Chapter 8

“ ... Les, this is where the property starts. There isn’t a lot of frontage on the county road, but from here, it goes all the way to the river down there, then back east to join Tom’s property, and from there, back over to here. We’ll ride all the way around the property, and you’ll see the canals and the flume-ditches they built to bring water to the crops.

“I really believe that if Mr. Albert’s son had not died, he would never have sold it.”

Tom spoke up and told us a little more about it, “Luther, you’re absolutely right about that part. Mr. Alberts had just lost his wife the summer before. Then, when he found his son dead under the wheel of a wagon loaded with melons, that did him in. Mr. Alberts walked all the way over to my place and asked me to come help him get the wagon wheel off his son. He told me then, his son was dead, but he didn’t want him to suffer anymore. When we went back over there, it looked like his son had gotten the wagon load of melons stuck in a soft place and was trying to either pull or push on a wagon wheel while the horses moved it forward and somehow fell underneath when the wagon rolled back. At least, that was what Mr. Alberts and I decided.

“It broke my heart to see him like that. That boy was his whole life after his wife died, and then he was gone. Mr. Alberts blamed himself for the accident, said he should have been with the boy. That’s the reason he couldn’t live here any longer.”

Luther told him, “I didn’t know about that part, Tom. All I ever heard him say was, he just wanted to sell out and move away from here. He didn’t want to finance it himself at his age, and that’s when he came to me to help him sell it. He’d already tried to sell it, but no one had the money to pay the full amount. He told me what the last man had offered him – if he would finance the rest himself without the bank being involved. I offered to pay him the same amount in cash. He took my offer and now I’m proud to let Les have this land so all of you can plant this whole side of the river in vegetables, table-corn and melons.

“I remember Mr. Alberts telling me that he grew some of the sweetest cantaloupes that he’d ever eaten, down there on those bottom fields. He told me they weighed over eight pounds on average, and that he raised crop after crop, of watermelons down there that grew to over forty pounds.”

I told them, “Then we need to think about planting these bottom fields here by the river in melons and plant most of the vegetables back on the other farms.”

Tom agreed, “Les, that might not be a bad idea, at least until you get to know the place better. We’ll harvest the first crop of melons in the early summer, and the river is not likely to rise until the late-spring thaws begin up in the mountains, if at all with the dams built upriver now.”

Luther cut in as he kept pointing out things about the farm, “Les, you can see over here how Mr. Alberts and his son had the canals running between these fields, then the irrigation flumes carrying water across the ends of the rows, as it’s drawn out of the canals. See how these rows slope gradually back toward the river? He told me that the land would almost irrigate itself, except for starting and stopping the flow of water from the canals when needed. He told me that his son had designed and built the whole irrigation project by himself.”

“I don’t think we have land like this on my new property, where the river water will run into the land and then back out of it,” I told him.

“Les, there are people upriver from you, who use big pumps, powered by a stationary engine with a wide belt on the flywheel pulley, to pump their water out of the main irrigation canals, to the higher fields such as yours. They pump it through pipes to the top side, then turn the water back across the ends of the rows in the flume ditches, to let it flow down between the rows to the bottom as it wets the soil under the crops,” Luther told us.

Tom spoke up quick when Luther told us that, “Luther, when we get lined out with the planting a little better, you need to take us up there to see those operations. I’ve seen those big water pumps advertised in the implement catalogs, but I’ve never thought about pumping water up a gradual slope, then watering crops downhill like you’re talking about.”

I jumped in and told him, “Tom, if you have one of those catalogs, show it to me. Maybe we can call the people and have them bring us one and show us how to set it up,” I suggested.

“I keep all of the old catalogs – I never throw one away. We can stop by my place on the way back and I’ll get the latest one that came in the mail. There’s a pipe manufacturing company advertised in there who makes the irrigation pipes like they use in valley over in California – up in Nevada and Colorado too the magazine says.”

