V1949-CE

Civil Engineer, Leoti Kansas, Spring 49' to Fall 50'

Job Offer Civil Engineer I: The post WW II boom had faded by the time I was graduated from college in January of 1949 and engineering jobs were scarce, only half of those graduating had job offers. I was fortunate. Because of my prior summer employment I was offered a job as a Civil Engineer with the Kansas State Highway Commission with the 6th Division in southwest Kansas headquarters in Garden City.

I was reluctant to take the job because my degree was in mechanical engineering. On the other hand I wanted to stay in the general region because of my fathers health, he'd suffered a heart attack. In the back of my mind I thought I might have to go into the Loan, Abstract & Banking business to salvage his lifetime investments and provide a means of support for my mother. I had a fuzzy concept of the business and his degree of responsibility/control by virtue of stock ownership. I felt compelled to stay in the general vicinity making civil engineering about the only option. After due consideration I gladly accepted.

To Denver to see Mary: Before reporting to work I drove to Denver to see Mary who was going to school at Colorado Woman's College. I stayed for a week and we spent all the time we could together.

While she was in class I spent most of my time reading magazines. After 2.5 years of intense technical studies I found I had a craving for light reading. I voraciously consumed magazine articles of all types, they read like cutting butter with a hot knife.

Report for work Garden City KS: I reported to work at Garden City, took my physical and stayed overnight with my mothers sister Margaret and her husband Francis Barclay. Francis was a Civil Engineer and in charge of highway maintenance for that Division. He had helped me obtain the prior summer jobs and influenced my being offered this one.

I was assigned to New Construction under Joe Doubrara whom I knew from the prior summer. When I reported the second day Joe said things were all set for me to report to a new Resident Engineer, Marvin Cox in Leoti, Kansas. As I started to leave Joe said "you must have really impressed the Dr that gave you the physical yesterday." Observing my puzzled look he continued, "it's the first time he's ever written 'very intelligent' when doing a physical checkup." I was completely non-plused.

As I drove to Leoti I went over what could have caused the Dr to do that, there was no cause? We had visited while he gave me my physical. He'd been a medical Dr at Lincoln Air Base at the same time I was there and we exchanged brief sketches of our paths since then. His spurious notation was soon given an on the job test.

Report for Work Leoti KS: I arrived in Leoti, the Wichita County seat, and reported to Marvin. A building, actually a home, near the City Hall had been rented and a sizable crew and equipment gathered in preparation for the pending construction on Highway 96. The highway was to be rebuilt in Scott County from Scott City west to the Wichita County line and west of Leoti to Tribune the Greely County seat.

There were separate contracts for work done in each of the three counties. There were also separate contracts for bridge work, earth work, gravel hauling, mixing asphalt with gravel, etc. There were as many as nine contractors all working on different parts at the same time.

Assignment Field Party Chief: I was told that I was to be the Field Party Chief in charge of surveying. Six men were assigned to me. We were provided a GMC Carry-All truck which was like a small school bus with a fold down rear door. The fellows had already loaded new surveying equipment into the Carry-All and Marvin gave me sets of drawings, a construction manual and materials handbook. He told me to spend the afternoon looking over the new road site and drawings so I could plan what to do the following day.

Confession, I didn’t know how to Survey: We headed west from Leoti. By then I realized that I was the only engineer under Marvin and that with him in the office and me in the field he wasn't going to be available to teach me how to survey! I had never taken surveying in school. Except for basics the Civil and Mechanical curriculums didn't have much in common. While I'd been studying entropy and enthalpy the Civil’s had studied other things. A brief skimming of the drawings, indicated there were many terms meaningless to me.

As I drove I concluded it would be best to confess my ignorance and ask the experienced members of the crew to teach me. I figured there was no point in putting it off. They'd find out soon enough and it would be best if I told them first.

I called back over my shoulder to the fellows behind me, "there's something you fellows should know. My degree is in Mechanical engineering. I've never had courses in surveying. I'm going to need your help and will appreciate whatever you can teach me."

Silence - - - - - not a word! Apparently I'd put my foot in my mouth!

Then "Dutch" Lane spoke up. "We sort of had it figured the other way around. Most of us just hired in last week. We're a bunch of ex GI's from around here, we figured this paid better than driving a tractor. We don't know a damn thing about surveying."

I was relieved by his friendly tone until the realization of what he said sunk in. I looked back at the crew behind me and said "you mean none of you have ever surveyed.....before?" All faces just grinned and shook their heads.

Ahead I saw a lonesome tree to the side of the road. I pulled under it's shade and turned off the engine. We spent the afternoon learning how to set up and use the instruments and equipment.

That night I drove to Garden City and with the help of my Uncle got a book on surveying. I studied that book and construction manuals intently each night to learn what I needed for the following day.

As I gained confidence we got more done. It was a good thing because the many contractors were soon getting underway. They'd call Marvin and tell him what they needed and we'd rush from one end of the job to the other trying to keep ahead.

As the pace of construction increased I began to improvise and devise methods, not in the manuals, on how to move fast and still achieve the required exactness. Somehow we managed.

There were times that even a flat tire would have held up a contractor. I soon had every detail of the job engraved in my mind.

The surveying process required walking the length of the job some 15 times plus back and forth from side to side very 100 feet and countless back tracking to reshoot or recheck.

Such constitutionals led to sound sleep at the end of the day. They also induced the need for bowel movements after about an hours walking. We all carried paper and found that highway bridges made excellent outhouses. They were cool, breezy and swept clean by each rain.

We had accepted this heavy work schedule as normal and it wasn't until the following winter that we found they had originally planned on having two surveying crews to do the work we did!

Surverying

The equipment used for surveying was much the same in principle as that used by George Washington. A Transit and Level are instruments to sight through. Range Poles and Rods were what you looked at and cloth or metal tapes used to measure distances.

The transit has a telescope like tube that swings up and down and right and left. It has protractor scales for measuring angles. The transit is placed on top of a tripod above some index point. A plumb-bob is dangled from the transits base to the index point, and is leveled by adjusting screws till its spirit level bubble is balanced between two lines. The transit is slid around on its leveled base plate, like a vernier adjustment, until the plumb-bob is exactly over the point. This can be great fun on a windy day, but alignment is usually achieved quickly to the width of a shingle nail head.

