets into the load which is to be taken to be weighed and dumped at the beet -dump. The dump is located by the railroad where the beets are loaded into box-cars to be shipped to the sugar-beet factory. Beet work was some times very cold, miserable work, depending upon the weather. In wet weather there was more mud to knock off the beets and it was pretty heavy work for the younger kids. Lewis and I were just little yet. We lived in town during the school term, so could walk to school.

When school was out, year of 1924, Papa was ready to move on. He traded the team, wagon., harnesses, saddle horse and saddle for a Willys-knight automobile. It had two jump-seats behind the front seat -a good car for our big family, The man who had had the auto had hit a man riding a motorcycle and killed him; therefore, he did not want to drive anymore. That is the auto we drove to Charlo, Montana. Back then, one could turn off the ignition and coast down hills and mountains, saving considerably on gasoline. We did some beet-thinning for Mr. Dellwo. His beets were bigger than they should have been for thinning and it was difficult work. Papa bought a place formerly owned by the Rich sisters, school teachers, who had homesteaded the land. They had built a nice barn on it. It was red with white trim and had never had animals in it. We lived in it during the summer. Papa used the extra lumber which was intended for side extensions for the barn, to build the shack shown in the picture. Calvin was born in there, November 2, 1924. We never did make it to Portland to live. " Oregon or Bust" was forgotten. The other family who started from Wyoming with us did go on to Portland. One son raised thoroughbred horses. We attended school at Charlo for one term. Lucy was one of the star basketball players on the high-school team. She was left handed, so was called Little-Lefty. 

After school was out Papa, Charlie and Andrew went to Chinook, Montana. They did sugar-beet work there. When Papa and the boys came back from Chinook Papa announced that we were moving to Chinook. The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company was build a sugar-factory there- that attracted Papa as beets were raised in the Milk River Valley. He brought some pamphlets back with him. Lewis and I rode horseback to distribute them to other farmers around Charlo. We used the Willys-Knight and the new Ford Model T which Papa bought, to go to Chinook. Andrew drove the Willys Knight and we bigger kids rode with him. He would stop and wait for Papa to get ahead so he could drive faster to catch up. We called him "The Speeder". Cars did not go very fast speeds; therefore, no one really drove very fast even though there was no speed limit. Charlie rode our saddle horse, Ranger through to Chinook. Ranger was a black, part thoroughbred. 

We had another horse, Babe, at Charlo. I had read a story stating that one Indian tribe gave the first family member to discover the baby's first tooth, a horse, Calvin Charlo had the best rubbed gums any baby ever had. I reported his first tooth and I claimed Babe for my horse. Papa had no objections, Babe was sold to some friends so I did not feel too badly about leaving her. Of the fourteen Gilbert children, only our two oldest sisters had never lived at, or near, Chinook. Zella Ieft home in Idaho. She did go to Portland, Oregon where she stayed with the friends who had gone on to Oregon. She soon found a job and a place of her own. When she came to visit us at Charlo, Lucy went to Oregon with her. Those of us who lived in Chinook and later in near-by towns, still have a familial feeling for the U&I sugar factory. That building WAS and IS a monument to our future destinies, from the oldest brother, Charles, to each of us, including youngest brother, Gaylord. (While Papa, Charlie and Andrew were in Chinook with the car, Mama used the horse and buggy to go to town for groceries. We kids usually rode Shanks Mare (walked) if we had nothing heavy to carry.

That is why I had Kretchmer's bid on the framed 100# sugar sack donated by Scott Mackenzie to be sold at the Blaine County Wild life auction. It is hanging in my dining room and it is a prized possession. 

Our parents, our brother, John, and a nephew, Roger, are interred in Chinook Cemetery. My sisters and I go there every Memorial Day to honor them and to decorate their resting places.