W. Ray Freden

Decker did not impress me as to his mechanical abilities. Although the saw mill kept running in spite of him. Maybe because the machinery was built to last a lifetime or a number of lifetimes. On occasion, there was metal breakage due to old age and usage fatigue. If Decker couldn’t fix it with some fencing wire, he would have to call in the local welder and his portable equipment. This distressed Decker because the welder didn’t work for a dollar an hour!

And, bye the bye, both Decker and his son had trouble pronouncing “dollar,” the L’s were replaced with W’s. They had no trouble with, a “buck,” a “fin,” or a “saw-buck,” but a dollar was more like a,  “dow-wa.”

Although I have no idea what broke,  I remember the welder being there more than once. Other repairs were usually tackled by his workmen, Elmer and Burt Fish. Decker would mostly oversee and provide tools.

His tools, OMG! They were as vintage as the Mill itself. The tools were carried around in an old canvas bag with leather handles. One handle was missing. I convinced Decker to make a wire handle replacement to take the strain off the existing one. Finally he did, and it was made from wire.

Some vintage Ford truck tools.

His favorite tools were two monkey wrenches. A large one, and a small one. Also, there were pliers, an adjustable wrench, and a few screwdrivers, the blade type. I don’t think Decker knew what a Phillips screwdriver was, nor, had any use for one.

More vintage Ford automotive tools that I have used for over 60 years.

His next favorite tool was fencing wire or hay baling wire. A good amount could be found in his tool bag as well as seen in numerous repairs in the Mill. I remember a coil of it hanging on a wood peg in the mill.

One fall morning Decker was leaving Franklin’s shop as I arrived. I said, “Good mornin Decker.”

He replied, “Nothin good so far,” and left, walking down Pine Street.

After I got to work, in the shop, Franklin brought me up to date. It seems Decker’s yard truck, a Ford model AA, wouldn’t start. That meant the workers couldn’t carry out Decker’s morning plans.

Frank asked me if I had my tools, and of course I did, in my car’s trunk. Off we went to the Saw Mill yard and up to the disabled truck.

I put my test light to work and found no power to the starter. Decker told me a new battery was put in by his men last week, and it’s been starting fine.

Next, a look at the new battery. Well, it had almost fallen to the ground and snapped the ground cable.
The battery box had long ago rotted away, and the fence wire holding it had also rotted and broke away.

Franklin had gone back to his shop,and I was left to solve the problem.

Now, back to the shop to make a plywood box for the battery, then to the Trading Post for a new ground strap. The most difficult task was removing the rusted bolt that held the ground strap. I used fence wire to hold up the plywood box supporting the battery. Oh yes, I too believed in fence wire.

I installed the new ground strap, I gave the starter button a push with the choke on, and away she went. Five seconds later, she stopped and wouldn’t restart.

Well, I checked for gas and it was dry!

Off to the trading post again with my two gallon can for gas.

After gassing her up, off she went. I drove her out to the driveway.

When I returned from a late lunch, the old truck had been moved and now loaded with slabs outside of the saw shed. I never got a thank you, nor paid for the two gallons of gas.

Just another day in “Hatchville!”

by Ray Freden, Marshfield, 70 years.
Worked in Hatchville, 6 years.
 
“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.”
– Calvin Coolidge

 

This painting reminds me of Decker Hatch cutting hay, salt or otherwise. Painting by Frank F. English.

I mentioned cutting salt hay in my previous blog. Alternate common name: Saltmeadow Hay, Marsh Grass, Saltmeadow Cordgrass.  Its a Hay-like grass found in the upper areas of the marsh. It grows 1 to 2 feet high, green in spring and summer, and turns light brown in late fall and winter.

Decker had his share of salt hay on his property behind the airport off Ocean Street. He had a large barn where he stored his hay cutting equipment and housed his horses during the cutting season. Most of the cut hay was stored at this site.

Built by Samuel Hatch. c. Early 1880s.

Corn was also planted in the drier fields nearest the airport runway. I found it great pheasant hunting on those corn fields.

Decker used a single horse hitched to the sickle bar to cut the marsh hay and corn stalks. A team of two horses were used for heavy work and to pull the wagon loaded with marsh grass.

A wagon loaded with freshly cut salt hay.

