A book titled Sage, Sand and Fortitude: Columbia Basin Recollections was published in 2004. It is a compilation of memories of people who have lived in this area. Some of the chapters are included below.
Adamson, Larry and Jeanne
Block 16 Farm Unit 162
By Jeanne Adamson Allred Jenkins
We learned about the farm drawing from a notice in the newspaper while we were living in Salt Lake City. Larry was still in law school. When we learned his name had been drawn we were living in Idaho. Larry had a law practice.
Larry was in the Army Air Corps. After the war he used the G.I. Bill to complete his education. He graduated from the University of Utah with a law degree and passed the Idaho Bar Exam in 1951, then practiced law in Arco, Idaho. To supplement income he had a paper route, raised onions one summer in Salt Lake, and farmed with his brother in Idaho for two summers. We were both born to farm families. Larry worked with his family on their farm in the Terreton – Mud Lake, Idaho, area while he was growing up and during his years at Idaho State University before his LDS mission and his years in the service.
We felt it was a real blessing to have drawn a farm. I still feel it is a blessing. My son Kevin, when he was in college, said when his oldest son was old enough for school he wanted to move “home” so people that influenced him could influence his family. And he did.
In November of 1954 we both came to pick our farm. We chose Farm Unit 210 Block 16 – a big unit – 220 acres and had a basement hole dug on it before the Bureau decided to put the Esquatzel Canal through it. We were able to get the Farm Unit 162 Block 16 on reassignment. From the beginning we liked the area and the climate.
When we came in March 1955 we had Shari – 5 years old, Tanya – almost 2 years old, and were expecting Jill, who was born in May. We brought a hoe, a shovel, and had the minimum monetary requirement. William (Bill) Rigby ran our farm with Larry changing the water in the beginning. In 1959 Herbert Turner started doing the machine work and Larry the water. After Larry died the Turner family took over the water too. For a number of years they rented the farm on a crop share basis.
When we came we rented in Pasco till August 1956. We had moved a house from Vernita, Washington, but had to cut it in half and lay the upstairs walls on the upstairs floor to get it moved onto the basement foundation. To live on the property 12 of the first 18 months as required, we moved into the house in August without the window glass or the roof, just tarps, then moved into town in November. When we moved back out in April we had the roof on except the shingles, had windows, and the community well was almost up and running.
I think our first crop was beans. I don’t remember the cost per acre but it felt so good when the farm was paid off. It also felt good to get the reassignment farm because we had the house before we had a place to put it when we lost Unit 210. After we had our house on the foundation, I think we felt at home.
Our neighbors were Ron Steele, Wm. F. Rigby, Robert Burns, Don Kelley, Herbert Turner, Howard Connell, Fred Steele, Joe Lamonica, Alvin Taylor, Bud Dodson, Wilma Robinson families. There were many more neighbors who helped and influenced our lives and were important to us.
Bill and Joyce Rigby were the first neighbors that we met and we met them before we moved out to the farm when we lived by them in an apartment in Pasco from March 1955 until school was out and they moved out to their farm. We didn’t move out until August 1956.
Life was busy in the early years. It was full of church activities and 4-H for the children. We enjoyed getting together with church members, neighbors and friends -- lots of meals were shared -- holidays celebrated and memories were made. I remember a Fourth of July picnic in our yard. It was full of neighbors and friends. One Fourth of July a group met at Rigbys and the highlight of the evening was fireworks.
The children participated in 4-H and later Kevin in FFA. Over the years a variety of animals were shown: rabbits, calves, lambs, a pig. Cooked items, flowers, vegetables and 4-H sewing were all displayed and many received ribbons. The sale of the fair animals helped the children to have earned money. Herb and Betty Turner were their 4-H leaders and made it possible for them to have these good experiences.
The people – Such good people were the best part of the area. The worst part was the distance to Utah and Idaho. The roads weren’t as long in later years and cars were better.
We enjoyed the books from the Bookmobile and we carried piles of them into the home. Bonanza, Gunsmoke, I Love Lucy, Old Yeller, were some of the TV programs we watched. I remember Old Yeller the movie because Jill cried so hard. She is so tender-hearted.
Creamed tuna on toast and tapioca pudding were often eaten and enjoyed.
I can remember three of the four lines in the slogan I think we all lived by: “Use it up, make it do, or do without.”
One Christmas memory was in 1958. The basement room was finished. We could use the fireplace. We had a beautiful live tree. It snowed Christmas Eve. The girls got roller skates and wheeled toys they could use on the cement floor. Then Taylors came for dessert in the evening.
I think the trait that was developed was dependability. Everyone had to do their share.
Now I wouldn’t advise a child to homestead because of the way farming is now. I would advise them to get a good education. I would do it again if I were that age and things were as they were then. It has been a great life. My children were strengthened by the challenges. They learned how to work and to care. We have known some fabulous people.
I was challenged and strengthened and made to feel humble by my life’s experiences, blessed by the people who influenced me. I was helped by so many. I am grateful for each and every one and for my children and for their goodness.
Family Update
Larry passed away in 1959.
In February 1973 I married Cecil Allred. We lived at the farm house until after Kevin graduated from high school.
Kevin and Gwen have lived there since 1986 with their 7 children.
Jill and Dennis Blodgett live in Walnut Creek, California. They have 8 children, 4 at home, and 5 grandchildren.
Tanya and Scott Harrison live in Sandy, Utah. They have 12 children, 5 at home, and 2 grandchildren.
Shari and Craig Evans live near Blackfoot, Idaho. They have 10 children, 4 at home, and 8 grandchildren.
Cecil passed away in 1996. In 1997 I married George Jenkins. We live in Othello, Washington, in the summer and in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the winter.
Barrow, Cecil W. and Clara
Block 16 Unit 6
Our Farm in Eltopia, Washington
Unit 6, Block 16
By Cecil Barrow
We were living on a 40-acre dairy farm west of Ogden, Utah. In June of 1954 the Bureau of Reclamation drew my name for a farm in the state of Washington, close to Eltopia, and wanted me to come and pick out one of the farms of many they had on a list.
This was on the second week in August 1954. My wife Clara was expecting a child in September and couldn’t come with me to look at the country and choose a place. I had been putting my name in the drawings for a year or more, in Wyoming, Idaho and Washington, and thought this was my lucky day, to get more farm land.
My brother went with me to help me make up my mind of what farm I wanted. We drove for miles looking at the land. Not much of a choice, just weeds, sand and dust. On August 11th, 1954, I chose Farm Unit No. 6 in Block 16.
I went back to Ogden and told my wife and four children that I had picked out a farm in Washington. The first question they asked was how many trees were there. I had to answer none.
Marlene was born September 1st, 1954. My brother-in-law and I took a load of furniture to Pasco and rented an apartment. On September 19, 1954, we loaded the truck with furniture and moved our family to Pasco, Washington. We got the older kids into school, Karen, Dennis and Anne. Sherrilyn and Marlene were too young.
I got a job driving truck for the Northern Pacific Railroad and worked there until March 1955. I bought a boxcar house from the railroad and moved it out to the farm.
We moved into it March 1955 and lived in it all summer until our house was finished in October 1955. The old boxcar house wasn’t very tight and the dust blew in through the cracks. The dust covered the baby in her crib. My wife shed a few tears and thought it would hurt Marlene, but she was okay. It never hurt her at all.
We got a farm loan from FHA to level the land and buy machinery and build a house.
We took our baths in the irrigation ditch. There was a big canal across the road. The kids liked that and some of them learned to swim in that old swimming hole.
Kevin, our youngest son, was born while we lived on the farm on July 15, 1958.
For three years, we had to haul water in 10-gallon milk cans from the Bureau well at the ditch rider’s, three miles away, until we got our own community well and water into our homes. It was sure nice to get good water into our house.
After we got the house built, I put a water pump in the irrigation ditch so we could have water in the bathroom. It was only in the summer months that we could do this as irrigation water was turned off in late fall for the winter.
A little about our family: I am 83 and my wife is 82 years old. We live in Middleton, Idaho.
Our children:
Karen MacDonald, Evanston, Wyoming
Dennis Barrow and family all still live in the Basin
Anne Kelsheimer killed in a car accident in 1991
Sherrilyn Chadwick, Las Vegas, Nevada
Marlene Turner, Boise, Idaho
Kevin Barrow, Middleton, Idaho
These are answers in response to the questionnaire that was sent to Barrows:
It has been hard for me to remember some of the things that happened so long ago. I hope this will help you make a story of it. - Cec
I read about the drawing in the newspaper. I put my name in many drawings before I drew out. I came from Ogden, Utah. I served in World War II. I was drafted in the service on March 13, 1944, wounded in France on November 14, 1944, and discharged from Bushnell Hospital on November 1, 1945.
Before we came, I was a dairy farmer and drove school bus, as well as working odd jobs. I was born on a farm. My father was a good teacher. After we were married, I rented a farm, then later bought 40 acres.
I thought it was my lucky day when I was selected. I thought we would be better off by having more farm ground. Clara didn’t feel too good about the selection at first. She wanted to go back to Utah. She thought better about it, after we got our new house built.
I chose my unit because I thought it was the best available unit at that time. At first, my impression of the area was not too good. I changed my mind about the area, after I saw the crops they were growing in Block 1 and Block 11. I could see it would be a good farm, with a lot of work.
When we came, we had five children. Karen was 15, Dennis was 12, Anne was 10, Sherrilyn was 4 and Marlene was 19 days old. Karen and Dennis went to Pasco to school. Anne, Sherrilyn and Marlene went to Eltopia.
My “rich relative” was Uncle Sam. I got a loan from FHA to level the land and buy equipment and build a house. I brought a 1944 Ford truck and a lot of hand tools and a 1950 Studebaker car.
When we first got to Pasco we rented an apartment. I got a job driving truck for the N.P. Railroad. I bought a boxcar house from the railroad and moved it out on the farm. We lived in it all summer until our house was finished in October 1955.
My first crops were mostly beans, planted in March 1955. I planted some alfalfa hay the first year. I paid about $10 per acre for my land.
I started to feel at home after we got our house built and moved in. Clara felt at home after we got our new house built and she could start canning fruits and vegetables, filling all the shelves in the root cellar we built from railroad ties.
Our nearest neighbors were Don and Yvonne Worsham and their son Ron. (Pam was born later.) We were glad to see them move in. They were the first neighbors we met here. When we saw Dale and Yvonne pull in with their trailer, we went up to see them and asked them if they were going to stay. Forrest and Eva Pugh came in the fall of 1955. They had two boys.
At first we went to church in Pasco. Then after we moved out to the farm we went to church in Connell.
On the 4th of July we all went down to Ringold in Art Purser’s cow pasture on the banks of the Columbia River. We played games, had a picnic, and visited with friends and neighbors.
The best part of this area is the people. They were all so willing to help one another.
What is the worst part, besides the wind and dust? When there wasn’t any wind and dust, it was a very pleasant place to live. We planted trees all around our house.
Question about funny things: Tell about our baby covered with dust from a wind storm.
We used the bookmobile. My wife and children were always there when the bookmobile came.
