Lawrence Olsen was born19 May 1881 in Farsund, Norway, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Olsen. He came to the United States with his family before he was 6 years of age. He received his education in Chicago, Illinois. 
  Matilda Zuley became his bride 22 May 1907 in Chicago. In 1914 he and his wife and niece settled on a homestead north of Roy, Montana, Zuley Post Office. They lived there five years and moved t Lewistown where he went into the insurance business and made their home their.
  Mr. Olsen died in Great Falls hospital 12 July 1967. He was survived by his wife; one son Leslie Edward of Helena; his niece, Eleanor Blatter Kibler of Fox Island, Washington; two grandchildren and three sisters. Burial was in the Lewistown City Cemetery-Cloyd Mortuary in charge. 

  Zuley was first part of District #101. The first teacher was Nellie Watson in, 1917-18. Other teachers were Mrs. W.L. Calfee, Irene Johnson and Lily Cooley. Mrs. Leo Lacock was the last teacher in 1919. School was not held at Zuley for a number of years.
  When #207 was formed in 1926, Zuley was in the new district. When Byford was closed in 1933, school was held the next year at Zuley. The teachers were B. A. Hickey, Alice C. Swanke and Mona Grogan. The last term of school was 1938-39.

  This district was created ;, 1914. The first trustees  L.W. Livermore, Richard Komarek and M. S. Nelson. Louise McCloud was the first teacher. Some of the other teachers were Goldie Kilpatrick, Goldie Sherman, Josie Jones, Helen Buechner, and Helen Jordon. The district was consolidated with #207 in 1942.

  Calvin Birdwell and his wife, Linney, and sons came to the Roy area from Osceola, Missouri on July 4th, 1917. They homesteaded north of Roy in the Zuley area where they farmed and ranched. Their son, Chet, was twelve years old when they came to Montana. On January 26, 1926 Chet and Evelyn Reidel, a young school teacher from Kalispell who came to teach at the Joslin school, were married. They lived on the ranch where Chet was in partnership with his father.
  During the summer of 1933 Calvin Birdwell and his grandson, Chet Jr., were tragically killed as reported in the following story which appeared in the June 27, 1933 issue of the Lewistown paper.

  A grandfather and his young grandson who set out Sunday evening on horseback on an errand of mercy to the ranch home of a neighbor who was ill, were instantly killed when struck by lightning as they rode down a lane 11 miles northeast of Roy.
  The victims, Calvin C. Birdwell, 54, and his grandson, Chester Junior Birdwell, 8, were found late Sunday night by anxious relatives after they failed to return home from their planned visit.
  Coroner C.W. Wilder who went out to the scene Monday morning, reported that the lightning bolt evidently struck Mr. Birdwell directly. His clothing was almost stripped off his body and he was severely burned. The bolt also struck the boy and the horse, killing both instantaneously.
  The lane along which they were riding had a wire fence on each side which might have been a factor in drawing the lightning.
  Mr. Birdwell and his grandson set out from their ranch about 3 p. m. They rode double on one horse and their destination was .neighbor's ranch about 1 1/2 miles away.
  They had reached a point about half way to the neighboring ranch when the accident occurred. The family waited until about 11 p. m .and when the two failed to ^{P. 479}  return they went in search, finding the bodies lying in the road.
  Mr. Birdwell came to the Roy district in 1917 from Osceola, Missouri. He was well known throughout the north country and held in high esteem by his many friends who were shocked to learn of his tragic death. His widow and a son, Chester, father of the boy who was killed, also survive. The son resides on the Birdwell ranch.
  Mr. Birdwell was well known in the Lewistown vicinity having been employed for some time as an expert cement burner at the Hanover plant of the Three Forks Portland Cement Co. He was also employed for a time at the plant of the same company at Three Forks. His only other son was killed a year ago in an explosion at Three Forks.
  The accident occurred during a severe electrical storm which struck the northern section of Fergus county Sunday evening. Much rain fell in the Missouri river section and was especially heavy north of the river, it was said.
  The bodies were brought to Roy and funeral services will be held there.