“It’s worth taking a look at. Just look at what that small amount of water coming from the water trough at the barn gave us. Once I turned the well pump on and kept the water running through the trough, we were able to have water for setting out all the plants sets.”

We made the tour around the five hundred acres and then cut back up through the middle of the farm. Luther told me that out of the five hundred acres, there were only twenty acres that wasn’t in cultivation. That was where the three houses, the tenant quarters, two barns and small horse pasture were.

When we stopped at Tom’s place, Malena, Lucia, Allece and their two boys went in with Tom so they could use his bathroom.

When they were inside, Luther turned around with his arm propped on the back of his seat while we talked. “Les, you don’t have to put rent money up on that farm ahead of time. You’ve spent a lot getting this started so far and I don’t want to put you in a bind.”

“Luther, Mr. Thompkins has started us a farm loan and he’s financing the tractors, seed, tools and whatever else we’ll need. I knew I’d never get a better deal than that. I still have half of my money and all of my grubstake, after paying cash for the farm. I’d feel better if I paid you maybe a fourth of the total up front.”

“Then if you’re determined to do that, let me make you an offer.“

“What kind of offer?”

“Let me take that rent payment you make, and supply all of the water pumps, the engines to run them, the pipes and the labor to set them up, for your whole operation. I’ll do that while the rest of you break land, plant seed and set out plants. I’ll do it for five percent of the profits off the corporation at the end of each year.”

“You’ll do that?”

“Yes and I’ll have the pumps and engines set by the time your crops need water. The farmland in this valley will produce crops year round – with irrigation. It never rains in this part of the world, and crops will need water.”

“I’ll have to see what the others say about the corporation as a whole, but if they don’t agree, I’ll let you set two of the pumps up on my place and give you ten percent of my take.”

He told me, “We’ll need to talk to Tom and Lucia – then we can see what Juan Carlos says about it. I’m not trying to horn in on yours and their business, but I know I’ll never be a farmer. I make money by investing my money in a sure thing – just like I have in the past with the land around here. Land investments won’t always be a good deal like I’ve enjoyed, and I’ll need to invest elsewhere.”

“Are you sure you can get all of this done in time to start irrigating?”

“I’m positive I can. I’ll have the pumps we’ll need brought here and set up as soon as we agree on it. I know a farmer downriver on the California side, who has six stationary engines with pumps, that he wants to sell. He told me he’s only run them two years, and if I’d sell them for him, he’d give me a cut, then deliver them to the buyer and help set them up.”

“Luther Street, you think just like a mutual friend of ours. I’ll make you an even better offer, I’ll give you ten percent of my take, to set up the pumps on all the land in the corporation. I’ll more than make my money back on the deal.”

“Les, you sound even more like our mutual friend than I do. Thanks for allowing me to invest in your company. Just being here today and seeing how these people can work – and seeing how you think, plan and look ahead ... I know you’ll own the produce business in this part of the world.”

“I won’t own it – Lucia will. She’s the one who came up with the idea in the first place – plus, she and Juan Carlos have thousands of acres which will eventually be in vegetable crops. I just happened along in time to help put it together...

“Here they come, Luther. I have a feeling that you’ll be a partner in the whole SaWaSa operation as soon as they hear your offer.”

Just as Luther was about to drive his buggy out onto the county road and head back to my place, an old Ford Touring Sedan whizzed past, kicking up a dust cloud.

“Wonder where they’re going in such a damn hurry?” Tom asked.

Lucia answered, “They’re probably lost. There aren’t many people who live out this way, past our place anyway.”

Now was as good a time as any to see what they thought about Luther’s offer, “Tom – Lucia, Luther has made me a business offer while you were in the house. I told him that I’d have to talk it over with both of you and Juan Carlos before I could give him an answer for the whole company.”

“I’m open to anything that will help us make us money. Tell us what you have,” Tom said, pulling Malena closer to him.

