<Begin Segment 14>

TI: So you finally get to Wyoming. So where in Wyoming did you stop?

BH: The station, Green River. And I thought, "What a deserted town." [Laughs]

TI: Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you. So what did it look like when you got there?

BH: It looked like an old Western town.

TI: Did it surprise you when you got on?

BH: Yes. But then I didn't expect much anyway, because all on the way, there was nothing there.

TI: And then from Green River, how far did you have to go to get to Paul's home?

BH: House was, we were still west of where the station was. It was about, I don't know, he kept saying seven miles, but I don't think it was that far 'cause I could get down there in a car for a few minutes, ten, fifteen minutes. Must have been about three miles.

TI: And describe the house. What was that like?

BH: Barren, nothing there. Just the company house.

TI: And how many rooms did the...

BH: Oh, we had a kitchen and a big living room, and two small bedrooms, that's all. Then there was an upstairs, but we didn't use the upstairs.

TI: So it was a pretty big place.

BH: It's a big house. It's the biggest house in the section. The others were all bunkhouses.

TI: But you mentioned barren, so it's just like nothing on the walls?

BH: Nothing, nothing.

TI: I'm surprised. So his paintings, he didn't put paintings up on the walls?

BH: Well, he didn't put any paintings. There's no room, the windows were around, so there was no place to actually hang paintings.

TI: Even on the interior walls and things like that, there was no room?

BH: He had 'em all along the wall. [Laughs]

TI: And in that area, so it was mostly workers.

BH: Yeah, so we were the only, Paul was the foreman, so we had the biggest house and they had two, three bunkhouses. There were about three or four bachelors and two married families, that's all. So during the day, there's nobody there but us. The men all go to work, so just the women are left.

TI: And what would you do during the day?

BH: There was nothing to do, so we'd go around and visit the neighbors or something. And I was driving at the time, so I would go to Green River, the next town.

TI: So I need to ask, so here you were, coming from the city. You lived on the farm, so you kind of knew that life, but you lived in Seattle for several years...

BH: But it was nice. I don't mind.

TI: But you lived in these large homes on Capitol Hill and other places.

BH: Oh, yeah. It was a big difference.

TI: And then you'd go to Wyoming, and so how did you... you said it was okay for you?

BH: It was alright. Didn't have any furniture, but...

TI: So how about things like, oh, like indoor plumbing?

BH: No indoor plumbing, no water, no water and no electricity.

TI: So no electricity.

BH: No electricity.

TI: No running...

BH: No running water.

TI: ...water inside. So that was a big change.

BH: That was a big change. But earlier in Seattle or Bellevue, we didn't have water either. You had to get it from the well. But this was, the well was down on the railroad tracks, and we lived up on the hill, so we had to walk down and get the water. Every water that we used we had to go from the pump. The railroad would furnish the water, they'd come and pump the water into the cistern. In winter it would freeze.

TI: And then what would you do? Just bring chunks of ice?

BH: No, then we'd go, and somebody would go hit the top and kind of break up the ice.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.