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Form -31
Title Abe7e4...
Place of originifjose
Project workermz
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Date_ZZ°41f._.
Form A
Federal Writers' Project
Circumstances of Interview Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker William C. Haight
Address
12ZB S. W. Alder St., Portland, Oregon.
Date January 10, 1939.
Subject
Western Work Gangs.
Nome and address of informant Joe Stangler, 4868 N. E. Union Avs., Portland, Oregon.
Date and time of interview Jaluary 8, 1939.
Place of interview At his home.
Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant
None.
Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
Joseph Stangler's home is a well built, single story house of three
rooms and a shed. The outside of the house is painted gray. The inside looks
like the paint from the outside had seeped in and covered the boards and wells
of the house.
The house is in considerable and presumably permanent disarray. Mr.
Stangler is a widower and does much of his creative work in his home. Cement
and sand cover the floors, practically hiding what once was blue linoleum.
His furniture is adequate but well scarred. For some reason he has
three beds and an old-fashioned davenport made into a bed. He lives alone,
-which makes the fact of multiple beds astonishing.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
W 13906
Form A Cont'd 2.
A radio, a cement lighthouse, and a huge loving cup are the most
notable accoutrements of the room, The inns are covered with pictures he
has painted. The caption under one reads "Miniature Landscape, by Jos.
Stangler.w
A can wrapped in the label of a well-known brand of coffee, catches
with unerring accuracy his tobacco expectorations.
Form B Federal Writers" Project
Personal History of Informant Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker William C. Haight Date January 10._ 1939.
Address 1225 S. W. Alder St.. Portland. Oman.
Subject Western Work Gangs.
Name and address of informant Joseph Staneer, 4868 N. E. Union. Avenue,
Portlanda Oregon.
Information obtained should supply the following facts:
1. Ancestry 6. Occupations and accomplishments with dates
2. Place and date of birth 7. Special skills and interests
3. Family 8. Community and religious activities
4. Places lived in, with dates 9. Description of informant
5. Education, with dates 10. Other points gained in interview
1. Ancestry, German.
2. Place and date of birth. Portage, Wisconsin, May 6, 1876.
3. Family: His family emigrated from Germany and settled in Wisconsin. He knows
very little about his family. This is due to the fact that his father passed
away when he was four months old and his mother passed away when he was eleven
years old.
4. Places lived in, with dates. Portage, Wisconsin; Minnesota; Bremerton, Washington,
and Portland, Oregon. The dates "I'll be damned if I know.", he said.
5. His education has been scanty. He guesses he finished the fourth reader.
He
"picked up" arithmetic from a friend's correspondence course. He "allows" he
is ashamed for his leek of education, but he can read and write "fine". "I
allus, been purty good at both."
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
Form B Cont'd 2.
Mr. Stangler is a remarkably literate man, with a homely mind. I mould imagine
his native intelligence would class him with a higher than average I. Q.
6. Occupations and accomplishments with dates. Before 1900: Be was successively
and progressively farm hand, sheep herder, cattle herder, thrasher, and a
period noted for its lack of duration, a logger. After 1900: A bum, muoker,
tamper, foreman, finisher (excellent), champion horse -shoe pitcher, carpenter,
and an artist. The lack of more conclusive dates is his disinterest in the
exact dates. The above classification was close enough he *allowed."
7. Special skills: Finisher, champion horse -shoe pitcher, cement artist, clog
dancer. His interests are: painting, singing, collecting rooks; and boxing
and baseball.
8. No religion. Community activities have been confined to amusing people by
dancing, boxing, and baseball. Horse -shoe pitching for a few years held his
high interest, too.
9. Mr. Stangler is six feet tall with an amazing arm spread of six feet ten inches.
His frame is slender but well built. He has blue eyes, with sandy colored hair
that is slightly streaked with gray. His features are noted for their lack of
any sign of age. He has a long prominent nose that disqualifies him from the
handsome list. While conversing he readily smiles and often accentuates his
remarks by a humorous shrug or &wave of his long "pitcher arms." His fingers
are long and slender. I believe he usually wears blue denim overalls. All
pictures that he showed me were taken of him with his overalls on.
10. When I introduced myself Mr. Stangler VAS moving a cement lighthouse, covered
with brightly colored rooks, across the lawn in front of his home. As he set
down the wheelbarrow, his long arm made a graceful sweep from his elbow to his
wrist, across a tobacco stained mouth. For a moment his steady blue eyes looked
into mine and he said, "I ain't gonna do nothin' that costs me no money."
Form B Cont'd 3
Assured that what I wanted from him would cost him only his time, he
"allowed he'd be mighty hnopy to tell me his experiences. I got some dingers, too.
Young feller, you sure are puttin2 yourself in a spot to ask me to talk about my-
self. I reckon mebbe you're used to it, though."