  This is a three-generation history of the Cimrhakl Ranch, homesteaded by my parents in 1913, taken over by myself in 1930 and then by my sons, Bob and Dan in 1976.
  My father, Frank Cimrhakl Sr., was born December 2, 1875 in Radince, Czechoslovakia and came to the United States at the age of 16 (in 1891) to his cousins, name of Plovna, in Chicago, where he worked in the slaughterhouse for six years before moving to Protivin, Iowa. There he had a cream route with a team of horses and wagon or sleigh. He gathered cream from farmers in the country and hauled to a creamery in Protivin; similar to a mail route today. He also farmed.
  My mother, Stella Lukes, was born on Christmas Day, 1879 at Protivin, Iowa. She and my father were married in 1901 at Protivin, where all three of their children were born; Elizabeth on May 16, 1902, Adeline on November 14, 1906 and me, Frank, on March 8, 1909.
  My parents moved to Lisbon, North Dakota for a few years. From there they came to Montana by immigrant railroad car, arriving in Hilger, Montana on September 1, 1913, as the train didn't come to Roy until April 1914. ^{P. 480} 
 In the immigrant car were four horses, two milk cows, pigs, chickens, cats, dog, feed and seed oats, corn and all the farm implements required at that time; wagon and grain box, binder, mower, plow, hay rake, disc, drill, harrows, buggy and household supplies; a range, heating stove, beds, table, chairs, canned food and also material to build a 16 x 20 foot house and a 24 x 28 foot barn. All of this was moved with wagon and horses the thirty-five miles.
  In the spring of 1914 they started breaking sod with horses; working it down with a disc, picking sage brush and seeding. What was good about the early years was that there was a lot of rain and grew some crop every year except 1919, which was dry. We had 40 acres of corn that was good, but hailed out on July 17, 1919. Hay was shipped from the Dakotas. It was slew hay that livestock wouldn't eat. When a car load of hay came to Roy, it was rationed out, 3 bales to a customer, as there were up to 40 wagons waiting for hay. The bales weighed about 100 pounds.
  In 1916, Lee McEvony threshed for us. He had a steam engine threshing outfit. In later years Charles Votipka threshed here. He had a two cylinder 20-25 Case Tractor and a 32 inch Case threshing machine. Then Emery Arney, who had a garage in Roy, threshed for us. He had a 12-25 cylinder Case tractor and a 24 inch threshing machine. Frank Corth ran the engine for him. A.J. Anderson had a 1925, 15-30 McCormick Deering tractor and a 28 inch Red River Special threshing machine. George Balk ran the machine and Ole Baker the tractor. Herman Lucht and Dick Komarek also had a two cylinder Case and a Russell machine. All of these threshed for us in different years.
  June 27, 1927 was a big important day. One that changed our farming practice from horses to farming with tractor. My folks bought the first tractor, a new McCormick Deering 10-20, at a cost of $890.00 from John Reis, manager of the Montana Lumber and Hardware Co. In August of the same year they bought a used 22 inch Red River Special threshing machine and from that date on, for 20 years, we threshed our own crops and for 30 neighbors.
  In 1941 we bought the first rubber tired tractor, a Case with a 7 foot power mower and the first combine, an 8 foot Oliver, on rubber, one man control.
  That was the start of combining in the community and of less grain threshing. Alfalfa seed continued to be threshed, when there was some, until 1962.
  The only year that I didn't pull the threshing machine out of the shed was in 1936, the driest of the thirties; no crop. 1937 wasn't much better. A few neighbors that threshed got a little more than their seed back. 1935 was better. My records show that those I threshed for got three to eight hundred bushel. 1938 began to get better yields. There was about 24 bushel to the acre and from then all good years until 1952. All the forties were good years with enough moisture.
  This seems like a lengthy report on the threshing I did but it was 40 to 50 days each fall, when the crops were good. It was long hours, hot and dusty weather, but there was nothing I liked better. It was also hard, long hours for the bundle haulers. I had six teams hauling bundles, two men hauled grain and used scoop shovels to shovel into a granary from the wagon box. My Dad, who could hardly see, always shoveled grain. It was sure different for the woman that had to cook for a crew of 10 men and do all of the cooking on a wood stove, with no refrigeration or electricity or air conditioning. Sure different then, than it would be to today.
  You could tell how good a crop was when you pulled in to a farm to thresh. If there were rows of headed stacks, instead of bundles, it meant crops were probably below 10 bushel to the acre and cut with a header instead of a binder. A few had 12 foot headers that were pushed with horses, instead of being pulled. Grain was cut and elevated into a header barge, which was pulled by a team of horses, with a driver, along side of an elevator. Another person with a pitch fork stacked the material as it came onto the barge. (wagon) When it was full it was driven to the stack and unloaded. Once I pulled to Bill Kudzia's who had 12 headed stacks in one field and 12 in another. It takes much longer to thresh as you have to move the machine for every two stacks. In better years when I moved to a place where there were grain shocks to thresh in the field, I knew it was a better year, as the crop was cut with a binder.
  I would like to mention one more threshing story before starting on something else. I moved the rig to Anton Kolihas in 1932 to thresh. After starting I found out that it was not threshing the grain out of the head. I found out that the stack was in a sweat. Six row of teeth were in the concaves and drawn tight. It would not thresh the grain out of the head. I had to leave to thresh for others and when I came back in six weeks I was able to do a good job of threshing.
  My father passed away November 27, 1942 at the age of 66 years. My mother passed away on May 9, 1978 at the age of 98. Both are buried in the Roy Cemetery.
  There was a shortage of water in the homestead days. Big Crooked Creek starts four miles north of Roy and flows over fifty miles in an easterly direction and empties into the Musselshell River where the Crooked Creek boat ramp is now. All of the homesteaders that lived on this creek, or near it, could dig a well six to ten feet deep and hit a layer of gravel and get plenty of water for livestock and household use. It was a little on the alkali side but everyone used it.
  A lot of people hauled water from the Fred Mabee Ranch, which had a well near a shallow lake. The lake had water in it at times for twenty years during the wet times; in dry years it would be dry, but the well had plenty of good water. Neighbors for many miles around would drive there with team and wagon, using a hand pump to fill pails and empty into barrels to haul home. ^{P. 481}
  In later years everyone started building dams with horses and fresnos; then bigger dams were built by contractors using cats and scrapers.
  In 1960 a big change in the area water supply started when Larry Jordon drilled the first deep artesian well, which came in at 100 gallons a minute with the best water. Dick Komarek drilled the next one, another good well. In 1962, on this ranch, we had an artesian well drilled, which came in at 1,956 ft. deep and flowed at 90 gallons a minute. In 1963, four miles north of the first well, we had another well drilled which was 1,892 ft. deep and flowed at 80 gallons per minute. Ed Livingston of Winnett drilled both wells.
  We have several miles of plastic pipe buried underground, from each well into stock water tanks in every pasture. The water never freezes. The water line runs through our basement and we have plenty of pressure for all the needs in our house and also at Bob and Shirley's house and at Dan's house. We have stock water in all three sets of corrals, irrigate the gardens and several hundred trees.
  Now there are about 40 artesian wells in this Roy area.
  I will not take up too much space writing about the weather because Illa Willmore asked me to summarize the past 50 years, as I started keeping daily records for the National Weather Service, starting on April 21, 1938. I completed 50 years on April 21, 1988. This is written up on other pages of the book of the early history of Roy (Homestead Shacks over Buffalo Tracks). I would like to mention, briefly, about the dry years that everyone talks about. Going back to the homestead days, 1913 to about 1935, all were good except for 1919. Then all of the forties were good with plenty of rainfall; then two dry years in the fifties; two in the sixties; then all were good until 1979 with 7.78 inches of precipitation. The year of 1978 had 25.15 inches of precipitation so sub-moisture was carried over for the next year. Now in the eighties we have had four dry years: 1983 had 8.53 precipitation; 1984, 11.58; 1987 11.63; and 1988 with 10.30; the yearly average being 13.95.
  The first bridge across Big Crooked Creek was built by Fergus County in 1926 and wooden culverts were put in on the road to Roy by Frank Bare and Fred Wunderlick with four horses using a walking plow and a five foot fresno. They lived in a tent while on the job. The county graveled our road to Roy in 1951.
  Our first 32-volt light plant was installed in 1946. REA electricity was installed on July 3, 1951.
  The first Mid-Rivers telephone was installed on March 21, 1961 and the first call was at 1:00 p.m. to Leroy at the Roy High School.
  On May 9, 1933, I and Marie Bowser were married. At that time she was teaching the Coal Hill School. We had five children: Virginia, Robert, Judy, Dan and LeRoy. All graduated from Roy High School.
 Virginia graduated from Rocky Mountain College in Billings. She married Gene Durrin from Absarokee and for 25 years has lived in Portland, Oregon. Gene is an instrument mechanic for Flightcraft at the Portland airport. Virginia is a secretary at Jim Day Paper Co. Their two children are Irene who graduated from Mt. Hood College and works at Nordstrom in the Cosmetic department as a beauty consultant. She is married to Jeff Sprigston who works as a sales representative for AMP Corporation. Eric Durrin graduated from Lewis & Clark College. He was an exchange student to Japan and can read and write Japanese. He works as office manager for a chemical company.
  Bob married Shirley Goke in 1960. They lived in Everett, Washington and worked for Boeing for 13 years. They have two boys. Both are RHS graduates. Mark and his wife, Renata, now live in Phoenix, Arizona where they both have jobs. Mark attended telephone school and now, for many years, has worked for Honeywell Corp., installing phones. Brett graduated from Vo-Tech Diesel School at Helena and works for the Kendall Mining Co. He lives on the ranch.
  Judy married Ted Thompson of Winifred in 1957. They have a ranch adjoining the town of Roy where they raise sheep and cattle. They have three children: Rick, Linda and Rita.
  Judy has been the Avon lady for 16 years and is also an assistant at the post office.
  Ted has been employed by the BLM for 23 years. He has been a member of the BLM fire fighting crew and as such has traveled all over the western part of the United States during the fire seasons. He was head of the crew for the past three years. (1985-88).
  Their son, Rick, is married to the former Sandy Thomas Sheilds of Lavina and they live in Roy. They had a daughter, Kayla, and two children, Tommy and Jenny Shields, from her former marriage. Tommy attends school in Roy. Rick graduated from Montana State University at Bozeman and has worked for the Zortman Gold Mining Co. for the past 8 years.
  Linda has a daughter, Jennifer, and is married to Scott Askins. They live in Casper, Wyoming where Linda works for Kelly Service and Scott is superintendent on a water pipe line construction.
  Rita married Allen Meaders and he attends Montana State University, majoring in electrical engineering. They live in Bozeman where Rita has a child day care center.
  Our son Dan married Rosina Rowton in 1965. They have two children; Leroy who works for a gold mining company in the Judith Mountains and Doreen who graduated from Billings Vo-Tech as a legal secretary and is now employed in Billings.
  Our youngest son, LeRoy, married Anita Wallace and was involved in ranching with us. He was a specialist in AI and raised some premium Maine-Anjou cattle, and others, and had an outstanding herd. He had a good future in the cattle industry. Tragedy struck and ^{P. 482} everything came to an end when at 30 years of age he passed away on June 17, 1974. He had two children. Launa was 7 years old and Lorin was 5 years old. Anita was remarried to Sid Johnson and they now live in Pasco, Washington. Launa is 20 years old now and attends Washington State University at Pullman and Lorin attends Commercial College at Pasco.
  Dan and Bob took our ranch over in 1976: Bob has a double wide home at the ranch and Dan has a nice home half mile north. They run cattle and farm. For the last two years Bob has driven an 85 ton truck at the Zortman Gold Mining Co. and Dan takes care of the ranch. ^{P. 483}

