Chapter 3

NMT, April, 1902

Ruby and Roland had welcomed Cletus to their home without reservation. Cletus tried not to be too much of a burden, but Roland and Ruby were both getting tired of fending off questions about when Cletus could expect his first grandchild. At last! Ruby was pregnant and everything was going well. One of the greatest joys was that Cletus had finally shut up! The only problem now was that Cletus walked around as if the whole thing was his doing!

Bobby was now 16 years old, so Mat and Sarah thought that he would be old enough to attend college in the fall. He certainly now had the required education and background information and the apparent maturity to benefit from the college experience.

He was called in to Mat's office and was told of their decision to send him to college next fall. Bobby's reaction was just what Mat expected: enthusiastic. He was ready to leave right then, had it been possible. That day, Mat wrote a letter to New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Las Cruces, asking what Bobby needed to do to enroll that fall in agricultural management.

The dam construction was progressing very well; they expected to be finished with construction this season. Mat called a meeting and they discussed starting to let water into Lake Sarah now, so that the lake bed could "season." The consensus was "the sooner, the better," so they planned to remove the temporary diverting dam starting the next Monday.

Sarah wanted to make this a special event with a celebration. She wanted to declare a ranch holiday and invite everybody to a bar-b-que with ice cream for desert. Roland agreed that he could have enough ice cream for everyone to have a cone with two dips, but it wouldn't all be one flavor. The commercial-size production facilities were ready to go and he could use this celebration as the kick-off for his commercial product. If everybody from Julesburg and the surrounding ranches were invited, the free ice cream at the celebration would be all the advertising that he would need. He would start production as soon as he left this meeting and could be ready by Monday.

Carmelita said that she could have enough bar-b-que, but Sarah would have to decide now if she wanted all pork, or all beef or a mix. It would just take too long to fix enough to allow any delay in the decision. Sarah decided on a mix of some pork and some beef and Carmelita could set the ratio herself.

It would be too much of a logistics problem to try to have the food served at the dam-busting, so they would use one of the empty warehouses as the mess hall. People could eat standing up or sitting on the ground; it would be impossible to find enough chairs for everybody. They could run a bus service by hooking up several wagons to the mechanical mule; people would probably enjoy the novelty of the ride as much as the events at the dam-busting.

Further discussion caused them to realize that the few days until Monday would not be enough time to get the word out. If they were going to have a proper celebration, they should give everybody a chance to get there; therefore, they should put off the event for four weeks to give them time to let everybody know about the event and what to expect.

Carmelita pointed out that they could use tortillas for plates, but everybody would have to bring his own cup or drinking glass. The York Ranch simply did not have access to that many drinking vessels. The publicity would have to point this out in the strongest possible terms!

The schedule of events was finally worked out. People should assemble at the ranch before 2:00 PM. Transportation would be provided to the celebration site. After a few appropriate remarks by Sarah, a short fireworks display would follow, and the temporary dam would be blown out by dynamite as the grand finale. The guests would then be transported back to the mess halls for the bar-b-que supper with ice cream for desert. Dancing would round out the evening.

The big day finally arrived! People actually started to arrive barely after dawn. Those early birds had brought a picnic lunch and planned to make a full holiday of it. The day was a real rarity for NMT, it was overcast, but not enough to dampen any spirits. The visitors stands and outhouses had been constructed days before, so there were places for the early birds to wait. The children were amused by being given rides behind the mechanical mule until it was needed for its real job of moving people from the complex to the grandstands.

The speeches started on schedule and and nobody talked long enough to be boring. The crowd joined in singing a few popular songs, including "The Star Spangled Banner," and then it was time for the fireworks.

There were many spectacular displays using things like Catherine Wheels and sky rockets. The grand finale was an array of aerial bombs, followed by the big dynamite explosion which destroyed the temporary dam diverting the water away from Lake Sarah. The water rushed down its old channel to the applause of the spell-bound crowd.

Suddenly, the whole affair was punctuated by the sound of thunder. Off in the distance, the mountains were taking a bath in a rare deluge of rain. The flashes of lightning danced around the peaks as the water came down as if poured from a bucket. The people stared at the rare sight of so much water coming down as if in a daze. They woke up to reality when some people noticed that the wind was blowing into their faces and they better move if they didn't want to get soaked.

Fortunately, the mechanical mule was there waiting with its train of empty wagons. The first ones out of the stands mounted the wagons quickly and were whisked off to the warehouse where they were expected by the waiting serving crew. Many people didn't wait for their turn at the free ride; they started walking back toward the food.

The wind continued to rise and the mechanical mule hurried back to the crowd for a new batch of passengers. Meanwhile, the crew working at the corrals saw the potential discomfort developing and rushed to get teams hitched to carriages and out to help get the crowd in ahead of the weather. The last of the crowd just made it to the warehouse ahead of the rain which pelted down like many of the people had never seen before.

The wind picked up. It literally picked up anything not nailed down! Then they saw it! A funnel cloud begin to twist its way down toward the ground and touched down just on the outskirts of Julesburg. A second funnel cloud formed next to the first one and it also approached Julesburg. The two tornadoes worked their way through Julesburg, ripping roofs and walls away from houses and barns as a child might do kicking at dandelions gone to seed. It was as if some intelligence guided the tornadoes in the paths to do the most damage. Not a single house or barn or store or any other building was spared as the wind wrecked havoc as the tornadoes meandered through town.

Those adobe structures not destroyed by the wind were wrecked by the rain as it poured down on the roofless shells. Even if the adobe walls were not washed away by the rain, they were so soaked that they drooped and sagged, warped and bent under the pressure of the rain and wind. Julesburg was a total loss!

Mat climbed on a barrel and addressed the crowd. "Give me your attention, please! We all saw what just happened to Julesburg and we were all stunned by the sight. But you still have to eat! Please eat some of this food to sustain yourselves. While you're eating, the people of York Ranch will be busy finding places for you to stay for the night. Tomorrow, we will survey Julesburg and see what can be salvaged. Obviously, the remaining festivities will be postponed for tonight; there is too much to do. I'll get back to you as soon as we have something worked out. Meanwhile, I'll ask if any of the nearby ranches can help by putting some of you Julesburg residents up for the night."

Mat jumped down from the barrel and, even though it was still raining, sent people to see how many could be accommodated in the main house and in the workers' houses.

Places were found for everybody and a restless, but safe, night was spent while the rain continued. The rain finally quit by daylight and practically everybody returned to the former warehouse to be fed breakfast. This many people were beginning to tax the resources of even the mighty York ranch, since no provision had been made to feed so many people for more than supper the night before.