Fergus County Argus -- May 24, 1894

  The little son of Mr. and Mrs. Sten Hanson of Cone Butte came near being carried away by an eagle one day last week. Mrs. Hanson had placed the child in a cradle on the door step and returned to her housework within. In a short time she heard considerable commotion among the chickens about the yard, and returned to the open door to ascertain the cause. She quickly noticed that something was partially shutting out the light from the opening and as she reached the steps she found a large eagle hovering over her child, prepared to grasp the little one in it's talons. The mother screamed and grasped the child. The bird flew a short distance and perched on a stump, apparently disappointed at losing it's prey. The bird was a monster and fully strong enough to carry away the boy, who is two years old.

  L. S. McLaughlin came to Montana from Homeworth, Ohio. He was issued a teachers certificate in June of 1883 in Jefferson county. He taught at Fergus and Ft. Maginnis, as well as in other schools.
  He and two brothers filed on homesteads in the Ross Fork Creek area. He married Eva Rakestraw. He passed away in 1934, possibly in the Garniell area. A scary episode occurred during his teaching career.
  As Mr. McLaughlin was sitting at his desk, during a school session, he dropped his pencil. When he reached down to retrieve it a rattlesnake bit him through a crack in the floor. He grabbed his hand in pain. A student said, "My mother will know what to do!" and quickly ran home to fetch her.
  The mother came, carrying a live chicken, which she split open with a knife. She had Mr. McLaughlin thrust his hand inside. When the chicken's heart stopped beating, he withdrew his hand and no ill effects were ever suffered by Mr. McLaughlin from the snake bite.

[This page is all photos--see Photo section below for description of photos on this page.]

• Almost done. Soon the rig will pull out leaving a hugh stack of straw behind. 
• Oquist had fourteen men working on his threshing crew. One important member of the crew (not counted) was the cook shown here sitting on the back of the cook wagon. Other members of the crew were 10 bundle haulers, 3 grain haulers, separator operator, and Oquist, the engineer. 
• Moving the threshing rig up off a river bottom where many tons of alfalfa seed was produced. The noise which heralded the coming of the huge machine caused great excitement for kids 'of all ages'. On a clear fall day the noise of it's approach could be heard for miles. For a homestead kid the arrival of the threshing machine, which was bigger than his house, was a thrill to remember. The monster made the ground tremble and it would belch great clouds of smoke and dust, and the noise was comparable to today's jets breaking the sound barrier.
• Charlie Oquist in the cab of his CASE tractor which powered the threshing rig. The tractor was fueled by gas. A 'gas wagon' which hauled the fuel for the tractor was usually hooked on behind the threshing rig. 
• A load of grain heading for the threshing machine. 
• Sometimes the cut grain was hauled into the threshing rig loose, as in picture above. Usually it was tied in bundles by a binder which was pulled by a team. The binder cut and tied . Bundles were easier to handle than loose grain stalks. Seed crops, such as alfalfa and sweet clover, were piled into 'shocks' or small stacks and the whole shock was pitched onto the wagon loose. Shocking was generally a job performed by the women and children. 
• Charlie on top of the rig overseeing its operation. The fellow on the ground is cleaning up and pitching into the feeder what spilled off the wagons. This huge rig was a challene to the young men who pitched bundles into it, to see if they could "plug" it. On the smaller machines when too much was pitched into the feeder the whole operation would come to a standstill and the jammed up machine would have to be cleaned out by hand. No easy task on a hot day. 
• The straw blower blew the straw into a stack. The men are sacking the seed. 
• Building a dam using a fresno pulled by a team. 
• Dam building todayy with modern machinery. 
• Sheep shearing crew at Yaegers at Little Crooked Early 1950's.