Monday, December 29, 1947

Dec 29, 1947

1317 Shattuck

Berkeley, Calif

Dear Father & Mother & the rest of the folks at home,

I am still kind of tired-like and I guess I didn’t work at normal efficiency today but I will get off a letter telling about my trip to Washington before I retire (go to bed, that is). I have finished writing a few thank you notes and practiced a little on the piano also this evening. I should write to Howard J. Nelson but I guess I’ll let that go for awhile.

As I said in a postcard we left work at 10:30. About that time everybody was beginning to stop working so we didn’t cheat the company much. We got along very well during the first part of the trip. By 5:30 we had reached Mt. Shasta in northern Calif. We rested there for awhile & changed into some warmer clothes since by that time we had reached a fairly high elevation. After we had passed Klamath Falls, Oregon the road became rather slippery and we had a little mishap when we went in the ditch. However we were close to an oil station so we got a fellow to pull us out and we were able to continue with only a slight delay. About 1:30 a.m. we passed down below the freezing line again and the rest of the way, tho the weather was foggy was easier driving. We arrived at Chehalis at 6:30 am on Christmas Day. Both Hugh & U were quite tired so after saying “hello” etc etc we slept for awhile in the morning.

Hugh’s parents live on a 110 acre farm about 6 miles outside Chehalis, Washington which is a town of 6 or 7,000 people. The farm is about 50% woodland, but some of it hasn’t been cleared fully (that is, of the remainder). They have cows, pigs & chickens and they also raise strawberries. Mr. Guthrie works part-time in an electric shop in Chehalis. He says that after he gets 30 acres of so more land cleared he will spend all of his time at the farm.

The country side around Chehalis certainly seems very inviting, except for the fact that it is so rainy. I guess the fact that Christmas day & Friday were clear was a minor miracle. The alternate wooded and cleared land looks very nice and the presence of the wood virtually eliminates fuel and building costs. The timber is, of course, suitable for use in building, so you can cut down what you want, take it to a small sawmill (of which there are quite a few) and get the logs sawed up into lumber for a small fee. Them if you are any kind of a carpenter you can make your own buildings. I guess that in Washington in that section you can more nearly provide yourself with food, fuel, shelter without aid form the outside world than you can any other place I have ever seen. the land is fairly cheap, too. A farm complete with average buildings and about 50% woodland costs about $90-$100 per acre. The taxes are nil — perhaps $25 per year on an average farm. A considerable range of crops can be raised — fruit (cherries, apples, strawberries); grain (oats, wheat) and vegetables (peas etc.) In addition considerable dairying is done. I certainly liked Washington and it seems sto me that it offers much for not very much expenditure of either time, money or effort.

Oregon is much like Washington, except perhaps or more rugged terrain. It is perhaps more picturesque but not as practical a place as Washington.

The Christmas holiday was spent primarily in eating, sleeping, loafing, walking around on the farm etc etc. I chopped wood, which I haven’t done for a long time. I took a fairish [remaining page(s) of the letter are missing]