When you look into the sight tube there are cross-hairs. You can adjust focus and move the tube to align the cross-hairs with a range pole placed on some distant point. Once indexed you can turn angles or align a row of stakes.

The Range Poles, used in conjunction with the Transit, were wood with a metal point on one end, and were used to set alignments. Each foot of pole length was alternately red and white. When sighting long distances on a hot day the heat waves play tricks. The red segments seem to move to the right and the white ones to the left. Both would shimmer and dance about the cross-hair. I'd set the cross-hair between the two and not worry about which was refracting the most.

The Levels telescope was longer than the one on a Transit and the Level only swung in a horizontal plane. The Level didn't have protractor scales or a plumb-bob. The Level was used to read a Rod and measure elevation.

The Rod, used in conjunction with the Level, was an extendible square pole marked off in 100 ths of a foot. You placed the rod on a known elevation Bench Mark and read it to index the height of the level. You could measure the elevation of unknowns by placing the rod on them, reading the rod and use simple arithmetic to define the unknowns elevation with respect to the bench mark. One progressed down a road by sighting back to start and looking ahead to set a point to subsequently look back at. Such points were called Turning Points. Turning points led to interesting experiences.

After setting a stretch of stakes the work was checked by reading a known elevation at the other end. The known elevations were called bench marks.

The rod had a latch which held it fully extended but if the guy didn't get it latched it would slide down a bit each time he set it down hard. This drove me nuts every so often because a survey wouldn't check out. I soon learned to check the latch first if an error was found. Even so this was no consolation if it was 10 below zero, a thirty mph wind, the end of the day, growing dark, 30 miles from home and an hours work shot that the contractor needed first thing in the morning.

There were two types of things used to measure distances. A 100 ft long Cloth Tape with copper threads woven in to prevent stretching and a 100 ft long Steel Tape with rawhide end pieces for pulling it tight. The cloth tape was rolled up by winding it about the thumb and little finger in a figure eight. It was unraveled by taking one end in the left hand and with the right throwing it high and down wind. The steel tape was called a chain and the process of measuring distances was called chaining. The term chain was handed down terminology from when chains were actually used. The tape chain was rolled up and then thrown to put it away. To roll it up you took an end in the left hand and slid the right hand back about a yard then pulled this point on the chain up to the left hand, grasped it with the left hand and repeated the process. The ends of the resultant loop were tied down with the leather whang ends. This big loop was then grasped in the right and left hands at diametrically opposite locations. Then by twisting each hand in an opposite direction a figure eight was started. The two circles of the eight were brought together to form a smaller circle. This process was called throwing the chain. The tape chain was transported in this form until undone for use.

Throwing the Chain

Rooney, a wonderful likable but sometimes gullible fellow joined our surveying crew for a while. He'd been using a cloth tape for some time but had never seen any of the guys use the steel tape. Driving out on the job one day they were showing him how to throw the chain from a big loop to a small loop and back. He wanted to know if you also threw it like a cloth tape to extend it. Dutch Lane quickly picked up on that one and said "Yah, the only difference is that its heavier and you gotta throw harder". No one contradicted Dutch.

When we arrived, all gathered about and made room for Rooney who'd been given the "honor" of "throwing" the chain. Rooney hauled back and swung it into the air. The released tape twanged, twisted and coiled into a mess that looked like a tumble weed! Rooney's eyes and mouth popped open at the unexpected, then he too joined in the laughter. Thereafter he was looking for someone he could initiate in how to throw the chain.

Throwing the Tape

The cloth tape was not as innocuous as it might seem. Pee Wee Reese a short guy on the crew with an ever present mischievous look that had a contagious effect was on loan on another job when he threw a cloth tape high into the wind. It looped over some high voltage power lines whose poles were in a gully. The copper wires in the cloth tape served as a conductor. Pee Wee made the contact to ground. The tape fried and Pee Wee received a tremendous jolt. His feet had burns from where there were nails in his shoes and there was a burn on his leg where a pocket knife conducted from his hand to leg. He suffered no other effects but word sure got around to look before you throw a cloth tape.

Bench Marks

One of the first things on any job was to set main construction bench marks. We'd start with a National Geodetic Survey Bench Mark, which was sometimes a brass plate on a railroad concrete bridge near a county seat, and tie in to another at the other end of a project. In flat stretches of farm land we would resort to driving long sections of worn out cutting blades, from highway graders, into the ground. These Grader Blades were our solution to an undeclared bench mark war with farmers. Often they'd omit fences and farm out into the highway right of way and road ditch. When doing so they'd plow out bench marks even if they were well marked with long pieces of wood decorated with red ribbon on top. Usually one engagement with one of the grader blades was enough. It was more pragmatic to go around than repair machinery.

Setting bench mark elevations once gave me a lot of trouble until I learned what was causing the problem. In the middle of the first summer we spent several days trying to check a long stretch of bench marks. For about three days nothing seemed to be right. We tried every known stunt to assure accuracy. After I was convinced that our instruments were calibrated and what we were doing was right I began looking for something else. I had been keeping the notebook and Bo Minor had been running the level.

Bo was about 6 ft tall and weighed about 270 lbs. Hiking was not his thing. I'd watched him type, he previously was the Leoti City Clerk, and was amazed at his typing speed and dexterity. He was exacting in what he did so he became our Instrument Man.

I decided to run the level to see if I could figure out what might be wrong. I was sure it wasn't Bo's ability. In some places we would sight over a wheat field. In other places shoot across the road or down it. I noticed the difference in thermals over the road compared to the field and remembered the discontinuity of a range poles red and white segments on a hot day. I called the guys in, we loaded up and went back to town. I told them they had the rest of the day off but that we were to start at day break the next morning. I explained that I thought it was the heat waves and I wanted to shoot it in the cool even temperature of early morning. We did and it checked out beautifully. I've since wondered how many others have gone through the same thing. I've wondered if they really found out how to do it or simply settled for their erratic results and fudged readings to make subsequent surveys check out. I continued to be amazed that there was nothing in the Surveying Books or Construction Manuals about this.