  Joe Y. Doney was born, 8 January 1891 near Malta, Montana, the son of pioneer Gregory and Ellen Doney, who were early homesteaders on the Missouri River, T 21N, R. 24E., Sec. 1, 2.
  Joe Y. and Tillie Rose Gardipee were married, 12 February 1912 at Lewistown. Their children are: Ruby (Mrs. Paul LaTray), Norman, Eli, Donald, Rosemary Dess, Ina (Mrs. Richard Butterfield), Ted, Alma (Mrs. James Adams) and Irma. Three little children died at an early age: Mary, 17 days, 27 March 1924; Anna May, 1 years, 5 April 1925; Terry, 17 months, 29 March 1936 and also buried in the Roy Cemetery are: Joy Y. Doney, 4 April 1965; Eli, killed in action, WWII, European Theater, 20 June 1914-13 November 1944; and Norman P. Doney, 17 December 1914-24 January 1979.
  The Doneys ranched on the Cunningham Ridge west of Fargo Coulee, near Armells Creek, T 21N, R 22E, Sec. 25. Joe Y. spent most of his life in the Harlem and Roy area and worked as a cowboy and ranch hand and was foreman for the Odin Romundstad Ranch, Box Elder Creek, for many years. The children attended Zuley, Romundstad and Roy schools.
  They moved to Whitehall, Montana in 1959. Joe Y. and his family were hard working, talented and respected citizens of the Roy community.

