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Pierce, Neil (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is a single, three hour interview with Neil Pierce. It was conducted at his vacation home in Seven Oaks, California in the San Bernardino Mountains. The interviewer grew up in the same Long Beach neighborhood where Pierce lived. The audio quality of the interview is fair; however, it is often difficult to understand Pierce because of his manner of speaking. 7/8/1984
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- 2020-11-24
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- Notes
- SUBJECT BIO - Neil Pierce came to Long Beach during the Depression and soon went to work for the Long Beach Gas Department. He also grew and sold dichondra to home owners who planted in their yards after World War II. He migrated to Long Beach with his wife to escape the Depression and drought that led to the dust bowl in South Dakota. He soon found work here and eventually took a civil service exam and went to work for the Gas Department. In this single, three hour interview he also talks about volunteering to help lead a Boy Scout group and camped out with them. He liked it and eventually bought a travel trailer and camped and fished in many parts of the country. He finally retired to a home near the Colorado River where he could fish from his front yard. TOPICS - family background; farming; rural life; childhood; school; social activities; food; clothing; and farming equipment;farming equipment; farming; food; social activities; school; marriage; living arrangements; living conditions; work; and milk processing;work; dairy farming; farming; wages; parents; farm life; and move to California;work; wages; living arrangements; urban living in Long Beach; shopping; food; social activities; camping; and fishing; family background; rural living; Huron, South Dakota; transportation; Native Americans; social activities; pheasant and bird hunting; Mt; Rushmore; and dust storms;family background; camping; Colorado River; Long Beach; living arrangements; neighborhoods; dichondra; housing; and work with the Long Beach Gas Department;
- *** File: cbnpierce1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-6:31)... Brief introduction Pierce was raised in South Dakota where his parents farmed. They grew wheat and corn, and raised hogs and cattle. Prior to migrating from Michigan to South Dakota, his paternal grandfather was a teacher and owned the only skating rink in Michigan. Pierce's grandfather opened a general store in South Dakota and his grandmother operated the town post office until she retired. Pierce's mother's family migrated to South Dakota from Iowa in a covered wagon. (6:31-12:07)... There were railroad tracks about 40 yards from his family's farm. His hometown was developed because it was near the railroad. The town had several stores and other businesses, a large hotel, an electrical generating plant and grain elevators in which farmers stored their grain until it was shipped via railroad to other parts of the country. The town where his grandfather owned the general store was about 50 miles from the farm. It was a much smaller town with a population of approximately 400 to 500 residents. (12:07-14:33)... The gasoline powered generators at the electrical generating plant weren't usually started until it stated to get dark. Most people only used electricity for lighting their homes. That plant closed sometime in the 1920s. When he was 26 years old he got his first radio. (14:33-21:36)... His main chore as a young boy was to gather corn cobs to fuel the stove for cooking. When he as 10, he learned how to milk cows and soon began doing most of the cooking and household chores while his mother and father worked in the fields. His mother spent most of her time in the fields, after teaching Pierce how to cook and how do other household chores. Pierce attended grade school through the eighth grade. Later, after being out of school, he went back to high school for a year. His family's social life centered around school and church activities. Neighbors visited each others for meals and dances. (21:36-27:35)... He occasionally helped his grandparents at their general store. His father, however, had "a bad heart" and Pierce had to stay home and help on the farm. His mother raised chickens and traded the eggs at a store for groceries. She bought staples such as flour and sugar. They also bought canned vegetables and fruit when it was available. They also bought things from the Montgomery Ward catalog. The family had a garden with both vegetables and fruits, and his mother canned food for them to eat in the winter. His mother sewed all of her dresses and his clothing when he was a small boy. (27:35-30:57)... Stormy weather was always a problem when he lived on a South Dakota farm. When he was a child a tornado that swept through the country and destroyed part of their house. He remembers it so well because he'd just been given a toy wagon; it was destroyed by the storm and he was heart broken. His hobby, when he got a little older, was going to dances. He tried not to miss any. When he was 17, he learned to drive. The first car his parents had was a 2 cylinder, 1906 Rambler which they bought used; later they bought a new 1915 Reo. His father plowed his fields and harvested his crops using horse drawn machinery. His father owned a binder and his grandfather owned a header. Pierce never farmed on his family's farm with a tractor. After he married and left home, his father and younger brother got a tractor. End of tape *** File: cbnpierce2.mp3 (0:00-9:58)... His family members used their farm machinery, including the binder, header and thrasher, to harvest their own crops. His father used most of the corn he grew to feed his livestock including his work horses. When he had large corn crop, he sold part of it. At harvest time, single men, they called them "hobos," arrived on the train seeking