Mr. Stanglor suggested that we go into his house, "where, if you manna
write anythin' down you can doter, easier than a standint up out here."
when we were "settled down" Mr. Stingier wanted to know where to start.
I told the informant we would start at the earliest recollection he had of living.
His blue eyes danced with merriment as he said, "God, you sure must be able to take it."
Mr. Stingier impresses you with his honesty and independence of thought and action.
He believes that art is purely imagination, and sees no reason to copy anyone. As
As he says, "I make a deer, then I see a picture of a deer I should have looked at
before."
Form C Federal Writers' Project
Text of Interview (Unedited) Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker
Address
Subject
William C. Haight
Date January 10, 1939.
1225 S.W. Alder Street, Portland, Oregon.
Western Work Gangs.
Name and address of informant Joe Stangler, 4868 N.E. Union Ave.,
Portland, Oregon.
Text:
I was born May 6, 1876 in Portage, Wisconsin. NothinI much happened
to me until I was eight years old. Then I started out in the world on my own.
I went to work for a farmer, helping him do the chores. I worked the
first year for two dollars a month, board and roam. MY second year for four dollars
a month, board and roam. When I left him at eleven I was making eight dollars a
month, board and room.
MY mother died in Jamuary of the year I was eleven. The farmer had paid
me off for my year's work and after he had taken my clothes out of my wages had
$48 left. This I gave to my mother to pay for the doctor bills shortly before she
died.
At her death I went to work for a Scotsman as a cattle herder. God, haw
that guy used to work me. I learnt to box from him, which stood me in good stead
later on in life. I weighed about 115 pounds, and he weighed about 215. We would
box about twice a day. We never hurt each other because, as you know, a good boxer
don't get hit!
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
Form C Cont'd 2.
Here, I started my first courtin' too. There was a dance hall about
eight miles from where I lived and I would walk over there every Saturday night to
dance.
God, I allus was a fool for dances. We sure did hoe down in them square
dances. That's where I learnt to clog so good. No girl -would have no -thin' to do
with you unless you could holer down and clog.
I was one of the best °loggers around there. I reckon this was because
I weren't Irish. All of them Irish feller's would dance one or two dances, then
go out and fight. I malus danced. We you'd dance some round dances too.
(I asked the informant what a round dance was).
Noll, you young ones don't know much about it, I guess, but round
dances are waltzes, two steps, and such.
After dancing all night I would walk the eight miles back to the ranch.
Usually gettin' home just about time to change my clothes and go to work.
This her.e/ feller I- WA a -working for would allus have to call me twice
on the mornin's after a dance. First time he would °an me from down stairs, second
time he would oome up the stairs a-yellint his head off and °mann':
'First four right and left, sides four right and left, hi ho for Katy,
Ireland's Queen'. That was his way of teasin' me about a young coleen I was smitten
on around those parts.
My coming west was beoause I fell in love and told the girl I'd marry her
soon as I had 1600. I told her I'd come back after her, soon as I got it.
when I started west I first vent to North Dakota, and worked for
an uncle of mine at thrashin'. I earned 1120 while I was there. When I left I told
him to keep 1100 for me and I would take 120. I guess I still had that girl in my
mind.
Form C Cont'd 3.
You know the first time I see them Blaokfoot mountains. I was a
talkint to a feller, and he sez, "Bow far you think they are from here?"
"Why," I sez, "about two throws of a rock away." Be just laughed.
Now, I know why. I tell you I was on the train and we rode all day, most of the
night and we had not came to those mountains yet. I gave up and went to sleep.
Funny, ain't it?
Workin' my way wept I picked potatoes, thrashed, logged for half a
day. I worked on that famous Dalrymple Ranch in the Dakotas. At Sant Point,
Idaho, I seen my first horse race. It was just like a story you read.
I was standie in front of a place when I heard a feller boastinf
about his horse. Another feller said he'd bet him 455.00 that a sloppy looking
buckskin that was in harness in front of a wagon on the street, could beat his horse.
I didn't knawnothin' about horse racin', but I figgered that buckskin
was a little too vide and sloppy to be much on the run. Well, I'm tellint you they
unhitched that old buckskin, and she run so far ahead that the other horse most
nearly died eatin' his dust. It sure was a race like you read About.
I hitohed another freight, picked up a couple of fellers, and started
west again. You know ridie them rods when your gob:' down a hill you could almost
read a newspaper by the light the wheels make as they turn over. Funny, ain't it?
I got another job "leadie the mule by the whiskers." This meant en-
couraging a mule to pull a load of rock out of a nine to the dump.
Well, finally I landed and started workin' on Jim Hill's first tunnel
out here. The Cascade tunnel.
The first thing I did there was sign up for work. TN illus called this
"signin' the death warrant." You see, it was dangerous work. If a man died on the
Form C Cont'd 4.
job they mould just "throw him over the bank like a chicken, but if a horse died
you really cried." Yep, life was cheap.
