events such as field trips to Des Moines or music contests.
I lived a mile east and 3/4 north of the School and for my route, I went north a quarter mile, east a mile, south a quarter mile and picked up Hogdsons, and then north a mile and a quarter, east a quarter mile to get Danielsons, turn around and go west a quarter mile, go north a mile to Waughs and then east a mile, stop, and then south a mile, (picking up the Sorems), a quarter mile to the west to get the VanZees and the Rasmussons, then back to the corner east and south two miles, make a right and head west for the three miles to the School. Although I had three sisters and a brother attending Milford at the time, none rode with me but caught Arnie's bus who came south past the farm. Sharyl Buchanan, who lived with the Coles just around the corner to the north and east of us, rode with me part of the year and then, because my bus was so full, Arnie stopped and picked her up also. *In 2011, there are 31 school age students from all of Milford Twp attending school in Nevada.
by Dale Hughes `55.
Seeing that article about the Book family, and reading about Don's jeep, reminds me of one winter in the early sixties when there was lots of snow and the most of the roads had not been plowed. The snow had been drifted by a strong wind and, in places, was so hard that the jeep could drive on top of the drifts but if he "fell through" then he was really stuck. Dennis drove up to our place, a quarter mile to the north, and together, he in Don's jeep and I in my `58 Pontiac, challenged each other to see who could get through more snow with their respective vehicles. It was pretty close. I had more momentum and he had the advantage of less weight.
Back Row: Jerry `59 and Pauline. Front: Loren'64N, Don holding David `70N and Dennis `61. Picture from fall of 1952 in front of the Book home looking to the south. The Don Book family lived in the NE of the SE of Sec 15 on a farm purchased in Feb of 1944. They moved here in `44 or `45, a couple years after the Magnus Olson family moved to the Roland area. This also is the farm where Margaret Hereim grew up, Mrs Gilreath.
However, the last snowbank proved to be an eye-opener. We drove into our yard and a long, very hard snowbank had been built out to the east of one of the little buildings. This snowbank was only about hood deep on the car and about ten feet through with bare ground on either side of it. I hit it with my Pontiac and just plowed through it with snow flying in all directions. Denny, at about 15 mph and a few seconds behind me, tried to plow through this snowbank a few feet west of where I had gone through. His jeep, being so light, used the firm packed snowbank as a ramp and he became airborne. It was like watching a slow-motion movie as he went up, the bottom of the tires of the jeep were right at 6 or 7 feet from the ground, the front of the jeep came down and the rear kept going up until he was almost in a vertical position, and then he came down at, perhaps, at a 70 degree angle. If he could have had his foot on the brake pedal when the tires hit the ground, that might have flipped the jeep over on its top because the front tires came down first. It was undecided as to whether he was going to go on over on the top, but finally the rear end came down hard, I mean very hard. It scared both of us and I'm sure that neither of us ever mentioned it to Don as to how much abuse and torture his prized jeep took that day.
Don was a graduate of Iowa State College and had attended this College in the mid thirties. It must have been very unique for the times but his folks bought him a brand new 1936 Lafayette automobile to get him to go to college instead of help on the family farm near Storm Lake. Pauline was a Kingsbury from the Napier area so there was a tie to central Iowa. Don saw the future in hay management and bought one of the first portable balers that came into the area right after the War. If a farmer in our area wanted his hay baled, he simply did not go cut it and then call the "baler man". He called Don and asked him when he should cut his hay so Don could get there to bale it before it stayed on the ground too long. The Egland Boys, Stan and Glen, worked for Don. Don had a jeep, it looked like a surplus jeep, but apparently it wasn't and with this vehicle they pulled the baler which had its own V-4 motor. Stan and Glen could stand in the back of the Jeep and, with a broom, push the hay into the baler when conditions were tough and drive the jeep with their foot. It was very impressive to a young fellow. Don also on page 312.
Don bought the Minneapolis-Moline, New Holland dealership and had a store in the northwest corner of Nevada from about 1949 to 1959 where he could be contacted at Telephone 300. He sponsored a softball team on which a number of local youths played. In 1962-'63, the Books sponsored an American Field Service student from Laos in their home.
Loren, President of the M-M Collectors Club, and his wife, Ruthie, daughter of long time Milford rural mail carrier, Bill Horine, now farm the ground in Sec 15. Loren, following a stint in the Peace Corp, is one of the few long time residents of Milford Twp. Jerry farms in Lucus County and also teaches high school. Dennis farms in south central Wisconsin and David is a district man for self propelled lawn mowers.