Owning a farm for the first time....

For the first time our family owned some property. An abandoned 40 acre farm (20 acres on each side of Blythe Avenue, Caruthers). There was a trashed four room house, with a path to the outhouse, and an old barn. The land was rolling. Dad bought it for $6,500 but only got $1,500 credit on his $2,000 note. So here we were farmers, and set about clearing and planting approx. 35 acres of cotton and 5 acres of sweet corn. Within a month we had torn down the barn and used the lumber to expand the house. We added one large bedroom for Mom and Dad, and enclosed the front porch for another bedroom for Bill and I. We were still very short of money- all we had was a pickup for transportation. Hazel rode up front with Mom and Dad, and the rest of us Bill, Louise, Jerry and I rode in the back. We had an old John Deere tractor with steel wheels and lugs that we used to plow, and bought a team of horses to cultivate the rows with. The seed was supplied by the cotton gin with a lien on the crop. I was given the job of irrigation. With the open ditch and rolling terrain, it was a difficult job and during the two days when we were allocated to have the water, it was night and day work. The sweet corn did well and we sold it at the Farmers Market. When the grape harvest started the entire family picked grapes to raise money for school clothes, etc. In those days school didn't start until the grapes were picked.

From the time I was 13 and Bill was 15, Dad always included us in any decision making for the family. He would sit us all down and we would all have our say. It was a family decision and we all felt responsible for the outcome, good or bad. This time we decided to sell the farm including the cotton crop and we got $10,500 for it. With this we bought a 9 acre plot with a house and a large chicken house on the corner of Elm and Springfield. One acre had already been sold off prior on the corner.
Bill and I were enrolled in Caruthers High School, but in actual fact we lived in the Easton district. Hazel had graduated by now and had gone to work at J.S. Anderson's market in Caruthers. This gave Bill and I transportation to school and back. As a result the two schools agreed to swap 2 students (a boy and a girl attending Caruthers to go to Easton), so that Bill and I could stay at Caruthers. That year we tore down the chicken house and used that lumber to build a one bedroom house on our property. Our next project was a metal auto repair shop building. The plan was to rent it out to a local mechanic on a percentage basis. This didn't work out too well, so we split the acreage. A 3 acre plot with the shop and another 3 acre piece where we had built another small home. The original small house we had built was sold with one acre and we stayed on the remaining two acres with the home.

Bill graduated the summer of 1947 and I am heading to being a Junior. We both got a summer job with the High School working with the newly hired coach Cook (75 cents an hour). The job was to install and set up into classrooms and shop, three Army surplus buildings from Lemore Airforce Base. This included setting the foundation, supplying water and sewer (i.e. digging septic hole and sesspads). I became very good friends with this coach and he played a big part in my next two years. Bill then joined the union and became an ironworker. Dad had gone into this shortly before.

I'm back at school and I went to work for the JS Anderson market for 2 hours after school.

The above photo shows me (left back row) and in front of me is Hazel and next to her, Fred Helm who was the butcher there and who became Hazel's husband. I also worked 8 hours on Saturday and received 75 Cents/hour. For this I worked in the store, delivered dairy feed and installed the new appliances that were sold. This gave me about $50 a month. Gasoline cost 27 cents/gallon. Hazel was now working in the meat department and receiving $225 a month, and was still providing me with the transportation I needed.

Summer of 48, we were still living in the same place and that summer Bill and Frances married. I started my apprenticeship as an iron worker, and that summer worked as a rivot punk in the steel erection and rivot gangs. I carried and supplied the workers with the rivots they needed (which they heated to red hot) and also kept them supplied with water and other supplies. I worked on the Fresno Veterans Hospital on Blackstone. My boss was known as Iron Horse Charlie. He was rough on help, making them work or go back to the hiring hall. But we took me under his wing and kept fitting me into all levels of the work to get experience. He was a good fellow. I was 70 years old, watching the history channel about the building of the Golden Gate Bridge when I learned that Iron Horse Charlie was chosen to drive in the last rivot on the job (the Golden Rivot).

I'm now a senior (Fall 48) and late that winter or early spring Dad sold our place and bought one in North Fresno - 1044 San Jose Street. Ten acres. Now Hazel and I had to drive 24 miles each way to work and school (picture above with her newer car). We made it through the school year and I graduated in June - and went back to ironworking.

Dad was unhappy with our new property. The soil was very heavy with hardpan and he couldn't farm anything. He traded his equity for a housetrailer valued about $1500. For those not familiar with 1044 San Jose Street in Fresno, this is basically where the shopping center is!!!

We moved out by Selma on a rented farm where we were still living when Sue and I got married - but more about that, my houseschool days, and memories of my Dad, etc. later......