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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2011)
Applegater Winter 2011 19 BACK IN TIME Farming in the 40s, Part 2 BY EVELYN BYRNE WILLIAMS WITH JANEEN SATHRE clean it out. We got home about 7 p.m. and I fixed to run the water by the foot bridge. July 24, 1947—temp 44°—clear/ cloudy I put the kind shoes on twister this morning and mowed sweet clover the rest of the four noon and I mowed sweet clover p.m. Omar cut 2 poles for the electric line and 3 poles and done some weeding. (From this time on Omar has cut about a dozen poles for the future electricity. Each family wanting electricity had to furnish so many poles and dig the holes for them. By October 23 the Culys were getting fixtures for the future electricity and on November 16 they were installing a hot water heater.) Note: This is a continuation of “Farming in the Forties” which appeared in the last issue of the Applegater. The Culy Ranch in the Upper Applegate: We left off with Verna Culy com- ing home after spending a few days in the hospital. And just like last time we are still in the dark as to why she needed to go. Cary Culy’s diary continues with the more important business of ranching and a very busy Verna. Oct 1, 1946—temp a.m. 46°—cloudy Omar and I hauled 38 posts from up on the hill above Witters place. Verna canned meat 19 qts. And cooked some berries for jelly. It rained a good shower last night enough to settle the dust. Edd went upon the hill this morning. Verna hung some meat to dry. Nov 14, 1946—clear Verna, Omar, Viola and I went to Medford. We paid our taxes $44.52. Verna let Omar have $10.00 I bought a bottle for $3.00. Dec 21, 1946—temp 28° Omar and I did chores and worked 2hrs. on the road down on the big turn across from Morris Byrne’s a.m. and we worked about 2 hours on the road this after noon. (At this time the Culy’s were still building, by hand, a road to connect them to the end of Palmer Creek Road. Once this was done they no longer needed to transport everything across the river on a swinging bridge and walk a quarter mile to the house) Dec 25, 1946—temp 35° Omar, Verna and I went over to Edd’s and Leora’s (son-in-law and daugh- ter) for dinner those that was there Ernie, Helen (son-in-law and daughter), Roney, Russell (grandsons ) Lewis, Rosley (son and daughter-in-law), Mary, Charles (grandchildren), and Orval White and family and Bob Rooker. Ernie and Helen got me a wool jacket, Roney and Russell got me a pipe I got a box of candy from Lewis and Rosely and Edd and Leora got me a 12 in cresent rinch. Bob Rooker got me 2 pair of socks. Omar got me a tie and a diary book. Jan 3, 1947— temp 16 Omar and I boarded up around under the sills of the house and I pulled the hay out of the way where we are feeding out of. Omar put a shelf up in his bedroom a.m. P.m. Omar, Charles and I worked on the road. I put in about 1 hr. Charles and Omar worked 2 hrs and 45 min. Daily and his father and 2 women came to look at the place. (The Culy’s were thinking about selling and moving to Jacksonville) Jan 29, 1947— temp 32° Omar helped feed and went up Kinney Creek Divide. He rode Twister up to the top and turned him loose and he come home. Omar went down Strait Gulch to where we killed the cougar and up to Chimey Gulch gap and around and down Canacker. I finished the chores and worked 2 ½ hrs. on the road a.m. p.m. I went over and got the mail March 9, 1947— temp 43°—rain Started raining about 5 and has been raining steady until 7:30 and is still raining hard. Omar and I started the cattle up in the oaks this morning got back 11 a.m. And finished the chores and that about all we done except chores. Omar went over to scovills (Mr. Scovill worked for the lo- cal power company, COPCO). this after noon. After Grange we danced until about 1:30 a.m. there was some folks come from Ruch 2 from Eagle Point and one from Ruch. They played acorden, a electric steel guytar and a drum. There were 54 there for lunch. Verna, Omar, Fred Dorn and I was on the serving comitty. Apr. 27, 1947—temp 37°—clear a.m./ cloudy p.m. Rained a good shower this evening. Omar and I drove the milk cow up to where Harthen has his tent and we hauled manure and cleaned the weeds and rocks off the corn ground and we butchered Hats calf this evening. Hard’s (Lyle Hard) little boy (Billy ?) got his hand blew off with a giant powder cap. (The Hard family lived near McKee Bridge behind the store) The telephone out fit went on strike in Medford. May 28, 1947—cloudy I irrigated and mowed hay for the stock and pulled the runners of the strawberries. Omar, Verna and I went to the grange hall to a meeting for electricy the Copco man was there and gave us the figures on what it would cost us. June 22, 1947—temp 46°— clear 36 loads of alfaly first crop. Omar, Edd, Charles and I hauled 3 loads of hay this morning. Lewis and Polky helped with 2 loads. Polky and Lucile (Lewis’s daughter) come about 9 a.m. I went up to first gulch and turned what water there was down but that wasn’t much. I put it on the pasture. Leora, Soney, and Eddie come out 9:30 a.m. Albert Culy come about 12 noon and went back 3 p.m. and the rest of them left shortly after Albert did and Omar, Verna and I went up and cleaned the rack and there wasn’t much water and we went on up to the waist gate at Jolly’s and found the pipe across from Bert Harr’s was blocked and it took us about 2 hrs to Aug 20, 1947 I irrigated and I took Omar up to help Albert Collings with his hay and I took Charles home. We left for Medford about 9 a.m. and I got back home 11:45. I brought back 75# of ice and 3 sacks of barley, 2 sacks for Omar. Martin Pierce shot him self accidentally and died instantly. (Unfortunately, I have no other information about Martin. (He may have lived near Forest Creek on Hwy 238 were a family by the name of Pierce lived) The last part of Cary’s diary had many pages of the names of people working on cutting poles, slashing, digging holes and measur- ing for wire. Electricity was finally coming to the Culy farm and to all of their neighbors in 1947. Thanks to Russell and Melba McIntyre for the loan of this diary The picture (above left) of the Upper Applegate Grange Hall, located next to McKee Bridge, shows where the Culy’s and many Apple- gaters came for community events like dancing, and for information about local or national issues im- portant to their area. Picture taken November 17, 1940. I have pointed out a few people mentioned in the snippets of dairy from this and the last Apple- gater. Evelyn Byrne Williams with Janeen Sathre 541-899-1443 Grange Photo above: Note each asterisk denotes next person in the photo. Back row, L to R (Burt Harr, * * *, Louis Culy, Morris Byrne, * * Middle row, L to R Cary Culy, Verna Culy, * * * *, Albert Collings, * * * * * * * *, Evelyn Byrne (author), * * * Front row, L to R * * * * * *, Edward Finley (Edd), * * * * * *, Omar Culy, *, Rosalie Culy
