Frontier Travel, Fire, and Storytelling (Lisonbee Account 3)

I continue on with Eda’s account:

“The first few years he traveled West always West., on horse back mostly. He worked in cattle ranches, lumber camps in Minnesota etc. He was in Montana at a Fort when Custer went out that fateful day, when he and all his soldiers were killed by Indians. My father said he was as the Fort when in the morning the dog came into the Fort, in the afternoon the horse was brought in. (If Frederkick John Kohlhepp really witnessed this event he must have left Boston in his 14th year, not his 17th year as he always claimed because the Battle of the Big Horn was in June, 1876 when he would have been 14½ years old).

He was working in a lumber camp in Minn. one winter. He was bringing in a load of wood when three black crows flew over the house. They screeched what soulded like “Fire, Fire, Fire! He told the men what he had heard, they laughed at him but a few minutes later some of the men’s clothing that had been drying by the fireplace caught on fire. It took the efforts of all to put it out before the whole place burned down. No one laughed then. If it had burned, the men would have all frozen before they could have reached shelter.

He used to tell stories of haunted cabins etc. He was a great story teller. He and his friends used to sit around the fire in the winter and tell tall tales. We children sat with our ears open. Later I read many of his stories in O’Henry’s books. [2]”

Commentary:

1. Horseback. How did Fred learn to ride a horse? Was this common to learn for middle class people from Boston? I am sure it was the method of public transportation, but did young people learn to do it? And did Fred really travel most of the way to Utah all on horseback? I know railways were definitely in place by then, so it seems that one could make it to Utah or at least far off west using the railways. Obviously he got to Utah from Boston, but it is hard to know the real way he got there.

2. Work. Eda claims Fred worked on ranches and lumber camps. This coincides with Fred’s account, that I will address eventually. However, she claims he worked at a lumber camp in Minnesota. I am pretty sure that it was in Wisconsin in Fred’s account.

3. Battle of the Big Horn. It is difficult to accept Fred was at the fort near where the Battle of the Big Horn was, but perhaps I am of little faith. I can understand that perhaps he was at a fort where Custard’s horse or dog eventually lived AFTER the battle, but not at a fort the day of. Perhaps his story telling stretched too far? One hates to doubt the reports of their ancestors, but it’s quite a claim.

4. Crows and the Fire. I will have to compare Eda’s account with Fred’s. I believe Fred reported they were ravens (but could he tell the difference?), and that the Fire was started in the kitchen, not from men’s clothes that were drying by the fireplace.

5. Story telling. Eda’s account is the only one that tells of her father sharing stories of haunted cabins. I am happy Eda gives us a source for Fred’s tall tales that he had fun sharing. I wonder which of O’Henry’s books she is referring to. It would be good to locate these books and go through them.
Tags: 1876, frontier travel, Minnesota, lumber camps, fire, storytelling