Near our house there was a hillside, which used to be full of timber, therefore a two-man chainsaw was used with me on one side. The timber would be toppled over one another and I was instructed several times to trim the trees and pile the brush. The timber was cut and sold four dollars a cart for heating and cooking. During this time we had a green and cream-colored Kalamazoo cook stove. Irons were heated on this stove and it had an oven. This oven was removed from the house during the time the kitchen was being renovated with a new gas stove. The Kalamazoo stove was taken outside and set in the woods.
In order to get water we had a cistern and a well. The spring was to the left of the house and the barn sat on the right with the well in the front right of the house. If the cistern ran dry there was well water and was pumped as needed. When the summers were dry I remembers climbing into the cistern to clean out the worms and dirt. I can remember being so thirsty I laid down and drank out of the cistern.
Cleopha says
This is a picture of our nephew Kenny Williams .he was the youngest son of our sister Elizabeth & husband Justin Williams..Johnny was the oldest son and brother of Kenny….. The first picture is a kitchen stove like the one we had. these two men have wonderful families. Mahlon you weren’t stupid enough to drink that dirty water. You had 4 brothers and sisters above to get you whatever you needed down there. That was a very dangerous job, we are very lucky no one got hurt cleaning out the cistern. It was a dangerous job.
Mahlon says
Might not be Kenny. The tobacco is hanging in the shed which means it’s probably between September and Christmas. Elizabeth and Justin usually came home earlier in the summer.
Is anybody sure the child isn’t Lloyd Sr.?
Something isn’t quite right about the stove either.
The tree in front of the house which was at the entrance to the orchard and the tree behind the shed got blown away with the tornado. Can’t remember what year…
Mom always made 8, 10, or 12 bread loaves. I’d sneak in and take the center out of one while it was hot and go on my way. She knew it but never said anything.
The cistern pump shown was originally beside a sink which was on the wall before the porch was enclosed.
Cleopha says
Our mother always appreciated what her boys did for the family. I am guessing you all kept us from starving to death by the work that you did. The wood that kept us warm. Squirrels and rabbits, fish when there was fish to can so we had meat. The butchering of hogs. Sheep ,& calves, and pigeons Mahlon would bring in from the barn. You all know those were the good old days.. That child is no one else but Kenny.
Aunt Lolly says
I think our Kalamazoo stove was longer, I remember it having 6 holes for putting your pans on. We seldom ever used the 5 and 6th one though. It had a nice large reservoir on the right side of it. I use to toast bread on the ones by the reservoir, they weren’t so hot. I love this picture of Kenny by the cistern rock pump. In the background you can see the old well pump, and it looks like something hanging up in the tool shed garage. Could that be tobacco? I loved that old big tree that is behind the tool shed, WE use to play under it. Good memories. Do any of you remember how many loaves of bread Mother baked at one time in that oven? I can’t get but five loaf pans in mine. and I know Mother baked more then 5 loaves at a time. Her oven must have been a lot larger.
Cleopha says
Lolly I am so glad you said that our cook stove was larger. I have that same picture and I always thought our was a 6 pot hole stove. You are right it was used mostly for making toast on the back burners. We also used the large stove top when we heated wash water on the top of the stove in those big square tubs. I think I am tight about this, Mahlon would know.that old broken morrow was used to cover the other hole that was needed when it was a cistern that you turned the handle and it turned a chain that bought the water up to us. I can’ think how else to say it. We always made 6 loaves in individual pans. Sometimes mother used one large pan and would bake the bread in this pan, but if it was put close together that would eliminate some of that good crust that we loved.
Naomi Vetter says
The picture does bring back a lot of good memories. I am wondering what the “paddle or mirror thingy” is on the cistern pump base.
Lloyd Jr. says
I remember that tree as a really tall stump. In my mind it was ten or twelve feet tall, but I can’t imagine it was actually that tall. It also had a bunch of wooden fence posts around it that were reasonably fun to play on.
Naom Vetter says
I can still remember when the well worked. I remember Mahlon telling me that if I dropped my ring (my expensive 10-cent ring that I got a Woolworths) down the well, I could pump and it would come back up. I believed everything he said, because he came up with such great ideas and inventions. My ring didn’t come back up. It’s still down there somewhere.
Aunt Lolly says
Mahlon your story about snitching the bread, and eating out the middle made me laugh. Naomi and I use to do that too, only we ate the outside crust and put the inside back on the table. Mother never ever said anything about that either. She probably made milk soup out of the insides. Yes, Mother always likes her boys more then us girls! ha ha.