TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pioneers
The little town which he founded was called Hardersburg, and later
was changed to Kahlotus. He bought 15 sections of railroad land.
'Ve always raised stock and farmed. .My father introduced irrigation
into Franklin County, and raised the first alfalfa. INe belong to the
Lutheran church. In the early times we had no churches. We even
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conducted funerals without a preacher.
I was born February 3, 1894, in Franklin County, Washington. I
was married October 15, 1917. \rVe had a house of rough lumber
and our furniture was home-made, when I was a child. The railroad
had reached the Snake river at the time my father arrived, and by
the time I was born people enjoyed about everything we have now, excepting
airplanes and automobiles. We rode horseback, as a rule,
and traveled miles for our mail. For a long time my people used cattle
chips for fuel. We had plain clothing, and raised our own food.
Father helped build the first school here. We played one old cat,
ante over and drop the handkerchief, etc. In 1905 there was a cloudhurst
and Lake Kahlotus raised ten feet. We fished in both the Palouse
and Snake rivers. I recall some queer old characters. One man
hung his hardware on the kitchen wall. We had little recreation,
and our schooling was limited.. I quit school at the age of fourteen
years and began farming. Our Fourth of July celebrations were usually
spent at Washtucna, where the principal sport was horse racing.
I served as countV commissioner of Franklin Countv. I live on the
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ranch that my two brothers, sister and I inherited from the man who
looked ahead, and bought when land was cheap. In "Hoosier Schoolmaster,"
we find a pioneer woman advising her husband to "git a
plenty while you're gittin'" and that's what my father, Hans Harder,
did.
It was 72 miles to the postoffice and 60 miles to the nearest doctor,
when my father came from Schleswig-Holstein and settled near to
what is now Kahlotus. Often he and his brother saw no other white
man for six months at a time.
When father sold his horses at $2.50 a head, he bought railroad land
at 10 cents per acre, the railroads being anxious to encourage settlers.
He bought 50 sections and started raising cattle and sheep. He was
one of the first settlers in this vicinity and his choice included a fine
spring, enabling him to practice irrigation and alfalfa growing.
Some of the less fortunate settlers in the county hauled water 20
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miles as there were no wells at first.
There was very little money in those days, and we used to trade
wheat for hogs, living mostly on wheat and roasting barley for coffee.
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