Chapter 1	Kate Opened the Gate	Elsie Peterson Erickson Johnson
Chapter 2	The Terrible Snowstorm
Chapter 3	County Fair, 1909
Chapter 4	Threshing Time, 1910
Chapter 5	Grandparents Come to Callaway
Chapter 6	We Sell Our Store and Move to Richwood
Chapter 7	The Bus Ride To Town
Chapter 8	Richwood Evangelical Church, 1872-1972
Chapter 9	Grandmother Elsa Marie Peterson Nelsdaughter
Chapter 10	Peter Iverson and Hans Deierhoi Come to Minnesota
Chapter 11	Father Finds a Wife
Chapter 12	Plowing, Planting and Harvesting, 1872-1972
Chapter 13	Mother Dena
Chapter 14	Grandparents Come to Minnesota
Chapter 15	Harry Johnson
Chapter 16	A Trip With My Mother
Chapter 17	Frank and Family
Chapter 18	History of Detroit Township
Chapter 19	Oak Lake, Flrst Town, 1870
Chapter 20	History of Richwood Township
Chapter 21	The First Store In Richwood Village, 1871

Preface

KATE OPENED THE GATE by Elsie Peterson Erickson Johnson is an interesting account of the author's life, beginning with the arrival of her father from Denmark in the latter years of the 18th century.

The area of Becker County settled by her family was logging country, and she tells about the hardy people who worked the hills and what life was really like back in those days.

She includes many photos of relatives and friends, and her narration includes many delightful anecdotes and lighthearted vignettes which add immeasurably to the enjoyment and readability of the book.

Mrs. Johnson described an era that has, sadly enough, faded from the American scene. She has written an entertaining and information filled chronicle of both her family and the America in which they lived and worked.

This book is highly recommended for its wealth of material about life years ago and the fine manner in which she describes both the hard working people in her family and the many activities that were popular in Becker County during her growing up years.

Introduction

Across the prairie and through the wooded land, fording rivers with their double oxen team, schooners loaded with treasured possessions traveled northward to northern Minnesota to homestead.
With all the hardships they experienced, they were determined to make it go.
In not too many years they prospered, bought horses and machinery, built new log houses; and later when the saw mills got to be plentiful, they sawed logs and built new big frame houses and barns.
Years later, in the 1970's, all have modern houses and barns. This is still a beautiful farming country.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my husband, Harry and my three daughters Annabelle Rue, Lorraine Nelson, and Ethelmae Johnson, also to all of my dear friends, Catheren Shannon and Lena Bryngelson who remembered my Grandmother, Elsa Nelson, before she died in 1894. They gave me information I needed to write this book.

I would also like to thank my brother Frank who helped me tell many stories l did not remember or hear from my father. Also to all the friends who helped me and furnished pictures to fit in. Also to the old timers who made this Richwood area what it is today.

It is a beautiful country.

Loving your wife and mother.
Elsie Peterson Erickson Johnson
December 25 1972