Ed's Day Wednesday
Dear FOLKS,
This week's story that my cousin Ed Ostrom shared with us continues to be about his grandfather Oscar Ostrom (1884-1974). Oscar has decided to change farm locations from Ward County, North Dakota to Marion County, Oregon.
On the suggestion of others, Oscar had traveled to the west coast looking for farming opportunities. He first went to California but decided against there because he said he didn't know how to grow grapes. We learned of that trip in last week's story found at http://homefolktales.blogspot.com/2016/03/ostroms-decide-to-make-move.html.
The drought and depression that gripped the midwest to nearly a standstill, seemed to Oscar to be affecting the west coast differently. He could see that folks were doing better while working their farms and Oregon beckoned to him to movethere. To a fellow, like Oscar, who was fresh from drought-thirsty North Dakota, who had traveled first through the California desert, western Oregon countryside was a welcoming lush green.
Oscar made an offer on some land near Monitor, Oregon. It appealed to him because of the Norwegians there, but lost it due to someone else who beat him to it. So instead he rented a small farm near Monitor, Oregon. Then he headed back to Douglas, North Dakota to wrap things up there. He and his two traveling companions returned after being away for a month and their families were glad to hear of their adventures.
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| IMAGE: 1932 Ford pickup that brought Oscar Ostrom and his family from Ward Co., North Dakota to Marion Co., Oregon. Photo also shows some unnamed youngsters. From the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
Oscar and Anna knew that this move would be taking them away from long time neighbors and friends, and the extended family they had close to them in North Dakota. Worse yet, their older children would not make the move as they had their own lives set in other directions; this made their decision even more difficult. Continuing to have the faith that this move was the best for them, they kept to the plan.
But before making the move an opportunity to purchase a farm came to them. Oscar would decide to take his chances with a modest farm (25 acres) that was about 3.5 miles northwest the small community of Woodburn in Marion County. So plans changed to move into their own place and they forgot about settling into the rented farm.
But before making the move an opportunity to purchase a farm came to them. Oscar would decide to take his chances with a modest farm (25 acres) that was about 3.5 miles northwest the small community of Woodburn in Marion County. So plans changed to move into their own place and they forgot about settling into the rented farm.
In 1938, Oscar held a livestock, farm implement and household goods auction that brought neighbors, friends and family from miles around. Through this sale he would sell his tractor, the matched pairs of work horses, pigs, beds, dressers, etc. In all he would make over $3400.00 during this sale. A lot of money for the time period.
As part of the plan, Oscar rented their Ward County wheat farm to their son Tom. Oscar would next purchase a 1932 Ford pickup truck and build a wooden rack for sides of the pickup's bed. In those times that was a near new vehicle. He and his wife, Anna, along with their two youngest children [names withheld for living individuals throughout this post] packed the bed of that truck as full as they could. Leaving room for one of the younger ones to sit in the back along with their belongings. But the two younger ones would switch off taking turns riding in the back of the truck. The oldest of the children was able to drive, so there was someone to trade off with Oscar the task of driving them west.
According to one of the youngsters that went along, "The trip took us maybe four days and three nights. Ma (Anna) had brought along some of her home canned meat and bread. We also had some coffee, so we didn't stop at a restaurant once. We slept in cabins which were the early version of motels and Pa would rent one for the night that had a kitchen for us."
As part of the plan, Oscar rented their Ward County wheat farm to their son Tom. Oscar would next purchase a 1932 Ford pickup truck and build a wooden rack for sides of the pickup's bed. In those times that was a near new vehicle. He and his wife, Anna, along with their two youngest children [names withheld for living individuals throughout this post] packed the bed of that truck as full as they could. Leaving room for one of the younger ones to sit in the back along with their belongings. But the two younger ones would switch off taking turns riding in the back of the truck. The oldest of the children was able to drive, so there was someone to trade off with Oscar the task of driving them west.
According to one of the youngsters that went along, "The trip took us maybe four days and three nights. Ma (Anna) had brought along some of her home canned meat and bread. We also had some coffee, so we didn't stop at a restaurant once. We slept in cabins which were the early version of motels and Pa would rent one for the night that had a kitchen for us."
