RON'S WRITINGS: GIANT FOOTPRINTS, TRIBUTE TO PIONEER DAKOTANS, 1865-1945
PART FOUR: COMING OF THE
BROKEN STAFF
BROKEN STAFF
Even into the Forties, After Visits by Beachly and Lindbergh, Airplanes Were a Great Spectacle on the Dakota Plains--Papa and Mama's son-in-law Bob Ginther (center) and Plane with the Stadems on Plain View Farm.
Horseless carriages appeared, and Lincoln Beachly with his plane. Telegrams brought news you feared, and telephones proved gossips' gain. Hestad's "Due Bills" eased the pain when hard cash took a vacation. But then came Wall Street's fall and scant rain, and those who could, pulled stakes to run, for all looked lost the years had won.
World War I seemed not this bad--Want in tandem with great Drought. Speculators lost all they had, banks locked doors as guards stood about. Progress everywhere was cast in doubt. But along with misery and pain, lil' Shirley Temple's dimpled pout made folks laugh in the gloom that filled the nation like a tomb.
"Crash," Dust Bowl, and bank closures, grasshoppers chewing up fence poles; rich folk selling off mink furs, Russian thistles gamboling like foals. E'en pool hall men grew nervous about their souls. But most folks pulled together despite empty bowls, though some caved in, beaten from the first--those were times that seemed accursed.
One Bryant Farmer With Starch in Spine that Did Not Give Up to Dust Storms, Drought, Russian Thistles, and the Great Depression--Papa Alfred Stadem, A Godfearing Man. Link to Daughter Estelle's Account of This Soul-Trying Time in "Praire Farm Life and Beyond".
David the King in Psalm 69 cried to God in such distress. In hard times he refused to resign himself to heart heaviness. "For God will save Zion!" he ended up his plea--an example of hope so fine it lights dark times for you and me--an R. S. V. P, Heaven's call to dine.
Arrowheads in blowing soil; "Baby Take a Bow" at the Strand. No more washtub cabbages without toil; George Washington looks overland where hardship lays a heavy hand. Lake Poinsett's average is two feet. Then Bryant turns a ripe fifty; but don't forget James Crossland's feat: he's 94, a Civil War vet time can't beat!
Peder (Peter) Johan Stadem, Wife and Family--Born in Bergen, Norway, June 29, 1861 in Abraham Lincoln's Lifetime, Pioneered Dakota Territory, Died Nov. 24, 1920, Bryant. Alfred Stadem, standing between father and mother, was born in their sod house near Bryant, Nov. 27, 1886. In that sod house his mother, Marie, died six years later.
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CENTRAL FOR GIANT FOOTPRINTS
GIANT FOOTPRINTS, PART FIVE, HOMECOMING OF THE WAR HEROES
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Prairie Farm Life and Beyond: Estelle Recalls Great Depression and Dust Bowl Assailing PVF's very existence
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