Cutting on the lower and wet salt meadow, Decker would fit the horse with “marsh shoes.” They were a strange addition to the horses hoof, and rather awkward for the horse. These were used to prevent the horse from sinking into the soft mud.

A set of marsh shoes.

There are hundreds of variations because most were made by the horse’s owner. There was a pattern applied for improvement of the marsh shoe in 1876. I once had two pair of marsh shoes hanging in my barn, each pair were different.

A team of horses wearing Marsh Shoes.

Salt marsh hay uses in days past:
Fodder
Roof thatching
Mattresses
Insulation of floors and foundations
Insulation for root cellars

Now-a-days:
Garden mulch
Shrubs and trees
Insulation of shallow wells

Decker sold salt hay to horse farms for stall litter. Others would buy the hay for mulching blueberries and strawberries. A lot of hay disappeared when Decker was away. He would deliver a truck load for twenty dollars.

After salt hay cutting was over, Decker would return his horses to his sister’s barn across from the Hatch’s home. His method was to hitch the pair up to the back of his truck and drive up Ocean Street to Plain Street, and down Union Street. Although Decker drove slow, this was a long haul for a pair of old horses pounding their hooves on that hard pavement.

Now lets talk of a horse of a different color.

Decker loved horse racing — “the ponies.” When the racing came to the Marshfield Fair, Decker was there. His son told me he never missed a day of racing at the  Fair.

This was Decker’s hobby, and he took it seriously. No tree cutting, no sawing lumber, no farming, no hay cutting. When the horses were racing, Decker was in another world.

Rounding the first turn.

He would get a lot of kidding about the “ponies” and how much he won or lost.

A number of times, Decker would stop into Franklin’s shop to chat with Frank and kill time before his dinner. By now, I was accepted somewhat, I could have conversations with him. When I got a chance I would ask, “Decker, did-ja win or lose today?”

After a bit he would respond, “Y-see, y-win some, y-lose some.”

The next time he showed up, same question, “Decker, did-ja win or lose today?”

His response, “Y-see, y-lose some, y-win some.” The ”ya” was almost silent. The “ya-see” was a “yse.”

Franklin once told me to pay attention to how his father arranged his answer. I have always wondered if this was a hint of his wins or loses, or just by chance?

Read his answers again. Leave your comment at the end of this blog.

Decker must be there somewhere.

by
W. Ray Freden, Marshfield, 70 years.

“Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” – W.C. Fields.

Decker was a very hard and dedicated worker. Up early, work ’til noon, home for lunch, most of the time. Back to work at 1pm, and busy until 4pm, or later in the summer.

Decker was a small man and of slight build. He shied away from heavy tasks, leaving the hard labor to Bert and Elmer Fish, his right and left hand helpers.

There was a major job for each season. The main business was the saw mill. Pine lumber was milled from spring to freeze-up.

In the spring, there were interruptions with the cutting of June hay, and, in the fall, cutting of salt hay.

And of course, the summer gardening. Strawberries, raspberries, peas, tomatoes, corn, squash, and other crops.

The winter cash crop was rhubarb.       

There were four long houses in a pine grove just off Pine Street. As I remember, in the mid 50s, only two rhubarb sheds were remaining. Two collapsed from disrepair.

The smallest shed in 1956.

Rhubarb shoots were planted in the field next to the sheds in the early summer. They were dug in the fall and stored outside where they would become dormant.

Early winter the plants were placed in trays inside the dark sheds and covered with horse manure and hay. A coal stove was fired off and tended until the plants were forced to sprout tender pink shoots. They were cut and wrapped and taken to the Boston market. That was Decker’s cash crop for mid to late winter.

By 1960, the last remaining sheds fell in and no longer usable. I can remember many clumps of rhubarb growing wild all around where the sheds once were.

Heat from the coal stoves and darkness, forced the shoots.

Forced shoots are the sweetest. Collecting rhubarb for market

by W. Ray Freden, Marshfield, 70 years.

“What New England is, is a state of mind, a place where dry humor and perpetual disappointment
blend to produce an ironic pessimism that folks from away find most perplexing.”
~ Willem Lange

Next! As I Remember Decker Hatch, Part 4: Cutting Salt Hay.