My folks maintained a Montana homestead in the early 1900s, and one winter we had a run-in with timber wolves. When we needed groceries during the winter, my father would cull out some chickens and take them to town to sell for groceries.
My mother and brother and I were watching him one time when he was about a mile from home. What looked like several calves were following him at a distance of about 100 yards.
When he returned Mother asked whose calves they were.
“They weren’t calves,” he said. “They were timber wolves. And if they had come too close, I was ready to turn the chickens loose.”
From then on he carried a shotgun when he went to town.
Preston Bryson
Beatrice, Nebraska
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
