Ken and Jan's Arctic Fox Tales: Meet the Morken's at Section 32, Township 45, Range 11, Meridian 4 NW Quarter

Cross Road Signs at the NW Corner of the Homestead

The Northwest Corner of the NW Quarter Looking Southeast

Ken had located a phone number for Ian Morken. Ian and his wife Crystal are the current owners of the homestead property which is the NW quarter of Section 32/45/11/4. They also own the adjoining NE quarter of Section 32 which makes a total of 320 acres.

Understandably Ian was a little unsure of what this cold call was about from some Californian claiming to be the grandson of the original homesteaders. Apparently he became convinced that our intentions were good and agreed to have these strangers from California drop by to see their property.

When we arrived Ian was outside to greet us. We piled out of our cars and started talking excitedly, waving photos and a sketch of the homestead layout, taking photos and coming just short of kissing the ground in reverence. It must have become pretty clear that we were legitimate and soon Crystal came out and joined the conversation followed by their kids.

The Morken's were so gracious and it was a pleasure to meet them. Ian is a welder and they have really invested in creating a beautiful house, barn and riding arena on the property. It was so good to see the homestead property being improved by a really nice family. We spent almost 3 hours with the Morken's touring their property and the site of the original homestead buildings located near the western boundary of the quarter but farther south. They could not have been more accommodating.

Reviewing Aunt Dorie's Sketch of the Old Homestead Layout with Ian and Crystal

The Morken's have an aerial photo of the property looking south that we photographed that can be seen below that gives a good idea of the terrain and building locations. The slough at the bottom of the picture is the one seen above in the picture taken from the northwest corner of the property. The Candy Homestead was located near the top of the aerial picture just to the east (left) of the road and small slough seen along the fence line. Ian explained that the current north/south and east/west grid of county roads were not there in the early homesteading years. At one time a road that followed the topography meandered near the original homestead buildings so it made sense to build there for access to the road. With the county roads now in place the Morken's have built near the crossroad at the corner of the property.