Archive Record
Metadata
Accession number |
2014.038 |
Catalog Number |
2014.038.001 |
Object Name |
Audiocassette |
Date |
17 May 2007 |
Title |
Waylin Nattin oral history |
Scope & Content |
Audiocassette of oral history interview with Mr. Waylan Nattin, conducted on 17 May 2007. Interviewer is Ann Middleton. Mr. Nattin talks about growing up in Alden Bridge. Oral History Waylan Nattin 17 May 2007 Interview by Ann Middleton AM: …thousand-seven, and I am with Mr. W. R. Nattin, WN: Waylan Nattin. AM: at the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center, Mr. Nattin has, um, agreed to share with us his memories of Alden Bridge, Louisiana. Um, Mr. Nattin, I have to ask this: WN: Sure! AM: The Mayor, Nattin, are you related? WN: Yes, he's my brother. AM: He was your brother. WN: Yeah, he's the brother that's older than myself. There was a sister between he and I. AM: I see. Uh-huh. WN: Mm-hm, yeah. AM: Well, I knew he was from Alden Bridge, because from one of our centennial exhibits, we did one on the mayors, so we researched each one of the fourteen mayors that Bossier City has had. WN: Mm-hm, yeah. AM: Well, good, I'm glad to know that, but really what I'd like you to talk about, just like you've been talking is, is starting with as early as you can remember your memories of Alden Bridge, of the schools, the churches…uh, I read that there was, um, when Whited and Wheless… WN: Wheless and Whited. AM: Wheless and Whited were there; there was always a big Fourth of July celebration. WN: Oh, it was unbelievable! AM: Do you have memories of that? WN: Yes, I sure do. I can remember Fourth of July, they would have a barbeque pit, probably five foot wide, and twelve to sixteen foot long. And they would butcher calves. My Uncle Hugh Strand was a butcher, for the, you know, he lived off of town, about three miles in the [Percher?] community. And he butchered every Friday, and brought his calves down there, in that meat market in Alden Bridge, then he sold 'em, cut the meat up and sold it on, on, on Saturdays, at the…I think I said, uh, butchered every Thursday, to come in and sold it Friday and Saturday at the saw mill. And, uh, he would butcher calves, and they'd cut 'em in half, and lay 'em on this barbeque pit. And they, hogs there, it would be, probably have two, maybe, two pits at least goin'. And they'd have, uh, the hogs on one, swine on one, and beef on the other. And they would have, well we had picnic tables, probably, would be…forty foot long and built in a "T", and maybe thirty foot across the front, you know. AM: Oh, my goodness. WN: And they invited all the whites there, now they didn't, they didn't, uh…well, back then, the blacks, they had one for the blacks, but it was the nineteenth of June. AM: Yes, I read that. WN: Big celebration! And the blacks would have a big ball game there on nineteenth of June. And, it was a, it was a, I went to theirs… AM: In the same place? WN: …I went to theirs, too. Yeah, in the same place, yes, they let them use the facility, but they wasn't, wasn't integrated. Now, the blacks did the barbequein' for us, but, uh… AM: And then they barbequed on June 19th? Juneteenth? WN: June the nineteenth, that's right, they give 'em the same thing we had, they were good. They were good people, the Wheless and Whited group was a good people. I don't remember the…being as I'm white, I don't remember that group, but I do, Welori is my memory. AM: Well explain a little bit to us about what Welori was. WN: Welori was a name derived from Mr. Weaver, Mr. Looney, and Mr. Jeff Rivers. S. P. Weaver owned the S. P. Weaver Lumber Company in Shreveport, Louisiana, and he was a financial backer of these two men. And each one had a saw mill to run. Mr. Rivers was at Alden Bridge, and Mr. Looney was at Couchwood, Louisiana. But it was a partners, partnership corporation, uh, I say corporation, I don't really recall whether it was just a partnership or corporation, that they shared in, in, I'd say prosperity, because they, they used the same logging crew to supply both mills. And they had a railroad that ran from Alden Bridge, Louisiana around by Linton and then went across Bodcau Bayou, and went through Couchwood, Louisiana. And, the, the Shay, and they had two engines, they called 'em Shays, and of course, they were fired by, by wood, and they had water towers built were they could take water on, on the railroad, and they'd leave Alden Bridge with empty cars from Alden Bridge Saw Mill, and go through Linton. They'd pick up, leave the empty car there, and pick up a loaded car, there, and take 'em to Couchwood. And then they would get to Couchwood probably around ten-thirty, eleven o'clock in the morning, they'd pick up the empty cars from Couchwood, and come, and bring them back to Linton, and then picked up those cars that they left this morning loaded, and bring them to Alden Bridge. And they was just doin' the same thing, every day, five days a week. AM: They made one trip each day. WN: One trip, each day. Hauling logs. AM: There and back. WN: That's right. They'd probably have…ten to twelve carloads of logs, they had little, log-cars built especially, they'd just load logs on, and keep 'em up on 'em, and they'd have one chain holdin', it'd go so high, and then they'd put the chain down in there, and put two or three logs on top of the chains, and that would hold the logs on the cars. AM: Do you ever recall that any of the logs fell off, and killed anyone, or, hurt anyone? WN: No…no, no, it was real good, now, they had, they did have derailing every once'tawhile, maybe, and drop, drop a car off, but, uh, no, I don't think, now, yes, at the, in the logging yard, off of trucks, they had two or three injured when they's hauling in their own truck, but, in the later years, of course when trucks became popular, well, they used them to come into those places with, because the lumber, the timber was gettin' scarce, you know, out in the areas where they was cuttin' it, so, they had to move out, and go. Well, the main reason most of the mills cut out because they sawed off all the logs… AM: I, I read that, yes. WN: …within twenty-five to thirty miles of 'em, you know. AM: What, what kind of wood? Was it mainly pine, or? WN: Ninety percent of it was pine. They did do oak hardwood, didn't do much sweetgum, mostly oak, that's the reason, reason most of the old timberland was took over by gum, because they didn't harvest 'em too much. AM: Oh! WN: Because gum didn't dry, it wasn't… AM: Oh, I see. WN: In later years, they began, made some furniture out of it, during the early years, it was just a timber that, well, you had, you could cut a board out of it, you'd have to weigh it down to keep it from curling up on the ends, but, they did, they did cut the hardwood, and the pine, but, it was probably, I'm gonna say, at least seventy-five percent of the mill production was pine. Pine timber, mm-hm. AM: Did they make turpentine anywhere around… WN: No, nowhere, nothin' like that. AM: Does turpentine come from pine? Or is it a chemical? WN: Well, I guess it does, because pine has a resin, you know? AM: Yes. WN: They didn't, they didn't participate in any of that, no. AM: It was just strictly to cut the tree's lumber. WN: And they had a planing mill, they could make any type board they wanted out of that lumber, at the… AM: And what determined what kind of boards they made? They had people… WN: Probably…they'd get, they'd get orders from people, you know, that they shipped by box car, of course we were right on the cotton belt railroad. AM: Mm-hm. WN: Runs right through it, and the cotton belt had a switch, there, and they'd put box cars in there and they'd load lumber in that, then they'd pick 'em up and take to where it went. The cotton belt, it was the old Cotton Belt Railroad. But, uh, it was, uh, it was a thriving organization. It was well, it was, they handled the labor well, they paid 'em good, I mean, not for that day and time, but they pay 'em, paid 'em in "punch outs", where they had to stay… AM: Tell me about that, yes. WN: Punch Out, well they had, they had the cards, it was about four inches long and three inches, I'd say three by four. And it had, uh, numbers goin' in five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, fifty cents. And then you got one, two, three, four, five, to ten dollars, you know? And they paid 'em in punch outs, so they probably, the mill, probably making two and a half, three dollars a day. So, a man would, at the end of the week, they, they could charge all week during the, you know, if they need it, and then they'd, what they had, they'd take that money out, and give 'em punch out for whatever money they had comin'. Say it was ten dollars, twelve dollars, fifteen; then he could live off that, or buy what he wanted to the next week. But they never paid in cash, they laid it. AM: And how did the people pay their rent, or were these, like, saw mill houses? WN: Oh, well, saw mill houses, yes, uh-huh. And lots of 'em lived around us, around Alden Bridge that worked at the mill, that owned, you know, owned their own houses. AM: I see. WN: But, uh, yeah, the saw mill owned all the houses in Alden Bridge, it was only, one free standing house, and that was Mr. Elders, the old postmaster, he had a mansion built there in those woods, oh, I'd say it probably, it was two story, painted white, big white fence around it, sit in a place of probably, uh, five acre yard. AM: Wow. WN: And, uh, picket fence around his house, and he had a white board fence around the other part of his yard, where he run his, let his mules and horses run. And, uh, but he, he, he was a pretty large land owner in that area, himself. And, uh, I