- 2 months ago
Two couples assume the lives of early settlers to the West. Using only the resources and tools of the period, they will attempt to build homes, raise livestock, hunt and grow crops.
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00:00To be continued
00:30Yeah, I've got some people here with a team of horses.
00:47Look like some settlers, and they're wondering where they can park them.
00:54July 29th.
00:56It's the opening day of the Argyle homecoming weekend.
01:00People have come from all over Canada to celebrate with family and old friends, and to remember
01:05the hardy Scots and the Métis who began breaking this land in the 1870s.
01:11Frank and Alana and Tim and Deanna are the special guests of the community.
01:15It's their first trip to town.
01:17For the people of Argyle, the pioneers are a living reminder of the spirit that put this
01:22place on the map.
01:30I love it here.
01:35I love it.
01:37I love it here.
01:48I love it.
01:49I'd like to introduce you to the people who are pioneering in Argyle, and they're going
01:56to make Argyle famous.
01:57You'll get used to it, you'll get used to it.
02:05Living like a settler, you'll get used to it.
02:09Mosquitoes, mud and more, a tent without a floor.
02:15Two couples, one young, one gray.
02:19To live in Argyle in the old-fashioned way.
02:23It's wonderful, it's marvelous, no debt, no bills, no worries for a year.
02:32But when you get used to it, and you're really used to it, you just move in, and then the
02:39year will end.
02:40You're on my old farm.
02:41Yeah.
02:42Oh really?
02:43I'm a Copeland.
02:44Oh my word.
02:45Well.
02:46Tim discovers a living link to the homestead.
03:01Gladys Elliott has arrived with a photo album and her memories of a childhood spent on the
03:06same land Tim and Frank have been plowing.
03:09It's common ground for these pioneers from different generations.
03:12There, let's see those deers.
03:14Let's see those deers.
03:17Oh, they're real.
03:19Oh, that is so neat.
03:24Community is important to the Treadways.
03:31In the past weeks, they've really missed going to church.
03:34Probably the most important thing in my life is my relationship with God.
03:38And we've been isolated out in our little tent in our little prairie over there.
03:45And I've certainly missed just being able to worship God with other people.
03:51But the Logies are looking for something different.
03:54Faith is important to them too.
03:56But they're idealists who've signed on for a true experience of pioneer life in the 1870s.
04:02They discover that a trip to the Argyle homecoming means stepping back into the 21st century.
04:08Just so many people here.
04:11They're all happy for us.
04:12But it's just that many people come up and talk to you and take your picture and everything.
04:17And it's really...
04:18I said it felt like our wedding again.
04:19Yeah.
04:20I said it and smiled so many times for the photos.
04:21That's what it felt like.
04:22I couldn't do it anymore.
04:23Everyone's amazing.
04:24Everyone.
04:25The hardest part probably too in the day was saying, everyone said, can we come visit and
04:28can you accept it?
04:29Can we make you a pie?
04:30Can we make you down?
04:31No.
04:32We love you too and you're wonderful but we can't.
04:36We would be eating full course meals.
04:37One of the reasons they're so supportive is most of their relatives in the area did this.
04:41So to them it's really great to see that people have an interest in stuff that they did.
04:46Well, Dad actually cleared all the land.
04:51Took all the trees out and stumps and everything else.
04:54And the last one he cleared was over on the other side.
04:57The other one over there.
04:59He was only...
05:00Gladys Elliott takes Tim and Deanna to a meadow near their homestead.
05:04Back to the original site of her family's pioneer farmyard.
05:08Right in here.
05:09See that's the side there and there was a big haystack in there and then he had...
05:13So that would be right behind this...
05:14Right, yeah.
05:15Right in that area there, yeah.
05:17Facing the road.
05:18Facing the road, that's right.
05:19There it is right there.
05:20We were a loving family.
05:22Very close.
05:23Because when you go through things together and you have a few hardships.
05:29And that's good for you.
05:30Hard work that brings you together.
05:32Absolutely.
05:33And I think that's what Tim and I are realizing.
05:35That hard work.
05:36That's right.
05:37Yeah.
05:38That was right in here.
05:39And there was a garden down in there.
05:42And I used to play down in there and with my carriage and my dolls and pretend all those
05:46trees were my friends.
05:47I didn't have anybody to play with.
05:49So that was fun, yeah.
05:51Yeah.
05:52And then the back of the house.
05:54Is that the outhouse back there?
05:56Well, there was one there.
05:57Oh, for God's sake.
05:59I've sat in that one lots of times.
06:01See, it was only a one-seater.
06:06Sure.
