Turkey hunt helps woman overcome loneliness

Through a weathered window frame on the exterior of the little roadside tavern, my wife Christine and I could see a neon Bud Light sign glowing that let us know the place was open for lunch. Two other large signs on the front and side of the old white building also read, “Hunters Welcome.”
There were no other vehicles in the bar’s parking lot, and our foregone conclusion was we wouldn’t have to wait long to be served.
Good thing. Both of us were starving after trekking up and down seemingly endless miles of hilly prairie with our guide, Greg Fine, turkey hunting in Nebraska this spring.
Inside, sitting at one of the tables reading a newspaper when we walked in was 81-year old Elsie Eiler.
Come to find out, what’s unique about Eiler is she is Mayor, the entire city council, city treasurer, librarian, sheriff when she has to be and business owner in the town of Monowi, Nebraska — population one.
Since the 1862 Homestead Act, where immigrants could obtain 160 acres of land from the federal government, life hasn’t been easy on the prairie. Settlers during the late 1800s were required to build a home on the land they staked out a claim on within the first six months and then live there for five years to own it.
Droughts, severe winters, sickness and even loneliness that drove some people mad took its toll on homesteaders in this part of the country. Only the hardy survived, leaving the region’s descendants a strong heritage that has lasted for generations.
Located between the Missouri and Niobrara Rivers, in Boyt County, the town of Monowi was established in 1902 and flourished as a farming, ranching and railroad community for its first 30 years or so prior to World War II, reaching a population high of 150 residents.
But during the next half century, as its young people left for better and higher-paying jobs in the cities, the town’s numbers declined. By the 1990 census, Monowi’s denizens were down to just 6.
With the passing of her husband Rudy in 2004, only Elsie now remains.
“I’m often asked how do I take care of myself, since none of my children live near me,” said Eiler, who pointed out that her children have asked to take her in. “But, people around here look out for me. When you’ve been living here as long as I have, people in a 50- to 60-square mile area know each other. And they take care of each other.”
We ordered a couple of cheeseburgers, fries and onion rings and watched Eiler prepare our food. Every so often she would glance up at us to share a story about different people who passed through Monowi, just to see the town of one.
Besides national media notables such as People Magazine, Los Angeles Times, the History Channel’s “Only in America” hosted by Larry the Cable Guy, and Sunday Morning on CBS, it was stories about the regular travelers who stopped in to her place that seemed most relevant to the strength and character Eiler possesses rather than novelty.
Eiler spoke of a United Kingdom couple biking across America. The girl and her boyfriend were without a care in the world, leisurely traveling the states at their own pace.
Eiler said, “The young girl asked me, ‘aren’t you lonely and wouldn’t you prefer living in a larger city?’”
Reflecting a moment, her eyes gazed across the room as if reading invisible moments of time no one but she could see.
Eiler and her husband had bought the tavern from its previous owner in 1971. And it’s not easy to explain love and devotion to a community in mere words.
Recounting the conversation and like the settlers a century before her, she continued, “I said to her, ‘I’d be so lonely not seeing the people I see every day.’ But what I told her that I don’t think she could understand was I’m one of the few who does what I want to do. I’m here because I want to be here.”
Eiler’s later years in Monowi haven’t been without trials. Besides her husband’s death, at age 77 she was diagnosed with colon cancer.
Someone who exemplifies the true pioneer spirit of life on the prairie, she kept the tavern open during her illness, only closing on Mondays when she received her chemotherapy treatments.
The Monday closings have since sort of stuck, she says, becoming her one day off each week.
Local farmers, ranchers, the occasional motorist passing by and hunters like Christine and I support Monowi Tavern.
One customer from Europe gave Eiler a globe to keep track of the various states and countries the patrons who eat or drink at her tavern come from. According to Eiler, people from 44 states and 31 countries around the world have visited the bar and grill.
In her Chief Law Enforcement capacity, Eiler has never arrested anyone, saying if she did then she’d have to feed them. Instead, those who are disruptive are sent home and told, “You behave yourself!”
The old tavern isn’t going to win any five star awards for cuisine and ambience, unless a hungry turkey hunter is doing the scoring.
Its knotty pine walls with various sayings throughout the dining room, like the one above a shelf that reads, “I’m kind of a big deal around here,” is all a hunter needs to know the place is a legit watering hole and eatery.
When I settled up my bill with Eiler, she rhetorically said to me, “If I was retired and stayed at home, you wouldn’t come by my place to see me, would you? But here at the tavern, you came in to see me and that gives me purpose.”
There are not many places I ever recommend to eat. However, if you’re ever up in north central Nebraska hunting spring turkeys or just passing through, you might want to try the cheeseburgers at Monowi Tavern. It’s the one place, in a town of one, where you won’t find better food — or service for that matter …
EDITOR’S NOTE: John K. Flores is The Daily Review’s Outdoor Writer. If you wish to make a comment or have an anecdote, recipe or story you wish to share, you can contact Flores at 985-395-5586, at gowiththeflo@cox.net or go to his website www.gowiththeflooutdoors.com or gowiththeflo outdoors on Facebook.
Other notes:
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is once again sponsoring in 2015 an online post-season survey of Louisiana waterfowl hunters. Hunters are being encouraged to go to the department’s website and fill out the survey that has some important questions to the upcoming season dates.
The Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association is sponsoring a boy and girl Youth Angler of the Year Award program. Youngsters who have a great story and pictures are being encouraged to enter. For more details, go to LOWA’s website.