From: Fox Valley, Saskatchewan
9 November 1931
Dear Staats-Anzeiger!
I am sending a small report to my friends to let them know that our harvest was bad. For that reason, I drove together with Vinzens Miller to Belseker, which is about 300 miles northwest of here, to help with the harvest and the threshing there. During the harvest, they paid $1.50 per day and $2.00 for the threshing. The people had a nice harvest concerning the straw, but concerning the grain, the harvest was very weak because the wheat was hit hard by frost. There was no wheat rated #1 this year in Belseker, and the people are saying that they can easily add up the years when they did have wheat that wasn’t frozen and the same goes for oats. But they do have good land (soil).
I worked for Oswald K. Ternes, son of Karl and Theresia Ternes, nee Russ from Krasna, Bessarabia. We made the trip to Belseker by car and drove the distance of 300 miles in 7 hours. The road was always good and I felt like driving all the way around the world. I also met some friends, among them Mr. Anton Kraenzel, who is from our village Krasna in Bessarabia. As far as I could tell, he is a man full of life, but our meeting was too short and we had to part. I worked in Belseker from 1 September until 29 October when we went home. Now we live in peace and contentment.
Anna Dirk is on the sick list. She has rheumatism and has been bedridden for two months. This is to inform her children and friends in Emmental, Bessarabia. I am very sorry about the death of my comrade Johannes P. Volk and convey my sincere condolences to his wife and the children. I thank my old neighbor Severin Becker for the information. May God also give peace to your father Ignatz Becker and may the perpetual light shine upon him! Oh Lord, let them rest in peace!
I would like my friend Lazarus Volk to reach for his pen again and write in the Staats-Anzeiger.
I am greeting all friends and readers.
Anton A. Soehn