Special Edition                                                                                                 Autumn 1978

 

Experiences of Newton Peters, Ööwnem/Feer,

as an Immigrant to the U.S.A.

 

In May 1909, one month after my confirmation, I left my hometown Ööwnem/Feer for the U.S.A.  The 'old' Bui Diitj (Boy Dietrich Bohn) from Klantem offered to by my guardian.  My brother Lorenz (later Dr. Lorenz Peters, who has done very much for our Frisian cause - Editor) accompanied me to Hamburg.  Here we boarded the ocean liner 'President Lincoln' on a second class ticket for $60.00.  From our deck we had a good opportunity to observe hundreds of steerage passengers.  They did their own cooking.  By 'far the majority were Poles, Hungarians, and Austrians.

Half way over the Atlantic we entered a severe storm.  Nine out of ten passengers did not show up for their meals.  I was among the lucky ones and, hence, was also lucky - so I thought - to have the opportunity to eat as much ice cream as I wanted.  My joy of indulging in this luxury was of short duration.  It made me sick to the point that I have never eaten ice cream since.

After a 16 day voyage we arrived in New York where I stayed with Simon Hansen, Klantem/Feer, who owned a grocery store.  A 16 year old boy from Bualegsem, by the name of Brasch, and I delivered orders every day.  Once we were molested by some boys on the street.  Brasch slapped one of them.  In no time, responding to the sound of a whistle from this boy, we were surrounded by a gang of 30 to 40.  Luckily a police officer came to the scene and saved us.

After a two week stay over in New York we boarded a train for the West Coast, a journey which took us 5 days and 5 nights.  Three times a day the train stopped for the purpose of giving us a chance to have something to eat.  In Chicago we had a four hour delay.  Against the advice of my guardian I took advantage of this time and went sight seeing all by myself.  Just as Bui had said, I had a problem finding the railroad station again.  In my very broken English I asked a foot patrolman who, to my big surprise, answered in Plattdütsch.

         One day, on our continued journey, a man walked through the train selling fruit.  They looked so beautiful and appetizing to me that I could not resist buying some.  What a disappointment:  I did not like them at all.  They were tomatoes.  I had never seen those things before.

 

We arrived at San Francisco Bay and continued by ferry into the city of San Francisco.  Since nobody was there to call for us, we walked, carrying our luggage, along Mission Street until we got to a saloon owned by Meinert Riewerts, Olersem/Feer.  I would have been willing to spend a nickel for a trolley car ride but my guardian wanted to teach me, so it seemed, the correct way, i.e. rather to walk several kilometer, as we did, than to spend a nickel.  Bui, now on a visit, had been here before but much had changed since the earthquake in 1906.

Our friends were waiting for us in the saloon.  They were:  My brother Theo, Ewald Braren (Bui's stepson), Simon Witt, Hein  Andresen, and, of course, Meinert.

Theo and I stayed over night by Meinert and Kathinka, his wife. The following day we took the train to Monterey County.  My brother worked there on a farm owned by Meinrich Martinen from Ööwnem.  They had made arrangement for me to work on a nearby farm owned by Laura Wollessen, nee Sörensen.  She was the daughter of school teacher Lorenz sörensen. Laura had married a Danish fellow here.  Their son Jacob managed the farm which was not a large one.  My first job was to mind the cows, only 5 or 6, in the woods and on the hills.

My second job was to help clear the woods for farmland.  This was hard and tedious work but fascinating.  The first step was to get the large trees (all pine trees) in a designated area out of the ground. To accomplish this we had to use dynamite.  The trunks we sawed up for logs or we split them for fire wood.  Our next task was the removal of the smaller pine trees.  This we accomplished with the use of a winch, pulled by a team of four mules.  The winch was a rather-primitive one, constructed by ourselves from logs.