don't know his history, I don't know how he settled there, he was there long before Welori come there. I guess he was there with the Wheless and Whited group. I don't know, I don't know. But, uh, Welori put in their own store, and they done everything themselves. AM: So, if you wanted to buy something, you, you pretty much bought it at the saw mill store, the commissary? WN: Oh, yes. Now, they would slip down and trade with Mr. Elder, buy some stuff. I know he didn't, he didn't have much goin', but he had the post office. So, if any of the people, lots of times you could get 'em to give you fifty cents change at the store, you know, if they had some cash in the register, there, well, they'd punch you out and give you fifty cents or something, you know? As a favor, you know? And, uh, but, uh, ninety, ninety-five percent of the money went right back to Welori. I mean, it goes, it wasn't all profit to them, they had to buy the goods that come there, you know, to sell? But they… AM: And they had to maintain the houses. WN: Maintain the houses, they built all the houses, if, if a person had a increase in the family, needed a room, they'd build 'em a room on the house. And, they, they furnished the electricity was free, they had a, a generator at the saw mill. At the planin' mill, there was a generator at the planing mill because they kept the boilers fired there all night 'cause, 'cause, to run the dry kiln. And they, they blinked the lights at 9:30, 'cause they all went off at 10:00. We even had street lights in Alden Bridge. And, they put them out, well they didn't do it in the black neighbourhood, but in the white's, we had one right in our front yard, and kids played under 'em 'til, uh… AM: 'Til it went out. WN: 'Til it went out. They'd blink at 9:30, at 10:00, you better go, 'cause they goin' out at 10:00, it was all over with. AM: Well one account I read said that there was no electricity on Sunday, was that during your time, or was that before, that was during… WN: That was before my time. AM: …Whited, Wheless and Whited. WN: Yes, uh-huh. AM: Uh, well that, I read that mill shut down in 1912, I think… WN: That was before, I don't remember, I don't really know, mm-hm, I really don't know anything about it. AM: Do you remember any accidents at the mill, itself? WN: Oh, yes, I remember belts breakin', and, I don't know, I just hate to say how many, but I'd say at least, nine or ten people killed there. You know, belts, all the machinery was pulled by belts, you know, they had steam power would run this particular thing, and they'd have a, a, a small pulley on this, and a shaft, and a big pulley over there runnin' the thing, and the small one would spin that big one, and they could, that's where they got their power. And, uh, but those belts'd break. And they just, one time, well in the first, beginning they'd, they'd put 'em together with the leather, you know, lace 'em together. And then they come, finally came out with a machine that, that, kind of like your, uh, staple machine, would just staple 'em together. But they would still come apart, and when they did… AM: Oh, I'll bet, mm-hm. WN: …when that thing blew, whoever was standing in the way of it, I've had two or three that I know of, it hit 'em, it broke their neck, you know, and just, things happen, and, uh…Mr. Jeff Rivers, now, who was, uh; and I don't know where it happened, I didn't know, but when I knew, I didn't know him, you know, I don't remember 'til I was five, he was the nicest person, but he had an accident at the saw mill, and he cut his hand off, right here. And he only, he only had, you know, one hand. AM: Mm-hm. WN: And he had a, 'course, he had a, I don't know what you call… AM: A prosthesis? WN: Yeah. Here. But it was fixed, stapled, and he wore a leather glove. But he couldn't move it, it was just like this, you know? This part, here, it was above his wrist, so it couldn't move. And, uh, but he drove his car, and everything, and, but he kept that, you know, the fingers was bent on it, and kind of like this, I guess, where it could reach, you know, and get something. And, but, uh, he dressed real nice, and wore a suit of clothes, and he was just a nice person. And he got him a new car every year, and that's Mr. Jeff, and he'd drive that car. Now, for awhile, he had a chauffer, but, in later years he could drive himself, so he got to where he could use it. But, uh, he was a real nice man. AM: Are, are you aware of members of this family still, these families, the Weavers, the Looneys, and the Rivers, still being around? WN: No, uh, that, uh, Mr. Jeff and them had, uh, two, Mr. Jeff and, uh, his wife had, had two, uh, Vega and Jeff Rivers, Jeff Junior, and one daughter, uh, Dorothy. And she, they're all deceased. I know that, mm-hm. Now Vega had two sons, I know, I don't know if Jeff Junior had any children at all. He was kind of spoiled, he didn't, he didn't take to work, he took to good-timin'. AM: Oh! WN: But he was a good boy, I don't mean that he isn't a good'un, but he left, he didn't have anything to do with the saw mill. Now, Vega ran the saw mill after… AM: Now, how do you spell that? WN: V-E-G-A, Vega, V-E-G-A Vega Rivers. AM: An unusual name. WN: Yes. And he, uh, he, he was there when the mill collapsed. In fact, I was, uh, hitchhikin' to Shreveport, standing on front of that, that, one day, I heard of a job openin' over at Holsum Bread Company, and I was comin' down to apply for it. And Vega stopped and picked me up. AM: Oh! WN: And so, we got to talkin', and I told him where I was goin' you know? Then, that's the last time he told me, said, "Well, I'm proud for you Waylan, and I want you to get out and do something, you're not gonna ever work at the saw mill." Of course, I'd worked in the commissary, been workin' in the commissary, you know? They let me work two days a week, even in school, to help my mother then. And, uh, but he said, "you'll never work a day at that saw mill." It was still, the saw mill was still runnin' at that time, and I was probably, I don't know, sixteen, seventeen, the last year in school, and, uh, but, uh… AM: Well, if you don't mind, would you tell again how you and your mother came to be at, at the, um, boarding house? WN: Oh, how we came there, yes. Well, we rented the house from the Elders, and, before my daddy died. And, after he passed away, my mother started serving lunch, at, you know, to the, to the train crews, to the railroad crews, they'd stop there and eat lunch and what have you. And, then, the people that were running boarding houses [at Foley's?] got a new opportunity to move down to the, uh, Robeline, and, uh, a saw mill down there. So, they left, and, Mr. Jeff came and asked Mother if she wanted to run the boarding house. So, she said yes, she would love to. So, we moved over there, which was a big move, nearly a block from our house to that house [laughs]. So, just a difference of across the road, but, uh, anyway, we moved over there, and Mother, they built sleeping porches on the house, where she could, uh, have people at night sleep there, and the sleeping porches would probably hold four to five beds, and she rented those out, you know, probably, and served meals. So, that's the we made, she made our living, until, until the mill started cutting out. And, then, of course, over, in time, there wasn't that many people coming in for board, so it was just slowly going away. So, that's when they hired me, they let me work in the commissary two days a week, uh, Saturdays and, and, and Fridays and Saturdays, to, uh, supplement what little income she had, and that's what we lived on 'til the mill just finally cut out, and then, I, of course, had to take over, and my mother lived with me 'til she died, just she, she and I, so we were good friends, good friends. Enjoyed it. AM: You said earlier, she never remarried… WN: Never remarried, she said that she wouldn't let no man whoop on her children, she knew it'd be a killin', 'cause she'd kill him! [laughs] But, uh… AM: And, and where was she from? WN: She was from Brushy Community, just three miles north of Alden Bridge. She was born there at the, in the Bushy Community, all those people, and that's still a big community of people, there. AM: Is it, Brushy, Louisiana, does it have a zip code? WN: They just call it "Brushy", I guess it is, I don't… AM: Oh, Brushy Community. WN: Brushy Community, yes, uh-huh, but, no, I don't think it's on the map, but, uh, well, Coyle Engineering, he has his home there, he lives there. He's, uh, his daddy, his, uh, granddaddy and my mother were, uh, brother and sisters, so we're all related to all of 'em. AM: I see. Well, Kitty Coyle… WN: Kitty Coyle. AM: …worked here for awhile. WN: Yes. Kitty is, is, is, uh, his sister. And, uh… AM: Mm-hm. Is this Gravy, Gravy Coyle? WN: Gravy Coyle, that's right, mm-hm. And, uh, yeah, I visited Kitty there, you know, once or twice. AM: Oh, did you? WN: Yeah, mm-hm. But, uh, I, I don't know where she went to work, I don't know what she was doin', where she was workin'? AM: Oh, I'm not sure if she's actually employed, um, by any company or anything, but I know she's very, um, active, in local activities for Plain Dealing. WN: Oh, yeah. Mm-hm. AM: Um, she worked with, um, one group, they did a calendar of historic homes in Plain Dealing to raise money for the Christmas lights in Plain Dealing, if I'm not mistaken. WN: Mm-hm. Well, they're good people, the Coyles are good people. AM: Yes, yes, they are. WN: Gravy is, he hosts the Fourth of July celebration every year. And probably a hundred and twenty-five, thirty, forty, fifty, uh, relatives; we all go there for fourth of July. Every year. AM: Oh, so it's still a big event, more or less! For your families. WN: Big event, that's right. Third and Fourth of July. And, uh, Gravy's mother's daddy worked in the commissary for Welori, he's the one I said was a butcher. Well, after, after the, the meat inspectors got so bad, he had to quit butcherin', you know? On account of inspections, and he just had a, uh, slaughter house up there at his place. And, so, he had to quit butcherin', so they hired him in the commissary, and he cut beef there, of course, and, uh, but he was a clerk there in the commissary. And when they closed the bus.., uh, Welori Lumber Company went out of business, they were goin' to close the store, well, he bought the old store. 