By Dennis Barrow:I was 12 years old when I came to live in the Columbia Basin. My dad Cecil Barrow was one of the few picked to choose a farm in the Columbia Basin Project. The spot he picked was Unit 6 Block 16.
At that time we were living in West Warren, Utah. That year I had just started the eighth grade in school. I wasn’t too happy about leaving all my friends. We moved to Washington State in the fall of 1954. I can remember us coming across the Cold Springs Junction Road from Pendleton, Oregon, and I saw the Columbia River for the first time. The Columbia River was the biggest river I had ever seen and as long as I live I will never forget that day.
When we first arrived in Washington we lived in Pasco. We had to live there until we were able to get a place out on the farm. There were five of us kids plus Mom and Dad. The only place we could find was a small one-bedroom house, so we lived in a very cramped-up space. Dad was able to buy an old railroad building to place out on the farm for us to live in. This building was put together in panels so it could be torn down to be moved if needed. At that time Dad had a job with the railroad. He was able to get a man of color to help him move the building. I went with Dad to get him the day we were going to move the building. He lived in East Pasco. He was a huge man. He was the biggest man I had ever seen. We had worked all day on the building and the job was done. Dad tried to pay him for all the work he had done for us but he refused to accept any money for his labor. He had asked Dad before we left Pasco if we could stop and buy him some beer. Dad bought him all the beer he wanted to drink that day. He told Dad the beer was all the pay that he wanted.
We moved into our home at the farm in February of 1955. I got ready to start a new school. The school was an old quonset building located at the Bureau camp in Eltopia. That first day I attended I was all dressed up. Boy, did I ever feel out of place when I saw the rest of the kids dressed in their work clothes. After that day I dressed the same way as my classmates. One morning I believe it was Ivan Breider got on the school bus with a jar of stink bugs. Somehow the lid came off the jar and stink bugs went everywhere. Some of the kids were stepping on them. The rest of us had our heads out of the bus window just trying to breathe. What a day!
There weren’t many kids my age that lived close by so I was glad when a friend of my dad’s decided to move up from Utah and farm near us. I knew he would be bringing our horses with him when he came. Now that my horse was with me again I could explore the area. The best yet, I could go and visit my friends, Ivan and August Breider. Their mother could make the best homemade root beer in the country and she was sure to serve me a glass or two of that wonderful brew when I came over to see the boys. I still love horses. I think it is because of all the time that I spent on the back of a horse during that era of my life. I presently have four horses but sadly can’t seem to find the time to ride.
My mother spent a lot of time canning food for our family. She worked very hard every summer making sure we had all the vegetables and fruit put in jars for our food supply during the winter months. I can remember one year the local FHA supervisor brought some people out to our place just to show them all the jars of food that Mom had canned. I am so thankful for my parents and for being able to grow up here in the Basin. My parents taught me to work hard and to be responsible for caring for the land and for the animals that live here. I hope that I have done the same for my children as my parents did for me.
I lost my children’s mother (Judy) the summer of 1989. Judy and I had eight children and there were still four children at home when Judy passed away, the youngest being only five years old.
I remarried in 1991 to my present wife (Virginia). We still farm in the Basin but as I look at our orchards and see our solid set irrigation system and how the water flows without much effort, I can remember when we did all that hard work putting out tubes and handlines. Maybe the good old days weren’t so good after all.
Briggs, Alvin and Audrey
Written by Connie (Briggs) Erickson, September 13, 2002
I am writing this for my dad Alvin Briggs. He asked me to take care of it. I asked him what were some of his memories of the farm and he gave me a couple. My mom passed away about seven weeks ago. I know she would have a lot of memories.
My dad remembers having church in the gym of the grade school in Eltopia. My younger brother Corey was blessed there. He remembers planting crops and having the winds come along and blow all the seeds away. He said one year he had to plant his wheat three times. We were in Block 16 and we moved from Farmington, Utah. My dad didn’t have any farming experience at all. He had always wanted to farm and he drew our farm out from a newspaper ad. Our farm was total sagebrush. We had dirt roads and no water. We lived in Pasco while our house was being built. We had a contractor build our house. After it was framed and the plumbing and electricity was installed, we moved into the basement while they finished the main floor so Stan and me could start school in the fall. We didn’t have a bathroom yet so we used an outhouse. We had a big metal tub that we all bathed in. I remember it was hard work farming but we had fun times, too. It was fun driving the tractors and driving the car at age 13. I remember the fun times we had at MIA (the church youth group), especially those square dances and Gold and Green Balls (dances). My parents would go to the grade school gym every Saturday night and square dance. I would go and watch them. I remember how close we were as a ward and those wonderful bazaars, the cake walks, and the beautiful quilts.
About our family now: Stan, the oldest, is divorced. He lives in Phoenix working as a car salesman. He has four children, three married and the youngest leaving on a church mission in November 2002. He has three grandchildren. Connie, the middle, is divorced. She lives in Centerville, Utah, and works for the Postal Service. She has five children, four married and her youngest son is 16. Her sixth grandchild will be born in February 2003. Corey, the youngest, never married. He lives in Indianapolis working in the food department in a hotel.
Cook, William P. and Betty Lou
Block 14, Unit 108
We received a request from Norma Casey sometime back to add our story about coming to the Columbia Basin to the stories of others so they can write a book about the area. That is a very worthy cause, and those who are working on this project are to be commended for it. We hope many will send in their stories.
I am afraid a few of you are like I am. We have forgotten names, places and dates that are important to a good history. We all had our share of troubles over the years. We tend to remember the bad times all right, but now we laugh at a lot of them. We wouldn’t want to go through them again, but would not have wanted to miss them, since they made us grow. I think if we are honest with ourselves most of us will agree that we are better people because of those trials. I was about three years younger than a lot of you. The last year we farmed was in 1993. The last few growers meetings I went to had very few of the early settlers there. It was mostly the younger generation that have taken over, or new people to the area. It has been a real life-long experience. We suppose many of you wonder, as we do now and then, what would we be doing now if we had not moved to the Columbia Basin. As we look back with that 20-20 hindsight people talk about, we see that it was a good thing in most ways. Financially it was good. We met many good people, who are life-long friends. We had to scramble to make a living for us and our families, so that made us grow faster. Poverty keeps one humble, so most of us were pretty humble for many years.
Many of you had served during World War II. I had not been in the service at that time. That came later. I was born and raised near Rigby, Idaho. Betty was close by but nearer to Ucon, Idaho. I turned 18 in 1946 and had to register for the draft. My father died in 1948 so that left me responsible to care for the farm and Mother and her family. That put me in a 3-D classification. Between farming and dependency, it was enough to keep me out of the draft. At that time World War II was over, but they still drafted a few people.
When Betty and I married in 1952 and moved to Moses Lake in January 1953, that put me into a 1-A classification. I was drafted in the spring of 1955 into the Army. It wasn’t all bad though since that made me eligible for the veterans drawing.
The way we found out about the Columbia Basin is as follows. My cousin Vernon Cook had been in the Navy during the war. He received information about a new irrigation project opening up in Washington. He asked if I would like to go with him and look it over. In August 1952 Vernon, his wife Donna, and I decided to do that. We came to the Grand Coulee dam, then down the river to Ephrata to the Bureau of Reclamation Offices, and found out what the project consisted of and what the possibilities were. We then went to Moses Lake. As I remember now, in 1948 the Bureau of Reclamation had pumped water from the Columbia River onto some land north of Pasco, as a test, to find out the feasibility of irrigating a large area. That was called Block 1. It had proved successful so they had gone ahead and started what became known as the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. Some 500,000 acres were to be developed in stages or blocks, as they called them, with the possibility of another 500,000 acres being added later.
At the time we visited the area in 1952, only Block 40 north of Moses Lake had received water and some of it had been developed and farmed that year. The news was full of advertisements about how great the Columbia Basin was and how great the opportunities were for people wanting a new start. People from all over were coming to find out about it. The veterans were receiving information about the drawings available to them, and there was a great deal of excitement about it all.
My cousin Vernon Cook and his wife Donna and I liked what we saw, but did not find ground to rent or buy on that trip. Soon after that we heard about a man in Utah who had ground about 12 miles south of Moses Lake. Vernon and I and another man, Dean Call from Rigby, Idaho, went to see him in Hooper, Utah. We rented four units of 80 acres each from him and his brother‑in‑law, without seeing it or knowing the exact location of the ground. The three of us drew straws to determine which units each would take. At the time it didn’t matter which we got because none of us had seen it.
Betty and I had both grown up on a farm. I started farming on my own in 1950 in Rigby, Idaho. We were married 19 December 1952 and one month later I and my cousin Vernon Cook and Dean Call left for the Columbia Basin. My brother Dale came with us to help build houses for us to live in. Vernon and I had bought a used truck to make the trip out to Washington with, and to use on the farm. Vernon had an S.C. Case tractor. I had a W.D. Allis Chalmers tractor. We had very little else worth hauling out. I had a new GMC pickup. We put our personal things in it. Dean pulled a trailer with his International H tractor on it. We made a motley-looking caravan, I guess. But we were excited about facing a new venture.
I remember well of thinking when we got to Pasco that we would soon be there. The roads were a lot different then. We had to go to Connell, then north to Hatton Road, then west until we could see Othello in the distance, and then north to Highway 10, then west almost to Moses Lake, and then south to our rented farm. It seemed like we’d never get there. It was a dreary January day. I don’t suppose we passed two dozen homes from Pasco to Moses Lake. I doubt if there were a half dozen homes in all of Block 42. We unloaded our machinery in a corner of one unit, dug a hole in the ground and hid our small tools, chains, binders, etc., and went to Moses Lake to find something to eat and someplace to live while we built houses on the units. We didn’t work fast enough for our wives, so they soon followed us. My new bride and I rented a small trailer in Moses Lake. That was our first home and the start of our married life together.
Vernon and I had three units joining each other. Our landlords had agreed to furnish the material if we would furnish the labor to build houses. So we had to hurry to be ready for spring work. The landlords had hired the ground leveled. Vernon and I were going to farm one half of the three units each, and trade work and machinery as our fathers had in Idaho. Soon we decided to form a partnership. We called it Cook and Cook. We farmed that ground, and rented other ground sometimes, for six years. In 1957 Vernon was drawn in the veterans drawing and bought a unit in Block 19. They moved to it in 1958. My name was drawn in 1958 and we moved to our present location, Unit 108 in Block 14, in January 1959.
During the process of drawing and choosing our unit we met some of the people in the area, Loen Bailie, Melvin McInturf and others who had helped make the Columbia Basin a reality. I think it was a Mrs. Bailie who told us of how they had lived in Mesa most of her life. Her family came near the turn of the nineteenth century. She said that at one time there had been close to 300 people in the town of Mesa. The wind and sandy soil soon drove most of them out, and she said that at one time there was only their light and one or two others in Mesa.
