Flatheadlake Scuttlebutt by Jos'e

"On-Line Copy #31 August 2005"

"Somers Montana"

{"Temps are "High" and it is plenty warm"}

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"Part One of Two"
"Of a short story of some of my Mom's childhood"
As written by her.

In memory of my dearest Mother
"Martha Ellsworth"

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(The first Half of)
"A Trip to Crested Buttes"

( By Martha Ellsworth)

I was the oldest child of a large family and many years ago we lived in Colorado in the Rocky Mountains, usually on small farms, typical of that area. I recall to mind one summer, my father hauled fresh produce, that we raised in our garden for the most part, with a lumber wagon pulled by two mules and a horse to help over the steepest and longest grades. The trips we made to a mining town in the higher country, went over a mountain pass and down into a valley where hard coal called anthracite was mined. I remember it had a dark pearl gray look when we saw the loaded cars waiting on the railroad side track to be shipped out to the ovens where it was made into coke. He took my oldest sister and I turn about with him each trip to ride the lead horse where he had to be used to help the mule team pull the wagon over the steeper parts of the road and for the experience to I suppose. It truly was an enjoyable time for us we were gone about three days each time with our load of whatever fresh vegetables and fruit that was in season, sometimes cages of live poultry were taken along when some of our neighbors had some to sell. After a trip or two the families of the miners would watch for us to come and in just a few hours the well loaded wagon was sold out. Just a few vegetables such as lettuce, green onions and radishes were about all that could be grown at this altitude and it was not often that fresh fruit or other vegetables found their way into town. No one ever heard of going to another town in those days to shop. Most of the travel then was done by team and wagon or horseback, or if you could afford it by train. Towns were not very close together, another reason why people stayed pretty well near where they lived. People we called "Hobos" most always men, were often seen with packs on their backs, walking along the railroad track. They would sleep under bridges and usually did not stay long in one place. They would often stop and do chores like chopping wood at some farmhouse for a meal, everybody had a woodpile. It was my turn to make the trip with Dad this time, he was busy all day the day before getting things gathered together to fill the wagon, I was about fifteen and a big girl for my age, I had been taught how to do many things to be useful and there was plenty for me to do to help out. Special care was given to keep the fresh fruit and vegetable in good shape to be sold, it required washing and keeping green vegetables from getting dry, tomatoes and corn on the cob were ready for this trip. Some peaches plums and apples could be picked to go, the best way was to do as much as possible just before we got ready to start, about daylight everything was on the wagon, we even had a goose to take this time, one of the hens we were taking laid an egg which we found in the cage the next morning after we had camped beside the road to let the team rest. Dad usually caught trout in the streams that flowed here. There was an abundance of green grass growing along the way to feed the team, all we needed to take along was grain to give them strength.Beaver lived in the area and cut down big quaking aspen trees to fall into the stream to eat and help hold back the water creating ponds, I never got to see one of the animals but I saw many stick houses that Dad said they lived in.
( To be continued )

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( NOTICE )

The information and directions about the " 2006 " Ellsworth reunion, can be viewed on my Neice Wendy Butler's sight at the address below.
http://www.zplace2b.com/
Just drop down and on the left side you will see "Family and Friends Pages", you will find it listed their, Come join us
.
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     August is here and most of the days are quite warm it is warm enough thst our tomatoes and peppers are growing quite fast, not to many tomatoes and not any peppers as yet? but maybe there will be later. Laurie does have a couple of "Half-Barrels" with some very beautiful ferns & flowers, that I will take a picture of to show in the next Scuttlebutt.
     Heidi, Al, Marie & Michelle, ( Daughter, Son-Inlaw, and two of our Granddaughters) came by for a few days visit, they played golf on our little lawn and were able to get some bicycle riding in, around our circular drive and on local bike paths while here, it was so nice to have them come to visit.
      Be sure and drop by if you are in our neighborhood, until next time
"Have a Great Day".

Joe and Laurie Ellsworth

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     Left click any of the thumbnails below to view the photo at full size.
     click the (Back) button on your browser to return to this page.


"A picture of the Columbia River as it makes a wide turn ." "A Grass Valley Ca. Deer in daughter Heidi's back yard." "Some rocks and some ground cover in the Columbia River canyon".


"Some pretty Sage Brush we saw." "Laurie catching up on the news at the motel." "Don't know what these are, look a bit like wild Cow Parsnips?"

"A look at some of the weather we are having."

July ended by giving us some pretty hot days, however the nights and evenings are cool and pleasant. The tips of the mountains around us here in the Flathead Valley are bare with not a trace of snow and the streams have settled down to their regular summer flow.
Some of our sunsets and sun rises are very colorful, they say might be from the dust the jet stream has brought from Africa?

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We have enjoyed having you come to visit us here on the net and
hope you have enjoyed your time here. We would like to hear from you
if you are so inclined! So with an old country "Thanks" it's bye till next time.
( Joe and Laurie Ellsworth )

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"View our Last Issue" "Our Past Issues"

"Left click the next line to view paintings"
"A place to view Paintings by Jos's"

Another way to view this page is to visit:
"zplace2b.com"and click on the text link on the lower left side marked "Jose's Place" ".

Which is owned and maintained by my niece, "Wendy Butler".

{"Temps are "High" and it is plenty warm"}

In memory of my dearest Mother"Martha Ellsworth"

"A Trip to Crested Buttes"

( NOTICE )

The information and directions about the " 2006 " Ellsworth reunion, can be viewed on my Neice Wendy Butler's sight at the address below.http://www.zplace2b.com/Just drop down and on the left side you will see "Family and Friends Pages", you will find it listed their, Come join us

Another way to view this page is to visit: "zplace2b.com"and click on the text link on the lower left side marked "Jose's Place" ". Which is owned and maintained by my niece, "Wendy Butler".

In memory of my dearest Mother
"Martha Ellsworth"

The information and directions about the " 2006 " Ellsworth reunion, can be viewed on my Neice Wendy Butler's sight at the address below.
http://www.zplace2b.com/
Just drop down and on the left side you will see "Family and Friends Pages", you will find it listed their, Come join us

Another way to view this page is to visit:
"zplace2b.com"and click on the text link on the lower left side marked "Jose's Place" ".

Which is owned and maintained by my niece, "Wendy Butler".