Stories involving past flooding of Box Elder

Editor's note: Flooding of area creeks and rivers in late March prompted local Sharon Higgins to send two stories about high waters on Box Elder Creek from the past. The stories are family accounts that were told to her by her mother, Gussie Richards, and grandmother, Lola Burch.

Guy Ewalt

The Ewalt family home was on a high bank of Box Elder north of the present-day Box Elder bridge in the Ridgway community. I remember this story as told to me by family members. The creek was bank full. Uncle Guy Ewalt, Grandma Lola Burch's brother, wanted a horse that was across the creek from their home so he could go to a dance. He was riding a stallion (I have been told that stallions will not swim) and forced him into the rapid current of the flooding creek. Guy couldn't swim and the horse didn't swim so they both drowned. He had requested that he be buried on the hill on his homestead. That is how grave yard hill came to be known as "grave yard hill."

This is the account as told by Gussie:

A morning in May 1915 my dad, Carl Burch, took my brother in the wagon to go to school. Papa was working with my grandfather (Hamilton Ewalt) and Uncle Guy. They hadn't gone far when they met a man on horseback who we knew was Jack Naugle as he had a different way of looking on a horse, so they turned around to start back home. I rushed out to meet them and got in the wagon and Wilson said to me, "Uncle Guy drowned." I said, "He did not!." Wilson said, "Yes, he did." But it was hard for me to believe until we got back to our house. Papa had his arms around Mama, and she was crying, so I knew that it was true, but I still couldn't believe that he wouldn't come back to life. I can remember men riding in a boat on Box Elder with garden rakes with extended long handles searching for him. Then I remember him lying in his coffin in the living room of my grandmother's house. I can't remember about the funeral, but I worried for a long time that he would call for someone to get him out of that grave and no one would be there to hear him.

Life went on and we all missed Uncle Guy as he had come to our house a lot and would always play with us kids.

This paragraph is not about Guy but it is an interesting tidbit from Mom's story:

Uncle Bob Burch and his family lived just across Box Elder from us and the men built a footbridge to cross the creek when the water was high. They were on sort of an island and when the creek got high they were surrounded except for the foot bridge, so when they could they moved their house to a place where the water wouldn't go. It was still on the opposite side of the creek from us.

Wilson Asbury Burch

This is the story of my mother's brother, Wilson Burch as written by my grandmother, Lola Burch.

The winter had been a long hard one-the snow deep and the traveling bad. On the night of Saturday, March 6, Wilson, got sick. We sent by the mail man on Monday for Dr. Sandy. He got out here on Wednesday p.m. He said he had appendicitis but thought he was over the worst and would be alright, but for us to watch for certain symptoms. And, if they showed up, take him to Camp Crook to the hospital. He seemed to be better till along toward morning Saturday. We knew he was worse so we started to Crook as early as we could-part way on a sled, as the snow was too deep for the car, then changed to a spring wagon. We went through the hills and by the John Buck ranch. A mile or two before we got to Buck's, one of the horses got sick and fell in the harness. We thought he was dying, but he recovered. Carl walked on to Buck's and got a team from them. We left ours there. When we got to the Willard Padden place, a creek was up. We didn't know how deep it might be and it was dark by then. Carl shouted until someone came down to the creek and said it was not too deep; so, we got across alright. By the time we got to the hospital, it was 9 o'clock. Dr. Sherrill didn't operate till Monday (I was told by Mom that it was because Dr. Sherrill was drunk).

Carl had come back home on Tuesday to see how everything was at home. A bad blizzard had raged all day on Monday filling everything with snow. We had a Ford Model T in an open shed. The car was completely covered with snow.

1919 had been a dry year. We had sold most of our cattle, just kept a few. We lost 3 or 4 of those in that blizzard. We had a little bunch of sheep and were wintering them with Charlie Foster's. He had them at his place. Neill Burch, Papa's brother, and Foster were taking care of them while Carl was away. The winter snow had been melting and Box Elder was bank full of water; and in that blizzard the men stayed with the sheep to hold them from drifting away or into the water. But they were both played out, cold and hungry and went to supper. The sheep drifted away while they were away from them. Of course, they found some afterward scattered far and near. We only had about 60 left.

Wilson died on Thursday. I sent word home that Wilson had died (I was told that they shouted the message across the flooding creek). Carl was able to get back to Crook and we buried him over there on March 20, 1920.

Interesting excerpts from the complete story follow:

Box Elder was bank full and the mud so bad that my folks had to bury Wilson at Camp Crook. The rest of us could not go. They were so thankful for Mr. & Mrs. Jess Kerr and the Willard Padden families who were so good to them and they stayed with them while at Camp Crook.

We lost a lot of livestock in the March 15 storm, but we were so broken up over losing Wilson that the stock loss wasn't to be grieved over. My grandparents were staying with us at that time and Jack Naugle was doing the chores. Grandad was carrying the mail to Piniele part of the time. Henry & Charley Ewalt carried it part of the time. They used horses and walked-sometimes pulling a hand sled behind them. They were always gone overnight.

Wilson had ordered some games as he had earned a little money and wanted to get some mail. The package came after he was sick, and the folks had taken him to Camp Crook. He told us that we were not to play with them until he got back, so we didn't and then he didn't get back. We didn't play with his games for a long time. He had bought a Tidily Wink Game and Parcheesi, so when we did get them out we really enjoyed them.