The Johnson Farm was located on Birch Road in the town of Mc Millian in Marathon Country on the Little Eau Plaine river. It was originally platted as two 40 acre plots and as near as can be recalled was settled around 1890. The house was built around 1910. At some point the owners consolidated to two 40 acre into a single farm. The house, according to a photograph, was two stories. A story and "L" shaped addition was added providing the foot print familiar to the Johnson's. There as also a "summer kitchen" and wood shed at the rear of the house. The farm was bought in the mid to late 30's by John Johnson from the Leverton family. One of the stories told about the acquisition is that the Leverton's went broke trying to sink a well for a water supply. The well went more than 200 feet deep through a very hard layer of basalt. Apparently the Leverton's remained as tenant farmers on the land for a couple of years.        Why John bought, the farm is unknown, but John did acquire property for investment purposes and that may have been the original reason. However John was also an avid gardener and the farm allowed him to garden on a scale that would have been impossible on his lot in the city. He planted a plum and apple orchard as well as establishing a grape arbor. There were also large raspberry and strawberry patches. John used the farm also as a source for water lilies, which he took into town and planted in his backyard pond. As for the house, John enlarged and remodeled the kitchen and added a field stone fire place. Water was drawn from a pump just outside of the rear door. Perhaps John's feelings about his country place could be seen in a set of stairs he also had built. Traced in the concrete of the fist step was "Welcome to Valhalla," a reference to the Danish (Viking) paradise.    John used about two acres for his planting, The remaining acreage he either put into cash crops or rented to neighbors for pasture land. Augie Miller, a long time employee of the Marshfield Canning Company recalled that the back forty grew some of the best pea crops in the adjoining area. The problem was with harvesting since the only way to the field was to ford the river and transport the peas through a swamp and up a fairly steep grade.
    In about 1939 John bought a John Deere model "L" tractor. The Model "L" was designed by John Deere as a "two horse" tractor intended to replace horses on small farms. It could be equipped with a single bottom plow and a cultivator that mounted on the tractor frame. It was ideally suited to the smaller tasks of a "gentleman farmer," John converted the chicken coop into a garage for the tractor.
    The barn was a very large barn, even in an area known for large barns. The basement had a dirt floor except for a strip of concrete gutter running it's length. The cow stanchions were wooden and it is recalled there was room for about 30 head. There were also horse stalls for three to four horses and a calf's pen. There were three hay chutes from the upper floor. The barn also would have had a wooden silo, however only the concrete floor remained to indicate it's position. Typical of most barns of the area, the lower level where the animals were housed was of "rubble" construction. Stones were placed into a form and layered with concrete. It was a cheaper method of construction than using a stone mason to carefully chose and place and mortar each rock. It was also a construction the was not as structurally as sound. The upper barn was divided into two sections. Upon entering the barn, the area to the left was a large, open hat loft. The area to the right was a raised loft that was divided into a hay and straw storage area. Under the loft were an area for machine storage as well a granary and stairs to the lower level. Also typical of barns of the area, the entry to the upper barn was done via an earthen ramp. The ramp had a stone face opposite the lower barn wall and was connected originally by a wooden bridge which was later replaced with concrete.
    The other notable building was the outhouse. The farm, from its beginnings to it's sale in 1964 did not have inside plumbing. At first there wasn't electricity to power a water system and through the ownership of John and Herb Johnson it was used only in the summer and a water system would have posed problems of freezing.
    The Herb Johnson family initially spend about two weeks living on the farm in 1947 as part of a family vacation. Before this the Johnson's would spend a week or two at various lake resorts around Tomahawk. As the family expanded, this type of vacation became impractical. The expanding family also needed more room to play and explore than was available at their home in the city. In 1948, Herb and John reached an agreement by which the family could move to the farm for the entire summer. It is this time which has provided the most memories of the Johnson siblings.
