Before the War

Had my first car sometime after I was out of school. Jay and I had it together. Bought it from our oldest brother Edward. It was a 1923 or 1924 Model T Ford. We paid $25.00 for it. We managed to keep it running most of the time. It was a two-seated touring car with removable side curtains. We later traded it in on a 1927 one seated enclosed Ford. After a year or so we bought a 1929 Ford roadster with a rumble seat. It also had removable side curtains. I bought it by myself and paid $65.00 for it. It was really a good car. Those were tough times, especially after the 1929 stock market crash. And the hot dry years of the 30’s known as the dust bowl days. Some mornings we would get up and find a fine layer of dust on everything. Dust from Western Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas panhandle. It took a war before things started to get better. I remember early one morning on a troop train, we were stopped at Liberal, Kansas. I never saw any place in my life that looked any more desolate than that town did at that time.

In 1934 one of the driest years, I got a job with a neighbor, Howard Davis for $15.00 a month and room and board. I thought I was doing pretty good. I worked for him off and on for the next six years. It was my first experience using a tractor doing farm work. But we still did a lot of work with horses. I worked early and late. There was no electricity. Kerosene lamps and lanterns were used for light. Some used kerosene stoves for cooking. Harvesting wheat and small grain was a big job. A threshing machine or separator was used to separate the grain from the straw and chaff. It was powered by a large tractor or steam engine. One operator had an oil pull tractor, an Advance Rumley. During the harvest, there were several bundle wagons with two hands in the field to pitch the bundles on to the wagons. Two wagons, one on each side of the separator, would be unloaded at the same time. Care had to be taken not to feed it on to the conveyor belt too fast. Farmers would go together to make up a threshing crew. This would last until all the farmers in the neighborhood were finished with their threshing. Prior to threshing, the grain would have to be cut and bound with a binder pulled by four horses and later with a tractor. It was sure a labor saver when the combine was perfected. After the harvesting, there was always hay to put up. Then came plowing for the next crop. By that time it was getting close to corn husking time. Sometimes corn would be cut and bound to bundles and shocked and husked later. The stalks would be fed to the cattle. Prior to when we had a corn binder, we would cut it with a corn knife and chock it loose. Would always have to tie the shock with twine or a single corn stalk to keep it intact.

Us kids weren’t raised in a church as we were growing up. I always regretted that. However our parents were strict and were taught right from wrong. Mother had two special books, The Holy Bible, and a medical book. We rarely went to a doctor, Mom always took care of cuts and bruises, and seems like she had a home made remedy for most everything. She always wanted the first skunk we caught in the fall by trapping. She would render the fat from it for sore throats and chest colds by just rubbing it on. There were some exceptions to not having a doctor. Ned "Mike" swallowed some poison. The doctor managed to save him. He was close to death. He was four or five years old at the time. They had a doctor during a diphtheria epidemic. There were several cases in the community including Margaret and Cleda in our family. One of our schoolmates died with it. I was nine years old at the time. A doctor was called was when we all had the measles. Mom came down with it, which was the reason for the doctor. About 1934 or 1935, I was working for Howard Davis. I developed an infection on the back of my neck. I couldn’t get rid of it with any home remedy. Mr. Davis thought he could cure it with horse liniment he always kept. It took "hide, hair, and feathers." Felt like it was burning a hole in my neck. I ended up going to a doctor. I went to Ottawa on a Saturday night without an appointment to Dr. Markham. It was about 9:00pm. He examined the infected part, cleaned it and applied carbolic acid, with instructions to apply carbolic acid, and rubbing alcohol, each day until it dried up, which wasn’t very long. He charged me a buck. Can you imagine a doctor staying in his office now to accommodate the public. That was my first experience with a doctor, except maybe when I was born. I guess a doctor came each time one of us was born.

In 1935 I joined the National Guard, which met each Monday evening in Ottawa. I received a dollar a week for being a member. In addition to meeting once a week, encampment at Camp Whitside near Ft. Riley.

