In the days following his death, while the family gathered to plan his funeral, the superintendent of U.S. Fuel abruptly revoked the family's 50-year lease on the farm and reassigned it to his son. When my father asked why, he was met with a silent but chilling answer—a Winchester .30-30 laid across the table, warning of confrontation.This ended my fathers aspiration of taking over the family farm.

After that, the farm passed between various leaseholders and ultimately fell into disuse. Today, it is largely abandoned, its buildings left to the wind and time. The entrance is now marked by offices of the ConocoPhillips oil and gas operation, a symbol of yet another industrial chapter layered over a once-thriving agricultural homestead. The land itself, like Hiawatha, has begun to return to its pre-industrial, native state—a quiet ghost of a vibrant past.