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Show Volume XXIII Issue XVII The Ogden Valley news Page 9 February 15, 2016 The Autobiography of Robert L. “Bob” Wangsgard – Part IV Note: The following is composed of excerpts from the autobiography of Robert L. “Bob” Wangsgard who turned 100 years December 22, 2015. This autobiography was written a little more than 15 years ago when Bob was preparing to celebrate his 85th birthday. Part I ran in the December 15, 2015 issue of The Ogden Valley News, Part II in the January 1, 2016 issue, Part III in the February 1 issue. Each year we raised about 20 acres of peas for Del Monte canning company. Harvesting peas was another hard-labor operation. Pea harvesting took place between June 20 and July 10 of each year. To assure freshness and flavor, peas need to be cut in the cool of the evening after sunset or in the early morning hours before sunrise. Starting at sunset we would cut and load two large hayracks of peas. Cutting was done by one of two machines. The “pea harvester” was a complex machine pulled by a team of horses. It had a cutter bar and a shuttle knife similar to a mowing machine. Above the cutter bar, a series of steel fingers rotated in a manner designed to lift the pea vines as the knife cut them off. The fingers were supposed to move the vines back across the knife onto a metal platform. As the vines reached the platform, a pair of sweep arms rotated and swept the vines off the platform into piles on the ground. When everything worked, pea could be harvested with the machine. However, pea vines did not always stand upright or even lie down in the same direction. The mechanical fingers could not adjust to such changing conditions and the machine was clogged or broken down a good part of the time. Most of the time, we cut peas with our regular hay mowing machines. Eighteen-inch pea guards were attached over the regular hay guards. These long guards raised the vines so that the knife could cut them off. A man with a pitchfork walked behind the cutter bar and used the fork to help pull the peas across the knife. If the knife clogged (as it often did), the cutter bar man was there to unclog it. We then used pitchforks to load the vines onto the hayracks. A load of vines weighed about two tons. If the ground was soft, we often had to hitch two teams to the load to pull out of the field onto the roads. We cut and loaded two or three loads of peas each evening. We were given a schedule to unload the peas at the viner the following morning. The viner started running about 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., and a man had to be there to unload our two or three loads cut the night before. Just at daylight, we started cutting the morning loads and had these into the viner by 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. The viners were large buildings housing large “pea threshers.” The vines were pitched onto a conveyor in a steady flow. The conveyor dumped them into a cylinder where a series of CHAMBER ORCHESTRA cont. from page 1 up even more repertoire choices for our concerts.” Michael Fenton, General Manager of the Ogden Eccles Conference Center and Peery’s Egyptian Theater, is happy to expand the diversity in programming at the theater. “I am very excited and pleased to welcome the amazing Chamber Orchestra Ogden to our facility— Weber County’s premier entertainment center. Dr. Palumbo and his amazingly talented musicians will present our community with quality, light classical music, keeping the concerts affordable for all who wish to attend. With the vital contribution the Egyptian Theatre Foundation made to this endeavor of making this venue accessible, both the Foundation as well as the Theater’s management are thrilled to welcome the Chamber Orchestra Ogden and it’s patrons to Peery’s Egyptian Theater.” Palumbo notes, “The move also gives us a rehearsal room, the use of Wenger orchestra chairs, and more storage space, which is vital since we are considering the purchase of a beaters rotated, striking the vines and breaking the pods open. The liberated or shelled peas fell through holes in the bottom of the cylinder and were conveyed to a measuring and weighing machine at the opposite side of the building from where they had been unloaded. An attendant at the weighing machine issued a receipt for the number of pounds from each load. The peas were then trucked to Ogden where they were graded and canned. The vines left the beating cylinders and went onto a conveyor that took them to a pea vine stack outside the building. Del Monte furnished a list showing the number of pounds of peas delivered by each grower. The stack of vines was owned by growers according to the percentage of peas each had delivered. Ours was usually one of the larger shares. Since we had cattle that could use the vines, we often bought shares from famers who had no cattle. As winter approached, a group of the pea growers got together and apportioned the pea vine stack according to the agreed ownership. Wooden stakes were driven into the stack marking the boundaries of each allotted share. A large “pea vine ax” was left at the stack and used to make vertical cuts so that each owner could get his allotment. To this day, I still wonder why I never heard of any arguments developing over the division of the stack of pea vines. When I was in high school, I took some of the agriculture classes that were offered. One class required that each student have an agricultural