1899

Josef began the new year with a larger diary with columns for the weather and correspondence. January 1899:  “Worked on horsepower.”  Repaired the fanning mill.  Trashed and cleaned flax.  Went to Rainier, “came from Rainier with a heavy load.”  Cleaned toolbox, filed handsaw, cut roots.  Fixed sled.  Made a rake and ladder.  “Cut hair.”  Made a brakeblock, repaired tongue holder.  Made a trail to spring, dug velvet grass, set out new trees.  Put window in barn, made a stool.  Worked on the county road.  Took Ina to Rainier, and went smelt fishing with Bob.  “Came home with heavy load.”  Cut wood for Holsapple.  School ended on January 28.  Cow had a calf.  Correspondence during the month with:  Albertine, Risher, and Mrs. Beusch.

February 1899:  Trashed and cleaned garden seeds.  Cut wood for Holsapple and Dad.  Worked on county road at school house.  Made a cow trail on the hill.  Carried blankets to C. Snyder’s mill, cut shinglebolts [two weeks work].  Weather notations of “Devilish cold” “Creeks very high” and “Farewell you rotten month!”  Letters from:  Albertine and home.

March 1899:  Another two weeks during the month were spent working off and on at Snyder’s, then he quit and “settled with Snyder.”  “Went to Hogtown pruned Huffmann’s orchard.”  He also pruned trees at Johnson’s, and Malcom’s.  Cut wood for Dad.  Went to Rainier with Rudy, “came home with Ina”.  Went to McKee’s for flour with Mike, exchanged calves.

April 1899:  Hauled manure and wood.  Sowed pasture.  Went to Kilby’s, got a cat and artichokes.  Plowed and sowed peas, vetch, barley, and clover.  Turned “Billy” out for first time.  Finished and put up windmill.  Made a barrel cover.  Grubbed on the hill, and south of the house.  Cut wood for Dad, brought Rudy home.  Went to McKee’s for flour.  Dora went to Rainier, “went with Rudy for Dora and children.”  Made garden in hollow.  Went to McKee’s for a stove.  There was an inch of snow on April 30. “Farewell you mean stinker of an April!”

May 1899:  Made a cow trail on the hill, “connected 2 cowtrail on North line (Braddock)”.  Grubbed south of the house.  Sprayed.  Braced shrubs.  Fell timber and cut bolts for Snyder, and also worked at Peterson’s camp during the month.  “You glorious May, full rain and hell, get!”

June 1899:  Fell timber and cut bolts at Snyder’s.  Oiled clock.  Went to Rainier, cut wood for Dad.  Grubbed south of the house on the new patch, plowed.  “Hung transmission wheel.”  Went to Morris’s and Headlee’s.  Worked with Headlee on school ground.  Hung bull wheel, split timbers.  Kitchen “got a fire.”  “Hauled and placed horsepower timbers, cleaned stovepipe.”  “Finished horsepower.”  Worked for C. Snyder, put up frame of mill building at the Washburn place.  Fixed hay wagon, mowed meadow, got in first hay.  Split flooring.  “This has been the first good month this year.”

Letters were from Whiteheads, and home.

July 1899:  Emma’s first birthday.  Josef spent most of his time harvesting hay, then “Went to Snyder’s and Holsapple’s for nothing.” After that he got a  week’s work at Peterson’s.  He also went into Rainier twice, leaving Ina and coming home with Willie.  “Big fire at Peterson’s.”  Cut thistles, cleaned grain barn.  And, he did his own burning “Set out fire.”

The weather notation indicates “This month has been very dry.”

August 1899:  The first week was “hot” and Josef “set out fires”, then made a trip into town to “cut wood for Dad”.  After that the weather rapidly deteriorated as indicated by numerous notations of “Heavy Showers”, and the extra steps he took to harvest his grain “dried wheat” “turned wheat and rye”, “turned grain”.  A horsepowered device aided his harvest efforts as he again went to Rainier and “came home with the belts, put on one”, “worked on the horsepower, Mike rheumatic.”  During the month, Bob and Annie came for an overnight stay and that evening the “kitchen caught fire.”  Dora made a trip to town with Rudy, and two days later “Dora came with Ina and Rudy.”  Weather notation: “The foulest August that ever was in Oregon.”

