William Thomas McCulloch was born December 11, 1843 in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Land was high priced and he was poor, so he came to Dakota Territory because it was booming. He came here in the year 1880. That winter he worked for R. C. Cooper, teaming between Sanborn and the Cooper Ranch, also doing carpenter work. In the spring he went into the cook shack and acted as a cook. The second winter he carpentered in and around Sanborn and built schoolhouses.
He bought a relinquishment about two miles west of Sanborn and lived on it for two years. A frame shanty was built on to another shanty that was on the place. The shanty was built of railroad ties. The barn was built out of an old discarded railroad bridge, which had been across Lake Eckelson. After living there the two years, he took up a homestead at Lake Jessie about 1883. The lumber for the first house was hauled from Sanborn, also food, provisions, etc. The closest neighbors were Ole Thorn, E. L. Watne and Tollef Tweed.
The first team was a team of oxen. then a team of balky horses. The oxen and horses were driven together until more horses were raised. The machinery consisted of an eight-foot spring-tooth harrow and a breaking plow. The first two or three years he did the seeding by hand. He made a box, which held about one-half bushel, and this was held by a strap over his head and shoulder. Next he got an eight-foot broadcast seeder. Later he and Mr. Thorn got a wagon seeder, which did not prove a success.
The crops consisted of oats and hard wheat, which yielded about thirty bushels per acre. The price received ranged from forty to seventy-five cents per bushel. The threshing was done with a twelve horsepower machine. By putting on more horses the power was increased so generally eighteen horses were put on. The separator was an Aultman Taylor, thirty-two inch cylinder and a thirty-six inch rear. Owing to the fact that machines were scarce and the crops heavy, the threshing often continued into the winter. One instance was the threshing for three or four days with half the bundle racks on sleighs. The threshers were often caught in storms and blizzards. The experiences were very uncomfortable. The fuel consisted of wood and most of the pioneers settled near the woods.
Mr. McCulloch married Miss Sarah Ann Sansborn at St. Marys, Perth County, Ontario, Canada.
The claim shanty was L shaped. One portion was 8 by 16 feet and the other 8 by 12 feet. This was built of common twelve-inch rough lumber, boarded up and down. The boards shrank considerably, leaving large cracks. Mrs. W. T. McCulloch pasted rags over the cracks in order to keep out the snow and cold. James, being the oldest in the family, received the duty of building the fire in the mornings. He had to be careful in getting out of bed in stormy weather to avoid stepping into snow banks. In cold weather the boys wore their caps to keep their ears from freezing. They lived in this shanty from the spring of 1883 until the fall of 1893, after which the brick house was built.
Mrs. W. T. McCulloch died January 16, 1908. Mr. McCulloch married again. He died in 1924 and was buried at Cooperstown.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 183