A Boy's Life

1928: Dearborn, Michigan
My father was a sheet metal worker for Ford Motor---on the production line that produced the Ford Tri-Motor plane. I have first memories at that time---swimming in a lake on Belle Isle---an unexpected rain---and finding shelter under a pier that was a foot overhead.
The cascading, like a big waterfall, of the RED HOT and still burning coke being discharged from the coke ovens---made for steel production at Ford's Rouge River Steel Plant. Coke is coal that has had all of it's moisture removed by baking in ovens in an atmosphere that does allow combustion of the coal. What I wrote about was the end of this process, when the ovens discharged the red hot finished product. Coke was used in those years as a fuel for making steel---Ford made his own coke---for his own steel mills that made steel for his auto production plants.

Falling from the small enclosed tool trailer containing the tools of a crew of men that had been cutting tree limbs that day, I still have the scar on my forehead from the dent that I made in the sidewalk. My father was laid off in 1928 which was the beginning of the slide and crash into the great depression.

1928: Lost
My grandpa's town near Sheridan, Wyoming. Walking down a gravel road and crossing Big Goose Creek on an old bridge---gone far enough and long enough for my mother to get all the miners there and everybody else out looking for me---coming back after having breakfast with a sheepherder on the hillside, across the river---my mother asking where I had been and saying she thought I was lost. "I wasn't lost," I said, "I knew where I was all the time." I remember the road, the bridge and the breakfast with the sheepherder but not what I said when I got back---my mother told me what I had said in later years.
1931-1939: Chickens
During this time we lived in a larger house---3 small bedrooms---living room, kitchen---no baths. Running water or electricity---enclosed back porch---screened-in front. It was still about 3 miles north of Sheridan and about 1/2 mile west of the Star Coal Mine. The house was sited on about 20 acres with Big Goose creek as the south boundary. There were many thousands of acres to the north and west---wooded along the stream bed and brushy pastures---ideal for hunting except that there was very little game of any kind.
For several years my father raised chickens for fryers and the eggs while he worked at the mine. But it wasn't really that way at all---my brother and I raised the chickens---the daily chores---feeding, watering, gathering eggs, cleaning the roosts of the chickens---and scattering straw when needed---washed the eggs and graded them according to size---crated them for delivery to the grocery store in town for credit for groceries.

We always went bare-footed every summer and I became a really great open field runner by running through the chicken yard---not always without mishaps.

Money Making Propositions
June, my younger sister, remembers that apparently, one of the ways Andrew (Dad) made money was by always returning to the mine on Monday with a load of fresh timber. This allowed us the use of the "International" truck while we were up there. Grandpa paid Dad for the timber, but I have no idea how much. Another money making effort I recall is candying the eggs for sale, or putting them down in grease. We also sold chickens, which we regularly plucked on Saturday mornings, I think. (I also recall putting carrots and potatoes down in sand in the root cellar for our family's use during the winter. Did we ever sell produce from the garden! Mom also recalled the year Paul was without work when Jerry was a tot (the year I was born?), how she and Dad would drive in to the Egbert's house once a week and fill their refrigerator and pantry with enough food for the week, mostly when they knew that Pauline and Paul weren't home. Nobody talked about it . . . they just DID it!

George notes that in June's memory above, Paul Egbert was Violette's brother, Pauline was his wife, and Jerry was their son and only child.

1931-39: Chores and More Chores
As a boy, I remember spending a lot of time digging out a partial basement under the house---using a pick and shovel---hauling out the dirt, 2 buckets-full at a time. The digging under the house made a cellar rather than a basement---we left a 3-ft ledge in from the foundation which provided lateral support. The floors and walls were not finished with concrete. There were lots of shelves for home canned foodstuff---always home-made root beer---sometimes real beer too.

Chores. I shingled the sidewalls of the garage. I irrigated the garden---chopped wood---cleaned and filled all the kerosene lamps---pumped buckets of water and carried them into the house, and to two rows of transplanted cottonwood trees. Every day I carried my father's lunch pail to the mine. It really was a pail---a round aluminum pail about 8" in diameter and 12" tall---filled with liquid in the bottom, with a top compartment for the lunch.

Then, in the winter time on Saturday afternoon, my father's Model A Ford Sedan had to be made ready for starting. We used the car once a week to shop in town---sometimes we went to a movie on Sunday. First a pan of hot coals from the kitchen stove was placed under the crankcase---then the radiator had to be filled with hot water (from the water reservoir of that same stove) and finally the radiator and hood was covered with an old quilt or blanket. It was usually started before we were ready to leave to allow it to warm up. In town the radiator and hood had to be covered with that same quilt to keep in the heat and to keep it from freezing up. No anti-freeze!!!!!