In the drawing, I think my number was about 276. So I was down the list quite a ways and wondered if there would be enough units to go around. Many who were drawn ahead of us did not want to come or may not have had the resources to qualify, or for various reasons dropped out. The Bureau took about 17 or 18 people at a time to show them the units that were available to pick from. They held a drawing in this small group. In our group Don and Doris Beach were number one, and we were number two. We were shown what units were available and given a period of time to decide which we wanted. The day we were to tell them which unit we wanted, about 18 more units had come back into the pot. For various reasons these units had been turned back. We were given more time to look them over. Don and Doris Beach and my wife and I would go together and look at the units. So they were about the first ones we became well acquainted with. Don being number one chose the unit that had been drawn by the first veteran to have a choice in the whole drawing. He was a brother to Wayne Eppich. For some reason he had not followed through, and it came back into the drawing. We chose Unit 108 in Block 14.
That began a long period of new experiences. We were living in Warden at the time. Our unit in Block 14 had dryland wheat stubble and weeds on it, so all we had to do was burn it off and level it. Many had to grub off the sagebrush. We hired Russell Bowen from Moses Lake to level it. His brother Jay Bowen from Warden and another man I cannot remember the name of leveled it.
We bought a barracks building from Richland and it was moved onto our place in the fall of 1958. We paid $1.00 a square foot for it set down on our foundation. It was too large to take across the bridge, so had to be ferried over. We worked all that winter remodeling and preparing it to live in. We moved into it in January 1959. Nearly all the people who came here at that time were close to the same age, and about equal financially. Most had little or nothing and maybe even less than nothing. But they all had dreams and were determined to make a go of it. Anyone who farms has to be tough as nails and a good manager and a self starter, so soon we were surrounded by good neighbors, some of the finest people in the world. The way most of us got acquainted was by trading machinery and pooling what we had. There were only a few phones around and very few wells anywhere close. I think everyone did have electricity at the start though. Dick Bailie had a farmstead about a mile from us. John and Louise Winebarger had bought a unit that had been homesteaded years before, so they became the “phone and well center” for most of the neighbors within travel distance. They knew just about all that went on in the area.
I remember the meetings we held trying to get phones into the area. I don’t know what year we got a phone. Many of us had wells drilled that first summer. But like us, many still had to carry water from the well to the house for some time before we could pipe it to the house.
By spring 1960 the countryside looked a lot different. There were homes all over the place and green crops where only dry dirt and weeds had been the year before. Each family had their own challenges. On most of Block 14 one huge problem was sinkholes. We would make new ditches, but there was nothing to hold the dirt together and no sod to repair ditch breaks. Some tell of having a wife or child sit or lay in the break so they could throw dirt against them, and hold long enough to fix the bank. We would set up a stream of water at night, go out in the morning, and either the ditch was gone down a hole or the whole stream would be going down one spot in the field, taking all the dirt with it.
The wind was about the worst of all problems for the whole area. We called them trade winds. Everyone traded soil in one of those winds. There were different ways to tell when the wind was blowing. A favorite one was to poke an iron bar through a knothole. If the wind bent it over it was blowing hard. A man at Moses Lake had his own way of knowing. He was leveling our farm one day when the wind came up. He stayed with it for a long time. Finally he stopped. He came over where we were and said that when he saw a ground hog up thirty feet trying to dig a hole he decided to quit.
One of the questions was, Did your family have a saying or slogan that you lived by in those days? Yes, there was one I had. When the wind blows do one of two things. Go in the house, close the blinds and lay in the middle of the floor and try to go to sleep. Or, go to town. Going to town was a poor option. The wind blew there too.
I think another universal trouble was getting money to operate with. Lending agencies were “generous” so long as you could show that you had enough money, so that you didn’t need to borrow from them, but were doing it to help their company out. It was still a great time. The economy as a whole was booming. Crops grew good in this area and prices were such that if you raised a good crop, you could make a decent living. Markets were not fast coming for many crops, but did come with time. Farmers worked together and soon there were growers meetings to go to, bean, sugar beet and potato meetings. I would like to know all the crops that have been, or that will grow in this area. It is one of the choicest farming areas in the U.S. It has fertile soil and if you treat it to all the nourishment it needs, and when it finally settled down so you could plant it, it would grow most everything so long as it got enough water. Water was the thing that made the Basin as well as the crops grow.
Block 13, 15, 16, 18, 19 and others were already developed when we came here from Moses Lake. It seemed like in the early days that everyone liked to visit back and forth. Many organizations started up. The Grange was in the area. We had helped start the Farm Bureau in Moses Lake. It soon came to our area and we worked some in the first days getting it started. Most of the businesses in the towns around were anxious for our trade and were good to help the farmer any way they could, to see that the farmers got started. Many gave some discounts. They knew it was good for them in the long run.
I presume most of you received the list of suggestions on what to write about. I will now comment on the ones I have not covered already.
No. 6 How did I feel when selected for the G.I. drawing? I was too young and naïve to know any better, so I felt real good about it. It proved to be much better than we even dared to dream for.
No. 7 How did your wife feel about the selection? She was very supportive and always helped in everything we tried to do together. Besides we were in LOVE. What more can you ask.
No. 8 Did you both come to see the area at the same time? No. I explained why above. She knew I would not lie to her about something that important. So she trusted me and came out here without knowing much about what she was getting into. She has never said anything to make me feel bad for dragging her away from Momma.
No. 9 Why did you choose your unit? It was a good location. It was a larger unit than some. It had good soil and laid fairly level. It looked good to us. We felt it was the best unit available to us at the time.
No. 12 How many were in your family? When we moved to Moses Lake there was just my wife and I. By the time we moved to Block 14 in 1959 we had Karla, five, and Terry, three. Both went to school in Eltopia but we can’t remember how many years it was before that school closed.
No. 14 Did you have a rich relative backing you? Now that is really a joke if I ever heard one.
No. 17 What were your first crops? We had a sugar beet allotment at Moses Lake, which we were able to bring with us to Block 14. I think it was about 26 acres. We also grew red Mexican beans the first year we were here.
No. 18 How much did your land cost per acre? I don’t remember the exact figure, but about $67.00. Then to develop it we borrowed a lot more and we had quite a bit of our own money to level the land, put in ditches, build buildings and improvements. No, the land was not free. I think the greatest advantage and blessing to come to most of us was that we were able to get a fresh start on good land and a place of our own. Where most of us grew up, the land was owned by our parents and other people. Also, we may have had brothers and sisters that wanted to farm and there was just not enough ground to go around. For most of us, the opening up of the Columbia Basin gave us the opportunity to get something of our own. World War II was over and the economy was booming. That period of time was probably about as good a time for the irrigation project to start up as any time in this world. Much sooner, there would not have been the equipment and technology to build Grand Coulee dam. It would have been hard to construct the ditches and turnouts. As was proven by the attempts of many settlers who tried to settle here since the turn of the century, without water it would have been impossible for this ground to produce most of the crops we grow now. Those people did not have machinery adequate to farm much ground, and keep it from blowing away. Horsepower was just not enough to get the dry ground prepared and a crop planted and up enough to stop the soil from blowing. There would not have been the heavy machinery needed to level the ground so it could be irrigated, and there was very little sprinkling at that time.
There had been other attempts to bring water to parts of the Basin. I have seen some of the ditches in the north and west end of the Basin, not too far from Quincy. Some company planned to bring water from the Columbia River. They planned to take it out somewhere above Rock Island dam. I have read some about it but don’t remember many details.
One more thing that most of us may not think of: When most of us came here, we came from a farm background and had the grit and determination to make a go of it.
No. 19 How long before you really felt at home here? As I wrote before, this was a new adventure. We missed our families and friends back home for sure, but we soon had new friends here. There is always something exciting about building your own empire, so to speak. So it was not long until we were at least satisfied here.
We are retired now and we still think of returning to our place of birth, to live out our last days. It must just be human nature.
No. 20 How long before your wife felt at home? I’ll let her answer that. She says when we moved to Moses Lake she was happy, the same as I was, to be together as newlyweds. We were married one month before I moved to Moses Lake to start building a house on the property we were renting. She says that when we moved from Moses Lake to Basin City, that if there was ever a time she would like to have returned to Idaho, it would have been then. I was the same. We would have liked to have the children grow up closer to their grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins by the dozens. Financial opportunities here soon overweighed that. Besides that, my mother-in-law was still in Idaho. Ha! Ha!
No. 21 Who were your nearest neighbors? John and Louise Winebarger, about one‑fourth mile away. They had also lived close to us in Block 42, close to O’Sullivan dam south of Moses Lake. We even dug beets for them in 1955. That was the year when so many beets froze in on the 11th of November. Our digger was in their field when it froze.
No. 22 Can you remember the first neighbor you met here? It was likely Winebargers when we went for water or to use the phone. We didn’t know until we moved here that they were here.
No. 23-25 What did you do for entertainment? We went to Othello or Pasco, to the movies now and then. We visited neighbors a lot. Many of you visited while waiting in lines at the beet dumping stations. I was always on the digger so missed that entertainment, such as watching someone tripping the sideboards on the truck, when they were overloaded and the State Patrolman got too close. We did have a TV that we had bought while living in Warden in about 1956. Our church did many things, dances, plays, Fourth of July celebrations, 24th of July celebrations, potluck meals, Christmas parties when Santa came for the kiddies, you name it we did it. We did some activities with the Farm Bureau. We usually went to the Benton County Fair. We did quite a lot of camping in the hills, some with the Boy Scouts. We made a number of trips to Westport on the coast in the first years. We went to Mount Rainier and most of the other state parks and large mountains. We traveled to see relatives in Idaho, California and Utah. I guess you could say we love to travel. We have been in all 50 states at least once plus Canada and old Mexico, some of them many times.
No. 26-27 What are the best and worst parts of the area? Since I am a farmer I would say the best are the many opportunities for people who like to farm. The growing season is fairly long. The climate is good most of the year. The heat in the summer really bothers me. The fog and ice and the lack of seeing the sun in the winter bother me about as much as anything. But I can put up with the bad parts, so I can enjoy the good things. The good things outweigh the bad. Otherwise many of us would not still be here. I have heard a few say they could never get enough money together at one time to leave. I question that.
No. 28 What funny things happened in the early days? I could name several but will relate one here since it was both funny and not so funny. Vernon and I rolled a combine tire down a hill at Warden to see how far it would go. It was fun to watch it go, bouncing from rocks and over a fence, almost out of sight for what seemed like a mile or more, almost to a small lake we could see in the distance. The not-so-funny thing was that since we had taken the tire off to repair a leak and still needed the tire on the combine, we had to retrieve it. It seems like we were always doing some goofy thing. I guess you could say we made our own entertainment.
No. 35 If one of your children came to you and said they wanted to go somewhere and homestead, what would you tell them? I THINK my answer would be, have you studied the good and bad things? Does the good outweigh the bad? Will it cause trouble between you and your wife and children? Have you prayed for guidance? If you feel good about most, if not all, your TRULY honest feelings about all these things, then go for it, work hard, make it happen. Farming has been the best thing for your mom and I. It was a wonderful place to raise you kids. It can be the same for you. Once your mind is made up, go forward, don’t look back. MAKE IT HAPPEN. No one else will make it happen for you. If you can dream of something better for yourself and family, then prepare yourself in every way to make that dream come true. You alone will know your dreams, until after you have made them come true. If Mom and I can help you, let us know. But not too often.