    The farmhouse was furnished with a variety of second hand chairs, tables, beds and cabinets. Most of the beds were iron or brass bedsteads with corn shuck or straw mattresses. The "summer kitchen was a catch-all for wood and junk. There was not a lawn as such, but the area in the front of the house was a large strawberry patch. a "lawn" was initially mowed out on the side of the house. One of the earliest projects on the farm was the planting of trees, in 1948. E. Richard (Dick) Paul, who was the Field Scout Executive for the Northwood County scout district had obtained several hundred pine and cedar seedlings. A portion of a field was plowed and prepared by Herb, riding on the John Deere Model "L" tractor and the whole family planted the trees. Over the next several years, the trees were into two rows. These trees now form an impressive windbreak for the present owners of the farm and are 60+ feet in height.
    In about 1950 the strawberry patch, whose plants had reached their maximum life, was plowed under and a front lawn established. Also established at this time was a large garden. The garden was placed just to the west of the drive way. There was on old iron fence running along part of the upper part of the drive. Part of the fence was covered with wild grapes and it was bordered by rhubarb plants. Just to the east of the house a large box elder tree stood, whose branches provided en excellent place to a tree house platform and two rope swings. This area became the "play ground" since it was close to the house and could be supervised by Adele from the kitchen window. A teeter-toter was build by the Ebbe company carpenter Mike Bartel and placed in this area. The front lawn received a glider swing. Most of the lawn area was established and expanded by the simple expedient for mowing the weeds. The only seeding efforts was to occasionally spread either red or white clover over the area.
    The farm was also planted with a very large vegetable garden. Each spring, Herb - and later the boys, would mount the plow on the tractor, plow, disk and drag the plot. In the first years of the garden, Herb would lay out the rows with twine. The normal custom would have been to use a single length of twine as a marker while the row was planted, however the rows were laid out using one length of twine per row, prompting the neighboring farmers to ask Herb (a seed dealer) what yield of twine he expected.
    Because of the roads, it often as not the family was not able to get to the farm until Memorial Day, meaning the grass was very high. Uncle Howard Allman came down one year with his sickle bar mower on a garden tractor and cut the high weeds. Herb decided that the grass would make great mulch, hook a dump rake behind the tractor, raked all of the weeds up and deposited them on the garden. The garden had been plowed and it was Herb's intention to work the weeds in by disk and drag - it didn't work. No matter what was tried the weeds remained on the surface. Finally in desperation Herb again used the dump rake to pull whatever weeds he could off the garden and pile them up in hopes that they would eventually compost. What was left behind after all of this were the weed seeds, and that year there was a bumper crop.
    Not too many years after the family began to move to the farm, Herb decided that a BBQ was in order. Enlisting the help of Jerry Harsch, Herb and Jerry dug a foundation, poured a concrete slab and began to build the BBQ out of field stone. The first stage, the base was completed when Charlie, for some inexplicable reason, knocked a stone out of it. The stone was replaced and the building continued, creating the back. Again in the morning, Charlie knocked the stone out. This pattern of more building and Charlie knocking out the same stone continued for several more days and in spite of Charlie's efforts the BBQ was completed. After waiting several days for the concrete to cure, a charcoal fire was built in gratings fashioned from reinforcing rod and woven wire fencing. The first item on the menu was hamburgers. When Herb finally brought the first fruits of his labor to the table, he was asked if he brought the burgers, or the charcoal. The BBQ stood for many years, but was rarely used past the first two seasons. Distance from the house perhaps was a factor and the stone BBQ was eventually replaced with a Weber Grill at the rear area of the house. The "patio" area was developed in the late 50's. Again the expedient of mowing an area was used to create the lawn. A picket fence was run around the perimeter. Midway in the fence was a rose trellis and gate. Just outside of the fence, Herb and Adele built a green house. It was really a large cold frame, but did allow earlier planting of some flowers and vegetables. The greenhouse was built using four large storm windows that come from Marshfield's Washington School when it was demolished.
    The lack of indoor plumbing posed problems not solved with the use of an out house. When the family and older children were smaller, bathing and laundry was handled with a weekly trip to town.
