Blount's Bluff: A Family's Farm Empire In The American West As Told By Its Founder's Son.

We planted every open acre as soon as we could get the plows into the fields. The price of grain had nearly doubled and corn was rising like that hot air balloon at the county fair. It was beginning to look like 1916 would be good year for us Blounts, all the fields were planted and the fruits had set. Josiah told me he was shipping ten crates of cheese a week and was looking for more help. He had taken over complete management of the swine and had already contracted with Manteca to slaughter them for market. The only worry we had was what we heard on Jeffery's little radio, the war in Europe was spreading as was the influenza.

1916 flashed by us, the crops all did well as did our other businesses. We closed the year with a profit of $6,876,100!

All our folk were nervous about the coming war, especially parents of teen and young 20 year old boys. I went over to Camp Beale and spoke with Major Bingham. He showed me a plan to draft so many of our young folks, it would cripple Blount Farms.

He had me down for a commission to Captain and Company Commander.

I asked him, "Me, I have no military experience", and he replied, "You have command of a large business and more employees than a company would have soldiers."

He said, "You rate an orderly, have anyone in mind?"

Without thinking, I said, "John Fiest", that will haunt me for the rest of my days.

I returned home and asked my Uncles and Aunts to meet with me the next day. We sat all morning and drafted a plan to continue our businesses in the event I and many of our hands were called up.

Ella May had sat in on the meeting and she and Aunt Maggie stood up, Aunt Maggie said, "We woman can help run things, we are all farm women and we have done it before."

She looked at Uncle Joe and Uncle Tim, "When the time comes, we will just split up the work and keep Blount Farms in business."

She sat down as if that were all there was to it!

Uncle Kelly said, "No matter what, we have responsibilities to the people in Redding and Marysville, we must stock up the stores and make sure both banks are well funded. It might be a long time before it is all over."

Ella May and Aunt Maggie agreed to take over the management of both dairies and the swine. Uncle Kelly said he would look after the stores and the banks. Uncle Joe and Uncle Tim would manage the farm properties, shipping and receiving. Uncle Jimmie promised to help wherever he could and take up the slack if either Willie or Joe got called up. Uncle Jeff said he would help Tobias in Accounting and take over again if Toby was called.

With all the positions covered, we continued the year. As harvest began, the bidding on the grains was ferocious. We never put the rice up for auction, but poor Caleb Vance had to spend the night with us, one aggressive broker threatened him with a pistol over the rice crop!

After that, all our field foremen went about their jobs armed. We noticed that there were Army guards on the rail cars as they were loaded at Blount Siding and they rode the loads as the trains pulled out.

It was a relief when all the crops were in, I still went up to Ambrose Dairy each evening to retrieve Josiah. He hadn't had any more trouble, but he did had to chase some men out of the swine pen, they were counting our swine! I bought him a pistol and holster and asked his Daddy to teach him how to use it.

Josiah would soon be 16 and he was a big as any man. I knew he had been eyeing Matilda Gardener, the daughter of our store manager in Marysville. I sure didn't want him hurt, but he would borrow his daddy's horse and go into Marysville for an evening sitting on Tillie Gardener's front porch.

Fred Gardener, her daddy, kept a close eye on the two of them, but he agreed with me that it was a lonely ride back to Blount's Bluff at night in the dark.

We closed out 1917 with a goodly profit, even with plowing $1,000,000 back into the banks and increasing the inventories in the stores, we cleared $6,282,000.

We agreed to purchase 8 Dodge Heavy Duty trucks and build a new warehouse in Marysville to store goods needed in both stores.

I liked my little Ford T-Model pickup truck so much, we bought a fleet of 12 more. I spent a week showing Josiah how to drive my old one, like everything else he did, he caught on right away and was soon scooting all over Blount's Bluff with the thing.

He came to me to ask, " e eer err uh, Mr. Blount, sir, Could I , eeeer, could I use the truck to go visit Miss Tillie on Saturday nights, sir?"

I told him he could, so long as dates didn't take him down to Sacramento or San Francisco.

