Three Weiher generations have tended Slater farm since 1904

The Weiher farm house near Slater. The farm has been in the family since 1904. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

Fred and Martha Weiher came to Blackwater by train in the middle of the night in 1904, after purchasing a home and 120 acres of farmground near Slater.

The Weihers were traveling from Osage County with their two young sons and all they owned.

"It was a mixed train, it had the livestock in livestock cars and what little farm machinery they had was on a flatcar. There was a passenger car for families," said Charles Weiher, who, with his wife, Lois, now owns the farm, which was recently designated as a Saline County Century Farm.

The train arrived in the middle of the night and the family probably stayed at the Iron Horse Hotel and Restaurant, which has been recently restored. They were met at daybreak by his grandfather's nephews, who had come to the area in 1903.

"They came up with a team and wagon from this farm," said Weiher. His father Arthur, was just 1 year old when the family moved to the farm, and since then all three generations of the family have farmed the ground.

The original Weihers moved to the area because Martha's father had preached at Salem United Church of Christ, before the turn of the century. Her parents had died within a week of each other in 1899 and are buried in the church cemetery.

Two of her mother's brothers were realtors and business owners in the area.

Weiher's grandfather eventually owned 360 acres before he died and Charles still owns 137 acres of that original land.

Weiher's daughter, Sharon, and her son now live in the original home. They have extensively renovated and decorated it as it may have been when his grandparents first arrived.

The kitchen part of the house was actually a slave house before civil war times, and in between that area and the original part of the house is a double wall. The Weiher's don't know when the original house was built, but know that additions had been made before 1904, including the kitchen.

Sharon said it is hard to tell the age of the house because so much of the lumber and nails may have been recycled from other buildings on the farm. The kitchen construction, Weiher said, was "hewed out with a broadaxe."

Another slave home east of the house has been torn down, but still standing is a summer kitchen, which Sharon uses as a workroom.

"I turned that into my refinishing shop," she said.

The home actually has two front doors, probably, because all three generations of Weihers lived there at one time.

"When I was little, my father's parents, Fred and Martha, lived in the two west rooms and one room upstairs, until they died. My parents (Arthur and Nora) had the east half of the house," Weiher said. They cooked separately, and each part of the family had their own side, which wasn't unusual for the times.

Weiher and his wife have helped their daughter with the remodeling of the house, which had sat empty for several years before she decided to fix it up. Her grandfather was still alive at that time and was pleased with Sharon's decision to live there.

Weiher has helped his daughter with much of the remodeling and her mother has helped with stenciling and decorating.

"It's been a family project," Sharon said.

The house faces towards a road that is no longer in use. In the 1960s, Weiher and his father purchased an old bridge from the Missouri Highway Department and placed it across the creek, making the drive that is in use today. The bridge had been southwest of Saline City and was being replaced by a newer structure. "They disassembled it for us, and we set it on piers of concrete," he said.

Old landmarks on the farm include a barn his grandparents had built in 1908. "They set up a sawmill with a steam engine down by the creek," said Weiher, and used logs from the farm.

His father was still very young when they were building the barn, which was originally a horse and mule barn.

"My dad was just a little fella, they caught him down at the sawmill. I guess he ran down there before they started to work. They found him right before they started the saw up," he said.

The barn included a hay loft, metal roof and siding. The metal was hauled to the farm from a lumberyard in Blackwater. At one time the barn housed up to 30 head of horses and mules used in the farming operation.

His grandfather, however, was one of the first in the area to own a tractor, purchasing a one-wheeled "Bull" tractor, some time around WWI, Weiher said. Another interesting part of his family's history, a concrete icehouse, still partially stands on another farm.

"My dad remembered as a small boy, putting ice in that. He would harvest ice (off the pond) with his older brother," he said. The ice was hauled to the icehouse by wagon and covered with straw. It would last until about August each year, and was used in the old "iceboxes" of the day to keep fresh food cold.

"Can you imagine all the work that was?" said Weiher.

The Weiher farm got electricity about 1941, he said, when his father and two or three neighbor farmers got together to get the rights of way and built the line. When Pearl Harbor was attacked "no more farmers received electricity until after WWII," he said, adding that the power came from Marshall at that time.

His grandparents and father raised timothy for the horses, as well as red clover, wheat and corn. They also had livestock including cows and hogs.

Weiher's father was one of the early farmers to raise soybeans in this area.

"The first beans my father raised were what they called hay beans. They didn't get as tall and they had a lot more leaves and stems on them. They were a finer, smaller plant. If you had milk cows, it were high in protein," he said.

Weiher himself can remember putting up the soybeans for hay, using a stationary baler.

"They were dirty, you'd rake them up and they'd get all over you," he said. Among Weiher's other early experiences on the farm were picking corn by hand and helping thrash and bind wheat. It was after WWII before they got a pull-type one-row corn picker.

"The first tractor I learned to drive at about 10 or 11 years old was a steel-wheeled tractor," he said.

Weiher farmed with his father until his death and still farms the land today.

He also worked for the railroad for 36 years.

"He was a full-time farmer, while he was railroading," Sharon said.

At one time, Weiher raised hogs, Hereford cattle and finished out calves. He still has crossbred cattle and backgrounds calves. He also puts up and sells hay, and raises corn and soybeans.

Weiher, who also has a son, Chuck, living in Slater, said his granddaughter Marissa Weiher, an 8th grader, is the main reason they applied for the Century Farm honor.

"She loves to come out and take pictures of the farm," said Sharon, adding that all the grandchildren love the farm.

After entering a 4-H photo contest, Marissa found out that she had to take pictures of a Century Farm. It was at that time they realized that although they were eligible, they needed to apply for the award.

"She's the reason we got signed up for the Century farm," Sharon said. "She's the one that taught us to appreciate what we have."

For Christmas, Marissa surprised her grandfather with a copy of a regional 4-H calendar, featuring seven of her photographs, along with others from across the United States.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net