06:07Oh, my God.
06:08And Eaton's catalog was always in there.
06:12At this old farm site, Tim hears a whisper of encouragement from Gladys's father, who
06:17labored over these timbers 80 years ago.
06:21I mean, this is exactly what we're doing.
06:24Is that right?
06:25Exactly.
06:26We've got our barn.
06:27We've got it about this high.
06:29Yeah.
06:30And it looks just like this.
06:32No kidding.
06:33Yeah.
06:34God bless you, too.
06:35And be thankful every day.
06:37You were an inspiration to us.
06:38Oh, thank you.
06:39Yes.
06:40Good.
06:41And bringing us down the memory lane.
06:43Your mom can do it, I can do it.
06:44You can.
06:45You can.
06:46And you know, first thing you know, you'll be old like we are.
06:50The pioneers return to the daily grind.
06:55There's a house to build with a few primitive tools.
07:00Tim has found a way of leveling this old-style log foundation.
07:04We've got a little bit of water in a cooking pan.
07:08So we just put the one side on the string and then just check to see how much water is
07:15on each side.
07:17And we're a little bit low on that end.
07:20So we'll lift it up a little bit and then just check her for there.
07:24Then we can dig the logs down and have it so that the house is relatively level.
07:30Tim and Deanna's house will be bigger than Frank and Alana's.
07:34It'll have a kitchen and a cook stove, which the two couples will share.
07:37It's going up fast.
07:39But living and working together day after day is taking its toll.
07:45Most people at most job sites would agree that if it wasn't for people, the job would be a lot easier.
07:55Relationships are probably the hardest thing of any job, any part of life.
08:04And past week has been a frustrating week.
08:10Frustrating in relationships.
08:13How do you think we're doing?
08:16How are you getting along?
08:18As a foursome?
08:19Honest.
08:20Honest.
08:21Well, you notice there is some hesitation.
08:25I think we're getting along.
08:30I think we have problems sometimes.
08:32You know, we don't always agree with everything.
08:35You know, but I think we get along as well as, you know, it's as two couples can who don't know each other and are just thrown into this, you know.
08:45I think we get along really good for that.
08:47There's been a tension for the past week and I don't know what's bothering her.
09:03And we can only surmise that it's something about us or about one of us.
09:09Do you have any idea of why it might be?
09:13There have been things that we have talked about recently that we have agreed to disagree.
09:18Like what?
09:20Just issues.
09:22And, um...
09:24Be specific, I mean, if you want.
09:26No, I don't want to, really.
09:28It's not important.
09:29But just the past few days, there's been...
09:32They have, you know...
09:34Well, the past week.
09:36Past fiscal week.
09:38Just wanted to...
09:40Alana returns.
09:42But the problems won't go away.
09:44Tim and Deanna want other people around.
09:47Frank and Alana like to be alone.
09:49There's tension over how pioneer life should be lived.
09:52And everyone's exhausted by the conflict.
09:55That was my other big frustration today.
09:58I feel like I've had it with the fact that there's constantly people in here.
10:02And they're great people.
10:04They're all really nice.
10:05And they're neighbors, which they are allowed to come.
10:07But too often, and more and more, they're bringing us things.
10:12It started off, once in a while, they'd bring us jam.
10:14And once in a while, they'd bring a loaf of bread.
10:15And then they'd see we would have a lot of foods.
10:17They started bringing over more stuff.
10:18You know, we didn't have a garden, so they'd bring us a little bit of lettuce.
10:21And now it's just gotten to the point where it's not appropriate.
10:24And I'm just feeling frustrated because they're so nice.
10:27And you don't want to say, you know, go take all that home.
10:30You don't want to offend them.
10:31And so we kind of had a talk today and decided we are going to start saying something to them.
10:35But it is frustrating because Tim and Deanna like to be social and want people around.
10:39We, the whole idea we wanted to come out here is we wanted to experience the isolation.
10:43And neither of us have felt more unisolated in our whole life.
10:47Like Frank and I said, we don't have to see people this often when we're at home.
10:51All four pioneers have made friends in the Hutterite colony just down the road.
11:00Here we have our neighbours who have come to help us peel logs.
11:04And the fellow in the back there is taking out a stump.
11:08That's David.
11:10The colony is a farming commune of about 100 people, bound together by faith, generosity and centuries of history.
11:18The Hutterites have especially been a salvation for Tim and Deanna,
11:22who've encouraged them to visit the homestead and experience their pioneer work.
11:27This is Joyce here who's whitewashing our ceiling.