Turning Point:

Late one fall we were shooting elevations. It was cold out but the sun had been warming things up. Before driving into town for lunch we shot a turning point and loaded up. After lunch we got the equipment out and set up down the road to shoot back on the turning point. Every one was silent while they worked and listened to meadowlarks singing. While the level was being set up and the tape undone one of the guys walked back and set the rod on the turning point. He emitted a single four letter word of disgust, "shit ", shattering natures tranquillity! All turned and watched as he lifted the rod and looked at a brown glob on its base. Observing our questioning looks he sheepishly explained "I turned on a frozen horse turd when we left to eat and now the damn things thawed out". Pointing at the glob on the rod he continued "I just smashed our elevation". He was a relatively new man and I had told him to use something unique as a turning point so he could find it when we got back.

Section Corners

Alignments were usually referenced from section corners. These were usually marked by a steel rod buried deep under a road intersection on each mile line. They'd usually been set years before, in our case before WW II, by the highway Plans Party. The old original section corners were often rocks or a charred tree stump. Charring seemed to reduce decay. The steel rods were usually referenced to four points with the rod buried at the center of the X formed by the four points. Sometimes we'd dig a 10 ft diameter hole about 3 ft deep in the old highway road bed trying to find the old marker. Such trial and error hunting with pick and shovel was an inducement to find the reference points if at all possible. One I remember was indexed from what the plans listed as a "horse on a barn". There wasn't a barn or a horse around, let alone a horse on a barn. However we set up the transit and looked. Sure enough about a mile away we could make out a weather vane in the shape of a horse on the roof of a barn protruding just enough above the horizon to be seen! If we could have found out who made the prewar survey we would liked to have sent them a telegram "sought horse - sighted same".

The Pacing Job

In order to make fast time I found that it was best for me to do the pacing job. Initially I wanted to be the one running the instrument or keeping the records as these seemed most befitting the duties of a young engineer. However, Ernie Zinn cured me of that. He was likable and happy except when he got drunk and could turn on his best friend ready to fight. He'd been an amateur boxer and drunk or sober was no man to fool with. His common law wife ruled him with her claws as evidenced a time or two when he reported to work after a binge, finger nail scratch marks across his face. On the job Ernie was pleasant and steady but very slow. With Ernie taking the lead with range pole in hand and dragging the chain to measure off distances the pace would slow to a crawl. I soon had the range pole in hand and be pulling Ernie on the tail end of the chain down the road. At first he persisted on being pulled along till I explained the benefits of his keeping up. He decided his job was better than none so thereafter we moved right along. Ernie rested happy in everyone's thoughts.

Boosting Morale

It was also important to maintain morale. A most effective way of doing this was to let a guy be the instrument man when in or near his home town. This was particularly effective when setting a line of stakes. The instrument man would sight into the transit and wave the man setting the stakes to the right or left until he was in line and then wave both hands over his head when it was right. This display gave the impression that he was directing the whole operation. I'd do my best to foster this impression if their friends were about. Such courtesy helped bind the crew together.

Slope Stakes

When setting slope stakes the pacing item was keeping books. A slope stake was the term applied to a board driven in the ground where the cut would start at the far side of a ditch and another where the fill would start; Example: C 2 0 /3:1/55 meaning cut 2.0 ft at a 3:1 slope from the stake which was 55 feet from road centerline. These were placed every 100 feet down the road. Each 100 ft location was called a station and it required 4 slope stakes at each station to show both sides of the road fill and both back sides of the ditches.

It resulted in a hunt and try method of finding the right place to start the cut and fill particularly if the original ground was uneven and the new roadbed location changing elevation or direction. The person keeping books had to make several calculations for each stake and sometimes repeat the process several times. After doing this all day long I couldn't disengage my brain at night. There were many times that my mind would keep fitfully doing the calculations all night long. I'm normally very slow and inept at doing arithmetic in my head. I was surprised to find that after some practice and a bit of warm up on the job I could go at an amazing pace. It was also after such sessions that I'd have trouble sleeping although physically and mentally tired.

One day we had some spare fellows because another job was shut down. I had four guys going down the road carrying a rod. Another man held the ends of two cloth tapes on the road centerline with the other ends extending left & right to the guys with the rods. Another man was on the level and still another throwing out stakes along the road. I managed to keep up with the books while we set 1.5 miles of slope stakes in one morning. This was about three times normal speed and probably a record if such records were kept.

To keep a crew moving along I made a bargain with them. I'd set a point we were to reach by a given time in mid morning or mid afternoon. If we made it we'd load up and drive to town for a coffee break. If not, no break. At noon I'd also set a point to reach by the end of the day and we kept going till it was done. As they knew I demanded accuracy & we had to stay on the job till it was right, it was fascinating how efficient they became and how they'd brag to other crews we'd meet on occasion.

I made it a point to teach each man to the maximum of his interest. Dutch Lane learned quickly. Later he became a successful Superintendent of a firm building school houses and municipal buildings. He died of cancer at age 42. He and his wife visited us in California a couple of years before he died. I wrote him a letter which he received before the end. It was a most difficult letter to write. Dutch was a remarkable fellow, quite intelligent, very conscientious, seemingly laid back but quietly productive. All were saddened by his early end.

Winter Training

The winter after our first summers surveying experience, all crews from the division were called into Garden City for a weeks training. One day they gathered the surveying crews on an open area and Joe Doubrava gave an introductory talk on surveying then said that he was turning the training session over to me! I was taken completely by surprise! In fact I was hoping to learn how it should be done from some of the more experienced Engineers who had been trained as Civil Engineers. I was also embarrassed because I knew some of our methods were not according to the training manual. Joe had built me up as being a real expert. Some how I managed through the session. Apparently we'd acquired a reputation for getting a lot done fast and making no major errors.

Bridge Locations

Joe personally checked my work on one occasion. A cloud of dust trailed a car approaching us at high speed. Its buggy whip radio antenna forewarned us that it was from the Division Headquarters. We saw it was Joe when he came to an abrupt halt parallel with the Carry-All. Before the dust cleared he rolled down his window and said with a firm tone from a grim expression. "Lets see your bridge notebook". I had a pile of about 15 Field Notebooks for various jobs and said "which county"? He said "all of them". I handed them to him. Without a word he spread sets of plans across his lap and checked my notes on certain bridges. After about 15 minutes of total silence he handed them back and said, "thanks, they're OK". Before I could ask what it was all about he had the car in gear and disappeared at the head of a fresh cloud of dust.

