By Jill Fennema –

Last week, Art Spronk saw a Bob Artley drawing about life on the farm and it shook loose his memories from days gone by. Actually, the memories it stirred are not Art’s own memories, they are the stories that were passed down to him. Art was only a baby at the time this story actually took place.

The drawing Art saw showed a team of horses pulling a hayrack full of furniture, and another team of horses pulling a grain wagon, also full of stuff. It was Bob Artley’s memory of “Moving Day,” and it’s a memory that many retired farmers share – memories from a tradition that is no longer in force.

Art heard the story from Art Baker, who helped Art Spronk’s family move in March, 1928. They moved from a farm six miles south of Luverne in Section 14 of Clinton Township to a farm six miles south of Pipestone in Section 3 of Elmer Township.

John and Gertie Spronk had five children at that time: Henry, Gertrude, Bernard, Gerrit, and Art. Art was only 4 months old at the time of the move. His sister Jeannette would not be born for five more years.

On February 28, 1928, the day before moving day, John went to Edgerton to pick up two drivers for two teams of horses. One was Art Baker and the other was Art Bleyenburg. Both were 20 years old at that time, and their parents were good friends of the Spronk family. However, March 1,1928, was a snowstorm, so they had to wait until March 2 to move.

March 1 was usually moving day in farm communities. Many farmers rented acreages and land and did not own their own homes or farms. So March 1 was the day to move – it gave the family enough time to get settled before it was time to plant the crops in the spring. In bigger cities, May 1 was often moving day, but in rural areas, it would never work to wait until May to move – the crops needed to be planted by then.

Baker told Art that the back half of a hayrack was loaded with dry corncobs to heat the house on the new farm. There was a tarp underneath the cobs, to keep them from falling through the space between the boards. The rest of the hayrack was loaded with furniture and anything else that had to be moved.

The other wagon was a grain wagon and it was half-full of corn and oats to feed the livestock at the new farm. That wagon was also loaded with beds, tables, chairs, and so on.

The livestock was loaded onto a truck. The truck was not a semi truck like what would be used today. It was a truck that could haul about 8 head of cattle at a time. The truck would make three trips back and forth from the old farm to the new farm that day.

The horses and wagons could only travel about four miles per hour, so the trip was an all-day affair.

John had made arrangements with a farmer west of the Hardwick corner to have the horses stop for a noon rest with water and feed. This was also an opportunity for the movers to have a noon meal.

After lunch, it was time to continue on to the new farm. When the two teams got two miles north of Trosky, which is where they had to turn east, they came across their truck which was making its last trip with cattle, stuck in a snowbank. The truck was right on the corner where they had to turn.

So they unhooked a team of horses from their wagons and hooked them on the truck to pull it out of the snowbank. When that was accomplished, they hooked back up to the wagons and headed east for one mile. They arrived safely at the new farm at 10 p.m. But it was not bedtime for everyone, because there was still much work to do.

When Art’s parents and the two hired men were ready to unload, a neighbor, John Hellwinkel, and his sons, John and Walter, were ready to help take care of the livestock. He told John Spronk, “You get the stoves and beds set for your family, and I, with my two sons, will bed the livestock down for the night.” Art says that his dad would get tears in his eyes telling that story. He never forgot how his neighbor helped him when he really needed help!

The Spronks would live on this farm for about ten years. In 1938, they moved to a farm two and a quarter miles east of Edgerton, where Jerlyn Spronk lives now. Jerlyn is a son of Art’s brother, Gerrit. John and Gertie retired from farming and moved to town in 1959.