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Show I . '0; o ,; . --.vf byCAROL S. LEMON isisWIV Hiumwwivw'p- -ffT-rw iipp my-ty.- nv, . im c ! i y - i i i in iii . 1 i i iii ii i i iii i i i iii n i it. pn.ii pin ii 1 1 X h -fv I ,. .-V- If' ' ' f ! , : . ' - ' : I H irr 'mil I'll-' '"imiftifjih n nff n-nTTTiiii-iiTtimMit f)-imtfiiiiirarMrrii-ir titftmt iwa-iifiitmiimwriilii'tf wfr ir-i t.TiWi-W.ffiriw-ii.Wi ttw hm iimiMBiBityKW and Arshel Holllngshead had a contest of sorts - by noon Arshel had shorn 100 sheep and Mr. Banks, 95 - during the afternoon Arshel worked over 95 and Randall 90, about 200 sheep each. A pretty good day's work. Pay wasn't so hot - sometimes they got 5? per sheep. His hobbies are fishing and gardening. "I remember raising tubs full of big watermelons wa-termelons and selling them and other produce to Milford folks," he said. Since we were talking about gardening, garden-ing, I got up courage to ask how "Punklnville" got it's nickname. "People used to raise lots of squash and pumpkins - still do, and they're extra large." Story goes that a man had a nice fat sow. Along about fall he saw her in the pumpkin patch chewing away on a pumpkin. Next day he couldn't find her anywherer Come spring, he was walking down through the patch when here came the sow and her litter chewing their way out of the OTHER side of the pumpkin. Now that's whatlcallaBIGpump-kin! whatlcallaBIGpump-kin! I was surprised to learn that there were lots of wells in Minersville. I assumed that wells in this country-would country-would be few and far between, but several seemed to artesian arte-sian in nature and were cold as could be. Plus there were warm springs and "we used to have a Bath House there. . Then a swimming pool was built. The kids really enjoyed ' that." "I worked on the old Minersville Min-ersville dam. Each year we'd go and haul rock and cedar limbs to try to hold back a little more water for irrigation. irri-gation. I remember a time when there was so little water wa-ter that only about one furrow fur-row could be watered at a time. I had to sit down at the We visited this week with Randall Banks, of Minersville, Miners-ville, who proudly showed us his five -generation photo. At the last family get-together for his 87th birthday, there were 127 descendants. "Guess I'm related to about everyone In Minersville," he said. "My grandfather Banks had 15 children and that adds up to quite a family. fam-ily. Plus the fact that my present wife and I had both lost our spouses, and when we married I had seven children and so did she. So between us both - it's hard to find anyone around we're not related to one way or the other." Born in Minersville, Mr. Banks has worked as a railroader rail-roader in Utah and Nevada, and also worked shearing sheep. Once in Montana he MR. RANDALL BANKS 86 YEARS YOUNG end of the furrow and wait till the water got down to me and then run up and start It . down another row." Contrast this with the cloudburst which caused a flash flood sending "pine trees, boulders bould-ers big as a chair, and rolling roll-ing mud through town. Came within a few feet of my porch," said Mrs. Banks. "It washed the second cutting cut-ting of hay and bundles of grain right off the fields." We learned that Minersville Miners-ville Town Hall was built from rock from the old Mur-dock Mur-dock Academy - let's see, that makes the Milford Church, our Town Hall, and I wonder what else? That Academy really got spread around the county, didn't it? We also talked, about the fun -times folks used to have at the "Old Hanging Rock" dance hall. The slab floor is still there - along with lots of happy memories. And I guess that Randall Banks at 87 years young has lots of happy memories, too. Mrs. Banks has some great pickle recipes she'll let us have in the summer. For this time, how about trying try-ing an old Pioneer candy recipe. Let the kids do the pulling, it may get in their hair, and you might have to scrape a bit off the floor, but it will taste great. MOLASSES CANDY 1-12 C molasses 34 C sugar 1 T vinegar 1 T butter 18 t. soda 18 t. salt Cook molasses, sugar, vinegar to hard ball stage. Add butter, soda and salt; remove from heat, stir and pour onto greased platter. When cool, butter your hands and pull candy until white and stiff. Cut into pieces. |