SHARPENING SAW MILL BLADES by Jesse Suttles A note about “Saw Mills” My Granddad on my Mother’s side of the family ran a saw mill. In North East Texas. His son told me some stories about the every day life at the mill. He said that his Dad was the only one that filed (sharpened) […]
I can understand now why they thought it was the end of the world – sitting in the dark for hours, day after day – it’s hard to imagine Sallisaw, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Oklahoma drought farmers. “Nothing to do. These fellers,” said one of them, “are goin to stay right here till they dry up […]
Rockwall’s stone archway Rockwall, Texas, mentioned in a recent article, is the county seat of Rockwall County. Located at the intersection of State Highways 66 and 205, it is a town shrouded in mystery. The town name of Rockwall comes from a geologic formation in the town. “A stone archway on private property a few […]
Can you imagine walking down a hot Texas road to Memphis, Texas from Arkansas in June 1937 with all your belongings and your family, including young children, like these people did in the photographs at the bottom? I don’t even see any shade trees for miles. Located in the northeastern part of the county Memphis […]
(Another great memory from NE Texas by contributing author, Jesse Suttles) Ice Cream without a Freezer by Jesse Suttles When I was a small boy, ten years old. 1948, we lived in North East Texas. We lived about 10 miles from town. Sometimes we would go to town in a wagon. When Dad’s old car […]
GROWING UP IN WEST TEXAS by Jesse Suttles Dad told me a story about his family moving to a different place when he was about 12 years old. It was probably close to Memphis, Texas, Hall county. It was in the wintertime. Dad said not far from the house there was a large rock formation. […]
Lewis Wickes Hine (September 26, 1874 – November 3, 1940) was an American sociologist and photographer. Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States. Below are some photographs he took in 1913 in Texas with his comments. The song below, […]
Great Depression and Dust Bowl Between the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, families had no other course but to leave the prairie lands and immigrant to the western states to become migrant workers. Below are vivid photographs documenting the difficulties they encountered on the road and interviews by the WPA with four men, Wayne […]
Ropesville is a city in Hockley County, Texas, United States. Ropesville, The Ropesville Resettlement Project began in 1934 in conjunction with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the community exists to this day. Resettled family, formerly renters. Ropesville rural community, Texas by photographer Arthur Rothstein in April 1936 Resettled farmer terracing part of […]
We have trucks, moving vans and paved roads today which makes moving from one state to another much easier. Imagine having to pack up an move all your belongings in covered wagons and on trails rather than paved roads. The task seems daunting, but this occurred, even as late as the early 1900s as revealed […]
