From: Homestead Fever by Marie Kramer,
published by Marie Kramer 1993.
Told by Joe Ziska's daughter, Mary Ziska Krysl.
** John and Margaret are the great-great grandparents of Leo Seger of Atkinson (1992). The little girl, Catherine Christ, married Paul P. Seger 1897.
John and Margaret Christ** (pronounced Krist to rhyme with list) and their little girl, Catherine, suffered shocking misfortune when they first came to the Atkinson community. They set out from Wisconsin in 1878 and settled for two years in Platte County, Nebraska. They then yielded to the intoxicating urge to press westward to the frontier where they could obtain free land. John was handy with tools and constructed a canvas cover for their ordinary wagon.
Margaret had baked bread before they began the trip, and whenever they stopped to eat, she made coffee. For a stove, she used a flat, square piece of sheet iron that was propped up on either side by a few shovelsful of sod. Under this iron they made a fire, using dried grass.
After two weeks of travel, they arrived at the place (about ten miles north of Atkinson) where they intended to homestead. At the time, it was assumed that Atkinson would spring up south of the river, but even though the town had been platted, there were no buildings on that location. However, on the north side of the river was Bitney's little frame cabin which was simultaneously a general store, a post office, and a drug store.
The Christs were disappointed in their new home site, for there was absolutely nothing to be seen except prairie and sky - a limitless nothing on every side.
It was nearing dark, and John was anxious to unhitch the horses and prepare for the night camp. As he was doing so, one of the horses - for some unexplainable reason -lurched and fell on him, pinning him to the ground. Probably the animal had either a heart attack or a stroke.
The terrified wife and daughter worked frantically to move the animal aside and managed to do so before John smothered.
Little Catherine was only nine, and it required several hours for her and her mother to get the broken man into the wagon and onto a make-shift bed spread on top of their boxes of belongings.
There was no doctor for many, many miles. The injured man lay all summer, unable to do anything toward making a home or planting crops.
Finally, with winter approaching, he dragged himself out of the wagon and began to consider how they might fashion some kind of shelter for Margaret and Catherine, for he must use the wagon to go to Neligh (seventy miles distant) for supplies.
First of all, they dug a hole about a foot deep and six feet square and placed sticks and poles - whatever they could find among their few provisions - in the comers. These sticks were leaned together at the top, teepee fashion, after which dried grass was collected and piled against them. They could gather only enough grass to enclose three sides, and thus the south side was left open. This little structure would be the canopied bed for Margaret and Catherine.
The shelter was so low that it was necessary for them to creep in on hands and knees. They spread their blankets inside, and at one edge, they piled their clothes. After John departed with the wagon, this covered bed was their only protection against foul weather.
One night a heavy blanket of snow fell. They could do nothing but huddle under their quilts, shivering, while the snow piled up more and more deeply as the hours passed. How difficult it was to creep out of their nest the next day when the storm ceased, and face the task of getting their clothes and bedding out from under the snow bank! However, once out, they found a shovel among the field supplies that were piled nearby.
As they removed the snow from the outside of their hut, they piled it on the south side, molding it to form the fourth wall of their tiny bedroom.
After about ten days, John returned with food and fuel. Suffering from one snowstorm to the next, this courageous family did manage to survive the winter. In the spring, John, even though he was still crippled, managed to break some sod. He, with the help of his wife and child, built the walls for their soddy.
Next, he went thirty miles (probably to the Niobrara River area) to get trees and branches to form the roof. Last of all, the family removed the hay which covered their bed and placed it on top of the new dwelling.
When the spring rains began to fall, they discovered that their thatching ability was deficient, for the roof began to leak. That night at bedtime, Margaret opened an umbrella, and they huddled under it as best they could. By morning it was raining harder in the soddy than it was outside.
The leaky roof turned the earthen floor into a mudhole. Each morning Margaret removed the ashes from the stove and spread them underfoot. The mud eventually dried, and the ashes made a hard floor-until the next time it rained!
When John traveled to the Niobrara River area to gather wood, he had to be alert and careful. The Indians claimed the trees and did the best they could to frighten the settlers away from them. Once, they shot a gun, striking John's wagon wheels. The loud explosion (probably coupled with John's quick application of the whip) frightened the horses, and thereafter the team was skittish, jumping at every sudden noise.
During times when there were Indians camped nearby, the Christs kept their horses harnessed day and night in the event that they would need to make a fast get-away. However, their home was never attacked.
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