Remnants of the Sorensen Farm

The Sorensen Farm Today

Back in 1942 our family moved from southwest Minnesota to Tacoma, Washington. On our way, we stopped at the farm of Harvey and Anita Sorensen in Ellensberg, Washington. Harvey was Dad's cousin. The Sorensens had hearts of gold. Harvey loved to tease, especially my cousin, L. I remember that he had a border collie who was trained to round up the cows at milking time. It was an amazing sight. He' open the gate and off the dog would go, and line them all up in a row on their way to the barn for milking time. Milking time was quite a different venture than what you see at the Tillamock Dairy. Harvey was very sensitive that there was no cruelty to his animals. He got up close and personal with each and every cow twice a day.

Through our growing up years, we returned to the Sorensens many times. In addition to visiting with family, Dad used to get potatoes by the 100 pound gunny sack. Over the 4th, we'd see the town parade, and perhaps take in the rodeo. (Harvey was also concerned about cruelty to rodeo animals.) Summers were great time to get peaches and apricots from nearby Yakima for Aunt Olga to can.

An irrigation ditch ran behind their farm. It was a just the place for grade school boys like my brother and me to catch crawdads. And we would 'sort of' swim there, too. 'Sort of' because we were used to swimming in the Redwood River in Minnesota, where the water was much warmer. The irrigation water came right out of the mountains and was and is chilly.
What ever happened to the Sorensens? I've got Dad's Christmas card record book. They stopped exchanging cards in 1982. Ill health overtook them, I think, and they passed away.

Using Dad's Christmas card list of Christmas card addresses, I found the location of the Sorensen farm. The picture above is of the barn today. It's still standing and it doesn't look like it has been painted since the last time Harvey did it. The current house looks like an amalgamation the original house. I knocked on the door and a young guy answered. He said he was renting. He was probably a college from nearby Central Washington. No, he had never heard of the Sorensens. The owners though were vacationing in South of the Border. He gave me their email address. Dad's list had the numbers 1820. The numbers on the house were 1724. Yes, the student remembered the owners mentioning the a renumbering had occurred.

I love the picture I took above. There was once a water wheel where we played. Imagine the four of us as grade school kids, playing in the water. A nice part of growing up.