Pioneering Oregon
D A DT* II
PARTII
/fiis continues the Story as told bv
M oryaret Boles Burdtne to
Katherine Bogle.
/
/
Portland Observar M ay 29. 1990 pBfle 3
.
rain - he had to go to a dry climate.
My husband arrived in Yakima
on the first ot July. The valley was a
perfect picture with orchards loaded
with fruit; the meadows were rilled
with men, horses and machinery
making hay while the sun shone; the
pastures were fu ll o f lovely fat
cattle and cornfields were in their
glory. My husband looked at it all
and saw it as a second garden o f
Eden where he could make a for­
tune.
Earl met a fellow who had lived in
the valley a good many years and
owned an acre o f land with some
chickens to raise. He assured my
husband that he was a devout
I hristian and made Earl welcome in
brotherly love to his home and to his
advice. He was glad to be o f service
to Earl and just happened to have a
good friend in the Real Estate
business it Earl had some money to
invest. Earl bit.
He visited the real estate office
and the o ffice had a listing o f a
place with a good pasture - just the
place that Earl needed, the two new
“ friends” told him. He paid them
$500.0t) right then and promised
what they asked: $500.00 more in 30
days and several thousand to be
paid later with interest.
Our Marshfield home was sold in
haste and at a substantial loss so
that we could “ get rich in a lew
years.”
Odd jobs kept Earl busy and I
helped out by working when I was
needed at a small restaurant. We not
only paid our way but we were able
to save a little monev which seemed
like a lot to us. We soon had saved
$500.00 and I found out the money
began to “ burn a ho le " in Earl's
pocket.
Earl began to listen to stories
about
great
o p p o rtu n itie s
somewhere else and he put aside let­
ting me help decide what we were to
do. He heard that Coos Bay was the
place to be in Oregon; "th e y” were
planning to build a bridge there and
jobs w ould be p le n tifu l. It was
beautiful country. He would go first
and send for us later.
We came to Portland first and
took a boat call “ The Bear” to
Marshfield.
Things went well with us from the
beginning. In our family we all had
some w ork to do. M y husband
bought a team o f horses and hired
out to do hauling. W hile he was
hauling, the children and I cooked
food for the hogs and saw that they
were well fed. We were doing well
and had acquired the two houses
and land.
.Then one day Earl met some
people in town and invited them out
to see his place and the stock. They
complimented him on what he was
doing, but said he was in the
We arrived in Yakima on the 12th
“ wrong ” place. They to ld him
o f August when the thermometer
about a “ wonderful” valley where
registered 112". We disliked the
they came from. I f you were there,
place from the first. The river bor­
they told Earl, you could raise your
dering the property was not fo r
own grain and feed. It is dry there,
swimming - water was like ice. But
and not so much rain like here.
we had come to stay and we had to
“ You can make a fortune in a few
make the best o f it.
years and retire,” they said.
The snow began in November and
I heard their talk but it didn’t in­
the winter was long and cold. The
terest me. I was satisfied and so
spring came and we could see our­
were the children. So was my
selves doing big things. I planned to
husband where he met these “ great
raise chickens and turkeys and to
friends.”
have a large berry patch. We were
It wasn’t long until his partner he
going to grow our vegetables, plus
had to help him began to complain
corn and wheat and sugarbeets.
that there was too much work to
On the 19th o f May in 1921, my
raising hogs. I was expecting an ad­
husband came in from the barn
dition to the family and I couldn’ t
looking a little strange. He said, " I
do anything to help with the hogs.
believe we are going to have a Hood.
The three meals a day, the washing,
The river is out o f its banks.” Earl
ironing and sewing and mending
had asked his new friends about the
were all I could do. The partner
river Hooding and they had told him
pulled o u t, Earl gave him more
the place had Hooded about 20 years
money than he should and then he
ago and not since. Now the water
sold the hogs. That was his way of
was raising rapidly, flooding the
doing business.
corn and the alfalfa and the cattle
Soon Earl began to talk about
were marooned on a small island.
that wonderful valley he had heard
The water stayed on the crops for
about. I tried to get him to let well
a month. The gardens and berries
enough alone. But my talk did no
were washed away. Our neighbors
good.
told us the place and sell again, over
This was in the spring o f 1920 just
and over.
after W W I. I told him that this was
We prayed. My husband wanted a
not the time to break up and go to a
lawyer. I didn't. He did and found
new place. No, he couldn’t think ot
one who took our money and did
anything else. He was tired o f the
not help us. I was really sick o f
everything.
