Ep 16 ❤️‍🩹 1883 🐎 Paris🥔, & Libbie💝

Whether its the year 1883, Near Yellowstone, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, or North Carolina, You are gonna enjoy sounds of the Steam Locomotives on the Railroad, Learn about Infant Mortality rates in 1883, and mourn at the Maternal Mortality loss that was so frequent in that day

CHARACTERS
Alonzo Cook
William Cook
Henry Cook
Joseph Wolcott Cook
Wook
Phinehas Wolcott Cook
Catherine McCleve
Elizabeth “Libby” Neibaur
Old Man Harris
Old Doll (horse)
William Neibaur
Isaac Neibaur
Brother Mardrets
Brother Gallings
Mrs. John Sutton
Phoebe Cook
Quentin L. Cook
Mr. Dolman
John Bryson
Charlie Smith
Chauncey Dustin
Jenny Cook Dustin
Old Nick
Old Iniquity
Beelzebub
Satan the tempter
Davis S. Cook
John W. Taylor
William Spry
Viggo Mortensen
Grandpa Penn Smith

LOCATIONS
Idaho
Wyoming
Raymond Ranch
Border, Idaho
Geneva, Idaho
Bear River
Paris, Idaho
St. Charles, Idaho
Union Pacific Railroad
Salt Lake City, Utah
Eagle Gate
Gashen, Litchfield County, Connecticut
Crawfordsburn, County Down, Ireland
The Ship Falcon
Utah
Cook Canal, Idaho/Wyoming border
Brother Laker’s Ranch
Raymond Canyon
Cook Brother’s Canal
Dingle, Idaho
Butte, Montana
Necolia Mining Camp
Market Lake, Idaho
Evanston, Wyoming
Garden City, Idaho
Indian Creek, Idaho
Fish Haven, Idaho
Thomas Fork
Denver Rio Grande Railroad
Kansas City, Missouri
Fort Scott Gulf Railroad
Mississippi River
Memphis, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Carter County, North Carolina
Mitchell County, North Carolina

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INSTAGRAM:
@FYO.Podcast
@TravisM.Heaton
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Hay Press:
http://www.leonisadobemuseum.org/facts-haypress.asp
https://youtu.be/IeUaC9PycB4
https://youtu.be/JmYIK0ZSF2g
Horse Drawn Hay Mower:
https://youtu.be/mVBV4n37TOY

Transcript

(Narrator)🎙 In the spring of 1883 brothers Alonzo, William, Henry and Joseph Cook had a spread they began working on the Idaho/Wyoming state line called the Raymond Ranch. It was located at a place referred to as Border. Now Border was situated in the valley south of modern day Geneva, Idaho. This mountain valley straddled the Idaho/Wyoming border and the Bear River meandered with its snake-like patterns through the valley. In the early spring of that year they brought to Border a herd cattle from Paris, Idaho and some sheep from St. Charles. All the while they were working on an irrigation ditch fed by the Bear River. After some anxious deliberations they finally contracted a 100 year lease from the Union Pacific Railroad so they could have a right-of-way and use of a bridge the railroad had for drainage. 

(Joseph)🎙 My name?… Joseph Wolcott Cook. Most people call me Wook. But mother always referred to me as Wolcott. I was born April 21, 1855 in Salt Lake City, Utah, about a block east of the Eagle gate. My father Phineas Wolcott Cook was born in Gashen, Litchfield county, Connecticut of an old American family that came to this country before 1640. My mother Catherine McCleve was born in Crawfordsburn, County Down, Ireland. Mother & her sister sailed on the ship FALCON as they immigrated to Utah in 1853. 

(Narrator)🎙 As the weather began to warm that spring of 1883 the Cook brothers started preparing for haying season. They halted work on the ditch (later to be known as the Cook Canal) and put up all the hay they could, mostly around old Brother Laker’s Ranch; They got about 50 to 75 tons of hay that year. 

On September 4, 1883 Joseph was married to Miss Elizabeth Neibaur of Paris, Idaho. That winter they lived in a part of the old Laker house-on the ranch and Joseph was concocting a plan on how he might get him some timber to build a house and corrals on his own place. 

Alonzo, Will, Henry, and Joseph were interested in the land and ditch on the flats. So in October of that same year they continued efforts on the ditch as they put a large crew to work putting in some rock filled cribs, and making the ditch the size they wanted it, which as about 25 feet wide and 18 feet on the bottom. They also constructed a fairly impressive headgate for those days.

