Vern’s Stories: My Working Years - Part 5
Moving to Boron in 1939 all at once it rings a bell. Why it has been just 10 years since we first saw the desert in 1929. I was 14 years old then. I was a boy then . Now I am a man with wife and family. My brothers and sisters all younger than me, are not far behind me either.
When we were moving to Boron we looked around and found a house on the comer of Anderson and James Streets to rent in the Trenary tract but we had no water. Trenary had settled in the area some years ago and had quite a large tract of land. He had built a cafe along the 466 Highway and had some cabins behind the cafe. Where some women, lived .
When the Borax Mine began to expand and began hiring many more men. Trenary subdivided part of his land. People were in need housing and needed land to build on so his tract sold out fast. Here is something, I think is kind of interesting, The first person to buy a lot on a street, got the street named after him.
Trenary had a well and a water system and water piped to each lot. Everyone that bought a lot supposed they were guaranteed, they would always have water by the state. Trenary was somewhat cunning in his business dealing. Probably no one had noticed the fine print on their water bill which read; This is surplus water.
As time went on complaints began developing, perhaps the system was somewhat overloaded and pressure dropped or rust got in the system. As people began threatening him they were going to call the state etc, he just laughed at them , and shut the water off to the whole tract. When the lot owner threatened to sue, he just laughed. This was the sort of thing he loved. He is running the show and telling the people he is in charge. When the lot owners looked into it, they were told, He is selling surplus water, all he has to do is say he has no surplus.
We will still be going to Muroc for awhile after we are living in Boron to preach. There are still a few people there yet and Brother Griggs is no longer able to come up. On our first Sunday morning in Boron we get our babies ready, loaded in the car and stop by the Henderson's Texaco station to get gas in the car.
Mrs. Henderson a matronly lady very nice, she fills our tank. She sees Joy and Paul oh those darling little babies. Wait just a minute I want to give them something, comes out with chocolate ice cream bars. I think you can imagine what those babies looked like when we got to Muroc. After that I think we filled our gas tank on Saturdays.
I am still working in the bull gang, as rigger. It is kind of fun, because you never know what to expect, when you come to work. I guess. I like it that way, sometime some very exciting things happen.
This was one of those days. Oscar Swanson says to me that morning as I reported for work. Vern I am going to have you run the timber hoist today. I say Oscar I have never run the timber hoist. He says that's ok, Bernie Vanderwall will be letting a couple of cages of men down in mine, watch him he will show you all about it. He will be going back to the machine shop, after he lets the men down. You can stay there and practice, until you feel you can handle it ok.
After that you can go over and help Upsadaisy, (name he got in sackroom) over on the bucket loader at the shale pile. If someone wants to go down in the mine they will come over and get you.
I practice for a while running the cage up and down in the shaft. There are four things you need to understand to run the hoist safely. One, the drum controller, {Like the old street cars had years ago} It has an arm on top with a knob. It is neutral in the center position, the cage goes down when you throw it one way and up when you throw it the other way. Two, the big drum with level marks on the side that the large cable winds up on as the cage comes up the shaft. Three, the big leaver that controls the brake on the big drum and four, the dial indicator that tells you where the cage is in the shaft. There is very precise coordination between these four things.
There there is the, bell system, that lets the man in the cage, tell the hoist engineer what he wants to do. I think I can still remember the bell signals. 1 bell meant hoist or stop if in motion, 2 bells lower, 1-3 meant man on skip 1-3-2 man on lower, 1-3-1 man on hoist, 1-3-2-3 man on lower to 3rd level, a quick 1.2 meant I release skip.
The coordination in handling the brake and controller is the hardest part. You are letting a cage of miners down in the mine from the surface, they call for the 3rd level. You are watching the dial indicator in front of you as miners are dropping 350 ft into the mine, with one hand on the controller and the other hand on the brake leaver. The dial has mark for each level, but these marks are not precise enough to stop right on the level, so there is a mark on the big cable drum for each level also. As you are going down with these miners as you are getting very close to the 3rd level mark on the dial you throw the controller off and come back on the brake leaver. You quickly look down at the cable drum as it is coming around and pick up the mark for the 3rd level. If you do it right you will come back hard on the brake at this point and stop right on the mark. If you miss it say 6 or 8 inches you must not move the skip as you don't know what they are doing down there, so they will just have to step up or down to get off.
After practicing awhile I decided I could handle it, and went over and started helping on the bucket loader. Note; A few years latter I bought this loader from P.C.B. and used it for many years in the sand and gravel business.
Oh no, here comes Roy Osborn the superintendent over the whole borax operation and Norman Ross the master mechanic . Says Roy; Calling out from his pickup, “Hey Vern come over and let us down in the mine. We will be down there about an hour. Then you can bring us back out.” Boy Oh Boy, did I have to get the two top men in the mine for my first customers.
Anyhow I let the cage down to the collar of the shaft. They bell for the 3rd level so here we go I have the controller in one hand and the big brake leaver in the other and I am really focused in on that dial pointer. Now it is getting close to level 3. I throw the controller off as I come back on the brake. I quickly glance down at the revolving drum and pick up the 3 marker as it comes around putting more pressure on the brake now I stop right on the mark. Whee boy I did it.
