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Glen Wardlaw is my Dad's younger brother. My Dad hitchhiked from Arkansas to Ontario, Oregon in 1935. From his reports back to his parents, they moved to the Ontario area in 1936.

My Dad farmed a place about a mile from his Dad's until 1946 when my Dad went to work for the Bureau of Reclamation as foreman of the maintance crew. In 1949 my Dad became Water Master for the north end of the Owyhee Irrigation project.

The Owyhee Irrigation project was built by the CCC's for the bureau of Reclamation. In 1949 the bureau turned the project over to the farmers on the project. The north end of the project provided water to approximately 200,000 acres of land. Without this water there would not be the farms which grow so much produce.

We lived at the old CCC camp which was just called the "camp". Several families who worked for the irrigation project lived at the camp. The camp was located about 4 miles north of Ontario. There was lots of land available for gardens. My family had a garden of about 1/2 acre in area. We grew most of the food we ate through out the year. We dug a large cellar in which we stored apples, potatoes, onions and other produce which would last.

We attended church at the Ontario Heights Friends Church, which is shown in several of Lange's photos.

Although I was born in 1941, which is post depression, how I was raised was greatly influenced by my parents experiences from the depression. Although we had plenty to eat, we were not allowed to waste any food. If it was on your plate you had to eat it. When you pealed potatoes you had better be able to see through the skins. We got most of our apples, potatoes and onions when we would go through a field after harvest and pick up all the produce which had been left behind during harvest.

Being raised on the Owhee Irrigation project I have lots of memories about what happened and the problems in getting the water to the farmers each year.

Noel Wardlaw

posted 4 years, 8 months ago
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