11:31Meanwhile, the Hutterites have invited the Treadways to church on the colony
11:35and even switched the services from Low German to English to make them feel welcome.
11:40You need other people in life that you can talk to because we have to work together,
11:47we eat together, we cook together.
11:49You're so focused together that you need an outlet.
11:54And these Hutterites have been wonderful to us.
11:57They've kind of, in a sense, maybe replaced our family.
12:00We had to leave behind our boys and it's just been wonderful having young kids around.
12:04For us, it's been a real blessing.
12:07The Hutterites have purple beans, too, eh?
12:10Bright purple string beans.
12:12What?
12:13When they sit in a bowl, they turn in and bring them for salads.
12:16Deanna and I went and picked beans and cucumbers at the Hutterites on Monday.
12:20They asked us if this Monday we would come help them in their vegetable garden.
12:23So we had a lot of fun and, of course, we came back with some beans, which was nice.
12:28So we're just canning them.
12:30We did seven jars yesterday and it took us two hours to get the canning pot to boil.
12:36And then it takes, we want to do it for three hours just to be safe because we're worried about botulism.
12:41So, really, it took five hours of just trying to keep the stove going.
12:45How are things going, you guys?
12:47Pretty good.
12:49Yep.
12:50So, a lot better than last week.
12:53Frank and I talked and I think it's a good, it was good after we talked to you and we just kind of said we've got to relax about certain stuff.
12:59Not care.
13:00Yeah, try not to care.
13:02So, try not to care.
13:05And it's helping.
13:06I so badly wanted to live exactly like a settler and I don't know if it's harder than I thought or it's just not as possible in the year 2000.
13:13In little things, like for example, the Hutterites came and helped us on Saturday dig the well.
13:18And so then in exchange we went and helped them on Monday to pick vegetables.
13:22And then I thought later, if we would have had rain here for a month straight, our neighbors would have too and they wouldn't have had beans to give us.
13:28So, I struggle with that a lot inside.
13:31I wanted the hardships a little more.
13:33I mean, it's more difficult in some ways.
13:34We have E. coli in our well and a settler wouldn't have experienced that.
13:37They wouldn't be struggling with their year 2000 thoughts and dreaming of year 2000 food.
13:41So, some things are harder here than they would have had, but some things are also a lot easier.
13:45But I think that's just part of trying to do it now.
13:48Frank and Alana came here hoping for a picture perfect pioneer experience.
13:52But in small ways, the 21st century is interfering with that dream.
13:56An example is their second well.
13:59Modern day tests show it's contaminated with E. coli.
14:02And so are other wells all around the district.
14:05The first pioneers would have had no choice.
14:08They would have used this water.
14:10Some would have died.
14:12But that's avoidable today.
14:14The pioneers are able to draw their drinking water from a neighbor's well that's tested safe.
14:19So, we're just having the same problem everyone else is.
14:24No one right now has good water.
14:25Most people are either boiling or drinking bottled water.
14:27So, it's making it a lot more difficult for us.
14:31What do you got there, Frank?
14:34Two mice.
14:35Dead mice in the well.
14:36We find that all the time.
14:38It's one of the reasons we have to crib.
14:40They, I don't know, they crawl in to take a drink and they just fall in there.
14:44We have a ton of frogs a lot of times too, but the mice are the things you really don't like finding dead in your well.
14:50The houses are a happier story.
14:56The two log cabins are authentic and a welcome source of some settler pride.
15:01Because we really like it bright, we're going to be whitewashing the ceiling boards so that it will be brighter in there, especially in winter when the days are short.
15:14And also, it is a retardant for mold.
15:19And these boards are very damp.
15:21I don't think they're stone-dried.
15:22I think they're just cut, sawed and given to us.
15:31It's easy to forget the pioneers are working with just a few antique tools, some rough lumber and the poplar logs they dragged out of the bush.
15:40The design and construction are the genius of Tim Treadway, who makes it look easy when it isn't.
15:49The swelling of the wood is quite interesting to deal with all the time.
15:55We had a rainstorm yesterday or something like that and I had a hole in the floor for our fridge, which was only three boards and I had about a quarter of an inch space.
16:06And after the rainstorm, we couldn't get the boards back in.
16:10So, we're going to be contending with that all the time and then we're going to be contending with a lot of spaces when they dry out.
16:15And we're just going to have to let our floors go dirty and fill the cracks, I guess.
16:19It seems like the work never stops.
16:29Yeah.
16:30You know, I've thought about that and especially, you know, honey, we don't have children here, but if we had children here too, kids and having to do the wash for them, it's just a full-time job just keeping our wash clean on the scrub board.