  The poem "Burial of Indian Boys" is a true poem. Joe Y. Doney refused the reservation. They were self supporting, proud, Christian Indians. They lived seven miles north of us, on the Cunningham ridge. There were 11 children, 9 survived infancy. Their names are Ruby, Norman, Eli, Donald, Rosemary, Ina, Ted, Alma and Irma.
  They were gifted people; excellent horsemen, talented musicians. Eli, who neither drank or smoked, was a fine boxer and was killed in the Battle of the Bulge.
  They were hard workers and a credit to their race.

TERRY DONEY: 

Age 17 months. Died 29 February 1936 of pneumonia. The Doney family lived on the old Cunningham place at the time Terry got sick. A note was sent with Norman Doney to the Fink's place asking for what ever medicine Mrs. Fink had. She gathered up what little she had and sent it back with Norman. But on the way back Norman met his other brother, Eli, who brought word that it was too late, the baby ^{P. 484} had died and would Mr. Fink who was good at carpentering, make a casket for the baby. The casket was made; the lining consisted of deer hair and sheets. The father, Joe Y. Doney, sat in the back seat of the car with the little coffin on his lap as Mr. Fink drove along the top of the ridges trying to get to town in the deep snow. -- Bob Fink.

20 June 1919 - 13 November 1944. Died in the Battle of the Bulge. The story goes that his father, Joe Y. Doney wanted the body left overseas according to the old Indian custom, "Let the braves lay where they fall", but the government brought him home anyway. He is the only war hero in the cemetery that we know of.

Not buried in the Roy cemetery. Buried at Black Butte.