In about an hour when they come back and bell for the skip in hoisting them to the top I did it again stopped right on the button. I never did know if they knew they were the very first men I had let down or hoisted out of a mine. It was a funny thing it was maybe a week before I had enough practice to do that again. For a while I would be a few inches high or low.
I ran the timber hoist for several weeks. It was an easy job. You let 8 to 12 miners down in the mine in the morning. Brought them back up at 11 am for chow. At 12 noon you let them back down, and then at 3 pm pulled them back up at the end of the days work. During the day you might get bells to hoist someone between levels. Bring someone to the surface or let someone down into the mine. the rest of the time you just set and waited for calls. You could just sit, read or walk around, staying close enough to hear the bells.
The hoisting job was up for bid and I was just running it until the bids would be opened on a certain date. I did not bid on the job for several reasons. Number 1, I felt very strongly about men lives being in my hands. Number 2, There were no automatic safety feature on this hoist. In the past it had been used mostly for lowering timbers into the mine. The big main haulage hoist had safety features such as; When the cage was coming out of the collar of the shaft and it reached a certain point above ground and there was no response from the operator, it would automatically shut down and apply the brakes. The timber hoist had no such feature.
3rd This job did not have enough action . I get sleepy when I set around doing nothing. I like jobs where there is lots of action.
It is now 1940 and many things are beginning to happen. We move to Hall's house still on Anderson St. but nearer to Boron Ave. Second my dad has called to say; He has found a place we can buy along the Mojave River in Oro Grande CA. He would like for me to go in with him and to buy it together as equal partners . Mr. Keegans will be coming over tomorrow to talk about it.
Third I have an exciting new job running a large new 12 ton bulldozer.
Best of all Thelma is going to have a baby around the last of July or the first part of Aug.
My brother Glenn is getting married to Roberta Steward Sept. 14 1940 and my sister Genevieve is getting married on Oct. 4 1940 to Cecil Debord.
We have bought a new G.E. refrigerator, the salesman from Barstow spent hours with us before he could convince us we would save money over buying ice for our ice box. It cost $150.00 a lot of money then. Finally he threw in a toaster and it was deal.
I can’t remember very many years in our lives when so many exciting things happened in one year.
Well little Stevie arrived right on schedule (course we were a little hazy on date) Aug. 4 1940. Perfect in every detail. Just like his older brother Paul and what a sweet little boy he is. We really enjoy our babies they are so precious and Thelma is the perfect little mother.
Glenn, Ralph, Genevieve, and Nellie Mae have rented a house in Boron to live in the boys working in the mine, the girls going to school in Lancaster. This little arrangement won’t last to long. Wedding bells for two of the sibling and Ralph deciding along with Leon Debord, and Herb Whitmyer to go down to Lockheed and build airplanes.
Sounds like a lot more romantic, then digging Borax. When Ralph went to work at Lockheed they set him down on a stool. In front of him was a punch press. A conveyor belt brought this odd shaped piece of aluminum that went somewhere on the bombers. Ralph’s job was to punch several holes in these pieces of aluminum as they went by all day long. It wasn’t to long before the romantic bubble of building airplanes burst, and Ralph decided to come back to the desert, and go into the trucking business, which turned out to be a great idea. I don’t think he ever knew where this little piece of aluminum fit into the big bombers.
Back at work at the mine I am having fun learning to operate the big D7 cat bulldozer. This big heavy dozer on the D7 is raised up with a power winch on the back of the tractor connected to the dozer with steel cables. When you are pushing dirt in front of you with the blade, the beginner doesn’t watch the blade close enough. As the blade grabs into the dirt it has a natural tendency to pull down. It is digging a hole but it is so gradual the operator doesn’t realize it, because the tracks are still moving over level ground.
All at once the tractor falls in the hole the blade has been digging. Realizing his mistake he raises his blade a little to much and makes a little mound, he lower his blade and starts an other hole. When he stops and looks back, it looks like he is starting to build a rolly coaster.
Usually after a few hours the learner will begin to get the hang of it. Over the years at the mine I have taught a good number of men how to run a bulldozer. Some pick it up after a few hours. Some after a few hours, just throw up their hands and say; I will never be able to run this thing.
Well I guess after saying all of that about the big new bulldozer the company has bought, I should give the reason the company bought it. They are starting a new program called Stope Filling.
A stope is a large cavity underground that all the borax has been taken out of. The top of the stope is usually 300 to 400 below the desert surface. The inside of the stope measures, 100 ft. long, 20 ft. wide and a 100 to 150 ft. deep. Just a big empty cavity. In some places there might be several of these empty stopes side by side with a 10 ft. pillar in between them.
Borax has a tendency to air slack and lose its strength over time. What was happening over time, some of these pillars between the stopes begin to fall out. That would leave a large area without support, and this area would cave in all the way to the top of the ground.
There was a bad cave in at West Baker Mine and there was one at the Baker Mine. It was north of the camp that left two cabin all tilted over to one side. These both happened at night when no one was in the mine so no one got hurt.