Correspondence: Mrs. Whitehead, Risher.  Mentioned contacts: Art Snyder, Holsapples, Nelsons.
September 1899:  The weather improved and there was more thrashing, cleaning , and fanning of grain.  First Ina was sick with “measles”, and two weeks later “Dora, Willie, and Emma having measles”  Once again Josef did the  “housework” four consecutive days.  During the interval between family bouts with measles, Josef left Rudy in Rainier and “went to Portland and back on Iralda.  Hauled flour to Dad:”  The next day he “went to Rainier with Mike and back” [to pick up the supply of flour?]  Dug potatoes, plowed at the barn, grubbed.  Hauled first manure on hill.  There were also two more trips into Rainier, one with Mike.  “This month has been very fair.”  Contacts: Will Snyder, George Moeck, W.H. Kyser, Morris.  Correspondence: Home, Risher, Mrs. Beusch, Mrs. Hawkins, Kyser

October 1899:  Sowed wheat and rye, and cleared east of the barn the first week.  The rest of October was spent working at Snyder’s where he “cut bolts”, ran the “cut off saw” and “cut roads”.  He did have time for a visit to the neighbor “Rowed with old Headlee”.  “This month has been tolerably fair.” Correspondence:  Dad, Mrs. Hawkins, Peterson, home

November 1899:  Starting out the month, he first “cut bolts for Snyder” for four days, then “quit”, and “came home with blankets”.  He worked in town the next week “cut wood for Dad, “hauled Dad’s freight”, “dug thistles”, “came home with heavy load.”  The next day he went back to Rainier with Ina and Mike, and again “Came home with heavy load.”  Fixed Mike’s bell, made sauerkraut, threshed vetch and peas, hauled in rutabagas.  Cut and hauled in wood. “This month has been very warm and rainy.”  Correspondence: Dad, Lohmann, Hawkins, Albertine. 

December 1899:  Cut and hauled wood.  Cleared east and below the barn; cleared below the house.  Raked and grubbed on the new patch.  “Made timbers for horsepower.”  “Hewed timbers for horsepower.”  “House got badly on fire, repaired roof.”  There were two trips to Rainier, one with the horse.  He visited Gallien’s. December 28:  “Birthday the 40th, rested.” “This month has been tolerable fair.”  Correspondence:  Risher, Mrs. Beusch, Schroth.

“Sendoff for the year 1899.  The year 1899 has been every thing concerned tolerable good, extreme in rain and cold.  Good crops, except fruit, were raised everywhere.  Made a windmill, made a failure on treadpower.  Grubbed ½ acre new ground, 1/8 acre meadow, cleared 1/3 acre.”

1898

January: Worked on road at Stuart’s, worked at Beusch’s.  Went to school board meeting, made and painted a blackboard for the school.  Ollie Rice came to board January 2 - 28.  Notation of “night of weeping women” on January 25th. and later Josef “went to Rice’s for meat”.

February 1898 :  Dora made a trip to Rainier the first week and “came home with Willie.”  Worked on wagon, harrowed meadow, cleared below barn.  Trashed and cleaned peas and clover seed.  Poled, pruned and set out orchard trees, hauled logs with Mike.  Finished garden markers and stepladder.  Made the trial trip with the new wagon.  Repaired stove.  Grubbed at Beusch’s.  Ollie Rice came for a visit.

March 1898:  Josef worked at Beusch’s, grubbed and grafted trees there for 6 days.  He was reelected director at the school meeting, and painted the blackboard.  Plowed garden, planted some potatoes, sowed oats in front of the house, and oats, barley and clover west of the house.  On the hill, he sowed veatch, and flax, and south of the house he put in China peas.  Cut down two trees for fence, split stakes and rails, and fenced on the hill.  Went to Rainier with Rudy, cut wood for Dad.  Worked on new Stehman road.

April 1898:  “Sowed and harrowed in clover seed on new patch below barn.”  Went to Rainier and worked for Dad, spaded at Bob’s.  Made fence below barn, spaded hog lot.  Planted garden seeds, which included celeriac.  Worked at spring west of house [to ensure a summer water supply?]  Went to Peterson’s camp, worked there 3 days, and “worked for old man Meserve” a couple of days.  Filed saw, made a sledge handle, made railroad ties.  Dora and Ina made a visit to Rainier, and the last day of the month Josef went to Rainier and brought back Rudy.