No. 36-37 Would you do it again, all things being as they were then? Is there a way to answer that? We did it once. Why would we do different?
Summary
We do know that this has been as good a life, meaning farm life and where we spent it, as we could have had anywhere else, at least that we know anything about. Since there is no way to know what it would have been like doing something else, we will assume that it was best for us.
We have raised our family here. They have all made a success of their lives so far. Hard work builds character. The first years were full of hard work, and so far as I could tell, all the rest of the years were full of hard work. So all of us should have character. The work paid off. We truly believe we could have made a good life anywhere we happened to be. We don’t grieve over the past. Today is here. Make the most you can of it that you can. The future is ahead. Use what you have learned from the past to make today and the future better.
We look forward to reading this book when it is done. I think most of your stories will contain many of the same things as ours.
If you are still reading this epistle, Betty and I wish you all the best for the rest of your lives.
Columbia Basin Pioneers – Cleston and Jessie Lou Hobbs
Block 13 Unit 36
Cleston and Jessie Lou had worked with a banker in Idaho where they farmed and raised livestock. His name was Mr. Jones and he told them about the new Columbia Basin farming project in Washington State, encouraging them to consider looking beyond the Hamer/ Rigby, Idaho area.
Cleston’s sister and family, Wayne and Verla Schwendiman, were farming in Block 11. Jessie Lou’s sister and family, Ron and Verena Edler, were on a farm in Block 18, so this area was not unknown to them. Cleston, accompanied by his Mother, who wanted to visit with her daughter, Verla Schwendiman, went to participate in a drawing for farm units. At the drawing in the Bureau of Reclamation Office in Ephrata, Washington, Verla was asked to draw the names for those who would have first, second, and so forth choice of the units in Block 13. Cleston’s name was the first one she drew. He looked over the land and later made his choice, which was Unit 36.
Jessie Lou and Cleston, with the blessing of their family, packed up their four children and dog and moved to a small shack across the road from the Schwendimans in Block 11. Here they lived for a short time while their home was being built.
Othello Lumber Company built the home and Cleston contracted with the Company to do part of the labor in exchange for a reduction in cost of the new home. The Hobbs family moved into their new home on Farm Unit 36 Block 13 -- later changed to WD106 when additional land was purchased. The yellow house sat on the northeast corner of the unit adjacent to the Doug and Jan Messenger Unit 35. To the north was the John Clark family, to the east was the Harvey and Bertha Roylance family, and Art and Mary Ward were to the west. Mary Ward and Jan Messenger were schoolteachers. Jan Messenger passed away in about 1969. Doug later married Karen and she and her two young sons joined the family in Block 13. John Clark was an electrician and Doug Messenger did survey work for the government.
There were endless rocks to be removed from the unit that was a mixture of sagebrush land and old dry farm land. Beside rocks, rattlesnakes were to be watched out for. Initially irrigation of the farm was done by siphon tubes and wheel lines. Jessie Lou would help out with the changing of the water by picking up the tubes and then laying them out along the ditch bank in position for watering the next rows. Cleston would set the tubes to siphoning water because he was faster at setting the tubes than Jessie Lou. On one occasion as Cleston was setting the tubes, one of the tubes was heavy with what he assumed to be mud so he flipped it to get the mud to dislodge, but instead a rattler came sliding out. It would have been a job gathering all the tubes from their far‑flung resting-places had that snake decided to slide out while Jessie Lou had a hold of those tubes! There were times when Cleston considered whether or not to use her to dam up the frequent ditch breaks cause by the melting sandy soil banks.
The sense of community that developed among the neighbors was demonstrated when a four-year-old playing cowboy and Indians shot flaming arrows into the large stack of baled hay. By the time the smoke was seen all that was left to do was stand and watch the flames devour the supply of hay. Lester Yenny from Block 14 came down at the sight of the smoke and offered hay to get them though until the next crop when they could replenish and return hay to Lester.
During beet harvest several farmers would work together in digging and haul each others’ beet crop, a beet harvester would travel from farm to farm, and farmers would use their own trucks to haul the loads of beets to the railroad loading area where a large pile would accumulate. Cleston was usually busy hauling beets around Halloween time. Some years the harvest was slowed and made difficult by heavy fall rain creating muddy fields. The race was to get the crop out of the ground before frost hit.
Cleston and Jessie Lou participated in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For several years, Cleston served as a Boy Scout leader. The congregation met in a building moved from the Hanford Reservation. When a new church facility was built in Block 16 the entire family helped to build it as many families did, laying brick, painting and gluing floor and ceiling tiles in place.
They both drove school buses for many years. They started driving at the time of the Eltopia School District split. Students had been attending elementary in Eltopia, while high school students went to Pasco. The junior high and high school students were hauled by parents to catch the Connell District bus at Russell and Langford Roads. Later when Eltopia Elementary was closed all students were bused into Mesa with high school and junior high students transferring onto buses to be taken to Connell.
The Columbia Basin was a great place to raise a family. The Family is now scattered from Spokane where Ed and his wife live to Southern California where Kathy and her family live, then on over to Arizona where Cleston and Jessie joined their son Greg and his family in Tucson in 1994. Dan and his family moved to Tucson in 2001 and all three families are now living outside of Tucson in Marana, Arizona, on virgin land, pioneering a new residential/rural area.
(Editor's Note: Cleston and Jesse Hobbs have both passed away.)
Jenkins, George and Dorothy
Meredith (Merri), Lyndell, Mark, David
Block 16 Farm Unit 35 Move-in date June 1956
We heard about the drawing from the newspaper. I had served in the U.S. Air Force. My jobs before coming were heavy equipment operator, school teacher and farming part-time and in the summers. We were excited to come, looking forward to the move, and a little worried. We came together to see the area the first time. There were only two or three units left. We chose this one because it had the heaviest soil. My first impression of the area was that it was cold and barren. Dorothy didn’t think it was all that cold but wondered where were the mountains? We had four children, ages 12, 10, 2 and 3 when we came. They went to school in Eltopia.
We brought one old John Deere. We borrowed other equipment. Our first crops were wheat, beans, alfalfa and sugar beets.
Our first home was an old Hanford barracks building, open on two sides until we closed it with black tarpaper-like fiber board. Our nearest neighbors were Carl Holmes, Wayne Eppich and Vaughn Johnson. For entertainment we participated in church activities, potluck dinners and square dancing at the old school house.
The best part of this area is the wide open spaces, Columbia and Snake Rivers, but most of all the friendly people. The worst part was the distance we had to travel for parts, etc. Some character traits I think that were developed here were dependability, good work ethic and stamina. If one of my children wanted to homestead, my advice to them would be to go camping in the desert all summer and winter.
We really were not much of a pioneer in the Basin. We were here only a short while as you will see in the following narration.
We arrived from Livingston, California, in June 1956. We had one old John Deere so we qualified to rent a box car at the immigrant rate which was considerably cheaper. It held all our belongings and was still 3/4 empty. We spent a few weeks in a rental in Mesa and then into a piece of Hanford barracks we moved onto the unit.
The building was open on two ends, which we closed up with a block of soft particle board. We built an outhouse and hauled our water in a new metal garbage can. This worked for the summer. Fortunately we were saved by kind neighbors, Ira and Elva Hammonds, who were leaving for Oregon for several months. They offered us the use of their house. This got us through the worst of the winter.
Speaking of winter, we had a long streak of weather where the temperature stayed below freezing. We hauled water from a well at Mathews Corner. The water sloshed out of the garbage can and froze in the trunk. After several days of this, the rear end was so low and the front so high from the weight of the ice, you could hardly drive it. A Chinook wind came along and melted the ice and all was well once again.
We found a good used sprinkler system in Yakima that exactly fit our 80 acres and spent the winter getting it installed.
In the meantime I got a job teaching in the Eltopia school in the 4th grade. This put the beans on the table. Somewhere in that time space we got domestic water in too J.
We were working on plans to start farming in the spring. They weren’t going too well. The financial institutions were not too interested in somebody as inexperienced as us. Then I got a telephone call from the U.S. Air Force. I had several years before, and long forgotten it, said I was available for recall to active duty as a pilot in the Air Force. They wanted to know if that was still so. I said yes and was told to report to an air base in Texas.
The Bureau took exception to this and said they would cancel my contract. With the help of a friend who also was a lawyer, Larry Adamson (Block 16), through a law which is still in effect, we reached an agreement that I could comply with the requirement of residence when I returned from active duty. As it turned out that was 15-1/2 years later. When I showed up all the office staff came out and we had a good laugh about it and I completed my residence requirements in 1972.
During the period I was in the Air Force the Columbia Basin Branch of the LDS Church ran the farm for the first three years, then Vaughn Johnson farmed it until we returned in August 1972. We farmed it until 1975 mostly with the help of Mark and David. We sold the unit to Wayne Woodward or rather traded it for a ranch in southwest Oregon near Bandon.
The farming was only a short period in our lives but a very important once. The community was an anchor for our family during my time in the Air Force and we have kept up long-term friendships with so many. The people here in the Basin are unique and they have a strength and character that is stronger and more generous and open than any I have seen anywhere in my travels. It’s my favorite place to live.
Current Information
Dorothy died April 1996.
George married Jeanne Adamson Allred 1997.
Meredith lives in Twin Falls, Idaho. She married Ray Neiwert. 2 children.
Lyndell lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. She married Mark Schwartz. They have two children, Heather and Maegan.
Mark lives in Gig Harbor, Washington. He married Karen Klingler. They have eight children.
David lives in West Richland, Washington. He has one child.
Jeanne and I live in Othello half a year and in Las Vegas, Nevada, the other half. You can guess which half! (Editors’ Note: Now George and Jeanne live in Columbia Basin Ward half a year. We’re so glad to have them back.)
Johnson, Vaughn and Bardella
Block 16 Unit 30
The Story of the Vaughn and Bardella Johnson Family
This story begins in the year 1952 when we were told about the drawing out here in the Columbia Basin Project. We both had been raised on a farm, so that was what we had wanted to carry on in our own lives. The farms in Idaho were so expensive that there wasn’t any way for us to get started in the business of farming. We thought this would be a good chance to farm, so we put our name in for the drawing.
It was on a Sunday. We went to church and one of our friends came up to us and said to us, “Congratulations.” We said, “What for?” She said, “Didn’t you know your name was drawn out in Washington in the Columbia Basin Project to get a farm?” We couldn’t believe it! We were so excited! This was something we had hoped and prayed for so we could get started on a farm of our own.
Vaughn had been in World War II. He served in the 76th Infantry Division assigned to General Patton’s 3rd Army in the European Theatre of War. He returned home June of 1946.
Vaughn and I had met in high school, so when he got home we decided we still loved each other and made plans to be married, which we did on July 23, 1946, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. After our marriage he did land leveling and bulldozing and we also rented some ground to farm. We lived in Sugar City, Idaho, which is north of Idaho Falls about 30 miles.