At the Baker Mine there is this huge blower that ventilates the whole mine. When this cave in happened the concussion was so great it caused this huge fan to spin backwards at over twice the forward speed, making such a noise it could be heard for miles. One man sleeping near the cave in felt the earth shaking and heard this horrendous noise, jump out of bed and ran all the way to the cook house in his shorts. Maybe he thought it was the end of the world and he would have a last meal.
This new stope filling program was to eliminate these cave ins. In simple terms, a 12 inch hold is drilled down into each stope and then the stope is filled to the top with desert sand. After the hole is drilled an 8 ft. square metal grizzly is put over the hole. We than start pushing dirt in with the dozer, it might take several weeks to fill one stope.
It is now summer 1940 and we have been going over to the ranch in Oro Grande, on our days off on the week ends. We are cleaning up and getting it ready to put in some crops.
Daddy has his cattle on the range, west of Adelanto. There is this electric transmission line from Hoover Dam running through the range. There is over a hundred thousand volts of electricity on this line. This doesn’t stop daddy, his thinking; These towers are on my range, why not put them to use. He drives along the road by the towers and about every mile or so he climbs a tower and scans the countryside until he spots the herd. He said when he came down off the towers to the car parked under the transmission line he would get a mild shock when he opened the door to the car.
There is one house on the farm we have bought in Oro Grande, and mama daddy and Patty have moved in and are now living there.
On this day on the ranch I am burning the weeds on the west 20 acres. I don’t know where Thelma Joy and baby Steve are at, probably in the house with grandma. Little Paul is with me, and he is staying, well back from where I am burning. I notice the fire getting to close to the fence down the line, I run down to put it out, then run back to check on little 2 yr. old Paul. He was wearing a knit cap and when I got back to him, he says da da and points down at his feet. There at his feet lay his cap, just a pilot of ashes.
Evidently this precious little boys cap had caught fire from an ember floating through the air and landing on it. A loose knit cap would flame up fast. This little boy had the presents of mind, to pull it off and throw it on the ground. I examined him. There was not a hair of his head singed, or any burns on his little hands. Praise the Lord from whom all Blessing flow.
God has blessed our little family in so many wonderful ways. We can never praise Him enough.
He touched me, oh He touched me and oh the joy that filled my soul. Something happen and now I know, He touched me, and made me whole. Praise, Praise, for our safe little Paul.
Back home to Boron Sunday night and to work Monday morning I find out I have a new challenge. They are going to take me off of the stope filling job, temporarily, to build a railroad grade to the West Baker mine. This will require building a base to lay the ties on. It will require building the road bed up about three ft. most of the way, maybe a cut here and there. Its all staked out so here we go. After I finish I never heard any complaints. So I guess I must have done alright. It was more fun then bushing dirt in a hole.
Well the hottest part of the summer is past and Sept. is coming on, the kids of school age are heading for school, and a big event in our family is coming up.
On Sept. 14 1940, Glenn Harris and Roberta Steward, are united in marriage, in the Foursquare Church in Johannesburg, CA. That is just around the corner from Randsburg. Roberta’s father Bob Steward worked in Randsburg, at the Yellow Aster Gold Mine.
It was a lovely wedding, Ralph Harris was best man and Leita Mae Steward was maid of honor. Sometimes lovely things come in twos so less than. a month after Glenn and Roberta’s wedding, Cecil and Genevieve had a lovely wedding in the Foursquare Church in Victorville CA. on Oct. 4 1940. Leon Debord was best man and Nellie Mae Harris maid of honor, Harry Debord, Ralph and Florence were also in the wedding. Patsy 3 yrs. Joy 2 yrs. were the flower girls. They have these cute little baskets filled with flower buds. Patsy is going down the aisle dropping flowers, Joy is coming along behind her picking the flowers up. Little tots. are so cute and interesting, you wonder what is going through there little minds. Patsy is going per instructions, Joy probably, awed by her first wedding attendance, was looking around and didn’t quite understand the instructions. Maybe she thought they were taking the flowers down to give to the bride. In her little mind, she may be thinking; What in the world is Patsy doing don’t she know they will get stepped on and ruined. About half way down the aisle, she spots me. She waves and calls out real loud, hi daddy, everyone is laughing. Joy is probably thinking; Daddy must be real proud of me, saving all these flowers from getting ruined.
Back at the stope filling on Monday morning, some of the stopes that need to be filled are directly under the camp where the men’s cabins are. and there is one near the cookhouse. These cannot be filled by pushing sand in from the desert. It is to far, and there are to many object in the way.
The company has figured out the solution to the problem. When we came to work this morning. Here sets a brand new D7 Cat, with carryall attach. The man from the Tractor Company is here to show us how to run it. The carryall holds 8 yds. Which is about 12 tons of dirt. It is quite a unique design, it rolls on rubber tires, two cables controls it’s operator. It is open in the front and has a blade at the bottom that picks up the dirt, controlled by a cable that raises it up and down. The other cable pulls the back of the container forward to dump the load. With this machine we can go out into the desert at high speed, drop down pickup a load, come back to camp at hight speed. We can dump the load on the grizzly, or make big piles, for future use with the bulldozer.
