Schurter History 1939: Henry Schurter Ledger Posts part 5

 I believe the "Rd." means rod or 5.5 yards.

 As I read these entries I'm amazed at the acres being worked. Different era, many small farms and there was still a turnover to power equipment going on.

Mt. Moriah, Deadwood, SD

 Sunday afternoon we decided to drive over to Deadwood and visit Mt. Moriah Cemetery. The amount of history is simply too much to absorb in one trip so we will definitely return. $2 per person to enter and that goes into the ongoing history research of who is buried there.

 Walking up the main road you come to the grave of Wild Bill Hickok. Legends abound but the fact that he was shot at age 39 is what struck me the most.

 Google this character. I've seen the mining equipment he used but this man was a true "character" of the old west.

  A better picture of the Wild Bill gravesite. Born in Troy Grove, IL.

 View to the northwest from Mt. Moriah.

 This speaks for itself.

Schurter History 1939: Henry Schurter Ledger Posts part 4

 $2.12 per acre for Dad, his D4 and picker. I don't know where Alley Davis lived but Dad told me about picking the field just east (along the Mackinaw River) of where the Cullinan yard was located along Rt. 9 heading to Mackinaw the first year that the farmer planted hybrid corn. Dad said the farmer didn't have near enough wagons to keep up with how fast Dad could pick and how high the yield was. I'm probably not exact but I believe widespread use of hybrids (corn) began in the mid-1930s so it would have taken a few years to gain popularity.

 Per bushel threshing for wheat and oats at the Joe Eicher farm.

 First entry under Ben Getz (relative of my mother-in-law) is from 1938. $1.50 for a half day of labor seems impossible today.

Schurter History 1939: Henry Schurter Ledger Posts part 3

 I believe the payments to Dan at the top of this page were for the loan to buy the CAT D 4 that Dad operated. $308.25 was paid in May alone which was pretty good money for 1939 and this was just on a loan. I hope that some of Dan's children may read this and be able to "comment" on the "6 hours digging cellar." Dan lived southwest of the John Schurter farm and I'm not sure what cellar unless Dan put in a root cellar on his property. Help? I also found it interest that Dad often wrote "paided in full" instead of paid in full, 

 Not sure where the Frank Albert farm was located but he must have had hilly land that needed work to reduce erosion.

 I noticed that Dan collected the "working on road 3 days" money. This was probably another tractor payment.

Schurter History 1939: Henry Schurter Ledger Book part 2

 I'm beginning to suspect this might be total hours worked for the year. I'll try to clarify in my next post but it appears that these were men who worked for Dad during 1939.

Schurter History 1939: Posts from Henry Schurter Ledger Book part 1

 If you are new to this blog my Dad ran a "Farm Power Contractor" business starting at age 17. He had attended school through 8th grade and once high school began his Dad "encouraged" him to consider going to work instead of high school. After working for area farmers his Dad and brother (Dan) loaned him the money to purchase the Caterpillar D 4 and open a business. I will be attempting to scan and publish his day book from 1939, this is the only day book in my possession. If the scan is unclear I will type the information. I had high hopes of finding unpaid bills that would make my brother, sister and I wealthy but, alas, no such luck. Some of the information is easily understood but some, like the page today, isn't so clear as to what is being recorded. I included the pre-printed pages because they contain some pretty good information, "Contracts made on Sunday cannot be enforced." 

 My best guess is that these are hours worked for each person or, in one case, the county. Remember, the country is still in the Great Depression which began in the fall of 1929.

Schurter Family History: Building a home, 1988

  Thanks to Helen Schurter for getting these shots of our home construction. I faithfully took pictures daily but hadn't properly connected the film so it never advanced so no pictures. The above picture shows the north end of the house still 9 pitched. Once the rains returned I had a leak where these various roof lines met. I tried and tried to hunt down the leak and couldn't so a couple of years after moving in I took the 9 pitch off the back and extended the dormer out to the end of the house. Thanks to Bud Morr for all his help that weekend. It made our master bedroom much larger and took care of the leak.

