While looking for some pictures recently, I came across a gem of a throwback dated July 13, 1977. Marge Bale of the Sidney (Nebraska) Telegraph visited our camp while we were cutting wheat in the Lodgepole area to gather her “story”. I thought it would be a good treasure to keep on this blog and to share with you. My goodness…I see quite a few things have changed since then!

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Women and children are taking part in the long, hot and dusty wheat harvest from southern Oklahoma to the Canadian border. It was unheard of in the past, but today it is a commonplace occurrence.

Two women and three children are a part of the Elvin Hancock crew of Grand Island, who are harvesting the 1977 wheat crop on the Don Hyde farm 14 miles north of Lodgepole. Part of the ten-member crew are Pauline Hancock, wife of the owner, a twenty-year veteran of the run, and her daughter-in-law, Barbara Hancock, a novice. This is Barbara’s first experience and she is accompanied by her husband, Larry, and their three children, Tracy (15), Mark (13), and Matt (10).

The elder Hancock’s live at Grand Island while the Larry Hancock family live at Papillion where Larry is employed as an Air Conditioning specialist at the SAC (Strategic Air Command) Underground. He saved his vacation reserve and annual vacation time in order to accompany his parents and family on the run that began June 1 at Cherokee, Oklahoma and will end approximately September 1 at Flaxton, North Dakota, on the Canadian border.

Barbara said, “I like the harvest run, so far. We are having a ball. I am glad the family embarked on the adventure. The boys wouldn’t have had anything to do all summer but go swimming and wonder the rest of the time what they could do.

The way things are working in the harvest, I know where they are, what they are doing and they are also earning money to add to their college savings accounts. I asked for the summer off from my job at the Ben Franklin Store in Papillion and I am glad I did.”

This is the 20^th harvest that Mrs. Hancock senior, Pauline, has accompanied her husband. During that time, she said, “We have had 19 new combines, Massey-Ferguson 750’s at the present. Tracy has gone with us the past four years and her grandfather taught her to run a combine. This year he is teaching Mark.”

She added, “I am proud of the fact that our crew has three generations running combines. Through the years, Elvin has taught his son and grandchildren to run the machines in the field cutting grain.”

The women are taking full advantage of the weather, the friendly people they meet and living in their fifth-wheeler and new camping trailer. The elder Mrs. Hancock says, “I had major surgery on my knee in March, so Barbara is handling most of the housekeeping chores.”

The crew cut the first wheat of the season at Cherokee, Oklahoma, where they camped on the farm before moving to Larned, Kansas.

“We had problems with rain in Kansas. We usually cut that job in seven days, but this year it took 17 days,” the elder Mrs. Hancock said.

“We arrived in Lodgepole July 2 and began cutting for Hyde that afternoon. We were in somewhat of a hurry to get out of Kansas before the July 4 holiday.”

“The wheat ripened much earlier in western Nebraska than before. We even had to pass up Dr. Mueller at Ogallala, a man whose wheat we have cut for many years. Most years, the wheat is ripe around Ogallala several days before Cheyenne County,” she added.

In the next few days, the crew will move from Cheyenne County to Broadus, Montana. Their next stop will be at Wolf Point, Montana, on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, then to Scobey, Montana and end the season at Flaxton, North Dakota where they have cut for many years. James Skeems at Flaxton, ND is the farmer they have cut for the longest, around 20 years.

“While at Flaxton, and before we wind up the harvest run for the year, I want to take Mark on a tour of the open-pit coal mine at Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada,” Pauline Hancock said.

She added, “He is interested in that sort of thing and we have taken the tour. It is interesting and educational, too.”

The veteran harvester, the elder Mrs. Hancock, said she likes the harvest run. “It isn’t a bed of roses. We have an occasional breakdown, but not often. Our machines are kept in good condition, kept in a building at home, and that alleviates a lot of problems.”

She went on to say, “This is one of the best seasons we have had in a long time. Last year, we only worked nine days in July. We spent quite a while in the Black Hills waiting for the wheat to ripen in Montana.”