May 1898:  Worked at Peterson’s camp the first half of the month.  “Blazed and swamped a trail on the hill for hauling fence rails.”  Hoed garden, made bean poles, cut logs in the new trail on hill.  Made table boards, improved table.  Sprayed “a few trees”.  Went to Portland on the Iralda, and on the way back “came home with R. Lovelace” [a teamster].  Hoed Dad’s garden.

June 1898:  Cut out and graded road.  Hauled fence timbers with Mike, cut and split rail timbers.  Filed saw, cleaned shop, fixed cowstand, repaired cow’s bellstrap.  Hoed potatoes.  Fixed hay wagon, mowed and hauled in first grass hay.  Cut down a cedar, made rails and stakes, and cut logs in the fence road, made fence.  Went to Rainier, came back with Rudy.  Mrs. Beusch visited during the month.  June 3:  Josef and Dora’s 7th wedding anniversary. 

July 1898:  “Nice day, mowed and hauled in hay – at 10 o’clock P.M. Emma born” July 2.  Josef is again doing “housework” with “Dora resuming her old post” 10 days later.  [Rudy is 6, Willie 4, and Ina about to turn 3 years old.]

Canned raspberries, picked blackberries, went to Morris’ for beef.  “At 6 o’clock in the evening kitchen got badly on fire.”  Fenced spring, cut thistles, cut and trashed rye, cut wheat.  Mrs. Morris visited, there was also a visit from the assessor.  Went to Rainier, cut wood for Dad, came home with Willie.

August 1898:  “Devilish hot”, “Hellroaring hot”, cut wheat, oats, rye and barley; trashed and cleaned grain.  Set fire on hill, grubbed.  “Bob, Annie, Mr. and Mrs. Lohmann visiting, hauled Mrs. Lohmann to Larson’s place, came home late, had a bull fight.  Bob and Annie with Rudy went back.”  Fixed wagon’s harness, went to Rainier, came home with flour and pears.  Dora and Ina went to Rainier with baby Emma on a visit.  Pulled last of flax.  Finished the big stump south of house, split railroad ties for Peterson.

September 1898:  The first week of September “worked for Peterson”.  Then on the 10th ,“worked in the mud hole of a chute in forenoon, got fired for refusing to work on Sunday at noon, went to Rainier in afternoon” and brought home glass jars.  He returned to Petersons’ camp for his blankets, going “through Peterson’s chute to Rainier.”  Cut wood for Dad.  Back at home again he picked Bartlett pears, and the Italian and French prunes; then went to Petersons for “time check, thence to Rainier”.  On that trip he went to Portland and back on the Iralda, and came home with more fruit jars.  Hauled big roots with Mike, fixed wagon for manure, plowed, grubbed, and trashed grain.

October 1898:  Josef started out the month with a trip to Rainier, and the next day “came home with Rudy.”  Trashed last peas, sowed rye and wheat, picked fall Pepins.  Made a hay rack for “Bullil”.  There were two trips to town and back with “Mike”; and two family trips on wheels - “hauled Dora and children to Larsen’s place.”  Sawed stumps, made pickets.  “Made a bed for the boys.”  Visited Mr. Kilby. 

November 1898:  Tore old hen house down, made and raised rafters, shingled and finished new hen house.  Made a new wheelbarrow, fixed axe handle.  Worked at Holsapple’s, came home with meat.  Cut wood for Dad.  Went to school board meeting.  Picked some Stark apples, dug rutabagas.  Went with William Holsapple to visit Mr. and Mrs. Washburn.  Another long dry summer, as first water in the well on November 18.

December 1898:  Plowed rutabaga ground.  Cut and hauled in wood.  Made chicken lot fence.  Moved hog barn and fence.  Dug on barn lot.  Made timbers, hauled and spread manure.  Fired two stumps, grubbed east of the barn.  Cut wood for Dad.  Fixed Daisy’s stand.  Prepared for calf stand, fixed singletree, repaired Mike’s harness.  “Worked on horsepower.”

“The year 1898 has been everything concerned tolerably good; splendid crops of hay, grain and fruit were raised.  Moved hen house and hog barn.  Cleared 1/6 of an acre, grubbed ½ of an acre new ground and ½ acre meadow.  Fenced ground on hill, made ½ mile cow trail.  Work simplyfied by the use of a small waggon instead of the cart.”