Manuscript Page 17

they officially welcomed us to Pleasant Valley. The Sparks had come from Texas in 1913 so had been in Pleasant Valley for some time before we arrived. They invited us to attend church, told us about the school and made us feel a little less isolated in general.

Later we became acquainted with people who had been active participants in the Pleasant Valley War. The local blacksmith, Henry Blevins, was one of them but neither he nor any of the others were much inclined to talk about the feud. Some others we met were George Wilson, Sam Rose, John Gilland and George Wilson. None of the original leaders of the feud, Grahams and Tewksburys, survived the contest. Zane Gray's book "To The Last Man" had a most appropriate title.

That homestead on the mesa was a "load." I do not know how we survived because there was no reliable source of water. We dug a dirt tank to catch rain water for the cattle and horses. We hauled water from Pine Creek and Cherry Creek for domestic use. Finally we dug a cistern and caught rainwater off the roof of the house but we never had enough to do more than just squeak by. We drilled two wells each three hundred feet deep and when those turned out to be "dry holes" we knew we had to move. After ten tough years we bought a place on Cherry Creek. It was one hundred sixty acres with a large log house, a small log cabin, fences and a well with water in it. The place cost $2,500 and Dad borrowed $1,100 from Theo Spurlock to swing the deal. The very next time we sold cattle we repaid Spurlock but we paid no interest on the loan. Our family did not buy things on credit.

Our life on the mesa was not all bad. There was a great view from our house and if you could forget the lack of adequate water it was a pleasant place to live. Our cattle, which were our only source of income, had great grazing both in winter and in summer and we seldom had to feed any of them. We got enough rain to grow corn, cane, clover, maize and a few melons so we could eat quite well. We also grew pink and pinto beans which were a staple food. There were also plenty of deer, elk and wild turkeys in the area and we had an adequate supply of meat.

Each summer cattle buyers came to look at our herd and to buy the increase. It was necessary to keep the herd at about 100 head of mother cows since we were grazing them on National Forest Land and had a permit for one hundred head.

Once our cattle were sold they had to be driven to a shipping point which was most often at Holbrook but occasionally was at Globe or even Phoenix. The actual point of delivery was at the option of the buyer but was agreed on at the time of sale. We always sold our calves when they were "long yearlings," that is they were animals sold in October and which had been born a year before the previous March. They were roughly eighteen months old. There were always a few cows and a bull or two in the sale herd. Cows that did not produce calves because of age or for any other