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For the next six years or so Oris and Mamie lived with Grandma Ware. They moved with her to several towns.
They finally settled in Ottumwa, Iowa. Upon completing the 7th grade, Oris was informed that he was to return to Oklahoma. He was provided with some new clothes and a railroad ticket to the "wild country", as he called it. Grandma Ware drove him to the railroad station and gave him detailed instructions as to train service and where to change trains. There was no other ceremony. By this time Oris had learned to accept life as a matter of fact. He took events as they came without questions. He did not inquire as to why he (and not Mamie, too) was returning to Oklahoma and no one ventured an explanation.
The train trip to Oklahoma took about 24 hours. Grandma Ware had prepared sufficient lunch for the trip. When Oris arrived at his destination no one was there to meet him. That didn't bother him as he knew his way around. He had not expected any red carpet service as none had ever been furnished before. Possibly Culvin and Ada did not even know Oris was coming. The destination where he got off the train was then merely a watering station. All trains made a stop for water there. Later it became known as Reynolds Station. It was only a short walk to his home. Culvin had not been idle while Oris had been gone. The house had been finished and painted. Fences had been built. Culvin did not like the "range idea" for raising cattle and had provided pastures fully fenced. The Reynolds's now claimed a ranch of nearly 1,500 acres (mostly grasslands). Everything seemed rosy. Arriving back in Oklahoma in mid-summer of 1901, Oris found conditions much more to his liking. During the 5 1/2 years that he had been away, some changes had taken place. More families had moved into the region although there were no close neighbors. Raising cattle was still the principle industry. In Culvin's small pasture of some 400 acres he had a fair sized herd of cattle. These were mostly the longhorn range type, yet he had two Durham full blood yearlings. There were several milch cows that Oris soon learned to milk. Oris's duties at this time were to assist in the chores around the stable mornings and evenings. Since working with animals was rather a second nature, Oris fell heir to one rather difficult job. One of the range-type heifers became fresh and gave birth to a calf that died at birth. Culvin thought that Oris should milk her. This presented a big problem as ordinarily no one could come near her. Oris managed to get her into the feed lot by giving her a helping of bran mash. Then he tied her to a fence post but could not touch her as she kicked something terrible. He remembered Culvin's old trunk strap. This he buckled around her flank very tightly. Thus she could not kick as a cow kicks with one foot. She now could not raise one foot without the other. After an hour or so, Oris managed to get her milked. The second day's milking was not so bad. After that she became quite friendly with Oris but would not let anyone else in the lot at milking time. She would run them off. In the pasture she would even come to meet him. September brought up the question of school. By now a fairly good school was in progress in Kiowa, about five miles away. Since Clair was now seven years old, it was decided the he and Oris should drive to Kiowa each morning and back after school. This they kept up until late November. By then the roads became bad and the weather foul. Thus ended school until the next spring. On a ranch like Culvin and Ada's the work was rather seasonable. There were busy times and there were slack times. In spring fences had to be built or repaired. Since the area was mostly prairie grass and grazing land, many fires were set by the railroad locomotives in the dry season. Each fire would burn out some of the wooden fence posts that then had to be replaced. One spring they needed several hundred posts to make the repairs. Culvin had planned on hiring a neighbor to make the posts. He mentioned it several times. Yet nothing happened. One day Oris suggested to Culvin that they make the posts themselves. Culvin agreed that they should try. Oris by now was big enough to handle tools as well as Culvin. They traveled up to the timber and shortly had all the needed posts made and sharpened. The posts were driven instead of being set since it was rocky country and digging postholes was quite difficult. After the spring rains Culvin and Oris started the job of fence repair. By this time Oris was 15 and did all the post driving from a wagon bed with a 16-pound post mall. Thus now he was a full-fledged ranch hand. Nothing was too hard for him! Mid-summer was another busy time on the ranch. It was haying time. The wild bluestem grass made wonderful hay. They had acres of it. They cut and baled hay as long as the season lasted. Oris worked with the hay baling crew first as a tie boy at the hay press and then as an operator of the bull rake. The bull rake was about ten or more feet in length with a horse at each end. The rake was driven so that it would straddle the windrow of hay and scoop it up like a big shovel. When loaded it was driven to the stationary hay press. After they had prepared and stored sufficient hay for their needs, they baled and shipped the remainder sometimes amounting to several railroad carloads. Bluestem hay brought good prices and was in demand. Circus time was a wonderful time for boys. In late summer Ringling Brothers' great show was billed to be at McAlester, a town about 25 miles away. After some persuasion Culvin agreed to take the whole family if the weather was suitable. That morning at daybreak it was raining and their hopes were crushed. However, by 7:00 a.m. the sun had come out so it was decided they would go anyway. Culvin, Ada, and Clair rode in the buggy. Oris rode along side on horseback. They arrived before noon. Although they had missed the parade, they saw the big afternoon show. They arrived home quite late that night terribly tired but happy. --end Chapter 3-- |