Chapter 6     47 YEARS, A BEGINNING

I was kind of interested in mechanics. Automobiles came through once in a while from the east through Gallup and to the west out here. So I thought it might be a good trade to learn, the automobile business. So I sent to Kansas City and got the literature from these schools in Kansas and different places telling about what you had to do to be an automobile mechanic.
One day I was coming home from the Post Office and I met Brother Hamblin. Being pretty well acquainted with Brother Hamblin, who lived a few miles from Ramah, he said to me, "Say, Brother James, we're looking for a young man to go to school and learn something about our tractors. We've got two tractors up here that we've had for four or five years and we haven't been able to use them because nobody knows how to run them. Would you be willing, if we sent you off to school, to come back and fix up these tractors and run them for us and put in a crop?" So I told him I had the book under my arm, right here, for one of these schools and I'd be happy to go.

He said, "Well, we'll furnish the transportation and keep you in school. After you've completed your school you can come back here in the spring and put in our crop with the machines and pay back the money we've put out on your schooling."
So, that being along about Friday when the mail came in, by Monday morning I was headed for Kansas City to this school. I stayed until it was time to plant the crop the next spring.

I arrived in Kansas City at midnight and they signed me up for this school then so I wouldn't have a chance to look around at any other schools. This school had furnished part of the transportation to the school and met us at the train. We'd answered the letter and told them we might come to Kansas City and they gave us the place to call when we got there. They immediately came over and signed me up for the school at midnight before I had a chance to look at any of the other schools, of which there were quite a few around Kansas City at the time.

I stayed there and finished their course. Also I found a tractor exactly like they had on this ranch in New Mexico scattered around the school grounds out in the yard. First, we had an automobile course at the main school in town and then if any of us wanted to specialize in farm equipment they moved us to this farm where I saw this old tractor. It was in the middle of this yard with thousands of pieces scattered over half an acre. Well the instructor wanted to know if there was any particular thing i wanted to do. I told him I wanted to put that tractor together out there and make it run and drive it out of there. He said, "We'll buy all the parts that tractor will need if you'll put that thing together and get it out of that field out there. It's been out there for three or four years and we'd do anything to get it out of there."

I put that tractor together a thousand times wrong before I finally got it together right and drove it out of the field. By the time I got through with that machine I knew every part pertaining to those two machines that sat out in the field in New Mexico.

Brother Hamblin wrote me a letter and told me it was time to put in the crop and get the plowing started. So I came back to New Mexico then, with a nephew of mine who I trained on one of the tractors, we put in all of Brother Hamblin's crop that year. He raised a wonderful crop of corn. That led right up to the job I got with the government, which lasted for forty-seven years. While working on that farm we were about thirty-five miles from Fort Wingate and about twelve miles west of the famous landmark, Inscription Rock, which was very famous at that time for tourists or any travelers. Some army officers at Fort Wingate, working in the Motor Transport Division, went down and got some horses from the cavalry and decided to ride over to see Inscription Rock. We were working in the fields just when they came by late in the evening on horseback. I remember there were several lieutenants in the bunch with their wives. They had about twelve ladies along. All the horses were tired and they stopped at the gate as I was going in after work and asked where Inscription Rock was. I said, "Well, it's twelve miles to the Inscription Rock." And they said, "Well, we want to see the Inscription Rock and we have to get back to Port Wingate tonight." And I said, "You can't get to Inscription Rock tonight because it's twelve miles. You've already ridden your horses thirty-five miles, which is a hard day's ride for your horses. Let's go down to the ranch and see what we can do down at the ranch." I took them down and introduced them to Brother Hamblin, who put them up and took care of their horses for the night. The next morning they decided they couldn't go on out to Inscription Rock and that they better get back to Fort Wingate.

After I got finished working for Brother Hamblin and got the crop all in I decided to go over to Fort Wingate since there was a lot of tractor work over there. Also, since the war was over and soldiers were being discharged they were putting on civilian help. I went over and it happened to be on Memorial Day, the 30th of May. I didn't realize that until I got into the Fort and found out it was a holiday so I couldn't see anybody until the following morning. Next day I rode a bus from the depot, which is about three miles out, up to Fort Wingate and inquired around about who was in charge of the Motor Transport Division. They said Lieutenant Baker was in charge but, you won't get to see Lieutenant Baker, you'll have to go through Lieutenant Snyder to see this Lieutenant Baker which is a first lieutenant and the other one's a second lieutenant. I looked up Second Lieutant Snyder, who had been out all night the night before being a holiday. He wasn't very congenial when I woke him up in the middle of the afternoon. He immediately discharged me and told me they weren't putting anybody on right now. Besides this was a holiday and he wanted to get back to sleep. I persisted and asked him who could I go to, not knowing much about army regulations. I stayed with him until he told me I'd better go see Lieutenant Baker. So he told me where to get to Lieutenant Baker.

I went over and knocked on the door and Lieutenant Baker was asleep. He finally woke up and came to the door. He recognized me but I didn't recognize him. He was the lieutenant who was leading the party out from Fort Wingate to Inscription Rock that came by the ranch. He immediately asked me what I wanted and I told him I came out to look for a job.

He said, "What kind of a job do you want?"

"I want a job driving a tractor, that'd be my best bet."

He said, "You go down and see Lieutenant Snyder and tell him to give you a bed."

"I just left Lieutenant Snyder. He wasn't very friendly."

"You go down and tell that man that I sent you down there, and to give you a bedroll and some dishes and tell you where the mess hall is. If he doesn't take care of you, you come up here and use my quarters tonight. I won't be here tonight, so you're welcome to use my quarters."

Next morning I went to work in Fort Wingate.