Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Goodbye, Sagebrush
    Goodbye, Sagebrush
    Goodbye, Sagebrush
    Ebook100 pages1 hour

    Goodbye, Sagebrush

    By Deborah Smith

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Goodbye, Sagebrush is a semi-autobiographical tale of one young girl's experience moving from the Wyoming frontier of her upbringing to the "big city" of Salt Lake, at the tail end of the Great Depression. As Dottie 'Rie travels the long road to Utah's capital city, her mind drifts back to the good life she enjoyed back in the old log cabin and at the ranch. Struggling to overcome her feelings of disappointment with the move, she gradually learns to embrace the new, while cherishing fond memories of the old. This coming-of-age story is replete with real-life tales of frontier life in the 30s, as seen through the eyes of a curious young girl who must let go of the past and welcome her new future.

    BONUS: this volume contains an appendix featuring several actual recipes for the many frontier foods mentioned in the story.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDeborah Smith
    Release dateNov 3, 2012
    ISBN9781301823055
    Goodbye, Sagebrush

    Related to Goodbye, Sagebrush

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Making a Splash

      May 31, 2022

      Making a Splash
      4 min read

    • Article

      Fiction: Wolfdreams

      Feb 12, 2022

      Fiction: Wolfdreams
      6 min read

    • Article

      Meeting On The Mountain

      Aug 25, 2018

      Meeting On The Mountain
      3 min read

    • Article

      WINNERS APRIL 2021 STORY CONTEST A New Beginning

      Sep 1, 2021

      Tyler Rich, age 10 Grand Junction, CO The cage door opened. As I gazed into the forest, the memories came rushing back. Fire. Everywhere. Amber spirals licking at my fur, scorching my pelt. No escape. Hands. Then, darkness. I shrank farther back into

      8 min read

    • Article

      ‘‘I Love You, Sissy’’

      Aug 27, 2019

      ‘‘I Love You, Sissy’’
      4 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2019

      Ayat Jaffar, age 9 Avon, OH Over winter break, I went to Umrah. Umrah is an Islamic Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. I went with my mom, dad, and older sister. We went around a big black stone and between two big mountains seven times each in mem

      7 min read

    • Article

      Shards

      Jun 1, 2018

      Shards
      6 min read

    • Article

      Evidence

      Mar 6, 2023

      Evidence
      25 min read

    • Article

      The Eternal Adventure

      Jun 29, 2021

      The Eternal Adventure
      4 min read

    • Article

      As the World Collapses

      Jul 27, 2017

      As the World Collapses
      7 min read

    • Article

      Old Tom’s Thanksgiving Dinner

      Nov 1, 2021

      Old Tom’s Thanksgiving Dinner
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Dream Uprooted

      Mar 16, 2020

      A Dream Uprooted
      5 min read

    • Article

      My Renaissance

      Aug 24, 2018

      My Renaissance
      5 min read

    • Article

      Forever Wild

      Oct 1, 2018

      When I think of the Scarborough house, I remember the wind whipping through my salt-hardened curls and my little-girl feet bare and crusted with sand as I run through its heavy wooden doors. I was four and wild as the landscape itself. My grandparent

      3 min read

    • Article

      Lost In The Woods

      Oct 12, 2023

      Lost In The Woods
      6 min read

    • Article

      Princess Bari

      Apr 15, 2019

      Princess Bari
      6 min read

    • Article

      My Renaissance

      Apr 25, 2019

      My Renaissance
      6 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Sep 1, 2020

      I was only eight. Not the driver, but I wasthe one who begged for the cats. Our father,so allergic he stopped breathing sometimes,gave in. So long as I fed them.So long as we kept them in the garage. Outdoor cats we called them. All I wanted was a bo

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Cold Milking Experience

      May 19, 2023

      A Cold Milking Experience
      5 min read

    • Article

      Natural Habitat

      Jun 24, 2021

      Natural Habitat
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Goodbye, Sagebrush

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Goodbye, Sagebrush - Deborah Smith

      PROLOGUE

      Crossing the Wyoming-Utah border

      May 1940

      I can’t believe this is happening.

      Everything in my life is changing, and I don’t like it.

      I’ve lived my entire life in Wyoming – so far, anyway. I’m not an adult yet, but still, it’s all I’ve ever known, and it’s important to me. It’s where I grew up. And now it’s disappearing into the distance behind us.

      Daddy’s car, an Essex Terraplane, has a bit of a bumpy ride. Or maybe it’s just these roads. But it isn’t the bumps that are making tears come to my eyes as the miles fly past.

      As I stare out the back window, heading southwest toward the big city of Salt Lake, all I can think about is what I’m leaving behind.

      My whole life.

      Everything I’ve ever known – the ranch, the fields, the hills, the river – even the coal pit.

      I’ll never see any of that ever again.

