Page 4 - MWC 8-25-2022s

The Midwest Cattleman · August 25, 2022 · P4
It was about 1970. My
brother Doug and I were
three years apart which
would make us twelve and
nine. My youngest broth-
er Kevin may have been old
enough to tag along – I can’t
recall. Growing up down in
Montana’s Missouri River
‘breaks’ provided us some
very unique experiences. To
get an idea of what I mean by
‘breaks’ search – ‘Harvesting
on the Edge’ on YouTube ®.
Even though it could be ar-
gued that the house we lived
in, at the end of what was
barely a road, was down in a
hole, it wasn’t at the bottom
– not even close. On three
sides, the house, barns, and
corrals were all flanked by a
deep coulee. Now coulees, as
far as I know, are not found
anywhere except in the west
and northwest. In other parts
of the country, they might be
called a ‘holler’, ravine, gorge,
gully or even a canyon. This
coulee was a canyon – it still
is. Water that formed it ran
into Dog Creek (pronounced
‘crick’ there) and on down
into the Missouri River. Over
time, that water cut it deep.
It is steep, rocky, with an out-
crop of rock here and there
near the top. In some places
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it was nice and smooth at the
bottom forming a nice little
valley, but as it curled around
behind our corral it was es-
pecially steep and at the very
bottom was a deep washed-
out ditch perhaps another
twelve to sixteen feet deep.
We walked, climbed, and
explored every inch of the
network of coulees that came
together and curled around
our backyard. In places we
could ride a horse down a
deer trail and make our way
to the other side – straight
across 200-300 yards away,
but in most places, you We walked, climbed, and explored every inch of the network of coulees that came
together and curled around our backyard.
couldn’t even walk down, or
if you did you had to take a
slanted route like a moun-
tain goat and go very careful-
ly. It was steep.
Along the deepest and
steepest section was what
can only be described as a
‘steel graveyard’ for all kinds
of old farm machinery. The
previous owner had done
what many farmers do – es-
pecially in areas with less
than twenty inches annual
rainfall and no machinery
shed available.
When he was done with a
piece of machinery, he would
just park it in a row with
other pieces of equipment. If
you have ever seen a row like
I’m referring to, you know it’s
like a walk through time with
the small horse-drawn piec-
es at one end, steel wheeled My brother Doug on a visit back to the ‘breaks’.
tractors next – right up to the
last piece used – still right name) had piled up several – scattered for a hundred
where it was last un-hooked. pickup loads of used tires – yards or so.
There was something with a most still mounted on steel When our dad found out
‘rumble-seat’, a self-propelled wheels. They were stacked what we had done, he was
combine, and no one knew in rows – you guessed it – not happy. He never forgot
why but ‘Tuffy’ (that was his right beside one of the deep- it either. Even after I turned
est and steepest coulees to be fifty, he would still bring that
found. story up and shake his head.
The saying “boys will be “What were you boys think-
boys” comes to mind. When ing?” He’d ask. He also had
rolled off the edge, those tires another saying: “One boy’s a
would fly through the air boy, two boys is a half a boy
20 feet or more off the rock and three boys… is no boy
ledge, then bounce and roll… at all!” We proved that old
bounce again and sometimes saying true time after time…
clear the ditch at the bottom and we sure had fun doing it.
and go half of the way up Two out of three of us raised
the other side before coming a family of our own. Yes,
to a rest. One after anoth- that’s right – we both had
er we rolled those tires and three boys.
watched with amazement. KwC
It was quite a show. At first,
we were going to do just one,
but eventually all of those
Ph: 515-771-6036 tires ended up at the bottom