He solemnly promised he would not do THAT!

Uncle Joe had gone into Marysville to collect the mail, we could see him coming back as fast as that little T-model would go and blowing his horn like wild Indians were after him.

It was an unusually warm February morning, so we were all out on the front porch enjoying the sunshine.

Uncle Joe jumped from the truck, holding a large US Mail bag. The bag and his long face told me something terrible was going to happen,

I was right. I was called up, John Fiest and two other foremen were called, and 22 of our ranch hands! We were to report to Camp Beale by March 15th!

I was to report as Company Commander, Headquarters Company, Second Battalion of the Third Regiment, USEF. (United States Expeditionary Force)

Corporal John Thomas Fiest was ordered to duty as my Orderly.

I had a million questions, I rang Miss Ruby and told her to connect me to Major Bingham at Camp Beal. After a long wait, Major Bingham came on the line, "Mr. Blount, I know you have a lot of questions, how about I come over there next Thursday and talk with you and all your men who have been called?"

I told him that would be fine and hung up.

Ella Marie hugged me and told me that they would be just fine, just for me to learn how to dodge bullets! That evening, I called a council of war for my Family. We met in the parlor made the final decisions on how Blount, Incorporated would carry on in our absence.

Major Bingham came as he promised, I had him meet with all of us in the equipment barn. He patiently answered all our questions.

I asked him about uniforms and he told us that either we could outfit ourselves or the Army would issue us all uniforms as we reported.

He told me privately that it would be better to supply our own, they would be more serviceable and would fit better. I made arrangements with an outfitter in San Francisco to come up by packet boat and outfit us all. Blount Men were NOT going to war wearing shabby, ill-fitting uniforms!

I sat down with John Fiest and his sons Toby and Josiah, "Josiah, you are nearly a man now and you are doing a man's job. When your daddy, John, and I have to leave, I would like it if you would move into my house with Toby.

He agreed and Ella May said the two boys could have all of the south wing to live in.

March 15th rolled around all too soon, there were wails and long faces all over Blount's Bluff, but our men surely did look good in their new uniforms.

We loaded up everyone on two of the new Dodge Trucks and headed to Camp Beale. The Army had put a bridge in, over the river, so the ferry barge was no longer in service.

We drew up at the gate and a smart young Second Lieutenant checked all our names off as we entered the camp. He was very polite to me, I found out later that he was also my Executive Officer.

He was Able Garris from Sacramento and he had recently graduated from the Military Academy at West Point. The first few months, he surely kept me from making a fool of myself!

We drilled and practiced for the next three months. Mr. Wilson had declared war on Germany in early April, so we knew our time was limited. I was able to get home a couple of times to see my beloved wife and babies.

Uncle Joe and Uncle Tim assured me that everything was under control.

On July 12th, we were loaded on the railroad and headed to San Francisco where we boarded the SS Jonathon Cable.

It had been a passenger ship and converted to a troop carrier. The accommodations were grim, but, hopefully, it would not last long.

This narrative is continued by Timothy Blount:

We began harvesting the grains, we are short-handed and fuel for our equipment is hard to obtain. The winter wheat gave us a good crop, nearly filling two of the silos. The Army bought almost the entire corn crop, we were able to retain enough for our own needs and a little to sell. They didn't seem interested in the rice, which made Caleb Vance very happy, of course, Anchor took the entire crop.

It was touch and go, getting rail cars when the fruits ripened, we lost a small part of the crop because of the lack of cars to ship them. The red wheat was sold, still standing in the fields, Rainbow Mills was desperate, they even sent trucks from Stockton to get enough grain to continue operation until the rail cars could get there!

There had been a slight run on the bank in Redding, but Joe and I were there and we stood in front of the bank and told the crowd that they could have their money immediately, just line up and ask the teller. After the first dozen or so, most everybody went back home, satisfied their money was safe.

We found out later that it was started by some agitators from San Francisco who started a rumor that the bank had been emptied of money.

We listen to the War News every evening, Jeffery has his Crystal Radio set up on the table in the parlor and that is where we all go immediately after supper.

