Edmund Leopold Knowles, the second child of Bill and Eva Knowles, was born at home on Monday, October 5, 1925 at 11 P.M.
GEORGE’S THOUGHTS ON LEO
His views on education were somewhat different from those of the rest of the family. On one occasion when the school inspector was at Wolf Hill School, he and Leo got into some kind of an argument, and the inspector said, “You should take your books and go home”.
Naturally this was of considerable concern to our parents, especially our mother. She was anxious to have him continue in school and finally offered him $10 if he went back to school. He accepted this and the incident appeared to be closed.
He went to the dormitory in Big Valley to take Grade 10. But he wasn’t interested in going any further so he stayed on the farm.
Later he twice attended Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary to take courses in welding. This was an advantage in his work repairing farm machinery.
MECHANIZATION COMES TO SUNMOUND RANCH
Late one night during harvest time in 1928, we had gone to bed when we heard a strange new noise outside. We had no idea what was making this peculiar sound, “bang, bang, puff, puff”. Later we learned that noise was distinctive because the machine had a two cylinder engine; a different sound than the four cylinder engines that we had heard in cars, whose sound was “bang, bang, bang, bang”.
The next morning, Leo and I rushed out to investigate and found a shiny new olive green tractor, with bright red wheels parked in the yard. Although we couldn’t read the name, we were told that it was a Hart Parr. A characteristic of this particular make of tractor was a considerable amount of slack in the steering mechanism. While this was a detriment when driving the machine, it provided hours of entertainment to us by turning the steering wheel back and forth and pretending that we were driving the tractor.
During the depression of the 1930’s there was little money available to buy fuel for the tractor, so it was used very seldom. The machine had been purchased on the installment plan and there was some amount still owing. One day a representative from the company came to see about this debt. He offered to accept $50.00 as a final payment, but Dad said, “I don’t have $50.00; you’ll have to take the tractor back”. This was not what the agent wanted, so he left the tractor and nothing more was said about the balance of the debt.
Toward to end of the 1930’s, more money became available and the tractor was used more often. For example, one of the neighbors had a threshing machine, but no tractor. He and Dad formed a bit of a partnership to thresh the crops in the district. By this time, Leo and I were considered old enough to be able to work on the threshing crew. Although we were still small, as the boss’s sons, we had to set an example for the rest of crew. This was not an enviable situation.
Another characteristic of Hart Parr tractors was the difficulty in starting them. This was a particular problem when threshing because the crew sat around and talked while waiting for the threshing machine to be ready to take the bundles; naturally they expected to be paid. On the other hand the farmers were charged by the amount of grain threshed, not by the time spent.
A typical threshing crew would be about twelve men and six teams of horses. The men expected three meals per day plus morning and afternoon lunches. The quality of the food was a significant factor in determining whose crop was threshed first.
Most of the temporary harvest workers were transients who came to the west riding on freight trains and looking for employment. They were not, as a rule, exemplary characters which the children should emulate.
The onset of WWII meant these men could get regular paydays and meals by joining the Armed Forces. Consequently, it became difficult to find enough workers for the harvest. This led to the adoption of combines to do the harvesting. Our first combine in 1943 meant the harvest procedure had to be changed. The combine was powered by a power take-off on the tractor. Since the Hart Parr did not have a power take-off, we purchased a McCormick Deering tractor that had this feature.
TRACTOR STORY 2020 ADDITION (4 PARAGRAPHS)
In 1928 Dad bought the HART PARR tractor. It arrived at the ranch after dark when George and I had gone to bed. We heard this strange noise but had no idea what the cause was. The next morning, we went out and saw this strange machine in the yard. It was green in color with red wheels. Dad told us that it was called a tractor and that it would be used for plowing.
During the next few years there was a serious depression, and everyone tried to reduce expenses. This meant that the tractor was not used much, if at all. Horses used locally grown fodder as fuel.