When I got back to the office Marvin explained that one of the other crews had laid out the center of every bridge on the center of the road. They didn't notice this was wrong until they started putting in slope stakes and the fill. One bridge was on a side hill and the center line of the bridge, now built, was supposed to be offset 13 feet from the center of the road. They had to swerve the road to match the bridge. They also had to buy 13 feet more Right of Way which required involvement of the states legal staff and budget people. Such errors do not go unnoticed to those in the department although eventually not noticed by the driving public.

Telephone vs Power Company

We received a lesson on how to get things done from an unexpected source. The roadway was being widened on both sides. Right of way had been purchased and power poles on the north and telephone poles on the south were to be moved to the outer edge. The telephone company had a crew in the field shortly after work started. Their engineer was very professional. They had their own surveying equipment and they reviewed the plans with me and we went over the exact definition of the right of way in key locations. They shot in and carefully measured off the location of each pole. They put in new poles, cross arms and strung new wires while the old system was still in use. The job was time consuming but done to perfection. After transferring to the new system they methodically removed and rolled up the wire, took down cross arms and hauled the poles away. In the mean time we became concerned that the power company might hold things up. The telephone company was taking down the old lines before the power company started.

My first observation of the power company was a man sitting in his car his feet straddling a right of way stake. His arms rested on the open door to steady binoculars as he sighted down the right of way. He waved alignment to a man placing stakes in the ground along the right of way behind the old power poles. Following them the next day was a power auger crew making holes for the poles. They were certainly moving fast.

We were surprised the third day to watch them hook on to an old pole with clamps from a hydraulic lift on the back of a truck. The hydraulic lift hoisted the pole out of the ground, the truck with pole moved to lower the pole in the new hole. Three heavy duty wires at the top of the pole were live carrying High Voltage Power to the next two counties while the truck carried them 10 to 15 feet to the new hole! They were tall heavy poles. The Power Lines had been given plenty of slack to allow the side shift. It took them two weeks compared to three months for the telephone company and they completed their first job.

DETOUR Some Things You Don’t Forget

US-96 between Tribune in Greeley county and Leoti in Wichita county Kansas was to be rebuilt, roadway and bridges were to be completely reconstructed as part of an Eisenhour initiative to upgrade the nations highways. A section line service road one mile north of the existing highway was converted into a detour. The detour road had been graded and extra gravel laid down, signs had been put up and were illuminated at night to route traffic away from the pending road construction. The existing highway was to be widened, elevated and the few curves made more sweeping. The detour had been open about two weeks prior to the start of construction. For some it seemed a needless waste to use the detour when the Old Highway looked as if it was still good.

Young people, in particular, found it exciting to take the “short cut” on the old highway, now devoid of traffic, rather than traverse the mile north then south and eat dirt behind someone ahead, someone driving slow with insufficient passing room. Clouds of dust trailed vehicles traveling the newly graded detour road and fresh gravel, flung from tires, pinged the underside. By contrast a driver was beckoned by the solid ribbon of black top stretching clear and empty beyond a headlights high beam.

Persons, pausing at the detour turn off, could hear the singing sounds of telephone wires, emitting into the expansive prairie night. This near silence was only drowned by noise of another car. The old highway beaconed, like an empty speed way. Drivers felt a compulsion to shove foot to the floor – to give reign to the horsepower under the hood. For such hot-roders, speedometer needles invariably registered in excess of 70, often exceeded 90, even on an old used car. Young drivers tested to “see what she'd do”. Unlike an oat eater, the horsepower under the hood never ran out of breath. It was a thrill to feel the surge of 100 plus horsepower – urgently responding to the flexure of the drivers foot. That could not be done on the detour road. Real horsepower had drawn wagons and buggies along that road bed a bare 25 years before – but there were no movies in the next town to take one’s girl friend to. Young couples thought nothing of driving 100 mi to a football game, a movie, or a dance.

The couple in this story had been to a dance and were returning late at night – they decided to take the short cut, the old highway. Unknown to them the contractor recently made a ten foot deep cut, the width of a car length, through the old road. This excavation for a new concrete drainage box was not visible at night in headlight beams – until upon it. Engrossed in thought, music, and each other they didn’t know the cut was there – not until it was too late.

They were not found until after dawn the next morning.

Their vehicle tried to leap the chasm, but the front axle, shoved downward by compressed springs, slammed into the far side. The protruding front axle took the full impact of the cars momentum, the cars body came to a crunching halt. It's occupants, unattached, were driven into the windshield. They were spared the painful ordeal of disfigured recovery – they died instantly.

The car came to a rest, a bumper on each bank, with the distorted chassis suspended between. Darkness and the hum of the telephone wires blanketed the scene. They were the last to take the old highway that night and were not seen until daylight.

Word got around, thereafter only personnel associated with construction traveled the old road.

The image of the event lingered in the mind’s of each of us in our surveying crew, as we went past that site, driving off the road into the ditch and back up onto the road. We made this pass daily during the following month as we set stakes for pending earthwork construction.

After an initial look and discussion, we never commented about it. The car and occupants had been removed before our first arrival. Each of us, I'm sure, felt an acute awareness of what had happened each time we passed. The tragedy was not something to converse about, it could have happened to any of us. Fate had made it’s random selection that 1950 Sunday night – the young couple terminated their lives – and probably didn’t even know fate had intervened.

Fast Trips between Denver & Leoti

Mary and I decided to get married as soon as she finished school at Colorado Womans College in Denver. I graduated mid semester and she had half a semester to go to finish. We had dated the summer before while I was working at Leoti as an Engineers Aid. I would return to Oberlin for week ends, stay Sunday night with my folk, get up early and drive back to Leoti in time to start work Monday morning. I drove what I considered save and fast. On one trip from Leoti to Oberlin I blew a rear tire at 90 mph, a new tire with only two weeks life. The tread came off. The fellow replaced the tire – but said do not drive a new tire at over 60 mph for a couple months. This was a bias tire before radials.