    As the number of children grew both these became more of a problem. Water was drawn from the well whose hand pump had been adapted to accept an electric motor and mechanism from a "sack" beater. All water was carried in buckets to the kitchen and divided into drinking water and washing water. Hot water came from the tea kettle heated on a old propane stove. Laundry was done with an old wringer washer and two laundry tubs in what had been the summer kitchen. These were filled by a bucket brigade the night before washing. In the morning Adele would plug in an electric immersion heater. Because of the potential from shock, whenever the heater was plugged in, the door was hooked shut. At one point, a bath tub and lavatory sink was added in the cook shed. Both merely drained into a dry well. The lavatory had a pitcher for water. The bath tub was filled with the desired amount of water and the electric immersion heater plugged in. Additional water was poured into the tub if the water was too hot. The process of filling and heating bath water too several hours, so baths were still infrequent and trips to town still made.
    The stove in the kitchen was a four burner gas stove with the oven mounted on the side. The stove was quite good, if a bit old fashioned. Cooking lessons for all of the children continued over the summer and each child was encouraged to cook or bake something. Feeling confident, Paul and Barbara concocted a chocolate cake for some occasions, but when Herb cut the cake, he found that a spatula, or at least part of one, had been baked and partly melted into the cake.
    Under a large box elder tree, a picnic table was built. It rested on four cedar fence posts dug into the ground and topped with a 7 foot cable reel end acquired from the Marshfield Telephone Company through Vic Sebold, the head lineman of the company. The cable end was covered top and side with masonite. Benches which hooked together and formed a octagon were built, again using the services of Mike Bartel. Several clumps of white or paper birch were planted at two of the corners of the patio area. These birch plantings did pose a problem one summer when woodpeckers drilled some holes in the bark. The sap apparently would fill the holes and ferment. Wrens would feed on the fermented sap and become intoxicated. A normally placid wren, when high on fermented birch sap became very aggressive and would dive bomb anyone in the area. The youngest girls (Margaret, Annie and Janie) suffered most from these attacks.
    The reason for the expansion of the lawn areas was more than aesthetic. Over the years the farm became the scene for parties given for the large circle of friends, relatives and acquaintances of the Johnson family. Almost every week-end a group of adult friends, or relatives with their families would drive out to the "farm" for an evening of relaxing and allowing the children to run.
    One party that took place without the knowledge or consent of the parents happened in the fall of 1957. Barb's senior class decided to throw a beer party and the Johnson Farm was deemed a well known and suitable place. The plans were made without Barbra's knowledge, but as word spread, she did drive out with friends. A neighbor, Elroy Fischer, noticing the traffic down the road alerted Herb, who was having coffee at Pucker's news stand. Getting some friends to drive out, Herb went to investigate. Driving the very distinctive and well known two tone green DeSoto stretched sedan, Herb made it into the drive. Most party goers assumed it was Barb. When seeing adults coming out of the car everyone scattered. The keg of beer was tossed into the trunk of Bob Baer's car, with the tap still open. Jimmy Francel reported that he ran down a path only to run into a four wire barbed fence, which he then slipped under only to roll through several freshly laid "cow pies" and finally ending knee deep in the river. Many cars did escape but Herb went around writing down licence numbers. He accepted no explanations or excuses. Barb was ordered back to the house. The next day, Herb was visited by a delegation of the Class of 1957, led by Bob Baer, who explained that Barb had no part in the planning of the party. Herb said that several years later, while cleaning out his wallet, he found the list of license numbers he had taken down. His one remembrance of the occasion was that almost all the cars there sported the bumper sticker "Trust in Youth"
    Just after the 1952 Boy Scout Jamboree, Herb bought one of the tents used by the scouts. It was pitched on the front lawn. For the next several years it was the summer bedroom of Paul and Charlie. They furnished the tent with two folding cots and some furniture made from orange crates. They even ran an electrical line from the house to the tent. While Adele had some objections to this, she relented since it seemed safer than the boy using candles
Transportation problems, at least for the short trips to Riverside, or to the dump or to Aunt & Uncle Allman's was provided by the tractor. It must be remembered that a John Deere "L" was a very small tractor with a top road speed of no more than 5 to 6 miles per hour. Trips to Riverside, which really was no more than a general store, tavern and gas station located where the Eau Plaine River crossed Highway 97, was made using a trailer John had fashioned from an old car. It's hitch was modified to the tractor's draw bar. This caused the trailer to have a decidedly forward slant. When going to Riverside, the tractor could be taken to the intersection of Co. H and Hwy 97 and was never driven on the highway. One variation of the tractor-trailer combination was the tractor-surrey combination. Herb had somewhere acquired a horse drawn surrey and modified the tongue top fit the tractor. The sight of the small tractor drawing a surrey several times it's size did draw comments from neighbors along the route.
