Musta been SOME tires...

"Look out! There's a huge tire about to squash ya..."

"The truck pictured below is owned by Mr. John Janson of Grand Rapids, Mich.  It is shown at the bottom of a gravel pit forty feet deep.  The road out of this pit is very steep and, of course, is soft and sandy.  To pull out with a 2 1/2 yard load this truck needs all the traction it can get; and it gets all the traction it needs with Caterpillars.
The broad surfaces of Caterpillars have a snow-shoe effect.  They pack the loose sand down, thus building a more solid footing for themselves.  At the same time, the notches in the sides act as a lock, getting a firmer grip on the road than ordinary tires could get even with chains.
Many truck operators have been under the impression that pneumatics were the only tires that would give them the traction needed for this kind of work.  As a matter of fact (and Mr Janson's experience proves it), Caterpillars not only give plenty of traction but they also give far greater mileage than pneumatics without the danger of punctures and blowouts..."


 It's amazing that relatively obscure trade magazines are online these days.  Even for those of us who were around and reading by 1922, the chances of seeing Highway Engineer and Contractor Magazine would have been nil.  But, look--a web search found John Janson from Grand Rapids, Michigan, endorsing the tires he used on his trucks.  Isn't that COOL?

( No fair--Larry finds all the GOOD stuff! ☺)

Mr. & Mrs. John H Nabor celebrate

It's pretty neat that searching online casts such a wide net.  To find mentions of relatives from long-past years, it helps to use a "wildcard" like "Nab*r", which is probably exactly what Larry did here.  (One problem with searching newspapers for the word Naber is that it's used for 'neighbor' in stories written to sound like 'country' dialect--sheesh!)  But the index comes from a machine reader, so the interpretation is iffy anyway.

This couple almost has to be "ours" because  York, Nebraska is in the right part of the state (52 miles west of Lincoln) where other Nabers settled.  Also, they were born in Oldenburg, Germany in 1841 and 1852.  

York, Neb. April 13~Mr. and Mrs. John H. Nabor celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary recently.  They were married at Hammelswart, in Oldenburg, Germany on the 18th day of March, 1872, and on the third day thereafter sailed for United States.  They arrived in York county soon after and homesteaded south of Waco where they made their home for forty-five years.  Five years ago they moved to Utica to make their home.  Their family consists of ten children, twenty-four grand and great grand children.  Mr Nabor is eighty-one years of age, and Mrs. Nabor, seventy.

I'm of course under a "Women Are Every Bit as Important" obligation to find Mrs. Naber's first name.  According to the 1900 census from Waco township in York Co Nebraska, it was Gerhardine, even tho the enumerator spelled it funny.  How can I be so sure?  Look below the census excerpt:

Ahhh...I found John Henry Naber on Find a Grave.  His wife's name was Gerhardine Schmidt Naber.

Birth:	Jan. 3, 1841 Oldenburg, Germany
Death:	Mar. 30, 1930 Nebraska, USA
Family links:  Parents:   Anna Lucia Schroeder Naber (1799 - 1881)  Children:   Infant son Naber*   William Heinrich Naber (1877 - 1959)*   Metha Mathilda Naber Hoffschneider (1879 - 1967)*   Henrietta Anna Naber Hoffschneider (1881 - 1955)*   Karl F. Naber (1884 - 1887)*   Clara Gerhardina Naber Schlechte (1888 - 1990)*  Spouse:   Gerhardine Schmidt Naber (1852 - 1936)* *Point here for explanation
Burial: Saint Johns Cemetery Waco York County Nebraska, USA

Royalton, Minnesota in 1922

WHY does Royalton figure so large in the history of our families in Buckman?  Well, Royalton was relatively close, and had a railroad station on the north-south Great Northern line, not to mention that there are few hills between the two towns, so hauling stuff there would be easier on the team.  Also, the Royalton rural mail delivery incredibly included the Janson farm a mile west of Buckman.  Then too, Royalton was the second largest city in Morrison County and aggressively recruited settlers.  It was built on the Platte river and there were a couple of mills using the water power (a flour mill and a saw mill).  So it's not so odd that this photo was published in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune of October 1st, 1922.  If you were on the train going northwest from Minneapolis, it's a town you might be curious about...

Quick--where was Joe Blow's Bar eventually located?