One morning I though I’d had it! There was a saw tooth segment of 90 degree turns which had been banked to help make the sharp turns. From many trips I knew the max speed at which I could make those turns. One morning, following a rain I was shocked to find a layer of wet mud on the lower part of the turn! I was almost instantly into the turn when my right wheels were in the mud – I was experience enough to no hit the brakes which would have immediately caused me to skid off and roll over down the far slope. There was a 5 foot wide sliver of dry black top on the upper edge of the turn – with my foot off the trottle I kept my left tires on that dry ribbon of black top, all during that turn knowing that if those tires lost their grip I’d be instantly rolling over. That scared the hell out of me.

I drove to Denver most week ends, during construction season we worked 6 days a week so the earliest I could get away was late Saturday afternoon. It took about 4 hours at 80 to 90 mph to get there, still having time to take Mary out on a Sat night date – before her 11:00 pm curfue. I’d stay over in a near by motel and we’d go out the next day seeing sights and visiting until parting at 11:00 pm. I’d then take off for my 4 hour dash back to Leoti – be in bed for a few winks before reporting for work at 7:00 am. On the way to Denver I was always afraid of picking up a speeding ticket. On the way back I was always afraid of falling asleep. It’s a good thing I was in excellent physical condition, and very lucky. It was such a relief to finally get settled in our own home and able to sleep in on Sunday mornings. But we were initially so broke we didn’t have money enough to go to a movie. We spent a wedding gift of $25 buying a card table plus some other essentials. Our only table settings were expensive china and real silverware, all wedding gifts. After a month of staying at home Mary sacrificed her bracelet with 10 dimes, we took out the dimes which was enough for bargain price movie night.

Shotgun confrontation

Another time we were setting stakes in a wheat field on the north side of Leoti to carry traffic emerging from main street to the highway going north from west of town. (This was a way for state funds to pay for repaving Leoti main street. At the time Leoti was at near poverty level, which changed when a lake of underground water was discovered and many became wealthy by irrigation.) We’d just got underway when we saw a pickup charging down across the field toward us. I heard Dutch Lane { Dutch Lane, my age, became foreman for construction of a new high school in Scott City KS, telling me it was in part due to what he’d learned on our crew. He was a likable capable guy. Dutch died about 1960 of cancer, he was a modest smoker.}, who grew up in the community, say Uh Oh!! I asked what gives? He’s ex sheriff and thinks he still owns this land. It was obvious the guy was mad as hell, as the pickup lurched to a halt and he came out with shot gun in hand. He was so mad that he could hardly speak, his jaw worked up and down but words did not flow well. I said to the crew, just lay your things down and stay as you are. Then making calm down motions to him said “OK just calm down -- what’s the problem?” Dutch, seeing he was having trouble speaking, interpreted and spoke for him explaining. This was his land, he’s never picked up the check at the post office. The state bought it by use of eminent domain, against his wishes to sell. He’s demanding we get off “his property”. I could understand the “get off my property” part, and the waving of his gun at us was not a thing to be contested. Without saying any more to him, I turned to the fellows and said, OK guys pick up the stuff and we’ll go back to the office. It was about a week before we went back in to finish the job, after the court levied a restraining order and state officials plus his son, who was a lawyer, talk with him at his farm.

The Wedding

Mary came down sick before the wedding – the date had been set, the invitations out, it was a nip and tuck choice to extend the date or not. It was decided to go ahead, and most people were not aware that Mary was running a fever at the time. The wedding went remarkably well, except after the minister said now I pronounce you man and wife -- Mary had to blurt out, for all to hear, “Well Kiss me!” Which I did, while laughter trickled through the sea of guests.

The wedding was held in the Presbyterian Church and the reception after in the Masonic Lodge. This wedding was in accordance with local tradition. Every couple and family satisfied theirs had been one of the best. Appended photo clips from 88 mm movie file show there were many guests with many cousins and friends in attendance, perhaps half of those present were not captured on film.

The Hampered Honeymoon

We drove to Colo for our honeymoon, spending a week there. We were only a few miles out of town when Mary drifted into needed exhausted sleep. I drove in silence most of the way. We stayed at a Denver motel the first night out. I bought a thermometer and took her temperature, she still had a considerable fever. After two days, much of the time resting, she recover enough to feel like going out to eat. The last days of our Honeymoon Mary was her normal self and we enjoyed our vacation.

Mary Hamilton & Darrell Landau are married Oberlin KS

The Highway Crew attend the Wedding.

Warren Kump, Art Hamilton, Myron Johnson, Darrell Landau, Mary Hamilton, Marjorie Landau, Phyllis Landau, Barbra Sixbury & candle lighters Jack & Judy Hamilton

Warren & Myron are Darrell cousins, Art Hamilton Mary’s brother. Marjorie & Phyllis are Darrell’s sisters Marjorie and Barbara were Mary’s class mate. Jack & Judy Hamilton are Mary’s cousins.

Warren, Myron & Darrell had recently returned from service, Arthur would soon be in service.

Note: Photos exctracted from 8mm movie film, taken at the wedding, have been moved to the end. They are in color and do not print well but show up reasonably well on a monitor. This file will be converted to html format so the photos can be called up and viewed via browser software. The hard copy print of this file will not include those poor quality color photos, it’s a waste of ink. For family members viewing the electronic image is well worth while. An alphabetical listing has been made of those in the film plus a brief description about them.

The Presbyterian church congregation merged with another, the church building sold, and converted to a Crafts and Art place. The congregation declined as county population declined, new equipment permitted fewer people to farm the fixed amount of land, young people moved elsewhere.

The Masonic Hall photo was taken in 2000, built about 1936 it was and still is a beautiful place, uniquely so for Western KS. The building was donated by a couple, with no children, who valued their Masonic and Eastern Star fellowship and values. The downstairs was rented for business locations including the city office.

Our first home, Leoti KS and our first family member “Marys” cat “Spook”.

Archie by our 1950 Ford V-8, Lola & Mary, Rell & Ila at our new home.

A class mate of Mary’s from Colorado Womans college lived in Leoti and introduced Mary to the ladies about town. Mary was soon part of a bridge club and fit right in.