      #

      CHAPTER ONE

      The Staton Homestead

      Outside Kemmerer, WY

      March 1930

      I can still remember sitting playing with a small length of green yarn on the dusty floor – I think I was only about four years old – but it seems like yesterday.

      We lived in a house unlike anything you’ll see today. A large log house - nothing fancy, by any means, but it was home.

      And it was a little chilly.

      We’re nearly out of coal, Daddy said to Mama. I’m going over to the mine to get some more. I’ll take Dottie ‘Rie with me.

      I’ll come, too, said Mama. I could use a few minutes outside.

      The wood pile under the lean-to at the end of the cabin was tall and fat with chopped cottonwood, but the heap of black, shiny coal had dwindled down to only a few clumps that would not likely last through that night.

      It had been quite a while since Daddy went to get coal. I knew, because whenever he left to get coal, I’d get a weird feeling – a fear I couldn’t put my young finger on. Something about that place he went.

      All the ranchers along the Ham’s Fork River got coal at the abandoned mine near the Penner Ranch. Just the idea of a big, abandoned hole in the ground made me shiver. And now he was going to take me with him to that frightening place.

      I watched as the door slammed behind him, and Daddy headed across the log bridge to the corral. The horses were just finishing their breakfast as Daddy opened the gate and walked through. The horses stood quietly as he fastened the harness and hooked them to the wagon. I could see Daddy’s breath, and the breath of the horses forming little white puffs in the crisp morning air. Daddy drove the clip-clopping team across the dark wooden bridge to the cabin where Mama and me waited to climb into the wagon.

      It was a wonderful spring morning in Little Quaking Aspen Canyon, and I could see from Mama’s face that she was as happy as me to be released from winter’s confinement. Each little sprig of new yellow-green grass seemed a miracle to me. The miniature leaves on the willows were beginning to cover their nakedness. Patches of snow could still be seen under the rim of the canyon walls, but the ground was dry and firm.

      I sat squeezed between Daddy and Mama on the wagon seat. As we crossed the bridge, I could see the melted snow water tumbling below, filling the creek, and coming up over the sides in some places. The white-crested ripples sparkled in the sunlight.

      The horses seemed happy to have the warm sun on their backs. They still had their winter coats on, but they’d soon shed them to show their sleek summer hides. Daddy drove the horses down the two-track road, through the silvery sagebrush, toward the mouth of the canyon. At the canyon mouth, we could see the magnificent Ham’s Fork Valley stretching to the left and right of us, verdant and green with dark meadow grass.

      Giddap! Daddy called to the horses as he slapped the reins on their round, shiny rumps and they trotted smartly down the road and through the lush meadow, heading for the Kirtland place where Grandma and Grandpa Staton lived. The sounds of the harness creaking, the horse’s gait and the spinning wheels combined to make an exhilarating rhythmic song that made me laugh.

      The Ham’s Fork River was running high and as we crossed. I could see the water was all the way up to the bottom of the log bridge. Bits of wood and leaves swirled around in the foam of the rushing flood.

      Another half-mile brought us to Grandma’s house where we stopped to let Mama off.

      I’ll be here visiting with Mother until you get back from the mine, she told Daddy. Don’t be too long – there’s still chores to be done at home.

      Grandma’s house was very old – one of the first houses built along the river – and like many others, it was built of logs with a sod roof. I could see Grandma’s stout figure in the doorway waiting to greet us. She had her silvery gray hair pinned into a bun at the back of her head and a colorful apron covering her ample figure.

      After helping Mama out of the wagon, Daddy climbed back onto the seat, picked up the reins, and off we went down the gravel road to the mine. The wagon wheels rolled up clouds of dust. The horses, breathing heavily, pulled with difficulty uphill but had an easy run on the down slope. Within the hour, we arrived at the mine.

      Along the way, my mirthful mood of earlier began to grow gradually more dark as I thought about the mysterious mine.

      What was it with that place?

      Daddy drove the wagon under the shady coolness of a big cottonwood tree and unhitched the horses from the wagon. He tied one horse to a branch and hitched the other to a skid he’d load with coal.

      You stay right here in the wagon until I come back, Daddy said to me. I won’t be too long. Then leading the horse, he disappeared into a big black hole in the side of the hill, as if swallowed alive.

      As I watched him walk into the obscurity of the mine, a dark cloud covered the sun and a sense of gloom came over me. I realized that I was all alone, a small child in the great wide world. I felt defenseless, unprotected and vulnerable. This place was so very quiet. I could hear the grasshoppers buzzing in the brush and the birds in the trees, even the flies flitting around. A striped chipmunk scurried under the sagebrush and I watched a butterfly scoot through the air. All this natural activity going on around me, but I was still so alone.

      A chill passed through me as I stared into the blackness of the mine entrance

      Time passed so slowly – it felt like I’d been sitting on the hard

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1