Calpella, Ca.
We lived in the mill camp until we moved to Thorton, Ar. in 1953 or early 1954.
I remember the large redwood logs at the mill. Some were so large they were actually quartered to be small enough to be hauled on a log truck. We have a picture of my brother George (about 9 or 10 years old) standing at the end of a log and he was less than 1/2 the hieght of the log.
The houses we lived in had "tar paper" on the outside to cover the cracks.
I remember the log trucks did not have "turn signal lights" but instead had an arm that hang on the drivers side of the cab with a cable on the inside so the driver could raise it to 90 degrees for a lrft turn or up 180 degrees for a right turn. The trucks were Diamand T or Reo brands. They formed my love afair with cars and trucks.
We moved back to Arkansas in a 1940 Mercury. On our trip to Arkansas we ran over some dead sheep in the road (we assumed they fell to their death off a truck as there was several of them scattered down the highway) one night and if it hadn't been for the trailer we were pulling we would have most likely had a bad wreck but as it was the trailer kept us from leaving the road and down a ravine.

I was born in Whelen Springs, Ar. in 1948. Born at home in a "sawmill camp". My father was a blacksmith at the sawmill. We moved to California shortly after I was born. Things come around full circle as I moved back my senior year of high school.

We moved to Filo, Ca. and my dad went to work in another sawmill and my family lived in a large tent (as did a lot of families ).

My first memories were after we moved to Calpella, Ca. Again another sawmill camp but all the workers lived in houses. My Uncle Pressely and Aunt Jessie May already worked and lived there and helped my dad get a job at the mill. My oldest brother Wilson and his wife Georgie May lived in the same house. I can remember my dad was adding a room to the house and as he was working on the floor and needed his hammer ( about 12 feet away), asked me to get it for him. I remember not being able to pick it up and had to just brag it over to him and thinking he must be sooo strong. I think I was about 2 or 3.