    No one was ever seriously injured on the farm, however there were several occasions when this could have been possible. When hay was brought into the barn, the mow was 15 feet or more in height. More than one Johnson slipped and fell from the hay to the very hard wood floor.
    Another time, Barbara, along with Paul, Charlie, Carol and cousin Dale Seimers was dispatched to the dump, about a mile and away. Hooking up the trailer the children, along with a load of trash set out with the strictest of orders that only Barbara, the eldest, was to drive. After depositing the load at the town dump, an excursion up River Road seemed in order. Dale Seimers talked Barbara into letting him drive. About a quarter mile up the road, at full speed, Dale drove the tractor and trailer into a rather deep ditch. The tractor came to rest against a tree, bending the front steering arm. Unable to back the tractor out, someone walked up the road to get Walter Hebert to come and pull the tractor out. It was supposed that Walter could be trusted no to tell what had happened. However, Walter had only a Farmall Cub, a tractor not much bigger than the "L" and could not get the tractor out of the ditch. At this time, Walter call Uncle Howard Allman to come with his larger and more powerful John Deere "A" which did pull the tractor out. Like a good scout she was, Barbara took the rap for Dale.
    Another close encounter with injury was during haying season. Herb had enlisted the help from several of his employees at the Ebbe Company who were farmers. Ben Mancl brought his new Allis Chalmber "WD" to help. It was a custom for children to ride on the tractor into the barn. On this occasion at least four boys were riding on the fender. When Ben pulled into the barn his foot was blocked from reaching the foot clutch to stop the machine. The door opposite the entry door was open for ventilation. The tractor lurched towards the opening. Fortunately for all, the "WD" had both a foot and hand clutch, so Ben was able to disengage the tractor's gears, but not before the front wheels ran out of the other side of the barn. The tractor caught the floor of the barn with it's oil pan and was balanced by the weight of the loaded hay wagon. It took the better part of the remaining day to first support the machine and then to jack up the wheels so it could be safely pulled back into the barn. The sight of a tractor hanging out the side of the barn caused several neighbors to stop and offer assistance. Needless to say a very strict "NO RIDERS" policy was adapted from then on.
    Another dangerous, or at least very scary time happened when the neighbors, Elroy and Melvin Fischer were bringing hay in to the barn. Using the small "L", Melvin attempted to bring a fully loaded ha wagon up the hill from the river. The tractor amazed everyone by actually getting almost to the top of the hill. Unfortunately the trail went from gravel to grass and the tractor lost traction on the wet grass. Elroy's team of horses (Pat and Queenie) where hooked to the tractor. Paul & Charlie, wanting a ride, mounted the horses. When Melvin opened the tractor throttle to full, the horses spooked and bolted, throwing both Paul and Charlie between the two horses. Only a firm grip on the harness prevented them from being tossed to the ground and under the hooves. It took, what seemed like, forever to calm the horses
    The river provided a great deal to the farm experience. The Little Eau Plaine river is a small stream that flows from Rice Lake to the Wisconsin River, draining a large area. Normally it was a quiet stream, however with snow melt or a large rainfall, the river could rise as much as 5 to 7 feet and become a raging torrent. It is classified as a navigable river meaning there were restrictions of damming it or building bridges. The river was used in the spring during the lumbering times as a way of transporting the winter's harvest of logs to the Wisconsin River and much lore has been created about these times. John build a bridge which complied with the restrictions, not damming the river and being low enough to the normal water level that it would be totally submerged at high water. The bridge actually spanned the river at two points, from one bank to an island and from the island to the other bank. It consisted of four trees anchored in concrete to which 2x8 planks were nailed. It was an annual ritual to lay the planks in the spring after the water receded and pull them up again in the fall. The other was across the river was to ford it near the bridge. The water at the ford was about 10 inches deep. All sorts of way were tried to use the river for recreation. During several winters, the snow was shoveled off for an ice skating rink, during the summer, swimming parties went down to the river. However the river was never really deep enough for any serious swimming. The river also contained leeches, which while not dangerous were gross. For several years, Paul and Charlie seined the river for "shiners" or small minnows which they sold to fishermen. One year Herb bought a water bike. It was a bicycle frame mounted on two pontoons. The pedals tuned a paddle wheel and it was steered with a rudder attached to the handlebars. The lack of depth meant that the pontoons scraped bottom, opening holes and sinking the bike. More than once Jim Trudeau was called upon to come out an solder the holes closed. The water bike survived about three year until, after it had sunk yet again, Herb, attempting to pull it from the river for repairs attached a chain to it and the entire frame was bent beyond repair.
