Climbing Hill Approach

On Sunday, Dick, his mom, and Aunt Hallie drove from Luton to Climbing Hill. Luton is in the Missouri River flat lands; Climbing Hill is in the Loess Hills.

My great-grandparents George and Julia (Johnson) Montange farmed in the Loess Hills from around 1906 until 1913. They started in Little Egypt, where Hallie and Lawrence were born. In 1911 they moved to Climbing Hill, to a farm about three miles north of town next to the Jondrews. In 1912 Lawrence died of "summer complaint". Today it might have been diagnosed as appendicitis.

George wanted to farm in the flat lands below and in 1913 traded his Climbing Hill farm to Payne Sargisson for a farm in Luton and the family moved there. The links to Climbing Hill remained, though. Lawrence is buried there, and in time so were Richard Firth, Gertie (Montange) and Arch Firth's infant son, and eventually George and Julia themselves. Later, Lewie and Florence (Weaver) Montange were buried there, too.

Route 982, old Highway 141 or Morningside Road, is called the Loess Hills Scenic Byway. It runs north along the hills to Sioux City. We reached it from Luton, 250th Street, and followed it north 0.7 miles to 240th Street, a gravel cutoff to the Climbing Hill Road.

This sign is on Morningside Road at the intersection with Deer Run Trail, D54, the road to Climbing Hill. We'll see more of the First Baptist Church as we get into Climbing Hill.

Copyright (C) 2000 by Dick Hodgman.
If you would like a large format copy of an image, contact Dick through http://www.hodgman.org/contact/