We now have a new tract in Boron. It is across Boron Ave. west of the Trenary tract it has pave streets and water to each lot (Trenary tract still without water.) Leland baker is the agent this tract is called the Roberts tract. We buy two lots there on the corner of Anderson and Roberts Ave. We are already starting to build.
Thelma has this old treadle Singer sewing machine it is so old, we were having trouble finding needles for it until we found out it took a Wheeler and Wilson needle. It was probably the first Singer made, as Singer bought out Wheeler and Wilson.
Thelma loves to sew, and she is a good seamstress. She deserves something better so we buy her a brand new Singer electric, in a beautiful Oak cabinet. That really got her up to sew. She started turning out all kinds of clothes on her new Singer.
Mr. Stout an elderly small bald man had been in our church in Muroc was now living in a small trailer in Boron. He was very poor and didn’t have many clothes. Thelma always ready to help somebody with a need { As John Wooden says; You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. } I think Thelma must have had a lot of those kind of days.
Thelma noticed brother Stout’s clothes are not to nice to go to Church in. I had a suit I hardly ever wore. Thelma took that suit all apart at the seams, measured brother Stout up, cut and sewed and made him a nice suit. Brother Stout was so happy he wore it to Church with pride. When our kids get a little older, she will make them all sailor suits, sports jackets, and many other nice clothes.
Well imagine this, our dear mother Edith Harris 49 yrs. old is going to have a baby. It will be sometime after the first of the year in 1941. The father our dad will be 53 years old. The date is the last part of January.
Vernon is the oldest of the siblings birthday is Jan. 24 wouldn’t it be something if the first and the last were born on the same day. Well the way it worked out; In the course of time Mother brought fourth a beautiful little girl into the world on Jan. 25 1941. They name her Darleene a very appropriate name as she has always been a darling lady to the family. Well there you have it. The Forrest and Edith Harris Family is complete 7 children 3 boys 4 girls. The first and last born one day apart.
The stope filling at the mine has just had a little change. As I remember it at the start, the plan was to drill 3 holes into each stope. They are 100 ft. long and to get the whole stope filled to the top they would need the 3 holes. There are so many stopes it would take a lot of drilling.
Someone came up with this idea. This dirt and rock are dropping 300 ft. it will pick up a lot of velocity in that long drop. With the right kind of gizmo at the bottom, this velocity could be used to throw the dirt out to the ends of the stope. That way they would only need one hole in the middle of the stope.
The mine had a well staffed machine and welding shops between them they could make just about any thing. The ones I remember in the machine and welding shops in the early days. Machine Shope, Slim Mathis, was the boss, Charlie Roycroft, Frank Cook, Bob and Ed Sisikers, and Carl Siders. In the Welding Shop, Tad Boyce, boss, Doug Boyce, Ben Franklin, Elmer Hall, Al Pauley.
In the shops they build this heavy chute, that changed the direction of the material coming down 90 degrees. It was made out of heavy steel plate to withstand the force of the rocks that came down with the dirt. A rock as big as my fist could go through the grizzly the force it would have dropping 300 ft. would be great.
They made it in the shop and tried it out. It worked fine as long as the dirt from the dozer came down in one big bunch. If it just drizzled down a little at a time it would not go out very far, just pile up in front of the machine and make a lot of extra work for the men below as they would have to do a lot of hand mucking.
We worked out a system top side that made it easier on the men below. We would let the dirt build up real high on the back side of the grizzly. This desert dirt had a enough clay it would slick over and make a nice smooth slide on the back side of the pile above the grizzly. As I come in with a big load of dirt on the front of the dozer, as I got to grizzly I would raise my blade, and the dirt would roar down the hole in one big bunch.
We had a phone connection with the men down below if they needed ot move their machine, to aim it in a different direction. They could call the man on the grizzly at any time and stop us.
One day we were working a stope on the back side of the camp to the west, there was nothing close just desert. Everything was going fine, the crew below was filling in the ends of the stope and everything was working fine. Well guess what here comes my old nemesis Mr. Ott. He says to me, Vern, as he looks at the big pile of dirt on the back side of the grizzly. We have to keep this cleaned up around the hole. Now this man is hard to reason with, in fact it is impossible to reason with him. I say Ott that big pile of dirt is there for a reason. We have men working under us. They are running a machine that throws the dirt back in the ends of the stope. The way we have the dirt around the hold makes it go down in one big bunch. He says I want this cleaned up around this hole.