It seems so strange to not have Steven here, I guess we never really appreciated all that he did or his Daddy either, for that matter. I never knew all the things that Isaac or Steven did for us.

The weather turned bad in late September, we did get the winter wheat planted, but it were a near thing.

There had been some more trouble, mostly in Redding and we have folks with German sounding names now living in Blount House. They burned three families out, all of them with small childrens.

We all go armed now, even the womans and the hands, we are not going to bow down to thugs and bullies.

Jimmie has not been well, I fear for him, his heart is causing him great pain and he has to rest, even just walking across from his house to mine.

We closed out the year, I surely hope Steven approves, we voted to enlarge the school, we had childrens sitting in the hall for theys classes.

Jeff and Tobias reported that our profit for the year was $6,972,000.

We voted bonus for all the foremen and acting foremen. The hands we gave each $500, they all seemed mighty happy.

I worry about young Josiah, he does so much more than any other foreman we got. Not only is he managing Ambrose Dairy and the Swine operation, he has took over Blount Dairy and is managing both steam packet boats! That boy be but 17 years and he does two growed men's work!

We had a Family meeting, poor Ella Marie broke down when we discussed Steven's last letter telling us he were headed to France. She is so scared her babies will grow up without their daddy.

I asked Josiah to sit in on the meeting since he were managing such a large part of our business. He asked if his younger brother, Toby, could start working, he had just turned 13 and was eager to pull his share.

We told him that the boy could work half days, provided his school grades continued to be good.

The boy was good at arithmetic and writing, Josiah put him to recording dairy production and swine weights and forage consumed.

We had a somber Christmas, nobody wanted to celebrate. Christmas Eve, we spent listening to Jeffery's Radio, he had conjured up a speaker for it and we didn't have to share the headset. We heard that Steven's Unit had landed at a town called, Calais and was marching across the fields of France.

The families living at Blount House invited us for a luncheon on Christmas Day. We all had to loosen our belts a notch or two in order to get home!

The weather closed in just before New Year's and it rained solid for two weeks. The river went over its banks and flooded a few families out in Marysville. They joined the folks at Blount House until theys could dry out theys homes.

It were a dismal and wet winter and it were late spring before we could plow. Josiah is now managing all our shipping,

Toby is helping him with the books. Them boys are a marvel, as young as theys are, theys monthly accounts are always correct. It's a wonder to see little Toby outside telling the drivers where theys truck are to load.

Josiah loaded us up with 3,500 feeder calves and 500 swine, we had to assign him two more hands to handle the additional animals. We leased 5,000 acres from Eleanor Kirby to raise some oats for Josiah's swine. If the experiment works, we will likely buy the land from her, she wants to sell and Jacob is no longer able to farm theys land.

With the late rains, we wasn't able to cut the winter wheat until June, but the crop were huge.

One combine kept breaking down and parts are not available, Jimmie was able to draw up a part we could make in the shop. It works as good as the store bought part.

The summer come in hot and the rice headed up early. Soons as we started cutting, the buyers come sniffing around.

Josiah and Toby chased the buyers out of the shipping dock, he told them it were Blount Rice and theys was trespassin'! That boy be as big as a full growed man and he were waving that 12 ga. shotgun around likes it were a little stick. Them buyers skedaddled like theys pants was afire!

Steven's babies is walkin' and in to everything. Little Isaac be like his Poppa, interested in everything. Marie be like her Mamma, she be content to sit on the floor and play with her dollies. We have watch out for Isaac, he can slip out the door and be gone in an instant! Roger Snake brung him back from the feeder pen, said the boy were climbing the fence.

Ella Marie hired one of the girls living at Blount House to help her watch the twins, the poor girl goes home each night purely frazzled.

The red wheat come in a bumper crop, we had all six of the combines chomping theys way through the crop. There were no way we could put the whole crop in the silos, so's we ordered up cars from the railroad and screwed the grain direct from the trucks into the rail cars.

Rainbow Mills had a big order from the government, and all but the feed grains went to Stockton.

