Ina Krahn remembers the old days on the Camas Prairie

I recently visited with Ina Krahn, a friend who recently turned 97, about her life on the Camas Prairie. She had lots of great stories to share. My article first appeared in the Camas Courier. Enjoy!

INA KRAHN RECALLS FARMING, LIFE ON THE CAMAS PRAIRIE

by Amy Ballard

One of Fairfield’s matriarchs turns 97 this week. Ina Krahn was born in 1911 in Soldier, then a largish town. Fairfield as such did not exist until a few years later.

Ina’s parents were both transplants to the Camas Prairie. Her father, William or “Dal” was from South Dakota and her mother, Ida, was from Tennessee. “Mother called herself Idie,” Ina said in an interview Monday. “And she always called Idaho ‘I-dee-ho.’”

Dal farmed and Ida was a seamstress who could look at a girl and cut out a dress that would fit her perfectly without a pattern. Ina was the second of four children. “I worked outside just like another boy,” she said. “Dad only had one boy, so I was like his second boy.”

Ina and her older brother Lon graduated from high school in Fairfield on the same day. The family had only enough money to send one child to college, and Dal thought it ought to be the boy, since he would have to be a breadwinner. Ina said if she could have gone to college, she would have been a math teacher. After she graduated from high school, she worked in Tingwall’s store and tutored school children in math whenever she had the time.

Ina remembers running up and down the wooden sidewalks of old Soldier and Manard as a child. When she was in first grade, WWI came to an end and all the school children were taken to the Manard school for a celebration. She said the Manard students looked a little nervous because they didn’t know what was happening. There were patriotic songs and everyone was happy that the war had ended.

Going to school was different then. In the early years, Ina and her brother rode a horse to school, carrying a sack of hay for the horse to eat. Later, Dal built a sled that was pulled behind two horses. A stove in the back kept the children warm and there were holes at the front of the box for the reins. Lon would drive, and they would pick up their neighbor, Bea Chandler on the way into town. At lunch Lon would take the horses for water.

Ina’s father was “the most wonderful dad ever,” she said. “He was really patient.” He could also eat “like a whirlwind.” Sometimes he would cook when Ida was at her ladies’ group at church. He made fried potatoes and bachelor biscuits, which are dropped instead of rolled and cut out. “We loved it when we would come home and Dad would have supper ready for us,” Ina said. Her mother was a good cook, too. “She didn’t have recipes, she just cooked,” Ina said.

Money was scarce sometimes, but the family never went hungry. “We had plenty to eat,” she said. Her mother would string beans to dry, and her father butchered hogs. In the fall they always gathered chokecherries, sometimes making an outing of it with friends. Ina and her mother did a lot of canning.

Ina first rode in a car at age five or six, but even after cars became common on the prairie, she admired a pretty horse-drawn rig. One Fourth of July, the family drove up into the hills for an outing. Ina vividly remembers passing the Fritz Frostensons in their hack with a beautiful fringe on top.

Ina married Eddie Krahn and they lived first in King Hill and then in Gooding. Eddie worked at the railroad and kept dairy cows. After their children were born, Ina told him she needed him around more to raise his boys. They moved back to Fairfield to farm, first for Ina’s father and then on their own.

Ina began to decorate cakes after a debut confection she made for her parents’ 50^th anniversary. The celebration also honored her Aunt Effie and Uncle Earl Pearson, who were married the same day.

Another favorite hobby of Ina’s is making valentines. For about 21 years running, she’s crafted 30 to 60 elaborate hearts for family and friends. “I just love to make them,” she said.

Ina has a long history of giving. As a girl, she cooked, cleaned, and did odd jobs for others. “Sometimes I got paid, sometimes I didn’t,” she said. “If somebody needs help, you help them!”