Now we are out in back in the desert there is absolutely no reason at all this dirt needs to be cleaned up around this hole, but he is insistent. I knew what would happen. When I clean up around the hole it is going to make a big mess for these men down below, but these are tough guys, maybe they will get Mr. Ott off my back. Well it dd, in a way I never dreamed. I no more then got the dirt cleaned up around the hole, the phone rings. The grizzle man answers the phone and he says to me, they want to talk to you, they are really mad. I pick up the phone, they say; Vern what the H---- are you doing up there, you are about to cover us up down here. I told him Mr. Ott came along and told me I had to clean up around the hole, I tried to explain, we had the dirt piled up a certain way around the hole, so it would go down fast, but he insisted I had to clean up all the dirt around the hole. He is one of my bosses, I said; Joe it is almost time for you guys to be coming up for your noon break. When you get top side, look up Oscar Swanson. Tell him what old Ott did to you, and I know Oscar will straiten him out real quick. Joe says; You better believe it we will give him an ear full and then some.
In the afternoon every thing got back to normal, We built our stack back up and we were push dirt down at a good rate. We stopped so the men below could move their machine a little. While taking this short brake. Someone came along and said; Did you hear about Ott ? I said no what. He said, he had a heart attack and died in the mine on the second level by the timber shaft. I have often wondered , if Oscar and the men chewed him out good and sent him down in the mine, to see how the operation worked, and he may have felt his job was in jeopardy, and caused him to have a heart attack . That is something we will never know.
It is now early spring 1941, and Glenn and Roberta are starting to get excited as they are about to be a mama and a daddy for the first time. On May 5 1941 , Roberta brings forth her first born son. A beautiful perfect little boy. They name him Melvin, they are so happy and feel so blessed of the Lord.
Today is a nice spring morning on the desert and we are on our way to the ranch in Oro Grande to water and cultivate our corn and potato crops. We have taken. The usual shortcut a road that runs due south from Highway 466 to Helendale. It is a graded road, probably run a grader over it once a year. It is a wash board road rough and rocky. Joy has probable heard us complaining about how rough it is. Joy is setting next to me and says daddy, when are they ever going to put some of that black frosting on this road? I say; I don't know sweetheart, but I wish they would. Well that has been 67 yrs. ago and it still doesn't have any of that black frosting on it.
We spent two fun days at the ranch. The corn is really looking great. The white rose potato vines are looking good, got curious, dug around one, yup the little potato are forming. The thing looking bad is the yams, they are not doing well. Went to church on Sunday in Victorville, home to Boron Sunday night, got to work Monday morning.
Back at the mine Monday morning we have a new surprise. There is this huge shale pile behind the D.R.P. This shale is tailings from the mill it is the impurities taken out of the Borax. It is mostly iron particles about the size of sand, mixed with some borax. These iron particles are hard and sharp.
They have built a large bunker and bulkhead at the south end of this large shale pile. The bulldozer will push the shale from the top of the pile down into the bunker. Dump trucks will load under the bunker, and haul it and dump it in the big cave in, north of the camp. This proved out to be kind of a miserable job, from the cat skinner point of view. Pushing a big load of shale down the hill between the wind and the tractor fan, the shale is really blasting you right in the face. We had to wear goggles that fit tight, long sleeve shirts and a hood, that covered most of our face. While this operation was going on, the Company put up a bid for a bulldozer operator. This was a terrible place to try to learn to run a cat and bulldozer. A man would come out in the morning, put on his gear, climb up on the bulldozer, to learn to operate it. We are way up on this mountain of shale, pushing down into the big bunker.
With the wind and the dust flying around and the shale pelting us in the face. It was very difficult to learn. Especially if the man had never run a Cat, and was trying to learn to run a Cat and a dozer, all at the same time.
Most of the men would quit by the noon lunch brake. I am running a bulldozer school, but I don't have any graduates. I must have had six or seven that tried out and by noon most said; I don't want this job. You could not run fast enough to give me this job. Others said; I will never be able be to run this thing.
After that they quit coming out, as I remember it, I think the company decided to withdraw the bid.
Things have gone along well up on ye old shale pile for several weeks now. I am alone up here now, no more students. Sort of gets monotonous and lonely back and forth with the blast of shale and dust. Something a little more exciting would help.
Little did I know, exciting thing were about to happen in a few days. On the south side of the shale pile, and running 40 ft. west from the bunker, was this bulk head, built out of heavy timber and planking. This held the shale pile up, where we were working above it.
On this eventful afternoon, I had just pushed a big load of shale into the bunker and was backing up for an other load, when the whole bulkhead, collapsed. The mountain of shale started sliding down the hill, and me and the bulldozer with it. The bulldozer was sliding sideways down the hill at a precarious angle. In a split second I made my decision me and the bulldozer are going to part company. As the bulldozer slid south, down the hill, I headed north over the topside.
I thought sure it was going to roll, but when the dust cleared, and surveyed the situation, it had slid about halfway down the shale pile and was tilted over at such a precarious angle, it looked like with a little push it would roll over. I went down and took a closer look, the bulldozer motor was still running. I gingerly climbed up on it and shut it off.
I was not about to move it, there was no weight at all on the upper track, I felt any movement at all on the lower track would dig it down just enough for it to roll. Now help has arrived, I guess someone who has seen it happen from the D.R,P. has got the word out. Vern has had an accident on the shale pile with the bulldozer. People started arriving from all over the place. We decided to bring in another tractor, and with a long cable hooked high on the bulldozer and pull it back up around straight. This done I got on it, and backed it back up the hill.
