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Title
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Scottsbluff Narratives, 1937_033
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Alternative Title
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1937 Scottsbluff Narratives
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Date
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1937
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Creator
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Frank Shoemaker
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Description
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Frank Shoemaker - Sandhills Narratives
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Identifier
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321301
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Transcription
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2 VII-13-'37 -continued. to learn that one twelve-year-old girl of our group is depended upon, on cerdays of each wee4k, to plan, cook, and serve a dinner for her household of seven or eight persons. In fact, two of "our" girls, aged twelve, living in the Overland Park area, have almost identically the task outlined; and each of them manifests pleasure and pride in her ability to do it. Finally I jarred loose four youngsters-two brothers and their sister, and a visiting friend. Permission to go, however, was based on sheer economics; they were to bring home some wild currants for pies and jam.-Well, we had located some fine currant bushes in bearing, in the deepest wilds of the Badlands; so I took on the contract.-We started at 1:45 p.m. To save time, I ordered a taxi to carry us a half-mile beyond the Scottsbluff Country Club. From this point we followed south the dep erosion cut which lies at the west base of Scott's Bluff. We were amazed at the extent of the damage which is being done to vegetation by grasshoppers. Large areas of sweet clover had been stripped of every leaf and flower; even the evil-tasting, perennial "rabbit-brush" was almost denuded. And when we found a place where the common weed "prickly lettuce" (one of our "compass-plants") had been almost totally bared over several square rods of surface, I took a photograph. It was a day of vast, driving clouds, with a strong wind form the west. I took one photograph of a pleasing landscape-main irrigation ditch, drooping willows, a background of Brule buttes, and dominating all, the tumbling clouds. It would have been great fun to follow that vast erosion out much farther, but look: we're workin' people; remember those currants? So we turned back. We elected to follow the north bank of the irrigation canal-which cuts thro Badlands so bad that they're good . And it was fortunate that we did; for, not very far along, we encountered a slope simply covered with currant bushes, laden with fruit. Two species were present, abundantly. One bears currants which, when quite ripe, are almost dead black-with an evanescent bluish lustre. The other berries are golden, with an odd and beautiful translucence; one can look right into those currants! The black currants have the sweeter flavor; the golden ones are very slightly acid; and both are very delightful, with a wild tang which puts to shame the flavor of any house-broken tame currant. Both species have berries of majestic size-half an inch in diameter. We gathered five quarts. Having anticipated no such a windfall, our carriage facilities were inadequate; we might quite as well have carried home twelve quarts or more. But happily, we'll have another crack at it; the ripening should be at its height in about a week. No ordinary year would afford such a crop; our fine rains of the past two months have made the difference. We visited the Badlands spring which earlier in the season We Recreation Kids had the pleasure of discovering-a mere trickle-and developed; our ppol holds about a barrel of clear, cold water.-Noted the first Mentzelia of the season, in blossom, in a deep cut; normally blooms only after sunset. A beautiful ivory-colored flower, suggesting a water-lily, but with fewer petals, and those pointed. I have never heard a "common" name for this flower.-Got a mere pprinkle from a shower from the north which passed west of us.-Collected and pressed a dozen flowers.-Reached home at 6 p.m.,-with the currants.
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
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Is Version Of
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frank_h_shoemaker_321301-01066.jpg