  Brothers, Leonard and Pearl Ellis, and Leonard's father-in-law, Lyman Cunningham, and their families came to Roy, on the train, in 1914 from Rutledge, Missouri. They brought all their worldly goods, as well as some horses, with them.
  They homesteaded about 16 miles north of Roy and were engaged in farming. Their mail was gotten at Zuley; most of their groceries and supplies were obtained at Roy where the children attended school.
  Cunningham stayed on the homestead for about a year; then moved into Roy, later moving his family to Hanover.
  Leonard and his wife, Maurita (Cunningham) had two children. Juanita Maurita was born January 17, 1919 in Lewistown and Melvin was born December 29, 1920 at Hanover. They lived in the area until 1933 when they moved to Seattle. Leonard passed away in 1985; Melvin in 1980. Maurita, at the age of 86, goes dancing at the Senior Citizens Center in Seattle twice weekly. Juanita wed Andrew Walter, raised a family of four children and lives in Seattle.
  Pearl and Jennie had four children: LeRoy was born in Missouri on July 5, 1914, Mildred born in Roy on May 19, 1917, Ray born in Lewistown on March 22, 1921 and George born in Rutledge, Missouri on July 22, 1925.
  They left the summer of 1921 and went back to Missouri. In 1934 they returned to Roy and operated Nickolsons Cafe until 1938 when they moved away. Both Pearl and Jennie are deceased. He is buried in Edina, Missouri and she is buried in Lewistown.
  LeRoy married Ethel Umstead, daughter of Roy and Elsie Umstead. The Umsteads bought the Pearl Ellis place when they left. LeRoy and Ethel live in Bayview, Idaho where they raised a family of three children.
  Mildred "Mickey" is married to Ed Styer; they ranch in the Valentine area. Ray makes his home with them. (Ray passed away in 1989.)

  In September of 1914, Alvah Fink stepped off the train in Roy, Montana with youth and optimism, two important ingredients for homesteaders. He headed north to where his dad, Richard A. Fink, had already settled. Homestead cabins dotted the plains. The grass was tall and there were no fences. A rutted wagon trail marked the way. My Dad knew he had found home.
  On October 8, Dad set the homestead stakes, on the same quarter section that we live on today. Dad's neighbor to the east was Jack Kalal. To the north was Bill Hoover, south was Lawrence Olsen and west were the Neilsons. ^{P. 485}
  The next morning Dad, Uncle John and Grandad headed to the breaks to cut logs for the homestead cabin. On the way John shot an antelope. It was gutted and left to be picked up on their way home. But when they returned they found only what the coyotes had left. That was the start of a long relationship between Dad and coyotes.
  A 10 by 12 foot cabin was built, a sod roof with a black powder can for a stove. The little stove was in one corner, a cherry red, and a thermometer in the other corner would often read below freezing. It was home to Dad and his two brothers, Louis and John.
  During the winter Louis and John decided to walk to Armells Creek to collect wages from a man named Fred Gillis. Dad warned against this, but they went anyway. Fred was broke too, so an argument developed. Fred started shooting and Louis was hit in the thigh. The bullet passed through, missing the bone. The wound was kept secret from older brother until the pain became unbearable. The clothing was cut away, revealing a swollen, discolored thigh. Dad was afraid Louis would lose his leg, maybe his life. They boiled water and placed hot compresses over the wound until the scabs came off. Dad borrowed carbolic acid from Jack Kalal and coaxed the acid through the wound. It was great medicine and the wound healed.
  In the spring of 1916, Dad, Louis and John walked to the Fergus ranch to find work. Their shoes were held together with rawhide. They were a sorry sight when they arrived at the ranch. It was morning. Andrew Fergus asked what they wanted. Dad replied, "We're looking for work." "Well, we got work," was Andrew's reply. "Have you had breakfast?" "No", said Dad. Andrew hollered to the cookhouse, "Cook breakfast for nine men!"
  World War I came, Dad enlisted in the Army. When the war was over Dad was discharged and worked in the oil fields. He came back in 1929, the month of September. He brought with him Annie, his wife, and three kids, Agusta, Ruth and Dick. With the same optimism of homestead days, they started to build a home. The house was built by November. A large supply of groceries was brought in. When the banks went broke, Dad had 7 dollars in his pocket. Thus started an era that only a few survived. Depression, drought and grasshoppers.
  Joe Y. Doney and a family of 11 lived north, six miles. From him Dad learned to trap coyotes. At a time when wages were $15.00 a month, a prime coyote fur brought $20.00.
  It is often said, "Behind every man is a woman." This saying applies fully to my Mom. A gentle disposition with a will of iron. Like all pioneer women, they made do with the barest of necessities. The highest tribute is not enough to these great pioneer women.