There are ten on the crew, three hired men, Mark Rogers of Grand Island, Tom Blomstrand of Aurora and Randy Stratman of Chapman, and the rest are all family.

This is the first year for all three young men and they are making the best of the experience, particularly the climate change, they said.

“We always cut the best wheat of the whole run in western Nebraska,” Pauline Hancock said. “With all the wheat ripening so early this year, it has caused us to move right on after finishing a job, more than usual.”

The crew and family are accompanied by two dogs, Baron, a six-year-old basset hound, who is part of the Larry Hancock family, and eight-year-old “Heinz” breed, George.

George, the oldest member of the whole crew (counting seven dog years to one calendar year) was given to the Hancock’s as a puppy at Cherokee, OK and has become a member of the family.

Baron remains near the campsite most of the time while George, “who thinks he is people,” goes to the field with his master, Elvin Hancock. He rides in the tool truck when they travel, but climbs the ladder into the combine to accompany his master in the field.

Recent rains caused delays in wheat harvesting, but the delays enable the family group to relax a bit, visit friends they have made and take advantage of local activities.

Mark is interested in rocks and would like to look for petrified wood and other specimens to be found in the area. Prior to coming to western Nebraska, he visited some museums to learn some of the history of where he travels.

He has had a considerable learning experience on the trip. He learned to operate a combine cutting wheat and how to tarp trucks and he has visited new country.

He said, “I like history and want to learn what has happened in the areas we visit. I am anxious to see the Indians in South Dakota and Montana. I hope I can visit some more museums to see things that were once used in the areas we visit.”

Matthew, who will be a fifth grade student at Tara Heights Elementary School in Papillion, is taking full advantage of being away from the urban area.

He said, “It is great to see something besides houses and tress. I have had a chance to visit museums, go to the field to watch my grandfather harvest wheat and be cool once in a while. I like it in the western part of the state. I can see a long way, it isn’t so hot and I can be outside most of the time.”

“I like the colors I see out here. First I see a gold field, a brown field (summer fallow) and then a bright green field. It is real pretty.”

Traveling with the crew has given Larry the opportunity to be with his family and his parents. In his work at SAC, he gets one weekend off a month, and this is his first opportunity in a long time to be with all of them for any great length of time.

“I have really enjoyed the outdoors and seeing the beautiful fields of wheat. Most of all, I like the low humidity. The weather in the Panhandle is great and I really feel good. I hope we, my family and me, will be able to do it again next year,” he said.

The crew, as a rule, spends more time in Montana than in any other state because there is a period of time between the ripening of winter and spring wheat. During that time they rest, relax, get caught up on reading and visit scenic attractions in the state.

By the time the entire run is finished, the crew is tired and ready to head for home to rest a bit before starting to harvest corn around Grand Island.

The elder Mrs. Hancock said, “When we finish, we are all tired, but we have had a nice summer. It gets so hot at home during the summer, but all of the places we stop to cut wheat are much cooler. Following the wheat harvest is the way we avoid the heat.”

Tracy looks forward to Montana where she hopes to be able to visit friends she made during the three previous years she accompanied her grandparents.

She said, “The past years when I harvested with my grandparents, I haven’t seen any girls my age running a combine in the field. My grandmother calls me the “Bubble Gum Bandit”. She says I am the only combine operator she has seen who can drive a combine, chew gum and blow bubbles at the same time.”

Her mother said, “It is fun, an experience, and I’d like to do it again. Our family is making the most of being together in the fresh air and outdoors, away from the city.” She added, “I brought my sewing machine along to keep the mending done and to pass time while the crew is in the field and away from the campsite. I can always find a lot of things to do.”

The elder Hancock’s will be retiring from harvesting in a few years. Their biggest regret in retiring is that they will miss the friends they have made during their years in the business. They have harvested wheat for the same farmers each year, for the most part, and have made friends in every area they have worked.

The women are enjoying the season along with their families, but future seasons of harvesting for the Elvin Hancock’s are few.

The younger couple, Larry and Barbara Hancock and their family, will possibly return each year to longstanding customers. They could, without a doubt, combine wheat for the second generation of Hancock Harvest customers.