Backwoods Blog

MONTICELLO WATER COMPANY

Backwoods Blog;

in the woods and on the road…

Monticello Water Company 

The above photo appears in the Monticello Sesquicentennial Booklet published in 1996 as part of the town’s celebration. My classmate, Wendell Harvey, along with Debbie Melvin and Jay Brewer collected photographs, stories and poems from Monticello residents when putting the booklet together. I contacted Wendell to see if he had additional background information on this curious photo. Although he did not know the identity of the man operating “the water company sled,” he did say the photo was taken by Dr. Hill (who was a doctor in Monticello in the early 20th century) and that his granddaughter Joyce Trafford had offered it to the committee along with several other original photos from his collection. Wendell commented that it was one of his favorite photos in the booklet. I’m guessing that the picture was taken in downtown Monticello as I think I can see the top of the Methodist Church steeple in the background on the left. 

My father used to tell a couple of stories about a neighbor of his when he lived in Littleton from 1929-1933. His name was Gus Gormley, and my father affectionately called him the “Snuffy Smith of Littleton Station Road” based on the popular cartoon character in the newspaper at the time. My father didn’t have a photo of Gus, but every time he would tell a Gus story I’d think of the man in the Monticello Water Company photo. Gus lived in a 10×10 tin shack by himself, always smoked a pipe, had a crooked nose and spoke out of the side of his mouth when he talked. My father occasionally did impersonations of people he knew from town when he was telling a story and Gus was one of his favorites. I surmised he had no family in the area, as Dad simply said, “He came over from Canada…” One day years ago my father came down to the cabin for a cup of coffee and as we were talking he happened to mention Gus. Since Gus was known for his one-liners I took out my notebook and wrote down a couple so I wouldn’t forget. Here’s what I got.

Someone once asked Gus “How come your nose is so crooked?”  “Well, I’m tellin’ ya…from stickin’ my nose in other people’s business like you are now.”

Gus used to help my father cut wood for the winter, so I think this is most likely where Dad collected the bulk of his “Gus material.”  In those days, the traditional log cutting method was the two-man crosscut known colloquially as a “misery whip” which required skill and cooperation. Once perfected, you only had to work half of the time; pull the saw towards you on the pull-stroke and then allow your partner to pull it towards him on the release. If you had too much drag, it was known as “riding the saw.” One day as Gus and my Dad were working the saw, apparently my father was having a hard time and Gus yells, “If you want to ride, why don’t you get on!?”

During another wood cutting shift, while they were on break, Gus slowly lifts the brim of his hat and delivers his line in a coy manner. “It’s funny your father is such a good man and none of you boys are any good…”

When asked about his trip on the train to Boston back in the early forties with uncle Arthur Brown he replied, “Great…houses on both sides of the road.”

 
Gus Gormley is long gone, but he lived on in a few of my father’s stories and now I’m trying to do the same. I’m not sure where I heard this (but it’s some of the best advice I ever received); a sufficiently cultured individual should be able to tell one joke and one good story in any social situation as a reasonable contribution to the gathering. I used to give my father a hard time for repeating the same joke or story over and over again, but perhaps I was too harsh. Now, those are the jokes and stories of his I tend to remember best. 

In the woods,

Dave

April 5, 2023

Oregon work crew with a king-size saw    (Gerald W. Williams Collection)

Potlatch Lumber Company  1916   (University of Idaho Library)

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