This is the story of my parents, Friedrick and Mona Stutz, as told to me by my oldest sister.  She had lived through all this, but is dead now.

    When my, parents first came from Russia they came to Kit Carson County, Colorado.  It was in the early 1900's.  They settled down on the prairies near other families that had come from Russia.  Here they made a one room dugout where they lived with their four Children.  They had no table, no-chairs and very little other furniture.  They had a few dishes but very little to eat, and that was mostly cornbread.  When it rained the water would run in the dugout so they had to put the few things they had up as high as they could to keep them dry.

    Father spent most of, his time away working to buy food, so mother was alone with the children.  She planted a garden to help out, but she had no fence around it.  One good neighbor had given her two hens and a rooster, but they kept going in the garden to scratch.  So what did she do but tie up the rooster, and in that way the hens stayed out of the garden most of the time.  They had one milk cow at first but she got bit by a rattlesnake and died, so they didn't have milk for the children.

    Father usually worked a number of miles from home so he would walk to work on Monday mornings and walk home on Saturday evenings.  Sometimes this would be ten or twelve miles each way.  He would receive 25c a day for his work.

    Things went on' this way for several years and they could hardly make their living, so mother wrote to her relatives in Scotland, South Dakota, for help.  They sent some money to her, but told them to leave Colorado and come to Dakota and live and they would help them get a start.  So in the spring father got a covered wagon ready and they loaded their few belongings and started to Dakota.  Mother had baked a lot of bread and then toasted it and put it in f lour sacks so it would not get moldy.  When they were out of bread they had to stop along the road for a day to make more for you could not buy any bread in those days.

    There were about six covered wagons in the group.  Other families that had had such poor goings during the dry years in Colorado had decided to give up and try their luck in another location.  It took about three weeks to reach Dakota.  I was four years old at that time.  That was about sixty years ago or about 1896.

    My folks got a good start in Dakota and were doing fine when my father got sore eyes.  He went to the doctor and the doctor told him to move back to Colorado or else he would go blind.  The water there didn't agree with him.

    The loaded the covered wa on again t return to Colorado. The reports from the people in Colorado were much better now so they were not afraid to go there again.  Two other families decided to return also so they had three covered wagons on the trip back.

     This was in the last part of September.  My youngest brother was just three weeks old and there were seven children now.  My oldest brother and sister had to walk several days and drive the cattle.  An old man had wanted my father to take some cattle to Colorado and care for them on shares, so we would have a start of cattle in Colorado.  When they reached the railroad the cattle were loaded and were shipped the rest of the way.  My sister came with us, but my brother had to go with the cattle to see about them. We went to my uncle's place when we returned and lived in one room at his house until spring, when they could get a sod house built for us on the homestead father had taken.  He still worked away from home part of the time, but things became easier for us here in Colorado.

    I remember one time when I was eight years old and needed some shoes.  My father and mother took my sister and me to town to get some.  They found a bargain table with some mismatched shoes that were selling for 25c a pair.  We each got a new pair.  I'll never forget mine.  One had a pointed toe and the other was round, but they were shoes and that was the important thing.