(Joseph)🎙While on this digging job we camped at the head of the ditch and Libby (my affectionate name for my wife Elizabeth) well she cooked for the men and I. We lived in a shack built of some boards that we had used in the headgate, these being tacked up on some posts with a layer overhead for a roof. But I’ll be buggered if the first of November it didnt snow about 10 inches on us; the confounded ground froze…so we had to quit on the ditch for the season. 

(Narrator) 🎙 After they quit on the headgate and got things arranged, Will and Joseph went up Raymond canyon and tried to find a body of timber that they could work in all winter, but they found none that suited. On the hills and hollows that Timber would slide on, it was all cut and gone. In one gulch toward the top, there was a lot of dry timber that just suited their purpose but the hollow was so full of timber and rocks that they could not get it down.

About Christmas time Libbie thought she would like to go to Paris, Idaho and stay while the men were camping in the canyon. Joseph, always happy to oblige the wishes of his Libbie, he took her to Paris. 

(Joseph) 🎙 It was about 20 miles as the crow flies and shortly after we got there it started snowing and blowing and kept it up for two days and nights; part of the time we could hardly see across the street. When it let up I went back to the ranch and there was about 1 foot of new snow and drifting.

(Joseph) Will and old man Harris and I went to the Raymond Canyon to camp and pile timber, but when we got to the mouth of the canyon we found it full of snow slides, you folks call em avalanches. We went up and over them and saw that the slides had filled the road all the way to the Gulch that had the timber we wanted. It had a slide come down that filled it so we could work a horse on top of the fallen timber and rocks. We concluded to cut dugways around and over the slides and this took all three of us several days, but before we got it done it commenced to snowing again. Will and Harris gave up and went home. I finished the road and snaked a load down, but it was so steep the timber ran into my horse and hurt his hock joint and lamed him so that I couldn’t work him. I went down and tried to hire a horse from Evans, or the Harts but they had none to spare so I came on down to Webb’s. He said he would go see what he could find. And I came back the next day and Webb had several young horses and told me I could take my choice. I told him, “you are the best judge, give me the one you think will answer my purpose best.“

(Joseph) Webb then caught a roan Colt, three years old, That was only poorly Halter broke and never had been worked. I harnessed him with my balky mare (Old Doll was her name)…that ol girl would never help start a load. I got the colt and Old Doll hitched to the empty sleigh and they started off alright… the Colt was slow and awkward, but the farther he went…the better he traveled. 

(Narrator)🎙 Joseph had put an old house on the Raymond Ranch to camp in. The next morning he was at the mouth of the canyon at daylight; it was bitter cold. The first tree he fell rolled and slid all the way to the sleigh road. So Joseph cut and slid till night, then he rolled a few light sticks on the sleighs and was cautious to fix the sleighs on a downhill slope so the first jerk would start the team to go by themselves. Joseph then hitched the roan bronco and Old Doll and down the canyon they went. They actually arrived at camp in one piece. 

(Joseph’s voice) Whoa girl, nice work you two

(Narrator) 🎙 The next morning Joseph was in the canyon at daylight again. He cut and slid timber all day and repeated the same manner of loading but made the load a little heavier. Joseph kept this up for about 10 days and got all the timber he wanted cut and hauled to the mouth of the canyon; he took a load to camp each night. 

(Narrator) By this time it started to snow and blow, and on the final day in the canyon there were more slides and avalanches. Wolcott felt very fortunate that the bitter winter weather had held off for so long. With the logs acquired, building the house in the spring was looking to be more of a reality than ever before. Joseph spent the rest of the winter hauling most of the timber home. But it snowed and blowed so much that he didn’t get all of it home before the ice gave way on the river. When the roads got dry enough Joseph hauled the rest to the river and piled it on the water in the form of a raft and floated it down to where the river came nearest the place where he was building and then fastened it to the bank. When the river level receded it left the logs on dry ground and made a small job of hauling it to where he wanted.

 (Joseph)🎙 In March 1884 there was 3 feet of snow on the border flat. Right up to a horses belly. About the first of April the abundance of snow caused the river to raise so high that it ran out of its banks and stayed there for quite some time; by May the whole river valley was a lake. I think there was more Highwater that came down the river that spring than any spring since that I can remember. There was about 3000 acres in the border flat and our ditch watered all of it. We recorded the ditch in the name of Cook Brother’s Canal. They’ve shortened it a bit in the modern day, but its still known as the Cook Canal if’n you look it up. 

