Title
ABRAHAM IAMS
Creator
Aaron Iams
Coverage
TOWNSHIP 140N RANGE 93W
Text
ABRAHAM IAMS
One of the many people to be captivated by Henry Villard's and J. J. Hill's glowing account of the potential bonanza in wheat farming in the new Dakotas, was Abram (Abe) lams. In the spring of 1882, Abe loaded an immigrant car with a team of mares, two cows, a wagon, a plow and household goods and bid his less adventurous friends and relatives of his hometown of Paris, Iowa “goodbye” It is not known why he chose Dickinson, N.D. as his destination. He must have been a little surprised, for in 1882, Dickinson was not impressive, or perhaps, to the Easterner, was a little startling; three or four business places, a depot, a dozen or so shacks, spur-jingling gun-toting Texas cowpokes, a remnant of buffalo hunters and a huge rack of dried buffalo hides that resembled a huge haystack. Also, a huge pile of drying buffalo bones that likely contained a few skeletal parts of Indians or unfortunate California bound gold seeking “49er's”
In the same year, Abe lams filed on a homestead on Antelope Creek about ten miles south of Dickinson. Here he built a house of native sandstone that still stands today.
In the fall of 1882, Abe's wife (nee Annie Carnahan) and five children, Edward. Joseph, Harvey, William and Nettie arrived. The reunion was shortlived. Before the first winter had passed his wife and son, Harvey, died of diphtheria. They were buried on the homestead but later moved to the Dickinson Cemetery.
Years of persistent drought, the lack of threshing machines and the low price of wheat and the almost unlimited free range soon convinced Abe lams that livestock was the answer. Over the years Abe built up sizeable herds of cattle and horses, especially fine draft horses.
After five years of widowhood, Abe met and married a young Norwegian girl, Ingaborg (Belle) Haugen, who had come from Madison, Wis. To join her homesteading parents, Lars and Ane Haugen of Taylor, N.D. Of this union three children were born; Sarah, (Mrs. Chris Fransen of Minneapolis), Agusta, who died in infancy and Aaron L. lams of Billings, Mont.
By this time Abe lams had become a confirmed free-range rancher and the hoard of incoming homesteaders posed a threat to his growing herds. Abe moved and moved and moved, always to the fringes of civilization. He had camps on the Upper Cannonball, the Cedar, Black Butte, Bird Coulee, and Dog Flats, names of places that the ensuing years may have changed or been forgotten.
In 1896, due to health problems Abe was advised by a doctor to move to a milder climate. Abe, with his family, moved to Missouri. But the spirit of the frontiersman died hard. Neither he nor his wife, Belle, could stand the confinement of the subdued East. In 1903, Abe and Belle and their two children, Sarah and Aaron returned to Stark County, N.D. Abe established a ranch at Ragged Butte near the present town of Dunn Center. Later, due to the encroachment of homesteaders, he moved into the Badlands north of Halliday, but the inevitable had happened. The free range and the wild frontier were gone — but not the spirit.
In 1907, Abe and Belle lams sold their ranch holdings and bought a small farm at Taylor. But farming was not Abe's way of life. After the marriage of his daughter, Sarah, Abe bought land and leases on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation where once again he established a ranch. But due to reverses after World War I, and a prairie fire that consumed range, hay and a number of livestock, it proved a failure. Here, in a sod walled half dugout, Abram lams came to the end of the frontier trail at the age of 81. His good wife. Belle, followed him in death 12 years later at the age of 82.
Mother Belle was a frail little woman, but her frailty belied her stamina. She followed where her husband went and captured her dream to the ultimate; a good wife, a Christian mother.
There are no monuments erected to euolgize the achievements of Abe and Belle lams or their pioneer compatriots, but we must not forget that they laid the foundation stones for our present day economic and social structure.
May God rest their adventurous souls and grant them a paradise where no fence or law impedes their march over a new hill into a virgin valley.
By Aaron Iams
One of the many people to be captivated by Henry Villard's and J. J. Hill's glowing account of the potential bonanza in wheat farming in the new Dakotas, was Abram (Abe) lams. In the spring of 1882, Abe loaded an immigrant car with a team of mares, two cows, a wagon, a plow and household goods and bid his less adventurous friends and relatives of his hometown of Paris, Iowa “goodbye” It is not known why he chose Dickinson, N.D. as his destination. He must have been a little surprised, for in 1882, Dickinson was not impressive, or perhaps, to the Easterner, was a little startling; three or four business places, a depot, a dozen or so shacks, spur-jingling gun-toting Texas cowpokes, a remnant of buffalo hunters and a huge rack of dried buffalo hides that resembled a huge haystack. Also, a huge pile of drying buffalo bones that likely contained a few skeletal parts of Indians or unfortunate California bound gold seeking “49er's”
In the same year, Abe lams filed on a homestead on Antelope Creek about ten miles south of Dickinson. Here he built a house of native sandstone that still stands today.
In the fall of 1882, Abe's wife (nee Annie Carnahan) and five children, Edward. Joseph, Harvey, William and Nettie arrived. The reunion was shortlived. Before the first winter had passed his wife and son, Harvey, died of diphtheria. They were buried on the homestead but later moved to the Dickinson Cemetery.
Years of persistent drought, the lack of threshing machines and the low price of wheat and the almost unlimited free range soon convinced Abe lams that livestock was the answer. Over the years Abe built up sizeable herds of cattle and horses, especially fine draft horses.
After five years of widowhood, Abe met and married a young Norwegian girl, Ingaborg (Belle) Haugen, who had come from Madison, Wis. To join her homesteading parents, Lars and Ane Haugen of Taylor, N.D. Of this union three children were born; Sarah, (Mrs. Chris Fransen of Minneapolis), Agusta, who died in infancy and Aaron L. lams of Billings, Mont.
By this time Abe lams had become a confirmed free-range rancher and the hoard of incoming homesteaders posed a threat to his growing herds. Abe moved and moved and moved, always to the fringes of civilization. He had camps on the Upper Cannonball, the Cedar, Black Butte, Bird Coulee, and Dog Flats, names of places that the ensuing years may have changed or been forgotten.
In 1896, due to health problems Abe was advised by a doctor to move to a milder climate. Abe, with his family, moved to Missouri. But the spirit of the frontiersman died hard. Neither he nor his wife, Belle, could stand the confinement of the subdued East. In 1903, Abe and Belle and their two children, Sarah and Aaron returned to Stark County, N.D. Abe established a ranch at Ragged Butte near the present town of Dunn Center. Later, due to the encroachment of homesteaders, he moved into the Badlands north of Halliday, but the inevitable had happened. The free range and the wild frontier were gone — but not the spirit.
In 1907, Abe and Belle lams sold their ranch holdings and bought a small farm at Taylor. But farming was not Abe's way of life. After the marriage of his daughter, Sarah, Abe bought land and leases on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation where once again he established a ranch. But due to reverses after World War I, and a prairie fire that consumed range, hay and a number of livestock, it proved a failure. Here, in a sod walled half dugout, Abram lams came to the end of the frontier trail at the age of 81. His good wife. Belle, followed him in death 12 years later at the age of 82.
Mother Belle was a frail little woman, but her frailty belied her stamina. She followed where her husband went and captured her dream to the ultimate; a good wife, a Christian mother.
There are no monuments erected to euolgize the achievements of Abe and Belle lams or their pioneer compatriots, but we must not forget that they laid the foundation stones for our present day economic and social structure.
May God rest their adventurous souls and grant them a paradise where no fence or law impedes their march over a new hill into a virgin valley.
By Aaron Iams