The yield on the corn were down a bit, but we filled the silos and still had to screw direct into rail cars. The entire corn crop were bought by Army agents, we kept enough back for ours own needs.

I guess the buyers learned theys lesson, they didn't come anywheres near those Fiest Boys!

I seed little Toby practicing with his pistol, I hope that boy never shoots at me, I gonna be dead!

The fall began and we started to clean up the equipments and do the repairs, there not gonna be any new equipments until after this war is over.

We were able to buy a big fuel tank, it were a problem pumping diesel fuel from barrels.

Gasoline for the pickups is a problem, but so far we have been able to get enough.

We are all on pins and needles, we heard on Jeffery's radio that the war was almost over.

Steven's last letter told that John Fiest had been wounded, but he was going to be alright.

Josiah and Toby had a little cry about that but Joe and I held them until it were over.

We shipped the entire peach crop to Chicago, the Fruit Exchange were crying for fresh fruit. We had to pack the olives in barrels, but theys need to age for two years in the warehouse anyways.

Josiah is shipping twenty crates of cheese a week to San Francisco, plus sending six crates to Camp Beale.

We are shipping the last of the feeder beeves to Manteca next week and Josiah hopes to get the rest of the swine shipped the week after that.

Despite the war, it looks like 1918 is going to be a very good year for Blount Farms.

I am pretty sure Josiah is getting up his courage to ask Tillie Gardiner to be his wife. I know he will ask us for permission, but there be no ways any of us will tell that man "no"!

I saw the Army messenger from Camp Beale arrive and had an awful feeling, so I intercepted him and convinced him to give me the radio telegram.

Tim was standing beside me when I staggered, nearly falling to the ground.

He read the message and sent one of the hands to collect Josiah and Toby.

We waited on the porch until the two boys arrive in Josiah's pickup.

Tim and I held them for a long time, Josiah cried, "Papa, he is dead?"

I replied, "No, son, but he has been wounded, along with Mr. Steven."

I showed him the message and then said, "We need to talk with Miss Ella Marie."

The four of us went to Steven's house, when Ella Marie saw us, she screamed and collapsed onto the couch.

Tim sent the hired girl, Mary James, to get Maggie. I sat with Ella Marie, holding her in my arms like she were a child, when she calmed down, I showed her the message and said, "They will be coming home soon".

Josiah and Toby knelt down in front of Ella Marie and Josiah said, "Miss Ella, we doesn't got a Mama, you have been Mama to Toby and me. I just knows that Papa and Mr. Steven are going to be alright and they are both coming back to us."

Word spread quickly, the hands all gathered in the yard and the foremens knocked on the door, asking if they could help.

The folks at Blount House sent supper over and Mrs. James, Mary's mother, came to stay with Ella Marie. Maggie and Mrs. James stayed with Ella Marie all night, I took Josiah and Toby with me to my house.

I wasn't going to let them fret alone, theys family!

A messenger brought us word that the SS Houston was docking in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Today is Saturday, so we have time to plan. Josiah cancelled all freight for the two Steam Packet Boats and had their crews scrub and polish them.

The Houston was supposed to dock at 2 pm on Tuesday, so we loaded up both packets and headed downriver early Monday morning.

Dr. Falcon came with us, along with his nurse, Mary Jane Thomas. Her Daddy was our Grounds Foreman and he saw us off. I knowed he had something planned, but getting Steven and John were our first priority!

We stopped in Antioch to refuel both packets and arrived in San Francisco at 10 pm. The Packet Captains had pushed their boats hard all the way downriver, their fuel consumption were awful, but we didn't care.

We docked at the Ferry Building and I went to speak with the Harbor Master.

He said that the Houston was a little early and would dock at Pier One at 10 am. Pier One is the Ferry Building itself. He told us we could berth the packets in the Harbor Master Pool and recommended we stay at the San Franciscan Hotel for the night.

He called for us and got us reservations. I thanked him profusely and we hailed cabs to take us all to the hotel.

