It was about 1930?
1930 I started. I went to Weyerhaeser Camp Two during the summer. A friend of mine got me a job there and we played baseball for Weyerhaeser. Then I came and taught at Alltamont for five years. Following that, I went back to school for a while. I went to school off and on every time I’d get any money, until [I earned] the masters degree, which was 1942. My experiences in teaching were very gratifying. I was in the state department of education, which was the least gratifying job that I had, and from there they wanted me to come back down as a school superintendent. I was in that for 12 years.
In 1960, I decided that I was going to be a farmer. I’d been in the job for 12 years, and the neighbors decided that I was a statesman and so they got me to run for the state legislature. I didn’t think I’d have a chance of getting elected. I was a Republican and Republicans were not being elected at that time. I didn’t even buy space in the voter’s pamphlet. I surprised me and I was elected to that [office] and was there for 12 years.
As a state representative?
Yes. I gave that up about 1972.
You retired at that time?
I quit the state legislature. I didn’t think I was an author, but it turned out that way. I had this farm all paid off before I went to the legislature and I discovered that a 160-acre farm would not support the necessary machinery. You had to have a bigger operation than that, so I sold it. I was fortunate enough to take advantage of in the inflation that took place from the time I bought it until the time I sold it.
Did you farm in the time that you were away from Salem?
I tried to, and the neighbors kept me in it, but I couldn’t serve in the legislature and be a farmer. I didn’t want to impose on their kindness, and so I leased the farm land for the rest of the time I was in the legislature. The terms of the legislature kept getting longer and longer and into the farming season. Of course, it was only every two years. In the meantime, I was able to do a lot of archeological research in Mexico and Arizona in trying to trace any likenesses that there might be between the local Indians and the others of the west. That was, of course, a lot of fun.