Now the carpenters have got a job building a new bulkhead. This they do using heaver timbers. A few more weeks and we have the cave in filled to the top, and we go back to stope filling. Rah rah rah
This week end we are back over at the ranch. Some of our crops are ready to harvest, We plow out our potatoes. Cecil Debord helps sort and put them in lug boxes to sell. I sell quite a few around Victorville and the rest around Boron. The corn is coming along nice. We sell several lugs of roasting ears to Louie, head cook at the borax mine. This is fun, and you must not mussel the ox that, treads out the corn. So, we have a few, roasting ear feast at home too. Boy, nothing like fresh produce right out of the field. I have always enjoyed, growing things, and this is a good place to do it, rich soil and lots of water.
Some interesting, changes are starting to take place in the Harris Family. Ralph quits Lockheed and goes into the trucking business. Glenn quits P. C. B. and goes to work at the San Bernardino Army Air Base. Nell goes to work in Glendale, Ca, , to work for a company making airplane parts. The man that runs this operation is a older cousin, Aunt Alma's boy, Mel Burns.
Ralph had a nice 1937 Plymouth sedan. Daddy had a Chevrolet I 1⁄2 ton truck with a long simi trailer. Daddy and Ralph made a trade. Now the folks have a nice Plymouth sedan. Ralph has an old truck, that has seen better days, and this simi trailer that has a few problems also.
Ralph started out hauling hay. He would go to a ranch and load the trailer up with hay, all by himself, by hand. I think as I remember it we boys did helped him load only the first load. After that he did it all alone, a tremendous job for one man, as he would have to buck the bales all the way to the top by himself.
He hauled the hay to the hay market in the LA. Area, then sit there until some dairy bought the load. He then had to haul it to the dairy and unload it. This was not a good deal for Ralph, for sometimes he might have to set at the hay market several days before the hay was sold. He soon found something better, in Victorville, hauling for Texas Quarries, and Peterson Feed Store.
Glenn is making a name for himself, at the Army Air Base in San Bernardino. He is a foreman in charge of aircraft maintenance. He has invented a tool that will take screws out that are back in places almost inaccessible. It has become a standard tool in the Army Air Corp.
Robert and Marie Steward, Roberta's mother and father, have bought a place in Highland Ca., where they are raising Boysenberries. Glenn and Roberta will live with them for a short time, until they buy there own place in Redlands Ca.. As I remember it, they paid, $35,000 for it. When Glenn went into the Army Air Corps, they sold it for $70,000.
Nell and Millie Debord went to work in aircraft, in Glendale Ca. and found some dear friends we had known in our Santa Monica Ca. days to board with. Later Nell would join the Nurses Cadet Corp, and take her training at the big Los Angeles County Hospital in L.A.
This morning as I report for work, at the mine, Oscar says; Vern we have a good job for you today. There is a stope directly below the big shale pile, east of the plant. We are going to put a well rig on top of that shale pile, and drill a hole down into that stope. In order to do this, we will have to have a road to the top of the shale pile, to get the rig up there. This will be your job today with the bulldozer. I am thinking to my self, I didn't say it out loud. Oh no not another shale pile.
Now this is the granddaddy of all shale piles. It is several times bigger and higher than the one back of D.R.P. There is a large pipe line running out from the mill. The shale is blown out through this pipe high in the air. It lands on top of the pile, as it piles higher and higher it slides down the sides at the angle of repose, which for this material is very steep. As I stand at the bottom of this mountain of shale looking up, it is steep. I am deciding how to attacked this mountain, on a dirt hill you can cut your way around the side slanting up. On this shale that won't work, it is loose and it will keep sliding down as you dig into it. I decide to attack this mountain straight up. When going up at such a steep angle, as I am setting in the seat, the radiator looks like it is right over my head. Feels like the tractor might tumble over backwards, but I know better.
An other thing I didn't realize was, it had rained sometime before. There was a hard Sun baked crust on top. Under this, was maybe 6 inches of a real slimy layer, as slick as grease. As I am going up about the length of the bulldozer, when it breaks through this crust and hits this slick layer. While the tracks are still going forward, the bulldozer is sliding backwards, about 3⁄4 of its length. When again the tracks hits dry shale and it again goes forward until it again hits the slick mud. This up and slide, up and slide, continue all the way up. This is one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had on a bulldozer.
When the bulldozer is sliding backwards, with the radiator and dozer are almost straight above you. One track is a little behind the other, and you need to make a little correction . You have to remember, the steering clutches work just the opposite to what they would on level ground. You could be in big trouble if you did it wrong on this steep side hill. The bulldozer could suddenly swing around sideways, on the shale pile.
I am making progress see sawing up and down, and by noon I reach the top. Whew , I am tired. I am going to go get some chow and rest a little.
In the afternoon it is a piece of cake. Its all down hill, and pushing down, seems the bulldozer is taking half the mountain at a time. By evening I have a nice road all finished, and ready for the drill rig.
