| Show ever he sat still--on the stand in church by the kitchen stove after the cattle were fed or when riding on the spring seat of his coal vagon as he drove up the canyon When he dozedwas terrified by the thought that the wagon might Tun over the edge of the dugway and roll down the canyon slope wanted him to wake up and drive safely grabbed the horsebell which hung from the endgate rod at the back of the wagon and rang it vigorously to rouse him This usually woke him but sometimeshad to poke him awake Grandpa trained me to handle horses and begood teamster whenwassmall boy He andhauled coal from the mine together each drivingwagon whenwas eleven years old had hauled several loads of coal without incident but some of the other teamsters feltwas too young to handleteam and wagon safely on the coal road delegation representing these men called on my father and asked him to keep me off the road untilwas older When Grandpa learned of this he said he had trained me well thatwas fully competent to haul coal and he immediately took me again to the mine to haul another load of coal and show any doubters thatcould do it well No more protests were heard Camping in the canyon on coal hauling trips wasgreat pleasure After the horses were unharnessed and hobbled out campfire was built The smell of the wood fire especially when sagebrush was burned made me ravenous The grub box was opened potatoes and onions fried in the big skillet and thick slices of roast mutton were warmed up in gravy GCrandpa cut bread like no one elseever saw He spread the cut end oflarge loaf of grandmahomemade bread with fresh-churned butter then held the loaf against his chest while he sawedslice off the loaf withbutcher knife never did understand why food tasted so much better in the canyon than it did at home but it did Grandpa had his own method of cleaning the skillet aftermeal was over He heated it on the campfire hot enough to burn out the leftover grease then poured incupful of water which would sizzle loudly and when poured out would leave the skillet clean The hot skillet and other utensils were handled withwalloping rag which wassheepmanversion ofhotpad This was usually an old dishtowel folded many times which through use had taken onbrownish-grey color walloping rag was standard equipment in every sheepcamp on the mountain What fun it was to sleep in the canyon The bedroll of denin-covered camp quilts wrapped inheavy canvas tarpaulin was warm and comfortable The night sounds were delightful to listen to--the weird whistling sound of nighthawks --the deep-toned ringing of horsebells on the grazing horses --the shrill howling ofcoyote and the rumble and creaking oflate-traveling wagon One of my best-remembered trips was riding bareback down the canyon on the first horseever owned Whenwas eleven Grandpa gave mesand-tailed bay mare at the sheep camp on Bear Creek There was no bridle saddle or rope to ride her with foundchain fromcoyote trap wired it around her neck with baling 31 |