16:42But, yeah, I've thought a lot about those settlers, you know, with little children around and, boy, it must have been difficult.
16:51Or maybe it just came to boil too quick this time and it's too hard in the jars.
16:58These ones seem okay.
17:02Frustrating.
17:03Frustrating.
17:04Yeah, it is, just for four jars.
17:06It's kind of a whole day thing.
17:07I'd like to be out there working and I have to hang around here to keep the wood in the stove.
17:12And now with these, I've got to empty the water and stir it all over again.
17:20Meanwhile, the pioneers have made a deal with one of the neighbors.
17:23They'll cut firewood for him next winter if he cuts their wild hay crop this summer.
17:28The deal with Stuart Zaretta guarantees them enough winter feed for the animals.
17:34Some of the things are made in a later date, but the basic mower principle is exactly the same as when it first came out.
17:46And that's the area we were looking at.
17:49We wanted to make sure that it was period appropriate and this one is as close as we can come to it.
17:54And so we're going to strike up the deal.
18:03As I'm doing, I don't know about you, Tim, but I'm sure thinking about settlers back then.
18:09I mean, how many acres is this? This is only, what, three acres?
18:15We've got 40 to do.
18:17First time I've ever done this.
18:22But I'm loving it, yeah.
18:24Yeah, this is what the prairie is about, for me.
18:29Step up!
18:31Whoa!
18:33It's the first day I feel like a settler.
18:35It's neat, this is, this is kind of an experience I was looking forward to.
18:45When we thought of pioneering, this is what, this is pioneering.
18:54It turns out the neighbors love this too.
18:56Especially the Hutterites, who are reminded of their own pioneer beginnings.
19:01They bring generations of experience with them when they come to visit,
19:06and some of it is priceless.
19:08Here, a Hutterite elder remembers how to build a traditional haystack,
19:13so it will shed the rain.
19:14You keep working the perimeter, so it doesn't all just slide down.
19:20You've got to firm it up, the outside, and keep packing it down,
19:24to get a foundation.
19:26Equipped with the wisdom of their farming elders,
19:30the pioneers go on alone.
19:32They'll spend the next few weeks gathering hay for the animals.
19:36The old-timers have told them they'll need 10 tons of it for the winter.
19:40They decide, just to be safe, they'll put up 12.
19:42The rows are raked by hand.
19:45The hay, loaded into the wagon, stamped and packed,
19:48and then transferred to the haystack back at the homestead.
19:51The work is monotonous, but satisfying.
19:54And the load seems lighter when they're working as a team.
20:00It's our 31st load.
20:03Probably have another...
20:0520 load, I think.
20:07I'm going to share a few load.
20:12I'm going to make the main room for the temple.
20:14Students will put a look.
20:15And the placement of the home is a family tree.
20:18Our home is a family tree.
20:20It's always a child and this is a baby tree.
20:22When he rolls.
20:24How do you feel?
20:25How are you looking forward to moving in here?
20:27Yeah.
20:28Doubly looking forward to it because we know that when we do move in,
20:31our boys will be here right away.
20:32away so that uh gives us much much incentive yeah it's kind of nice also for the personal
20:40side of your marriage too to have the privacy yeah so we can talk and have a good talk together
20:48what do you mean what are you talking about andy don't embarrass me now
20:54that's you know how have you handled that well for myself it's been interesting because i thought it
21:07would be you know we've just been really so tired that it uh it hasn't been something that's uh
21:17a lot less frequent here than back home
21:20our boys are listening to this that's true too you're gonna be so embarrassed but there's just
21:26been so much workload that uh we go get into our tent we're just plain bushed too tired for anything
21:32except sleep in the long evenings of august frank and alana put the finishing touches to their house
21:42for a time they're alone together sharing the work and working out who's boss well look
21:51oh god i was thinking the width that either
21:56down the way
21:59yes yeah no not no you already put one in here
22:04but you don't need to put another one in that one but it's a big one no it's not that's a big one
22:08this is a medium
22:11no no no now up here don't talk to me like that
22:18i keep my fingers away
22:20you look here you made me screw that one up look at this see this overhang remember we talked about
22:26that so it's too busy getting in trouble for other things
22:30so do they teach roofing in nursing school
22:33oh apparently not just in man school apparently that's the only way you can do it right
22:40how easy as a foreman oh my love for him goes deeper every second up here
22:50we've had some uh the wind has been really hitting the tar paper with the sun it's really been flexing
22:55and uh we've actually got a hole over on the other side so um i don't think it would have lasted
23:01and it turns out it only cost us in in 1875 to shingle both roofs only cost three dollars
23:08you know a box of matches cost us 35 cents and to shingle this roof cost a dollar
23:12like for us it was three dollars and for the film company to buy all the shingles
23:17in real today money was like thirteen hundred and sixty dollars or something so
23:25meanwhile work continues on tim indiana's house
23:29they use their settler cam to record the hutterite youngsters who have become regular visitors
23:34the colony elders approve hoping that their young people will discover something from their own past
23:40here
23:54In each step of this long weary day, let me bless the trembling hand in hand.