I had become a member of the Masonic Lodge in Oberlin, but had not been given the “work” which was a part of it. While in Leoti I was helped learn the work by one of the members of our surveying crew who had grown up in Leoti. I was then “took” the “degree” exam in the Leoti Masonic Temple, which was a much smaller place than the exceptional facility in Oberlin. The Leoti “temple” was a simple wood frame building, who’s orientation placed North in the exam, West in reality. I had to practice and practice to learn what others in my family had memorized before me. I was pleased to hear one of those giving the exam, total strangers to me, say “that was one of the best I’ve heard” I felt relieved as I felt otherwise, I’d fumbled and faltered in places, where my memory not certain. I recalled that endeavor with much relief, had I been in Oberlin among family members and friends I’d have been expected to do as well as they had.

Setting up House Keeping

Candle light Dinning on Card Table: I felt I’d been living out of a footlocker much of my life by the time we moved into our new home. Mary was fastidiously dedicated to making “her” home nice. Her Dad was great seeing that his little girl got set up OK. Using one of their utility trucks they delivered a badly needed stove, refrigerator & washing machine. With those plus wedding gifts we were able to get a start. After taking inventory of what we had vs what was needed, we found we didn’t have a table and chairs. Elwood Brooks, then president of Central Bank & Trust Denver & president of the Farmers National Bank when I was janitor there, sent us a check for $25.00. We used part of that to buy a card table and chairs. It was a special first meal in our new home when Mary used that card table with table cloth, napkins, elegant china ware and real silver silverware. I believe she even found a candle to light for the occasion. Later her father brought an old couch and old upright piano and old kitchen table stored in their basement. The couch and piano made the living room less empty.

Klink of Glass: Mary wasn’t a nervous young housewife but did try to hide some of her bo bo’s. I was out in the back trying to mow when I looked into the open back door. I could see her moving things from counter to our new kitchen table. As I watched she had reached to set a glass of milk on the table – I could see it had not made it over the table when she released it – I could hear the glass break and her look down at the mess. I chuckled inside and kept working. A bit later she came out to the empty trash barrel in back and without saying a word let something drop – hearing the klink I knew what it was.

Home made Lawn Mower: The grass was a tough variety difficult to cut – a regular hand mower wouldn’t cut it. I had a hedge cutter powered by an attached hand drill. I rigged up that with stick, wheels and long cord – it worked but not very well. Then I recalled a power mower Lee Kump had made – so I built one. It was a three wheeled cart with a car stater motor powered by a battery placed on the cart behind the motor. I has a black smith make a cutter and weld it to a special nut I could attach to the motor shart. I attached a handle with a start button attached. It worked great until the battery ran down. I had about a 100 ft roll of B-26 aircraft wire I obtained years before at the Dodge City Airbase Salvage Yard. With that I connected to the car battery letting the engine run to keep the battery charged. The wire was way too small for the task and it didn’t work. Later in CA I took the little rubber tired wheels off that to make a “go cart” for son David.

Home Made Work Bench from Scraps: We frugally budgeted our income with which I decided to buy a small Montgomery Ward bench saw on sale in their catalog. With that I built a work bench, which I still have. There was a housing construction site near by with scraps they would burn. I gathered these scraps and cut 2 inch wide strips from 1” board end pieces. I laid these on edge, over laped ends, then glued and nailed them to eventually have a 2”x2’x6’ work bench top. By similar means I made frame members. I found discarded grocery store “orange” shipping boxes and used the ends plus sides to make pull out drawers. By such do it yourself nil cost means I was able to build a functional work shop in the garage.

Home made Walnut Veneer furniture: I decided to make some walnut vener furniture for our home. I was able to send off for Walnut thin sheet stock – using the extension plates from my bench saw I was able to clamp the walnut sheets flat when gluing them in place. The end table thus built has long since been destroyed – but it served it’s purpose for many years.

Home Made Air Cooler: In the summer it became very hot and “swamp” coolers were the thing. I built one of my own design and mounted it on our NW window. It was a wood frame with excelcior (shredded wood) packing material held between chicken wire as the water wick, a tube with holes let water drip through and collect in a bottom pan. I had intended to have it circulate the water, but connected it to the garden hose for starters. I had an old 1/8 hp washing machine motor that had belonged to my grandmother. I bought a Ford radiator cooling fan with bearing and mount from uncle Lee Kump at his Ford garage. I mount this and belt connected it the old washing machine motor. WHOW WEE !! that blasted cold wet air into the house causing Mary to yell, turn it off, turn that thing off. I redid pulley sizes and slowed the fan down – and was quite proud of how well it worked.

Floor Wet with Rain: One day we encountered a rain storm with strong wind out on the job. We terminated further surveying and returned. The rain had stopped by the time I pulled up to the house. There I found Mary with bath towels as mops to lift water from the plished leolium floor into a bucket. She exclaimed, you’ve got to close that opening off. The rain from the west just poured through – he’s stood there for a half hour holding a towel over the opening in a loosing battle to keep out the water. Thus my great invention came to and end.

Sunday Morning Visitor: We were sleeping in Sunday morning when a lady enters our bedroom as if to get in bed with us! I recognized her as a waitress at a local resteraunt. She’d been out all night, and found she was locked out or let out near by. Our door was unlocked and she came in, heavily hung over intent on getting in bed with a lady friend she knew. She was as startled as we were to find we were not who she expected in that bed. Nothing was said as we looked at each other open mouthed. She said I’m sorry turned and walked out. We found she believed her friend still lived there and sought haven in her bed.

Here Kitty Kitty: Spook was a beautiful cat and Mary wanted to take him with us to see our folks. Mid way it was decided that Spook needed to get out for a constitutional. We stopped by an open field and let Spook out – we watched and indeed he needed to do his thing. Then he decided it was great being out and it took an hours worth of “here kitty kitty’s” to get him back in the car.

The new construction work in Leoti came to and end and the resident engineer office was moved from there to Mead KS, near the OK border, a new home and a new experience.

Though Leoti was also a western KS town, it was much different than Oberlin. Leoti was more cowboy oriented and economically less affluent. That would change after we left, discovery of a large underground water table changed the economic picture with many poor farmers becoming quite wealthy.