work. His father usually tried to hire someone he knew, rather than hobos, to help with his harvest. Hobos and other hired hands didn't earn very much. After Pierce married, the sometimes here worked for a dollar a day or less. (9:58-15:43)... In the fall, his grandfather, father, and two uncles got together and decided which one of them would take a cow to the butcher and then distribute the meat for family members to eat during the winter. In the summer, his mother canned meat and chicken, and they salted and smoked pork. (15:43-19:39)... When he was growing up, Pierce didn't know what he wanted to do when he grew up. He didn't want to be a farmer, but he farmed because he didn't know how to do anything else. After trying to be a farmer, he moved to California because of the stories his grandfather told about his experiences there. He and his wife both had relatives and friends who had previously moved to California. (19:39-22:20)... When he attended high school he learned about raising livestock. His experiences there were valuable, but he did not return for a second year because he was needed to work on his family's farm. When he went to high school, he worked 3 hours in the morning and returned to the fields after school to work until dark. (22:20-24:36)... He met his wife at a country school. Members of his family know some of her family members. When she graduated from high school, she moved to his home town and they married in 1929. (24:36-31:30)... When he married, he moved to town and lived in his wife's beauty shop, which was located above a pool hall. He worked at a service station pumping gas, fixing tires, and other parts of cars. When he and his wife decided to move to the Black Hills, he worked for a former banker who owned a dairy and farm. On that farm, Pierce milked cows, farmed, and processed milk. End of tape *** File: cbnpierce3.mp3 (0:00-7:50)... Brief introduction Pierce worked at a service station and earned $2.50 a day. When that job ended, he did odd jobs in town until he found a job on a dairy and farm in the Black Hills. Pierce did all of the farming and most of the harvest went to feed the cows. Soon, however, the banker who owned the farm where Pierce worked for went broke. Pierce believed the banker spent too much money on up to date machinery that was not really needed to operate the farm. (7:50-13:16)... When he land his wife left the first farm in the Black Hills, he went to work for another dairy farm owned by two bachelors. There he milked the cows, took the milk to a creamery and fed hogs. The farmers raised feed for the cows in addition to sugar beets. When the Depression struck, the land owners could no longer afford to pay him and he had to look for another job. (13:16-20:58)... He and his wife left the Black Hills and moved into the town of Sturgis where he worked in a creamery. The creamery processed milk and produced various dairy products. He earned $.15 an hour and the most he ever earned in a week was $12. The work was not steady so he left the creamery to work on a farm about 50 miles from Sturgis. He soon left that farm when the crops became worthless and the farmer couldn't afford to pay him. At that point, Pierce and his wife moved back to Wolsey, South Dakota to live with his parents. His father died of heart disease and he started working the farm with his younger brother in 1933. (20:58-24:16)... He and his brother worked his family's farm for 4 years, but he only had one moderately successful crop and that was in 1935. A 1933 dust storm and drought caused the other crops to fail. They sold their cows for $20 each, but the feed generally cost more than that. In the fall of 1936, he and his wife decided to move to California and left his brother on the farm. (24:16-31:27)... When Pierce and his wife arrived in California, they visited relatives in San Francisco and Culver City before settling in Long Beach. They stayed with relatives and he soon found a job at Spencer Kellogg. He had to get a Social Security card before he could go to work. End of tape *** File: cbnpierce4.mp3 (0:00-7:28)... He and his wife moved into a small house on Market Street in Long Beach, which rented for $20 a month. At Spencer Kellogg he earned $.52 an hour. He worked there for 3 years and belonged to a union. Then he left to go to work for the Long Beach Gas Department. When there was no work at Spencer Kellogg, he worked in a similar oil processing plant in east Los Angeles. (7:28-10:31)... When he went to work for the Long Beach Gas Department, he worked in construction. He and his wife lived in several different places in Long Beach. After he lost his job when the Spencer Kellogg plant shut down, he and his wife returned to South Dakota for about a month. Then they came back to Long Beach, rented a house where they had lived once before. (10:31-14:04)... He liked the climate in Long Beach and did not want to live anywhere else. The streets were filled with trolley cars and it was a strange experience for them to buy so many things from the store. His wages increased substantially and for the first time they had extra money to spend. They shopped quite often and purchased vegetables and fruits at the market. (14:04-20:16)... His work with the Long Beach Gas Department was steady and he earned about $130 a month, which was more than he earned at Spencer Kellogg. His first job with the Gas Department was to help lay gas lines and to help a welder. When he had a chance to work as a laborer in one of the city's gas pumping plants, he took the job because he believed the work was easier. While working at the plant he watched how everything worked and studied for a civil service exam to become an operator. He passed and then waited for an opening. (20:16-23:55)... He and his wife joined Community Presbyterian Church in 1937. Many of their social activities revolved around square dancing. They attended most of the dances held within a 20 mile radius. They also danced in