The packet crews were a little hesitant, but we insisted they come with us. I had forgotten that Blount, Inc. owned part of the San Franciscan, until I went to check in, we were given the entire top floor.

There weren't much sleeping done that night, Josiah paced the floor until almost daylight, I saw Toby watching him, both eyes wide open.

I didn't sleep and I don't think Tim did either. Jimmie stayed in Blount's Bluff, he didn't need the strain of travel on his heart.

By 6 am we couldn't stand it anymore, we got up and cleaned ourselves. When I knocked on the ladies' door, Ella Marie answered, already fully dressed.

The boat crews and Dr. Falcon must have been listening at theys doors, as soon as I knocked on the ladies' door, they all came out into the hallway, fully dressed.

The boat crews were dressed in white duck trousers and blue shirts, I looked at Josiah and he grinned. They looked like sailors and I was glad he had done it.

The boat crews went down to the packet boats and waited, the Houston slowly entered the harbor and eased into Berth Number One.

As soon as the first mooring line went over, both Packets began blowing theys steam whistles and the crews was waving blue caps.

There was an Army Officer and a sentry at the gangway, I went with Dr. Falcon to speak with the officer. We explained we were here for Colonel Blount and that Dr. Falcon would take over care of him and Sergeant Fiest.

The officer sent his messenger up the gangway and pretty soon an Army Doctor came down to talk with us.

He told us that Colonel Blount was not capable of walking, but they had hopes that, as he healed, his strength would come back to him.

Sergeant Fiest had lost his left arm at the shoulder, but the wound was mostly healed.

We asked if they could come with us, I pointed down at the boat crews, still blowing the steam whistles and waving their hats.

The Dr. smiled, "Ya got yer own Navy, huh?"

I replied, "Well, kinda."

He said, "Let me check them both over and then I think you can probably take them home with you. The Dr. at Camp Beale can look in on them until they are released from the Army. We were told these two are pretty important heroes and we were to do everything we could to get them back with their families."

He motioned for Dr. Falcon to come with him and theys went back into the ship. By now, a line of soldiers were on each side of the gangway, keeping people back.

Suddenly, both packets began blowing theys steam whistles steady, we looked up and there was Steven in a wheeled chair and John holding on to one of the handles!

The Officer called the soldiers to attention and he saluted Steven and John as they came down the gangway.

The minute the chair was on solid ground, Ella Marie broke away and flew into Steven's arms.

Josiah and Toby were right behind her, snatching at John.

Dr. Falcon had an armload of papers and one of the packet crew come to help him.

After all the tears had been spent, we began moving everyone towards the packet boats.

The crews came to assist and as Steven was lifted on board the Isaac Blount, the boat captain unfurled the American Flag from the stern post!

As we pulled away from the pier, the Houston blew her steam horn in salute.

We crossed the bay and began the trip upriver. We spent the night in Sacramento, before continuing on to Blount's Landing in Marysville.

As we pulled up to the landing, there was an Army Band from Camp Beale, when Steven was wheeled up the gangway, the band began playing "Ruffles and Flourishes", then broke out into the National Anthem.

Josiah and Toby were on either side of John and when the National Anthem began, they saluted with their father!

The entire town and many from Redding had gathered to welcome our heroes home. We got them onto the flatbed of one of the Dodge trucks and Josiah drove us home, so slowly, neither his father nor Steven was jolted.

Bobby Thomas had been busy while we were gone, there was a new flagpole in the yard and, as Josiah drove the truck into the yard, an American Flag was run up the pole.

The hands and Foremen were all gathered to welcome two of their own back home.

Steven insisted on stopping his chair and with my and Josiah's help, he stood and saluted the flag.

A great cheer went up, Steven sat back down and every hand and foremen came up to him and welcomed him home. They hugged John, more than a few tears were shed.

Peace was declared and the war was over, we got our warriors back home, I wondered how many didn't make it.

TBC

Watch for the next episode as Steven Blount faces huge decisions in restoring the fortunes of Blount Farms and guides the Blount Family and its businesses through the plague and more.