We made a trip out here to Washington to see the country. We even stopped by Maynard Bailie’s farm (only didn’t know it was his at the time). We got a bottle of dirt, the kind of soil that was very important to us at the time. We liked the looks of the soil and we really liked the country and could see it would be a great opportunity for us to get started on a farm. The big thing for me was we would be leaving our families. This would be the first time for me to be away from home. I was somewhat nervous about that, knowing our children wouldn’t be growing up around their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We both felt very strongly about this country and wanted to make the move out here. We were young and thought we could handle and go through most anything and everything and we did.
When the time came for us to come to Washington for the drawing for a farm, both of our parents came, also my brother and his wife and my sister and her husband for this big occasion. Vaughn and I and his parents came ahead of time to walk over the units so we could make a decision on which unit we wanted. It was very hot. It was in August and so it was hot and dry, no water anywhere. The day of the drawing it was 108 degrees, not a breeze anywhere. We thought we were going to die in the heat. Vaughn and his father walked many miles over the farm units. We made our decision of the unit we wanted and were lucky to get our first choice, Unit 30 in Block 16.
We decided on this unit because it was larger than most, and we liked the area and also the lay of the land. We were very excited and couldn’t believe our good luck. It seemed like it was home right from the very start, and this was the place we wanted to raise our family. When we were here for the drawing, we found an 18’ trailer house in Ritzville, Washington, so we bought it and moved it down to Reese and Verna Hope’s place in Block 15. We had all gone to school together in Idaho. This made it very nice for us as we were very good friends there. They came a little before us.
We returned to Idaho where Vaughn did land leveling, etc., to get enough money to move out here to Washington. While there we built a privy so that when we got here all we had to do was nail it together, and we would be set. It worked out great.
We drew our farm in 1954 and in 1955 we came to Washington to work in Moses Lake at the Short Ranch. It was for a short time. We took our trailer house from Hopes and lived in it while we were there.
We then moved the trailer back to Hopes’ place and we went back to Idaho because Vaughn got a big scraping job that would really help us a lot.
In September 1955 we moved to our new home in Washington. I drove the car. It was a black 1950 Chevrolet, a neat-looking car. Vaughn drove the big red ten-wheeler, a very old truck that we used to move our D6 Cat and bulldozer on and we would pull the carryall behind when we would move from job to job. We had our own business. We had our nephew Elwood Peterson drive the old green truck that we got from Vaughn’s father. It was a real caravan. We couldn’t travel very fast at all so it took several days to get here.
It was so funny, when we got to the border to go into Washington we had to stop at the Port of Entry. The police said, “What should I put all of this down as, junk?” We had a grain drill, pull sweep or ripper, little offset disc, 8N Ford tractor, horse-drawn mowing machine which we had cut the tongue out of and put a hitch on it to pull behind the tractor, two sections of drag harrows, and lots of miscellaneous things. I guess it did look like a bunch of junk to him. We had a good laugh over it, but it was all we had. Then on the truck that Elwood was driving with all of our stuff, like our refrigerator, chest of drawers, just all of the things we brought, behind his truck he had a trailer also, and as we were traveling along the trailer broke loose and went out through the gutter, but what was interesting was not a thing tipped over or fell off or anything. The gutter wasn’t deep at all; it couldn’t have happened at a better place. But we finally made it to the farm.
Of course there wasn’t even a road to our unit. We had to go on the ditch rider’s road. It was dry and powdery and very hot. But we were very excited as if we didn’t have better sense (we said, “We’re home.”) I think most people would have cried, but we hurried and got the privy out and put together and went down to Hopes and got the trailer. Now, this was only 18’ long. This was to be our home for how long we did not know. No water, no electricity, no nothing. I am glad we were young then, and maybe a little foolish, but we were happy and excited.
We set up housekeeping. We took Elwood to the bus and sent him home. We had all four of our children at this time. Brenda was 8, Sheila was 6, Brian was 4 and Pamela was 2. This was in 1955. The trailer was pretty small for six of us. The children all slept crossways of the bed and we used a couch that you let down into a bed. We used a card table to eat on. We had brought a small steel granary with us so that helped out a lot as we could store things in it. We put our refrigerator over there also. We hauled water for a long time, clear until 16 families went together and got a well dug. It was called North 16 Domestic Water Association.
We didn’t have electricity for some time. We used a lantern. I scrubbed on the board. I never did go to town to do the laundry. It wasn’t easy but we made it. We took our baths in a little round tub. We had to haul water in four 10-gallon cans in the back of the car, first from Eltopia Bureau Camp and then later from the ditch rider housing in Block 15 north of Lyle MacHugh’s farm.
My brother had a trailer house in Moses Lake. When they went to Idaho they let us use it. We pulled it along the side of ours. That made it better as we had a pull-down table and more beds for everyone.
Our children made the adjustment in fine shape. In the fall of 1955 Brenda and Sheila started school in Eltopia. I remember us making a statement when we came to look the country over, we said we would sure hate our kids to go to that school. They did and they loved it there. They also went to Pasco, and then to Connell.
When we moved out here, we hired a man in Idaho to haul our D6 Cat, bulldozer, and pull the carryall behind, as we didn’t think that the old ten-wheeler could haul it that far. It cost us a lot of money to do this. After we had been here for awhile and it was time for him to come with it, we saw the truck coming. He had the Cat and dozer but no carryall behind the truck. It gave us a very scary feeling not knowing what had happened. He had left it in Bozeman, Montana. He didn’t give any money back or anything. Here we were, very little money, just the old red truck to go get it with, so what we did was load a 180-gallon barrel on the old red truck. We filled it with gas so at least we had gas when we needed it. We left the two older girls with Reese and Verna Hope so they could keep going to school. We had the two little ones and we headed to Montana to get our carryall. The old truck would only go (top speed) 25 to 30 miles per hour at best, so we were traveling for quite some time. When we got there, we found it and got it hooked on and started home or to Washington. I had to ride in the truck as the flag man if we needed one. When we got almost to the Mullin Pass, we hit fog and snow. We knew we better get off the road before dark. We got a motel and stayed that night. The next morning we had our family prayer and asked for help and protection. As we started out there was still fog very thick. All of a sudden the sun came out and it shone on us clear over the pass and then some. We knew our prayers were heard and answered.
We traveled on till we came to the Washington border and they told us we had to have a permit to go on. We were very short on money, but they took Vaughn downtown to get it. That left us with very little money but we made it after all. It was so good to see that little trailer house!
Some people think that the government just gave these farms to us. They are wrong. We had to pay so much per acre depending on the soil classification. Maybe it didn’t sound like much but when you start out with nothing it takes a long time to get started and a great amount of money. No, it was not free. Vaughn had to try and find work and work was scarce. He did get on at the post office in Pasco during the Christmas rush, then he went to Connell to the railroad station to see if they had any work. It just so happened that there had been a train that jumped the track and they needed extra men to work so they hired him then. All the work was done by hand in those days. They had to unload railroad ties out of boxcars by hand and rebuild the tracks. This was all done by hand. It was very tough work and besides that it was really, really cold. He didn’t have a very warm coat to wear so a man there gave him one. That was the winter it got down to 25 below zero. The only way we could keep warm was to stay in bed, which we did. We had a little propane stove and there was frost on the sides of it. Even the shoes froze to the floor.
Later on Vaughn was able to get work doing land leveling driving a D8 Cat for George Walker in Othello and he worked for him for some time.
We planted wheat for our first crop, then hay and beans, pinto and red ones, but he worked off the farm for many years to make a living. The kids and I did most of the farming while he was gone. I remember one time it was early in the morning. I had a ditch break and I couldn’t get it stopped. I shoveled until I gave out, then I came in and got the kids and took them and sat them in the ditch and shoveled dirt around them. It about froze them to pieces. They were all crying and thought their mother was the worst person in the world, but I got it under control.
There were so many different experiences. I remember one morning Vaughn had gone to work and here came Darrell Sharp really coming fast and said to me, “Do you know how to set tubes?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Come with me quick. None of us can get them to work.” He had ordered a lot of water in and no one knew how to set tubes. I saved his ditch. There were trying times. I know Ross Russell had ground north of us. He was one of the first people we met. At that time they were living in Eltopia, but came out here to farm. Later they built a house here on their farm. They were good neighbors.
Darrell Sharp and Roma and their family came here and lived north of Ross Russell’s farm. Carl and Bonnie Holmes and family came later also, as well as Wayne and JoAnn Eppich, Ed Lipps and family also. Donald and Yvonne Worsham drew their farm unit the same day as we did. We have both lived here on the same units all of these years. Jim and Nancy Parnell came later, as well as Lyle MacHugh and Barbara, which have all been very good friends.
In those early years there were not many activities for us. We did swim in the canals. That is where all our kids learned to swim, so this was one activity that we could all do. We lived too far from town. As they got older, the young people would get together and go swimming or do some fun things.
We had our church here, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were so happy for that. We were very active in our church. On the 4th of July we would have a breakfast and a speaker who talked about our country. We had all of these men who had served their country. That was really neat.
Some years later we built a basement to live in. It seemed like we had died and gone to heaven with all of that space. We lived in it for three years and then we built on top, and that is where we live to this day.
We love this area and always have. There have been struggles along the way with health, etc., but all in all it has been a great blessing for us and our family. There is nothing I would change, even if I could. We have been here 45 years and four months. Our children have grown up with neighbor children and this has been a blessing for them. They have all met their mates here and married well. Now they have homes and families of their own. Brenda married Jerry Wiberg from Kennewick, Washington. They have seven children and adopted one. They are all married and they have 21 grandchildren. Sheila married Robert McCary from this area and they live in Finley. They had four children and they have 12 grandchildren. Brian married Linda Myhers from Olympia, Washington, and they have three children and four grandchildren. Pamela married Mark Roylance from Tonasket, Washington, (his parents are Harvey and Bertha Roylance) and they have five children of their own. They went to Romania and got two babies, a boy 14 months old and a girl 3 months old. They both went for a week and then Mark returned home to care for the farm and the other five children. Pamela stayed for six weeks and brought the children home with her. This was a great experience for both of them, and also for their family, but what a wonderful thing to do, and we are so happy to have them in our family. Four of their own children are married and they have seven grandchildren. This makes us a total of 22 grandchildren and 44 great-grandchildren. This is our greatest possession. Nothing else can even begin to compare with having a beautiful family.
Vaughn and I have been married 55 years on July 23, 2001. This gives us a total of 95 in our family counting spouses and ourselves, and there are more coming. We retired from farming in 1993 because of Vaughn having cancer. We continue to live here on our farm since we moved here in 1955, this being January 30th of 2001.
By Brenda Johnson Wiberg, Kennewick, Washington:
I was 8 years old when I came to the Basin. I was born in Rexburg, Idaho, and lived in that area at Heman and Sugar City till we moved here. Vaughn and Bardella Johnson are my parents. There were six in the family when we moved here.
Some early memories of this area are: Hauling water in milk cans. Lots of sagebrush and chasing horny toads. Going to play with Adena Holmes and swimming in their ditch. Attending church in Rigby’s home. Having a party line when we got a phone. Riding on the back of the sprinkler trailer. Laying in the rows of sugar beets for shade while weeding them. Sitting in mud during ditch breaks and having dirt shoveled around me.