  Alvah August Fink filed his claim, 12 miles north of Roy, before WWI. Richard Fink (his father) homesteaded at the edge of the breaks, north.
  Alvah joined the army after filing and after returning he worked in the oil fields, traveling by Harley Davidson from job to job; through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
 He met and married Anne in Missouri and they settled on the homestead at Roy in 1929, along with three children: Agusta, Ruth and Dick.
 While dad was building our home we lived in Gramma Kalal's meat store, across the road. We ate a lot of oatmeal and raisins! In October we moved into our new home. Dad rode a horse to Roy in the winter to get our few groceries at Wass's and the mail -- the Denver Post -- we weren't plagued by bills or insurance notices! In the summer we had our Model A.
  I attended the Zuley School for six years, the Cimrhakl School one season and Roy High School.
  Bob was born in 1931 on the way to County Hospital in the Model A.
  In October of 1937, Alvah again worked in the oil fields in Montana for needed cash and Anne managed the farm and four youngsters.
  I remember it well: hot dry winds, hardpan soil, sage brush, waiting for rain, late afternoons, tumbleweed which we fed as hay in winter, shortage of water for livestock, grasshoppers so thick they blocked out the sun when they decided to move on.... and the beautiful sunsets!
  The depression came and no money.
  Dad had large strong horses and Dick and I helped build the "big dam". I worked on the morning shift, ^{P. 486} Dick the afternoon. If Dick was sick, I worked all day. Dick was 11; I was 14!
  Dad bought a small pony from Ed Styer; a young "bronc buster" and broke it to haul a small cart so we would have transportation when he was gone to the oil rigs.
  On Sunday we would go to Mass in Roy (once a month).
  Later Frank and Lizzie Stepan moved north of us and Doc Smith further east.
  Robert Fink has the Fink land and the original homestead; Dick Fink has been a rambler as was his father and grandfather before him. He currently lives in Gooding, Idaho with his wife Thelma. Ruth (Horacek) lives in California and Agusta (Myers) resides in Gillette, Wyoming.
  Bob is married to Kathie (Gar). He also has three children: Toni Ann, Robin Eli and a stepson, Brian Stanley Gar.
  Toni and her husband, Gary Keller, operate the old Red Barn Ranch and have a daughter, Kelly Marie.
  Anne passed away in May of 1958; Alvah in February of 1977. Both are buried in Calvary Cemetery in Lewistown.

  Julius Karau was born at Posen, Germany 2 June 1862. He came to the United States at the age of 29 and settled at Rochester, Minnesota, where he lived for twenty years.
  Mr. Karau and his sons, L.N. and Lee H. moved to Montana in 1914 and homesteaded in the Roy area. The family sold out by auction in 1918 and went to Portland, Oregon for eight years, retaining the homesteads and returned to Roy about 1926.
  In May of 1927 a Lewistown newspaper reported that Julius Karau and son moved a caterpillar tractor and farming equipment in and to their ranch, 10 miles north of Roy. "They plan to cultivate the lands now gone back to sod and rebuild and improve the place which they left during the war."
  It was at this time that Julius was shot by Marion Cooley. In an altercation in May of 1918 Cooley shot and wounded Julius' son, Lother. From the Roy Enterprise:
  Marion Cooley on Saturday afternoon shot Lother Karau with a 30-30, the bullet entering the fleshy part of the leg below the knee and fortunately for the injured man, striking no bones. A neighbor came in for Dr. Hedges to dress the wound and Mr. Cooley came in, when the Doctor returned, to give himself up. But as no complaint was entered, and has not been at this writing, he returned home Sunday evening. The parties involved live about eight or ten miles north of town and trouble has existed between them for some time. Mr. Karau's wound is not at present serious, and he is getting along nicely at last report. He was brought in to the Roy Hotel Tuesday evening.
  Arteries were severed and gangrene set in and the young man later lost the leg. It is thought that he returned to Minnesota.
  LeHart "Lee Karau was born August 18, 1891 in Rochester, Minnesota. He came to Roy and homesteaded in 1914.
  LeHart's first wife did not like Montana, so she left. They had three children: Mrs. Tom Gray and Mrs. John Barrett of Portland, Oregon and Lother H. of Troy, Idaho.
  Lee's second wife was Anna Bishop Baker, a widow. Anna came to Roy to visit with her brother, Charlie Bishop, and met and married Lee in 1935. Anna was born December 21, 1888 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
  They left and moved to Billings in 1936 where Lee was a construction worker and supervisor. They lived in various places as his work demanded. They were living and he was working on a convent school in Dickinson, North Dakota when Anna died May 31, 1962 at age 73.
  Lee retired and moved to Lewistown following Anna's death. He died March 21, 1965. Lee and Anna are buried in Calvary Cemetery next to Charlie and Louise Bishop.
  When Julius passed away on February 14, 1935 at age 73, it stated that he was survived by two sons, LeHart and L.N. Karau of Roy. According to township records L.N. was Lester N. Karau, not Lother.
  Julius was of the Lutheran faith. He was preceded in death by his wife. His funeral was not held until the 27th because of bad weather. Julius is buried in the Roy Cemetery.

