These stories can also be heard Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
June 25, 2023
Today’s story is again from Marjorie Mortensen’s collection, “Ray’s Stories”, about his youth in the Wannaska area during the seasons of farm work. I’ll be reading about winter activities today.
After the harvest, the house had to be readied for the cold winter that was coming. Tar paper would be tacked up from the ground about three feet up around the house. Bales of straw would be stacked around the foundation, and horse manure would be piled in between the house and straw. Horse manure was used because it would heat and provide insulation from the cold. This would not smell bad when weather was cold. Storm windows would be put in place.
The first snow varied in arriving. Sometimes it would arrive early in November. Sometimes the first snow would arrive, then melt before the real snow would arrive. Sometimes it would snow early in November and last until late April. Sometimes there would be three feet of snow in the woods, but usually the wind blew the open fields free of most snow. I’ve seen pictures of the driveway by the house showing at least three feet of snow where the car would drive.
In the winter, before roads were passable, the family would go to church or to Roseau or to visit a neighbor in the sleigh pulled by horses. They would bundle up in warm clothes, snuggle down under quilts and, with a large oven-heated rock at their feet, were quite cozy if they hadn’t very far to go.
When real cold weather arrived, the family suffered fewer colds. Orval said when he was serving in the Army in Greenland, everyone caught colds when the mail boat brought mail from home. Ray said when he or the other children came down with a cold, his mother would rub their chests and backs with Vapo-Rub, serve them a cup of hot lemonade, and then bundle them down under warm quilts. They would sweat quite a bit but would usually feel better in the morning.
Cold weather made special clothing necessary. The men wore long woolen underwear, woolen socks, and shirts. Wool was best for cold-weather clothing because wool sheds moisture without absorbing it. Orval said they wore three pairs of wool socks to school, because the floor of the schoolhouse was cold.
Ray said when the weather was real cold the snow was dry and didn’t melt. Then he said he would wear felt moccasins that were very comfortable. He said it was almost like going barefoot. Of course heavy boots would be worn over them when going outdoors.
The price of woolen clothing was cheaper in Winnipeg Canada, but a tax on it had to be paid when entering the United States. Sometime some of the old timers would go to Canada, buy several sets of underwear and shirts, put all of them on, and come back into the U. S. Obviously this couldn’t be done if the weather was very warm.
Before it was customary for women to wear slacks, the women also wore long underwear and long cotton or wool stockings. But some young women for style sake would wear silk stockings and short skirts when going on dates. One young woman had to wait outside by the roadway for her boyfriend to pick her up for their date. He was late, and by the time he arrived the woman’s feet and legs were frost-bitten. Quite a number of young girls learned not to be such a slave to fashion. Now days, warm clothing is fashionable and attractive.
As winter progressed, care had to be taken that enough hay was readily available to feed the stock. When hay had to be hauled from the stacks that were further from home, it was a difficult day’s work if the snow was heavy over the stacks. After the boys were more grown, Andrew had a much easier time hauling the hay. The weather played a big element about when hay could be brought closer to home. There was always the fear that there wouldn’t be enough hay to last through big storms. On a good day, Ray and his father could haul three loads of hay from as far as Wannaska, but if the weather was too cold, the horses couldn’t work much further than that.
The meat to be used during the winter was butchered in the fall. February or early March was the other time for butchering for the next summer’s consumption. Orval said that was when the meat factory would get busy. The pigs would supply next year’s hams, sausage, and bacon. There was a smoke house between the house and the barn that was well used. The beef would be dried, smoked, and canned in form of hamburgers, meat balls, and stew meat. There was always plenty of meat during the summer, but when there was fresh meat butchered in the fall, everyone was glad to eat something besides the smoked and canned meat. It took a lot of butchering to feed the large Mortensen family.
When Ray was still in the army and we lived in Battle Creek, his folks sent us a large dried and smoked roast of beef. It was very welcome, because meat was scarce and rationed.
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