“Luther has offered to purchase the water pumps, with the engines, and have them installed on all our lands, for five percent of the total profits. I told him that even if none of you wanted to let him in, I’d let him put pumps on all our lands and give him ten percent of my take on the total operation. I knew that with irrigation, I’d more than make my money back...

“Now, tell me what you think about his offer.”

Tom was quick to speak up, “Luther, I don’t have but twenty percent in this deal, but I’d give you four percent of that if you furnished the irrigation on my three hundred acres. I’d be a fool not to.”

Lucia looked at me, then Tom. “I’ll have to speak to Grandfather to make it final, but there’s no way we will ever be as productive without irrigation as we will with it. We would have to struggle for two more years without irrigation, before we were able to do what Luther has offered.

“Luther, I’ll tell Grandfather that we need to let you provide the water for our land too, for five percent of the profit. I feel the same as Les just told us, we’ll more than make up for it in increased production.”

Luther told them about the same thing he told me earlier, “I told Les that I wasn’t trying to horn in on your business, but I needed to start investing in something other than farmland before that market plays out. By getting in with all of you on the front end and providing water for all the acres you’ll have in production, we can all reap higher profits. Once my initial investment of the pumps and engines are made, I’ll only have maintenance, repairs and fuel costs.”

“You’ll pay for the fuel too?” Lucia asked.

“Well, it’s not like that’s a big expense. The engines I’m talking about run on kerosene, like the tractors your company just bought. Kerosene is only fifteen cents per gallon and from what I’ve seen on other farms, we don’t run them but once every ten days to two weeks during the growing season.”

Lucia put her arm around my neck, pulling herself close to me as she spoke, “Luther, you can get ready to call the man and have him bring the engines over. Grandfather will never turn that offer down.”

Just then, Luther and Allece’s oldest son, Billy shouted, “Look,” as he pointed to the Ford Touring Sedan parked in the shade of my barn.

I stepped off the buggy to hold Lucia’s hand as she stepped down. Luther was helping his sons down and then reached for Allece. He turned to look at me just about the time I looked at him. I knew he was thinking the same thing.

Then I saw the license tag had Arizona on it and pointed to it. Luther turned and made a motion like he was wiping sweat off his forehead. He laughed and I did too as we walked behind the others to where the three students from Tucson were talking to Juan Carlos.

“Here they come now,” I heard Juan Carlos tell them.

Juan Carlos turned to Lucia, “Lucia, these three young men are students from the university in Tucson. This is Walter, this is James, and this is Robert,” he told her and turned to the students.

“This is my granddaughter, Lucia. She’s the one who went over there to study farming. Over here is our business partners, Les Savage and Tom Wancho. Over here we have Luther Street and his wife Allece and their two boys.”

The three students were dressed just about like the rich kids back in Manhattan. But they were friendly and in no time, they let us know that they knew their stuff when it comes to farming and planting vegetables for market. The Mexican workers were working in the two fields, spread out across the rows, setting out plants as fast as they could crawl to the next hole.

Walter seemed to be the one in charge, as he turned to speak, “I see you’ve already begun setting out cabbage and lettuce plants. Have you planted any seed at all.”

Lucia answered him as everyone turned and walked down the turn-row to where the Mexicans were working. “No, we’ve just gotten started today and we wanted to get these sets in the ground and watered before sundown. We were planning to start on the seed tomorrow and we were hoping all of you would be here to guide us, as we did.”

The boy named James spoke up, “Miss Lucia, it seems that your labor has experience in setting out plants. Do you know if any of them have planted small garden seed before?”

“We have some working for us, who have planted seed, but never on the scale we’re planning to grow crops here.”

Robert asked her, “Do you not have planters to plant your beans, corn, peas and larger seed?”

“No, but we are in the process of having our horse drawn implements converted to tractor implements. Then, we’ll be able to plant those crops as fast as we can carry seed to them.”