Some games we played and toys we played with were tetherball, tag, balls, dodge ball, hopscotch, marbles and dolls. I played with my brother and sisters and neighbors such as Adena Holmes, Sandy Sharp, Judy Bitton, Janeene Ririe, Deanna and Lauana Hope and Arlene Johnson.
For pets we had stray cats and a pony named Penny. We also had dogs named Ring and Boo.
I went to Eltopia school for grades 2 through 8 and then Pasco and Connell. My favorite teachers were Mrs. Kauffman and Mr. Caldwell. I went to school on a bus. My bus drivers were Lloyd Poulsen and Mr. Ehresman I think. I remember being cold because we had to wear dresses. I did my homework on the bus. We had dances during lunch time. Some memories of school are: Walking down to Merrill’s store to buy candy. Chasing boys during recess. Having spelling bees. Learning how to answer the phone correctly. Correcting neighbor’s papers.
I looked forward to the bookmobile coming. We would stop whatever we were doing and run to see what new books they had. I enjoyed the summer reading programs and prizes.
We helped take care of the church farm. We got to weed and thin sugar beets with our friends.
Some things I liked best about growing up here were: Being raised on a farm. The smell of fresh-cut hay. Listening to the sprinklers and crickets at night. Getting chores done so we could go swimming or walk to friends’ places to play. Watching sunsets.
Parts I didn’t like were getting up early to change sprinklers and tubes.
In answer to would I want my kids to have to go through what we went through, I think learning to work hard and sacrifice is good for everyone.
Do you think that growing up here has helped or hindered your adult life? I loved growing up on the farm and getting a new area developed. I feel it has helped me understand the farming industry better.
One of my favorite songs was “Stairway to Heaven.” I also like Elvis’ songs and the Everly Brothers’ songs. I liked the Ed Sullivan Show and Bonanza.
My favorite dishes that my mom made were homemade bread and cookies. A special Christmas memory was I remember having a tumbleweed as our Christmas tree. When I found out there wasn’t a real Santa, I got to help put out toys for my younger brother and sisters.
By Sheila Johnson McCary, Kennewick, Washington:
I was five years old when we came to the Basin. I was born in Rexburg, Idaho.
My earliest memories include:
1. All six of us living in a small trailer.
2. Hauling our water in milk cans.
3. Using a Coleman lantern.
4. Having an outdoor bathroom.
5. Merrill’s Grocery in Eltopia.
6. Going to watch my dad land level and playing in the dirt
7. Weeding/thinning beets, setting irrigation tubes, ditch breaks. My kids laugh because we weeded wheat one year.
8. Going to town and stopping at a factory just out of Pasco and getting a box of potato chips I believe for 50 cents.
9. Listening to the Lone Ranger on the radio.
10. Putting our car on the ferry boat at Ringold and crossing to Richland.
11. Watching our roads go from dirt to gravel and eventually paved.
Some things I remember playing were with pop beads and hoola hoops and playing hopscotch. I liked to play with cats and dress them up. We had a pony, too.
My best friends in school were Mary Bailie, Coleen Holmes, Reba Jacobsen, Lucille Hughes, Carolie Graham, Barbara Ehresman, Treva Foster and Janice Andrewjeski. In our neighborhood, my sister Brenda and I played with our neighbor friends, Colleen and Adena Holmes. We learned to ride bikes and swim together. We always went trick-or-treating together.
I went to Eltopia, Pasco and Connell to school. My favorite teacher was Mr. Richie in fourth grade. We went to school by bus. Our bus drivers were Mr. Paulsen and Mr. Ehresman. In fourth grade our class was studying about China. We got to go by bus to Pasco to the Chinese restaurant and use chop sticks. You would have thought we went to New York City!
We had a long bus ride to school. We had class in Eltopia in one of the metal hut buildings. At lunch time we watched the older kids who attended the junior high in Eltopia walk up the hill for lunch. We couldn’t wait to get to go to the big school down the hill.
We used the bookmobile, too. It was a fun time to see the bookmobile coming when we were out in the field. We’d get a break and go check out some books.
We were very active in our youth program at the LDS church. We had a girls baseball team which got to travel to Walla Walla (which seemed a long way away). On the way back we’d stop at A&W in Pasco and could get a hamburger, french fries and root beer for 50 cents. We had a lot of fun dances and other activities.
There wasn’t anything I disliked about growing up in the Basin. I feel it was a community of people who were close-knit, sacrificing a lot to get the Basin going. I guess I felt I had a very secure life. I would want my kids to go through what we went through. I feel people didn’t have much but we never knew it or felt that way. It was a slower pace of life and people were family-oriented and helped each other. Growing up here helped my adult life. We learned to work hard, take responsibility and not expect everything at once. My dad was a very particular man; things were done right. It’s helped with jobs I’ve had to follow that example.
You asked for my favorite song. It’s “When There’s Love at Home.” A favorite TV show was Uncle Jimmie’s Club House. My friends Reba and Ernie Jacobsen sang on it one day. I also liked Liberace and American Band Stand. Our family always watched Bonanza.
Homemade bread and fried chicken were favorite foods my mom cooked.
A favorite Christmas memory from Block 16: On Christmas morn, between our family, Holmes and Eppichs, we’d get up early, 3 or 4 o’clock, and see who had their lights on first.
(Vaughn passed away in January 2004.)
Liston, Russel and Luana
Kathy, Nancy and Garth
Unit 99 Block 16
Memories of the Columbia Basin
By Nancy Liston Smithanik
Russel, Luana, Kathy, Nancy and Garth Liston moved to Eltopia, Washington during the summer of (I think) 1957. Russ had gone ahead of the family to start up the home and farm. The first fall and winter in Eltopia the family lived in a rental house in Eltopia until their Timberib (four to five times larger than a quonset) could be built. The quonset was 1/4 home and 3/4 shed for storage, tools, and a covered work area to repair machinery.
We lived across the street from the Schaefers on Fir Road. Dad chose the 160-acre piece of land because it was exactly square. Later this was helpful when sprinklers were used for watering. Dad fought the government long and hard to prevent a canal crossing our land ruining the square acreage.
The Listons moved from Bozeman, Montana. Russel was a home building contractor and fishing/hunting guide while living in Montana.
Kathy started school at Eltopia and was in 8th grade. Nancy would enter first grade with Mrs. Mattox. School was held in the new elementary school. Garth was not old enough for school at this time. As a child, I remember riding the bus to school. It was great fun, if you had a fairly short ride. Many students had hour-long rides each way to school.
The summers were hot. We spent many days in the sun. Some days were too hot to work so we would do our work early in the morning or late at night. We liked to swim in the canals. In later years there were strong chemicals in the water so we were advised not to swim. We saw dead fish floating down the canals.
Chores would include changing siphon tubes. They were hard to get started. I spent a lot of time pumping the little black tubes to get the water to pump from the large ditch to the smaller ditch which would water the plants. Later came sprinklers. Sometimes we would pinch our fingers while coupling them. Best of all were the sprinklers on wheels. Sometimes a sprinkler head would break and leak water or the plug at the end would dislodge; this would cause an uneven watering or even a big hole in the ground where the water would run out.
Children learned to drive tractors at an early age. We had a very steep hill and on a few occasions the tractor would get away. Once while Kathy, Nancy, and Garth were changing sprinklers on a very steep hill, the tractor got away on Garth. He was 8 or 9 years old. The tractor with Garth in the driver’s seat, trailer and sprinkler pipes, went down the hill uncontrolled. Sprinklers were flying each way. We were being watched over that day and nobody was hurt.
The first few years we lived on the farm we had sheep. It was great fun to watch the little ones grow and occasionally have a lamb in the house until it was strong enough to go out with the others. At other times we had pigs, cows, chickens, and horses. The electric fence was an amazing tool for the farmer. A common question was, “Is the fence on?” Nobody wanted to walk back to the house to find out. Sometimes we would play tricks on each other and say the fence was off when it was on. Then we never knew when to believe the other person.
On one occasion we had some wiener pigs. Of course the fence was quite low to the ground to accommodate their short legs. One day the pigs were running and playing when one pig sat on the fence and squealed and squealed. The squealing scared the others and they all started squealing. We really had a good laugh.
Dad taught us to grow a garden. Watermelon, cantaloupes, corn, and tomatoes were our favorites in the garden. Mom taught Kathy and Nancy to sew. We were always sewing up something new to wear. Gardening and sewing skills are still enjoyed by our family.
I remember Christmas plays in the Annex. During singing time at school we would practice for these special days. During recess we would play baseball and football, boys and girls alike. Hot lunches were great. I don’t know who cooked the white buns, but they were the best.
Russel sold baling wire for a few years. Neighbors found it handy to drive to our home rather than to Pasco for baling wire needed at a late or early hour. Russel also had a backhoe and would do custom work such as digging ditches, etc. Russel also was on a water board for several years. He became very frustrated and eventually quit the board.
We grew potatoes, hay, peas, and sugar beets. It seemed there was always a new and improved type of equipment to purchase to help the farmer produce a crop.
Dad missed fishing and hunting. Hunting season usually came after the crops were harvested so he could get away to hunt. One spring day we drove for miles and miles to a lake on opening day. I don’t remember catching any fish. What a disappointment.
We always looked forward to our Grandparents coming for a visit. As a child I didn’t look forward to the days and days of peeling fruit for canning. I was amazed at the power of the wind. The wind could create deep ditches in the land. The wind was very destructive.
Our mother questioned the man who sold her the automatic washing machine about its quality. The sand remained in the clothes after the cycle was over. Could it be a poor washing machine or too much sand in our clothes for the washing machine to clean properly? The sand was truly incredible.
We would see rattlesnakes from time to time. We were quite scared of them.
The family farm was sold to Larry Shelton around the year 1964. Russel, Luana, Nancy, and Garth moved to Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, the summer of 1965. Kathy was married and lived in Utah at that time.
Update on the Russel Liston family
Russel Liston passed away in Springville, Utah, in 1993.
Luana Liston lives in Cardston, Alberta, Canada.
Kathy Richards lives in Buckley, Washington. Her three daughters and three grandchildren live nearby.
Nancy Smithanik lives in Terrace, British Columbia. Her four children (one daughter and three sons) and two grandchildren live in various areas.
Garth lives in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. His daughter lives in Provo, Utah.
By Kathy Liston Richards:
The one memory I have about the farm that my sister Nancy didn’t tell about (she was too young to remember) is the following:
Growing up on the farm meant you were allowed and did things at a much younger age than town kids. Driving was one of those things. At 14 my dad took me down in a big field, showed me how to drive our ’55 Willies Jeep, and said for me to practice until I knew how to drive. One day Dad needed something real bad from town so he sent me. I only had a learner’s permit, and I was alone. I had to pull off the road by the Pasco Airport. A policeman came, but didn’t ask to see my license. Boy, was I scared.