1936, I guess you could say, was an eventful year for the Crawfords. Bonnie and Helen, and the girls moved to Rocky Ford, Colorado, where Bonnie had a job as a body and paint man with an auto agency. Helen and Juanita and family still live there. Bonnie died in 1987. Mary Ann and her husband Charles Neal live in Junction City, Kansas. My oldest sister Mary went to Ball Club, Minnesota to work at a summer resort for the season. Nellie joined her there later in the summer. The trips were made by bus. In August of that same year, Jay, and I, and Russell Nordyke took off for the state of Washington to work in the fruit harvest. I’d had a new motor put in my Model A Ford, so we weren’t supposed to drive over 30 miles per hour until it was well broke in. I had to quit my job with Mr. Davis. It was an extremely dry year. We spend the first night in Rocky Ford with Bonnie. I remember while there, Mary Ann had been taking violin lessons. So she played the violin for us. Naturally we thought she was real good. When we left there we never stopped driving until we got to Twin Falls, Idaho, except to have a little work done on the car at Laramie, Wyoming. Dad wanted us to stop at his sisters in Twin Falls. We never had seen them. She insisted that we spend the night. Uncle Frank, and Aunt Nellie, were very nice to us. Coming across western Kansas, and Eastern Colorado, it wasn’t unusual to see dirt or dust drifted higher than the fences, and jackrabbits would sit in the shade of telephone poles to get out of the hot sun. I think that summer in Kansas, the temperature went above 100 degrees for over forty days. We got a good look at the Rocky Mountains for the first time. Went north through Denver to Laramie, Wyoming. Crossed the plains of Wyoming on US-30 highway. Of course part of that traveling was at night. Crossed the Snake River into Oregon. Went through the Blue Mountains, which were very beautiful and pine covered. Come down out of the Blues through Pendleton to the Columbia River. Saw switchbacks for the first time coming down from the Blues. About half way down was a pull out place called "Bailing point" for the benefit of those going up. Crossed the Columbia at Pasco, Washington. From where we started up the lower Yakima Valley, we inquired about picking peaches, but found out the peach harvest was over in the lower valley. We saw signs "hop pickers wanted". Had no idea what hops were. Upon inquiry we learned they were used in the making of beer, and also you might starve to death picking them as you had to pick them by the pound. They were very light. We went through Union Gap into the upper valley and the town of Yakima. We got a job picking peaches for 30 cents per hour. We had hit the jackpot. We slept on the ground that night. Next evening after work, we went to Yakima and bought a tent. We set it up for a small fee in Bakers Camp, a place for migrant workers. It was located on the banks of the Natches River. We got a bale of straw, spread it out inside the tent. We spread our blankets on the straw, which make fairly comfortable beds. We had a gasoline camp stove to do our cooking. After the peach harvest was over, we picked prunes for a while. After that we started picking apples for so much a box. We were able to make $4.00 or $5.00 a day which was big money. Apple harvest was over the latter part of October. Through the harvest we always went to Yakima on Sunday to eat our noon meal for 25 cents which was all you could eat. On Sundays, we would take trips into the mountains. One time we went to Sunrise Lodge, which was very close to Mt. Rainier.

Came home by way of California, and Texas. Stopped to see friends in the Los Angeles area. Stopped at Glendale, Arizona for a while. Russell Nordyke had an uncle who lived near there. They were in the middle of their cotton harvest. Seeing all the different kinds of cactus was interesting as well as other desert life. It was our first experience in the desert southwest. I don’t believe that Phoenix was over fifteen or twenty thousand population at that time. It’s well over a million now. Went on east through El Paso, Texas, then started up through Texas. Stayed all night in Midland. Slept in a bed. Next morning we headed for home. I went to work for Howard Davis again.

Part of each of the years 1937, 1938, and 1939, I spend working in the fruit in the Yakima Valley. Edward and I went out in May of 1937. Mike and I went out in 1938, and a couple of friends went with us. In 1939 I went out by myself in March. Had a job with Harold Van Wechel near Natches, Washington. For 60.00 per month with housing furnished such as it was. He had 90 acres of apples. I guess I did about everything there was to do in raising an apple crop. Mainly pruning, thinning, spraying, and making apple boxes. The boss took us on a three or four day fishing trip a couple of times during the lulls in the work. It was high up in the Cascades. It was truly beautiful. From one point, we could see Mt. Adams in one direction, and from the same point in another direction, we could see Mt. Rainier. Besides the beauty of it, it was very rugged. With that and the mountain streams and high mountain lakes, it was very picturesque. I enjoyed the beaver and how they built their houses and dams and the bugle of the elk. Wild life in general was interesting.

In those years I was out there, I enjoyed hiking in the mountains, especially where it was impossible to get a vehicle. Sometimes I would hike by myself which wasn’t very smart. I liked to follow the blazed trail. Sometimes I would go miles on such a trail that was simply trees being marked by chopping a bit of the bark from trees about head high. You just went from tree to tree. Most of the trees were evergreen such as fir, spruce, pine, and hemlock. One time a fireguard invited me to accompany him on a hike, which was required to do to familiarize himself with the area he was responsible for. Fireguards were with the Forestry Service. We started out early in the morning and hiked all day up hill and down. He went too far and we couldn’t make it back to the tower by nightfall. We had to spend the night in the rough. We started a small fire in order to keep warm. It had to be small and in such a place that it couldn’t be seen from any watchtower. We curled up on each side of the fire without a bedroll. Heard of all kinds of wild life that night both large and small. They were curious about the fire and the two intruders. We were tired and hungry by the time we got back to the lookout tower the next morning. I enjoyed the experience.

During those years, quite a few people from Franklin County were out there. Jay was out there for the fruit harvest each of those years. Others that were out there was Gardner Hayden, John Howell, and several from Centropolis including the Cliff Sands family, the Slavens, Ted Clark and others.

When I wasn’t in Washington State in those years, I worked for Howard Davis. He lost his wife in 1936. He was lonely and I’m sure he just made a job for me. He did hire a housekeeper. It was really a second home for me. He was a very religious person. Every meal I ever ate there, he said table grace. I know his religion had a lasting affect on me. By the end of the 1930’s, war had broken out in Europe.

Pictures

1. Taken around 1930.  Left to right:  Jay, Herb, and Woodrow Crawford.
2. Picking apples in the 30s in VanWechel's apple orchard near Naches, Washington.  Left to right: John Howell (standing, back turned), Carroll Sands, Woodrow Crawford (sitting on ladder), Ted Clark.
3. Taken around 1930.  Left to right:  Woodrow, Herb, and Jay Crawford.
4. Woodrow Crawford holding a team of horses whose names are Dan and Jigs.  Edward is behind the tree.