Our home in Logan was one half block east from Grandpa and Grandma Anderson. (Their address was 164 East 400 North and my folks' home was at 206 East 4th North). They were like a second Father and Mother to me. For many years, during my youth, I was at their home every day of the week. Following are some random memories of my association with them. Grandma Anderson was a great cook. She always had wonderful meals. One of her specialties was sugar cookies. She had a large brown cookie crock. The lid was at least twelve inches in diameter and fifteen inches high. It was always loaded with sugar cookies. What a treat it was to receive 2 or 3 cookies while visiting her. My Mother worked at John H. Anderson and Sons store each day from 1:00 p.m. to closing time. During the school year, before I started school, I would stay at their home during the afternoon hours. Then one of my sisters would pick me up when they were out of school in the afternoon. I became well acquainted with Aunt Geneva during this time. Sometimes she would have severe headaches and couldn't watch over me. In looking back at that, maybe I was the cause of her headaches? She would play games with me. A favorite was 'Hide the Button." Early in my youth while staying with my Grandparents, I discovered the "old out house." This was a very unusual discovery. When I got home, I asked my Mother why they had such a facility. She told me that this was used before they had a city sewer system in Logan. One early recollection of the old homestead on 4th North was the large barn. Most of the area was devoted to storing hay. I remember there were two work horses housed on the first floor west end of the barn. They were used to haul hay from the west fields during the summer. Also, one would be used as a delivery horse to customers who would mail in orders to the store. As time went on, many customers would phone in their grocery orders and request delivery. During the haying season, I would ride out on the hay rack pulled by two horses. My job was to stay on the rack with Grandpa Anderson. When the hay started to be loaded on the rack, I would stomp on the hay to pack it, so more hay could be hauled to the barn. Grandpa Anderson would direct me where to go on the rack by saying "stick air." I didn't understand what he was telling me to do, so I just ran about the rack. If he got upset, I would go in a different direction. After the day was over, I asked my Dad what he meant. Dad said he was saying to "take care." I was too young to drive the one-horse delivery wagon in taking goods to customers. The old delivery wagon was used for a long time. Finally, the gas-eating truck replaced the old hay-eating horse. Yes, the Anderson General Store had gone modern. They purchased a 1/4 Ton Chevy Truck. Grandpa John H. Anderson was the President of the First National Bank of Logan. He was one of the best merchants in the entire Cache Valley. He became the Mayor of Logan City on January 4, 1910. He succeeded William Edwards in this assignment. Grandpa was also a good farmer. Above all, he was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. With all of these many accomplishments and wealth, he rode his bike to town. Some of my friends would ask why a man with all his wealth, he rode his bike to town. In looking back, I can see this stately man riding his bike dressed in a suit and with a felt dress hat, going to town. I'm sure this was his way of staying fit. Grandmother Anderson was a wonderful loving person. She was a great cook and always wanted to know if you were hungry. Her great love and warmth for the grandkids was felt by all. The old fruit cellar must have been one of the Grandmother's places to store resources. This was a great place to search for some flint marbles. I was amazed that foods placed in the cellar didn't freeze during the winter. It was constructed with very thick walls. A portion was underground. In the summer, the temperature was cool and in the winter food stuff didn't freeze. Grandmother would make laundry soap from scratch. This was an unusual experience to see all the work required in the process of making soap. I can't tell you all the ingredients that were needed, but the end results were large bricks of golden-colored bars of soap. This was used mostly in the laundry. The laundry was called the shanty. It was located next to the garage. There was a large coal-burning cook stove. This is where the water was heated to launder the clothing and other household linens. She used scrubbing boards in large oblong tin tubs with handles. Some tubs were used for scrubbing and other tubs were used for rinsing. The old house didn't have a basement. Grandpa and Grandma decided they needed a basement which would make it possible for central heating by installing a furnace. This was a big project to dig under the house and pour cement for the walls and floor. In addition, an outside stairway was built to the basement. When this project was completed, this proved a great luxury to have central heating. On occasions, the Anderson Family would have a get-together with all their children, the spouses, and all of the grandchildren. After the dinner, we would get together in what