Herman Miller's Childhood Memories

Voris Jane Miller, LaDonna Cunningham, Richard Herman Miller, Luella Hutchins - 1923

Childhood Memories from Herman:

Herman Miller, 1937
in front of Swen Peterson's

My greatest memories are going to Grandma and Grandpa Hutchins.  We spent every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Holiday there.  They had a big old barn and all us kids had more fun  playing in it.  There was a ladder inside that went up to the loft and that was the best place to play hide-n-seek.   Out on the side of the barn was a basketball hoop.  Voris, Morris, Phil Reynolds, and I played a lot of basketball there.  Also there was an old pitcher pump; we loved to get water.  It would run into a big trough which was a hollowed out tree for the horses and cows.
I being the oldest grandson had the job of mowing Grandma’s lawn.  Every Saturday I would go over and mow it.  Grandma had nine big apple trees and they seemed to be loaded every year.  They were Whitney crabs, cherry crabs, and one was a big winter apple; boy they were good.  Grandma had us kids pick the apples; she was very particular.  We would put a ladder up into the middle of the tree and pick each apple and carefully put it in a bucket.
I loved going into their big under-ground cellar.  It was full of everything and had a lot of nice shelves in it.  It always smelled of apples and potatoes and everything looked so good.
Grandpa was the one who got Sanford’s first Flag Pole.  This had been a very much anticipated event in town.  The newspaper carried the story for several weeks; telling of the progress.  The pole stood in front of the old stone church for as long as the church was there.  It was painted white and set in a block of cement.  He brought it down from the lower La Jara Canyon on double wagons; as it was about 60 feet long.  The first pole he tried to bring out broke at “Shuller Crossing”; as the turn was too sharp.  So he went back up for a second pole.  This was quit a job.
I think of Grandpa every 4th of July.  He was a dynamite or explosive expert.  So he would set three big sticks of dynamite out in his corral.  At 4:00 a.m. as day was breaking in the east, on the 4th of July he would wake the whole town up.  The blast would shake windows all over town.  He did this as long as I can remember.  After we would get up we couldn’t wait to get down to Grandpa’s to see the three big holes it would make out in the corral.  They were so big; they would have to shovel them back in.
Also Grandpa is the reason for the big rock in the middle of the Conejos River, up above Broyles’ bridge just before you get to Fox Creek (it has Lee’s Texaco painted on it).  They had Grandpa come and dynamite the mountain when they were building the road up there.  Well the dynamite blew the big rocks off into the river and no one could move them out; or they didn’t want to try.
I remember when Dad and Grandpa run a saw mill over at Pagosa Springs.  I was just a little guy about 3 or 4 years old.  Voris and my job was to go to the river for a bucket of water.  Then Grandpa would blow the whistle for lunch.  Momma cooked for all the men.  You could never go in Momma’s house for even 5 minutes; but she wouldn’t give you something to eat.
Momma always had a big garden, her chickens, pigs and cows.  We always had plenty of eggs, bacon and pork, beef, and milk & butter.  We ground our own wheat, grew our own potatoes, onion and vegetables.  We ate good and the food was natural and a lot better for you then; as compared to all the prosperities in it now.
In the fall Dad and Grandpa would go up after wood for our fuel.  They would go up on “Pot Mountain”.  We would expect them home about 7 or 8 o’clock after dark.  But sometimes it would be 10 or 11 o’clock before we would hear the old wagons coming in; we were sure glad to see them come in.  I remember they would wear duffs to protect their arms when hauling the wood.
It would get so cold in the winter.  I remember seeing frost on Grandpa’s mustache.  He would always call it “Bitter Cold”.  At night Dad, and I’ve seen Grandpa too, whittle shaving off a big board; so they would have something to start a fire with in the morning.  The old stoves we had wouldn’t hold a fire must past 12 to 1 o’clock in the morning.  We would have frozen water in the buckets every morning.  Dad usually used coal and that held the fire about three times longer.  But I remember Ma saying, “Don’t get up until the house warms up.”  We sleep with so many covers on us that we couldn’t hardly turn over.  Now days we don’t have any idea what hard ships are, and I don’t want to have to know.  We are so lucky to live with all are modern ways; such as to just turn the heat up or down with the turn of a dial.  But those days made good strong people who were hard workers.

Herman Miller and Maggie Jane Hutchins Miller