These were some of my favorite chores . . . . .
The Big Back Yard
This other back yard was the adjoining land on the north---Big Goose creek was the western boundary---the RR tracks and county road the eastern---the north end, the old US highway to Billings---a piece of land that had the creek with thick woods, heavy brush, and open grassy meadows. This land was about 1 mile wide and 3 miles long and enclosed about 2000 acres---there were no houses---no people---no livestock. This was my backyard and it belonged to ME.
What else would any boy do but start exploring this wonder. I had a Red Ryder lever-action BB gun to take on these journeys---but something was missing. Walking home from school one day I stopped at a house where a litter of pups were being given away.  
The pick of that litter was a long-haired, and black and white male. I carried that pup the rest of the way home. I was 7---the pup was heavy---the distance was about 2 miles. But, I had a pup that grew up to be the best hunting dog. 

He looked like an English Shepherd---beautiful long flowing hair---black freckles on his front legs---half Cocker Spaniel and half Collie.  Fritzy (I don't know where the name came from---maybe the Katzanjammer Kids) was my constant companion. As I grew older, the Red Ryder BB gun became a single shot-bolt action Remington .22 long rifle---and all of that land was walked---from end-to-end, and side-to-side---many times in the next few years . . .

The Owl and The Whooo?
June says that Mom remembers you shooting an owl---she remembers scolding you and telling you to "never, never do that again." You said "I don't know why I did that---it was sort of spooky, I guess---sitting in that tree---looking down." She remembered that it got stuffed and was displayed in the hardware store window for a lot of years---"staring at you as you walked past---saying---"Whooooo?---Whooooo?---Whooooo?---did this awful thing?"
That is a memory I would rather forget---it has always brought back strong feelings of guilt, regret, and sadness. I didn't go by that store window very often---I was usually on the other side of the street!
Saturday Afternoons
For many years, Saturday afternoon followed the same routine. First, around noon, a bath in the round galvanized wash tub with hot water from the coal stove. Then we hitch-hiked a ride into town---there were a lot of customers buying coal at the Star Mine and returning to Sheridan with a load of coal.
 
The purpose of all this activity was to go to the Saturday matinee at the Orpheum Theatre. We watched "B" western with BIG stars like Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, Tim McCoy and other BIG stars that I can't remember. There was always a 15-minute episode of the current serial which always ended with the hero in a terrible situation with no escape from dire consequences. Each week he survived to finish the next episode---we usually watched part of the show again because we had the time.
The Big Spender
Next on the agenda was a stop at the Castle Hamburger Stand for the usual hamburger and malted milk. By that time it was close to the time to meet my parents who came to town to buy groceries and other necessities---for the ride home. What a day that was!
We each had 25 cents. The movie was 10 cents, the hamburger was 5 cents, and the malted milk was 10 cents. We could go to Louis Hamburger Stand and get a really big hamburger for 10 cents. His burger was made with a larger bun and the meat was bigger than the bun by and 1/2" all the way around.
All that for 25 cents---imagine that!
1934 or 35: Threshing
It started easy enough---just mow the wheat down---use a rake to make wind rows---then pull a binder down the rows to make shocks. Now it gets harder---the shocks were then picked up and stacked, standing up, into the familiar pile. Then the shocks had to be picked up and stacked in neat rows in a hay rack, and pulled by a tractor. The load was then taken to the site of the actual threshing. The thresher was set up in a large, cleared area---power to operate the thresher was supplied by a really big steam tractor with a fly wheel on one side---a 6" wide belt on the fly wheel connected to a smaller pulley on the thresher, supplying the power (when the belt stayed on). The twine on each shock was cut and the loose bundle thrown into the hopper and the threshing machine actually did the rest of the work!!!!!
If any wheat farmer should read this, and finds fault with my word usage, please remember that I was not a farmer, but just a very reluctant laborer. The only good thing about the whole experience was the food . . .
The Rodeo and the Carnival
The 30's---During these years, Sheridan had, and still has, the Sheridan Wyoming Rodeo in July for 3 days and nights.  This always brought to town a carnival---with their games of skill, side-shows, cotton candy, popcorn, hamburgers, and hot dogs. 
These carnivals were an event that was looked forward to and attended by all the kids, young and old, that could get there. The games of skill were knocking all the wooden bottles off a stand with three baseballs---hoops over the pegs in square blocks of wood (the hoops were too small)---test of strength---the shooting gallery---and many more.
The shooting gallery was one that I always tried---they all used .22 shorts---Remington semi-automatics. The distance was usually less than 10 ft---the target had 3 red rings---2 down and 1 up---the rings were about .250 inch. You had 3 shots to completely remove all of the 3 rings---that means all the red. Another standby were regular kitchen matches in an upright position. All you had to do was light the match---3 shots to light one match. These two I was able to do sometimes---all of the days and months spent with my rifle, shooting in my big backyard, had made me a crack shot. This ability I used all the rest of my life---especially in the Air Corps and for sport shooting.
The Punching Bag
One of the tests of strength was the punching bag that measured how hard it was hit. This was a favorite of the male high schoolers---it provided one of my greatest triumphs. I hit that bag with one punch and the bag broke free and bounded across the tent. Just imagine how I felt with my friends watching that bag go bouncing across the floor!