Naoma Haynie's life in Pacheco
When I lived in Pacheco it was a little agricultural
town with ranching, farming and lumbering being the principal means of
support. Everyone had horses and cattle. We used some of our cows for
milk especially when the grass was green and plentiful. Then is the
time when we would make cheese and butter and had plenty of good milk
to drink. We nearly always had enough for cottage cheese and ice
cream. I remember the whipped cream for the pies and cakes and for
other deserts. My mother would store the butter in crocks or barrels
covered with cold salt water to have through the winter. When the
river froze thick ice my father and brothers would cut ice for ice
cream and store it in sawdust to keep all winter and spring.
The horses were very necessary for all our work. We
rode them for transportation and to look after the cattle. They pulled
the wagons and skidded the logs and did all the work on the farms and
gardens such as plowing, harrowing, cultivating and furrowing. They
became loved and useful pets and we depended on them for many things.
My mother, Eva Mae Haynie, rode a horse all around to the ranches and
settlements to deliver babies as a midwife and to take care of the
sick. Some of the older native remember her and mention that she even
traveled in the night to help anyone that needed help. She delivered
many babies kneeling down on the floor to attend to mother and
baby.
My father, Esaias Haynie, ran a sawmill and freighted
lumber down to Pierson and brought back supplies. He was very good at
training teams to pull and trained his skidding teams to skid the logs
expertly nearly by themselves. He trained a pair of little mules that
became famous for their pulling ability. Once when he came down to
Dublan to the mill for a load of flour one of the men was sitting on
the porch and began making fun of his mules saying, "Why don't you get
you a good team off horses instead of those sorry little mules." Dad
answered that his little mules could out pull anything that the man
had. The man then challenged him to see if those little mules could
start and pull a Rail Road boxcar that was sitting on the siding near
the mill. Daddy promptly unhitched the mules and took the reach chain
and hooked up his mules to the boxcar. Before starting he looked back
and caught the man trying to climb up to put on the brake of the car.
When caught at it he laughed and went back to the mill porch. A number
of men had gathered by this time to watch the contest. Dad spoke to
the mules and they tightened up the chain then his voice out an urgent
command and the mules began to scratch the hard ground and stretch
down and pull first on side then swinging to the other and soon the
car began to move. In no time they had it rolling. Dad pulled them up
and carried the chain until it stopped. He untied the chain and
returned the mules to the wagon. They weren't even sweating. It was
all in the day's work for them. I thought it was a thrilling trip to
ride with Dad on the wagon loaded with lumber down to Pierson to take
the lumber. On the way back I remember that the soda crackers we had
really tasted good.
My father like most of the people in Pacheco raised a
very good garden. I remember huge cabbages and how my father used to
hill up the celery to make it white. My mother loved sauerkraut and
would put it down in barrels to cure in its own juice and salt. The
garden supplied all kinds of vegetables that we bottled and dried for
year round use. I remember the yummy potatoes and gravy and the tender
venison steaks. We always had plenty of venison and beef jerky to
pound up to make the gravy. We raised carrots, peas, beets, radishes,
turnips and corn on the cob. I remember we ate what we raised and had
plenty left over to share with anyone who needed it. No one ever went
away from our home hungry. As soon as our guests arrived my mother
would start to plan and prepare to feed them. Sharing and helping one
another was just our way of life. We all lived as one happy family;
the gospel was effective in our lives. We had family prayer and the
blessing on the food and our secret prayers. We lived close to our
Heavenly Father and to each other.
My sister Clara and I would exchange sleepovers back
and forth with Marza and Maurine Lunt. Our cousins would often come to
stay with us. Our home was a gathering place for all of the young
people for Sunday afternoon for ice cream and pie and for enchilada
suppers, and just good times. Roy Johnson wrote that every town should
have a Brother and Sister Haynie to look after the young people and
help them have a good time. Eva played the organ for us to sing the
old songs that we loved. Our big front room was a gathering place for
all and on cold winter evenings the fire in the fireplace warmed our
hearts and cheered all that came.
