I am going to post some more notes from my mother. Going back to the ranch house, we had prunes, Delicious apples, raised hay and wheat. Dad always had a lot of horses, he had the big barn and they stayed at our place, that is the way we got around, wagon in summer and sled in winter. We got electric in the house in about 193,3 that was nice. Always had one (out house), pump for water by the back door and out at horse trough, always had wood cook stove (so we the kids had to get wood.) They had a phone line up Mann Creek to the sawmill, but was for business only, us kids didn’t get to talk on it.
Dad was a sawyer at the sawmill. He could look at a log and get what he wanted out of it. He was good with hands, liked to build and keep things working. He was a black smith, made horse shoes and oiled things and sharpened the saws, took of boilers. Yes, they shoed the horses, also had big work horses (they used them to log in woods).
The folks and Fred spent the years at sawmill, they went in March or when it opened up. The years the folks went when I was small, we spent at Uncle Fred’s, then went up when school was done.
At home every Saturday, we cleaned our rooms, then washed bathroom wood work always white, kitchen which was also white. If we didn’t, we didn’t get to go to town. When small didn’t get to go often, wagon in summer and sled in winter. Finally got a car. In winter fill the radiator with hot water, stop at Grandma’s. Drain and fill again just before we went home. When and if we went to Boise wore all the clothes you could and put Kerosene heater to keep us warm. First thing to keep car from freezing was alcohol and it had awful smell, I can still remember the smell.
Didn’t take many trips, we went to Baker to see a circus. We also made trips to McCall, quite an undertaking, no pavement. All day left early and got home late, but we were begging to go, never said a word. We took no naps or slept. Dad said we would stay home, next time, so no one slept.
On Fourth of July, Dad always got fresh tomatoes and ice cream from the ice plant and he had it packed in container of dry ice we had for lunch that was a treat for year. He always got what they called George Washington of course had cherries, etc.
Mother always raised her own chickens, had hens for eggs . If the hens didn’t lay enough eggs she caught them. She also had cows off and on. They were here, Dad wouldn’t milk the cow. So when Mom was gone it was up to Helen and Georganna to milk the cow. The last cow was when I-Linda was a baby and she thought she had to have it.
We walked to school, not far but twice a day. Deep snow Dad would pack us little ones out to the highway. Got school bus when in 8th grade, but couldn’t ride till I went to High school.
We girls had to get dinner, we took turns who didn’t cook, had to do the dishes and empty junk. We had to have supper ready at six o’clock, breakfast at 7, and dinner at 12.
We also had to keep wood box full it was on back porch and it held a lot. We used it to cook 3 meals a day in cook stove. Had a wood furnace and had a wood room in basement. Took a lot of wood, brought it down from the sawmill. Had block for furnace and slab and trimmings for cook stove.
I picked huckleberry since a little girl, as my grandmother Gallant and Grandpa (the only grandfather I knew), Uncle Fred and family, mother. We used to have a little soup can that we would fill and dump in Mom or Dad’s pail and we to fill before we could go to dinner. My grandmother used to can huckleberries in bottles like wine bottles and us kids used to have to get pine pitch off of pine trees and that is what she sealed the corks with.
That is all my mother notes. The next will be my memories of the times with my cousins and Grandparents and my great Uncle Fred
From Linda (Carpenter) Peterson – Weiser Museum Facebook Group