It is now December 1941 and on Friday the 5th after work we head for the ranch. Saturday and Sunday we are working on the cement block house , we are building on our part of the ranch. Only taking time for Sunday School and Church. We have the walls up to the top of the doors and windows , we are anxious to get it where we will have a place to stay when we are over.
Ruth Hilwig whose parents live in Oro Grande, is staying with Cecil and Genevieve in Boron, rides over with us on weekends to be with her parents. Then rides back to Boron with us on Sunday night, as she is going to Junior College in Lancaster during the week. When we stop by her house to pick her up. She says did you hear about the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. I say awe Ruth; You have been listening to two many radio plays. No she says; No I am not kidding, it really happened . We could hardly believe her, it was such a shock . When we got home we turned on the radio and knew it was true. The next morning on December 8 , we heard , President Roosevelt give his famous speech, declaring War on Japan.
Back at the mine on Monday morning thing are going on as usual. Later the Pacific Coast Borax Company in Boron, will be declared a vital War Industry. This is because borax is used in munitions, welding compounds, fluxes and other product vital to the War effort. Later during the War the mine will receive the Navy "E "for excellence.
Now there has been a bad flood over by the Suckow mine, it has been renamed the West Baker Mine. The road from the mine to Highway 466, later 58 has been completely washed away It now looks like a desert dry wash. I have been sent over with our road grader, to rebuild this road. It will be a good experience for me, as I have not had to much time on the road grader. I spent the better part of the week, building the road up.
In the spring of 1942 the government started sending out reams of instruction pages, as to what citizen could do and, not do. After a certain date, you would not be able to buy gas or tires for your car, as they would be rationed. To get gas, you had to take the registration of your car, to the Ration Board, and they give you a card to fill out and sign. Among other thing it said; I promise I WILL NOT DRIVE OVER 35 MILES PER HOUR, during the duration of the war. You had to sign this to get a "A" ration book. As I recall it gave you 5 gallons of gas a week. Without this ration book you could get no gas at all.
I studied this card over for quite a while. What to do, I pride myself in always trying to be a l00% honest in every situation. I cannot honestly sign this card. You cannot keep your eyes on the speedometer, every minute you have to watch the road some, and you are bound to find yourself going over 35 sooner or later. I cannot sign this card, as written. My solution ; I wrote on the card, I will try to keep my speed under 35 miles an hour and turned it in. The Ration Board took one look at it and said; YOU CANNOT add anything to a GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT period. I was quit sure from the beginning, that it would not fly, but I wanted to test the waters. I walked out of the ration board without an " A " ration book
Later that day I ran into a Church member his remarks; Well the government made lyres out of all of us today. Said I, not me, they didn't, I didn't sign it, he just shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Seeing his reaction, that he felt he had to be dishonest, and lie to get his "A" book . I figured, I would hear about a lot of Christian people, that would take the same stance I took. Refuse to sign the card, as written, but to my surprise I never found anyone in the Church, or Boron that refuse to sign the card. During the war and since, I have never run into anyone, that did not sign the card. So I guess that makes me the biggest odd ball around, quite a distinction don't you think.
Well we had one ace up our sleeve. The Shell Oil Company in Mojave Ca. has been delivering our heating oil and gasoline to us in Boron, so we had 50 gallons of gasoline on hand. Of course however, this wouldn't last forever, probably ten weeks or less.
Thelma, had said to me; Honey, I think I can drive and stay below 35. I ask, are you sure? She says; I honestly think I can, so now we had a new idea, we bought a couple of old cars, and registered them in Thelma's name. It is funny about government policies, we found out, you could get an "A" card for each car, no matter how many you had. So now we are all set, I can drive anywhere and I didn't even have to signup that I would try to drive under 35, however I do think I tried to do that. Sometimes I think the government is goofier then I am.
Now we have some more decisions to make. It is 50 miles on paved roads to the ranch, 100 miles round trip. We don't have enough gas, and tires are hard to get, so we see no way we can continue to go over to the ranch, on weekends. We decide to sell our part of the ranch to, Mom and Dad with our partly finished house. As I recall, I don't think we charged for the house, just the price of the land.
Back at the mine, P. C. B. is going to do some work for the Santa Fe Railroad with the bulldozer in Boron. The railroad is moving their station in Kramer to Boron. They need some land leveled and some built up to the level of the tracks, for the station. No big deal, I go down, and a few hours, have them all fixed up.
In Boron I have more time to work on the house here. Before we were working on the house here in Boron during the week, and on the house on the ranch on weekends. Now I will be able to spend all my time to finish the house here in Boron, both nights and weekends.
Thelma is busy with her little brood, teaching them their, abc's. She is also using flash cards to teach them simple words, also how to count. Thelma is determined her kids are going to have a better start in school than she had.
Thelma 's mother was a good woman. Although, she and I had our differences, I didn't want her to go over a cliff in my Pontiac or her Studebaker. Leona, Thelma's mother was a good worker in her Church, especially in the missionary department. I guess she knew every missionary in their denomination, anywhere in the world.
