A Farmer’s Wife Looks at Life
By Lou Ella J. Bronson
March 26, 1937
Mr. and Mrs. Phil Slater had an alarm clock which had been in use for twenty or more years when they left Junction about six years ago. They had brought it with them when they came here from Slatersville, Utah, and it was still keeping good time when they moved to the flat. If it has stopped during the past six years, that of course can be attributed to the less favorable climate.
In the article concerning the Junction Valley in last week’s paper, the first paragraph should have read “When the Junction valley was filed upon by homesteaders about twenty to twenty-five years ago, there were fifty or more homesteads taken up on the north side of the valley.” The population as given referred only to the Idaho side as there were well over a hundred families in the entire junction.
A meadow lark added a touch of color to a recent blizzard by flitting gaily through the snow, although he couldn’t pluck up enough courage to sing till the storm was over.
The automobiles made their way to Almo by way of Immigrant canyon. One carried Fred Taylor and Lee Kirkpatrick while the passengers in the other were Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Leavitt. Mrs. Leavitt, who has been ill with flu stayed with her folks at Elba.
One trip with the grader for whatever implement is used to scrape snow out of the roads) would make the road between Oakley and the Utah line passable for cars. This service would be appreciated my many of our residents.
April 2, 1937
A real curiosity was seen here this spring when a white hawk flew across the valley. It is not known whether it is an albino of some of the species that inhabit this part of the country of if there is a breed of white hawks. If there is, the one that was seen here was probably migrating to some other locality. The hawk was alone and flying from east to west.
William L. McKnight of American Falls was out last week looking over the Raft river oil wells site with some of the stockholders. Mr. McKnight thinks the project should not be abandoned until they have dug at least to a depth of a thousand feet. It was in 1918 that the Oasis Oil Company started digging in that locality for oil. After sinking the well to a depth of nearly five hundred feet the digging operations stopped either for lack of funds or lack of oil prospects. For several years a watchman has had a lien on the derrick and machinery which has prevented the company from moving them. It is reported. Last winter this watchman, it is said, was accidentally killed while visiting friends so that now the company is at liberty to remove their machinery, which they probably intend to do.
A fact which may not be generally known is that when the first school was held at Moulton, there was no school house, so Bob Griffith allowed the district to use the new log house he had built for a residence for a temporary school house. Mrs. Mabyl Ross, wife of Sam Ross, was the teacher. This was in 1911 and those who attended were four Maulton children, four Harwood children, two Murrays, a niece and nephew of Joseph Moon and it is thought that four Hansen youngsters went too.
The Rosses lived just over the line in Utah and Mr. Ross, Moulton’s first mail carrier, brought the mail from Almo. Each morning he would bring Mrs. Ross to school, a distance of about four miles. The next year the men of Moulton got out logs and built the present school house across the road from the temporary building and school has been held here every year since.
April 9, 1937
Stretching and yawning drowsily I glanced at the window. It’s just beginning to get light, so there’s time to sleep another hour at least I thought; when suddenly rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat, came a sound so startling that I sprang out of bed instantly, thinking we were being attacked by gangsters with machine guns. I had to laugh when the sound was repeated and I recognized Mr. Woodpecker announcing his return for the summer. There was no use trying to sleep in all that noise, so I dressed and walked out to enjoy the spring morning. A pleasant melody greeted my ears, for a brush warbler sat on a nearby bush and sang merrily of how wonderful it is just to be alive on such a fine day. When he passed, his mate answered from a distance with music so sweet that I felt as if I were being lifted from my feet. I was quickly brought back to earth however with a harsh “quack, quack.”
Turning, I saw a saucy magpie sitting on a post holding the dish from which he had just finished a hearty breakfast. Bothe food and dish were a product of our farm, which out to prove at least that Mr. Magpie is a booster for his home town.
Just then a handsome fellow with a yellow vest and black necktie took his stand on a neighboring post and announced cheerfully, “It’s time to get up. It’s a beautiful day.”
As I felt happy, I whistled an answer to him. “Grandma, whistle again,” he ordered.”
“Now don’t be impudent, young smart aleck,” I told him. By now a pair of blue birds had started their day’s work and were talking contentedly together as they flew back and forth with bits of dry grass bark and string, to a house that had been built especially for them. “Cr-r-ree, cr-r-ree.” As I went to feed the chickens a flock of pigeons circled around my head and as they alighted to eat they were joined by a pair of mourning doves. A robin sang “Cheer=up, cheer-up.” A killdeer flew overhead and called his name loudly. As I turned to go into the house, friend meadow lark said, “Junction’s a wonderful place, and I agreed that it does have its advantages.