24:08Annabelle is pregnant and due any day.
24:11Frank is rushing to get a home ready for this addition to the Pioneer family.
24:15What are you doing here, Frank?
24:17Working on the barn.
24:19Just bringing the walls up higher so that we'll be able to get it all finished off.
24:26Except I have the pig eat my feet on this side and she eats me when I'm down there.
24:30I think I'm dinner, I think.
24:40Why moss?
24:43We don't have internet here, we don't have an encyclopedia here, we don't have a homesteader book here.
24:47But Tim thinks it has a better R factor than wood, the clay and straw.
24:53And also it'll, obviously these logs aren't dry yet.
24:58And once we get that wood stove going on inside, these logs are going to shrink.
25:02And he feels that this moss might expand easier or it will fit into the cracks easier than clay will.
25:12Which is obviously in Alan and Frank's house already is falling out in places.
25:17And also in winter if it does fall out, we're going to have moss and burlap bags and I'll be able to refill.
25:25How do you get it?
25:26From the swamp over here.
25:28Do you have to dig it out of the ground or where does it come from?
25:30Oh, at first I did, putting my hands underneath that swamp and lifting it up and not knowing if there's a snake or a mouse or anything underneath there.
25:38But now I have a rake and that's working a lot better.
25:41It's going to be a big weekend on the homestead.
25:51Tomorrow the Treadway's three sons are coming for a visit.
25:55Tim and Deanna will finish their cabin just in time.
25:58Outside they're making everything ship-shape.
26:01But with the miracle rake, you can do it all.
26:04And for only three easy payments in 1995, it can be yours.
26:11They're looking forward to showing off the good things they've done here.
26:16But hardships and danger are always near.
26:20In fact, disaster is about to strike.
26:24I guess we better not let smudge it though.
26:45Just a spark, eh?
26:47Is that still on fire up top?
26:49Yeah.
26:50A hot wind relights an old smudge fire.
26:53The dry grass and old straw act like a wick.
26:56And in a moment the barn is ablaze.
26:58There's no escape for Annabelle.
27:00They try everything to comfort her.
27:02And then they send for the vet, hoping he can save her.
27:06Relax, please.
27:09Relax.
27:10Has that been going for two days?
27:12I can't believe it.
27:13Oh, so it burned all here first, did it?
27:16Look, it traveled right along there.
27:18And then I guess it lit the hay and went up there.
27:21He's putting mud on her.
27:25Water mud to try and put it on her.
27:28Yeah, and he's keeping the bugs off her.
27:32And the vet's on his way right now.
27:34Nice and cool eggs.
27:36She's having problems walking.
27:39Her back, one back foot is badly burnt.
27:43The flames are probably 20 feet up in the air here.
27:49And we were, I was working up at the house.
27:52And Deanna was working over there.
27:54And Frank and Lana were over there.
27:56And Deanna heard the hoo-woof of the smoke, of the flames, I guess, just igniting.
28:03And then the pigs started squealing and we all came running.
28:08We just had our two pails of drinking water.
28:11And our wells are totally dry.
28:14All of them?
28:15This one down here.
28:17And so we had to run up to our house, which is quite a ways away for, when you think of a fire,
28:23you know, to come with two pails of water to douse on, you know, flames that are 20 feet high.
28:29It's a pretty useless feeling.
28:31Well, that was another one of our fires from yesterday.
28:33And we thought we'd better just kind of stoke it up and make sure it was out.
28:37And now we spread it out.
28:38We haven't used it since yesterday afternoon around 3.
28:41And obviously that's how hot it was.
28:42It's catching fire again.
28:44Was it smoking at all?
28:45No, there's been no smoke since yesterday.
28:47So that's really scary.
28:48It shows us how dry things are.
28:49And I think we're going to be a little paranoid around here from now on.
28:52Because of the area involved and the nature of the burns.
28:56I mean, it's not a feasible thing to treat.
28:58In any case, whether the decision is to consume her or just to not consume her,
29:03I mean, the crux of the matter is that Sour is in very good shape.
29:08And I think she considered she'll be given to put her out of her misery.