 East back side of house with beginning framing for the back porch. 1988 was an unbelievably hot and dry summer and I was trying to get the family moved in by the start of school. Fortunately my Department Chair, Jim Carner, told me to use both personal days at the beginning of the year so we could make the interior inhabitable. No doors, no kitchen cabinets, but we could sleep there and continue working.

 This picture belongs prior to the above picture because the roof isn't finished. I finally had to hire help....that's me bent over another piece of insulation board, my Dad is watching Tim Barrow nail them in place. I so carefully put two layers (alternated so no joints lined up) over the exterior and then got in a hurry and forgot the Tyvek!

 House had been completely roofed by this point thanks to Vicki who in spite of being continually terrified faithfully handed me shingles. It was a 9 pitch on the front side so I used roof-jacks to try and help her feel more confident. There are a couple of front windows hung but no front door yet.The garage is in the process of being framed. 

Tremont Church History: All church photo

I need help with this one, early 1990s is my best guess. Tremont Apostolic Christian Church or Apostolic Christian Church of Tremont. Today they are called Northfield Christian Fellowship to avoid the confusion of having two churches in a small town with similar names.

I promise that Waldo is not to be found in the photo but you can look for all sorts of other friends, family, and relatives who attended this church.

Once again I remind all of you with photos, please date them today!

Sturgis

It sure helps people complete bucket lists when they have a local place to stay. Greg has been visiting for the past few days and completing a dream to attend the Sturgis bike rally. This morning we had breakfast at the truckstop off exit 55 just west of Rapid City. This is a familiar place for Greg and the food was as good as he said it would be. After covering much of the Black Hills, Deadwood, Sturgis, Hill City he took off today to see Devil's Tower and see the "burnouts" at Sundance, WY. We pray he has safe travels and truly enjoys the beauty offered by this part of the country.

If you aren't familiar with Sturgis this is year 78 and we experience the roar of thousands of bikes. The local news even tracks the statistics which can be found at this link  https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBLpXHd?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare

Tremont History: Fall 1972, Jesus Rally in the village park

After several months of planning this group plus Thelma Giffhorn (who was amazing at getting us in the news) oversaw a two day Christian rally just north of the swimming pool. A wide variety of guest speakers and musical groups performed and numerous commitments to Jesus were made.

The group above from left side: Dean Unsicker, Rich Schurter, Clayton Horton, Dave Schurter, ___ Grimm, Larry Couch, and Phil Miget all worked endless hours to make this happen. Dean went on to work in the Christian education field and Larry Couch (and his wife Jill) are still in full time ministry, currently serving in Greece. The rest of us are involved in local churches serving our Lord. God is good!

Apologies for the quality of picture......if you would have seen the picture I began working with. Sorry I can't remember the specific dates.

Rapid City bike/hike trail, August 2, 2018

 For those of you with young children Founders Park has an 882' Strider Trail. The goal of getting your child a Strider at 18 months is to teach them balance and hopefully aid the transition to a regular bike without needing "training" wheels. This flat "mountain bike" style route allows your child to practice turns and experience dirt in a very safe environment.

 This is our final unexplored section of the nearly 14 mile long paved path from east Rapid to west Rapid. With our above average rainfall Rapid Creek is flowing at levels not normally experienced. We had fun watching kayaks on the creek a week ago.

 Another age rated playground along the path.

 I often take pictures from various points on the hillside in this picture. You get amazing views of Rapid City and there are more than 20 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails in that location.

 If you time your walk properly you can get lunch at Founders Park. We stopped and shared a fish taco lunch at Nosh. Their food is exceptional and if you travel to RC during the summer months be sure to check them out in the parking lot at Founders Park during lunch. 

Family History: Bolliger sisters, 1986 minus Jeanette

1986: Picture was taken at the Skip and Phyllis Stuber home.

From Left: Marian (Heubach), Eileen (Runyon), Phyllis (Stuber) and Wilma (Boyle)

Jeanette (Shedd) lived in Georgia and was not visiting when the picture was taken.

1987 (?): Rich Schurter would remove and recycle the roof on the chicken house in the background and it would be torn down.

1988: home would be built in the background of this picture