School Days - D2D 6.18.14

This picture was taken about 1950 just before Dale (on the right) left to go into the US Coast Guard.  That would mean I was almost exactly the age he was when he rode his horse to school every morning.  (yes I said it would be color … sorry, the original is B&W)

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When my brother Dale started school in 1935, the nearest school building was along the south side of the Tule River roughly across from the west end of todays Tulare County Dump site.  The Rural School was on the south side of the river, but the highway going from Porterville to Springville is on the north side. 

The closest access from the highway side was over a swinging bridge across the river near the school.  The teacher did have a choice though.  They could cross the cable bridge, or drive.  There were two routes to the Rural School. Either drive across the river on the bridge directly south of the Old Globe Church then work your way around to the school house, or cross on the bridge above the Dump and come in that way.  Either way, it was at least two or three miles further, and involved a bumpy drive down an lenghty access road from Globe Drive.  Most chose the bridge.

Every weekday morning the teacher drove from Porterville, parked near the north end of the swinging bridge, then crossed on the narrow cable bridge to reach the grounds of the Rural School.  Of course once in the schoolhouse, they had to start a fire, make sure the floors were swept, as well as any other pre-class preparation.  During winter months, it was entirely possible both the morning crossing and the evening return trip to the waiting car would be made in darkness.  On a stormy night, with the Tule River bounding along beneath the floor of the bridge, that must have been a rather harrowing trip.

When my brother turned six years of age, it was time to go to school rather than go with Dad around the ranch.  Dale's home was on the hilltop where I live today, which is approximately one mile from the Rural School location.  Typical of most old country schools Rural did not have a bus to gather up the children.  It was up to the parents and the children to make arrangments for transportation to school morning and night, or walk if they lived close enough. 

Living on a ranch where a horse was a reliable means of traveling the hills to work cattle and care for the ranch, it was not surprising Dale's chosen method was horseback.  Every morning my father would saddle the youngster's gentle old horse.  When my brother was ready to leave, it was up on the horse and ride away. 

The trip to school wasn't as simple as riding along a country road however.  There were fences to go through, and that meant he had to dismount, open the gate, lead the horse through the gate, closed it back again, then climb back onto his horse.  And this wasn't just once or twice.  As I remember the story he had to go through either four or five gates to get onto the school grounds.  I seem to remember Dad made sure there were handy rocks or stumps near the gate to make getting on easier for a six year old.

Arriving at the school, he rode into the barn, the original "parking lot" for vehicles used to get to school.  Hopping off once again, he loosened the saddle a bit so the horse would be comfortable for the day, pulled off the bridle and hooked it over the saddle horn, tied the horse securely, and threw him a little hay.  Then it was school time all day.

In the evening, long before the teacher made their way back across the swinging bridge, my brother would untie his horse, slip the bridle back on, tighten his saddle, and climb back aboard for the trip home.  And of course, he had the same gates to traverse before he arrived safely on our hilltop. 

To my brother, this wasn't a hardship. It was just another day on the ranch.  He and Dad had ridden together all over the ranch, along with his Uncle Bud Allumbaugh, for at least a few years.  Knowing his boy would have to make the trip to school before long, I'm sure Dad made certain the youngster could handle it.

Before he started second grade, the old Rural School was absorbed into the Springville Union School District.  Now school was at least 2.5 miles from our home.  As a modern, forward thinking school, Springville had a bus to transport their students.  So the trip to school for the rest of Dale's school days, though not as romantic as his First Grade year, was as simple as walking to the end of the drive and catching the bus.