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Tioga County
The Springfield Herald had a regular series in 1918 called “Persons, Stories, and Incidents of Old Boston and the Old Days.” The episode author is listed as “The Writer”. The February 1, 1918 edition of the series was titled “Tioga County”. The story as told by the Herald is as follows: “Probably there are not…
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The Challenge of the Broomcorn Harvesting Machine
“No machine has yet been invented to successfully replace the hand labor. The men, using broomcorn knives with sharp five-inch knives, move down rows in a field, bending the heads or brush with one hand and cutting the stalk about six inches below the bottom part of the brush with the other hand. “ -Pueblo…
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The Rise and Fall of the U.S. Broom Industry
Rise and Fall of the US Broom Industry is an overview of the broom & broomcorn industries in the U.S. The foundation for this post was provided to me by Sam Moyer Ph.D. He gleaned much of this from BROOM, BRUSH & MOP, (especially Tim Monahan’s 1986 review) Sam Moyer, Ph.D. My updates specifically focus…
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I would rather be in a Tulsa Jail than cutting broomcorn…
We know that harvesting broomcorn was a hard itchy process but at my “Broomcorn Capital” presentation 2 years ago Shorty Miller may have driven the point home when he told us that one broomcorn Johnnie told him, I would rather be in a Tulsa Jail than cutting broomcorn. I haven’t posted much broomcorn info lately…
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Bear Tracks & Cactus Trees: More Info on Life in Early Baca County
Hi there! I’m Heidi, Kent’s wife. I swiped this blog for a minute so I could tell you about a great book filled with Baca County history. I grew up in Balko, Oklahoma and until recently I thought Kent was my only connection with Baca County. My parents recently surprised me with a book they…
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A memory that makes me smile… By Debbie Kuroiwa
This memory is reposted with permission from the Kuroiwa Family Blog (Thanks Deb). This is one of my favorite pictures of all time…. This is me and my grandfather. Though I grew up in the same area as my grandparents, I didn’t really grow up with them. Oh…I knew who they were but….not really. My…
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Granddad’s Adobe House: by George Chatham
By George Chatham Since lumber wasn’t readily available to the homesteaders, most homes were made of sod or adobe blocks. Sod was created by using a knife sled apparatus pulled behind a horse or team of horses which cut about an 18” wide by 3” or 4” thick slab of buffalo grass sod. Uncle Elder’s…
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The Dust Bowl Days: by George Chatham
The Dust Bowl Days: by George Chatham As I shared in an earlier post the Elmer & Lela Chatham family left Baca County and moved to Power’s county sometime in the mid 1920’s. My grandparents (Fred and Ethel Chatham) moved from the “dug-out” on Fred’s homestead to Elmer Chatham’s homestead March 13, 1924. The reason…
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“Hand Dug Wells” by George Chatham
By George Chatham In the area where my granddad Chatham and Great Uncle Elmer homesteaded there were no live springs or natural water holes to obtain water for household use or for the livestock to drink. So it meant that one of the first priorities of homesteading was digging a well. The two homestead wells…