End text

8mm Photos

Photo clips have been extracted from 8 mm file taken with Archie Hamiltons new movie camera and shot by Roy Campbell Hamilton’s neighbor. Mary had worked for Roy at his Ladies Ready to Wear Clothing store. About 50% of the film is unusable as there was not enough light. It was Roy’s first time at shooting photos – the same setting was used in sunlight, shade, inside down a dark hall or into a bright window light. I’ve tried to extract the best images possible then crop, resize, brighten & contrast to bring out the best of what’s there. The 8 mm film was converted to video tape, then played and recorded on a hard drive. Clips were cut when advancing at incremental rates to select the few good images. While doing this I could see body movement of a person coming down a toward the camera. I was amazed to find I recognize each of aunts Margret & Hazel when they independently came down a dark hall – I knew them by their body language before seeing their faces when they burst into light. It’s remarable what the memory stores and recalls instinctively. These people were well known to us, we moved away and many never seen again – for some, these are the only images we have.

Persons filmed & Information about Them

Name	Description
Banta Howard	Howard married Connie (from McDonnald) and had two child. Howards father H. Q. built and operated the Oberlin Milling Co, which burned in 1930 & rebuilt on a different site as a grain elevator. I worked for Howard during summers while in college before going into service. Howards mother was my early Sunday school teacher. Howard and Marys father were in the same high school class and owned an airplane together after WW II. Howard graduated with degree in milling from KSState. Howard, Carl Frickey, Dorren Paddock & I sang in the church choir.
Barclay Dick	Dick, son of Francis & Margaret is shown as young man in photo with Francis. Dick & brother Chuck set up an accounting firm, now run by Dick since Chuck passed away. Dick married Jan (Forbes) & became Senator for the State of Arkansas.
Barclay Francis	Francis married my mother sister Margret (Bobbitt), Charles & Dick are their sons. Francis worked as a Civil Engineer with the KS Hwy Commission.
Barclay Margaret	Margaret (Bobbitt) Barclay (left in set 2) is my mothers sister and wife of Francis Barclay
Beardsly Henry	Henry married Bess (____) and had a daughter & son, daughter Alice was in my class. Henry operated the Chief Movie Theater.
Bobbitt Max	Max, son of Ray & Edith, married Ann and adopted Ann’s daughter Charlote. Max operated the Oberlin Cleaning Shop set up by his father. Max served as a Medic with an Army Engineering outfit in Europe, landing on Normandy D-day plus 6.
Bobbitt Ray	Ray my mothers brother married Edith (Danielson), parents of Max, Marbe Jean, Geraldine and Barton. Ray served in Navy during WW I and operated a cleaning show in Oberlin. Ray turned his cleaning shop over to son Max and became a building contractor, building the Roy Campbell store and the Lee Kump Ford dealership buildings in Oberlin before moving to Oregon as a contractor.
Bremer John Sr	John Bremer Sr, a lawyer and friend of the family married ___ Miller, they had a son John Jr who became a lawyer and county judge. John Sr died of a brain tumor some 15 years after this photo. He took charge in settling Dads estate, John did this knowing his cancer was terminal.
Brown Harry	Harry married Janie shortly after he graduated as a Civil Engineer form KSState. Harry was an airplane mechanic in WW II, & my room mate after WW II when finishing school. Ralph Brown of Farmers Nationl Bank was Harry’s brother. Harry worked for the US Government’s soil conservation program. Harry died young of cancer.
Brown Ralph	Ralph & wife Effie were neighbors and Ralph worked for the Farmers National Bank.
Dowling Art	Art married Vivian(Landau) & separated after having three children. Art, a certified public accountant, purchased the Presbyterian church building in which we were married and converted it into an art studio.
Fisher Cleo	Cleo married Marba Jean Bobbitt daughter of Ray and Edith. Cleo was in my class grade & high school & served in the Army in Far Pacific in WW II. He farmed and worked for Hamilton Oil Co. Their son Randy is an Aeronautical Engineer with Raytheon-Beach in Wichita KS
Frickey Carl	Carl married Dorren (Nitch) and was my fathers business partner. Carls father Charlie was president of the Farmers National Bank before my father Rell I Carl followed as President when Rell retired. Carl, Howard Banta, Dorren Padock & I sang in the Church Choir together.
Gains Dale	Dale worked for the Hamilton Oil Co
Guinter Kennith	Kenniths wife Fay worked for Hamilton Oil Co as Archies secretary and book keeper.
Hamilton Arthur	Arthur, Marys brother married Wilma , they would have Linda, Marsha and Rohnn. Art was a working partner with his father Archie in Hamilton Oil Co. Cleo Fisher helped him run the Fertilizer part of the operation.
Hamilton Harold	Harold was Mary’s uncle, then managere of a NB hospital, their children Steve and Mary were candle lighters at the wedding.
Hamilton Mary	The bride, Mary (Hamilton) Landau is daughter of Archie Hamilton and Lola (Koehler) and lived half a block from the Rell Landau home. Archie was owner operator of the Hamilton Oil Co. which included oil transports and farm fertilizer operations
Johnson Dora	Dora is my fathers sister, married Oscar Johnson, parents of Myron and Herald also present & Helen, Dorthy and Marine not present. Oscar owned a farm near Kanona KS.
Johnson Harold	Harold son of Oscar & Dora (Landau) married Inez ____ . Harold graduated with degree in Agriculter from KSState & farmed the Johnson home place.
Jorn Chris	Chris married ___ (Douglas) and had son’s Dough, Don & Bob plus daughter Annie Lauri. Bob was in my class & served in the Marines. Chris farmed and later worked for Kump Motor Co., Lee and Chris as young men worked for the Oberlin Bank. Ms Douglas, bobs anunt was one of our high school teachers and lived next door to my grandmother Landau.
Keifer Roy	Roy married Ester (___) and was a barber, his marbeled stall shop is now set up in the Oberlin Musium. Ester was a close friend of Lola’s Mary’s mother.
Koehler Everet	Everet Koehler’s maternal grandfather was my matern grandfather’s brother. Everets father was a brother of Mary’s mother’s father. Everet worked for the Hamilton Oil Co.
Kump Don	Don is Lee & Hazels second son, and bought the Ford dealership from Lee. Don was present but not on film
