CHAPTER 19 “College on Wheels” Winter Session The good points and bad points of the Los Angeles area were about equally divided, so far as we were concerned. Hollywood was less glamorous than expected. On the other hand, we grew to love Pasadena. Los Angeles’s library, for such a noted city, was mediocre, located in […]

CHAPTER 18 The Golden State “What’s the matter with you?” Win grunted at me. What do you mean by hitting me?” We were both sitting upright in the darkness under the trees. “I didn’t hit you,” I answered, “but why did you shake me?” “I didn’t touch you,” Win said, “You’ve had a nightmare.” And […]

CHAPTER 17California, Here We Come One of the most luxurious cars of our trip—a black Packard Twin Six—was the chariot that carried us into the land we’d dreamed about for months, the golden state of California. Its owner had stopped and actually begged us to accompany him on the hard drive over snowy roads through […]

CHAPTER 16 Deep Waters New fields beckoned ahead. For three months we had not been out of the canyon. As the mountain walls receded, we gave shouts of joy when the sun appeared. As the canyon walls expanded we too seemed to expand, physically and spiritually. The first open space, a quarter of a mile […]

CHAPTER 15 Idaho Winter Every large mine has a “yards” . Here are located the saw mills, blacksmith shop, sorting mills, plants for compressing air to be used as power, engine rooms, furnace rooms, powder magazines, boarding houses and a dozen more establishments. A special yard crew of four or five men was always maintained. […]

CHAPTER 14 Homework Having secured a home to live in we began housecleaning to make it habitable. In the junk heap conveniently located in the small space between our back door and the canyon wall, we located a worn-out broom. This was the only housecleaning tool required. The cabin had one room and a small […]

CHAPTER 13Settling Down One’s first impressions are often the most accurate. But it remained for later shifts to enlarge the conception which we had received the first day, and to initiate us into the exact nature of the work we were doing.The tunnel into which our little electric train plunged every morning was a passage […]

CHAPTER 12 Settling In The Hercules is located seven miles up a branch canyon in a small mining camp called Burke. As we walked that last seven miles we felt as carefree as kids, although there was just one cent in our pockets.        The canyon walls became steeper, the floor narrower. The tiny mining […]

CHAPTER 11Wrestling the King The Columbia River Highway was like a childhood promise come true. Ed was getting restless as his hometown drew near but he stopped at some of the scenic spots to let us absorb their grandeur. Then he began to feel ill and had to lie down in back while Win and […]

CHAPTER 10 Oregon Work Days As we started out of town after spending the morning at the Twin Falls library, a car pulled up beside us. “What will you give me for a 150 mile ride to Boise?” the driver asked.    “Our most hearty thanks and a pair of shoestrings,” came my courteous reply. Evidently […]