15 Aug Christy: History in the field

Picking up barley between Loma and Fort Benton, Montana.

Fort Benton, Montana—This week on the wheat trail found us wrapping up most all jobs here in Fort Benton. We did odds and ends that have us sitting in a position to be idle for a short while. Today Gary is going to take a crew out to Plentywood, Montana, for a small job there, and we will only have a couple machines back here waiting on flax to get ready. North Dakota is still a little ways off, so this little bit of a break will afford us the opportunity to catch up on truck repairs and hopefully do some settling up with customers.
One of our last fields of barley to pick up out here surprised us by yielding almost 100 bushels per acre. It was slow going and so good to see a great yield. Unfortunately, at the farmer’s bins the inner slats weren’t closed and after two loads were dumped, barley started spilling from the door. I drove up with supper and told the truck driver who hadn’t noticed it yet. It wasn’t too bad to get cleaned up.

Barley spilling from a bin we were loading.

In this same field, there is some really interesting history. About twelve years before Fort Benton was settled in 1846, there was a trading post located on the field which sits just on the Missouri River between Fort Benton and Loma, the next town over. Called the American Fur Trade Fort, many different items were traded for years until the post was demolished and burned sometime in the 1950s.

Zoey was anxious to get in the field to search for beads.

Our farmer flagged off the area where the post used to stand and allowed us to search the ground where he said, over the years, they have found numerous artifacts from the post. Mostly what is found is beads from jewelry, pieces of pottery and dishes, nails, and buttons. Paul, Zoey, and I walked around one afternoon and Paul had the most luck finding three little tiny white beads and one larger blue bead. His eyes must be much better than mine, because I just don’t see how he could so easily find something that small.

Zoey searching for beads in the barley field by the Missouri River.

The beads Paul had an eye for seeing. Zoey got to keep them.

After searching the ground, we drove up to the farmers house where he has framed some of the best finds from the field. It was incredible to see all the beautiful necklaces and pottery. He also had an aerial photo of the field from the ‘70s where you can still see the indention of the post where it was burned to the ground. It was pretty neat that our farmer shared all this with us and let us keep our finds.

Some of the best finds from the post that our farmer’s family have found over the years.

Overall, Montana was still a great stop for us. It went really quickly, much more quickly than usual. As we start moving over closer to North Dakota, I’m hopeful they have received more rain than everywhere else we’ve been. I’m also hopeful that rain finds the crops here so that our farmers can see a more bountiful harvest next year.

Christy Paplow can be reached at christy@allaboardharvest.com.

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