When they returned from their
adventure in Calgary, they moved in with Elmer's parents.
In 1944 Elmer and Mary bought
160 acres about four miles south of his parents' place from a
man named Lawrence Regan. Elmer borrowed $525 from his brother-in-law
and paid off the debt the next fall from money they made cutting
Christmas trees. On the five acres that were already cleared,
Elmer planted his first oat crop. They bought three cows for $80,
the beginning of the herd that would eventually come.
The Matson's daughter, Lynda,
was born in May, 1945 and they moved onto their own land the following
September. There was a small barn and a 25'x30' log house that
had been used to store hay for years. Before they moved in they
had to exterminate a colony of packrats who had taken over.
 |
Packrats are not small
mice, rather, they are six to eight inches long excluding
their tails and weigh about three quarters of a pound.
They are nocturnal so are hard to catch. |
Elmer
and Mary's first home--where they still live in 1999.
(It has had some improvements.) |
Elmer and Mary devised a plan
to get rid of them. One night Mary rattled the stove pipes from
inside and Elmer stood outside and picked them off as they came
running out the top of the chimney, across the ridgepole, and
into the beam of his flashlight. When sixteen rats were dead,
the little house was ready for its human family.
Elmer hauled all their possessions
over in one load in the hay wagon and Elmer's brother-in-law drove
over with Mary, the baby and the clock.
 |
When the chickens, two
horses, and five cows including the milk cow, "Fescue",
arrived, the move was complete.
Gabriel, then in his
80s, split new wood shingles for the roof and the young
couple began their 54 years' residence. |
| "Fescue",
the milkcow |
|
Elmer and Mary purchased the
X-L Ranch in 1944, and moved there the following year
The birth of Lynda and Home
Sweet Home...a rat-infested hayshed!
The little log barn
This photo of Elmer and
Mary was taken as they cleaned out their new home.
|