29:22Is she dead or should I put another one in her?
29:32No, she's dead.
29:33Hmm.
29:34Well, let's go get the horse.
29:39I'm not sure what a settler would have done.
29:52Just to put up a pig is a lot of work.
29:58We don't even have, we maybe have two jars we can use and we don't have the salt here.
30:03And our next pickup is until Wednesday.
30:05We're not set up at all for it.
30:07No.
30:08We're not set up for butchering a pig.
30:14The pioneers are defeated.
30:16They decide to haul Annabelle away and bury her.
30:25It was supposed to be a day to celebrate.
30:28Tim and Deanna are moving out of the tent and into their house.
30:33How long have you been in that tent?
30:34We were in that tent.
30:35Eleven weeks.
30:36The longest I've ever spent in a tent in my life.
30:39Probably the crappiest tent you've ever spent in your life.
30:42Are you going to miss it?
30:44Negatory.
30:47But the memory of the afternoon hangs over the camp like a cloud.
30:51By nightfall, they will be in their houses, alone with their thoughts of this day.
30:56It will be remembered as one of the worst.
31:00What a day, like, ugh.
31:02You know, we were just thinking today it's going on.
31:04I see Tim and Deanna were going to move in today.
31:07Their boys are coming Fridays.
31:08That's why we were doing all this clean up, which ended up starting the fire.
31:12You know, and then we felt like crap because we had started the fire yesterday.
31:15And so, of course, all day today we were saying, you know, if we only would have thrown water on it.
31:19Although it didn't seem like there was anything to throw water on.
31:22But if we only would have been more careful, we wouldn't have had a pig in pain.
31:25And I just, I hate even the smell of smoke now.
31:30And it's so funny.
31:31I didn't think it would bother me that much.
31:32But normally I love the smell of a fire.
31:34I went out tonight and I just have a gag because Tim and Deanna have a fire going over there and you can smell the smudge coming through.
31:39Because now I just see and smell a burnt pig when I smell a fire.
31:44So hopefully that goes on.
31:45I think I might have nightmares the sound of that pig tonight.
31:47Just screaming forever was terrible.
31:49This is the moment Deanna's been waiting for.
31:57The pioneers are allowed two brief visits with family during the year.
32:02Oh, man.
32:04You look like a hippie.
32:05Look at you.
32:06Oh, man.
32:07What you doing, Mom?
32:08Yeah.
32:09Oh, man.
32:10Oh, man.
32:11How'd you do that?
32:12You look like a hippie.
32:13Look at you.
32:14Oh, man.
32:16How'd you do that, Mom?
32:18The Treadway's three sons will stay for the weekend.
32:44It will be precious time together.
32:46Time to show off the rewards that come from 11 weeks of hard work.
32:56Nice to meet you guys.
32:57I can't believe how nice this place is, Papa.
33:01I can see you living here forever.
33:03I don't think so, not this lady.
33:07Pretty nifty.
33:09Who made the jars?
33:12Oh, the neighbors gave us a housewarming present.
33:15This is where our kitchen's going to be, eh?
33:17Uh-huh.
33:18That's what this is, yeah.
33:20Nice flowers and everything.
33:22Oh, Dorado!
33:24She's trying to get back in there for some reason.
33:26Come on in.
33:32There, now the whole family's here.
33:34Trampoline.
33:35You're going to have lots of itching today, boy.
33:36We'll get you packing.
33:37I'll tell you, my legs were so sore.
33:38One day I said to the kids, to Alan and Frank and Deanna, I said, somebody's going to have
33:39to pack because my legs will not move.
33:42They just wouldn't move anymore.
33:44So, what do you guys think of everything?
33:45It's awesome.
33:46Yeah.
33:47Yeah.
33:48I'm pretty surprised how nice the places look for sure.
33:51All these places are awesome.
33:53Pioneers, eh?
33:54What do you think of that?
33:55Oh, that's it.
33:56It's not bad.
33:57It's fun.
33:58But the bugs were the worst at the beginning, so the bugs aren't that bad now.
34:16You can go in the bush and there's no bugs.
34:18These flies don't bite at all.
34:19No.
34:20And the mosquitoes?
34:21There's no mosquitoes now.
34:23Good job, baby.
34:26Good job, Daisy.
34:27Good job, Danny.
34:43You have the dearest thing in my life are these kids.
34:46I wasn't complete here without my kids, you know?
34:49At least one of them around us.
34:51I was dreading the empty nest syndrome,
34:53which was coming in a couple of years,
34:55and I'm getting it early.
34:57I've got an empty nest.