The next step was the creation of paths at 10 meter intervals, wide enough for two mules to walk through side by side.  A gigantic tree trunk, 10 meter in length and 1 meter in thickness, was now ready to be used.  This unusually heavy 'equipment' was designed to break and squash the remaining small trees and brushes, which it did very effectively A team of 10 mules was tied to the ends of the log.  They were driven through the cleared paths. pulling the heavy log over the 10 meter wide strips.  Straw was then piled on the squashed brushes and fire set to it on a day when the wind was just right.  Our next task, the removal of the roots, was the most demanding.  For it we used a heavy duty plough and a team of 10 mules.  This was quite an ordeal for the two men guiding the plough for they were kicked around ruthlessly.  Some roots had to be removed with large hooks.  The roots, were burned.

After the rainy season the cleared areas were ready for the sower. Harvesting, however, was not yet expected.  The soil was still filled with roots of weeds and seedlings.  Another burning followed.

For ordinary ploughing (tilthing of the soil) we used a plough with six shares and a team of 10 mules.  The leading mule walked ahead of the others and was controlled by the driver with only one line.  A slow pull on the line was the command for a left turn, whereas a fast jerking pull was the order for a right turn.  After a breaking-in-period with this system the voice commands 'HAW' for left and 'HEE' for right were substituted.  The other 9 animals followed their leader.  The driver had to know the names of all of them.  A box containing pebbles was situated next to the- driver.  They were there ready to be used for a mule not doing its full share.  A loud calling of the dragging animal's name plus a hit from a pebble always remedied such a situation.

After one year of hard work at $10.00 a month I asked for an increase in pay.  Laura could not or would not pay anymore, and so I quit.  I went by train to Newman/San Queen valley where by brother had arrived earlier.

Here I was sitting in front of a hotel, hoping that a farmer would ask for me during this the harvesting season, -- and a farmer did come. He considered me too young for the job but since he could not find another one, he accepted me.

At 6 o’clock the following morning I stood on his farm ready for work.  A team of 10 mules and 2 wagons were assigned to me.  My job was to transport as many sacks of barley and wheat, appr. 100 pounds each, to the railroad station.  The first day I made 10 trips, each load holding 40 sacks, and earned $8.00.  I was able to increase  by daily work load to 600 sacks.

To reap his crop the farmer used two different size harvesters (combines), one with a cutting edge of 9 meter and one of 7 meter.  The larger one was towed by three teams of mules, 12 mules to a team.  I was the highest paid employee.  The mechanic on the harvester received $7.00, the driver $6.00, the sack tailor $6.00, the sacktender and the cutting supervisor each $4.50.

I continued to work on the farm after the harvesting season.  Roy Crono, the son of the farmer and I did the ploughing of the fields jointly, each with a team of 10 mules, using a 6 shared plough.  Roy was extremely economical with equipment maintenance.  I considered that improper and began to look for another job.

My next employment was of short duration.  The employer was Joe William, a bachelor.  The meals served here were not at all to my liking, which was the reason for my staying only one month.

In the meantime I had become acquainted with Harvey Davis who owned a team-rental business.  I received the first team, Ed Jensen, Madlem, the second, and Fiete Früdden, Ööwnem, the third.  Three additional teams were operated by a Spaniard, an Englishman, and an American Indian.  We did any kind of work, whatever the team was hired for.

One day Fiete and I had to drive to the mountains for some split wood.  A wagon, especially built for such a purpose, and a team of 4 mules were assigned to us.  Fiete was the brakeman and I was the driver. It was a winding road, which ran next to a creek  that lead to the mountains.  At one point it slanted so much in the direction of the creek that we skidded into it.  Impulsively we jumped in order to save ourselves from getting injured.  Fiete jumped on to the road and I jumped into the creek barely being missed by the mules and wagon that followed. The 4  to 5 foot of water in the creek broke the impact and prevented any real injury.  We 'sailed' along the creek until we had a chance to get back on the road.

The most extensive assignment we were given was one in which all of Harvey Davis's teams took part.  It was on the other side of the Mevied River near Chouchily.  Here we had to make land arable.  Every day we encountered numerous rattle snakes.  They are really not dangerous since they give themselves away with their rattle.  It was, therefore, a simple matter for us to avert any danger.