I hated the place, but I couldn’t
give up. The children and I picked
fruit for other people. I canned fruit
for the winter. My husband worked
his team in the hay fields for other
people. We made a living. We sent
our children to school. Fannie went
to high school four years and never
was tardy or missed a day. Two o f
our other daughters did the same
thing a few years later.
We could never get any money
ahead because of bad management.
In A p ril 1925, Earl spent a whole
season helping an old lady with her
apple crop. He was to get half share
on harvesting the crop. They beat
him out of it because the agreement
had been only verbal, and he
couldn’ t prove a thing. He didn’t
get one cull apple nor a handful of
hay. He had to borrow money to
buy hay for our stock that winter.
Ihe Lord works in a mysterious
way his wonders to perform. A nice
place o f 20 acres became available
and my husband didn’ t want it. But
I did. I borrowed some money from
my sister and the children gave me
$40.00 they had borrowed picking
pears and I had enough to quietly
take option on the place. It was
quite a while before I told him we
owned it.
I worked packing fr u it in a
warehouse to help with the paymen­
ts and kept trusting the Lord. We
milked our cows, fed our hogs and
turkeys fo r m arket, and always
some o f the money went to pay for
our property.
The children enjoyed going to
school and church and belonging to
the 4-H clubs. The girls belonged to
sewing clubs and the boys belonged
to the chicken club. They all became
delegates, at one time or another, to
Pullm an
College
A ffa irs .
Sometimes they went for a week’ s
camp. They won prizes for their
work at the County Fair for their
entries.
We all went to church together
and enjoyed the blessings o f living
every day.
We had a piano and Fannie
Delores, our oldest daughter, could
play. We would all gather around
and sing together. We read the Bible
and other stories and each one
would take turns at reading. We had
prayer each evening and always said
grace at the table.
We had a lot to be thankful for.
We had lots o f company. We had
saddle horses, bicycles and a creek
to fish. But fo r p ro p e rty, and
management, Earl could not find
the right people to deal w ith. He
took a regular job in the Post Office
and we had a regular income to
depend on after that.
One December my husband took
the Hu. I kept a good fire that night
and had the house nice and warm
because it was very cold. I wanted to
get the doctor for him bu, Earl said,
"N o , I ’ ll be all right in the morn­
ing.”
Next morning, I called the doctor
because Earl was not better. The
December 31, 1928.
doctor said he had pneumonia. He
I felt numb and alone. I had seven
was sick nine or ten days with the
children from three years old to 18.
doctor coming every day to see him.
I turned to my heavenly father for
I stayed up at night to take care of
strength to carry on, as he is ever
him and keep the fire going. Friends
near.
came in through the day and I could
It was a hard struggle without
get a little sleep. The three older
E arl. The boys pitched in and
children were a big help when they
helped and so did the older girls. We
came home from school.
had worked together all our lives
On the tenth morning 1 helped the
and we continued.
youngest boy with the milking and
We planted our grain, raised our
my husband said he was feeling all
chickens and turkeys, bought
right. He ate his breakfast but a lit­
another cow and some hogs. One
tle later he called me to say he was
fine day three or four later we paid
feeling cold. I rushed to put some
o ff the mortgage. 1 was very thank­
heat to his feet, and called the doc­
ful to my heavenly father for the
tor.
help from my children.
Earl sat up in bed and said to me,
I worked in the cannery through
"Y ou have done all you can, so it’s
the canning season fo r 15 years;
all right. Lord have mercy." He laid
working 10 hour shifts, six days a
back on his pillow and closed his
week seldom ever losing a day. 1 was
eyes and that was the end. That was
glad to be independent, and kept on
farming.
I have had the pleasure o f seeing
my five girls march in the
graduation class o f the same high
school. A ll the girls passed with
good grades Some o f them went to
college. Both of my sons were in the
armed service and came home in
1945 without a wound.
A ll my children got married and
settled down and “ lived happily
ever a fte r.” They are like the
average American family. I have 11
healthy grandchildren and when
summer comes they all want to
come to this old place in the country
where they can fish and swim and
play in the hot sunshine like their
parents did when they were young.
Like I said before, I have reaped a
great reward. Thanks be to God.
(Photos. Buddy Bogle)
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