"He and Ma drove out west to look the farm over before they bought it. He bought the farm and when he came back he had all kinds of stuff in there. Man, we went thru that like a bunch of "hippies." So apparently while Oscar originally thought he'd set up on a rented farm, he ended up buying a 25 acre farm on Carl Road, in Woodburn and they never lived in Monitor after all. The story says that Oscar and Anna went to Oregon before the big move and brought back trays of berries. The folks in North Dakota had never eaten berries before; what a treat!
"Got out to Oregon and here was this little tiny house. It was just a little house with kind of a little lean-to. Mother thought that was a mansion to her. That was the best she had seen since she left North Dakota." In the above photograph there is a service banner posted in the left front window. This photo was taken during World War II when their son Clifford Martin Ostrom was in the U.S. Army.
One of the first improvements that Oscar made to the Carl Road farm was to put in a well. He and one of his boys, dug the well down about 50 feet and lined it with brick. It provided very clear, cold and good-tasting water and was very close to the house. No more hard water like they had before and no more cistern in the basement in order to have even a limited-supply of soft water.
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| IMAGE: Oscar Ostrom farm house on rural Carl Road in Woodburn, Marion Co., Oregon. Photo from the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
One of the first improvements that Oscar made to the Carl Road farm was to put in a well. He and one of his boys, dug the well down about 50 feet and lined it with brick. It provided very clear, cold and good-tasting water and was very close to the house. No more hard water like they had before and no more cistern in the basement in order to have even a limited-supply of soft water.
Along one boundary of this new farm was 5 or 7 acres of timber, namely cedar trees. Oscar and one of his sons cleared that timber and sold all the wood to the telephone company. "Pop made enough to pay for the land, I know." Well maybe not enough, but he was working towards doing just that.
Next he built a gambrel roofed barn and kept it painted white. A gambrel roof is usually a symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom inside the building's upper level and shortening what would otherwise be a tall roof.[1] Here he would keep his farm tractor and a few dairy cows and a horse or two.
Next he built a gambrel roofed barn and kept it painted white. A gambrel roof is usually a symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom inside the building's upper level and shortening what would otherwise be a tall roof.[1] Here he would keep his farm tractor and a few dairy cows and a horse or two.
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| IMAGE: New Carl Road barn under construction by Oscar Ostrom and younger sons. From the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
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| IMAGE: Oscar Ostrom and son with the completed gambrel roofed barn in the background. Photo from the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
Oscar's son, Tom Ostrom, tells of wanting to buy the wheat farm from his dad, but knew he and his wife Alice weren’t too enthused about the farming life. Tom, Alice and their children would soon follow his folks to Woodburn, Oregon where Tom would not return to farming other than to occasionally help his parents. He would instead begin to work for a boatbuilder company in Portland and it wasn't long before more of his siblings would also pull up stakes in North Dakota and move to the general Marion County area. So much of Oscar and Anna's family was back together again.
The Ostrom farm on a quiet gravel road in a rural part of Marion County, held a wide variety of crops and livestock. There were cattle, horses, pigs and dairy cows. The first crop of the season was strawberries, and then loganberries, boysenberries, raspberries and a pretty good load of filberts.
The Ostrom farm on a quiet gravel road in a rural part of Marion County, held a wide variety of crops and livestock. There were cattle, horses, pigs and dairy cows. The first crop of the season was strawberries, and then loganberries, boysenberries, raspberries and a pretty good load of filberts.
His youngest sons and a number of grandchildren and neighbors would make up the crew for picking these crops. One grandchild wrote: "When we picked his fields clean, neighbors used our labor, which was six days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., rain or shine. One neighbor fixed us graham crackers and peanut butter for mid-morning….it was wonderful with the exception the berries were thorny so we always would have stickers to deal with. In the fall, on Saturdays we picked filberts."
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| IMAGE: Family and neighbor children who made up the crew for picking summer berries. Photo from the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
"Grampa Oscar's farm and patches were clean and the outdoor potty didn't stink. His boysenberries were huge and I hated it when I would knock over a carrier and try to put the dirty berries back in the carrier, Grampa would appear from nowhere and I was in trouble again - I knew better than that!"
