Country School Kids – Larry Van Moer – Railroad adventures
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We have been learning about Larry Van Moer, the second of five children born to Marie (Marcotte) and Herbert Van Moer. Larry and his siblings grew up on the family farm north of Amiret.
Larry shared adventures that related to the Chicago & Northwestern rail line that ran from Tracy through Amiret, Marshall, Ghent, Minneota, Taunton, Porter, Canby, and on into northeast South Dakota.
He described the route that rail line followed, coming south from Marshall.
"It went at an angle and (a spur line) went east to Milroy. The main line went on the (east) side of Lake Marshall to Amiret and on to Tracy. In between there, by Lake Marshall, there was a little town called Heckman. I don't know what else it had, but it had a grain elevator. My dad said he used to haul grain to Heckman with a team of horses and wagon full of oats. From our farm the trail was probably about three miles to this Heckman elevator. Heckman burned down and they never rebuilt it, but I bet the footings are still out there."
The earliest of Larry's stories from his own experience related to one of the grain elevators on Amiret's rail siding.
"When you came into Amiret, you made a curve and on the left side was a grain elevator along the railroad track. Martin Edie ran the elevator and lived across the street from it. That was a nice elevator and he was a good elevator operator. Mr. Edie had a weighted elevator inside. You'd stand on this two or three-foot square platform and he'd release this a big weight up high that would come down on a rope and pull the elevator up. He could stop it and look in all the bins all the way up."
Larry grinned as he came to the best part of his story.
"When I was there with my dad -- I was a little shaver -- Mr. Edie said, 'Want a ride up?' So, I'd get on there and hold onto his leg and I'd get to go all the way up that thing. You could see out a window up there. It was a thrill!"
Another type of railroad adventure took place when Larry was older and his brother, Charlie, was old enough to accompany him.
"The (railroad) track crossing was about half a mile from County Road 9 and our farm, so we could walk over there. The train sounded its whistle so we could hear it and see the coal smoke. A couple times we walked over to the railroad crossing if I knew one of the section cars was coming out. Guys out to service the tracks had a little car with a small engine on a platform. We called them section cars and they'd go, 'put-put-put.' They'd see us standing there and slow down to a stop. It was a pretty laid-back time then. They were probably bored. They'd ask us if we wanted a ride. I'm pretty sure a section crew could never get away with that today. They'd take us across that section to the next township road crossing and drop us off. Then we'd walk home after our adventure of the day."
Larry and Charlie enjoyed another type of railroad adventure on that same section of the rail line.
"There was a trestle about a mile out of Amiret and about a half mile from our farm. It was pretty high, I'd say at least 50 or 60 feet. My brother, Charlie, and I walked to the rail crossing and followed the railroad track (to the trestle) in the winter with a .22 rifle. We'd sit up on that trestle and the rabbits couldn't hide from you in the weeds because you were like a bird. You could see the rabbits sitting there and we'd pick off four or five. We'd go down, get them, take them home, and Mom would take and cook one in a stew. We'd give the rest to the cats, who really liked them."
During Larry's high school years, he experienced another railroad adventure on another trestle.
"There was another trestle south of Amiret over the Cottonwood River that was bigger yet. One of the neighbor kids had a '49 Mercury, whose wheels were just as wide as those railroad tracks. We'd go out in the country on a gravel road crossing outside of Tracy, put that car on the tracks, and let some air out of the tires so they'd go just a little bit over the rail. Then we'd drive that thing all the way back. We'd just let it go by itself to Amiret and then we'd take it off the tracks. (Larry chuckled) We'd go over that trestle. (Larry chuckled again) Pretty dumb!"
Larry and his neighbor may have begun this exercise with teenage bravado, but he felt some doubts. They also knew they were not the only ones to engage in this daredevilry.
"It was scary the first time. I thought, 'This could be bad.' Because you'd be dead, you know? It was a long way down. That was quite a deal! Everybody had to try it. I don't know how often folks did that, but I did it twice. (Larry laughed) So, that was our thrill, once and a while."
Larry finished his education at Central Catholic High School in Marshall where he met his life partner and together, they assembled a life together.
©2026 William D. Palmer.