On The Ranch

(Click any bordered image for full view)

The saddle horses were branded on the left shoulder, usually with the Rafter H, a brand registered to my grandmother. The Spear H brand, one of several others registered by John & Lula Hinton, was the brand used most on their herd of whiteface Herefords. First heated over a crackling sagebrush fire until red hot, the branding iron was held a few seconds on a calf's left hip, searing off the hair and scaring the hide with a mirrored (reverse) imprint of the hot iron. The calves were also earmarked, dehorned, castrated, and vaccinated.

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J.H. Hinton's corral, upper Succor Creek; Malheur County, Oregon [Owyhee Mountains]. Neighboring ranchers helped each other brand, dehorn, and vaccinate cattle, almost eliminating the need for hired hands.

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"Tiny" (left) and "Weise" Hinton [Malheur County, Oregon; circa 1930] rode horseback to Rockville School, a one room schoolhouse five miles from their ranch. Now great grandmothers, both live in southwestern Idaho.

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In 1935, when Tiny & Weise were age 9 & 11, the Hinton family purchased a new Ford to replace their "Model A". The darker car in the background (visible in full view) is believed to be a Whippet, which belonged to the Hinton girls aunt and uncle.

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In 1953 the next generation, Carol (left, at age 6) & Connie (age 8) along with cousin Lon (right, at age 5), posed for this photo taken at their grandparent's Succor Creek ranch.

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Among standard haying equipment pulled by a draft team (muscular work horses) was the hay rake, used to windrow a field of green cut hay once mowed. Hay, in the long raked rows, was left to dry in the sun so it wouldn't mildew when stacked.

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The derrick, a hoisting apparatus built on a square wooden base, was used when stacking long hay. Mostly made from poles, it was designed with a large steel cable which ran through a series of pulleys, the final pulley being situated at the top end of the large pole supported and secured in the middle in teeter-totter fashion. A hook on the high end of the cable was used to attach a "Jackson Fork" (similar to a huge pitchfork with curved tongs), or a "Sling". Made from several five to six foot lengths of pipe, the Sling's claws were then hooked together to grip the hay, rather like salad tongs. The load was then hoisted to the top of a breadloaf-shaped stack of dried hay. We used a harnessed draft team for "horsepower", hooking them up to the low end of the cable, then backing them up and walking them forward to lift and lower the pole. The "derrick man", who stayed on the ground, would maneuver the pole until the load was in the proper position over the tall stack, then trip the load by jerking an attached rope. The dumped pile of hay would then be leveled by a crew of men, and if short of help often my Grandma Lula, who stayed atop the stack with pitchforks. The pile was quickly pitched around until the gaps and holes were filled and the next load was tripped. Occasionally, a fella atop the stack wound up underneath a pile of hay, which is a sight to see. But who can say if the derrick man was a little too quick on the trigger, or if a fella or two atop that stack was just a might slow, suffering perhaps from "Black Velvet Flu."
   I purchased this beautiful photograph taken by Ruth Doughty, of Murphy, Idaho, at the annual "Outpost Days" auction, which benefits the Owyhee Historical Society and takes place right after the "Great Horny Toad Race".

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Trolley tracks laid in 1907 are still visible on some streets of Caldwell, Idaho, where shopping was a treat. Note the Saratoga Hotel (est. 1904), where in 1905 contract assassin Harry Orchard made the bomb that killed Idaho Former Governor Frank Stunenberg. (Suspect was The Miner's Union, due to the Coeur d'Alene mining wars.)

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John Miller [May 19, 1839 -- June 19, 1915]
Maternal grandfather of Lula Bell Eads (Hinton), and my maternal great-great-grandfather, resided in Hardman, Morrow County, Oregon.

More Photos: Page 3

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