"Our crates would be stacked at the end of our rows and the end of the day Grampa would punch our tickets and we would take those treasured tickets and put them in our specific jar in the kitchen near the wood stove. And not until the season was over would we - cash in! And Grampa (Oscar Ostrom) always added in a little extra; a true bonus and a nice reminder. One day I remember helping Grampa (Oscar) load up the crates to be taken to the cannery, it was an honor seat for me to do this, unload the crates on the dock and watch the inspection since it seemed like they were visually graded and Grampa's were always #l!"
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| IMAGE: Very serious crew of summertime berry pickers. Photo from the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
"Many picking days it would rain and in one particular downpour we headed for a vehicle and 6 of us snuggled together, a story began. One would start and another would add and then another and another and just when it began to be really interesting, the rain stopped and a reminder "back to work"! Continuing at Grampa Oscar's, the excitement would be for someone to locate a bird nest and leave it undisturbed but everyone wanted a peek and the little ones would have to be lifted up to see the eggs and sometimes baby birds. And another exciting time would be the siren screaming announcing the escape of an inmate from McLaren School for Boys. Grandpa wasn't interested even though we viewed one escapee going over fences on the run, Grandpa (Oscar Ostrom) knew he wouldn't make it far and he probably didn't - the direction was into deep woods."
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| IMAGE: Berry picking in action. Showing some of the stands used while picking the fruit that grows on trained berry canes. Photo from the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
"As I grew older, the tell-tale berry picking stain on my hands was an embarrassment to me in front of friends who's hands were not stained. I purexed by the hours and watching the stain disappear was absolutely magical. A berry picking tan was another identity that we disguised."
"The benefits of money earned was a season ticket to the swimming pool, ice cream on the way home from the swimming pool, our choice of school clothing and a true sense of satisfaction and self-
pride knowing that I earned it!"
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| IMAGE: Oscar Ostrom (1884-1973) alongside his yet unnamed riding companion. Photo from the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
Oscar was a quiet, gentle hardworking man with a good sense of right and wrong. He also had a pretty good business sense which made him a successful farmer. On weekdays he usually wore striped bib-overalls and a long-sleeve shirt and hat to protect himself from the sun. Oscar was very comfortable around horses. While he said he couldn't grow grapes, he did take on a whole variety of different crops so he knew a lot more than just wheat.
In 1965 Oscar and Anna would retire and move into the town of Woodburn where they lived close to their son Arvid Ostrom. They had sold their Carl Road farm to their daughter Mabel who was married to Ambrose Heer. The Heers kept the farm for a short while and then it was sold to someone outside of the family.
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| IMAGE: Oscar Ostrom in his pickup, hauling a saddled horse. Photo from the Edwin J. Ostrom family photograph collection. |
Anna Ostrom would pass away at a Woodburn nursing home on 29 July 1972 and within a short ten months, on 22 May 1973 Oscar would also pass away; him from a sudden heart attack while at home. He was buried along side his loving wife at the Belle Passi Cemetery in Woodburn.
Many other Douglas folks also moved west, some to Oregon, Washington and California, yet they wanted to stay connected. For a number of years, Oscar and Anna would host an annual Douglas reunion right there at their Carl Road farm, welcoming whoever could attend the event. So I am thinking that the above photo represents Oscar and Anna heading off to the next Douglas reunion.
Sources:
1. Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gambrel&oldid=701066795 : accessed 22 March 2016), Gambrel.
The URL for this post is: http://homefolktales.blogspot.com/2016/03/ostroms-from-wheat-fields-to-berry.html.
Please comment regarding this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then use the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Or contact me by email at dsteff4246[at]gmail[dot]com. I am glad you stopped by today.
Copyright (c) 2016, Darlene M. Steffens. All rights reserved.
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The URL for this post is: http://homefolktales.blogspot.com/2016/03/ostroms-from-wheat-fields-to-berry.html.
Copyright (c) 2016, Darlene M. Steffens. All rights reserved.
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