School Days

Emerson and his siblings rode their horse through snowy days, rainy days and high country sunshine, to the one room school house in High Valley. The horse stayed in the school barn during the day and the children were responsible for the feeding and watering of their transportation. The outhouses, one for the boys and one for the girls, were a few yards away from the barn and the school. In those days a student only asked to be excused if it was extremely necessary as it was not a place they cared to linger, especially in the winter. There was a potbellied stove that heated the classroom and it was the responsibility of the boys to keep the wood box full for the day. Education was extremely important to dad’s mother and by the time he started school he was a fluent reader. After about a month in the first grade he was moved to the third grade. He continued to be a good student whose grades were always in the upper 90’s as documented on his report cards. Memorization was a tool of learning in those days no matter what the subject. When poetry was introduced he not only memorized it but fell in love with the rhythm. His love of poetry never waned and throughout his lifetime he could recite the poems he memorized in his youth. During this time he also developed a love of writing which he later exercised while documenting his travels and the Haggerty Roots.
Grandpa Haggerty, dad’s dad, was a cheese maker. There was an outbuilding on the ranch which served as a store room during the aging process. The walls of the cheese room were insulated with sawdust which was a common practice in those days to keep out heat or cold. At some point in his youth the family spent summers at the milk ranch located ten to fifteen miles east of Union on Catherine Creek. Getting there entailed loading up the horse drawn wagon with all the supplies, bedding and clothes for the summer. The boys rode the horse and sister Gracia rode on the wagon with her parents. It was a labor of love mixing work and recreation in this beautiful setting. The details escape my memory, but I am sure the name milk ranch was related to cheese making. Milking the cows by hand was not the only activity in which they took part. Fishing and exploring were part of the fun during the summers at the milk ranch. They could ride into Catherine Creek Meadows to catch the indigenous trout whose ancestors never knew a hatchery. There was no limit, so these fresh cold water treats were a mainstay in their diets. The scent of the pine trees and campfires created fond memories to last a life time.
In dad’s storytelling his youth seemed like one adventure after another to me. There were however, several devastating events which I believe were overcome by shear determination and the love and closeness of his father and siblings. When he was thirteen his mother died. She had an abdominal tumor. In those years it was not so unusual to come near death before you saw a doctor as you didn’t often see one until you were desperate. Money was scarce so trips to the doctor were not common place. His mother was a great inspiration to him and while on her death bed she had made his dad promise to send them all to college. A promise that was kept.
During his teenage years there was a polio epidemic. Dad and several classmates came down with this illness. Fortunately for him Dr. Fye a physician in Union was a pioneer in water therapy. This therapy took place at Hot Springs Sanatorium in the valley between Union and LaGrande. Through this therapy dad regained the use of his crippled leg. He always had a slight limp but never complained, except about this inability to go out for sports. This was overcome by being an avid football, baseball and basketball fan throughout his lifetime.. The truth be told there were few sports that did not interest him.