  Goldie Kilpatrick was born 20 December 1893 at Loop City, Iowa and was educated in Nebraska. She came to Montana in 1918 and homesteaded ten miles northeast of Roy on the King Trail. She was married to Fred Mabee and divorced.
  Goldie was a popular teacher who taught for thirty years in Fergus County as well as at Stanford and Wolf Point. She had no children of her own but instilled her knowledge with her wonderful personality upon her pupils; loved by all.
  Goldie married Henry S. Norcutt, 18 March 1944 and they lived in Lewistown. They divorced.
  In 1949, Goldie and William Fred Sherman of Gilt Edge married. Mr. Sherman was a son of Fred and Elsy ^{P. 487} Dundom Sherman, pioneers who came east by wagon from Washington State, in the 1880's.
  Goldie retired from teaching in 1950 and they sold the ranch and moved to Windsor, California, where they made their home on a fruit farm. Mr. Sherman died there 10 May 1979. Goldie was 92 years at the time of her death, 30 June 1985.
  She was survived by stepsons; Gene (worked for Montana Fish and Game), George and Jim, a stepdaughter, Ruth Bennett. She is buried at Shiloh District Cemetery, Santa Rose, California.

  Richard Komarek and his parents, Joseph and Antonia came from Morovia to America on March 28, 1899. They came to Heckla, SD to Antonia's sister, Theresa Zabrsa. They worked for the Zabrsa's for five years to pay for their passage to America. Then they were able to rent a place near Roscoe, SD, still working out to earn money so as to be able to buy farm equipment, horses and some livestock.
  Emily Farnik was born in Morovia; moved to Yugoslavia at an early age; came to her brother Joseph's place in Verdigree, Nebraska in August of 1910. She married Richard Komarek in 1911 in Roscoe, SD. 
  Their daughter Mary was born in January of 1912.
  In June of 1912, Richard came to Montana and took up a homestead ten miles north and east of Roy. He went back to Roscoe and that fall, Richard and Joseph started dismantling their farm equipment and loading an immigrant car.
  Richard, his wife and daughter and parents arrived in Hilger, Montana, October of 1912, with eight head of horses, four cows and a bull. The machinery consisted of two binders, a header, two rakes, three plows, harrow, grain drill, corn planter, cultivator, three wagons, and two buggies and, of course, their household goods. Loading their wagons at Hilger, the first day they got as far as the Weidman ranch; the second night a few miles west of Roy; the third day made it as far as Frank Herdina's homestead shack, which was near their homestead. Staying at Herdina's, the men folk went back to Hilger to get the rest of their belongings and get lumber for the house and the barn, which had to be built on their homestead. It took twenty-two wagon loads. The barn was built first, then a two-room house, (which the other six children were born in, attended by Emily's sister, Mary Siroky, as midwife.) The house was finished the latter part of January of 1913.
  While they were living in the Herdina homestead shack, Emily had to gather cow chips and sage brush for the cook stove; for warmth and cooking of their meals, as there wasn't any wood available.
  Then began the awful hardship of melting snow for water in the winter for the livestock, and hauling from creeks in the summer. All water had to be boiled first for human consumption, because our homestead was dry and when the men folk did dig a well it was so alkali the livestock wouldn't drink it.
  Clearing the land with a moldboard plow to cut the sagebrush, it was then gathered and burned. It was also used for fuel. In the fall of 1913 they had two acres of wheat, which they cut for chicken feed. In 1914 they had 14 acres cleared and put in oats, a very dry year, cut two wagon loads off that.
  The Texas Longhorn cattle came and ate their crops and Joseph (grandpa) had to herd their cattle and many times he was so afraid, as he had to do it on foot and there were wild bulls among them; the riders didn't seem to care. The Longhorns grazed the lands bare, leaving nothing for their cattle and horses. As years went by, they finally got their property fenced.
  Richard Jr. was born in November 1913, Lillian was born October 1915; they had a fairly good oat crop that year. Joseph (Speed) was born June of 1917, George came along in June of 1919 and it seems to me every one in Montana knows what a terrible year that was. Rained most of the winter; lots of mud and no hay available, only slough grass hay that they bought and cattle would barely eat that, and they got thinner by the day. Annie, was born July of 1921. Grandma Antonia died July of 1922. Everyone missed her so much as she was so good in helping with the children and besides "she was such a dear and good person", Emily said.
  Grandmother Frantiska Farnik (Emily's mother) came from Europe in 1920 and lived with her son in Nebraska. In 1923 she came to Montana to live with the Komareks.
  April of 1928 Albert was born. They had the first real good crop of wheat in fifteen years.
  Their livelihood, as all homesteaders, was from the cream they sold from milk cows and also the chickens they raised and sold eggs, and raised pigs for their meat, and a lot of other poultry.
  Now came the thirties. I think every generation in the U.S. has heard about the thirties, drouth, no work available, banks closing etc.
  Grandpa Joseph died March of 1935.
  Finally in the mid-thirties some work was available when the government started the great project of the Fort Peck Dam. Richard went to work there in the summer of 1936 and lost his life in Glasgow, near Fort Peck, in October of 1936. Grandma Frantiska died in August of 1939. Emily died June of 1979.
 All the Komarek children attended the Cimrhakl School which they were very fortunate in that it was only a half-mile from the homestead. Many children that attended that same school had as far as three and four miles to walk.
  In 1935 Richard Jr. went to Chicago on the train with ^{P. 488} eight head of steers, they were three-and four-year-old steers, bringing $200.00 for all eight head. (GOOD PRICES, HUH?)   written by Mary Komarek Pollard
  Many descendants of Richard and Emily still reside in Roy and the Central Montana area.
  Mary married Archie Johnson and they resided in Roy where she ran the liquor store for many years. She now makes her home in Lewistown She worked in area restaurants for several years and gained a reputation for her superb cooking. She now enjoys working for the Central Montana Genealogy Society. Mary and Archie's two children, Lillian and Sidney, both graduated from Roy High School.
  Richard "Dick" J,. married Lucille Kauth. They ranched in the Roy area until his retirement in the late 70's because of his ill health. They moved into Lewistown. He passed away in October of 1984.
  They raised three children, Blaine, Betty and Jean. All went to the same school that their dad attended and went on and graduated from RHS. Betty lives in Roundup, Blaine in Ballentine and Jean is deceased.
  Lucille returned to the ranch at Roy following Dick's death.
  Joseph and his wife Jessie (Brown) ranch north of Roy. Speed became quite well known in his younger days as a rodeo performer and the family are all excellent musicians and well known for playing at local dances 
  They raised three children: Rita now lives in Washington, Jo lives in Gilford, Montana and their son, Dean, along with his wife Linda (Benes) and children, Pauletta and Shawn, operate the ranch along with Speed and Jessie.
  A grandson, Jay Henderson, also lives with them.
  George and his wife, EDee, (Buttke) also ranch in the Roy area and own and operate the Lazy K X Bar at Mobridge near the river. George was a rodeo promoter for several years. 
  Annie is married to Sonny Smith and lives in Grass Range.
  Albert resides in Washington.

