Remembrances

\A little cool and windy but the ceremony of remembrance went on. Yes, the local Memorial Day event at our major cemetery. Our national flag and flags of our military forces are all manned, and one woman also, by veterans who served. The traditional firing squad renders a 21-gun salute. The speaker LtCol Jim Rye a product of our McCook Schools delivered a flawless message to make this community proud No doubt most surrounding communities did the same rain, shine or nice weather. Tradition, a proud reminder of our pride in our nation, the most free and prosperous country the world has ever seen. May it ever continue as such.

For the past several years your old scribe has been tasked with delivering an oral history of the “Old Stone Church” located along Hiway 17 some eight or nine miles south of Culbertson. Local community effort there built the structure and it was dedicated the year 1900.

Lots of stories of how the ladies raised money to purchase the needed dimension lumber through pie socials, box socials and other things that their fertile minds conceived. Men furnished teams, wagons and muscle power to load and haul the native stone quarried from out copings about four miles south. After loading the blocks of stone the men would drill holes to place dynamite for the next load. After they departed a couple of early teenagers remained behind to light the fuses and not startle the horses. Try that today!

Imagine the countryside there before it was opened for homesteading. Not a tree thanks to prairie fires like we saw in the communities just east of us this spring. No roads, just a few Indian-inspired trails although by then government surveyors had left their mark. Dugouts, just rooms carved into the local canyon banks and covered with blocks of sod were the principle abode. With more effort soddys were erected, again carved out of the native prairie sod.

Imagine living in such a primitive one-room place for the five years it took to “prove up” and take title to your quarter section of ground. No electricity, just candlelight or a kerosene lantern to read by if one even had a book or two. No internet, no telephone or television. No recorded music just make your own. About all there was to do was go to sleep when the sun went down and get up at the crack of dawn. Some of the couples produced a lot of children and maybe the isolation contributed to that. Then too mice and other vermin were attracted to the sod walls and ceilings so imagine trying to sleep with little critters and bugs walking over your body in the dark.

Humans are a gregarious sort and it is only normal that they would seek out their neighbors for a welcome word or favor whenever they could. Sunday being a day of rest, and yes most of the settlers were of European descent and were Christians, so a church service was a chance to be with like-minded people—neighbors.

By the 1890s a regular Sunday service was held in a sod church that had been built just across the road from the present-day Stone Church. A Rev J.E. Darby was the Pastor and records show of at least one meeting of 97 persons. It was there that the notion was adopted to build the structure we see today.

The church fell silent in 1951 due to a lack of attendees due in part to ease of travel by automobile. Then in 1975, a Stone Church Association was formed by descendants of the original builders. Through that Association the building was restored and at present, a public meeting is held each year on the Sunday before Memorial Day. All visitors are welcome. The building is also available for weddings and funerals and other occasions for friends to gather. I am sure that other rural churches in this area have an interesting history that one can explore if interested. Realize that these are examples of the efforts of the hardy souls that were our ancestors who built the dynamic agricultural communities we see today.

A fellow news contributor, Ronda Graff, recently posted an article in this paper speaking of the limited opportunities for visitors to this area to find reasons to visit. Personally, I feel that there are numerous opportunities for visitors to come. I noted that about every camping spot at the Red Willow Reservoir north of McCook was filled this weekend. Water activities galore. Where else can one go to observe the mating ritual of prairie chickens? We have a movie house, great restaurants, and many motels that were at capacity this weekend. I think that we just need to get the word out.

Recently Grannie Annie and I were in Grant, Nebraska and noted that their new municipal swimming pool was jam-packed. Kids and families obviously enjoying the beautiful sunny day. We counted at least four young lifeguards keeping things in order. Opportunities for recreation plus employment of our youth. Still, on return to McCook, we found our public swimming pool lifeless. Somehow we need to do better!

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail