[TARNATION !!!]

Dean: Of all the places I have wandered around, I learned the name of only one of the original landowners. The few farmers left just don't know. Farming has changed from what it was. Those who have survived as "family" farmers have accumulated huge tracts of land and those who left are lost to history. In the early years, 1/4 section of land was a lot to handle with horse drawn equipment. Now there are "family" farms of 10 or more sections and corporate farms that have no people living there, just hire stuff done. These absentee folks can live anywhere. I once tried to get permission to hunt an area with good habitat where I had seen birds hanging around. What a process. I ended up getting a call from a lawyer who represented the owner who lived in Toronto - a mere 2000 miles from the "farm". In the final analysis, I was given permission but the neighbor, who still lived on his farm also was a client of the same lawyer and when he heard about someone going to hunt the area he got very upset. (Saw the birds as pets I guess) Of course he had no "legal" rights but I just couldn't be bothered to get into a hassle, so I continued to hunt other good spots. Out on the windswept bald prairie, there is not the same sense of "community" you refer to. There is indeed "community" but it is very spread out and the social activity will be in some small town or village that can be a long ways from the land I hunt. Here is another made from the rocks picked from the land. There are a few of these around but the vast majority are wooden structures.
Cheers,
Jack