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Working a Two-Team Farm, Arkansas
This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.
Recorded by Buffalo Island Central High School, EAST Students, in conjunction with the Buffalo Island Museum, Arkansas.
Edwin Dunigan talks about the two team farm that his father rented in order to make a living farming. Two of his brothers were serving during World War II so Edwin and one of his brothers worked the farm while going to school at the same time in Arkansas. He also describes what it was like after his dad bought a tractor.
This story is part of Buffalo Island Central EAST's online story map From Swamp to Farmland and exhibits at the Buffalo Island Museum, which both trace the the history of agriculture in the area.
Edwin Dunigan (00:04): My dad ran some ground. He ran what they call a two team farm. We had a team of big mares and then we had a team of mules. Well, my two older brothers was in service at the time. So, it fell to the next two of us to help take care of one of them for my dad there.
Edwin Dunigan (00:27): He used one and my brother, that's older than me, he was three years older than I was, we took day about when we started. He'd work one day, I'd work the next day, and we'd go to school the other day. And that's the reason we, I guess you would call, you got behind in classes on it. And finally from 1945, Dad bought a tractor. But we farmed with them two teams there, made two crops, we made two crops there.
Edwin Dunigan (01:12): Then, we moved up to another place up there and he had more ground. He bought a tractor, bought a Case tractor. And it's the loveliest thing you ever seen in your life. It had one of them where the... I know you've seen pictures of them, where the wheel stuck out in front. That was one of them like he bought on it. But you'd be surprised at the price of it.
Edwin Dunigan (01:39): It cost him $1,600 for that cultivator and a breaking plow. And he started from that, and we still kept one team, and we worked around. We didn't farm that much with it, but with the others. And that's where we started on it. I worked on that. We worked out to, it was 1952 when I graduated school here. I was drafted to the army.
Asset ID: 2018.20.22
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By The PealeThis digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.
Recorded by Buffalo Island Central High School, EAST Students, in conjunction with the Buffalo Island Museum, Arkansas.
Edwin Dunigan talks about the two team farm that his father rented in order to make a living farming. Two of his brothers were serving during World War II so Edwin and one of his brothers worked the farm while going to school at the same time in Arkansas. He also describes what it was like after his dad bought a tractor.
This story is part of Buffalo Island Central EAST's online story map From Swamp to Farmland and exhibits at the Buffalo Island Museum, which both trace the the history of agriculture in the area.
Edwin Dunigan (00:04): My dad ran some ground. He ran what they call a two team farm. We had a team of big mares and then we had a team of mules. Well, my two older brothers was in service at the time. So, it fell to the next two of us to help take care of one of them for my dad there.
Edwin Dunigan (00:27): He used one and my brother, that's older than me, he was three years older than I was, we took day about when we started. He'd work one day, I'd work the next day, and we'd go to school the other day. And that's the reason we, I guess you would call, you got behind in classes on it. And finally from 1945, Dad bought a tractor. But we farmed with them two teams there, made two crops, we made two crops there.
Edwin Dunigan (01:12): Then, we moved up to another place up there and he had more ground. He bought a tractor, bought a Case tractor. And it's the loveliest thing you ever seen in your life. It had one of them where the... I know you've seen pictures of them, where the wheel stuck out in front. That was one of them like he bought on it. But you'd be surprised at the price of it.
Edwin Dunigan (01:39): It cost him $1,600 for that cultivator and a breaking plow. And he started from that, and we still kept one team, and we worked around. We didn't farm that much with it, but with the others. And that's where we started on it. I worked on that. We worked out to, it was 1952 when I graduated school here. I was drafted to the army.
Asset ID: 2018.20.22