I ran away from home when I was sixteen. I went to work for Jack Hunt on the Lethbridge Northern at Iron Springs. He paid me well, $20.00 a month and was a good man to work for. That was the first money I ever had. At least when I earned a dollar, “I” got it instead of my folks.
This is where I learned to irrigate. When Jack asked me if I knew how to irrigate, I told him “Yes”. I had never irrigated before, but how hard could it be? So, Jack gave me instructions as to where the crop needed water and he went on his way to do what he was doing that day.
When Jack returned, I had water running everywhere and I did not have a clue as to how to stop it. He laughed and patiently showed me how to irrigate. In those days, irrigation meant ditches and dams, shovels, and gum boots.
When we irrigated, we worked from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., but when we did other farm work, I was finished at 6:00 p.m. The food was good and for a young guy of 16, I felt I was doing all right. Jack and his wife went into Lethbridge one day and I was left alone on the farm. When I came in for lunch, I noticed a saucer sitting on a windowsill in the kitchen and in it was $2.00 in coins. I felt it was their way of testing my honesty so I did not touch it, and when they returned the money was still there.
On one of my day’s off, I decided to ride into Lethbridge. At that time there was no bridge over the Old Man River that flowed between Lethbridge and Iron Springs. To go to Lethbridge, you had to go way around to where there was a bridge, but I decided to just let my horse swim across. I found a spot where I thought would be an easy crossing and we waded into the water. As the water got deeper it became apparent, my horse did not know how to swim. I had never seen a horse who did not know how to swim. But as the water got deeper and deeper, my horse was just floundering. I finally decided if we were going to make it across, I had to get off and do all I could to make him swim. It is quite a job to hold a horse’s head out of the water and swim enough to keep my own head above water. Miraculously, we did make it across, but when I went home, later, I took the long way around.
It took George and Lyzzie three months to find me. They knew I liked rodeos and they visited all the stampedes in southern Alberta till they found me in Lethbridge. That ended my job and I had to go home. They made all kinds of promises if I came home but they were never fulfilled. When I got home, I harnessed up ten horses and started to summer fallow.
I stayed home for a while, but things were no different than before I left the first time, so I decided it was time to make my own fortune. It was January 12. 1932 and I was 17. I did not have 50 cents in my pocket and one extra pair of overalls was my luggage. George was
terribly upset to see me leave and tried his best to change my mind. But I had been through this before and knew I had to stick to my guns. He made the comment, “You’ll just go to town and live off your old man for the winter.” That was incentive enough for me to not stay at my Dad’s for even one night. I knew I could either be a town bum (there were plenty of these in those days.) or I could find a job. Before I slept that night, I had a job with Meeks Brother’s Ranch.
My pay was $15.00 a month. That was $5.00 more than all the other men, except the foreman. In the summer there were up to thirty men at the table three times a day. The Chinese cook fed us very well. In the winter there were only two or three men at the ranch, and I was always one of them. There was hay to be put up in the summer and cattle to be fed in the winter. We rode some of the very best horses. They were half thoroughbred crossed with other horses that happened to be on the ranch. There were over 1,000 cows and at branding time, nobody could find mama. All they would do was stand there and bawl! There were also 1,600 sheep and a fox raising enterprise. There was never a dull moment. If there was, look out! It usually meant something was surely going to happen. I worked hard but I loved every minute.
I worked for Meeks Bros. for three years. By this time, I was making $35.00 a month which was considered top wages on a ranch. The pay was not great, but they fed their men well and it was a good outfit to work for.
So, after three years, I got the notion I wanted to go find the Nephi Atwood family again, which I did, and one day in August I rode into their ranch at Carway.
Uncle Nephi met me at the gate to tell me I could not come in as they were quarantined for scarlet fever, so I rode over to Boundary Creek and stayed with the Johnny Atwood family for the night. The next day, being Sunday, Uncle Nephi came over and hired me to put up some hay at Jefferson. So, I worked over there for a month or so with Ray and Lynn. By this time, the quarantine was off, so we went to the ranch and put up the hay there.
Fall had arrived and I went back to Raymond to work the harvest. When I left, Uncle Nephi asked me if I would like to come back and stay the winter with them. I gladly accepted as his place was always like home to me. This was one of the best winters in my life. I really enjoying being a part of the Atwood family. Georgia Rose was just about three years old and I thought she was just the cutest little girl I ever saw. I really loved that little red headed girl.
I stayed all winter. Ray and I put out a hundred weasel traps and we caught a lot of weasels. They sold for $1.00 per skin and we caught 500 that winter. Two hundred- and fifty-dollars spending money each for two boys was quite a lot in those days. Considering the time it took to tend the traps (about two hours each day for three months). That figures out to 360 hours for $500.00 worth of fur. There was no other job in the country that paid anywhere near that kind of wages, so we had lots of money and we sure had a good time. We went to dances in Boundary Creek, Aetna, Kimball, Harrisville, Beazer, Whiskey Gap,
and Harold Martins in Boundary Creek. This was one of the greatest winters of my life. I was 21, there were lots of girls in the country and we got to know a lot of them.
When Spring came, I decided it was time to find a job, but from then on, I followed up the better paying jobs, such as sheep shearing in the spring, BC Lumber camps, Christmas tree work in the winter, and I also got to working for Canadian Sugar.
It was not too long before the Nephi Atwood family moved to Jaffrey, BC. I would show up at Christmas time and maybe stay a couple of weeks. Even after we were married, if I had any holiday time, we would usually show up at Atwood’s in Jaffrey.
When I left the ranch, I was the proud owner of one saddle horse, a bed roll, and a few clothes. I did not have many clothes, but I always dressed well, maybe a little better than average. In the fall of 1935, my first winter away from the ranch, I tried trapping in partnership with Ray Atwood. That winter we each made about double that of ranch wages. This was one of the greatest winters of my life. I was 21 and had a girl in every port and there were lots of ports. There were dances at Carway, Aetna, Kimball, Whiskey Gap, Boundary Creek, Beazer. Harrisville, and Cardston. There were house parties and card games every Sunday.
Raymond Atwood, Harry Hansen and Clarence Hyde