  Joseph Louda was my Godfather when I was baptized in South Dakota and a dear friend of my parents, Emily and Richard Komarek.
  Mr. Louda helped load our emigrant car, came to Montana with us, helped unload at Hilger, put the machinery together and came to our homestead northeast of Roy in 1912. He filed close to us, a little to the southwest and helped build our house and barn and his cabin
  He went to the service in WWI, sent this picture and we never heard from him again, so it was presumed that he lost his life in France.

• This was the Zuley post office and store 1915 to 1918. Dick Komarek moved the building onto his place and used it as a granery.
• Zuley School October 1972
• Cimrhakl School House 1989.
• April 13, 1930 from left to right: Frank Stepan, Chester Birdwell, Calvin Birdwell and Doc Smith
• The first and second generation. Stella, holding Frank Jr., Elizabeth, Adeline and Frank Sr. (Circa 1910)
• Anton Nevijel, a neighbor, Frank Cimrhakl Sr. holding Robert's hand. Stella Cimrhakl holding Daniel, Frank Cimrhakl Jr., and Virginia peeking out from behind her mother. Photo taken in 1938
• Frank Cimrhakl plowing with seven horses. 1927.
• This log school house was built in the summer of 1914 by John Siroky Sr., Richard Komarek, Anton Nevijel, Frank Cimrhakl Sr. and others. Logs were cut and hauled from Fargo Coulee, sis miles north. All the work was donated. Material for the floor and roof was furnished by Fergus County. This picture was taken on the first day of school, September 14, 1914. Those in attendance were: back row l. to R.: Tony Neary, Ted Williams, John Williams, Ralph Doney, Bessie Nevijel, Vera Hardin, Elizabeth Cimrhakl. Alzona Doney, Front row: John Neary, Frank Siroky, Frank Cimrhakl Jr., Adeline Cimrhakl Thelma Hardin, Ethel Agnew, Thelma Agnew, Arthur Agnew, Joe Siroky, Mary Siroky, Louise McCloud the teacher. 
• The second and third generation: picture taken in 1969. Standing are LeRoy (who passed away in June of 1974). Judith and Robert. Seated: Marie, Dan, Virginia and Frank Jr.
• Pearl and Jennie Ellis
• Leonard Ellis (with rifle), LeRoy Ellis and grandfather Walter Ellis in 1916
• Alvah with a load of furs in the days of the depression when wages were $15.00 a month and a good prime coyote pelt was worth$20.00.
• The winter of 1927. Richard and Emily Komarek with children, George and Annie.
• A Komarek family picture taken on July 23, 1950 at the home of Richard Jr.'s From left to right: Mother Emily, Mary (Johnson), Dick, Lillian (Staton), Joseph (Speed), George, Annie (Smith) and Albert.
• Joseph Louda taken at Clermont Ferrand, France during WWI. Dec. 24, 1918.