project. The student had to select the project, participate in the labor, keep books on the expenses and income, and make up a written report on the financial outcome. One year I chose as my project an acre of peas. It was a good year for growing peas, and the project was looking good. As we were harvesting peas, and before we got to my acre, a killing frost hit Huntsville on July 8. The temperature dropped below 20 degrees. The peas that were cut and loaded the night before were fine. But the peas we cut that morning were frozen into the pods. The viner operators turned up the beaters to beat the frozen peas out of the pods. When the first load of overbeaten peas arrived at the canning factory, they phoned the viner to stop the harvesting until the damage could be assessed. Within a day or two it was determined that all the good tender peas had frozen in the pods and were ruined. The only reason we harvested them was to get them off the ground and to have the vines for winter feed. Dad never charged me for ground rent or seed or water or any other expense. I kept track of all the items and included them in my final report. This project may have been valuable to me after all; I am sure it was one of the factors that helped convince me to look to something other than agriculture for a living. Two different canning companies built five set of timpani. Thanks to our timpanist Cory Jensen, who is the instrumental music teacher at Ben Lomond High School, we have been able to borrow the school’s timpani, but there is always uncertainty in relying on borrowed instruments.” Palumbo said he appreciates the time spent at Union Station, crediting the welcome extended to COO since the beginning season. “We will miss the friendly staff at the station. They have always been extremely helpful and accommodating to us.” Watch for more information regarding the gala opening concert, and an announcement of the year’s repertoire at a later date. For more information, call 801-624-9232, email chamberorchestraogden.org or visit facebook.com/chamberorchestraogden or @ OgdenMusic. Chamber Orchestra Ogden is a501(c)3 non-profit organization sponsored in part by George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, R.A.M.P., Weber Arts Council City of Ogden, Union Station Foundation, Utah Arts and Museums, and National Endowment for the Arts. The Ogden Valley News is looking for Ogden Valley and Ogden Canyon historical biographies, stories, and photos to use in its publication. Please mail, email, or call Shanna at 801-745-2688 or Jeannie at 801-745-2879 if you have material you would be willing to share. During Lent, Friday night Mass at 6:30 p.m. followed by Stations of the Cross Saturday Night 5:00 p.m. Sunday Morning 9:30 a.m. Tuesday Night 5:00 p.m. followed by The Rosary and Adoration Fr. Ken Vialpando 801-399-5627 Tuesday 5:30-6:30 p.m. or by appointment. Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary, Middle School, and High School Providing a challenging, college-focused education in the proven tradition of Catholic schools, for the families of the Ogden Valley. We want to teach your children! For information on our program, financial assistance, tours, or application, please call 801-393-6051 or 801-394-1515. viners in Huntsville and several more in Eden beet out of the ground and cut the top off. The and Liberty. Everyone raised peas for about 12 tool used was a 12-inch blade with a hook on to 15 years. A scourge of aphids hit the pea crops the end. The hook was inserted into the loosthroughout the valened beet and the ley. Imported ladybeet pulled from bugs turned out to the ground (by arm be no match for the and back power). aphids. The canIf the beet was ning companies small, it could be found more profitheld in the left able acres to raise hand while the top and can peas. The was cut off with a companies moved swing of the knife their factories. The in the right hand; viners were closed however, most and torn down. A beets were too big whole era came to handle in this and went. way. So the larger We also raised beets were placed sugar beets for a across the left knee number of years. while the top was This was before the Harvesting peas in Liberty. Picture courtesy of Rod cut off by the knife days of seeders that Clark. in the right hand. spaced the beets, The topped pullers that topped the beets, and conveyers beets were then tossed into piles. After the topthat loaded them onto trucks. ping was complete, a team pulling a beet wagon We did the thinning, topping, and loading was driven alongside the piles and the beets by hand. Every row of beets was a mile long were pitched onto the beet box wagon by use of (even in a short field) when you were thinning a special beet fork. The beet fork was a set of by hand. The sun was always hot, you were tines about two inches apart and 18 to 20 inches always stooped down to reach the individual square. The separation let the dirt fall back into beet being thinned, and five or ten acres of the ground and knobs on the end of each tine beets looked might big. kept the tines from sticking into the beets. A We did have a beet-pulling machine that forkful of beets must have weighed 40 to 50 loosened most of the beets in the ground. When pounds, and it was real manual labor to load a the beets were loosened we had to pull each couple of tons onto the beet wagon. From The Past . . . Shown above is a photo of Huntsville’s old Town Hall and jailhouse. Photo courtesy of Erma Wilson of Huntsville. |