The CCC, Neighbors and Land Deals

“Nineteen-thirty-eight, they had a CCC camp at Tokay. Oh yeah. And Dean helped the man – they had a man, and they needed some water. Naturally, they had that terrible water. There was a halfway-decent well there, but they needed a well, so they had this man drilling this well, and Dean had worked for a well driller, so he was helping him drill this well. It’s just east of the house. And they got some water. And they looked down, and they had a mirror, and they looked down and they saw this water coming out, so they put a cable and a stick of dynamite on it, blew it out, got a good stream of water, so then they went ahead and developed that water, for the CCC camp. And boy, that’s why I wanted to buy Tokay … They (the CCC) did a lot of things. There’s still evidence of what they did.

“They did a lot of erosion work, out in those hills, have you been through that road from where Tokay goes through and catches the road to Stallion? You go across the house and you can come out, you hit the paved road that goes to Stallion. Well, see, I lived above on that road, in a little adobe house we bought from a man. Piece of ranch country, so we joined – our fence was right down there. And when Dean developed that well, it was wonderful. And it’s up on a ridge, you would not think there’d be, you know there’s a great big canyon not far from there, and you’d think if that big stream of water was there it’d be in that canyon.

“The wind would blow, oohhh, we had a screened – two adobe rooms, and Mr. Fernandez built it. He was an old Spaniard, and he worked in the coal mines, and he saved his money and he homesteaded that place. And he bought a cow, and then he’d save his money and he had a partner, Mr. Olguin. So they went partners and bought a little piece of land there, and they would – they accumulated some cattle. And he was a fine old gentleman, and Dean and I used to go see him. Spoke Castilian Spanish, had blue eyes. And he was such a gentleman, and he lived in those two adobe rooms and he’d uh, well, we’d have to go by there with cattle when we’d bring ‘em to town, and finally he wanted to sell out. So Dean could buy him out, but he couldn’t get his partner. He had to buy his partner out too. And I think he wanted $2,500. Now that doesn’t seem like much now, but back then that was – land wasn’t worth a lot of money, and see, mostly it’s BLM land, all you’re buying is that little piece of patented land that they’re on. So Dean went to Albuquerque and got some – $2,500 in $5 bills and $1 bills – a whole bag full of bills. And I figured, at that time he went up there, and he bought a car. And he sent me home in that car and he was following me and I had that bag of money, and I was so worried about it. I’d had to learn to drive when I went to the ranch, I hadn’t driven a car. Anyhow, he took that little bag of money, and he went down to this little adobe house on the river there at San Antonio, and this old couple lived there and, well they weren’t old, but they’d – you know – worked hard all their life, and he had that money out on the floor, and they finally agreed they’d take that. He took that money, built the bar down here, the one that used to, it was off-limits to the CCC boys because they had, they had women in the back and everything and … He made more money on that bar than we ever made on that ranch. Trust me. Every time we’d drive by there, Dean said “look at that.” You know where the railroad track is? It was just across the track on the right. Yeah, I think they called it the 85.

“Not many people went in there, it was a little rowdy. Then later on it got so’s it was OK. But they wouldn’t let the CCC boys go there. Anyhow, they had 300 boys from Brooklyn and put ‘em in that CCC camp. And they had never been off of pavement in their life. And they’d talk “dese” and “dem” and “doze” and they were terrified. They just knew there were snakes gonna get ‘em and coyotes were gonna get ‘em and … They were an absolute delight. ‘Cause they were totally different than anybody I’d ever been around. But they had instructors. They were our friends, they had an educational advisor, Mr., Mr., what was his name? Anyhow, Mr. Bo, Bliz, anyhow, he’d try to teach ‘em how to type. CCC camps were wonderful. Saved so many boys lives, taught ‘em how to use their hands, and, a whole different world to them. And taught ‘em how to write, and how to, you know, kind of like army life. And they learned to type, and they had three square meals a day. And they’d send $22 home to their families, which saved their families’ lives. I’m talkin’ ‘bout $22. Doesn’t seem like much now – people go down and sit in a restaurant now and spend $22 without battin’ an eyelash, but that was a lot of money then. And it would BUY something. Mr. Bulger was his name! (Bull-jer) Anyhow, they had hired men, who badly needed jobs, to take care of these guys. To cook for ‘em and teach ‘em and take ‘em out in the field to teach ‘em how to work. So they had a cold crew hired, like Obama would imagine he’d like to do now you know, but we don’t have that same kind of situation. And they’d stay, how long was it, two years? I’ve forgotten, but there were CCC camps all over the country.

“Oh, they built sidewalk and had a fountain, and they had a recreation room, and they had a pool hall. Three hundred of ‘em. And Mr. Bulger, he educated ‘em, he was telling me the story about after he was, he was teaching ‘em about, you know, you didn’t steal and you know, some moral things in life."