34:59And seeing the dog, too, this is my best friend here,
35:01one of my best friends, anyhow.
35:03And it's really good, really good.
35:05I just feel complete, you know?
35:09The Treadway boys have been running the family construction business
35:12while their parents have been battling the elements on the homestead.
35:16It's time to celebrate their accomplishments together
35:19while they can.
35:22You're not doing this alone.
35:24What do you mean?
35:25Just at home, taking care of the business
35:27and paying all their bills.
35:31Mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, gardening.
35:34Taking care of David.
35:35Laundry, yeah.
35:36One of the things that is a theme of the show is about separation
35:40and that goes, if you think back to the settlers.
35:43Never see the family again.
35:45Must have been terrible.
35:47No mail.
35:48No mail.
35:49I know back then you had to pay for your own letters
35:51and I read a story of a person having to go to the store
35:53and they just looked at the letter and they picked up the letter at the general store,
35:58felt it, smelled it, and gave it back to the general store owner
36:03because it cost them 40 cents to get that letter from their family
36:07and they didn't have 40 cents to take it.
36:09So, you know, I think the loneliness for the first settlers
36:12was far greater than we've ever experienced.
36:19The cook stove arrives and the treadways take advantage of three strong backs
36:23to move it to the house.
36:25This visit has become a weekend of working together.
36:31The truth is, homesteaders enjoyed few, if any, such luxuries in the 1870s.
36:37Many immigrants left home and never saw their families again.
36:41This visit eases the burden of loneliness for these pioneers
36:45who have dropped in from the 21st century
36:47and who can never truly leave their modern life behind.
36:52One of the brains of this operation.
36:56Trim and a style.
36:58You betcha.
37:00Yep.
37:02We'll have to give you a trim when you get home.
37:04You betcha.
37:08Love you, son.
37:09Love you, too.
37:11You want to know how settlers managed
37:14when they were saying goodbye to their families
37:16and I'm sure it was just like this.
37:18One of the hardest times in their life.
37:20Not knowing they'd see their loved ones for a long time.
37:32I'm feeling good today.
37:34I'm not too bad at all.
37:38I thought I was going to have a rougher time than I am having,
37:44but I'm doing pretty good.
37:48I'm not having such a good time.
37:50No?
37:52Why don't you tell us about it?
37:54It's not easy.
37:56I'm not doing good.
38:02It was real hard saying goodbye this way.
38:04Thank goodness we slept okay.
38:05And I didn't wake up thinking about them
38:07or dreaming about them,
38:08but it's just so lonely here without them.
38:11It's just so lonely.
38:13August is ending,
38:17and the footage from the Pioneer's camera
38:19reveals how much they've become a part of the community.
38:22In the country,
38:23hospitality and help are given freely.
38:26For Deanna,
38:27the visitors substitute for family.
38:29Well, Charlie, what are you drinking?
38:33I'm drinking coffee from your new stove.
38:36Yeah, we got some help here from the neighbor boys
38:39just before they're going back to school.
38:41Came over and asked what they could do to help.
38:43This is Stanley.
38:45But what's working for Deanna
38:47may not be good for recreating history.
38:49The visiting seems to be out of control.
38:52The production team sees the tapes
38:54and begins to worry that all the pioneers' courage
38:57and hard work are being compromised
38:59by the growing number of visitors.
39:02Because the settler world is fragile
39:05and the advance of the 21st century
39:07onto the site is relentless.
39:13To Indiana, I feel like we're their police out here.
39:15And we feel like not everything out here
39:18is period-appropriate,
39:19so it bothers us because we want to do it right.
39:22And then they feel like we're policing them
39:25by always saying stuff.
39:26I think we have a different view of what's right, I think,
39:35is one of the huge problems.
39:37It's stupid with us all walking around completely miserable.
39:40Yeah, all four of us hate being here.
39:43Only because we don't like being around each other.
39:46They'd love it if we left.
39:48We'd be happier if they left,
39:50and we've all admitted it.
39:51And, you know, there's no way to live.
39:58Michael Scott is the show's producer.
40:00He arrives at the site
40:02and reluctantly confronts the pioneers with the problem.
40:06I would like to have a free discussion with you
40:10about our concerns, certainly.
40:13that the routine of life here is being compromised by the number of visits of people.
40:22I want your suggestions as to how we're going to deal with this.
40:26Anybody want to say something?
40:41It was my understanding that, yes, we could visit our neighbors,
40:45and we could go to church on Sunday, and I could bring my Bible.
40:48And that's what I came in on.
40:50Mm-hmm.
40:51And yes.
