Pioneering with Electricity and Plumbing

Five vears ago we migrated from suburban Chicago to a ranch in northern Arizona. Our efforts to learn and live ranch life certainly could be considered pioneering similar to that of those early timers who struggled so mightily and so well to settle the West. There is the slight difference, of course, of having bath rooms, elec tricity and screens. The contrast in ways of living could not have been much greater for the pioneer of the 70's. between his life back east and the one he made for him self out here, than there has been for us. Unlike him. we have stayed from choice rather than necessity.

Our original purchase was a fortunate one from many viewpoints. Big Chino is a fertile valley lying between Black Mesa on the east and the Juniper Moun tains on the west. Picacho Peak heads the valley on the north end and our living room picture windows frame it delightfully. The range land runs into the Black Mesa hills and the valley land includes some 200 acres of ir rigated fields. Above all, there is an abundant supply of water from six to three hundred feet underground, an all-important fact to any stockman.

We were a family ranging in age from 15 to 80 years and made our final move from Chicago in various ways. Some traveled by car, some by train. and our two dogs journeved most successfully by express, arrriving in beau tifully made crates complete with water and food pans. From our personal standpoint. the farm headquarters was the most delightful surprise of all. The power line trans verses the ranch and electricity was installed. A bathroom had been in the house for some years, and all kitchen equipment was modern and new. Moving six adults plus two dogs from a home in which they had 16-years' ac cumulation of worldly goods to a small 5-room house. had its confusing moments. However, with a certain amount of humor ever-present and an increasing interest in our new life, we managed fairly well.

For ten months, this confusion reigned while the new ranchhouse was built. Anyone who attempted to build a 4 by 5 shack in the spring of 1942 knows the multitude of difficulties we encountered. Our hardest hurdle to clear was the realization that the fortunate people reared in Arizona just naturally moved at an entirely different pace than we, who had lived where the weather ranged from frosty to downright cold nine months of the year, had dreamed life could be lived. The gait in Arizona is much more leisurely and consequently pleas anter. During our construction period, though, time was such an important factor, that we found ourselves tense and anxious most of the time.

The year 1942 was a poor one to construct anything and certainly not the easiest time, from a personal stand point, of learning the cow business. As early as that first spring, the armed forces were rapidly depleting the ranks of skilled cowmen and farmers. Heaven knows. we amateurs needed all the assistance we could hire, borrow, or beg, and there wasn't much of it to be had. A confused medley of building the present head quarters, starting the new barn, sinking range wells and handling the day-by-day ranch work occupied the first year. A bunkhouse was thrown up to house the con

STORY AND PICTURES BY JANE B. MERRITT

struction crew and, with but one kitchen on the place, all 16 of them dined en famille with the 6 of us in the ranch house living room. Certainly, it was unexpected and an experience which we all enjoyed. The summer was hot and dry, ideal for construction work but rough on the stock. Materials were as scarce then as they are now although we had the essentials on the place before we started excavating. The house and garage were completed within the first year but the barn and machine sheds were a long, slow process. Perhaps because each completed section was such a triumph, they are a greater source of satisfaction than the other buildings; more prob ably we have simply reached the point of caring more ably we have simply reached the point of caring more Through those first hectic months ran an undercurrent of satisfaction and pleasure with our daily work and efforts. An undercurrent that is still strong. Learn ing cow work, driving a tractor, and laughing with those supreme individuals, the cowboys, filled the long days. As the sun flung its departing fingers of light over Juniper and disappeared, aching muscles and mental weariness were unimportant. We hied ourselves to bed early with the pleasant feeling that a good day's work was behind us and a better one ahead. We moved into our new home in October and breathed a unanimous sigh of relief. At last, we would be able to settle down to the routine of ranch living. Five years later we know there is no routine to ranch life one of the greatest joys of this existence. The seasons. of course, govern the general activities; whether we hay.

"Haying is a skilled operation regardless of method . . . We have learned to run a baling crew of three dudes, one worker."

round-up, ship, build fence or simply relax and play during the lessened activities of winter. Within these classifications anything can happen and usually does.

Fortunately for our future happiness we were a gregarious family and enjoyed many things. We came from a place in which the daily chores of living were performed for us. We arrived in this country to discover that a person's ability to do for himself was the criterion of his worth to his employees, his neighbors, and strangely enough, himself. Truly, the most interesting man is he who is working at a profession he likes. I have never met a cowboy who didn't prefer his way of life to any other. Certainly, the wages are extremely low for the amount of training and ability he must have. The compensating factor is that he enjoys what he is doing. They are a humorous crowd with a God-given knack of finding something funny in everything. I will admit there have been moments difficult to join in the laughter when one is the cause of it, but we all quickly learned that cowboys josh only those whom they like.

