Bio: Olson, Henry (Life Summary – 1963)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
 
Surnames: Olson, Myhrwold, Soefker

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.) 22 Aug 1963

A week ago last Saturday, Henry celebrated his 85th birthday. A number of the neighbors observed the day with him, and among them were three long-time friends, whose ages combined with Henry's totaled 340 years! Another interesting fact is that Henry not only has lived a long time, but he still lives on the same place on which he was born.

His father worked in the sawmills down at Black River Falls, and heard about some good land available up at Greenwood (Clark Co., Wis.). He came up here and bought a farm from a man who had homesteaded it, and who was a little discouraged with trying to make a farm from a wilderness. When he brought his family and goods up, he moved them by wagon and oxen. He turned the oxen loose to grace, the next spring, and they went back down to Black River Falls. So he walked back down to Black River Falls, got his oxen, and walked back with them.

Henry rode the log rafts on the river for seven years, and this is probably his deepest impression of the early days. When he was about twelve or fourteen years old, he was down on Rock Creek at what was known as "Hinker Rips." A log jam had formed and Henry knew that there would be more logs coming. Soe he found a stout branch, and began working the key logs loose. Just as the jam began to move, he heard the water coming from upstream. A crew of men was moving along the bank, guiding the log. When they saw Henry at work, the foreman asked him if he wanted to work, and said, "Sure." So they worked the logs down to Schofield's rips, then into Black River. He accompanied the crew back up the river, brought down another raft, and came home the next day.

During the winters, Henry worked in the logging camps. There was a cook there, who was also from Greenwood, but she came from the German settlement on the west side of Black River. Her name was Eleanor Sophie Soefker. They talked together a little, and discussed whether or not a German and a Norwegian could get along tougher. Then they married in 1906, and for fifty-two years, Henry says, "She was the best wife a man could ask for." Then death separated them, for a little while, until the eternal reunion comes.

In the springtime, you can look for Henry up at the "Sap camp," a cabin in the woods northeast of Leo Olson's place. There he sleeps and gathers sap, and boils it into maple syrup. During the winter he cuts wood and logs there. In the summer time you may find him up at the lakes fishing, or down along the river. But in deer hunting season, look for Henry out along a deer run, for his eye is still sharp, and he has a heart for the sheer joy of being outdoors. When you find him, ask him about the old days, when the country was new.