| MORE ON THE GREAT SNOW OF 1950 - Leo Craddock
I thought you might like another story about the great snowfall of 1950.
I was home on a weekend pass from the Air Force and got stranded in Arnoldsburg at my wife's family home, Haven and Ethel Roberts.
Anna Lea Hays, wife of George Hays of Arnoldsburg, was experiencing pre-birth pain during the 2nd or 3rd day of the snowstorm and needed to get to a hospital or a medical clinic for possible delivery.
They had a '49 or '50 Chevrolet with chains, but it was no match for the 2-4 feet of snow covered roads with deeper drifts.
Haven Roberts, who owned and used a former military 6x6 truck in his well servicing business was contacted and asked if he would pull George and Anna's car to a Grantsville medical clinic.
Haven agreed providing he could have some assistance in hooking and disconnecting the front end wench from guardrail posts along the highway where additional pulling power was needed (on Route 16).
Thurl Powell and Lawrence Hall agreed to go and help.
The going got pretty tough up the Millstone Hill and after destroying several guardrail posts, George advised Haven he was fearful that Haven was pulling his car apart and suggested that they disconnect the car and put Anna Lee into the truck the remainder
of the way.
So Haven delivered George and his wife to Grantsville without any
problems. This was the first vehicle to travel from Arnoldsburg to Grantsville during the storm. - Leo Craddock
CURIN' HOG MEAT - In response to a story about smoking hams, Albert Ball wrote:
I read with interest the story about Everett Starcher and curing meat.
I assisted with curing hog meat many times. Dad (Lennie Ball) had his own mixture of many
salts and peppers for rubbing on the meat. As I recall, he would never reveal
his recipe.
We rubbed each piece (shoulders, side meat and hams) with this salty/peppery
mixture. When finished with this, we patted each piece so that there was a
fairly thick pasty mixture all over.
Then, we placed the heaviest pieces in the bottom of a large wooded box. Thus
the lightest pieces were on the top. The box was then closed with a wooden
lid.
After a predetermined time, the box was opened and the lightest pieces were
smoked.
The larger pieces were left in the box to be smoked later. This way,
the pre-weighed pieces were left in the box for the same period of time per
pound of weight.
In other words, a 10 pound piece was left in the box twice as
long as a 5 pound piece.
We had a small smoke house that sat atop a potbellied stove. It was my job to
keep the hickory, sassafras and corn cob fire simmering.
As soon as flames
flared up, I doused the flames with molasses. It was a boring job but one that
required almost constant attention to the the task at hand.
After the smoking process was completed, we sewed each into a canvas bag and
coated the bag with hot paraffin.
Then we hung them in a place where mice
could not get to them. These pieces would remain in good condition for quite a
long time. Of course, when they got really old, the meat was a bit strong around
the bone.
This is my best memory and I have been telling this story for many years.
Boy, was this good eating. - Al Ball
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