tributes to ernest g foust
Most of us just called him Ernie. From the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy, he was ancient. But he impressed me as a doer. He essentially had no one to rely on, nothing going for him, and no chance of making his homestead successful, but that didn't stop him. My dad got to know him and asked about his life and childhood. The following story is true as told by Ernie:
In Hill City Minnesota when Ernie was just 12-years-old, he drove 4 head of horses from camp to mill with a load of logs. He made double wages that way. There were about 15 other men with four head of horses, all of which took one day down and one day back.
Ernie ran off at age 12 and joined the last of the log drivers down the Mississippi.
When disobedient, three boys held him while his dad paddled him. He didn't like it. He went West as soon as he was 13. In North Dakota, he became a farm hand. Then in Montana, he was a cow poke (eg cowboy), and that's when he started rodeo.
In 1934, Ernie's boss sent him with a car load of cattle to St. Paul, MN. Nobody would even bid on the cattle, so he called his boss, who said to take them to Chicago and get rid of them. He sold them for $3.00 a head.
Farmers with cattle they couldn't feed and strays, the government rounded up and turned loose in the woods in Minnesota.
A butcher came to Ernie's dad to buy beef. His dad wouldn't sell his, so someone killed government-fed until the cattle sold for $30 a head. Butcher came at 5AM daily to pick up the pick up the slaughtered beef hanging on the hay track in the barn. This was the last time he was back in Minnesota. He went west again with 2-3 fellows traveling all over the West and wandering some.
He came to Castle Valley around the same time as the Slamas, who arrived later that year.
In Hill City Minnesota when Ernie was just 12-years-old, he drove 4 head of horses from camp to mill with a load of logs. He made double wages that way. There were about 15 other men with four head of horses, all of which took one day down and one day back.
Ernie ran off at age 12 and joined the last of the log drivers down the Mississippi.
When disobedient, three boys held him while his dad paddled him. He didn't like it. He went West as soon as he was 13. In North Dakota, he became a farm hand. Then in Montana, he was a cow poke (eg cowboy), and that's when he started rodeo.
In 1934, Ernie's boss sent him with a car load of cattle to St. Paul, MN. Nobody would even bid on the cattle, so he called his boss, who said to take them to Chicago and get rid of them. He sold them for $3.00 a head.
Farmers with cattle they couldn't feed and strays, the government rounded up and turned loose in the woods in Minnesota.
A butcher came to Ernie's dad to buy beef. His dad wouldn't sell his, so someone killed government-fed until the cattle sold for $30 a head. Butcher came at 5AM daily to pick up the pick up the slaughtered beef hanging on the hay track in the barn. This was the last time he was back in Minnesota. He went west again with 2-3 fellows traveling all over the West and wandering some.
He came to Castle Valley around the same time as the Slamas, who arrived later that year.
