This farmstead, no longer in existence, was the Eli Jacobson farm and located in the SW quarter of Sec 10. This is the farm, one and a quarter mile north of Milford School, that had two long driveways to it, one from the south and one from the west as it sat off the modern roads roughly a quarter mile. The view, taken in the early 1950's, is to the north. The buildings are all gone but portions of the windbreak remain.
Eli and Lena Jacobson raised ten children and three grandchildren here. Eli died in 1937 and Lena in 1956 and this farm passed into other hands after Jacobson ownership for almost a half century. See page 223.
This farmstead was constructed about 200 yards northeast from where the Schweringen family of 1860 was supposedly "nooning" when a prairie fire came over the hill to the southwest and killed them. Originally, this farmstead sat very close to the diagonal road that ran northwest-southeast but when that road was abandoned by 1875, it necessitated the two long drives. That road was probably about 100 yards from the lower left corner of this photo. After a fashion, it represents many farmsteads that have partially or totally disappeared from the countryside.
This fine view, labeled as from 1941, of the WPA "check" dam downstream of the Soper's Mill site about 1/4 mile shows the fine effort of stonework topped with a pipe about three inches in diameter. This pipe, portions of it, are about all that remain of this structure after decades of floods and ice have done their work. The cars visible look to be of the thirties vintage and a nice attendance is evident on this fine summer day. Compare with picture on page 271.
When the Howard Jacobson family purchased a farm in Milford Twp in 1941, this is the farmstead that was their home. The view is to the north along the road that lies between the west half and the east half of Sec 4. Howard's oldest son, Bob, lives on this farm of just over 250 acres. (Bob, about six foot 2 inches tall, is known locally as "Big Bob" Jacobson to distinguish him from another Bob Jacobson in the Roland area who is not as tall) The house has now been replaced as have almost all the other buildings. A large machine shed sits where the north corncrib was. In the background, near the very top of the scene, is the Arnold Haugland farmstead of the 1950's and flowing from right to left between the farmsteads is Dry Creek. The area photographed probably includes the site of the 1897 drowning of Alta Harndon who lived at this farmstead and was headed, apparently, by foot, to visit kin in the farmstead located at the top of photo. Page 72.
This baptism, apparently in the mid 1890's, is labeled as being at the Soper's Mill area. Possibly this is the Revival of 1896 when the President of Simpson College at Indianola spoke at Pleasant Grove and a crowd of 1000 attended with 15 baptisms "at the River". Who the people are is unknown but it is amazing to see the very white dresses and the white hats of the ladies and try to imagine how they could be kept so clean looking considering the state of transportation and the lack of cement sidewalks. Photo above and left from Ames Historical Society