40:52Yes, I think that we should curtail it.
40:54But I do think that settlers back then did visit each other.
40:58Farmers visited each other for advice.
41:02Sure, people visited.
41:03And that was great to see.
41:04But it was not a weekly or daily occurrence.
41:07No.
41:08It wasn't, you know.
41:09I guess what you're saying is you want us to cut off of them other than on Sunday.
41:15And for me that's hard.
41:16That's really hard.
41:19To be honest, today, yesterday, Tim and I said, this is it.
41:22Let's pack this in.
41:23What are we doing this for?
41:25It is so hard here.
41:27It is hard here with us, us four getting along.
41:30I don't have a friend over here.
41:32I wish I did, but I don't.
41:36And I need friends.
41:37That's the kind of person I am.
41:39And I knew that that's what was going to be hard for me.
41:42Well, Tim and I know you're never going to probably believe this,
41:46but I know you guys are really nice, great people.
41:50And every resentment, literally, and every problem I've had with you guys out here,
41:55every single thing that's bothered me,
41:57and the neighbor things, even when I bring it up,
41:59and you guys think it's personal reasons.
42:02I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I came out here,
42:04and I wanted to do this exactly right.
42:07I wanted to be half starving in the winter if we needed to be,
42:10to feel like it.
42:11And every day it bothers me and puts me in a bad mood
42:14when I never personally feel like a settler.
42:18I don't out here.
42:21And I know we've been fighting constantly, all of us lately,
42:27and it's exhausting, and I'm tired of it.
42:31Compromises have to be made by everybody.
42:37It's part of the hell of this project.
42:39And you all recognize that when we started talking,
42:42and in all the interviews you all talked about,
42:44this is going to be a nightmare in many ways.
42:48And we recognize that it is in many ways.
42:51I mean, you were all dedicated to the idea of homesteading,
42:55trying it out.
42:56And have you lost that sense of purpose?
43:03The last week we have.
43:05The last week I said, I don't care anymore.
43:08The last week we've been feeling like that, I think.
43:11There's a lot of people who want you to succeed, I think, out there,
43:22because, you know, they want the 21st century to share
43:27and understand what sacrifices, what the commitment was
43:33that people had to make in that 19th century journey.
43:38And you're their last chance, many of them, to live that out,
43:43to see that lived out and to see people understand what's going on.
43:47And there's a purpose, certainly, for what you're doing.
43:50I think what we need to do, I think we have to realize that, you know,
43:56we're two couples, two stranger couples.
44:00I think we have to realize that we're not going to be perfect friends.
44:05And...
44:07Why...
44:09It's time to stop trying to do that, obviously.
44:11I think what we need to do, I think we need to start trying to be,
44:15trying to be civil with each other and trying to be, I don't know,
44:18trying to act like neighbors, instead of trying to act like a family type of thing.
44:23And then being disappointed when it's not.
44:24Yeah.
44:25Instead, maybe we should just say, hey, we're different people.
44:27Not put our sights so high, I think.
44:35There is agreement that visiting will be limited,
44:38as it would have been in settler times.
44:41The pioneers set aside their differences for now,
44:44because summer here has always been a fleeting pleasure.
44:46Winter is certain to be cold and dark.
44:50There's food and fuel together,
44:52and common ground to be found in simply working hard.
44:56Together.
44:57It's wonderful, it's marvelous.
45:08No death, no bills, no worries for a year.
45:12But when you get used to it, and you're really used to it,
45:16your optimism is taken over by fear.
45:19You'll get used to it, you'll get used to it.
45:29The absence of bug repellents, you'll get used to it.
45:33Grab a few leaves to wipe your bum, just listen to those mosquitoes hum.
45:37You can't take a walk for a romantic talk.
45:44It's wonderful, it's marvelous.
45:48They keep us company, where'er we go.
45:52But when you get used to them, and you're really used to them,
45:57they suddenly disappear before the snow.
46:00The snow.
46:01The snow.
46:02The snow.
46:03The snow.
46:04The snow.
46:05The snow.
46:06The snow.
46:07The snow.
46:08The snow.
46:09The snow.
46:10The snow.
46:11The snow.
46:12The snow.
46:13The snow.
46:14The snow.
46:15The snow.
46:16The snow.
46:17The snow.
46:18The snow.
46:19The snow.
46:20The snow.
46:21The snow.
46:22The snow.
46:23The snow.
46:24The snow.
46:25The snow.
46:26The snow.
46:27The snow.
46:28The snow.
46:29The snow.
46:30The snow.
46:31The snow.
46:32The snow.
46:33The snow.
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