(Narrator) 🎙 About the first of April, Joseph cleared away the snow and started to build his house. The main part was 25 x 16…and about 12 feet to the rafters. It was bedded inside and the cracks were dubbed full of clay and sand and it made a smooth wall inside. He put in a good chimney made of brick; this was built on the partition that made two rooms quite comfortable; there was also a chamber high enough for two comfortable loft bedrooms…no stairway, only a ladder. The walls of a large room on the south, made the house in the form of an L. The main part was covered with a good roof of shingles, making it a most decent looking house for a pioneer. Joseph and Libbie moved into this house in the fore part of July. 

(Joseph) 🎙 The High water had caused quite a hay crop to grow on a good share of the land. Brother Neibaur, Libby’s father (my in law), And her two brothers, William and Isaac, came over to help me hay. They had a yoke of oxen and brother Neibaur mowed, Isaac raked the jags of hay, and Will and I hauled with the oxen. We got over 200 tons and I gave them 1/2 of all we put up. That winter we sold 100 tons of it to the Cook boys of Dingle, Idaho, for $2.50 per ton.

In December Libbie was heavy with our first child and we moved her over to Paris and rented a room from brother Mardrets. On January 21, 1885 Libbie had a nice 9 pound boy born to her. I was a mighty proud young father for the first week, but on the ninth day after the boy was born…she passed away.

A short time before she drew her last breath, about a half hour I think, she asked for old brother Gallings, who live next-door, to come and administer to her. As soon as this was done she said “I am going. My baby, oh my baby. I see mother. How glad we will be when you come.” Then she passed away & left me.

Oh this was a terrible blow to me. My home was broken up, My companion gone, a woman that I dearly loved. 

(Narrator) 🎙 The maternal mortality rate in the late 1800’s was as high as 8.5%. Which means that 85 out of every 1000 live births resulted in the death of the mother within the first year. The most current maternal mortality rate in the United States from 2019 is 20 deaths per 100,000 live births. 

Mrs. John Sutton cared for the baby a few days, then Joseph’s sister Phoebe cared for him. But sadly in the early part of May the infant boy died. They buried him by the side of his mother in the Paris, Idaho cemetery. He was named Joseph Wolcott, his father’s full name. The infant mortality rate in the 1800’s was 43%. Just over half of children born during this time survived to 5 years old. Pioneers especially got their share of mourning with those that mourn. 

(Joseph) 🎙 Up to this time the care of my boy and work to provide for him had somewhat numbed my grief of losing my Libbie, but now it seemed I had nothing left to work or live for. It took all my energy and faith to keep up. Finally the Lord showed me, in my meditations, two roads: one led to good and happiness, the other to darkness. In my extreme grief I was on the road to darkness and this seemed to awaken me to the realization of my condition. So I tried to forget my trouble and work; work was a great help to me as I got into it. As my great great nephew, Quentin L. Cook recently remarked “Adversity is not evidence of the Lord’s disfavor nor a withdrawal of His blessings.”

(Narrator)🎙 Brother Neibaur and the same boys again helped Joseph to put up the hay. They had more than the year previous…but there was no sale for it. Joseph started on the railroad to see if I could find market for it. He had no money so he made his way to Butte Montana, where he had made a contract to sell all they had at $7.50 per ton, delivered on the cars at Border. Mr. Dolman, the buyer, could not use any for 30 days, so Joseph started back for Border and stopped on the way at a mining camp called Necolia. It was about 25 miles west of market lake, which was near the railroad. He worked nights in a smelter for about 30 days, then headed home. The majority of the hay was sold before spring.

In the summer of 1887 Wolcott got a call to fill a mission in the southern states; He had six months to get ready to go. That summer Henry, Will and Wolcott put up hay & Henry’s wife lived in Wolcott’s house and boarded the men.

(Joseph) 🎙 Shortly after haying, Dolman came from Butte and contracted all of our best hay. With this new contract I had joined Alonzo in buying a new fangled “hay press”. The hay would be mowed, dried, raked and hauled to the press where it would be placed into the large hopper from the hay wagon. An oxen or horse would then be harnessed and walk in a circle moving the levers and turning the cam to operate the press. The cam in turn pushed a plunger back and forth in the chamber of the press. This compressed the hay down to an 1/8th of its original bulk. It retained more of its quality, was easier to store, and simpler to transport to market. This contraption was a huge advancement forward in hay production. It took about six people to operate a medium-sized hay press. Two people fed the press, one tied the bales with twine, another removed the finished bales and extra hands were needed to tend the horses. A one-horse outfit could bale about 1000 pounds an hour. 

As the old saying goes “You can never have enough hay.”