a ballroom at the Pike and at an American Legion hall in north Long Beach. (23:55-29:15)... He began camping when he joined Community Presbyterian Church and got involved with the Boy Scouts. He had camped in the Black Hills when he lived in South Dakota, but not very frequently. He camped with the Boy Scouts at places such as Idlywild. He also started going camping with his wife and they eventually bought a trailer. Although he occasionally fished when he lived in the Black Hills, he started fishing more regularly when he moved to California and began camping. (29:15-31:30)... When they moved to north Long Beach, they purchased most of their household goods and hardware from Dooley's. They also shopped in downtown Long Beach and liked to buy clothes at J. C. Penneys and Buffums. In addition, they enjoyed going to the Pike. End of tape *** File: cbnpierce5.mp3 (0:00-5:24)... Brief introduction Pierce's grandparents migrated to South Dakota and began farming land that had never been tilled before. They got their land from the federal government. (5:24-12:06)... The town of Wolsey was at a railroad crossroad. The population was about 600 and there were several stores and other businesses that served travelers as well as residents. There was a large hotel, but it burned down in a big fire destroyed almost half of the town. The largest town he visited as a child was Huron, South Dakota, which was the county seat. His family drove there is a horse and buggy to attend the county fair or to shop or attend to other business. When Pierce began driving a car, he often visited Huron. The roads were rough because horses and buggies left rut in them. (12:06-14:26)... Most of his family migrated to South Dakota. Pierce's father purchased his farmland from his grandfather, who was the first to farm it. All of his aunts and uncles were farmers, except for one aunt who was a school teacher in Seattle, Washington and one uncle-in-law who moved to Miranda, South Dakota and ran a general store that he for many years. (14:26-18:59)... Most of the people in Wolsey when he was growing up had migrated there from other states. When his grandparents arrived, there were very few other farmers there. His paternal grandfather immigrated to America from Holland and lived in a Dutch settlement in Pennsylvania where he met Pierce's grandmother. There were people who had immigrated from Germany living around Wolsey when he was growing up and he went to school with 2 German children who could not speak English when they started school. . Some of his aunts and uncles were Bohemians, but he doesn't know much else about them. There were American Indians living in the area, but most of them lived on a reservation about 100 miles from Wolsey. They came to the state fair every year and entertained the fair goers. Pierce was scared of the Indians as a young boy because adults told scary stories about them. (18:59-22:40)... Hunting pheasants and other birds was a popular activity in South Dakota. There were many pheasants in the area and hunters were welcomed because pheasants ruined farmer's crops. Farmers rented rooms to hunters and sometimes paid them to get rid of the birds. Some of the hunters stayed in the hotel and seemed to drink more that locals in Wolsey. (22:40-25:05)... Mt. Rushmore was under construction when they lived in the Black Hills. They first visited Mt. Rushmore in 1930 or 1931 when the face of George Washington was being carved. From their vantage point at the bottom of the hill, the workers looked like flies. They have been back to Mt. Rushmore several times since them and seen the place become increasingly commercialized. (25:05-30:33)... Pierce describes a dust storms that struck South Dakota in 1933. He believes it was the worst one ever in South Dakota. It did not rain that year and during the 4 years he farmed with his brother, they only were able to harvest one crop. The crops were also attacked by swarms of grasshoppers. Like the Pierces, many other families left South Dakota in the 1930s because of the drought, wind and inability to farm successfully. End of tape *** File: cbnpierce6.mp3 (0:00-5:29)... Pierce says he was born on February 18, 1903. (5:29-8:35)... After he and his wife had lived in California for a while, they began camping in the desert and along the Colorado River where they also fished. When he retired, he and his wife decided to move to Palo Verde. (8:35-16:50)... After he'd lived in Long Beach for a while and had a steady job, Pierce got tired of paying rent and decided to purchase a lot and build a house. The block where they decided to build their house in north Long Beach only had about 9 houses. They bought the lot and built the house for $4,000. Nearby, on the corner of Orange Avenue and South Street, there were a few shops including a barber shop, a drug store, a cleaners and a small restaurant. When he and his wife settled in Long Beach, they raised rabbits and chickens and often sold their eggs to a local dairy. (16:50-23:48)... In 1945, Pierce began planting dichondra in his yard and on another lot he owned and selling it in nursery flats to people who wanted to plant it in their yards. The profit from this business helped to pay for the cost of his house, its lot and the other lot he owned. (23:48-31:20)... While he was an operator for the Long Beach Gas Department, the way the plant where he worked operated did not change substantially. As an operator, he responsible for pumping natural gas into the gas holder at the plant where he worked and making sure there was enough to supply customers in Long Beach. He had to make sure everything was working properly and in good repair. While he worked for the Gas Department, it opened new plants to supply the growing local population. When the natural gas supply dwindled from the harbor and Signal Hill areas, the city bought gas from Texas, Alaska and other suppliers. End of tape
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