Of Indian Schools and Small Farms

We drove into Dianne’s hometown of Clontarf, Minnesota for a look around.  

I noticed the old, vacant, Indian School next to the railroad tracks had been torn down.  Some things need to be gone and this is one of them.

As the Great Northern Railroad was built across the prairies of Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana it brought the small towns to support the settlers from France and Germany (Dianne’s family at Clontarf) and Norway and Sweden (Gene’s family at Hancock).  But out on the plains the railroad disrupted the Native American nations.  The “iron horse” brought the buffalo hunters west and the buffalo hides east.  The bison, source of food and clothing for the Indian tribes became scarce.  Promises were made to the Native Americans, and promises were broken, as they were relocated to reservations.  The process of taming the Great Plains was called Manifest Destiny.

Someone decided that the Native American children should be made more “American”.  So Indian Schools were built at towns like Clontarf.  I remember the school well, although it was vacant when we were kids.  Only as an adult did I come to realize the horror of the Indian Schools.  Close your eyes and visualize the Indian children torn away from their families, placed on trains heading east, to the Indian Schools like at Clontarf.  Their hair was cut, their names changed, and they were forbidden to speak their native tongue.  What became of these children?  Who made the decision to embrace the Indian School concept? 

“The boarding school, whether on or off a reservation, carried out the government’s mission to restructure Indians’ minds and personalities by severing children’s physical, cultural, and spiritual connections to their tribes.”

“Methods of discipline at Minnesota boarding schools were harsh. Some schools had cells or dungeons where students were confined for days and given only bread and water. One forced a young boy to dress like a girl for a month as a punishment; another cut a rebellious girl’s hair as short as a boy’s. Minnesota boarding schools recorded epidemics of measles, influenza, blood poisoning, diphtheria, typhoid, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, pneumonia, trachoma, and mumps, which swept through overcrowded dormitories. Students also died from accidents such as drowning and falls.”

Yes, some things need to be torn down, to be gone.  All that is left is this plaque:

Some things do not need to be torn down, to be gone, but they are.  The small farms that dotted the prairie have been replaced in huge numbers by corn fields.  

We drove out to Dianne’s home place, about five miles outside Clontarf.  Six children, five girls and one boy, called this spot home.  Dianne’s brother from Colorado, Bob, drove out to the farm earlier this summer, alone.  I can “see” him standing there deep in thought, remembering.  

As for Dianne, this is her reaction, as she stood at the old driveway:

A grove of trees lined the driveway.  Apple trees were there for fruit and for climbing.  Dianne, the oldest of the children, raised rabbits and chickens, as well as doing chores.  They had a horse, cows, and pigs.  It is all gone now, torn down and replaced with corn.  But the memories remain.  Some things do not need to be torn down, to be gone.

Memories:

We met here, at a teen hop in Clontarf, many years ago.  We have been together every since.

The drive along the country road from Clontarf to the Chamberlain family farm brought back memories.  You cross the old "iron bridge" over the Chippewa River.

I hunted deer and pheasants all through here with my dad and grandfather.

At Dianne's old farm place, a look to the left brings cornfields.  A look to the right is the same.

Dianne rode the school bus to Benson on these gravel roads.

Yes, we are Minnesotans through and through.  We are products of the Great Plains and the railroad that carved its way ever west as a nation evolved.  We are products of immigrants whose dream was to own their own land under a fair government.

Thank you for riding along with us as we explore our homes and our heritage.