14 allus said when we were agoin' into the tunnel, *who'll get in the
rough -box next?"
You know, fellers would get hunches. One electrician there said to me
one mornint *You know, Joe, I'm headin' today for the rough -box." be gol-
darned if he didn't get a jolt of juice and grace the rough -box.
I had two hunches. Once, I told the walking boss I wouldn't go into
the tunnel because I could see death hangin' all around me. I sez, "I can see a
welkin' sign of death, and I ain't gonna go in." So the boss, he lets me take the
day off. Nothin' happened but you know, a guy with good sense wouldn't work in
that tunnel. In them days men were independent and they wouldn't take nothin' if
they didn't want to.
My other hunch was when I was helpin' the superintendent on switohint.
You see, the cook -house and bunks were on the siding, and the siding switch had to
be watched so it wouldn't throw any train onto it. Well, by golly the superintendent
got to watohin' me and a kind of spell came over me." I knowed if I stayed my time
would be called. So I quit. A few days later the superintendent left the switch
open and a train cracked into the cook -house. Sure, I WAS lucky.
All the work in the tunnel was shovel work. I 'worked on the shovel for
a while. Finally, one day the boss sez to me, "You know, you're an artist with the
shovel." "Yeah," sez me, "but I ain't gonna do this no longer." Independent like,
that was me all the time.
The boss said, *Well, I allow it ain't such good work, but I need a
foreman and you can have the job." I sure was surprised beoause I thought you had
to have an interest in the railroad to be a foreman. On that job I had to fight
my way to respect.
Form C Cont'd 5.
Underground we would work on the high car. (The high oar is a platform
built on top of an ordinary train oar). One feller would always kick my saw and
hammer off and I would have to go off the high oar and get clear down on the floor
of the tunnel, to find them.
I stood that as long as I could, and then I called the guy. Be and I
started fightini. But the walking boss stopped us because it was against the law
to fight underground. That feller later was a good friend.
Another guy was always ribbin' me. Canine me "rube." Of course, I
was just a country boy, but nobody likes to be kidded like that. One night down-
town he was a-lookin' in a glass, and as I walked by I stuck my head kinda over his
shoulder and he says, "Rube, stab you doin-V'
I sea to him, *Whose paid for throwin' his voice around here?" Well,
one thing led to another and we, had a good fight. We were good friends later,
though I saw him fight another guy, and if I had nowed haw good a fighter he VAS
I sure would a run the other may when he wanted to fight me.
One time when I was workin" on the high oar near the head, I slipped
and fell off. I was one of the very few men that ever got up and walked away from
such an accident.
Another time there a fellow was working on the arches near the segment.
A, big rock looked kinda loose, so he used a pick on it to see how tight she held.
Well, the rook came out and covered him with a good many ton of rock. That feller
was lucky: two planks fell across him in such a manner that the rock didn't crush
him.
In the evenings we fellows there were three of us mould provide
some amusement for the fellers. I guess I was the "craziest yap ever born",
workint all day I'd clog half the nite. Turn handsprings, and everything else.
Form C Cont'd 6.
One feller would sing and the other guy would play the fiddle.
One of the songs we used to play, sing, and clog to VMA "nippy, Get
Your Hair Cut." I can't remember the words he said, but I can clog her out for
you. One feller there said that some time I must& been a bum actor. I was always
a showin' off.
In 1925 I settled in Bremerton, Washington, and I went in for base-
ball and horse shoe pitching.
In 1925 I von the Yakima State Fair horse shoe pitchie contest, and
in 1929 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave me a loving cup for winning the state
championship.
About the only thing to it is not let them "get confidence on you, or
you go quick. Get 'em dawn and keep 'em down."
Now, I am doint this cement work. It is kinda like being an artist.
Well, I sure enjoyed talkin' to you. I could tell you some more I
reckon."
Fond D Federal Writers' Project
Extra Comment Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker William C. Haight ,Date January 11, 1939
Address 1226 S. W. Alder Street, Portland, Oregon.
Subject Western Work Gangs.
Name and address of informant Joe Stangler, 4868 N. E. Union Avenue.
Portland, Oregon.
Comment:
The informant records his personal experiences by the means of naps,
self -drawn. These maps are masterpieces of detail. Every trivial incident is recorded.
He showed me the map and the partially written story of that one experience. I quote
directly:
"Moments You don't forget.
"A fairly cold morning after a terrible Storm What a nise time to go to
the Beach as the Storm sure Woull Wash up a lot of pretty agate so I put my pail
on my Shoulder hanging from a Stop on my way I met two young men who told me the
tide had been higher then they had ever seen but as the tide was going out I felt
their wasent nothing to fear."
Mr. Stangler's paintings are properly classified as atrooious, and are
the first feeble steps of an amateur. However, they do show an unerring accuracy
of reporting.
The most amazing fact about this man is his mental alertness. This MMA
an extremely pleasant contact.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).