Crow River Media | MORE TO THE STORY: Remembering the way it used to be
It was the 1930s. On a paved highway between Glencoe and Brownton, Mrs. Carrie Working rode in a 1930s automobile. The car rode gently over the paved road, and out the window, Carrie looked on at the two-story farmhouses, large fields, big barns, and cars that sped down the highway on which they rode. It had been 62 years since Carrie had been here, long ago moving to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and as she rode through the countryside of her childhood home, she couldn't help but marvel at how much things had changed.
Carrie had last seen her childhood home in 1868, and at that time, a trip to Glencoe, made by oxcart or horse and buggy, took about three hours, a far cry from the 15 minutes by automobile. She recalled, "All of the roads in the vicinity of Glencoe were in terrible shape when I was a girl. Sometimes they were impassable, and farmers were forced to walk, picking their way over fields and meadows, carrying home supplies on their backs. Farmers did the roadwork, but they had little equipment and not enough time. There was very little money available for roadwork."
Indeed, the paved road that Carrie rode along must have been a great change from the wagon trails that once led between the settlements in McLeod County. Not only the conditions, but the time it took to travel between the communities.
"When I was a girl, a trip to Glencoe with a horse and buggy was quite an event, although it was only 10 miles. On a nice summer evening when the roads were good, it was a pleasant drive.
"We had no desire for speed as we knew nothing about anything on the roads speedier than horses. We seemed to have more time than is the case now. But many's the time I have had a new white dress spoiled after much ironing and starching by being forced to get out of a buggy or wagon when it was stuck. Climbing over the wheels was usually disastrous to clothes. Sometimes the girls in the party had to help push, and we never knew, if we went to a dance or party some distance away, when we would get home. We went anyway and thought nothing of it. In truth, we generally had a good time even when the roads were blocked with huge drifts of snow."
The farms, too, had changed immensely since the days of the settlers, especially in the 1930s when bigger equipment was available for clearing land and tilling the soil. Carrie recalled, "Most of the farmhouses were plain frame or log structures, many without paint. The barns were small and often unpainted. Few cows were kept, and the fields did not appear as neat and well kept as those along the paved highway."
The world of 1868 was certainly far different than 1930. One must wonder, however, what that same person would say if they saw our world today. Aside from place names, would they even know it was the same place?
Roads have been raised, woods have been cleared, and even the gambrel-style barn and silo has become a part of history. With streetlights, fast automobiles and cellphones, one would have to assume that our link to the past is fast diminishing, existing only on paper and in the memories of those like Carrie Working.