'Course he had to tear it down, it was so old, and moved it up on Highway 3. On the road, about three quarters of a mile where you turned into the main road at Alden Bridge, moved over, up on the highway, there, and bought him a couple acres of land, and put him in grocery store there, and he kept that, I guess, until, he expired, I reckon. AM: So that was, that would've been Mr. Strand? WN: That's Hugh Strand, that's, that's, that is Gravy's, Gravy's mother's daddy, yeah. AM: Right, I knew she was a Strand. WN: Huh? AM: I knew that Mrs. Coyle was a Strand. WN: Yeah, she's a Strand, yeah, that was Hugh Strand, yeah, mm-hm. And my mother was a Strand. AM: Oh, okay! WN: They all lived right up on the, uh, going, when you're going north, when you get over the big hill, there, at Swindleville, you know, and then when you go down, then, up there about, after you go down to the hill, about a mile up there, the road turns to the left, and there's a great big hill. They lived on top of the hill, up there, about a mile, no, about a half a mile off of Highway 3. And it was an old, old, the Old Plain Dealing Road came down in front of their house, at that time. AM: Uh-huh. WN: And, then, of course, when they built Highway 3, well, they were, it wasn't a half-mile, it was a quarter of mile off the road, anyway, from the top of the hill, but the house it still there. AM: Oh, it is? WN: That house is not, they built, they tore it down and built another house. AM: Oh, I see. WN: From, uh, Aunt Suzy, when she lived there. She was, uh, Suzy wasn't a baby, she was next to the baby, but she had a tough life, so, they, the sisters, well, and the two boys, Hugh and Frank, they let her, you know, give her the old homeplace, where she could live there. Sure did. AM: Well, back to the boarding house, one more time. You said you thought, it would probably seat, sleep, excuse me, eleven, twelve people? WN: Eleven, twelve people, that's right, mm-hm. AM: And, the people, how long would they stay when they were there? WN: Well, some of 'em worked by the week, and would go home for the weekends, just a diff'ernt, diff'ernt, uh, a diff'ernt calling, I guess. Some of 'em, I guess, would stay there, I don't remember how long, uh, it was, it was an ever changin' deal, you know… AM: Mm-hm. WN: …because, uh, people would come through, and they'd land a job, and they didn't have no place to stay, so they'd stay there, and then, if they had a family, they'd move their family there. And if they didn't, then they wouldn't stay there too long, they'd move off, and they'd hire someone else to, to replace 'em, you know. AM: And your mother took care of all that bookkeeping, and… WN: Well, no bookkeeping, they paid, they, they took her money out at the store, she didn't, [laughs] I mean… AM: Oh, okay. WN: …like I say, they paid in, in punch outs, so, she would, they took, took, done the bookkeeping at the store. They collected her money for her there. AM: Oh. WN: And they was, of course, there was overnight, probably was fifty cents, and the meal was, you know, it was say a dollar and twenty-five cents a day, well, she would have that much coming. It'd be whether, they just stayed there five days, well, you know, they'd take it out of their pay. And, then, they would issue her a punch out. AM: Oh. WN: They didn't give her cash, anyway. AM: I wonder who came up with that idea? WN: Huh? AM: I wonder who came up with that idea? WN: Well that was during, during that time, slavery time, you know? And, and, those people didn't pay their people, they paid their people in food, you know? And, you know, and say when it comes time to gather the crop, they didn't have nothing coming, so the man done charged him a lot more than they had comin', so that just, that's the same, if that's my dollar, I'm gonna control it till I die, then you can have what's left of it. AM: [Laughs] Do you have any of those punch out cards? WN: No. AM: No? WN: Uh-uh, sure don't. Sure don't. AM: I'd love to see what one looked like. WN: Well, it was just, it had a little, uh, it was just like you clip somethin' there. AM: A puncher? WN: And it had a certain design on it, that showed the clip, in other words, somebody couldn't punch it out, and say you spent it. It had, it had a kind of, I don't know, a ziggly-zaggly deal there, that it showed when it punched out. It was a legal punch-out, you know? AM: Mm-hm. WN: Because it was paper, if it got wet, well, if it didn't, wasn't punched out, you could bring it back, you know? When, they, they could place it, you know, lay it on another one, and see what, uh, what you had lost, and they could make it up to you. They, they didn't beat you, I mean, you know? AM: It was all honest. WN: It was all honest, yeah, it sure was. AM: Well, it would have had to have been, to have operated as long as it did, to have worked for as long as it did. WN: Yeah, and they were good people, you know? They, they take care, took care of the people. And I know they helped my mother, I know, the, the Rivers was good to her, they was good to me. And I was late in life, you know? And both of my brothers worked at the, the; they didn't work at the mill, per se, but they drove trucks. They worked for Welori, both of my, George and John, my oldest brother worked for them. Until, I guess, uh, John was, I guess he was, uh, twenty-four, twenty-five when he left there, he'd been driving trucks…he worked there since he was probably thirteen, fourteen. My oldest brother. AM: And, John is the one who became the mayor of Bossier City? WN: No, that was George. AM: George, I'm sorry. WN: Yeah. And John was the oldest. He was the one, he was twelve…so as soon as he got old enough, of course he went to school, and then, uh, but they worked him there at the mill to help mother, and, uh, uh, then, soon as he was old enough, they let him drive a lumber truck. Didn't none of us ever work in the loggin' woods. And, uh, but they wouldn't let me do anything, I, they let me deliver ice! [Laughs] But… AM: Deliver ice [Laughs]. WN: Deliver ice, that's right, yes ma'am. So, they had the ice house, they had everything, you know; wasn't no such thing, didn't, they didn't have a refrigerator or anything, you know, you just had to have ice to keep your food, so we delivered ice every day. AM: Every day? WN: Every day, mm-hm. People come in, in the morning time, and they'd order the ice, then after lunch, we'd put the ice in the back of an open truck, didn't have nothin' to cover it with. They had twenty-five pounds, or you know, ten pounds, or five pounds; you cut it, you pick it, and you'd get as close as you could. Of course, if anybody had, ordered five and ten, well, you just cut that out of a twenty-five pound block and done the best you could. You may have got four pounds, you may've got six pounds, but, uh… AM: It was close, to what you'd ordered… WN: It was close, but we wasn't trying to cheat ya… AM: Did you actually do the, the picking, and the sizing? WN: Yeah, yes, yes, we, we'd uh, I probably wasn't but…twelve, or thirteen, when they let me start driving trucks, 'cause it's all up there in the woods, you know? And, they told me to get in, and learn to drive the truck, and I did. So, uh, but then they'd give me a list of, of who had, probably, probably wouldn't be ten people to deliver ice to, because most of 'em didn't fool with, you know, they just, if they wanted something special, they'd go buy enough to freeze 'em some ice cream, but they didn't even, even have an, uh, ice cooler in the house. But, but, yeah, I can remember one time, [Laughs] going up a hill, and the ice all slid out the back of the truck. AM: Oh, no! WN: But I got it up, and cleaned it off. I delivered it, anyhow. [Both laughing] WN: But, anyhow…uh, but they, they were good to me, I mean, they taught me life, and they taught me honesty, and I've been successful. For a saw mill boy, I've come a long way. Long way, I can think of the days now, living up there in my little brick house, and it's so little, it's too big, I'm by myself, but, I can look up and see the stars. And it don't even rain on me any more. AM: Do you have any recollection of the depression, and how it affected the community? WN: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. AM: Could you talk a little bit about that? WN: Yeah, well I can remember the main thing I remember, remember about the depression, when it was so hard for us, during, at that time, we weren't, didn't have the quite have the boarding house, as it was, but my Uncle Hall Nattin was the sheriff of Bossier Parish. And, uh, uh, he was highly successful, I don't know how he got so highly successful, but he was. But, uh, well, really I just don't know…I know, I know that, uh, him and Mr. Bill Hossier had slot machines together. And, I know that, and, but, uh, how much…reason I know that, because I know Mr. Hossier went to the penitentiary from federals, they got him at the slot machines. And he had ended up the richest