Gerald Hickman's Blog - Posts Tagged "farming"
Genesee, Idaho my boyhood town
Genesee is a small town in the Palouse Hills of Washington and Idaho. My Grandfather came west to the end of the northern RR and landed in Genesee.
It was a transportation hub at this time and Grandpa said it was lively.
He worked on the river ferry for a couple years after he arrived at Genesee and then moved back to town to run a livery stable. It was one of two livery stables along with two banks, general merchandise stores, a saloon, a brothel, supply stores for farmers and ranchers and 2 or 3 churches. Later Grandpa bought the ranch and farmed it until his retirement, when my Dad took over. This is the ranch/farm where I grew up.
The good deep thick Palouse Hills soil was the reason the area was so good for farming and the yield for grains, hay and potatoes was excellent.
Grain harvest in late summer was a very busy time around Genesee with lots of transient laborers coming to help with the threshing, sacking and hauling of harvest to town for storage or shipment. In those days it took a lot of help to handle the teams of horses that did the hauling and harvesting. Each farm had lots of feedlots for the livestock who did the chores, these crops were used to grow the feed for the work animals.
Some people say that harvest time was the busiest time of the year for the saloon and brothel in town.
It was a transportation hub at this time and Grandpa said it was lively.
He worked on the river ferry for a couple years after he arrived at Genesee and then moved back to town to run a livery stable. It was one of two livery stables along with two banks, general merchandise stores, a saloon, a brothel, supply stores for farmers and ranchers and 2 or 3 churches. Later Grandpa bought the ranch and farmed it until his retirement, when my Dad took over. This is the ranch/farm where I grew up.
The good deep thick Palouse Hills soil was the reason the area was so good for farming and the yield for grains, hay and potatoes was excellent.
Grain harvest in late summer was a very busy time around Genesee with lots of transient laborers coming to help with the threshing, sacking and hauling of harvest to town for storage or shipment. In those days it took a lot of help to handle the teams of horses that did the hauling and harvesting. Each farm had lots of feedlots for the livestock who did the chores, these crops were used to grow the feed for the work animals.
Some people say that harvest time was the busiest time of the year for the saloon and brothel in town.