Haying is a skilled operation regardless of method. When baling is included it is even more detailed. We have learned to run a bailing crew consisting of three dudes and one skilled worker. Dirty, dusty, and tired we would check in for supper, but no one job has ever been a better prelude to a night's sleep or given such terrific satisfaction. Our help through the summers has come from the family itself, hitch-hikers we picked up along the high-way, local boys who really know their business, and even the city jail of Prescott has given us its quota. As any other farmer or rancher, we struggled with insufficient and inefficient help. There was, however, a feeling of comradeship and pulling together that made owners and workers alike feel that getting the job done was the essential thing and personal gain of secondary importance.

The cattle end of the ranch has, of course, been the more interesting one. No greater satisfaction can be found than buying registered bulls, breeding them to well-bred cows, and then see their improved offspring as sum-mer approaches. Sitting in a saddle for ten hours facing a strong wind while riding behind a herd of dust-raising. slow-moving cattle sounds anything but interesting. To start before daylight with everything wearable on one's back to keep warm, then gradually to peel off one layer after another as the sun warms up, should be a likely hobby for an idiot. But, idiotic or not, no dude on the ranch ever passes up a chance to indulge in that ocсира-tion. Even the cowboys, who, since the early days of cowpunching, have been forced by economics to acquire many skills not directly concerned with cattle and horses. are a happier bunch when the day's work is cow work! Incidentally, I have rarely heard a cowboy comment on the scenery or gorgeous sunrises and sunsets that Arizona so liberally provides. But, when riding with them, I notice their eyes are turned as often toward beauty as mine are. They seldom gloat audibly over a particularly fine horse, but watch them fondle and talk to him while saddling up. The owners gain no more satisfaction from a barn full of good alfalfa hay than the boys who helped put it there. No workers in the world take more pride in the result of their efforts. Shipping time is a con-glomeration of laughter, heat, work and an all abiding interest in the average weight of the animals being shipped. The answer usually means the success or failure of the preceding year which is a serious thought to all hands from from cook to choreboy. No matter how serious, joshing comments concerning everythinig from one's ac-coutrements to one's ability to dodge an angry heifer, are grist for the boys' humor mill. If the buyer is known and liked by the cowboys, there is nothing sacrosanct about him either. In fact, the opportunity of knowing and working with the cowboys has been one of the great-est new enjoyments that ranching in Arizona has given us.

Like most Easterners, we have added buildings and improvements since our arrival. There was one small barn that had been standing about 40 years when we tore it down. Not one corner post remained on the ground and the wood was rotten and full of bugs. Pic-turesque definitely. As a piece of working equipment, it was a nuisance. The present barn has been eminently satisfactory for both the handling of stock and the storage of hay. Everyone had a hand in designing it and here and there can be found signs of the handicraft of different men who have worked for the outfit throughout the years.

The country and the people who work it make the west so very interesting. Out here you learn to move at a different pace The jack-of-all-trades ability of the average westerner was difficult to understand. Why and when he had managed to pick up his knowledge of machinery, electrical motors, and plumbing equipment was a mystery to us. We learned the solution in a hurry. If the icebox ceases to function some 40-odd miles from town, it will cost ten dollars on up to have a repairman drive to the ranch to fix it. Naturally, if anyone on the place knows something about iceboxes, he is going to try his hand at repair. When something goes wrong about which no one claims to know anything, a conference is held. Cowboys, farmers, cooks, and the family gather in a circle to poke and pry at the aching machinery rather like a group of surgeons hovering over the body of a person suffering from a mysterious disease. After due consideration, someone usually brings forth a vague recollection of a similar catastrophe sometime in his past experience. From then on the ideas fly fast and furiously. The uncanny ability to know when a breakdown is ranch fixable or beyond such powers is a prized characteristic and few errors in judgment are made.

Our new water improvements consist of two stock wells on the range and two additional irrigation wells in the valley. Metal tanks were unavailable for the stock waters so we decided on dirt tanks. Innocently, we simply hired a driver and a caterpillar, indicated where the tanks were to be dug, and left him to his own devices. Luckily, our soil contains enough caliche under the surface to hold water and our tanks worked out most satisfactorily. Since then, we have learned of the time, effort and money many ranchers have had to spend to obtain dirt tanks that didn't leak!

At present, our energies are turned toward improving and utilizing our farm land to its greatest ability. raising fat calves for fall shipment, and training our firstclass colts to be top cow horses. Our almost-three year old daughter, Jan, is way ahead of her mother in ranch know-how and, when grown, will have the advantage of being Arizona ranch born and reared. Believe me, that is an advantage when ranching is your business. Her first city experiences might afford her the thrills and pleasure that ranching has offered me, but I doubt it Ranching.

But there is great satisfaction in your cattle and horses