3.. Lewis & Clark Exposition to Great Depression

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] No. We didn't stay there that long.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] They mill ran out of timber at that time and then they sent Dad over here to camp at Soap Creek.

Bob Zybach: The mill that was operating in Kings Valley. Did Burtrom and McCoy own that mill there?

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Yes.

Bob Zybach: Now, that was located at a different . . . Did they still have the Price or Kings Gristmill there in back of the store? That was still operating?

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Yeah.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] The Gristmill wasn't still operating.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Yeah.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] That old grinding mill?

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Yeah. Made flour.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] I don't remember that. I won't argue with you.

Bob Zybach: But, at later dates people named Zeller and Pettigrove had mills in Kings Valley area. Do you know any of... Do those ring any bells?

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Not those.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] I know we swam in that old dam there with the gristmill.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] It seemed like to me all the facilities were there for grinding grain.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] All the facilities was there but it didn't operate.

Bob Zybach: Maybe it just wasn't operating.

Norman Hindes: No, they wasn't operating.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] I wouldn't argue that point.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] But we swam in it. It was a wonderful swimming hole. Oh, man. I'll tell you. The dam, you know, for running that gristmill.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] No, before school started we had moved over to the Soap Creek area and this was most likely in '28 because the nearest I can come to pinpointing the exact time is that all the young bucks in camp after they started this camp on Soap Creek and they'd made a few dollars, bought the first Model A Fords which came out. And that was 1928. And when the depression hit in 1929 I think there were five or six of them with all new roadsters and coups and so forth and the whole works lost their vehicles because there just wasn't any work and [they] could not make payments.

3. Lewis & Clark Exposition to Great Depression

Bob Zybach: But to back up just a little bit. Your dad's family came out here from Illinois and they settled in the Brownsville. No, it wasn't Brownsville. . .

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Halsey

Bob Zybach: Halsey area.

Charles Hindes: Um hmm. Between Albany and Halsey.

Bob Zybach: And that was some time right after the Lewis and Clark exposition, so about 1907, 1908. And then your mother's family you're just now getting information. Do you know when they came out?

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Probably ... You see this stock certificate I talked about was dated 1913. So, it was sometime probably approaching the time that my father's people came out or maybe even slightly before.

Bob Zybach: So that was her family that had the stock certificate then.

Charles Hindes: Both grandparents were on it.

Bob Zybach: Oh, I see. .

Charles Hindes: My grandfather Hindes was president of the corporation and this stock certificate was made out to my grandfather Wood and his son was the recording secretary on this stock certificate.

Bob Zybach: Oh, the two families had the business relationship. It wasn't your mom and dad, it was your grandparents.

Charles Hindes: No, that's why I said earlier that I wasn't sure that mother and dad's relationship was before or after the fact. And this may have precipitated my mother and father getting together. I don't know for sure.

Bob Zybach: Oh, I see. Okay. I misunderstood.

Charles Hindes: My maternal grandfather was a sea captain. In fact, he served some time in the Spanish American war on the Battleship Oregon. So, I know that they probably predated my fathers folks in coming to Oregon. I'm assuming that the Battleship Oregon sailed off the west coast. I don't know that for sure.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] The grandparents sent Dad back to college after they came out here before he was married.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Could be, but I do know that they came out about the same time as Lewis and Clark exposition. That's firm in my mind.

Bob Zybach: So they were just married a few years. Then your mom died and then you began living with your dad's parents at that point and then they died over the next seven or eight years.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] He died in 1928, 29, 28.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Grandfather Hindes died in 1928.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] Yes, I guess.

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] It predated our going to Kings Valley.

Bob Zybach: So then you moved to Kings Valley and you were living in a tent there. What kinds of food were you eating? What were you doing for fun?

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Very meager. Very meager.

Bob Zybach: Are those related. Were you fishing and hunting for fun and then living off game?

Charles Hindes: [CHUCK] Not so much there. Certainly after we moved to Soap Creek and after the Depression hit, you bet. I'll tell you, we made the deer scarce. But it was real tough going because there was no welfare or surplus food. There was no assistance of any kind. There were no food stamps. No relief programs. No nothing. I mean you were strictly on your own and for the most part it took cash to transact business. Once in a while one could work for somebody for farm produce, but essentially you either scrounged up some money to get food or you hunted it.

Norman Hindes: [NORMAN] I can remember when Dad come home one day after the crash and everything and he said to Mom. He says, guy told me down the road here, talking to him, if you walk into Corvallis, they'll give us some cornmeal. So Dad said to me, come on kid, we're gonna walk to Corvallis. So we walked to Corvallis from Soap Creek, got a bunch of cornmeal and took it back out and we ate cornmeal until God I hardly look at cornmeal today. For years I couldn't stand it. And then we never threw the peelings or damn things away. We ate potato peelings and used everything.