A few years later a representative of the HART PARR company came to the ranch and offered to forego the remaining payments for the sum of $50.00. Dad said he didn’t have $50.00 and that the representative could take the tractor. He left without the tractor and we continued to use it on the ranch for jobs that could not be done by horses, such as powering a threshing machine. One year during the harvest the HART PARR would not start in the morning. The bundle haulers sat back and watched. Since they were paid by the day they had no concerns about the situation. Uncle Jonty decided to do something about the problem, so he brought his tractor and suggested that they use it for the day. Dad refused this offer and continued to work at getting the HART PARR to run. Eventually it did start, and the harvest continued.
A few years later, Dad got a combine to carry out the harvest because the usual men looking for work had joined the army. The combine required a tractor with a Power Takeoff. Since the HART PARR did not have this feature, he bought a McCORMICK DEERING. This is the tractor with the rubber tires on the front wheels which is shown in the previous picture.
Because the tractor had lights it would have had a generator and battery to power them. Lights on a tractor were relatively rare in those days. The original magneto was retained to power the spark plugs in the engine.
The Hart Parr was used less frequently and the McCormick Deering was traded in on a new John Deere Model D in 1948. The Hart Parr became the backup tractor in emergency situations.
The John Deere in its turn was supplanted by more powerful tractors. In later years, Leo repaired and repainted it, restoring it to new condition. He later donated it to the Big Valley Museum and received a tax receipt for a donation of $8,000, more than three times the original cost sixty years earlier.
FRANKENSTEIN
The Farmhand Loader was originally installed on the Model D John Deere tractor. In order to make the unit more versatile and able to travel at higher speeds, it was decided to mount it on a army-type truck. The truck required considerable modification. To reverse the direction of travel, the axles were flipped over so that the left wheels became the right wheels. The box was removed and the engine converted to burn propane fuel. The steering wheel, transmission controls, lights and seat were moved to top of the cab so than the operator had good vision. The unit was used for several years, mainly to gather and stack hay bales.
Leo purchased a used truck and was driving it home when he came to a dead end where the road met Highway 56. He was unable to stop in time and crossed the road into the ditch on the other side of the highway. Miraculously, he wasn’t serious injured although there were teeth marks on the dash of the truck where his head hit.
This is an adaptation of the truck involved. Much of Leo’s equipment was adaptations from another use – the exercise of a fine mechanical mind.
As more land was acquired, the machinery became larger and more expensive. The next tractor was a Allis Chalmers 8070 purchased about a year before Herbert and Leo retired.
The combines also became larger. We did not use self-propelled type combines because they are more expensive and the tractors we used had ample power to operate the combine. The first of these combines was a John Deere Model 96. It was replaced by an International Harvester 914.
OTHER INTERESTS
Leo was more interested in the farming activities than in the raising cattle. He left most of this work to our father and Herb.
He was interested in a young woman from Castor, for a brief period. However, our mother suggested that it would be better if he found someone who was not Catholic. This was one of his few involvements with women.
He purchased a soft top Ford convertible car in 1957. This was probably the only vehicle of this type in the Byemoor district.
On one occasion, when the teacher at Wolf Hill and her husband came to visit, Leo was in the process of overhauling the gasoline engine for the washing machine in the middle of the kitchen floor. It would be an understatement to say that they were not expecting this. The gasoline powered washing machine presented a concern of its own. The outside door had to be ajar in order to get the exhaust pipe for the engine outside. In cold weather, this created quite a problem in the house.
FROM GEORGE’S CONVERSATION WITH SHIRLEY
Was Nicholson the teacher when you were young? Didn’t he throw the kids around He got into an argument with Leo one time; he said all the kids were something or other and Leo said you’re like that too. He didn’t like that much. He came from Big Valley.
Mr. Hall used to come to the farm. He was one of the first people to have a Oldsmobile with an automatic transmission. I don’t remember Leo being a smart aleck, lipping anyone off.
George, I didn’t see you much in the house; Leo was there. George left in 1938, I was born in 1930, and I remember Leo; he used to hang around with us.
