A Frontier Doctor Page: 5
xv, 260 p. : ill., ports. ; 22 cm.View a full description of this book.
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A PIONEER BOYHOOD
through college. I then asked and received permission to
leave home and see if I could not earn enough to educate
myself. I was convinced that he gave his consent with
the idea that sooner or later I would be glad to return to
the farm, but if this were so, he was mistaken.
My first inclination was to become a civil engineer, and
learning that the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad was send-
ing out a surveying party I applied to the chief engineer
for a job. He looked me over, asked a few questions, and
took me on. The proposed survey was to be from Glyndon
to St. Vincent, paralleling the course of the Red River of
the North. The party was in charge of C. A. J. Morris,
a son of the chief engineer, and he had two assistant engi-
neers, Henry Hollingshead and a Mr. Wheaton. I was
given the position of rodman and worked with Mr.
Wheaton, who operated the level.
Our outfit left St. Cloud for Glyndon in three covered
wagons, the members of the party perching on top of the
loaded vehicles as best we could. Our route ran along the
east bank of the Mississippi by way of Little Falls -
later the home of 'Lindy' - to Brainerd, thence to Glyn-
don. The country dirt road was very rough, ruts and
deep mud holes being much in evidence. One of these
holes would have written 'finis' to my earthly career had
I been in less perfect physical trim. In passing through
Little Falls, the right front wheel of the wagon dropped
into a hole with a lurch that pitched me headfirst between
the front and hind wheels. As my head was sinking in the
mud, I somehow threw myself clear of it all just as the
rear wheel crushed my fur cap deep in the mire with the
weight of over a ton.
Reaching Glyndon, the party was organized. I knew
nothing of the different positions, but it appeared that
the rodman's job paid fifteen dollars a month more than
the rest. Most of the party had been out before and
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Hoyt, Henry Franklin. A Frontier Doctor, book, 1929; Boston, Massachusetts. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143532/m1/27/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.