As a young boy he had carved his initials into one of the large rounds of cheese curing at the cheese factory owned by his father on Maine Prairie. When his father found the cheese with “DPS” engraved in the wax, he asked the culprit whether that stood for “double portion salt.” The culprit was Donald Petty Stanley, born on Maine Prairie in 1895 to Roger and Ella Jane (Petty) Stanley, early settlers. Roger owned a store at Maine Prairie Corners for more than twenty years, bought and ran the cheese factory a half mile north, and also farmed on the eastern shores of Carnelian Lake. Don grew up, living at the store and later on the farm, and attending school at “Farwell” school (#30) located where the old Willing Workers Hall later stood. In his mid-70s, Don wrote down some of his memories which were collected by his niece, Linda (Stanley) Dunham, now living in Washington state. Some excerpts from that collection from his early years are provided for your enjoyment. The memories are rearranged and shortened, but the editing is limited to allow the memory-teller to speak in his own words. Maine Prairie The little settlement where I was born was named Maine Prairie. Some people from Maine started to go to the gold rush in California, but that place was as far as they got. There was Dr. Brown. I remember going to see a friend, Roy Knower, and view the glass case of relics of Dr. Brown’s. They were sea shells and the sharks teeth were what I was most awed about. It was in Dr. Brown’s old house. There was a story about Dr. Brown and the watermelons. When asked if he knew who was stealing his melons he said he would find out. He doctored the melons and doctored the boys after they ate the melons. There was Capt. Hamilton. When he rode on a hay wagon his boys had to drive and he walked the deck. I imagined him with a captain’s hat and coat. The store The store was an old-time county store. Uncle Dave’s store was across the road. He had the post office and drugs as he was druggist and did the tooth pulling. The store had all apples, sugar and brown sugar. We had many hives of bees so had lots of honey for sweets. We used to say we had graham bread most of the time. We took our own wheat to Fair Haven to exchange for flour, and the miller’s name was Graham. We took corn, too, and had white corn meal. As yellow corn had not been acclimatized to that far north. When the first corn flakes, “Eggo-See,” came out, father bought a supply; but the people wouldn’t buy any so we, the family, had to eat corn flakes for a long time. Upstairs of the store is where we lived. Our school lunches were the envy of all except our cousins who also got from the store whatever we wished. We could trade for anything the other kids had, but we had to watch that they didn’t steal our lunch. One girl stole from my sister Alpha and the teacher washed her mouth with soap. Don’s story will continue in two weeks. We are grateful for this week’s story of wonderful Kimball area memories contributed by member Duane Stanley whose family reunion in Africa was featured Feb. 12 by the Tri-County News. Thank you for visiting our exhibit booth during Kimball’s recent business and community expo. Our door prizes and winners are as follows: Victorian lamp to Penny Blanchard, 1-year membership to Betty Mackereth, and vintage stationery to Rosann Petty. Again, your new and renewed memberships are welcome and appreciated. Our next meeting is April 27 with a special program; watch for details with our next column, April 15. For more information, or to submit your own family stories, please call (320) 398-5250 or 398-5743, or (800) 252-2521 from out-state.