HERBERT’S THOUGHTS ABOUT LEO
What I remember about Leo; basically, what he said was law whether he was right or not. He criticized the bulls I bought publicly, so I told him, “Maybe it’s time you started buying them.” to which he replied, “I don’t know anything about cattle.” Or he would bitch, because I didn’t buy better bulls. He didn’t seem to realize I could only choose from the ones on offer. He must have been one of the strongest men I have known; I don’t think there were many men who could outwork him.
Someone once said if you can’t say something positive, then SHUT UP.
Dad was foreman of the municipal road crew; Bill Keast and Bill Reeves couldn’t handle the fresno. He had a negative view of itinerant threshers.
George finished Grade twelve at 16 in 1941 . Leo finished Grade ten at 17. How come?
In 1950, when George was working at Ft. Macleod, Leo experienced three to four months of hospitalization for mental health issues, likely depression. He claimed to be the “only person there with a certificate of sanity.” At that time there was a great stigma attached to mental health issues.
THE DUAL PURPOSE GADGET
Dad used a straight razor to shave. This was basically a sharp knife that required honing (sharpening) each time it was used. The device that was used to hone the razor was called a razor strop. The other use of the strop was as a disciplinary tool. It was used in cases of failure to carry out assigned tasks or other misdemeanors. We soon learned that the number of blows with the strop was inversely proportional to the apparent result, which was reaction from the recipient, accordingly this was a very noisy process. The whole family was aware of what was going on and could try to avoid being involved in a similar situation.
SANDRA’S THOUGHTS ON LEO
I’ve mentioned my brothers in many of my reminiscences, and this is the place to speak at length about all Leo meant to me. Very simply, a lot! He was one of my parent/siblings – one who was always there with imagination and fun. Karen and I were convinced that he and his cat, C.A.T., had a mystic relationship whereby everything we did within the cat’s presence would be reported to Leo. At first, it seemed only incidents when we mistreated the cat were reported, but then it began to seem as though anything we did, the damn cat tattled on us. I still haven’t figured it out and, being a ‘cat person’, believe in the possibility.
Leo was a hard taskmaster and a great companion; I tell the stories of some of what he expected from me in my own story, but those were big projects. On an ongoing basis, I was responsible for keeping the 1958 Sunliner immaculate at all times; this was no small thing, but it led to many rewards and one huge sorrow. Leo was very generous about driving Karen and I to dances in Byemoor and Endiang and various other events; he may have had ulterior motives in wanting to flirt with Karen’s friends and others at the dances. Anyway, it was a win/win situation because Mom let us go if Leo was taking us, and it gave her a chance to recite her age old adage, “Remember to always come home with the one who took you.” We enjoyed many good times, and then Karen got her driver’s license and we were able to borrow the Sunliner and go on our own. By this time, Karen was dating Joe Hogg, and on one occasion we decided to drive by his place, not stalking, you understand, just the driving by of a teenage crush. I don’t know if we were speeding or if I grabbed Karen’s arm; my guilty conscious said I did. We flew off the road, through a barbed wire fence which thankfully lifted over the contours of the car rather than cutting our heads off since we had the top down, and landed Kerthunk! , bottomed out in a field. I have no recollection of how we got home, what damage was done or anything else of that night.
What I do remember is the next day. I had fled to the hayloft in shame and spent most of the day hiding there crying. When Leo came and found me to say I was forgiven, my eyes were swelled shut with the dust and the crying and I wasn’t able to open them for two days. Remorse; shame, and forgiveness!
Leo was a forgiving kind of guy, and I can only remember one time when he wasn’t. He was out summer fallowing on a really hot day, and I was supposed to walk out with his lunch and a cold drink. This was before we had a thermos, so I was carrying a glass quart jar of cold water. I dilly-dallied along the way, daydreaming and probably investigating every plant and gopher hole I came across with the result that when I arrived the sandwiches were yucky and the water very warm. Leo shouted at me, “What am I supposed to do with this slop!” and threw the lunch at me. Well, the jar broke and cut my foot. Unlikely as this story seems, it’s true and I have the scar to prove it.
