The photo above is how the house looked when we first bought the tree farm in 1961. The yard was almost completely surrounded by box elder trees. Dad wrote this story in May of 1986.


The house as it looked in 2009. 





"I’ll never forget the first night we moved in... It was very dark and raining in gusts. When we pulled into the yard we heard a spooky, groaning and squeaking sound."

 
By Burt DeBaun                                                           

    When you turn your back on a friend of 25 years and dissolve that relationship, it’s a very sad feeling. Twenty-five years ago (1961) when we bought the tree farm for taxes from Juneau County, ($825.00) all 47 acres of it, we purchased the few remaining items of personal property from George Halverson – the heir – for $10. Included in that purchase was an old combination wood-burning – butane cookstove. Because the chimney was not in very good shape we never did use the wood-burning part. Other items were an oil-burning heating stove (discarded several years ago), a corner sink with a pitcher pump – both of which have been long gone, a painting of a young girl in a boat in the moonlight, which now adorns our living room wall at home. The old two-story farmhouse had never seen an electrical outlet. For the first several years we used kerosene lamps, then gasoline lanterns and a butane lantern. 
    I’ll never forget the first night we moved in. We had driven all the way from Western Springs, Ill. – about a 3-1/2 hour drive in our six-cylinder Chevrolet station wagon – Margaret, John, Tom, Bob, and Skip, the dog – tailgate down, loaded with bedding, etc. It was very dark and raining in gusts. When we pulled into the yard we heard a spooky, groaning and squeaking sound, accompanied by more rain and brilliant flashes of lightning. Much to our relief the odd sounds were coming from an old windmill that adjoins the house. 
    We unloaded in the rain – got a couple of coal oil lamps going and much later, bedded down to the rain, lightning, thunder and groaning windmill – and then to top it all off, the noise of small squirrels scampering around in the attic and down the walls. 
    Down through the years, we have progressed from coal oil lamps to gasoline lanterns, to a portable 1500-watt generator and minimal wiring on to REA power (REA in the '70s). 
   The roof leaked so a couple of years after we bought the tree farm we had a new roof put on which is still doing a good job. 
    Water has and has not been a problem. We send in a sample annually to the Wisconsin State Health Department – every year the results of the tests have been quite satisfactory and it’s great tasting water. The well is a drilled one beneath the windmill. At first we tried to use the windmill – but it just was not dependable. The water was sort of rusty, so we had a Mr. Parkhurst replace the pipe and a new cylinder was installed. We found the handle for the pump and it was the boys chore to keep the water supply sufficient – a tub full warming in the sun for baths – and a 2-1/2 gallon cream can full for drinking and cooking purposes. The progress on the water system was a pump jack that Grandpa De (W.G. of Wakarusa) bought and rebuilt – then installed – a 1-1/2 HP Briggs and Stratton engine. That was really a giant step – however, with the advent of the REA, we brought an old electric motor from Wakarusa and “electrified” the water supply. There was one more step on the water supply that really brought us into the 20th century. It was the installation of a “warm weather” water system – so called warm weather because it can be used only when the weather is above freezing due to no central, year-round heat in the house and the fact that the pipe from the well to the house is exposed to the elements.
    With the changes that have been made the area still maintains a rustic appearance because both the telephone service and the electric service are by underground lines. 
    The water system was just about the best thing that has happened but, of course, the electricity made it possible. When we moved in for the first time the “john” was an old, weathered one behind a shed. It leaned about 20 degrees and was something that needed immediate attention. Tom and I dug a hole, used concrete blocks for the foundation, and built a fine little red two-holer with new lumber – complete with a quarter moon in the side and a modern stool cover and lid for one of the holes; the other was just a common oval cut in the seat with a wood cover. As we progressed to both an electrical and a water system and inside plumbing with a septic tank, the little red outhouse has become a gasoline and oil storage shed. It is still there to be used if an emergency should arise. 
    Taking a bath or washing was quite an ordeal, using either a tub or the old corner sink in the kitchen. We never were quite sure where the sink drained to, and it eventually quit draining, so until the advent of the water system, we had to put a five-gallon pail under the sink to catch the water, then carry it out into the yard every so often. With the new water system came a hot water tank. No more heating water on the stove in a tea kettle. Along with the water system, a sink unit was installed in the kitchen, an enclosed lavatory for the bathroom and a wonderful shower stall. 
    Heating in cool weather has had an interesting progression. It would be virtually out of the question in really cold weather. We started out with the old fuel oil stove mentioned previously. It was hooked up to the chimney in the parlor, which has since been removed. It was much better at putting out oil fumes than it was at producing heat. When it was quite chilly, we would fire up the propane oven for additional heat. The oven is another story, and its story is what [spurred me to write this article in the first place].
    With the new REA electrical hookup we acquired a couple of 1500 watt electric heaters (our original generator would have had a struggle to carry one of them) for auxiliary heating. They are still in the house and really help the comfort index. Tom and Laura donated a propane heater they removed from their home in Osage City. It’s vented into the chimney in the bedroom. With the unlimited supply of firewood – oak, hickory and other varieties – we have not had a chimney that would be safe with this type of heat – someday, maybe.
    Our refrigeration needs progressed much the same. We started out with an old zinc icebox painted ivory with a drain beneath it. Quite a mess when the pan reached its full capacity. From an ad in a shopper, we found a used butane refrigerator in Mauston. That was a heavy old rascal. It nearly overloaded the IH Scout when we hauled it to the Tree Farm. Its thermostat did not work so we had to try to control its temperature by regulating a hand valve – sometimes it would go out and at other times it would freeze nearly everything, but