man in Bossier Parish, but… AM: [Laughs] WN: But, my Uncle Hall dealt, dealt out of it, and he said, "You can have the…you can have the money if you take the time." So he took the time, he went to Angola. AM: And that was "Hossier", H-O… WN: Yep, A. W. Hossier, H-O-S-S-I-E-R. He owned…big plantation in South Bossier Parish. And, uh AM: Did it have a name, the plantation? Or, it was just… WN: A. W. Hossier, had a grocery store, and everything. Big, big planation. And, my uncle had a drug store on the corner of uh, Hall Nattin on Barksdale Boulevard, where it just, used to be a pawn shop there, now it's some kind of a hand-readin', you know, palm-readin' thing, there, now. AM: Oh, uh-huh. WN: That was Nattin Drug Store, there on that corner, there. AM: Was he a pharmacist or he just owned the drug store. WN: No, he owned the drug store, and I think that's where they bootlegged whiskey. I don't know that, now [Laughs]. AM: So, you're saying you think your uncle may've been involved in that? WN: Well, I know he was. My mind was old enough to know some things, yeah! AM: Well, I, I didn't know if you wanted to say that. [Laughs} WN: I knew at that time, that when they, they, bootlegged whiskey, and, and there's some big people in bootleggin' whiskey at that time. Big people, I won't call any names, because we're being recorded, but you'd be surprised, you'd be surprised. AM: Well, tell me a little more about the depression, I… WN: Oh, the depression, well, uh, I started to say Uncle Hall had a little ol' truck with a stake bed on it. It'd wasn't, looked like about a half ton pick-up. Big truck. And he would bring groceries up to my mother, you know, because he knew, you know… AM: 'Cause you all were having a hard time. WN: Oh, yes, uh-huh, yeah. AM: And he was helping out. WN: And he would help, yeah, he would do that. That's the main thing I can remember, uh, about, uh, you know…I'd say if my mother could…you opened the refrigerator, wouldn't be nothin' in it, she could make a meal out of something left in the refrigerator. She was just that good a cook, a "manager". But, uh, uh…we had, we had, we had hard times, yes, I can remember once when things were bad at the mill, that she and I would, uh, my Uncle Everett had gave, gaven me a, he let us have a cattle cow to milk onetime, a car, hit the little ol' calf, hit her calf out on the road one night and broke its leg, so he said, "I'll give you that calf, boy", so I got a man to set that calf's leg, it was a heifer, and, uh, I was probably nine at that time. And, uh, so, uh, that little heifer ended up our life-line. You just, raised cash for us, and I never did learn to milk, but my mother'd milk, and I'd hold her, hold the calf, while she milked. AM: Oh, my gosh! WN: And, uh, and, uh, we had, we could put the ice in the bottom of the old, refriger…ice box, you know, and ice, and we'd keep our milk in there, and we had milk and bread. I mean, we lived off of milk and bread, a bunch of days, that's all we had. AM: And the cream would collect that thick on the top? WN: Oh, yes, man, and we'd churn it, and [clabber?], man, boy, just just getting' after me now, I'd go get buttermilk, and I don't like it till it gets aged, you know? "Waylan, you not gonna drink that!", they said the date said the twenty-ninth, maybe the twenty-ninth, I said, "Yeah, man, it's good, now!" [Both laughing] WN: But, yeah, I was raised on it, I sure was. AM: Was, was there a garden, did you have a garden? WN: Oh, yes, we had a big garden. We had… AM: Well, what did you grow? WN: Everything. You name it, everything. And we lived good of our garden, and we always had hogs. And, we… AM: Chickens? WN: Chickens, had chickens, and, uh, yeah, we, we, we… AM: You had to. WN: Had to. You had, you had to live off, you lived off the land. We didn't have anything to go to the store and buy anything with, you know? And, uh, the only, like I say, the only time that we bought anything at the store was when we had boarders, and we had credit over there, you know? Because we had no connection with the mill, we didn't have a runnin' account, unless we had, you know, over there. And, and, but… AM: What about your toys? Were there toys? Did you, I know that baseball was big… WN: Yes, I can remember my first Christmas, I can remember that. We lived in the Elder Hill House, and I can see it today. And I got a little green tractor, that tractor was about this long, and about that high. And I can see that tractor right now. AM: What happened to it? WN: Age got it, I'm sure. I played with it, I played with it so much, I just, no tellin' how many thousands of dollars I made plowin' with it [Laughs]. Yes, yes. But, no, that was, that, to me, is the, is the only Christmas that I can remember, as a present, you know, as havin' a Christmas present. Now, we had, we had Christmas Dinners, we had that, but we just… AM: Stocking, did you have a stocking? WN: That one I did, but I don't remember another at that time. AM: It was just too hard. WN: Just too hard. AM: For your mom. WN: Just didn't have it, uh-huh, but I had, well, of course, we had Brazil Nuts, you know? We called 'em "niggertoes", and, and then [laughs], but I can remember them, and some English Walnuts in my stocking, and some peppermint candy, I can see it right now. And, man, I loved it, it was just, I can see the whole room, in the old Elder House, the old Elder House only had two rooms, uh, one was, I guess, we'd call a bedroom, or a dining room, the other one is the bedroom where my mother and I, you know, slept. And, uh, we had the stove in there, and that's where the sitting room, and, and, and, mother and I's bedroom. Of course, I was a baby, and, uh, …it just wasn't much to the house, but… AM: What did you do in the summertime? You swam, and…? WN: Oh, yes. We had the, they quit lettin' us swim in the mill pond, they had a big mill pond there, they let us fish in it, but they wouldn't let us swim in it, because some people got to go in there and bathe in it, you know? And usin' soap and gettin' in the boilers and messin' it up. AM: Oh. WN: But, uh, we'd go to Cypress Creek, which is Cypress Lake, now. The creek, Cypress ran, it was about a half-mile from my house to, maybe a little more than that to Cypress. We had a swimmin' hole down there, and we had a great big ol' grapevine, that hung up in the tree, and we cut it off at the ground, and we'd swing out off of it, and drop in that thing. 'Course now, in the summertime, in late summer, it'd dry up till we just had a little hole there, so we couldn't, wouldn't drop in it, then. But during the high water, during the spring time, it was real good. AM: Did you play baseball? WN: Oh, yes, we had a baseball diamond there at Alden Bridge. We had a school, we had a, it was a two-room school, schoolhouse. And we had a nice church house, it was Unitarian. I mean, whoever, Presbyterian, whoever wanted to call it, they'd call it the church, but it was a Unitarian Church. I can remember, you know, preachers having gospel meetings there, you know, two or three weeks at a time, and just… AM: Um, back to the Fourth of July thing, I know I'm skipping around, here, I don't mean to, but, how many people would come, and how far, from how far away would they come to those Fourth of July dinners? WN: Well, now, I'd say probably, you know, it wasn't, there wasn't many automobiles at that time. I'd generally say, one house out of ten had a car. So there was, you know, mule, horse and mule transportation? But I'd say probably four miles, five miles [indistinguishable], but there'd be a nice group there, probably a hundred and twenty, hundred thirty-forty people. AM: Wow. WN: Yeah. Plenty to eat, plenty to eat. And, uh, we had, they, they had watermelon at certain times of the year when they got plentiful. They'd put watermelons in the ice house. AM: Mm! WN: And they'd be cold, that was the only cold watermelon they ever had, but, and they'd bring 'em, we'd get 'em down there, and bring 'em all down there, and put 'em on the table, invite everybody down there, and we'd have, of course, the boys, we'd have rind fights after that. We had plenty of them. [Both laugh] AM: Your mom canned? Did she make watermelon rind preserves? My mother always made those. WN: Yes. She'd make that, she made peach brandy. She loved peach brandy, and I'll tell you a good story on her. She made peach brandy one year, we always had those old peach trees out in the yard, and it wouldn't be that big. Anyway, she'd make her brandy out of it, and, uh, so she made her brandy, you know, you take them old peaches and you boil 'em, then you take the mash, and mush it down, and she took all that stuff that didn't go into the brandy and fed it to our hogs. We had eleven great big 'ol white hogs out there she was fattenin', you know, puttin' 'em up in the summer, and fed 'em till fall, to kill 'em. And them hogs got drunk. You oughta' seen 'em. AM: Oh. Are you serious? WN: If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'! Them old hogs, looked like they, they didn't weigh that much, looked like they weighed a hundred and fifty pounds, they probably weighed ninety pounds. But they was out there all drunk. [Imitates drunk snore] AM: Oh, no! What did she do? You just let 'em… WN: Oh, just let 'em lay there drunk, they finally got up. She didn't feed 'em…oh, I got a charley horse…she didn't feed 'em any more peach brandy. But, uh… AM: You need to stand up, walk around? WN: Yeah, I'm goin' have to. [Recording stops, then resumes] WN: That brandy deal… AM: I would've loved to have seen that, sounds like fun, uh… WN: Yeah, she canned everything, I mean, you know, out of the garden, and we