The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

It took about 40 years and two sets of current descendants to make the wish of a "homestead baby" come true. Joe Havlovick's grandfather, Anton, and Joe's father, Paul, homesteaded on two contiguous 320 acre tracts "north of Dodson" on the Big Flat in 1917. Anton Havlovick's great grandchildren believe the two homesteaders were drawn to America by the prospect of "free land" touted in the newspaper ads they likely saw back home in Czechoslovakia. Like many prairie homesteaders, Anton and Paul failed in the 1930's. Four years old at the time, Joe's family resettled in Ronan where he finished high school in 1949. Joe died in February of 2021.

Per his adult children Joe had fond memories of the family's homestead near Lost Lake and always considered himself a homestead baby. He loved telling stories to his children about life on the homestead. His wish was to revisit the old homestead and in 1985 he made a trip to the area. His children are convinced Joe never made it to the actual site. He took photos of the area but none, it turns out, were of the original homestead.

Three of Joe's four children decided to fulfill their dad's dream and locate the family's homestead tracts. They arrived on the Big Flat in early fall this year armed with maps, photos and all sorts of technological searching aids, determined to find the original Havlovick homestead.

Penny Havlovick-Fogelstrom, Peg Havlovick and Brian Havlovick (a fourth sibling, Brad, did not make the trip) first met with Tricia Kimmel believing from their maps that the old homestead was now part of the Kimmel family's holdings. Turns out the land where the homestead was located is part of a larger grazing allotment owned by the Van Voast family. The Havlovick siblings contacted Alan Van Voast, also a descendant of homesteaders on the Big Flat near Turner, for help finding the homestead.

As Alan described it, "Trish Kimmel did a 'lateral handoff' sending the siblings to me." Alan recalls, "I heard my dad (Jack) talk about the Havlovick place but I didn't know the exact location or the history of the area. I knew that based on some broken up prairie and random crested wheat I'd seen out there that some of the area had been farmed years ago. Rock piles along some boundaries of fields also suggested farming had occurred in the area." Alan said he'd never really explored the area because it was too rough to travel easily and he knew that much of the area was not suited to farming.

About helping the Havlovick descendants find the old homestead, Alan said, "I thought it would make a great story that needs to be remembered. Those folks (original homesteaders) were the real deal and their spirit made this country great." He met the siblings who were traveling in a recreational vehicle and the group headed to find the homestead.

An unnamed hill helped locate the Havlovick homestead

With his general knowledge of the area and a map the Havlovick siblings had, Alan said, "I knew where my fences were located and could drive to where some stones were piled that likely were connected to the homesteads." Section markers could still be found and that determined some of the corners of the homestead tracts shown on the map.

Once at the general location of the homestead the searchers began to refer to some family photos they'd brought. One particular photo of Joe Havlovick sitting outside in a high chair proved useful to locate structures and find artifacts related to a homestead. Alan said, "I held up the photo of Joe in the high chair and pointing at the horizon said, "There's the hill in the photo."" He added, "The hill is not named but it is distinguished from other points by buck brush and some sheepherder monuments on top. Once we got the photo lined up with the hill we knew where to look for signs of the homestead."

Behind young Joe in the photo of him in the high chair is a stone boat with a large barrel sitting on it. The siblings speculate that since everyone had to be out working they probably put the baby in the chair and set him right in the middle of the activity so they could keep an eye on him. The searchers found an abandoned, rock-filled well in a coulee, noticeable by a manmade dirt berm around the well. Alan believes that berm was to keep runoff from going down the well in the wet season. Some small holding dams in the coulee had deteriorated over time but likely were built to impound runoff in the coulee.

Once the well was located a track made by the stone boat was still clear. The track led from the well for about 600 yards to the site of the house, barn and a couple of other structures. Alan explained, "A stone boat loaded with a barrel full of water left an imposing track over time." Triangles shaped by rocks, on the ground showed the corners of the former buildings. All the buildings sat on stone foundations atop the ground except one that was slightly buried into the ground, suggesting a building for keeping supplies cool.

Joe's kids remembered a story he told often about the well. The family left the homestead when Joe was four years old so the image of what he saw made quite an impression. Daughter Penny said, "My dad told how they would go to get water and his brother Frank (two years older than Joe) would be let down in to the well to get the water." Asked how deep a well in that area would be, Alan said he would guess around 15-20 feet. Alan added, "They might have also let the older boy down to scoop out buckets of gravel and dirt that would wash down in to the well."

Once the siblings found the well and structures, they discovered pieces of metal, crockery and a few pieces of wood from a homestead of that era. Alan said from photos he saw the family had a Model T touring car and added, "I found a connecting rod from a Model T, likely a part off the family's car."

After 85 years Havlovicks sleep again at the old homestead

The Havlovick siblings showed me a handwritten letter from Jack VanVoast (Alan's father who died in 2019). The letter, written in 2003, made apologies for being so long in responding but assured Joe that he, Jack, knew the area and would take him to the homestead. Jack VanVoast also included some 'abstracts' that related to the location and ownership history of the land. Alan said his grandfather Jefs VanVoast got the land sometime after the Havlovicks left but was not sure when. Alan didn't know about his father's letter and invitation to Joe. He wondered if Joe might have contacted his dad about coming to the homestead after Joe didn't find the homestead during his 1985 trip.

This current photo of three of Joe Havlovick's four adult children was taken a few weeks ago in the locale where the high chair photo was taken nearly 90 years ago. Note the small hill on the horizon (see arrow). That was used to help find the exact location of the structures on the homestead.

I asked Alan to give me a general description of where the Havlovick's homestead was located. They got their mail at the Lost Lake Post Office which Alan described as being "about two to three miles straight east of the Duck Pond. The homestead was southeast of the Little Jewell Post Office two or three miles. The Little Jewell Post Office might have been a little closer to the homestead but the terrain was a lot rougher so likely as a convenience the Havlovicks used the Lost Lake post office.

At the end of the first day at the homestead, as it got dark, the siblings told Alan they would go to Chinook to spend the night, then come back the next morning. Alan suggested they drive their RV over to a level spot where the old house stood and spend the night on the homestead, so they did. They had fulfilled their father's wish to be back at the homestead. As they shared the experience with me it was apparent how much this 'trip back home' had meant to them.

Asked about his role in helping the family reconnect to its roots, Alan VanVoast said, "I enjoyed helping someone so far removed from their family's history to learn about their ancestors. The place had character, they found artifacts used and left by their family. It was a great experience for me and Joe's kids."