Bill's stories
Posted 11-29-2010 at 08:43 by Bill Powell
When I was a small child in the dee south the family made their living by th' sweat o' th' brow, literally. They were into hard, backbreaking work, the main industries being pulp wood, logging, and digging and hauling pine stumps. During the rainy season they might not work for a week at a time cause the woods were too muddy for the trucks.
When my brother graduated high school in 1952 it was assumed he wood join the crew and become a wood cutter. My brother begged them to modernize, to buy a crawler tractor to skid the wood up to the road, and to build lift off bodies for the pulp wood so the trucks would never have to leave the road. No, By God, their way of doing it was good enough for their fathers and it was good enough for them.
Meanwhile, one of my uncles had gone to Calif to make his fortune and discovered all the available fortunes had already been made. On his way home he had transmission trouble in Miami, Ariz and got a temporary job in a copper mine to repair his car. Never had he had a job where he could work rain or shine and make more money than he ever had per hour. He told my brother about it and my brother went there where he could earn rain or shine and not have to work like a mule to do it. After awhile they talked my dad into trying it and he was stunned at how easy the work was, and the fact the work was not dependent on the weather.
In due course the rest of the family migrated and it changed our lives forever. Good schools, the best best medical plan I've ever encountered, and countless square miles to explore. My dad wound up working in the assay office and realized,fully and finally, that you could make an honorable without busting your ass.
When my brother graduated high school in 1952 it was assumed he wood join the crew and become a wood cutter. My brother begged them to modernize, to buy a crawler tractor to skid the wood up to the road, and to build lift off bodies for the pulp wood so the trucks would never have to leave the road. No, By God, their way of doing it was good enough for their fathers and it was good enough for them.
Meanwhile, one of my uncles had gone to Calif to make his fortune and discovered all the available fortunes had already been made. On his way home he had transmission trouble in Miami, Ariz and got a temporary job in a copper mine to repair his car. Never had he had a job where he could work rain or shine and make more money than he ever had per hour. He told my brother about it and my brother went there where he could earn rain or shine and not have to work like a mule to do it. After awhile they talked my dad into trying it and he was stunned at how easy the work was, and the fact the work was not dependent on the weather.
In due course the rest of the family migrated and it changed our lives forever. Good schools, the best best medical plan I've ever encountered, and countless square miles to explore. My dad wound up working in the assay office and realized,fully and finally, that you could make an honorable without busting your ass.
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