Building the Future
The growers of the area were also highly skilled craftsmen. They built their ranges with the same love and sweat they used to grow their crops and their families.
Here are some pictures of their efforts....
breakingground.jpg - 40's Taken on the Goetz place in the 40's one of the boys using a bulldozer to level the ground for a new set of greenhouses.
breakingground2.jpg - 40's Another pic from the same progect. Drainage is one of the single most important elements in any construction progect but especially greenhouses! Since water is often applied daily the soil would become a swamp without good drainage.
buildingagreenhouse01.jpg - 40's The final step in the process. Putting up a new house with expectations of the crops that will be grown in them! This one looks like the first house behind the barn on the Goetz place. Check out her shoes! But it just goes to show that everybody pitched in to make a range happen :) Broke my heart when then houses came down in the 80's. Best guess is that this is from just after the war..
will&lesterontop.jpg - 40's Once built a glass greenhouse requires an enormous amount of maitainance. Exposure to weather and the intensity of magnified sunlight break down the glazing putty and paint. Wind can grab a vent like a sail and snap it from it's hinges. Here Will & Lester Goetz are repairing a vent.
willinback.jpg - 40's The building behind will is the boiler shed. Large coal fired steam boilers were the primary heat source for greenhouses of this era. We still have one although in 1970 the EPA forced us to install gas burners. Just as well since the price of coal skyrocketed in the 70's and the labor asscociated with these old coal units was intense. Every morning the cinders (clinkers) had to be shoveled out by hand.
