dragerton

Life in Columbia by Edward Trotos

      I was I was born and raised in Columbia.   This small coal mining town sits at the foot of two large mountains and overlooks an expansive desert valley. When night fell you could look across the 38 darkened miles and see the twinkling lights of the mining town of HiawathaNow that I’m moving to the latter stages of my life I find the town I called home was a very special place. Like most mining towns we had our company store. Throughout the day and often into the night railroad cars loaded with coal rambled by. Coal dug from deep within the mountains had filled those cars. The coal, mined by ethnic groups form all parts of the world. It was a beautiful town with winding gravel streets passing by well kept homes. It was a town filled with hard working men and women. It was a town where people watched out for one another and wanted only the best for their friends and neighbors.
     Born in 1938 I vaugley remember the start of World War Two. I do remember, during the war, seeing large fleets of airplanes flying over our town. I distinctively remember whenever you visited friends you would see small flags hanging in the windows. These were very simple flags. They were small 8 by 12 inch flags, trimmed in red with a white background and in blue, a star for each member of the family serving in the military. And there were some, even in our small town, who had a gold star on their flag noting one of their family members had served and given his or her life for our country. Everyone kept up on where every soldier was and how each one was doing. I remember how we all were together and to my understanding this was the real merica.                                                                  Growing up our family like many in town raised chickens. But we also had a cow and even raised a few pigs and sheep. Now and then when we had extra eggs and milk we sold it to different families in town. It was my job to make the deliveries.   For many years I also delivered, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Desert News. I don’t think there was a house in town that I hadn’t been to for one reason or another.   During the summer months this had a positive side benefit. I knew what gardens in town held the best ripe vegetables for my evenings munching. I always was on top of whose fruit trees were ready for the picking and the ones my friends and I should raid that night. We worked hard at not being caught by our parents or any other parent when out on our raids. We knew if we were caught something bad would happen. At years end we often bragged how we had avoided trouble with only a few close calls and how slick we had been. We all found out later all our parents knew what we were up to and as long as we ate what we took and didn’t tear up the gardens they just let us go.                           I attended the first six grades of school in Columbia. There were five of us boys and two girls who started out in the first grade in Columbia and graduated together from Carbon High School. Not only were we classmates we have been true friends since those early days. One of the highlights of my elementary years was our softball team. The team was made up of fifth and six graders and we played teams from Sunnyside, Dragerton, Wellington and Price.
       During my elementary years Halloween and Christmas holidays were a big deal. When you went out trick or treating on Halloween you didn’t take a bag you took a pillow case, and you didn’t come home until it was filled.   At Christmas everyone in town met at the school house where we would see plays preformed by the townspeople. We would sing Christmas songs and at the end of the evening everyone would be given a sack of candy provided by the Miners Union.
      The next four years of my schooling was a whole new learning experience. Instead of a five minute walk to school we rode a bus all the way to Dragerton. There we attended a fancy new Junior High School. I went from a class of twenty to classes of 32. In addition you didn't stay in one class room but you went from class room to classroom for each subject. That alone was scary, but being from Columbia we were up to it. Being from Columbia you knew how to catch lizards with wild grass lasooses. You had experience having hunted rabbits all your life. You had leaned how to cook outdoors over an open fire, with whatever you and your buddies had been able to sneak out of Moms cupboard. You knew the right time to remove those blackened baked potatoes from the fire embers. You knew how to prepare your corn before it went into the fire pit. Never remove the husks and make sure you covered each ear completely with mud. You knew how to make poor mans soup by cooking beans and vegetables together in an old coffee can. During the winter you had met many challenges on the snow covered streets. You knew how to take your sled from the top of town to the bridges and then to use your expertise to grab the bumper of a passing car to take you back up the hill. You were up to it..but you had to remember all those different classrooms, and there were so many kids in the halls, and you would have to wait to find out what teachers were strict and those you wanted to avoid next time around.
      Junior High School introduced you to a whole new world. Sunnyside had a theater and a bowling alley, Dragerton too had a theater but also a drug store with a long soda fountain. Now there were girls, girls and more girls to chase and get to know. Getting from Columbia to the other two towns was a minor problem. With so many different shifts working the mines you could always find someone willing to give you the four mile lift over the dug way. There were a few kids who had cars and they were willing let you tag along on their trips to Dragerton and Sunnyside. I spent many hours during these teen years running around the area. From A section thru B, C, D, E section, Sunnyside, Sunnydale, up Sunnyside Canyon we covered them all. It was just Columbia on a larger scale. Like Columbia there also seemed in place a system where parents and community miners kept you on track. In Junior High we still had our sports. No longer just softball there now was basketball, football, track and baseball. Many of our old adversaries from elementary school now were our teammates and partners, joined together to show our power against schools from the other end of the county.
      The last years of being a kid in Columbia was coming to an end when you entered Carbon High School. This was 30 miles away from home. Price was a city not a town. It had a main street with many stores not just one company store. There were sidewalks and street corners. There were parks and even a swimming pool. Carbon High School was big. There was only one high school in the county, so all the junior high schools fed into Carbon. Students from Helper, Price and East Carbon Jr. Highs were there. There were new people to meet, new friends to make and of course more girls. You were older but not necessarily smarter. You knew it would take more than a bus to do what you wanted like checking out the swamp angles in Emery County. My friends had cars and a good old 39 Plymouth gave me the means to accomplish my trips. I did odd jobs to extra bucks to spend on friends and girls and there were still times I had to rely on good old Carbon County school Districts busses for transportation.
      To this day when I make my trek home I always stop at the old homestead, walk down where I can overlook the barnyard and chicken coops and the garden spots we had. I am then always reminded how thankful I am for growing up in a community made up of people from so many ethnic backgrounds. I learned to adapt to different lifestyles but most importantly to see what can be accomplished when people work together and we are able to accept people for whom they are.   This served me well as I walked the winding roads of life.
      I did a military tour in Germany. I have lived on the east and west coast and many states in between. All were great adventures but as I look back what I remember most is my youth, starting in Columbia ... my Camelot.

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