just, she made jellies and jams, and I'd go pick mayhaws, and bring 'em home, she'd make mayhaw jelly. And, now, I got me a mayhaw tree in my back yard, and I make my own jelly. AM: Oh! Oh, there's nothing better than that! I love it. Um, my mother used to make it. She would go miles to pick 'em. WN: Yeah! AM: And now my… WN: Oh, somebody… [Recording stops, then resumes] WN: It wasn't no water. I found out, I went over to Sibley, and bought a gallon of mayhaws of one old man over there. And, uh, he had mayhaw trees in the back yard. Big ones. Biggest mayhaw tree I've ever seen. And, uh, so he had some out there, and he'd a, he had a grafted. So I give him twenty-five dollars for one of 'em, put it out in my yard, and I got a beautiful mayhaw tree in my back yard. AM: And it makes good mayhaws? WN: Oh, yeah! Yeah, I called some old boy, I didn't even pick 'em up this year. I had so much jelly, I mean, juice. I mean you gotta make the juice and freeze the juice, you know? AM: That's what mother would do. WN: And so, when I want some mayhaw, I'll just make me some jelly. And, I have plum trees in my yard, too. But, anyway, AM: What about peaches? You have a peach tree? [Laughs] WN: No, I don't have a peach tree. I never did, never did do much peach preserves, my wife… AM: Or brandy, huh? WN: Brandy, no I didn't do any brandy! But, uh, anyway, mayhaws, they easy, no problem, you have to water 'em. AM: My niece learned to make jelly from my mother. [Recording stops, then resumes] AM: I was hoping you could tell us about school, going to school in Alden Bridge, was it… WN: I didn't attend school in Alden Bridge. They cut it out about two years before I was old enough to go to school, three years…but, uh, I, my brothers and my sister, I don't think she went there either, she was two years older than I was. But they went there, and my brothers did, and I can remember, uh, goin' down to the school, and, you know, just, like I say, a two room school. And they was all in the same room, most of the time. But, I don't know other than that, they only had one teacher. AM: One teacher. Do you remember the teacher's name? WN: No, I don't. I can remember… AM: Well, if you didn't go to school there, then that's… WN: Well, I didn't know, yeah, but… AM: Where did you go? WN: At Benton. AM: You went to Benton? WN: Benton, yeah, mm-hm, sure did. AM: And how did you get there? WN: I had a school bus driver that lived in Alden Bridge. And he'd pick us up every morning. AM: Oh. WN: And, and, then we went to Benton. And, then, uh, in later years, they, they, after the mill cut down, wasn't enough people left in Alden Bridge, they'd started cuttin' out, so then they started picking up at Alden Bridge, and goin' to, uh, out to Dixie Crossroads, out, you know, where the 162, the cemetery? And turn on that old Plain Dealing Road, and goin' into Benton thataway, we picked up all those kids, so it was a circular ride. AM: And there was a high school in Benton, so you just went straight, all the years. WN: Yeah, I finished there, start and finished at Benton. Didn't go my first year, I went, when I was still livin' in the old, in the old, uh, Elder House over there, well, I had turned six… AM: Mm-hm. WN: And that is the reason I can remember when we moved out of it. And, so, uh, Mother put me on the bus to go to school. I went to school, and I think I cried all the way there, and all the way back, and all during school. And I come home, and my, my best friend lived just a block north, uh, south of where I lived from over there. And he wasn't old enough to go to school. And, I said, "I don't want to go to school", I said, "next year, when Manson goes to school, I'll go, I don't wanna go." He said, "All right." So, I didn't go to school. [Both laugh] WN: And, so, that made me a little late graduating, but I made it. AM: But it was better for you mentally, I'm sure. WN: Oh, sure it was. I just didn't, I just didn't, you know, I didn't, but, I just didn't care anything about it. Then, I didn't mind goin' to school after, you know, but I knew no kid on the bus my age, I was the only "baby" on the bus, and, uh, the rest of 'em had been in the other school, you know, and they was all…there was just no one, I guess the closest person to my age would have been in the fourth or fifth grade, you know? And I just didn't like it, you know? AM: Well, yeah, that's a big gap, there. From a baby to a fourth grader. WN: Yeah, yeah. 'Cause it wasn't many, Manson is the only kid my age, uh, boy that I know of in town, and, uh, may have been some girls, but we didn't count girls in those days and times, you know? [Both laugh] AM: So, the two of you, your best friend and you started the same year? WN: Yeah, same year. And, then, he, uh, his family got transferred away, and he lived with us, to go to school for a year or two. We didn't have nothin' to eat, but we fed him anyhow. AM: Oh, my goodness. Well, your mom must have been a really great woman. WN: She was, she was a provider. She could, she could take a little flour, and a little lard, and a little milk, and she could make you a meal out of something. She'd make something, I guarantee you, she was good. And, uh, she was a good provider. She was the best "daddy" a boy like me could have, I guarantee you, because she did…tell you about my first whoopin', I can remember that just like it was yesterday. AM: Let's hear that. WN: Uh, I was five years old. I can see it, I, my first memory, I can remember my first Christmas, and this. I was five. But anyway, I love fried chicken. I was a little boy, and I loved fried chicken. So, my mother, like I said, [indistinguishable, old house?] Well, the old house was built on blocks, and it was up off of the earth, the ground that high, but in the back, it stepped down, and had a back porch out there, with no cover on it, just a porch out there. And, uh, so she, she, she raised chickens, and she always had chickens in the coop, feedin' em, you know, for Sunday dinner, and this, that, and the other. But, anyhow, that old hen out there in the yard, chickens in the coop, this is the middle of the week. And I loved fried chicken. So that old hen out there had a bunch of little biddies, little ol' things was about that tall, like that, you've seen little bitty chickens… AM: Sure. WN: And, they was runnin' around, followin' that old hen, "cheep-cheep-cheep-cheepin'". And, so, they went up under that back porch. And there was an old rake, you know, garden, you know, iron rake there by the house. And, they had them prongs on it, you know, were down…and I said, "I want me some of them little chickens" I got down on my knee…I can still see myself down there, now. Under that porch, and I look up under there and see them chickens, and I put that thing over it's neck, and I pull him out there, he'd be dead when I got him. AM: Oh! WN: And I piled up five of them things, I can just see 'em, a little pile, the pile wasn't that big. AM: Oh, for goodness sake. WN: And, I went to the back door, and Aunt Cindy Wilson, uh, mother always had a cook when she had boarders, you know, to help clean up and all that. AM: I was going to ask about that. WN: Yeah, she always had, had a cook, you know, you could get one for practically nothin'. But, uh, she couldn't have done it all, wash dishes and everything. But, anyway, she was in the kitchen cleaning up, and, I said, "Aunt Cindy, come here." "Watcha want, boy?" I said, "I want some fried chicken" [Side A ends, Side B begins} WN: …dogwood, you know, in those days, no grass grew in the yard, the yard is just like this [raps on table top], you know, no grass. AM: Mm-hm. That's the way people want? WN: Yeah, no, because of fire. In other words, didn't have no fire department. But, anyway, the yard is just as clean as this, no grass in it. But she had a brush broom where it would sweep the leaves out off the yard. Don't let 'em get under the house, you know, cause a fire. And, the dogwood, I don't know whether, dogwood got little thorns on it, you know? AM: I didn't know that. WN: But, anyway, you make the brush broom, sweep it, but she got that brush broom, and she whooped me with that brush broom. AM: Oh, ouch. WN: I can…I never killed no more chickens! [Both laugh] WN: But I tell you, that the reason I tell you, she, now, she didn't whoop me, spank me many times in my lifetime, but it was a re-memorable occasion. AM: I'll bet, when she did. WN: Rememborable occasion, so, I ended up a pretty good boy, after all. [Both laugh] AM: I'm sure you did. WN: But, uh… AM: Well, was your family, the Strands were Methodist? WN: Presbyterian. AM: Presbyterian. WN: Cottage Grove Church. AM: That's right, that's what Kitty was, mm-hm. WN: Presbyterian, yeah. Uh, now they've branched out, some of all makes in it now, but, uh, I'm still a Presbyterian. AM: Are you? WN: Yeah, I joined the [indistinguishable, Cottage Grove?] and I've stayed, I've, my membership's not there, it's down on, uh, Airline now, uh, Trinity, was the first church for many years down in town. But, uh… AM: When, where there, um, circuit riding preachers that would come, or did you have a preacher every Sunday? That may have been before your time. WN: Well, no we didn't have church every Sunday, they kind of, a hit and miss. I guess until Brother Miller, and he was a Presbyterian preacher, he was from Plain Dealing. And, uh, yes we had circuit-riding before, but that's the only one I can remember that would, I can remember he bought him a new car every year, and automobiles had come in, and that's about, I was about, I don't know, eight, nine years old. Along in there. And he came to Alden Bridge, I think every third Sunday, something, and, and had church. And, uh, then he was preaching at Cottage Grove, Plain Dealing. Of course, at Cottage Grove, and then, I guess that was the reason that he came there. But, anyway, uh, he had, we'd have a good crowd there, on Sundays. AM: Did everybody go to all the, um, services, or just…? WN: Oh, just about, yeah. Anybody that wanted to go to church, didn't make any difference who was preachin', wasn't no Baptist, Presbyterian, or what, we were just all, just all go to church, yeah. And we had Sunday School every Sunday morning. And, uh, didn't, but didn't have preachin' every week. But, probably, at least once a month, sometimes it'd be twice a month…at least once a month, mm-hm. And, then, uh, when joined, Mother and I joined the church together when I was about eleven years old, out at Cottage Grove. And, uh, I don't know where, or remember where our membership was before then, don't know…I really don't know whether she had…because they had lived, lived over in Gilliam, they had a, my dad, Jordan, that, and Hall and that, and the other…I think about a three-thousand acre river farm over there at Gilliam. And, uh, so I know we, when Uncle Hall died, Uncle Hall died, well, of course, Uncle Hall let my mother lease, and get the money off of it. He had plenty of money, but when he died his daughter didn't want, and I'm sure it was lawyers told her, didn't want any part of it, so she wanted to sell it. So we had to [stay?] AM: Oh. WN: And, uh… AM: Is your mother buried at Cottage Grove? WN: Yes, uh-huh. AM: She is? WN: She is. And my dad. Mother and Dad, and little sister, that's all of 'em. And, and, uh, but I know I'm not going back there. None of the kids are going back there. It's too lonesome out there, I'm afraid the hoot owls will get me… [Both laugh] WN: No, we bought our lots, my wife, my wife passed away six years ago, we bought our place out at, uh, Hillcrest. AM: Mm-hm. WN: We just bought, bought our lots out there, and bought our funeral and paid for it, and don't, we don't worry about it, we just die and they come get us. AM: Oh! Well, um, what is your recollection of the first car that, that you had? WN: First car I had, owned? AM: Yes. WN: Me? AM: Well, did your mother drive? WN: No. Never had a car. AM: You never had a car, when she was… WN: I never owned a car till I was twenty-nine years old, when I bought my first car. AM: So, you were gone, then. WN: Huh? AM: Where you still in Alden Bridge, then? WN: No, no, I was in Bossier when I bought my first, I, I, when I graduated from high school, and the mill had shut down, there was nothing there. I couldn't get anything to do there. And I think I started to tell ya I was hitchhiking to town to get a job, and Vega Rivers picked me up, and I told him where I was going. And when I got, he let me out in downtown Shreveport. Well, he carried me about four blocks from where I was going, but let me out. And, uh, I walked over there, and had a little while before I could get in, so talking to the man that was going to ask for the job, the Holsum Baking Company is where it was. And, so, I went in and told him who I was, his name was Didier, I can remember, just as nice as he could be. And, I told him…he said, "Well, Waylan," said, "I'm sorry, we can't hire you." He said, "I had a call from Welori that if I hire you, they're not going to buy our Holsum Bak…bread any more." He didn't want me to go to…he said, it was his fault, that I could get a better job, then. And, I did. But, he blocked that job. And I had worked for Holsum Baking Company my last year in high school, year and a half. The mill was about shut out, and they didn't, couldn't use any, you know. AM: Mm-hm. WN: And, uh, ol' boy had a route that went from Alden Bridge, he picked me up at my house in Alden Bridge, and we went to the store over there, and then we went to Swindle…went to Swindleville, and turned and went to Cotton Valley, Hughesberg, Ivan…worked… AM: Are these all, that your saying…these places are all in Bossier Parish? WN: No, they was in Webster, but that's, we went and delivered bread, this man did. Went all up to Spring Hill, Taylor, Arkansas, and come back through Plain Dealing, you know, and back to Alden Bridge. And, and he'd pick me up and use me half the day. He'd give me four or five dollars, I mean, because he was stealin' money. But he paid me good. You know, I didn't, I was thirteen, fourteen…I wasn't fourteen years old, I guess. Hadn't finished school. And they let me, they let me go to high school at Benton. Let me finish high school, working Thursdays and Fridays in that bakery, in that bread truck. AM: Wow. WN: And, uh, they was just so good to me. But, uh, Hudson Johnson was the principal. AM: Hudson Johnson. WN: Hudson Johnson. And he was a good 'un, too. I can tell you a good 'un, right there. Now you…show you how boys are, even though they was lettin' me miss two days of school, and still going to graduate. I played hooky one day. One, one Wednesday. And, I, me and about three or four boys. We walked north of Benton, get out of Benton, and hitchhiked on the side of the road up there, trying to get to Alden Bridge. And we were just over the overpass, there. And standing there, thumb out, hitchhiking…good lookin' car pulled up, stopped, "Get in!" Hudson Johnson. AM: Oh, no! [Both laugh] AM: Your principal! WN: I said, "Uh-oh!" He said, "Where you going?" I said, "home." He said, "Okay, I'm going to take you there." So, he, we was in the big house over there, and we pulled up there in Alden Bridge, and, the other two boys still in the car with me. One of 'em had lived right up there, so he told him to walk on home. He was a school bus driver's son. But, anyway, he went on home. So, he…Mother was out in the yard, with that old brush broom, sweepin' leaves up, you know. And, oh, I was glad to see her do that, because I knew I was going to have to do it that evening, anyhow, when I come home, but, me and Hudson got up, we walked over there, and he said, "Hey Miss Nattin, how you doin'?" "Fine, Mr. Johnson, how are you doin'?" He said, "Mrs. Nattin, I got something I want to ask you." She said, "What's that?" He said, "Uh, Waylan played hooky today." He said, "You care if I whoop him?" She said, "I'll help you if you want me to." [Both laugh] AM: And she had the broom right there, in her hand! WN: Yeah, but she didn't…he said…he left, and said, "Waylan, you go ahead and enjoy your day off." Says, "I'll see you in the office in the morning, when you come to school." AM: Ohhh, so you had to sleep through the night, thinking about that. WN: Well, I did, but, you know, I knew he wasn't gonna hurt me, I was a big ol' boy. So, the next morning I went into school, and he paddled me. AM: He did? WN: Yeah. He did, and he said, "Waylan, it hurts me, and it hurts you, but you done me wrong, boy." I said, "I realize it." AM: And you never did it again? WN: No, I didn't do him that way again. Because he was good to me. He let me, you know… AM: Graduate. WN: I don't even know if they was marking me absent, because I don't how I would've finished, taking off two days a week. AM: Right, that was a lot of time off. WN: It was a lot of time off, and I finished good. Made good grades, and everything. But, I did him wrong, it was wrong. And he didn't even…I don't guess the parents would have agreed to the other boys, he didn't mention it to me, and I sure didn't ask him why he didn't spank them. AM: Right. WN: But, they weren't leaving school two days a week, not going to school two days a week, either, so. AM: That was a valuable lesson learned. WN: Huh? AM: A valuable lesson. WN: A valuable lesson learned, and to be thankful, and don't mistreat people that's helping you. And, uh, he was sure helping me. AM: Well, was…you said the mill shut down about two years, it was shutting down… WN: Shutting down… AM: …when you left. WN: Yeah, it had shut completely down when I left. They was selling, they was selling scrap iron, I guess, the last, last year that I was in Alden Bridge, they was dismantling, they was sellin' all this scrap, you know, and [clears throat], just gettin' every dollar they could out of it. AM: Well, there was a post office there until the mill shut down completely, and then the post office was no more? WN: Was no more, they, they had a, when they took it away from Mr. Elder, down there, Welori got it, and they put it in the main store over there. And of course, I don't know what the government paid 'em, I don't know what they paid them for running the post office, but they had that concessioned through, when they got it from, uh, Mr. Elder. AM: Well Alden Bridge was in a really good location, for, for it to be a saw mill town. WN: Yeah, it was, yeah, yeah. And they owned, Welori owned so much timber…so much land and field around Alden Bridge, and Cotton Valley, and all over. That's what really made Crystal Oil, you know Crystal Oil come and bought Welori's… AM: No, I didn't know that. WN: …land over there, yes. And, uh, the old man…I say, "old man", he was a good ol' man, Mr. Dunham, who was a bookkeeper at the saw mill, you know, and the grocery store. He was a, he was a bookkeeper based on everything there, and Crystal Oil, hired him to look after their holdings, you know, after the…and I guess he stayed with them until he died. AM: So there was oil under all that timber? WN: Oh, yeah! They, they… AM: They knew that, didn't they? WN: I'm sure they did. AM: Early on, but they didn't know what to do with the oil. WN: They didn't know what to do with it. There wasn't any activity for it, you know? And Crystal, you know, they made a big oil company, and then, of course, that all went away because they got crooked with it, like Enron. AM: Oh, is that what happened? WN: Yeah, mm-hm, mm-hm. AM: What a shame, for, you know, for the saw mill to have operated so honestly, and so successfully, and then an oil company come in, and blow the whole thing. WN: Yep, blow the whole thing away. Yeah, and I don't know, really know who owns the land now, but, you know, it's all been sold out. I know Crystal bought it, and then it's all been parceled out. AM: But, the reason the saw mill actually, uh, ended was because they just cut too much timber. WN: Just, just, just went through all the good timber, yeah. There wasn't any left in the, that they could get. Well, they was truckin' probably twenty-five miles, and that was a long time, at that time. But, uh, and then the mill went in, the mill went in at Plain Dealing, and, uh, different mills got between 'em, and got timber that they would have gotten sooner or later. But, when they went in, well, they got the timber closer to them, you know? AM: Mm-hm. WN: And, uh, but it was…they just had the most beautiful logs, that…I can see the old trucks comin' in now, and the old, I'd see the old Shay train comin' in, and all those log cars behind 'em, you know? AM: Why did they call them Shay trains? WN: I don't know, that's what they used call them old, all those locomotives, that was…I don't know why, I really don't. Never heard why they [[Note: The Shay locomotive was the most widely used geared steam locomotive. They were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who can be fairly credited with the popularization of the concept of a geared steam locomotive. Although the design of Ephraim Shay's early locomotives differed from later ones, there is a clear line of development that joins all Shays.-source: wikipedia]] WN: …the old engineer, I knew him real well. He and my oldest brother coon hunted together all the time. AM: Did you ever go coon hunting? WN: Oh, yes, I went coon hunting, yeah, sure did. AM: Did you have pets, when you were… WN: I had dogs all my life, and never owned a horse, until I was grown. Never owned a horse in all my life, and, uh, just didn't…had several people around Alden Bridge that had horses, and they'd let me catch 'em and ride 'em. And, I did that, but, there was one old Colored man over close to me, up there named Rufus Stile. He must have had fifteen horses runnin' in the open range, you know? And I asked him, "Rufus", said, "Can I ride that one there?". "Yes, sir, anytime…yes, you can boy, any time you'll catch him, you can ride him!" And I had two or three of 'em I could catch, and I'd catch two or three of 'em and bring 'em to home, had a little ol' pen there I'd put 'em in, let 'em, you know, I couldn't keep 'em long, didn't have nothin' for 'em to eat. AM: Sure. WN: And I had to run 'em, I'd ride 'em two days, by Saturday, and Sunday, I'd turn 'em out where they could go find something to eat, I didn't have nothin' to feed 'em. AM: You rode 'em bareback? WN: Oh, yes, yes. Didn't have no saddle, didn't have any bridle, go to the sawmill and get me some old ropes that they tied lumber with? And make me a halter to put on and ride 'em [laughs]. AM: Oh. WN: Yep, sure did. Yessir, sure did! AM: Well, most of your memories of living in Alden Bridge are pleasant. Are good memories. WN: Good memories, sure was! I mean, I, I just, I thought I was a millionaire. Didn't have nothin'! I went to school a many a day with a Post Toastie's top in the sole of my shoe to keep my foot off the ground. You talk about poor, I was raised poor, sweetheart! AM: (Laughs) My mother always said, and everyone who knows me has heard me say this, she said, "We were so poor during the depression, we didn't know there was a depression!" That's why I was interested in your memories of the depression, because she said they didn't, they didn't know there was a depression. WN: No, we didn't know it, because, like I say, we had the milk cow, and, and, and, one thing I do remember in my life, my oldest brother, uh, somehow he'd get him a couple of birddogs, and, through the years, and when it wasn't bird season…but he lived in Houston, and he'd get Mother to feed his dogs, and of course he'd buy meal for her to make cornbread to feed the dogs, that's where me and brother, and Mother got our bread and milk, too. (laughs) That dog didn't get all that cornbread! (Both laugh) WN: And we eat a many a meal off of it. Because, you know, 'cause quail season only lasts two and a half, three months a year. And, the other nine months we'd keep his dog. AM: It would stay with your pets, too? WN: Oh, yeah, they was my pets, I'd take 'em huntin'. Didn't know what I was doin', but we'd go huntin'. AM: Did everybody live the same, in Alden Bridge? WN: No, no, because…let me think, I don't think there was another widow in Alden Bridge, other than my mother. Everybody else had a daddy. You know? And…a man, to make the living. But, uh, no, you know, most of 'em had a better life than we did, you know, because…I'd say in first nine, eight, nine years of my life, that I can remember, well, it was better because you had a bunch of boarders to feed, you know, and this, that, and the other. So we ate well. But then the last, from the time I was about eleven or twelve, well, it started going the other direction. And it got to the place that all, at one time, I swept the doctor's office…of course Welori furnished the doctor, Dr. J.B. Hall, who was the coroner of Bossier Parish, he lived there in Alden Bridge. Uh, I guess until I was probably, I don't know, seven, eight years old, he moved away from there. And, uh, he lived there, and he'd run the, he, he doctored all the people in Alden Bridge, you know. And, uh, he was on the company payroll. AM: Oh, I see. WN: Then he moved from Benton, and then he, they still kept him, he came up there every morning, and was there for a couple of hours, you know, to see anyone who had a problem. And, uh, then when he's finally elected coroner he just quit that, and then old Dr. Bell at Plain Dealing came down there. And, I, Dr. Bell hired me to clean his office. And he give me a dollar and a half a week. And, I'd work, and go, and, Dr. Bell said, "I don't have any money with me", and he wouldn't have a penny. And I'd been with him right for three or four weeks, you know, and "Dr. Bell, I sure do need it," because my mother needed the money, you know? AM: Yes. WN: And he said, "Well come on, ride to Plain Dealing with me, and I'll give you your money" I'd ride to Plain Dealing, he'd give me, if he owed it, three and half, four…then I'd hitchhike back to Alden Bridge, give Mother the money. But that was one of my jobs, you know? And then after that, well they hired me at the grocery, at the commissary. But, boy…I worked there a couple of years, I guess. AM: And what did you do there? WN: I was clerking in the store. They let me just punch, punch out, ring the cash register, they had money or what have you, you know? AM: Well, how long did your mother have the boarding house? WN:Well she still rented. We lived in the boarding house. The mill cut out and she lived there and I came to town in 1941 I came to Bossier and went to work for $50 per month. She still lived there about two or three months until I got two or three months, you know. Then I rented an apartment down here and moved her down here and worked. AM:By that time though, the boarding…. Yeah WN:Oh, it was gone. Uncle Bud still opened the store but nobody in town could buy anything. They were paying him, you know. AM:What is at Alden Bridge now? I think there is a sign on the road, isn't there? WN:That is all there is. There is two or three old colored families that owned their own home. They are still there. Of course, the ones that I knew are gone but I guess their children are still there. There is really nothing there now. I go through there every once in a while. AM: Do you? Do you ever get out and walk around? WN:Oh yeah, I walk over there. AM:What can you see? WN:Don't see nothing, just memories in my mind. AM:There's no structures? WN:Nothing, no structures whatsoever. AM:That is amazing. WN:Nothing whatsoever there. I just hadn't been to the mill pond in a long time. I used to go down there a lot, but it has grown up so I just don't want to walk there. There are snakes down there too. AM:Right WN:But, nothing there, nothing to draw you back there. Nothing but memory would take you there. AM:We have an account of one of the Wheless members going back, probably long after the mill shut down maybe the '50s or '60s he went back to see what was there and he didn't find much either. WN:Nothing there. AM:When people died, did the whole community mourn with the family and were most people buried where your parents are buried, at Cotrage Grove? WN:I can't say most, I know the Scarboroughs are there. They were at Alden Bridge, Walter and Rosebud. They were Scarboroughs and she was a Moses. One of the Moses girls married Mr. Jeff Rivers. Old man Moses was a bridge foreman for the lumber company. He had… there was a large family. There were three or four girls and two boys-Tommy and John Moses. They, they, none of them ever worked at the saw mill, they left and went into other… They were smart. They went into other type work. They did not work at the saw mill. Mr. Moses, I can see him now riding his old horse. He would ride out in the woods where they were cutting timber. AM:He was like a supervisor for the cutting. WN:For the cutting of timber, um hum. Then, of course, they hired Shorty Hagens was out at Midway where I was telling you the other camp was-the log cutting. AM:Yes WN:Well he looked after it out there. I really don't know anything about the Couchwood operations. They logged the other side, but I didn't know anything too much about Couchwood other than it was part of Welori. AM:It is gone too? WN:Oh yes, it has been gone. It lasted probably a year maybe two after Welori did. But they were getting logs from somewhere else over there. They had gotten rid of the railroad tracks and trains and everything. So they were going strictly off trucking logs in there. AM:Well, did the Allen Sash and Mill Company or Allen Company… WN:Allen Millworks? AM:Did it grow out of anything there at Alden Bridge? WN:Not that I know of. They may have sold them or cut lumber for them or this that and other. As far as them coming from anything there, I don't know of any connections. I sure don't. Just really, I don't know of anyone… Veggy moved to Monroe after the mill cut out and he bought the automobile dealership over there. I think Ford, Rivers Ford at Monroe. I don't know whether his kids… His kids would be old folks now. So I just really don't know whether he is still in business or not. I have not been to Monroe in so long. But if they are still in business, they kept it running a long time over there after Veggy died, I know. It seems to me like someone told me that it closed. AM:I had an uncle who actually worked at Rivers Ford for many years. WN:Is that right? Well Veggy was Jeff Rivers' oldest son and he managed the mill after Mr. Jeff died for six or seven years. But he married and Mr. Jeff built him a house next to his house. Two green houses up there in Alden Bridge, well there were really three because they painted Dr. Hall's house. There were three painted houses that the saw mill owned. I think they painted Mr. Dunham's. He lived right next to the commissary, the bookkeeper that I was telling you about. And they finally painted his house, but there was no paint other than the yellow house that I told you about. But that was the only a couple of houses that was painted. The rest of them was all the same thing. AM:I read in one of the accounts that I was reading that usually saw mill communities usually did not have painted houses. WN:No, they, you know, (laughter) Like I said, if they increased the family, they would build them a room and go right on. But they had people that were really loyal to them. Like I say, they took care of them. They had a company doctor and everything. I don't remember any real good, but like I said I wouldn't have known any of the people killed at the mill, you know, in accidents and this, that and the other. But I don't know what kind of sentiment they did with the family or anything. I am sure they gave them a few hundred dollars. I don't imagine they done a lot, because money just wasn't… They didn't make the money in this business that people make in business this day and time. They didn't have any extra money to throw around. AM:Well, did they have the big Fourth of July celebrations during the Depression? WN:Oh, yeah, pretty well right on through. AM:Do you remember dancing? Some of the earlier ones… there was dancing, dancing. WN:Well, on Saturday nights, yeah. AM:Oh, every Saturday night, not just the Fourth of July. WN:Just about somewhere, no it wasn't a dance place. No, different families out there would have dances on Saturday night, have a little ol' one instrument band or two. AM:What about Victrollas? Were there victrollas? WN:Oh yes, there had victrollas. I can remember one. We had one and had some old records. I would play them all. AM:Those big 78 RPM records? WN:Yeah, I have often wondered when my mother moved to town there was an old double garage up there where her mother worked and she put all our stuff in that. Said we would go back and get it, and we never did. I just wondered what happened to all that stuff, the old victrolla. Gosh, it would be worth no telling how much today. AM:Probably so. WN:Anyway, we never had any place… Like I said I went to work for $50 a month and thought I was a millionaire because I had never seen $50. (Laughter) And I was. I rented us an apartment for $35 a month. You would think we lived good, but then all the bills were paid at the apartment. But she made us good food out of that $50. When I went into the Service during World War II I was still making $50 a month. But they had promoted me, made me a foreman of sorts and furnished me a pickup truck. I thought I was in Hog Heaven. (laughter) Because I had never had any wheels in my life. AM:Well, at that time… yeah. WN:Never had any wheels in my life. AM:But you knew how to drive. WN:I knew how to drive, I sure did. And I was made foreman over a cross tie loading crew and I had eight blacks working under me. I went as far south as Leesville in that direction and went north to the Arkansas line and just all directions out of Bossier City. Of course, we traveled, stayed away from home a week at the time. AM:Did that bother your mother? WN:Did not bother her. AM:Well, she had been on her own for so long. WN:She had lived up in those woods by herself. AM:Did she ever want to go back? She too had fond memories, I assume. WN:No, I don't think hers was hard work. I think my mother's happiest days of her life was her later years when I was able to do for her, you know, after coming back out of the Service for four or five years. I bought my first home, had a garage apartment there and for the first two or three years there, well we rented a garage apartment that became vacant one time so I moved mother in it, gave it to her. I was doing pretty good. I was making more money than I ever thought I would make in my life. I had a bank account so, you know, I was doing good. So I gave her the apartment, and that was the happiest days of her life. She would have her grandkids up there. AM:And she was able to get up and down the steps? WN:Oh yes and my mother, until she fell and broke her hip, she was the workingest old woman you ever saw in her life and she was way up in her seventies when that happened to her. But she fell and broke her hip babysitting one day. Fell on the lady's throw rug. Them people were so scared we were going to sue her. I said, you all don't worry about that. That is life. We didn't come in this world to sue somebody to try and make a dollar. She just never did get over it. AM:A lot of people don't, a lot of women especially. WN:Well, what happened my sister's little boy (sometimes I don't know what) but on Christmas Eve day, I can't tell you what year it was '57, but he put a belt around his chest. He tried to bust it, you know. But anyway she had gone to pick up their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve day and she came home and he was laying in the bathroom with that belt around him and it had ruptured. AM:Oh, my. WN:He was dead. So that… my mother had to go back and get more pins put in her hip and she was still an invalid more or less. She could get around a little bit. She sat down in the car that day, she did not go to the funeral but she wanted to go out to Hillcrest afterwards. But she sat down in the car and she hollered, she said oh, that hurt. She had pulled a pin out and then she went back for surgery and she didn't get out. At that time they didn't pay much attention to a person's heart when they were doing something. But I thought about it later that about two or three years before that they had called us in because they did not think she would make it because she had water… AM:Fluid had accumulated. WN:Fluid, yeah, and they thought she was going to die. So I know she had problems then so she probably she had the same thing. AM:Probably so. WN:They didn't pay any attention to that when… AM:Didn't check it all out. WN: But anyway she had a good life. She had, like I said, I have been fortunate and made some good moves and making a good living and gave her an allowance, just like people do their kids. (Laughter) She was so happy. You ought to have seen her on Saturday catching them red top buses going. She would have all her grandkids going to the movies, the Joy Theater in Shreveport, every Saturday. AM:Oh, how wonderful! That is great. WN:But she had a good life and I was so proud that I could do that for her that I don't know what to do. AM:Oh, yeah. WN:And I give credit for what rewards I've got made for myself today for being good to that girl. She was a good one. AM:Yes, yes, it sounds like she was. A real hard worker too. Well this has been lots of fun and I thank you so much for coming in. WN:I hope you got something you can use. AM:Oh, we did, believe me. We will transcribe it and there will be a copy here and we will have the tape too. WN:Well all right then. AM:Thank you so much. |
People |
Bell, William Franklin (Dr.) Coyle, Hugh Scott (Sgt.) Coyle, Kitty Dunham Elder Hagens, Shorty Hall, John Bell, Jr. (Dr.) Hossier, A.W. "Bill" Johnson, Hudson Looney Moses, John Moses, Tommy Nattin, George Leon, Sr. Nattin, Hall Nattin, John Hall (Capt.) Nattin, Waylan Ross, Sr. Rivers, Jeff Rivers, Vega Scarborough Stile, Rufus Strand, Hugh Weaver, S.P. Wilson, Cindy |
Search Terms |
Alden Bridge Alden Bridge Commissary Automobile Barbecue Sports, Baseball Bootlegging Brushy Brushy Community Canning Christmas Cottage Grove Memorial Presbyterian Church Cotton Belt Railroad Couchwood Crystal Oil Refining Company Cypress Lake Electricity Food Preservation Fourth of July Gardening Great Depression Holsum Bakery Juneteenth Nattin Drug Store Oral History Railroads School Bus Swindleville Welori Lumber Company Wheless and Whited |
Interview date |
2007-05-17 |
Interview place |
Bossier Parish Library Historical Center |
Interviewer |
Middleton, Ann |
Recording media |
Cassette Tape |
Inventoried date |
2025-06-12 |