October 9th was a very special day for our family and
for the entire town because it was my parents wedding anniversary and
they would sponsor a big celebration complete with rodeo, horse races,
deep pit barbecue and everything that goes with it. The morning began
with the long awaited horse races. For months A'Delbert Cluff would
prepare his beautiful horseBabe and the Lunts were preparing their
horse Johnny and my brother Dean had his horse Pete ready and
sharpened up. I don't remember the winners or the losers but it was
all in good fellowship. Then came the tilting of the rings. Down the
street two big poles were set in the ground with a cross bar at about
ten feet high. The rings were hung on strings across the bar and swung
and turned in the breeze. The riders with tilting sticks would run
down the stretch and try to spear a ring as they passed under the
rings. They took turns until all of the rings had been tilted. The
rider with the most rings took the first prize.
The sweetheart race was a favorite among the many
events. The sweethearts would wait at one end of the track while the
cowboys waited at the other with their horses ready to saddle. At the
shot of the gun the cowboys were to saddle their horses and race down
and swing up their sweethearts behind them and race back to the
starting line. My brother Dean and my sister Clara liked to compete in
this race. Clara was an athletic little girl with hair so white that
they called her Cotton. She could really swing up on Dean's strong arm
while the horse was turning around without stopping. Her white hair
was not hard to spot coming down to the finish line.
The dinner was served with old-fashioned barbecue and
beans. The beef was killed and prepared two days before to cool out
and be ready for the next day to be quartered, flavored and sewed up
in their hide to be placed in the hole which had been fired with
plenty of oak wood hours before. The whole beef was placed on the hot
coals and the hole was quickly covered with a tin and plenty of dirt
to keep in the steam and the heat. Without air there could be no flame
and the meat would cook under pressure for twenty- four hours until it
was taken out. It would be juicy and tender enough to fall off the
bones. The taste and the aroma were wonderful. The dutch ovens of
beans would also be placed in the hole along with the beef so that
they would come out cooked and flavored with molasses and salt and
pepper. There was usually too much food and the rest was sent home
with the different families. Then came the rodeo with all of the young
men eager to show their riding ability and the older men tried to show
the younger men that they could still beat them at roping. Part of the
old rodeo corral and chute gates are still standing in their place in
Pacheco, testimony of the good times of those days.
My memories of Pacheco are not of the hard struggle of
the pioneers of that time, because times were hard and money was
scarce. My memories are of love, peace and brotherhood, of family
friends and neighbors living close by and loving each other, and
making a wonderful life for all of us who lived in Pacheco.
With fond memories, Naoma Haynie Bowman
TEMPLE HILL IN PACHECO
As we come into the Pacheco valley going to the ranch
we get a view of the Pacaheco river and the ledges that come up from
the river to form Temple Hill. Usually my minds eye not only sees the
beautiful scene of Temple Hill and the river running at it's base but
I seem to see the many images of the past that make up the history of
that historic site. I feel that I should record that fascinating story
concerning Temple Hill.
January 15th 1885,John Campbell and Alexander F.
McDonald left Christopher Layton at Corralitos and they road up the
San Diego Trail and on west about 15 miles to the Corrales
Basin.arriving about noon of the third day 1/18/1885. They intended to
go on over the range into Sonora. Upon arriving they prepared a meal
under a cedar tree, among the willows, on the east side of the creek.
After dinner, President Macdonald lay down in the shade of the cedar
tree and went to sleep, while John Campbell went scouting around the
valley. Upon His return President MacDonald said, "this is the place
we have gone far enough, we will return to Corrallitos". (Salt Lake
Record)
Sister Lucy McDonald Bluth said that her father,
Alexander F. McDonald, Had a dream at that time and envisioned a small
Temple on that Hill.
Saturday 18th 1885 at Turley's camp, a party was
organized as follows: Francis M. Lyman, as president of the company,
Apostle Teasdale as Captain and recorder,G.C. Williams captain of the
guard, Isaac Turley comissary, Alonso Farnsworth and Edmond
Richardson, Cooks , M. M. Sanders and Israel Call Packers, Af McDonald
and Jesse N. Smith as Committee. Passing up the Piedras Verdes river
they camped at Cave Valley July 23rd. At noon the next day, we killed
three deer in the Corrales Basin and camped on bluff on the west side
of the valley, where we hoisted the American Flag at half mast for the
24th of July 1885, ten men and eighteen animals were in the party.
Ten years later at Casas Grandes Apostle Francis M.
