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FRIDAY March 5, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels February 2, 2004 Grandma brings home the (deer) bacon A return to the historic Blair quarry site brings back memories Above left, author Tommie Smith (left) and daughter Sandy pose in front of a surviving example of early mausoleum workmanship using Blair quarry granite. The second in a three-part memoir recalling early days at the Blair granite quarry, the remains of which can be found up Neil Creek south of Ashland. Childhood at the quarry In the early thirties, when Stan was 7 or 8 years of age, living on the Venable ranch on the Applegate and attending Ruche grade school, many of his summer days were spent with his grandmother on Neil Creek. He vividly remembers the cookhouse and the quarry workers in the bunkhouse. The crew was mainly made up of Finns and Swedes and to accommodate them in the lifestyle of their homeland, a shed about eight by eight in size was built down on the creek. Rocks were heated on an open fire then tossed into the center of the shed and sprayed with water and the men sat on benches, or maybe they were just poles, tiered up the walls. These steam baths helped relax many an aching joint after a hard day on the mountain. The cookhouse was such a fun place for Stan to play as a little boy and the scarcity of toys seemed to cause no problems - His grandmother had enough empty spools of thread to occupy much of his time. From these spools he remembered constructing a miniature water wheel on the slope beside the cookhouse. He made the water wheel out of boards from a wooden crate. He then made a shaft, using the bale (handle) from a lard pail to attach the empty thread spools. When all was placed in the proper position in the small ditch of water, which had been diverted around the mountain to supply water for the cookhouse, the spools would turn in unison. (His grandmother just knew he would become an engineer some day). Returning to the site some twenty years later we were surprised to actually find what was left of his early day endeavors, decayed but still obviously the toy that he had made and played with as a youngster. I have many regrets for not having had enough sense to gather up what little remained; remembrances of his happy days on Neil Creek with his grandmother and Mr. Blair. Stan says his grandmother prepared a very early breakfast, seven days a week, on the big old wood range and while the men were busy eating, she was busier laying out bread, meats, sweets, and whatever else she had prepared for their midday lunch atop the hill. The men selected morsels of their choice, most often much more than a morsel, then put together their own lunch, before climbing the mile path to the quarry, the first quarter mile being a very steep trail. When the men returned at night, tired, dirty and starved, a big meal awaited them. What a thrill it was for Stan to go out and ring the old dinner bell when she indicated all was ready. Supplies were hauled from Ashland then carried about a quarter of a mile down a steep trail to the cookhouse but were not of the variety of today. No ice cream, jams, fruits, vegetables, etc. not even bread. Staples such as beans, salt, sugar, coffee, spices and sometimes fresh vegetables being the main source of supplies. He recalls a rather large box with screen siding, covered with burlap, nailed to the building on the breezy, shady, side of the cookhouse with a pan of water placed on top. The burlap was gathered at the top and placed in the pan allowing the water to seep down through the burlap keeping it wet. This apparatus was known as a desert cooler, keeping spoilable food a bit longer as their was no electricity, no running water, and for sure no indoor plumbing. Gun-totin' grandma Many hours were spent by Stan's grandmother in the "old hot" kitchen; making jams and jellies, canning the vegetables gathered from the garden, and canning or drying the fruit picked from the trees down at the main house. The venison brought down by his gun-totin' grandma were also canned. The gun, a 30/30 Winchester Carbine, that she had used all those years was given to Stan and has now been passed down to our grandson, Billy Trott. By the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Billy was fishing that same stream and roaming those same hills with the same gun his great great grandmother had used so many years before. In fact he was raised on Neil Creek, just below the tracks from where his grandfather, Stan, had played in his youth. This brings to mind my most favorite story of all. About 1955, while visiting "Wally" and "Great Gran" at the old home on the Applegate Ranch, Stan told about the day his grandmother had bagged a deer, drug it to the cookhouse, bled it, gutted it, skinned it and cleaned it thoroughly all by herself. While she was canning the venison, he was playing outside (probably with his little home-made water wheel) when he saw a man coming up the path. When he ran in to tell her, it scared her half to death thinking it surely was the game warden. Fortunately for her the canning was finished but the hot jars were still setting on the table cooling. She grabbed Stan and boosted him into the attic through the crawlhole over the table. One by one those hot jars were passed from her hands into the waiting hands that were protruding through the opening in the ceiling, until all had miraculously disappeared, just before the knock came at the door. When telling me this story, they both looked at each other and laughed heartily before telling the rest of the story � the man was just looking for the quarry so he could hire on. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: The new search is here! Click here for more information. .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams