Chapter 6: At O'Hara
Bar
On July 18th I left
Goddard Bar (Bar means a bar in the river). Walked up the river past
Charlie Bock's cabin. Charlie was a Chicago newspaper man who came there
with broken health and empty purse. When I saw him he was the picture of
health and was splitting shakes to build a barn alone. House and barn
were built only of material growing on the land.
Continuing on my way,
carrying my pack, I at last arrived at O'Hara Bar. This was the home of
Jim Agnew, the ranger in charge of fire fighting, law enforcement and
carrying out the orders of the Forest supervisor, Mr. Howel. He had a
delightful log cabin, built by other forest personnel from material
found on the land. He and Bock did import glass, nails, and a small
amount of dressed lumber for trim. It had to travel 40 miles on a
cayuse's back, so very little was imported. The large floor planks were
hand-whipsawn from the log. The timbers were hewn, and the walls were
logs, notched and hewn to a nice fit. The timber was very straight,
which was a great help. The interior was very artistically done. Mrs.
Agnew attended the telephone while her husband was on duty. She also had
a 14-year-old daughter Frances and a dog Don.
Mrs. Agnew, a lover of
nature and gardening, had laid out an orderly flower garden with borders
of daisies and buttercups, and other native flowers.
My duties here were to
dig fence post holes, and then to mow two acres of heavy hay with a
scythe. I never knew before how big an acre can grow under these
circumstances.
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