(Narrator) If you want to see the press in action links will be included in the show notes. You can also see images of some of these era hay presses on instagram @FYO.Podcast)

(Narrator) 🎙 On about September 17 as they were learning this new piece of equipment, some men who were working for Alonzo broke it. The Cook boys immediately telegraphed for replacement parts, which did not arrive until Christmas Eve. In the meantime Joseph’s brother Henry had gone to Evanston and bought another press and sold their hay that Dolman didn’t purchase, and then he returned to Border to get his new hay press up and running. 

On December 6 John Bryson, Will’s brother-in-law, was feeding the press when he slipped in the feed chamber with both feet and they were crushed so badly that one had to be amputated at the ankle and on the other all of the toes had to be taken off. 

After the extra parts for Alonzo & Joseph’s hay press arrived, Joseph soon got it started and they were finally running along fairly well when Charlie Smith, who was feeding the press, caught his fingers in the feed chamber and they were harmed so badly they had to be taken off at the first joints. 

By this time Henry Cook had got a little house built and moved into it. Joseph got Chauncey Dustin to come and work for him, and have his wife do the cooking…she was Joseph’s sister Jenny. This was the best arrangement he had in his home for quite some time.

(Joseph)🎙 Finally February came and I was to leave for Salt Lake on the seventh for the south. It seemed that “Old Nick” had put everything in the way to prevent me from getting ready. You might not remember the term Old Nick. It was prevalent in my day as a shortened version of Old Iniquity, aka Beelzebub or satan the tempter. I was currently in debt about $1800 (in today’s currency thats over $50,000); I had hay enough to pay all that was due and some to spare if I could have got it to market. I had exerted all of my efforts all fall to get it off and had only one car shipped. I wrote to my brother Davis S. in Garden City and ask him if he could come and take charge my work and let me go on my mission. He answered he would, so I made out a list of all of my debts and started for Garden City to complete arrangements. As I approached the top of the summit at Indian Creek I looked back on the ranch and the thought came to me, “what a fool you must be to leave your business in such a shape and work for nothing“. Then another thought came to me, “you have had six months to prepare for this mission. Do you think you will have six months notice to prepare for death?“ This settled my mind; I was off for my mission, let come what might.

(Narrator)🎙 Joseph met Dave before he made it to Fish Haven, which is just north of Garden City; Dave was on his way to the ranch at Border so they talked for a bit, made arrangements about the work, and then bid goodbye. Joseph went on to Garden City where they had a nice party arranged for his departure. The idea that a missionary needed money had not dawned on them. The Party was good….but toward the last of it Charlie Smith confronted Joseph about the loss of his fingers in the hay press and wanted to know what Joseph was going to pay him in reparations. He told Charlie he would pay him nothing. For it was not his fault Charlie lost his fingers in the press…well Charlie talked about suing him…but that was the last Joseph heard of it. They must’ve been some awkward parting words from an old misfortunate friend. 

After a stop back in Paris, Idaho Joseph Wolcott Cook was off to Salt Lake. 

After arriving there he went to apostle John W. Taylor’s home and stayed at his request. He had been up on Thomas Fork in the fall and located some land to get a ditch out on later. Joseph had been with John a good deal while there at Thomas Fork and had done some work with them. Later Joseph leased his Border ranch to John and his brothers for two years and he borrowed $200 from the Taylors to outfit him for his mission. 

As it happened apostle Taylor set Joseph apart for his mission and he blessed Joseph with understandings that were literally fulfilled.

(Joseph)🎙I left Salt Lake on the Denver Rio Grande Railroad and rode it to Kansas City Missouri, then changed to the Fort Scott Gulf Railroad and crossed the Mississippi river at Memphis Tennessee, thence to Chattanooga where we were met by President William Spry, I was assigned to my field of labor which was in Carter and Mitchell County, North Carolina.

I didnt get a word from home for six weeks, and when I did it was from my brother in law Chauncy Dustin. He said that as soon as I was out of sight everything operated like clockwork, that not even a bolt worked loose to detain them and all the hay was shipped and they were waiting for the money from the hay…which came in due time. 

(Narrator) Here are my takeaways:

✅ Life in the 1800’s was merciless…”live with it, live without it, lose it, or die from it”

✅ When It comes to feet, toes, and fingers…Dont rush things. As Viggo Mortensen phrased it, “One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to GO SLOW TO GO FAST. We live as though there aren’t enough hours in the day, but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.”

✅ Determination can see you through devastating moments, and to magnanimous accomplishments 

✅ In your darkest hours remember that “Pain is essential, misery is optional”. 

✅ God isnt in your plans. God is in your interruptions. 

✅ LOVE them with all you might…you never know how much time you’ll get with them. 

✅ And as Grandpa Penn loved to say “hard work aint easy.