She was good at knowing the missionaries needs and getting the things they needed to them. However it seems, she was so wrapped up in the work of the church, she had little time for her own kids. When Thelma was a little shaver in school, she had problems and questions, she needed answers for, but her mother had no time for her. She got behind in school, and she never caught up.
I think it kind of made her, feel unloved, and sweet little mother that she was, Thelma was determined this was not going to happen to her family. Thelma was a good ball player also, and she had her kids out playing ball, when they were so small they could hardly swing a bat.
Joy as a graduating senior at Victor High, was the Salutatorian, of her class. Paul and Steve both, did well in school, and both played Baseball in High School and Collage. Steve was a pitcher and when he was in pony league, he pitched a no hitter against the Palmdale pony league.
Ralph and Florence, did it the easy way, no pomp no frills, on Jan. 10 1942 they traveled to Las Vegas and got married, like Ralph's older brother Vern. in 1936.
At the mine everything is routine with the stope filling, except for a few odd jobs. Like building a high berm with the carryall in front of the new powder magazine, and a drainage channel at the Western Mine for flood control.
The Pacific Coast Borax Company, has built a new, Borax Acid Plant, for the war effort. Six stories high, and all made out of wood timbers, because of the steel shortage. The mine and the mill are gearing up for record production, for the war effort. Later our mine will receive, the coveted, Navy "E" Award for, Efficiency, and service to the war effort.
In our family there are, changes and uncertain, times on the horizon. Into this time, not knowing what the future holds, on 10-5-42, Florence delivers her first born son, a beautiful perfect bouncing, little boy. Ralph and Florence are so happy and praising the Lord, they name him Harold.
Just over two months later, right after Christmas, 1942 both, Ralph and Cecil, will report for service with the Armed Forces, of the United States. Cecil to the Army Air Corp and Ralph to the Medic Corp of the Air Force.
When Ralph went in to the Service, he said to them, I am not sure I could kill another human being. He could not pass the strict conscientious objectors test, but they were kind enough to put him in the Medics, where he could save lives, instead of destroying them. This suited Ralph just fine. Ralph and Florence were able to be together, with there little son Harold while Ralph was training, which was nice. They were in various places in the US., Including, South Dakota and Florida .
On June 20, 1943, while Cecil is away serving his country, Genevieve, delivers their, first born son. His name is Gary Wayne Debord. He is a beautiful perfect little boy. It will be two months, before his daddy, will get to see him, and hold him in his arms. This was because Cecil, was given a short furlough, when Dixie's husband, Johnny Cleays died.
When Thelma and I were thinking, we would like to have another member in our family. Thelma was thinking, a little girl would be nice, so Joy would have a little sister. On October 8 1943, Thelma, delivered and gave us a beautiful healthy little boy. Of course Thelma was somewhat disappointed, but little Mark somehow seamed to know, he had disappointed his Mama. He seamed to be making up for it by being, the best and sweetest little baby, anybody ever saw. We are so thankful, and praising the Lord, for His love.
After Ralph's training was completed in Florida, he crossed the Atlantic in a Liberty Ship, which were welded together. Besides the danger of being blown up by a submarine, these Liberty Ships, had the nasty habit, of breaking in half, during a bad storm.
I am sure Florence was, rejoicing and praising the Lord, when she received a letter in the mail . Her brave husband, had made it safely, to his Air Base in southern Italy.
On May 13 1944, Glenn and Roberta have an addition to their family. Roberta brings forth a beautiful perfect little girl named Marilyn. They are so happy, her little features are so beautiful and perfect, she will certainly get a lot of love, praise is going to the Lord.
When Cecil was first in training he was moving around so much, Seattle, Las Vegas and several other places, there was no way Genevieve could be with him. One thing nice about it was in all his moving around. He just happened to be near home at Christmas time. He because of this, got to spend Christmas at home, in 1943. Quite a contrast to the way he spent Christmas a year latter in 1944. (More about that later.)
Later when Cecil was staying in the same place for a while. Genevieve and little Gary was able to be with him, in Louisiana, Nebraska, and several other places. To start with, Cecil was classified, as an aircraft mechanic and a side gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress. Later he was sent to Nebraska, to train as a mechanic, on the new B-29.
Now that we are not going every weekend to the ranch. On Sundays, we will be worshiping in Boron. At this date in time, you had two choices in Boron. TheBaptist Church or the Catholic Church. We were already fellowshipping some in the Baptist Church, going to Wed. night prayer meetings. We also went to a cottage prayer meeting during the week.
All though we were not very good Baptist, we didn't agree on everything, there were some fine Christian people in the Church we enjoyed fellowshipping with. In spite of not being a very good Baptist, they still made a deacon out of me, and Thelma had a class of little tots in the Church.
I was interested in the young people, especially the boys. I felt there was not enough interesting thing for the boys to do in Boron. We got permission from, P .C. B , to bring the big tractor and carryall down to the Church and level up the behind the Church, for a ball field. We had a kids ball team, We took them different places, for games, Victorville, Tehachapi, and other places. Sometime we would have a little picnic, after the game. There was parties in the basement of the Church, that quite a few adults helped with. On Sunday night we took over a kids class, a lady was not able to handle.
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