Transcript

Location: 1300 Northside Beach Rd.

Howard Fredricks (interviewer): Otherwise most of the people had horses and buggies, right?

Herman Tietz: And cows. Everybody had a cow, just about.

Fredricks: You had a horse?

Tietz: My brother had a horse for delivering groceries. We always had a cow from little on, as kids. And then I used to herd the cows. I herded the cows all up in the area. There were no houses up in here at all, just farms.

Fredricks: But you would just, uh, herd the cows—

Tietz: …herd the cows…

Fredricks: …on everybody’s property?

Tietz: …on everybody’s property, yeah sure.

Fredricks: Whose cows would you herd? Yours? The neighbors?

Tietz: The neighbors. The neighbors—everybody had a cow, you see. I herded cows ever since I was—I guess five years old.

Fredricks: By herding them you would…?

Tietz: Take them from the different houses and, uh, home and then get them all together and then take them out. We used to go down Clinton Street. And we would go up—we would go right straight up.

Fredricks: And it was all grass?

Tietz: And it was all—only grass, yeah. All the way, and you know—Thorsen, he had a house up above there—he was on a farm. He used to stake out his cows and we used to get our cows mixed in with his. He had a hook for one arm, you know, and, uh, *laughter* we used to be afraid of him, you know. He used to come out, you know, and chase us. And then we’d herd cows all the way over to the Black River. There was nothing up here at all. Nothing. 

Fredricks: Did you stay with the cows for the whole day?

Tietz: All day long, we stayed with the cows.

Fredricks: We? Who’s we?

Tietz: Well, uh, us kids. We always took out cows together, you know. Joe Gerke, Joe Marr, and I, and my brother. We would go right up to the—

Fredricks: What did you kids do all day when you were herding cows? You certainly had lots of free time, didn’t you?

Tietz: Well, you had to watch them so they didn’t get away from you, you know, you had to keep them—yeah! You had a lot of free time! Oh, we would play marbles and games, you know, one thing or another. If there was a lot of grass, the cows would congregate there and then you could play. Otherwise, why, they would be wanting on the go, on the go. And then you’d have to keep going all the time. We’d go way across over to the Black River. That’s quite a stretch over there, you know.

Fredricks: You would cover that in one day?

Tietz: Oh, yes! And, uh—

Fredricks: You brought a lunch with you, did you?

Tietz: Oh yes. We always took sandwiches along.

Fredricks: How much would you get for this job?

Tietz: Fifteen cents a week.

Fredricks: What would you do with all that money?

Tietz: *laughter* That was lots of money. Used to give it to Mother.

Fredricks: Well, would she give you anything back?

Tietz: Well, *laughter* you know, when you’ve got a bunch of kids, you know, and, uh, gee, nothing’s coming in, why you—you had to be pretty frugal, I’ll tell you.