    The Eau Plaine had one other bit of lore which attracted attention. It was that the last chief of the free Chippewa (or Ojibwa) tribe was buried "in the middle of the bend of the river" with a white pine at his head. It was the legend that his great leader would continue to help guide the tribe until the pine was destroyed at which time his soul would go to the Happy Hunting Grounds. This location was, according to local writer and historian, John Pinion to be on the farm. In one of the pasture areas there stood an old white pine tree. This tree was in an area in which white pine did not normally grow. Once, wondering about the "middle of the bend of the river," Paul and Charlie paced off from the tree to the river and found that the tree represented the center point of an arc scribed by the river. There was talk about taking shovels to determine the truth, however, Herb was opposed to it. Whether it was Herb's reverence for a burial ground, or not wanting to have the possibility of a legend destroyed is not known, but the chief, if he was there remained undisturbed. A foot note, the pine tree was hit by a lightening bolt and destroyed in the 70's, a fitting end of the tree and a grand entrance into the happy hunting ground for anyone buried beneath it.
    The outhouse is also a source of several stories. It was two holer and there was no amount of lime,
applied almost daily, that could reduce the odor and flies one would associate with such as structure. The outhouse was equipped with the lower portions of a training potty. These were for the peace of mind of smaller children against the fear of falling in. One day, David, who was potty training decided to venture alone. He emerged from the outhouse wearing one of the potty seats around his neck. It had to be broken off. There was a neighbor boy, Marv Lange, who for several seasons celebrated Halloween in the traditional manner of tipping over the outhouse. Herb countered his efforts by first attaching the building to posts. However his most effective ploy was to have the house moved back a couple of feet. When Marv came down the dark path to the outhouse, he didn't know he was walking into an open pit. His father told him that it would serve his right trying to outsmart Herbie Johnson, known as a youth to be one of the premiere out house tippers of Wood and Marathon counties.     One of the sad stories that can be told about the farm concerns the death of the youngest child, Jane. Late on summer afternoon, Paul and Charlie drove to the farm for supper and a change of clothes. They had a short time between shifts at the Marshfield Canning Company. They heard Jane crying. According to Annie, she, Margaret and Janie were running down the path between the tractor shed and the barn, trying to scare the Fischer's horses. They all were holding hands, she fell and a stick fell into the pasture. She apparently had fallen on the stick. She began to cry Annie remembered the guys getting out of the car and she and Margaret ran up for help and Paul carried her into the house. During supper, Jane became nauseous. Adele put her on the couch where she fell asleep. A bit later that evening, she woke up wanting to see Father Giles, who was coming out to participate in a bible study group, but she couldn't remain awake. Consulting with the family pediatrician it was discovered that there was a stomach flu going about and that two children Jane had played with that week were affected. Adele was told what to look for as far as other symptoms. Unknown to anyone, Jane had a large cyst growing on her stomach and the fall had ruptured it, peritonitis had set in which lead to her death. It is unfortunate that the symptoms of the peritonitis and stomach flu were identical. It is also ironic that Jane's paternal grandmother, Eva, had died from the same cause.