was called the living room for group singing. Aunt Charlotte would read, John M. (Uncle John's son) would sing. Phil Robbins would sing. I can't remember who played the piano. We all had a good time. One of Grandpa's pride and joys was his gardens. First of all were his flowers. He grew daffodils peonies, and gladiolus. His vegetable garden was his second love. It consisted of all types of vegetables. To keep the weeds down and to provide ditches for irrigation, he'd rent a horse from a friend and cultivate the entire garden. My job was to lead the horse from Grandpa's friend's place to his home on 4th North. He owned a piece of equipment called a cultivator. He'd hitch the horse up to the cultivator. My job was to lead the horse up and down the rows. Grandpa guided the cultivator. Sometimes when I was leading the horse, it would step on the vegetation. Grandpa would say to me "0 Shaw Boy, can't you guide the horse." I never heard Grandpa Anderson swear. Another job that I had with the garden was getting the irrigation water turned into the garden. If you go to 4th North and a half a block east of 2nd East Street, you can still see the irrigation canal. It was from this body of water we'd get the water to irrigate the garden. The water was diverted from the canal at 3rd North and just a quarter of a block west was a turn out ditch that would take the water to Grandfather's land. His water right permitted a 3-hour turn. Sometimes the water would stop coming before the 3 hours were up. My job would be to follow the ditch in the various back yards to 3rd North to make sure no one had taken the water for their use. Sometimes someone would take the dam out on 3rd North and use the water illegally. I remember seeing some cowboy show at the movies, where water was taken illegally and a big fight would be the result. We never had any big fights. When I was about 11 years old. Grandpa invited me to go on his annual fishing trip to the Madison River in Montana. This was my big event of the summer. Grandpa had a big white tent that became our home in the wilderness for four or five days. He would tie long bamboo fishing poles on the opposite side of the driver. The Madison River was a large stream and there were many large pine trees along the banks. We'd look for the eddies which made it easier to fish and was usually productive. He'd always take fresh vegetables from the garden plus some pork chops from the meat market. The food was always good. As the years went by, he changed his fishing hole to Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone Park. Here he'd rent a row boat and we'd troll with a spinner. He had two short rods with a reel attached to hold the line. (The rods were called "stubbies"). The practice was he'd sit in the back part of the boat and hold the two "stubb rods." When a fish would strike the lure, he'd hand the one rod to the person on the center who would row the boat. One day we were out trolling. Grandpa got a tremendous strike! He got so excited instead of handing the one inactive rod off, he threw it overboard. After landing his big fish, we rowed back to the location where he dropped the rod. We could see it on the bottom of the lake. The water was too deep for us to retrieve the rod. In the early 1930's, the time of the Great Depression, it was a very stressful time for bankers. Many banks closed down because the depositors didn't believe in the bank. I remember several times when Grandpa and my Dad would be talking in low voices discussing the problems with the bank. These were very difficult times and many people lost everything. Grandpa pledged all his assets to prevent the closure of the bank. Customers of the bank had faith in Grandpa and the bank. There was no closure. The First National Bank of Logan was sold to Zion's First National Bank and is still doing well. My Mother worked a half day shift at John H. Anderson and Sons store located at 141 North Main street. There were times that she'd take me to the store in the afternoons which was her daily shift. Some of my memories of these early days at the store was the balcony at the west end of the store. Grandpa Anderson had his office there. I remember seeing him at work. He would then go to work at the Bank. The balcony gave me a view of the entire store. I'd see the customers come and go. As time went on, the balcony was taken our and Grandfather's office was a desk located on the northwest comer of the store. The old store was intriguing to me at first. As time went on, I was given various jobs of dusting the canned goods, sweeping the floor, washing the windows, helping to oil the (wood) floors after hours, etc. There were two choices in my life that I was sure that I'd never make: which were raising chickens or working in a retail store. So far no chickens! In my early days working at John H. Anderson and Sons must have stayed "in my blood." I did work at ZCMI for 37 years before retiring. We all have been beneficiaries of a great heritage left to us by Grandpa and Grandma Anderson. The challenge is there for all of us to measure up and continues this great tradition. Joseph A. Anderson, Jr. writes:
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