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772 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
About this time I joined a so-called
"Co-operative Colony", the officers of
which had surveyed a "townsite" on
Puget Sound, in Washington. I got together
what little cash I could and we
went to the "new country."
For a time it seemed as though I was
to be successful at last, for the first time
since my marriage. Then the "bubble"
burst, the colony split up and—I was left
with less than $100, and no employment.
Finally I got work, and a few months
later I filed a claim on a 160-acre tract
of Government land, about four miles
from the nearest village.
Again, things seemed to pick up. We
lived on and did the required amount of
work, "proved up" on it at $1.25 an acre,
then sold it for $3,000 cash.
Then it was that I imagined I heard
opportunity loudly knocking on the door.
I invested our entire little fortune in
"city lots", in the town of Port Angeles,
which, just then, was booming.
For a short time the boom continued,
then went to pieces. I could not sell at
any price. Taxes soon ate up what little
I had saved.
Thoroughly disgusted with booms, we
moved again, to the mining region of
Missouri. Here, wages were good; I
made on an average of $100 a month,
but rent and other living expenses also
were high. We had to pay $35 a month
for rent.
Here is how we stood at the end of
one year:
Amount earned $1,200
Rent $420.00
Heat and lighting (gas) .. . 36.00
Groceries 480.00
Taxes, personal and road. . 10.00
Clothing (I bought nothing
for myself) 165.00
Other small necessities. .. . 30.00
Car fare, to work and
back, at 10c a trip 31.00
Doctor bills 22.00
Pleasure 000.00
1,104
Savings $6.00
You will notice that pleasure is
marked "zero", and advisedly so, for we
had none—not even an extra car ride or
picture show.
This would never do. We talked the
matter over and decided upon a plan—
something that our neighbors smiled at,
secretly.
We had an ingrained horror of going
into debt—my wife wouldn't agree to it
at all. Finally she modified her ideas
sufficiently to let me do this:
In a bustling little mining town of
Oklahoma, thirty miles away (a "town"
of tents and shanties, as yet), they were
selling large building lots for fifty dollars
each, on payments of five dollars a
month. The lots were heavily timbered.
Our rent was paid up for two weeks
and my family had enough to live on
that length of time. Myself and boy secured
the lot and began the erection of
a log hut. We had plenty of timber.
Roof, floor, part of the walls, and doors,
were made from clapboards split from
oak timber by means of an ax and froe.
In wet seasons the water stood in the
hollow (one corner of lot), so we built
the shack on a high foundation of logs.
There were three rooms. Nails and windows
(all the material we bought) were
purchased at a total cost of five dollars.
Inside of twelve days we had finished
and moved into our new home, and I
again went to work at same wage I had
received in Missouri.
This was the turning point in our fortunes.
The house we built has paid us
well, both in comfort and as an actual
investment. We have had two good
chances to sell it for $2,500, but we have
preferred to hold on to it.
We now have $2,400 in the bank,
$2,000 of it drawing four per cent interest,
and as property has advanced in
value greatly, our fifty-dollar lot and
$2,500 home would easily bring $4,000.
But we have no intention of selling—
Oklahoma is plenty good enough for
us.
That is the way we got our home—
and we are proud of it.