Walter looked at her, then around at Tom and me before he spoke, “We’ve seen those implements converted in other farming areas, and if one takes his time turning on the ends with the tractors, the planting goes extremely faster than planting with a team of horses. Professor Forbes firmly believes that tractors and tractor implements will eventually take over all phases of farm work, from breaking the land, to plowing rows, to planting, to cultivating, and even harvesting.”

I jumped into the conversation then, “None of us have been around tractors before, but we hired two brothers from south of the border who knew all about them. In no time, we were ready to drive all five of them home. We have a blacksmith and his son coming tomorrow to start converting our implements. But until they have the planters converted, we’ll have to plant by hand.”

“We brought you some seed-funnels we’ve developed in class, which will make planting one row of smaller seed as easy as walking down the middle between the rows,” Walter told us.

I was glad to hear that, “Then we’ll start planting the small seed by hand first and let the tractors plant the larger seed once we have the planters ready. We’ll need you men to show us how it’s done and which fields you think we need to plant each vegetable.”

Tom stepped up and asked them, “How long will you three be here with us? We have a long ways to go and we’re learning more from our labor than we’re teaching them.”

“We’ve made plans to be here a week if we’re needed. We definitely want to see the planters working behind the tractors, take some pictures and make sure we have them set to plant seed at the right depth.” Robert answered.

James spoke up about that, “When we have the planters set, we’ll mark the setting for each of the larger seed, and mark the seed plates too, so the next time you plant corn, peas, butterbeans, pintos or any larger seed, you’ll know how to set the planters.”

I wanted the students to see how our workers had set the plants out so I told them,”Let’s walk down here where they’re setting out the cabbage and lettuce. You can tell us if we’re doing it right, now that we’re about halfway through.”

They thought that was funny, as Tom and I walked with them.

Luther told me he wanted to use my phone and I told him where he could find it, in the back bedroom. He took his sons with him as he hurried to the house. I knew he was up to something. In the short time I’ve known him, I’ve learned that Luther is a lot like me, he likes to make things happen. I had a feeling he was going to call the farmer across the river in California and tell him he wanted the engines.

Lucia, Malena and Allece walked over to talk to Juan Carlos. I knew what he was going to tell her – Listen to the big man –

I could only hope at this time, that I was right in making future plans, about something I knew nothing about. The one thing I have going for me, is exactly what Alejandro told me yesterday – I have always been able to listen and learn, then explain to others in a way they will understand. The only problem now is, there’s so much coming at us, so fast – about things I’ve never heard of before, it’s hard to remember all of it.

I saw Tom holding a long skinny funnel made of copper as he talked to Walter. Then he turned the funnel up and I saw a bowl shaped top. I walked over just in time to hear Walter tell him how it works. “This funnel has one of the smallest openings we’ve designed. We wanted to bring enough of them with us to get an idea of how they would hold up with farm labor handling them. If you’ll notice, on the outside of the long stem, there is a small, spring loaded trigger. The trigger operates a thin copper wire running inside the tube to the opening. This trigger opens the tiny gate to let the smallest of garden seed release one or two at a time. The up and down movement of the wire on the inside of the tube, keeps the small seed from clogging the opening.”

Walter handed me a funnel he’d pulled out of the shoulder bag he was carrying. I held it up to the sunlight and looked through the bowl end as I worked the trigger. I could see the copper wire inside the tube, connected to the tiny little flap on the tapered end, causing it flicked in and out when the trigger was pulled and released.

Tom was doing the same with the one he held, then told Walter, “This will save a lot of over-planting of small seed and put a stop to a lot of spillage too.”

“That was the main reason we wanted to develop these. We brought you two dozen to keep. We’ll come back in the spring and see how they’ve held up to the rigorous handling they’re sure to be put through.”

At the end of the first long day of planting, Lucia, Allece and Malena had a large pot of chili made up. We served the hired help in tin cups, with cornbread.