This photo from the fall of 1973 shows Burt and Margaret with their three sons and their brides or brides-to-be (although there were no official engagements at the time).  From left, John with Gayle Wamser, Bob with Jane Lundgren, Burt and Margaret  and Tom and Laura.  Mom had grown up like Dad, with some experience with an outhouse for plumbing, but with the arrival of new ladies and the possibility of future grandchildren, Burt wanted to get the place upgraded with "modern" facilities. 

you could not keep ice cream in it. Once again, with the advent of Thomas Edison’s electric addition, we bought a used Kelvinator from a private party. It was in good condition when we purchased it and it still is in use. 
    Ground maintenance has progressed over the 25 years. At first we would bring our Lawnboy up from Western Springs and take it back each time. Grandpa De (W.G., Wakarusa, Ks) furnished us with a high-wheel, self-propelled sickle bar mower that we used in the heavy grass out in the old barn area. Every so often, it was necessary to wrap friction tape around the small drive sprockets that drove the main wheels – by friction. Then we bought a used rotary push mower, but the engine gunny sacked on it. As a replacement, John bought a 21-inch push rotary mower, which is still in use along with the Cub LoBoy which was brought up from Osage City for us. It was a trade-in at the store from the Kansas Highway Department. We overhauled the engine, put on a new rear tire and two front tires – have built a trailer for it which is handy in many ways and great for grandkids.
    There were approximately 20 acres of open meadows when we acquired the place. We, with the help of ASC financing and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, had this acreage planted over a 2-year period (1962 & 1963) with red (Norway) pine. They have grown and flourished. All of the kids, John and Gayle, Tom and Laura and Bob and Jane, have planted many additional trees over this 25-year span. One year we needed about 100-plus trees to fill in an area that was machine planted but did not grow, so I called the forester in the spring and was told they had some trees at the county barn. I went over – they would not sell you less than 1,000. John and Gayle were not too happy when I brought 1,000 home, but they stayed after the program of underplanting and got them all in the ground.
    Back to the beginning and the old friend that we turned our back on because her oven had rusted out – yesterday, May 12, 1986, Margaret and I went to Kendall and purchased a new 20-inch Hardwick, 4-burner propane stove complete with oven. We brought it home in our pickup – moved the old combination propane/wood burner with the West Texas decal on it out to the front porch (my but she’s a heavy old gal, the stove I’m talking about) and replaced her with the trim, 20-inch Hardwick (incidentally, almost identical to the first stove Margaret and I purchased for our rented apartment, our first home after the war, in 1946). I’m anxious for sons Bob and John to come up. We’ll haul the old gal to the salvage yard. Until then, she stands on the front porch as a reminder of all the water she heated, how she helped heat the house, the popcorn that was popped on her, and the many, many meals – including a Thanksgiving turkey dinner. What a sad, ignominious demise of a true and faithful friend. 
   -- Burt DeBaun, 1922-1995, co-founder of the tree farm along with wife Margaret 

   

The old barn had hand-hewn beams and used wood-peg assembly in places, but it was starting to lean and Dad, always one to err on the side of safety where the kids were concerned, decided to have it pulled down.  Our friend, Henry Mundt of Western Springs, Ill., who was instrumental in helping us find the tree farm, used his old 4-wheel drive Jeep pickup to get the job accomplished.  The rope broke a time or two, but it finally came down, and the foundations stayed in place for about 30 years as a sort of burn pit before it was finally bulldozed over.