In late 1903 or early 1904, my parents Amos and
Estelle Peterson carne to Spring Coulee. That summer
they lived in an old granary on the east side of the
creek and on the north side of the old road. I remember
later in 1918 there was a wooden bridge across the creek.
Whether it was there at the time mother and dad came
to Spring Coulee, l am not sure. It was in the old granary
that my brother was born May 25, 1904. That fall they
moved into a log house that stood on the east of the
creek and south of the road. It was here while they were
living in this house that mother had a very traumatic
incident.

Mother, l believe was the first post mistress in Spring
Coulee. During the days the mail came in. Mother was
busy giving out mail, selling stamps and doing all the
other duties that a post mistress has to do. My brother
was three years old at the time and liked to wander
around outside. The creek was nearby and running high
as it was springtime so his wanderings concerned mother
very much. When she was busy with the mail, mother
would stake him out, so to speak. Dad fixed a little
harness for him and mother would tie a little rope to the
harness and to a post, to limit his travels and keep him
where mother knew he was safe while she was busy.
Some of the patrons would come early to get a little
visiting while the mail was being sorted. One lovely spring
day, mother had him staked out as usual but one of the
more humane patrons turned him loose as he felt it was
too confining for a little boy on such a lovely day. After
the mail was sorted and the work caught up, mother looked
out for him and he was nowhere to be seen. The rope
was there but no little boy. Mother was frantic to say the
least. She immediately asked all the people around if they
had seen her little boy. A few people were still there
visiting, including a few Indians. As soon as mother got the
word out, all these individuals started to search up and
down the creek. Mother said that every time she looked
at the creek cold chills would run up and down her spine.
It wasn't long however, that one of the Indian men found
him asleep by some buck brush, oblivious to all the
excitement around him. He hadn't gone too far, but had
wandered up the creek and tiring, laid down to take a nap.

There was quite a bit of land broken up that the settlers
were farming. All the fields that were farmed were fenced
to keep out cattle that were grazing over the unfenced
prairies. Two or three miles north of the "Coulee" ran the
St. Mary River which was at this point the southern
boundary of the Blood Reservation. A cattle company
by the name of Gordon, Ferris and Ironsides had a large
area of the reservation leased on which to graze their
cattle that numbered up into the thousands.

Dad tells me that the winter of 1907/08 was really cold
and had a lot of snow. Winter came early and stayed a
long time it seemed. Dad and his brother Andrew
Peterson were farming together and uncle Andrew lived
with Dad and Mother. One day, Uncle and Dad decided
to go down to the river to check on some cattle they
had there. Dad said when they came up out of the
coulee and turned north toward the Barrus Farm, it was
snowing hard and there was a hard wind out of the north
that was very cold. Uncle suggested that they just as
well turn around and go back because the cattle were
probably frozen to death and if they weren't, would be
before they could get there. So they turned around and
went back to Kelley's store to warm up. There was
a large thermometer hanging on the front of the store
which they checked on their way into the store and
Dad said it was on fifty degrees below zero. Even in
the house it didn't get too warm. Mother would put
warm water in a quart jar for my brother to play with
so he could keep his hands warm.

I remember being told that during the same winter in
January 1908, a really bad blizzard came with a lot
of snow and cold and wind, straight out of the north.
Gordon Ferris and Ironsides' cattle crossed the ice on
the river and they drifted into Spring Coulee. Here they
started to hit the fences and small bunches of cattle
would gather in the fence corners and stand there.
Due to the intense cold, they would freeze to death
standing up. The cold lasted for sometime but eventually
the Chinook breezes started to blow and Dad said it was
a strange sight indeed to see a few cattle standing so
life-like and then suddenly crumple and fall to the ground.

Dad told me the names of the neighbors but very few I
remember. I do remember one, a Mr. Thompson. I
remember him probably more so as Dad couldn't say
enough good things about him. He was always helping
Dad and Uncle out. Dad tells, he and Uncle once had
some pigs. I don't just remember how many but anyway
they were running loose. They came up missing and
Dad started to look for them. He went over to Thompson's
to see of they had seem them. Mr. Thompson had and he
also had them penned up and was feeding them. Dad
apologized for letting them run and said he would take
them home, but Mr Thompson said, "No, Amos just leave
them here. It is very little trouble and I will just feed them
till harvest is over which will be shortly and then you can
get them." I think this speaks very well for the people in
the Spring Coulee area. Dad and Uncle weren't the only
young people that were just starting out and received
help from the older established farmers.

In the spring of 1908, Dad and Uncle bought a farm four
miles west of Magrath. It was here that I was born
February 25, 1909. Mother, Dad and Uncle must have
enjoyed the years that they lived in Spring Coulee as
I remember hearing about the wonderful times they had
and the wonderful people that they knew there.

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