In Blue Valley we'd dry great strings of squash, tomatoes, fruit and meat. We didn't have jars then. My job was to care for the tame rabbits we raised and we had plenty of meat from them. We raised cane and made lots of molasses and also cooked peaches and tomatoes in molasses as preserves. We would put them in homemade wooden barrels. We always had plenty to eat but not much variety. Mother always made cheese; we had plenty of dairy products and meat. We wore pants and shirts made from seamless sacks and shoe tops tacked onto boards for shoes.

I herded cows at the river two or three miles from home during the day. The calves were all named and when they milked the men would yell a name and I'd turn the calf into the cow and then take it away. One of my jobs was to feed the pigs. We were trained so that when we were told to do a job we went and got it done. The school house was neare and the students were playing ball, so I thought I'd hurry and eat and slip back to school and Father wouldn't know I didn't feed the pigs. About time for school Father called me and asked, "Did you feed the pigs?"
I answered, "No Sir."
He said, "Did you intend to feed them?"
"No, Sir"
"Are you going to feed them?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Well," he said, "you know this is your job and I depend on you to do it."
As I turned to go he gave me a little push with his hand and a light kick with his foot. This is the only time I ever remember my father punishing me. I really felt bad that my father had to punish me for neglecting my work.

We built a lumber school house soon after we moved there and had church and our activities there along with Gilesville. We went to Bishop Giles' ward and they were having a dance. There were folks there from other wards. I was barefoot but it was summer, and I asked these two girls to dance with me. The kids teased me about asking them to dance when they were necely dressed and I was barefoot. There was a smooth flat close to Gilesville and we'd gather there for sports of all kimds from all of these little towns.

Some of the settlers in the valley were: the Farnsworths, Bearthson, Jim Burgess, Chidister, John Hunt, Hi Burgess, Father, and my brother Jim.
The Dirty Devil River ran right through our place; we had land on both sides. We forded the river with our wagons and in the winter it would freeze over so we could drive the cattle or haul loads of wood on the ice. We irrigated the land from the river.

Jack Cotrell and others of the "Robbers Roost" men came into the valley for supplies. Jack Moore, one of the leaders, stayed at our place occasionally. The last time I saw him I was herding some cows below town on the river. All we had to do was play around on the knoll and if the cows started back toward the fields, we'd bring them back. Jack Moore came there one day and asked me to get onhis horse and brig him a mare and colt that we could see -- and then he drove them off. My brother, Will, would stay nights with the Robber Roost Gang when he was out riding. He said the way they were fixed there they could hold off an army.

My last school days were spent in Blue Valley. Our teacher, Mrs. Thompson, had several children in school and she favored them. The largest girl in the school was Bertha Farnsworth. One of the Thompson boys spit in Bertha's face at noon and she gave him a lick - really slapped him. The teacher saw it and after dinner asked Bertha why she slapped Ernest. The teacher slapped Bertha and they scuffled and Bertha got the teacher down. She straddled her and slapped her on one cheek and then the other and the teacher was waving her legs, trying to kick Bertha. The teacher finally said she'd had enough so Bertha let her up.

One of my teachers was a man whose hands were missing. He was a good theacher -- could fasten a pencil in his hook and also a willow and give the hardest whippings ever.

My nephew, Carl Hunt, and I trapped wildcat and fox. When they'd kill a beef we'd trail the entrails around and set traps. We caught a fox and got its scent on our clothes. At school when we got near the fire the smell was so bad the teacher sent us home to bathe and change clothes

My brother, Leonard Ezra, was working in Thurber in Rabbit Valley. He was hauling wheat to the bin loose in the wagon box. There were several men with him and they were through for the night. He was sitting on the dashboard with his feet on the double trees. The wagon hit a chuckhole in the road and he lost his balance and fell in front of the wheel. Both wheels went over his stomach. Neil Forsythe came on a white horse from Thurber. We were eating dinner and the door was open as it was the fall of the year. As he came to the door and said, "I've come to tell you --." Mother said, "You don't need to tell me, I know that Leonard is dead. I've been waiting all morning for someone to come and tell us." One of the boys took the wagon and Mother went with them to get the body. She always lived close to the Lord, and things were often made known to her. My sister, Minnie Hunt, who had a family, died of pneumonia and was buried there in Blue Valley, also.

Father and Jim, in fact the whole family, always stayed together. When we left Blue Valley in Wayne County, they started for Mexico. We were supposed to have sold the land, but soon after we moved a big flood washed most of the land away and we never got paid for it. The people have all moved from Blue Valley now and there is nothing left. Hanksville, farther down the river, is quite a big place. When we went into 'Blue Valley we had quite a few cattle, but the Robber Roost gang stole most of them so when we got ready to leave, we gatherd what we could find, drove them one day and sold them to a man in Cainsville, a little farther up the river.

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