We had two elevated fuel tanks, 500 gallons each, with gasoline and diesel. One day I pulled up to fuel too quickly and I didn’t see the Jeep bumper catch the hose to the tank. I felt a tug and heard a “pop” and the next thing I knew gasoline was pouring out of the tank on top of the Jeep I was in. It was still running. Luckily Dad was close by, and I got out and away. Dad jumped up on top of the Jeep and plugged the hole. The tank had just been filled up. That was really scary!
Would my parents do it again? I don’t know. Our mother would probably say no. It was a great place to grow up, even though sometimes isolated. I think all the people there were really exceptional.
Mackay, Boyd and Gayle
Unit 94 Block 13
Homesteading in Block 13
Columbia Basin Project, State of Washington
World War II had ended a few years before, and the Korean conflict had just been concluded. Boyd had just returned from service as a Sergeant in a Camouflage unit of the Army Engineers. He and Gayle had been married in October of 1952. The United States Government was offering parcels of land to Veterans in a series of drawings under the Homestead Act in the states of Idaho and Washington. For the ‘fun of it’ and because we never were successful in winning, my cousin Walt and I ‘put our names in the hat,’ and chuckled each time when the results were posted, when our names were not there. We continued to farm together in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, barely making ends meet. In early 1954 there was a wakeup call for us when our names were drawn, mine in the Columbia River Basin and his in the Rupert, Idaho, Project. We both decided we would ‘go take a look,’ pursue the options, and if things fell into place we would go for it.
On a September day in 1954, because Gayle was ‘great with child,’ I found a local boy, 18 years old, Cecil, who was able to spare the time to go with me to make these momentous decisions. After riding over the sagebrush and sandy prairie for a couple of days, with guides from the Bureau of Reclamation, Cecil and I selected Unit 42 in Block 13 as our first choice, Unit 65 in Block 16 as #2, and Unit 55 in Block 13. Because I was not in line for first choice, it was necessary to have options. Unit 55 in Block 13 with 89.8 acres was finally the one that was available for the Mackays. Block 13 was not known as a very desirable area because of the lava rock and rough topography, but the soil, generally, was not as sandy as other Blocks. Because we were operating in a day of rill irrigation and leveled fields, almost exclusively, planning an irrigation system was a challenge.
We returned home to report our experience, and to go through a period of soul searching and deliberation to decide whether or not we wanted to make such an extreme move from the comfort we were used to. On February 22, 1955, a caravan consisting of a red 1941 Chevrolet flatbed pickup, pulling a new 35’ by 8’ Nashua Trailer home, and a 1949 green Chevrolet sedan, with Boyd, Gayle, their two babies Mike and Brad, and Gayle’s mom, headed north on Highway 30 to our new adventure. President Eisenhower was President of the United States, and Congress was just passing the new Interstate highway plan for the United States. Highway 30 was a two-way, two-lane road most of the way. An ice storm with treacherous roads in the Twin Falls area delayed us momentarily, and being stopped three times by Oregon Highway Patrol for exceeding the vehicle length statute (can you imagine how things have changed in what is allowed on the road these days?) caused us some concern . . . but no tickets. We pulled into Eltopia, Washington, on February 23rd and sought permission to park the trailer home by the Stredwick grocery store, until we could figure out our next move.
After a few days of investigating what needed to be done to start a farm in the Basin, and pursuing financing possibilities for folks as poor as us, we elected to go to work for a farmer in Block 1, John Mullen, a dairyman close to Pasco, while we worked out the details of our own farming enterprise. We parked our trailer home close to his dairy barn. Gayle’s mom returned to Salt Lake. Winds in the spring of 1955 were at their best. We had one spell for three days of winds exceeding 100 miles an hour. The sand did move. The trailer home did rock and roll. The only clean place in the morning was the place on the pillow where you had laid your head. We had to repair the seed beds and replant the crops that we had planted. It was a new experience for us. After a month we changed employers, and worked the remainder of the summer for Wayne Wilson in the same Block. As often as we could we would pursue plans for our own farm, and we were learning, learning, learning. Sprinkler irrigation was just beginning, and was being used extensively by Mr. Wilson, Glen Eppich, and other Basin farmers. We knew that was the irrigation system we needed to incorporate in our farm plan.
By August of 1955 we started to carry out plans for MASR ranch, as we called our farm. Gayle’s father, Lefty, who was a welder, came on his vacation from work to help us install a buried 6” steel mainline, and a pumping station, to distribute the water from a canal to four hand-move 3” aluminum sprinkler lines that criss-crossed our land. We borrowed an Allis Chalmers tractor from Wayne Eppich in Bock 16, and enough other farm implements from others to remove sagebrush, and prepare seedbed and planting of a fall cover crop, to help us against the wind of the next spring.
One evening at dusk as we were ‘changing the water,’ we were running the wide front axle Allis Chalmers along the bottom of the field when the front end dropped out of sight. We had run into a place where runoff water had mixed with this sandy loam soil whose consistency was much like flour in those days. Newt Robbins brought his new Ford tractor to pull us out, and buried his tractor in the same way before he could reach us. The next neighbor was George O’Neil with a D6 Cat. As we heard George coming, the fall moon shone down upon us, and we were confident of our rescue. It seemed no trouble to pull Newt’s Ford out, but when we hooked on to pull the Chalmers back out, it seemed a bit of a tough pull, but successful . . . .except that the Chalmers did not look exactly normal in the moonlight. The suction created by the mixture of mud and water was enough to bend that wide front axle so that it looked like a lame duck in the moonlight. We bought a new front axle for Mr. Eppich’s tractor, and we hadn’t even started to really farm.
After the fall crop was planted, we returned to Salt Lake City for the winter to work in the sugar beet factory for our keep, and for Gayle to deliver our third child, Kent, in November.
The 1956 year was our serious start, with spring fast approaching. Financing our farm operation was quite a challenge. Farmers Home Administration, the Federal lender that most Homesteaders were using, was not loaning money on sprinkler irrigation systems yet, because they were not proven. We ended up securing loans from Seattle First National Bank for sprinklers and for first-year farm operation. I was able to shake loose a $5000.00 bill from my father’s Salt Lake operation. We went to Dougherty Hardware in Connell and were able to purchase an Oliver Super 88 Row Crop tractor, plow, and harrow with the money, and pay cash. During the winter, Franklin County had built gravel roads to the farm units. Prior to that we had taken a winding dirt road from the Bureau Camp in Eltopia across vacant units and Newt Robbins’ unit to our farm. With the new road we moved our trailer home north on Langford to Kent Road, past Newt Robbins’ house he had moved in, and into the center of MASR ranch by the irrigation pump. This enabled us to hook our house water supply to the irrigation system and actually have water pressure and hot water in the house for bathing and cleaning. Our drinking water was hauled in 10-gallon milk cans from the Bureau Camp in Eltopia. Our living conditions were marvelous at the time, compared to others around us who were living in tents, etc., while they built their first home.
Sugar beets had been one of our key crops in Salt Lake, and we were anxious to plant beets in the Columbia Basin where Utah Idaho Sugar Company had two established processing plants in Moses Lake and Toppenish. However, sugar beets were on an allotment program with Government oversight. With no history in Washington we were given a 2.5 acre allotment the first year, which was absolutely not feasible to equip for. We planted 10 acres with the wishful thinking that there would be slippage in a program through default, etc., that ours would be taken by the company to process in the fall. It did not work. The company took our 2.5 acres and we tried to sell the remainder for cattle and sheep feed, with only a small degree of success. The crops grew beautifully, and no weeds except for a few Russian thistle. It was like the Garden of Eden. First year sugar beets were 32 ton to the acre, twice what we had been accustomed to in Utah. We returned in late September to Utah to assist my father in his sugar beet harvest, loaded the machinery on the beet truck and transported it to Washington to harvest our measly acreage. We used the machinery to custom harvest many small acreages for several neighbors….which continued on for all the years we farmed in Washington…and helped to sustain our family. We raised Federation wheat, which grew very well, but had a hard time standing up until harvest. In December of 1956, we had our first child with a Pasco doctor to assist, Dr. Putra. It took Gayle some time to get up the courage to change from her Salt Lake doctor whom she knew and trusted, to one in Pasco. All went well when Bart was born, however, and we had made another step in becoming converted to our Washington dream.
In February 1957 we bought 300 sheep in Spokane and had them shipped by rail to Eltopia. We wanted to utilize some of the feed we were wasting from off our farm. The day they were shipped the weather went to 30 degrees below zero, and there was six inches of snow on the ground. Les Stevens, my neighbor, and I unloaded them and drove them the mile and a half up over the hills to MASR ranch. As miserable as it was, we were very fortunate to lose only one sheep. In our effort to find crops to grow that had any room in the marketplace, we planted our first onions this year. We used some chemical weed control, and insect control with crop dusters, but did most of the weeding and harvest with Mexican workers, and female black workers from Pasco’s eastside, and transient workers from the Pasco streets. The onions were stored in Othello, and were good quality, but after storage and processing costs there was very little money left for what we did that year. Onion price is such a volatile thing from year to year.
We were getting tired of packing water. The nearest well to us was at the Bureau Camp in Eltopia, with a depth of some 550 feet. Other wells driven more recently were at the 1100’ to 1200’ depth, and because of the expense were supplying several farm units in a community well system. No one near us had risked the drilling of a well yet, fearing the expense. We were able to secure another $5,000 to make the try. We did not know what we would do if it became a deep well. We selected a spot that would be central for the home and barns and sheds to be built (ignoring the Water Witcher’s advice). After drilling in solid lava rock for 110’, the driller had a rock fall in the well behind his drill bit, and he couldn’t get his equipment back up to continue drilling. But hold on! It’s a miracle! Water has come up in the well to 75’, and he cannot bale it down. We have water….but drilling tools in the well. We paid him, bought a submersible pump, made a concrete pumphouse with fuel storage tanks on the top, and the unused money went to purchase a used 1956 pink and white Buick station wagon that was sorely needed by our growing family. The tools are still in the well, but no problem. The water was good quality, but 44 points hardness, and requiring a water softener in our home for domestic use.
In June of 1958 Linda was born, our first girl with four older brothers. In October of 1959 Greg was born. We stored our onions that year in Doyle Mathews’ shed at Mathews’ Corner. We were trying to control the costs of producing onions by doing more ourselves and keeping closer to home. On December 19th, as we were preparing to close down the sorting for the day, the John Deere elevator being used to convey cull onions onto a truck on the outside had a problem and the small onions were rolling under the conveyor flight and chain, instead of making their way into the truck. We had learned previously that by placing your foot on the flight the onions were carried away, and the problem was corrected. This time the problem was at the top of the elevator, and so I stepped into the elevator and made my way up to the problem. As I moved away from the light of the building, I could not see as well, and when I put my foot down on the flight, I missed and was in between flights. The flight kicked my foot and I went slightly off balance, but no worry, the pile of onions was close by and just under me. I jumped off of the conveyor into the onions, but the toe of my rubber boot went between the sprocket and chain in the corner of the elevator. I fell face down on the pile of onions with my right leg still held by the chain and sprocket. When my leg came up against a pan under the conveyor, the chain could go no farther, and so my leg was broken above the ankle, and the 5 horsepower electric motor stopped. Bill Rigby was using the pay phone by the farm shop close by and heard me call for help. They got a cutting torch from the shop and cut me down, loaded me in the back of the Rigby station wagon, and transported me the 20 miles to Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Pasco. That is where I spent Christmas of 1959. Gayle became the farmer, and I became the baby tender of our six small children for the next period of our lives. This was a girl, who when she was married, had goals of not marrying a Farmer, and not having any children. The community became involved in trying to help us in various ways. People from all of the Blocks worried about us, helped in planting, caring for, and harvesting our crops. What a wonderful neighborhood to live in….with such thoughtful, caring friends! As it turned out, the leg did not heal properly the first year because of Osteomyelitis, and Gayle and I switched roles for much of three years. She still brags about the fact that she had a better wheat yield than I ever made, and was able to get more and better work out of the hired help than I could.
