contractor. The most remarkable thing about him was his gift of gab. He certainly must have kissed the Blarney stone not once, but a number of times. Well, to make a long story short, he succeeded in getting three months’ work out of nearly one hundred men for their board, a few rags and some tobacco from the company store, and then skipped out when the job was as good as completed. That jolt set my mind to working, and I resolved if ever I worked for anybody again that man would be myself.
When I got home and studied the situation over, I came to the conclusion that I must homestead my farm, for I had only a little over $600 saved up. I determined on Kansas as my choice, since I had a prejudice against starting a farm in a timber country. I had learned through our Bohemian family paper that F. J. Swehla was just starting a Bohemian colony on government land in Ellsworth county on the line of the Union Pacific railway in central Kansas. I arrived at Wilson, in the the center of the colony, May 18, 1877, and was very favorably impressed by what I saw; but on looking around a few days, I discovered that the choice locations had all been taken up by the earlier settlers. Therefore I bought a relinquishment of a timber culture entry on a fine quarter section of partly improved land and homesteaded an adjoining eighty acres in addition, nine miles northeast of Wilson. That station at the time was not very good to look upon, for it consisted of a frame shack for a depot, a two-story hotel of native stone, a small grain storage warehouse, two grocery stores, a hardware store, a beginning for a lumberyard, blacksmith shop, a dozen or more dwelling houses and the inevitable saloon. Certainly not a very inviting beginning, but most of the settlers were middle-aged and young people, full of hope and determination, and quite willing to rough it at the start.
At the beginning I engaged board for a couple of weeks with Thomas Beadle, of whom I had bought the timber claim. I also bought from him a yoke of oxen for $85 with the privilege of working off half the amount. I was to work out my board too. Upon investigation I found forty acres of my land in good cultivation, part planted to corn and several hundred forest-tree seedlings set out, but no well or building of any kind on the place. I bought a wagon for $85, hooked on my oxen and hauled out the lumber to build me a light shack twelve by fourteen by eight feet. Being a carpenter it did not take me long to build, and when my house was finished I drove to town, bought a small stove and the most necessary kitchen utensils, bedding, plow and harrow, some groceries and provisions, and started "baching." At first my housekeeping caused me some vexation and trouble, but finally I broke myself to it. Whenever opportunity offered I worked for wages, but there was not much doing because the great majority of the settlers were as poor as myself and could not afford to hire. In those early days ox teams were used on many farms because of their low cost. Their up-keep was low compared with horses, and besides, when not needed any more they could easily be turned off for beef. It was a common sight in those days to see a number of ox teams in town with farm produce, but now the sight of an ox team hitched to a wagon would create as much excitement as a band of Indians. I drove my ox team for over two years; some of my neighbors drove theirs five and six years; but young men of the present generation would die before they would use an ox team.
My entire crop the first year consisted of about ninety bushels of corn,
