Recalls Bad Winter of 1923 - Milton - Cantril - Mt. Sterling

YAHNKE, JENKINS, LAWRENCE, BROWN, GOLDIZEN, MARTIN, BALDWIN, STEPHENSON, GILFILLAN, MCCLURG, CORRICK, ROULET, MILLER, HOSKINS

Posted By: LuRee Runnells (email)
Date: 6/10/2005 at 16:48:23

By George Yahnke, Bloomfield, Iowa

Recently I [George Yahnke] read in the Bloomfield paper of the last train trip to Bloomfield over the Burlington Railroad Feb. 14, 1969. This and the icy winter brings back memories of the winter and spring of 1923, which seems such a short time ago, only [46] years.

At that time I [George Yahnke] was Ford Dealer for Vaughn Motor Co., in Milton [IA]. About the only way to get out of town was by rail or to go on foot. The roads were just terrible, the mud up and down main street was knee deep and over to horses, and horses were the only way to go except on foot as there were no cars on main street for seven weeks. Farmers would put a tongue in the rear running gears of a wagon and fasten a box on to haul their cream and eggs to town and carry their groceries back home.

Milton was a pretty thriving little town back at that time with four doctors, Dr. Stephenson, Dr. Gilfillan, father of the Dr. Gilfillans now at the clinic, [Bloomfield], Dr. McClurg, father of Dr. Ernest McClurg now of Bloomfield, and Dr. Corrick. There were two banks, drug store, jewelry store, bakery variety and a hardware store. There was also a nice picture show which later burned, dry goods store, clothing store, blacksmith shop, and two or three barber shops. Hargroves also had a seed and grain building and livery barn.

There was a passenger train that went west around 10 a.m. and a freight that by-passed and went east about the same time. I would ride to Pulaski sometimes then walk across the fields if I had a prospect, then would have to walk all the way back to Milton. If I had a prospect east I would catch the freight that way and walk back. One day Dewey Roulet, Edgar Miller and I all salesmen got the bright idea we could sell a tractor (delivered price at Milton 565) about one and a half miles northwest of Mt. Sterling, so on this bright sunny morning we got tickets and rode the freight down to Mt. Sterling and walked across the muddy fields and cornstalks, leaving the station about 11:30. Our prospect turned out, no sale, so we headed back to the railroad track, tired out but 15 miles yet to go before getting back to Milton. We sat down on the track, almost exhausted, and debated whether to walk up to Mt. Sterling, which was another half mile or head for Cantril and on to Milton.

We got to Cantril about 5 p.m. and made for the small restaurant for we had had nothing to eat since morning. As we sat down on those wooden benches we went down like you would drop a sack of cement. After a sandwich, coffee and a 40 minute rest we made it fine but it was getting dark when we got in sight of Milton, and believe me there were three tired boys.

Edgar Miller was married to Mabel Hoskins about three years later. She now owns and operates the Manning Hotel in Keosauqua.

About the middle of March the weather turned off real nice, people were stiring, and the car and tractor sales were good. The 15 Fordson tractors and 23 Model T cars were all sold and I called Ford Motor Company in Des Moines the last day of May begging for more new cars to be shipped to me. (Filled with gas a Ford Roadster sold for $315 and Ford Touring car sold for $346.)

The salesmen were Eddie Jenkins, George Lawrence and myself. The shop help and mechanics were Paul Brown, Ural Goldizen and Homer Martin with Zola Garrett Baldwin as office girl. She now lives in Chicago. (End of newspaper article) --
This article is in my possession, and believe was written in 1969, newspaper unkown; (probably Bloomfield paper). Someone hand wrote on bottom of article "from Bloomfield to Milton was the first paved highway in Davis County in 1928 and to Ottumwa finished in 1934." Submitted to those who might have an interest in early Van Buren County History.