Kump Jack	Jack Lee & Hazels third son bought the Ford dealership from brother Don. Jack is in photo with John Breemer.
Kump Lee	Lee Kump married my mothers sister Hazel (Bobbitt), Warren, Don & Jack were their sons. Lee owned the Ford dealership near the Hamilton Oil Co. in building built by Ray Bobbitt. Lee’s father “granddad” John Kump” lived to be 105, at age 7 helped his parents break open buffalo grass on their homestead to plant crops. John, who the man land on the moon, checked with grandson Don, asking if that TV program was put on or real?
Kump Warren	Warren is Lee & Hazels oldest boy. He served in the Marine Corp as a Dr, specializing in radiology after WW II, the Kump Radiology Clinic, part of a large hospital in Minneapolis MN is named after him.
Kump Hazel	Hazel (Bobbitt) Kump (right in set 2) is my mother sister and wife of Lee Kump
Laird Eileen	Eileen (Landau) Laird was daughter of my fathers brother Earl and married to Earl Laird who farmed, with her is son Larry is in photo.
Landau Darrell	The groom, Darrell, Phyllis and Marjorie are the children of Rell Landau and Ila (Bobbitt) and lived near Mary’s home. Marjorie and Mary were classmates all through grade & high school – and used to give Darrell a push to get his Model-T started in return for a ride about the block. Rell was then President of the Farmers National Bank. In WW II Darrell served on Guam as a B-29 Sqd Engineering Officer. Upon return graduated from Kstate as a mechanical engineer. Was a Civil Engr with KS Hwy dept at time of the photo
Landau French	French, son of my fathers brother Earl, married Lois (Macy). French served in Army in Pacific during WW II, and operated a plumbing store in Atwood.
Landau Lemoin	Lemoin Landau married Fay (Walker) and had a son Vincent before remarrying. Lemoin won 1^st place in state wrestling contest and operated the Foster Lumber Co in Oberlin in competion with his cousin and good buddy Bob Redman. Fay died and Lemoin married Patty Pierce and they had a son Greg.
Landau Vera	Vera, Earl Landaus second wife, was a school teacher. Earl had two daughters Eileen & Virginia and son French by his first wife ___ (Vernon). Earl rented and farmed the Forrest Redman sizable place NE of Oberlin.
Landau Wayne	Wayne is my fathers brother, married Corna (Kirbendal). Lemoin, Lucile, Vivian and Vincent are their children. Vincent a class mate of mine was a Navy pilot and shot down the last of WW II, after the second A-bomb off Honsu. Vincent was married to Dorren Padock, Vivian married Art Dowling.
Mahon Harry	Harry married Silvia & was superintendent of schools, Silvia a good friend of our mothers. Harry was superintendent during Mary’s class of 47 & Darrell;s class of 41.
Nitch Paul	Paul married Lydia (Lukie), ___ , Dorren & Paul Jr were their kids. They lived next door to Rell Landau’s and across the street from Arch Hamilton’s. Paul and brother John married well to do sisters, John owned and operated the John Deer Dealership. Paul farmed the Lukie place, built and operated Paul’s Service Station – that building now at the Oberlin Musium site. Daughter Dorren married Carl Frickey.
Paddock Dorren	Dorren (Paddock) Landau was daughter of Jay & Fay (Dean) Paddock, and married to Vincent Landau. After Vincent died Dorren married a Dr and moved to IL.. Dorren was in my class in grade school, high school and college. He grandmother was Mrs Dean in photos, her father Jay Padock partner with Forrest Redman in Redman-Padock Lumber Co.
Pierce Doris	Worked with Mary for Roy Cambell in Ladies Ready to Wear
Redman Bob	Bob graduated from North Western University IL in Civil Engineering. During WW II he worked at Boeing Wichta building the B-29 and married Hellen shown in photo with him. When the post WW II building boom ended Bob closed the Redman-Paddock Lumber Yard and went back to work for Boeing.
Redman Forrest	Forrest married my fathers sister Suzy, below. Forrest was partner with Jay Paddock owning the Redman-Paddock Lumber Co, Forrest also owned a farm which he rented to Earl Landau. Forrest, who often wore a scoweling look, was a quite intelligent man, with soft heart and dedicated to helping other family members. Forrest financed the lumber used when dad built our first new home. This permitted dad to build the new home and pay Forrest later, support very much appreciated. The following photo is in barn doorway at Oscars place. Grandfather William Landau Oscar Johnson Forrest Redman
Redman Suzy	Suzy is my fathers sister, married Forrest Redman, parents of Bob also present & Myra not present..
Roach Mike	Mike married Violet (Grosneclaus) & had one daughter Margarite. Mike sold insurance in competition with my father, both served in WW I and were very close friends.
Set 1	Shows arrival at the church
Set 2	Shots takin inside the Masonic Temple. Rell & Archie were both Masons thus doubly qualified for use of these excellent facilities. This set shows the wedding gifts. Some relatives pooled funds to buy expensive items as a sets of real silverware, etc. These gifts were perhaps on the plus side of average – typical of weddings in the community at that time -- dependent on the size of the families combine by marrage. My father came from a family of 9 and mother from a family of 5 with most of these families represented in person. Mary’s family was smaller in number, and fewer able to attend, having lived far away for years.
Simpson Holden	Holden married my fathers sister Neva (Landau), their children were Nancy, Dorothy Blanche, Caroline & David. All are gone but David who farms the home place plus more. Holden is the only one captured on film.
Sproul Earl	Earl married Etta (___), Loraine, Dorothy and Creta were their daughter. Earl owned and operated a cream station where he made butter. I worked for Earl from 4 th grade to Sophomor year. Earl, Archie Hamilto, Ed Hunt (blacksmith) had businesses on the same intersection & with Rell used to play cards together.
Thompson Noel	Noel married a close friend of my sister Phyllis, whom she met at KSState. Noel and I were in grade and high school together.
Waldo Lloyd	Lloyd worked for Hamilton Oil Co and would later married Mary (Taylor) one of Mary’s best friends.
Wolf Wally	Wally married Thelm (___), they had no kids. Wally was a lawyer, played in the Masonic band & known to all in the community.

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

Set 5

Set 6

Set 7

Set 8

Set 9

Hamilton’s arrive Darrell & Mary’s 1946 Ford Landau-s arrive