Lyman met A. L. Farnsworth and told him to go and locate the ground
where he Lyman had hoisted the Flag, and mark the tree the Flag was on
and write the names of the ten men on it and ask the people to
perceive it. I did this. (A. L. Farnsworth Salt Lake record.)
Apostle Francis M. Lyman asked Edward Stevenson, who
was one of the seven presidents of the Seventy, to dedicate the ground
at that spot and to preserve a record of it. A.L.Farnsworth went with
him and located the spot. (A. L. Farnsworth Salt Lake record.)
November 5th 1892 Apostle Teasdale said, "Pay your tithes in full and
love your neighbor as yourself. Put your selves in a position to win
God's favor and I see no reason why we cannot have a Temple in
Pacheco. (Salt Lake record) Oct. 4th 1896 Patriarch Henry Lunt
prophesied , "The time will come when we will build a Temple here in
Pacheco, when thousands of missionaries will be wanted . There is more
virtue in a peck of potatoes for a widow than in a long prayer.
Since those early days that beautiful place has been
known as Temple hill. Hilven Cluff told me the following: "When I was
in the Aaronic Priesthood our Bishop Marion Wilson told us to gather
all of the bronze we could find around the old sawmill cites, Which we
did. Then Bishop Wilson, being a Blacksmith, melted down the bronze
and made a bronze plaque with the names on it. We all went up on
Temple Hill and built a monument out of rock and cement and bolted the
plaque on it. The monument is still there but the plaque is gone and
only the bolts remain to be seen".
LaVerne Cluff Price painted a beautiful painting of a
view of Temple Hill with the River glistening in the foreground. I had
seen it many times in her home. When those in charge of selecting
pictures for the Temple in Colonia Juarez, announced what they wanted
for the Temple, LaVerne submitted her painting to see if it might be
selected for the Temple. The lady took a picture of the painting to
take to Salt Lake to be approved but when she got the film developed
the picture did not turn out. LaVerne had a photo of the painting so
the Lady took that to Salt Lake for approval. Calvin and LaVerne
wanted the painting to have a fitting frame for the painting so they
selected one that they decided would be appropriate and replaced the
frame. When Brother Hill came down to place the paintings he brought
samples of the frame he wanted on the painting. When he saw the
painting he found that the frame was exactly like the sample he had
brought.
When they were looking at the painting brother Hill
asked LaVerne to tell him the story of the painting. She answered that
she wanted her father to tell him the story of Temple hill. Hilven
then related the story of the monument as above and them went on to
relate the following: "When I was Branch President in Pacheco we were
concerned about doing missionary work. My counselor, Brother Montes
and I started visiting the people to tell them about the Gospel.
Brother Montes' wife was not a member yet so we went to visit her. We
began to tell her about the Gospel but she seemed agitated and said
that on her way home she had seen a man on a white horse. They
inquired where, and she said that she had come home through the lane
over the hill. The man had been sitting on a white horse over on the
hill. The Husband could not understand that because he didn't know
anyone around the country that owned a white horse. The next day
Brother Montes went to the hill and searched over the hill carefully
but could find no horse tracks.
About a week later some full time missionaries came to
Pacheco to work and they were sent to visit Sister Montes. While they
were giving her the lesson they showed her a picture of Joseph Smith,
while telling of the first vision. Sister Montes, excitedly exclaimed,
"That is the man I saw on a white horse the other day".
When Hilven had finished telling this story to Brother
Hill, He smiled and took him and Laverne and showed them the picture
that was going to hang opposite the painting of Temple Hill. To their
surprise it was the painting of Joseph Smith sitting on a white horse
on a hill overlooking Nauvoo as he was seeing it in vision as it was
to become. Today in the Colonia Juarez Temple in the west part of the
foyer these two paintings hang opposite each other. The exact replica
of Temple Hill and the painting of Joseph Smith sitting on a white
horse on a hill over looking Nauvoo the beautiful.
LaVerne added this to her story: "One day Sister Jarvis
was looking out her west window that looks out across Temple Hill and
saw a man sitting on a white horse on the hill".
Well!! Temple Hill is there today with its monument
marking the spot where, before the turn of the 19th century, it was
dedicated to be a place of refuge for the gathering of the Latter Day
Saints in Mexico. Feb. 9, 2001 S. Keith Bowman