The family returns to Milaca

by Doris Bergstrom
Posted 8/16/02

The move from St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin brought the Swansonís full-circle, back to Milaca on March 13, 1913 to a farm in Borgholm Township which became their permanent home. By now, they had a son and four daughters. One more boy, George, (called Bobbie), would be born at the farm in 1915.

Alys writes about their move from St. Croix Falls to Milaca, "The livestock, machinery and household goods were loaded into a rented boxcar. Their son, Charlie, rode in the boxcar, Pa left by buggy and team and Ma and we kids rode the train." The familyís only loss was a much loved tomcat that leapt out of the boxcar door "and that was the last we saw of him."

In the Swanson history, Alys describes the Borgholm house as a "bleak, but sturdy unpainted farmhouse...constructed of logs with wood siding on the outside." There was no basement and the upstairs was unfinished. "The chicken coop was near the house and was infested with rats."

Thankfully, the barn was in good repair. A granary with a root cellar underneath stood on a small hill behind the barn. There was, of course, an outhouse though my aunt does not mention it.

The people from whom the farm was purchased "had a great number of beehives that became ours," according to my auntís writing. Having no previous experience with bee keeping, they needed to learn about bees and honey in a hurry.

The Swanson family had arrived to a farmhouse in need of renovation, outbuildings in need of repair, and several structures needing to be built. Farm animals and chickens needed the usual tending, fields were thawing and would soon need plowing and seeding. A garden needed to be dug and planted, and beehives would soon be ready for transfer from winter seclusion to their summer location. There was quite enough to do.

Though my grandfather never cared for farming and preferred creating with his hands, at the same time he had a need for landóa place that was his, a place to return to.

When he sold one place, he bought another. But even now, with a commitment of permanence regarding the purchase of the farm in Borgholm Township, Grandpaís heart could not adapt to farming.

My Aunt Alys Johnson writes in the Swanson Family History, "Yr 1913 after we had moved in and were settled, Pa left for Winnipeg, Canada to continue stone work." He went back to work in the same quarries near Winnipeg where he had been employed when the family lived on the farm in Wisconsin. So, again, it was up to my resourceful grandmother, and to Anna, Charlie and Swen (Grandpaís father), to manage the fields, to tend to the needs of the animals, and to provide sufficient food for the family for the coming year. They would be raising more cattle and hogs, and also obtaining geese and chickens.

Charlie began learning the details of farming when they lived in Wisconsin and quickly adapted to working in the fields. Though Swen did outdoor jobs about the farm, lung problems reduced his ability to do heavy physical work. Anna was finishing high school including the training program for teaching in country schools. She was home to help with household projects in the summertime. Esther and Gertrude were growing old enough to assist Grandma in the kitchen, feed chickens and gather eggs. All the girls soon learned to milk cows.

My grandfather returned home regularly and when he did, he sawed, hammered and pounded nails. Wherever he determined there was a need for a building, Grandpa was ready to begin. He must have earned a quite decent wage working in the quarries to pay for building supplies.

Alys writes, "...he built a bee house and a new chicken coop. The old chicken coop was moved and became a pig house." The men moved the granary that stood on the hill behind the barn to a site just east of the barn and a lean-to was added to store machinery. Grandpa built himself a shop. Some years later he built a garage near the road across from the granary.

Grandpa dug a new well and then erected a pump house. He built a large rectangular, cement water tank at the north wall to store milk cans in cold water prior to taking milk to the creamery. My grandmother used the water tank as a summer refrigerator by floating metal cake pans in which she placed butter and other foods that needed to be kept cool. Water in the tank was cold enough to set a gelatin salad, though Alys states butter didnít hold its firmness very well. She tells a story:

ëI remember one time when Gertrude and I went to the pump house to get butter and she and I got into a fight. She set the butter dish on the ground so she could chase me. When she returned to pick up the dish it was surrounded by chickens eating the butter."

Most farmers those days used a gas engine to pump water from the well. Grandpaís gas engine had a pulley system arranged so that a belt could be readily switched from the water pumping system to the cream separator. He added an overhead pipe system running from the pump house to the barn for supplying water to the animals. This was constructed so the water automatically drained and could be used throughout the year. Grandpa built a huge wooden, circular water tank behind the pump house that was used for drinking water for the horses.

The largest project, done in stages, was to renovate the farmhouse.