At one point the unit to the north was not selling to anyone, and the Bureau offered to split the unit between two neighbors, which increased our farm to 157.2 acres and renumbered our Unit to #99. We are now growing sugar beets, wheat, alfalfa hay, onions, and red and pinto beans. A variety of weeds are now with us. The seeds are distributed in the water and the wind, but the ground is still very productive….not quite like the Garden of Eden, any more. In 1965 the Hunsperger unit, across the road to the east, became available to buy. With Farmers Home Administration financing we purchased the very rough unit and doubled our acreage to 347 acres. Among the other crops we were raising, we added alfalfa seed, with the accompanying cutter bees, to our operation. The irrigation system was a combination of wheel lines and hand move sprinklers. We eventually placed a Lindsay circle system on part of the unit.
In 1962 Joel was born. Living space is getting tighter in our trailer home. Mike and Brad and the others are getting bigger, so we are planing to build a house. In 1964 we built the first stage of a red brick rambler house. The house was set on the highest point so we could have view of our sprinkler system’s operation. It was built in solid lava rock, requiring the use of Dynamite and Nitraprills moving rock 8’ deep to establish the basement for our dream home. It even had a bomb shelter, a popular addition for houses at the time. Susan was born in October, and we had Thanksgiving dinner in the house (not quite finished), but could never go back to the trailer home, we were so happy to have space.
Our favorite story in building the house was when church friends from Richland and Pasco came to assist in pouring the footings. The crew ran across a stick of Dynamite from the blasting that had not gone off. Mr. Dahle said, “Do not worry. I will take care of it,” and proceeded to place the stick in the center of the area, set a match to it, and fanned the blaze with his hat. Our family was eating breakfast in the trailer, not far away, when we heard this terrible explosion….and silence. I ran to the edge of the excavation and saw four very scared brothers, with eyes wide open, and in shock. Mr. Dahle had not realized there had been a cap placed inside the stick. No one was hurt, but no one will forget, and we were all grateful.
In 1965 we were blessed with another baby boy, Bret, and in 1966 another girl, Ellen, bringing our family total to ten children and Mom and Dad. We were happy and very busy. Because of the limitations of Boyd’s leg, every child became important in the farm operation….moving sprinklers, weeding, driving equipment. A marvelous bond was developed between us which has lasted through the years. We still have in our possession a $50 savings bond, won in a contest by an Italian Restaurant in Pasco for having the largest family to eat there. However, our happiness was interrupted in December 1966, when Mike and Brad, our 13- and 12-year-old boys, were given shotguns for Christmas. Three days later, while hunting rabbits out by Crystal Mountain (the nonfarmable area to our east, named by our children) Mike was killed….a most difficult experience, but one that taught us lessons for a lifetime.
When we arrived in the ‘50s, we were in the Eltopia School District, and with the influx of all the new settlers and their young families of children, classroom space was an immediate need. In the past, grades 1-12 had been taught in the one old building in Eltopia. Changes were made in those early years…A grade school was constructed at Eltopia, Eltopia and the Basin was incorporated into the Connell School District, and in the ensuing years grade schools were built at Mesa and Basin City. The Mackays went to grade school in Eltopia and Mesa, and were transported to Connell to high school. When our youngest started to school, Gayle became a school bus driver to augment our farm income. Speaking of augmenting our income….When the Eltopia school was being built, Bryce Cheney was considering hiring a backhoe from Pasco to excavate for the fuel tanks. Being proud of my being the champion fox hole digger in my unit in the Army, and also being short of cash, I volunteered to do the work by hand for $150.00. Things were tight!
The early 1970s were most interesting and very exciting. Our children were heavily involved in sports, school activities, and graduations, going on two-year missions for their church, and returning home, and getting married, and maybe wanting to farm. MASR ranch expanded to rent acreage from Russ Gammon to accommodate the new families. We became involved in a hay cubing enterprise, shipping hay cubes overseas, and equipping ourselves with trucks and trailers to transport chopped hay to a cuber and storage setup at Basin City. In 1974 and 1975, prices for wheat were at $5 plus, and sugar beets went to $35 per ton. They were the best years we had seen. We are encouraged and expanding and going into debt. The other side of the coin was that President Carter and the U.S. economy had an oil shortage with prices of diesel fuel and utilities going through the roof, and interest rates at 22%. In 1977 we joined the Bleazard family in a new farm project on a section of land in Mattawa, 50 miles to the northwest. Circle irrigation was used and we added potatoes to our plantings….with the accompanying heavy investment in planters, trucks and harvesters. Mr. Gammon had another farm at Radar Hill which he wanted us to run since he had enjoyed the benefits of our two previous years. It was on the way to Mattawa, and with this acreage we were farming about 1000 acres of row crops over a 50-mile distance. We had hoped to get sugar beet acreage for our Mattawa project, but in 1977 Utah Idaho Sugar Company decided to close down their business. Potato contracts were very marginal to new producers, and we found more rock in the Mattawa unit than we had anticipated. We were not making ends meet. After two years we had to abandon the project with Bleazards, and our entire farming operation began to disintegrate. It culminated in a decision by myself, Brad and Kent to bring an end to MASR ranch operation while we could still meet all of our obligations, and for each of us to go our separate ways. The day in the spring of 1980 when we held our farm equipment auction was one of the sadder days of my life. I had loved farm equipment since I was 13 years old, and was extremely proud of the line of equipment that we had put together and used. There was a tear or so as it was sold and carted off that day. We leased the land for the next couple of years, I pursued insurance and real estate licensing, so I could assist in the sale of our land, and finally returned to Salt Lake where I started to pursue my new life direction.
Thanks for the memories, my dear friends from Block 13, and all the other Blocks, and townspeople from Eltopia, Mesa, Connell and the Tri-Cities!
25 March 2000
Merrill, Winfred and Elaine
Eltopia Grocery Store
We were living in St. Anthony, Idaho. My mother Lottie Davidson was visiting my sister Verna Hope and her family. I came to help my mother drive home. I had always been in sales but never in a grocery store. I had worked for Montgomery Ward and Penneys. Winfred was working in a garage as a shop foreman. They suggested we look at the old store. We came down that evening. It was in the summer and everything was so quiet. No one was at the store. As we went back up the hill, there was man outside. Mother suggested we ask that man about it. It was Everett Jones. He knew it was immediately for rent. He went into his house and called the owner. So we set up an appointment for the next morning. The owner told us how badly a store was needed and what we could do. I went back to Idaho and told Winfred. He got interested, too. The owner offered three months’ free rent for cleaning it up. It was in bad shape. There had been grain stored in the back room. We made arrangements to move. We got here on July 23, 1956. We didn’t have money to move on so we borrowed $700 from a relative to move and start the business. We had five children still at home with one married away from home. Family and friends help us clean up the store. Winfred worked as a mechanic at the Ford garage in Connell. I managed the store and got things going.
One time a salesman came through selling 4th of July fireworks. He told us we could make a lot of money because the stores in Pasco weren’t allowed to sell them. He assured us that we were allowed to sell them. So we gave him a check for quite a sizeable amount. A few hours later, one of the Stredwicks came in. I told him we had ordered some fireworks. He said you can’t sell fireworks. I called the Sheriff’s Office and they said no way can you sell fireworks. I called the bank and the check had already been cashed. We were just sick! I contacted the company in Oregon. They were upset that their salesman had pulled something like that on me. With the help of the sheriff’s office and the good company, we eventually got our money back. But we never did buy fireworks again.
When we planned to move here, we were concerned about not knowing anyone but everyone in the community was go good. Stredwicks were the best neighbors you could have. Jones and Mrs. Ballentine were good neighbors, too.
I remember how Mrs. Hailey (Jim’s mother) helped us out. At that time the roads and canals were just being built so the only way to get to Pasco was using Highway 395 or Taylor Flats Road. Farmers had to go clear over to Taylor Flats or come this way. Everyone was anxious for us to open a store. There was a women’s meeting at the Bureau Camp. There were about 50 families living there then. It had been announced that some new people were opening the store. Mrs. Hailey said, “Remember, they can’t make a living on just selling a loaf of bread a day.” She encouraged the people to shop with us.
One farmer came in and said, “We want to be able to buy everything we can from you.” He said they bought a 50-pound bag of Gold Medal flour once a month and asked if we could have one ready for him on the 15th of each month. We did that. Eventually we stocked some work clothing for men, ladies and kids and gloves to supply their needs.
We are absolutely glad we came. It was hard. I remember going to town probably every day to take what little money we had received to cover checks we had written through the day for supplies.
The only mail deliveries or pickups were at the post office in Eltopia. Mrs. Ballentine ran the post office from the front part of her house. There was a depot on the east side of the railroad tracks. The train would come about 10 o’clock in the morning. It would stop. If anybody needed a ride, they could get a ticket. Mrs. Ballentine would meet the train with the outgoing mail and pick up the incoming mail. She would take about half an hour to sort the mail. Pretty soon, the people would line up to get their mail.
We rented the store for three months. Then the owner offered to sell it so we bought it. There were no bathroom facilities in the store, just a big back room with a toilet in the corner by an old-fashioned water tank. A water pipe came out to the side of the toilet. To fill a glass, you had to lay down across the toilet to turn the faucet on. If you turned it on just right, you’d get water in the glass. If it came on too fast, the pressure would cause a big problem. Winfred fixed that soon.
We bought plumbing fixtures from a shop in Mesa. The man delivered them and set them on the front porch. They sat there for a few days. I came out one day to open the doors to the store. There was a man on one toilet – at least it looked like a man to me. It frightened me. A couple farmers had spent all night getting the man set up with bib overalls, a hat and boots. There was a sign that said, “This is the only man in Eltopia who knows what he’s doing.” I think it was Bob Woodbury and Rich Hayes who did that.
We used to have dances in the old schoolhouse. Everybody from near and far came. A little orchestra from outside the community came in to play. My kids went to school at Eltopia and Connell.
Didiers had a hired man who was Hispanic. They asked us to extend credit to the family so we did. They were so nice. They would come in very month as soon as they got paid to pay their bill. Eventually they moved to work in the Burbank area. For several months, even though they didn’t need credit anymore, they would come out here instead of using the chain stores in Pasco and buy from us just to give us the business.
There are so many good people here. We’re glad we got to meet them. We’re so glad we came out here.
(A second post will follow with more of the stories.)
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