April 16, 1937
Smoky, a pet Maltese cat belonging to Jimmy and Edna Wright turned out to be quite a sleuth. The Wright children with their mother have been staying near the Moulton School for about a month. Smoky had been missing from the home place for three or four days when suddenly he showed up at their temporary residence six miles distant.
One motorist made an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Lyman summit this week. Though it is urged that Oakley is the logical trade center for this valley, the bad road conditions are the cause of lots of people going to other places that are more accessible to cars.
This is the season of the year when many useful hawks are killed because of the general belief that their main diet is chicken and turkey. These birds destroy enough rodents for the average farmer each year to earn a chicken dinner occasionally. They also sometimes kill an animal which is preying on the poultry flock and for whose depredations the hawk is often blamed. For the farmer to shoot every hawk he sees might be termed “biting off his nose to spite his face.”
The egg producers have caught the fever that is spreading throughout the country and are starting a sit-down strike. These sit-downers have tried the method before and found that they are usually able to raise their pay. As a rule no attempt is made to end such strikes but several effective methods have been developed. One which is a favorite is to hold the striker’s head under a stream of running water. This makes the sit-downer fighting mad and probably brought about the saying, “as mad as a wet hen.”
OAKLEY RESERVOIR REPORTED AT 61 FEET APRIL FIFTEENTH
Oakley reservoir was reported at 61 feet Thursday, April 15. Storage was 14600 acre feet. A year ago the gauge height was 55 feet with 11930 acre feet storage. Water is coming into the reservoir a great deal more slowly than at this time a year ago.
April 23, 1937
On Saturday the annual school election was held to decide who would be the new trustees. While the dads and moms deliberated inside the school house on weighty matters of business, they missed the excitement that was going on outside in the form of a scrap among the kids. One girl had to admit shamefacedly that she had blacked a small boy’s eye. The trouble was finally settled by arbitration.
The new board of trustees consists of George Kirkpatrick, George Bronson and Chester Bullers. Floyd Leavitt has been hired to teach the school again next year.
Phil Slater has brought his large herd of cattle into the valley to be fed the seventy tons of hay that he raised here last summer.
There was a time during one of the driest years, when it was thought that all the vegetation had been burned up. Mrs. Sarah Hunt who was living here then took her Sunday school class for a short walk; and they counted thirty-three varieties of plant life in less than half a mile, bringing back specimens for proof.
It seems good to see the mail carrier using a car once more over the entire route. Chester Bullers, the mail man to take a car out last winter, was the first to venture crossing Lyman ridge this spring with one.
At this time of year the bellowing of cows, bawling at calves, pigs squealing, lambs bleating, cackling and clucking of hens, peeping of young chicks and turkeys are only a few of the sounds that make music for the farmer. And yet city folks complain of the silence of the country.
Moulton
By Lou Ella J. Bronson
May 7, 1937
Blizzards during the latter part of April in this locality are not unusual, but the latest one was works than ordinary. A hen with eleven chicks, unlucky enough to be out, was buried under about two feet of snow. They were not dug out until the next day, but seemed none the worse for the experience.
Our rough roads may be a blessing in disguise. At least they discourage the speed mania that many motorists seem to envelop the instant they strike a highway or a stretch of good road. Automobile accidents are practically unheard of here.
Wesley Bronson and party had the sad experience of being the first on the scene of the recent accident between Oakley and Burley and took the fatally-injured girl to Burley hospital.
Nameless
By Lou Ella J. Bronson
Will someone suggest a name for my column? “Hash” makes the editor sick. “The Farmer’s Wife Looks at Life” makes me sick and the rest of the column probably makes everyone else sick.
Mr. Leavitt took his lone eighth-grader to Malta to take the county exams Tuesday. Chester Bullers has added the Kidman property to his holdings here. He has two hired men and himself hustling early and late getting his crops planted.
George Kirkpatrick and Fred Taylor made a business trip to Twin Falls Wednesday. These folks figure on buying a tractor, in order to speed up the spring work.
The school kids planned a surprise on their teacher on Thursday night. They were themselves surprised upon arriving rather late to find that the Ward games were played, after which refreshments were served. Everyone had a good time. Mrs. Ward has taught this class of students several years ago.
A good crowd attended the dance here Friday night. The music was furnished by Glen Bates. This orchestra will play for another dance here June 4. Everybody welcome.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Johnston of Oakley spent Saturday and Sunday at Almo.
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