1 The Stermer Thread

The Life and Times of James Edson StermerThe record of my father's life from notes, letters, research and memories. 

The Stermer Boys in

New Orleans

                                                    


                                      James and John Stermer New Orleans 1928





                           These two inspired future generations to take up canoeing.

 

     Grandson James Hull and Great Grandson Caleb Hull  in 2011

Grandpa would enjoy this!

40 Jim Stermer: Employment and Publications

Copied from application form.

 At present teaching Mental Hygiene and Guidance for Newark State College, Union, New Jersey, Field Service, Dept., Neptune, New Jersey 

                                                  Application and Qualification Form:
                                                     JAMES EDSON STERMER

Address: R.D. #1, Box 39, Farmingdale, New Jersey  Phone: WE 8-2238
Birthplace:  Lancaster, Ohio         Date of Birth:  April 11, 1904
Sex: Male  Height:  5' 10:   Weight 210#  Physical Deffects:  None
Mariatal Status:  Married  Children:  Two  (30 and 27)
Veteran:No   U.S. Citizen:Yes  Resident:  New Jersey
Social Security Number:  000-00-0000
Position Desired:  Assistant or Associate Professor of Education (Fulltime)
Subjects Qualified to teaach:  Sociology, Guidance or Statistics

                                                 EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Institution                              Location                   Dates of             Earned      Major
                                                                               Attendance         Degree      Field         

Detroit Inst. of Tech.             Detroit, Mich               1930-33           B.A.          Sociology
University of Michigan         Ann Arbor, Mich         1943-44           4 hrs. cr.    Math
Wayne State University        Detroit, Mich.              1949-50            M. Ed.       Ed. Eval
                                                                                                                               Measure
New Mexico Western Coll.  Silver City, N.M.         1956-57            9 hrs Cr.    Educ.
Univ. of New Mexico           Albuquerque, N.M.     1958-59            6 hrs Cr      Educ.
Newark State Univ.              Union, N.J.                   1960-61            6 hrs Cr.    Educ.

                                                 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Institution                             Location                  Position             Dates      Ann. Salary

Rural Schools, Wayne County Detroit, Mich    Rural Teach       1924-26     $1125.
                                                                                                      1928-29       1575.
Michigan Child Guidance    Univ. of Mich         Field Social
  Institute                              Ann Arbor, Mich    Lecturer            1937-42      2800.
Willow Run Study Project   Univ. of Mich         Director of    
                                              Ann Arbor, Mich     Project             1942-47     3900.
Detroit Institute of Tech        Detroit, Mich.         Assoc. Prof.     1947-52     5000.
                                                                              of Sociology
New Mexico Commission     Santa Fe                 Exec. Secret     1953-55      7200.
  on Youth                              New Mexico          Lecturer Soc
Belen Public Schools             Belen, N.M.           Director of        1956-59     6300.
                                                                              Guidance
Freehold Intermediate           Freehold,                Teacher-Guid.   1961-62     7200.
  School                                  New Jersey              Counselor 

Note 1:     In addition toi above professional experiences taught courses at
                 college level in the following: 
                        Deliquency - taught at St. Michael's College, Santa Fe,
                           New Mexico, 1954
                         Guidance - taught (extension) through Western State College,
                            Silver City, New Mexico, 1958

Note 2:     The above represents approximately 25 years of experience in
                    Education. 

                                                       PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH

Publications:
1- (Book)   Willow Run, by Lowell J. Carr and James E. Stermeer, pub. Harper
                      Bros., New Your, N.Y., 1952.
2- (Article)  "Dynamics of a Production Area". James E. Stermer pub.
                      Religious Education  and Religious Digest, Oct 1942.
 3-                 Unpublished manuscript, quoted in Deliquency Control,  by
                      L. J. Carr, Harper Bros., New York, 1942 and 1952 editons.
                      Graph showing the statistical correlation of the rate of
                      deliquency per thousand and the rate of employment per
                      thousand in Wayne County, Michigan.  This graph represented
                      the analysis of 34,000 deliquent complaints covering a
                      15 year period in time.
4- (Book)     Manual for Juvenile Courty Probation Officers, by James E.
                      Stermer and Harold Rosemont, pub. Wayne County Juvenile Court,
                      Detroit Mich., 1936.  This book was used as a text at the
                      University of Michigan and Wayne State University in the
                      training of probation officers.
5- (Book)     New Mexico Commission of Youth Report to the Governor,
                      220 pages.  Pub. by The New Mexico Commission on Youth,
                      Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1955.  This report included the Juvenile
                      Code which was enacted into law in 1955.
6 -                  The Study of the Statistical Reliability of a Test of
                      Knowledge of Intergroup Relations, a Master of Education Thesis,
                      James E. Stermer, submitted to the Graduate Council of
                      Wawyne State University, Detroit, Michigan, 1950

Research:  All research resulted in above publications.

36 Willow Run published

     In 1942, the Willow Run Study Project started . It was started with the question how does the war, the building of the bomber plant, the change in family routines, and living arrangements affect juveniles and their families? James Edson Stermer was Director. At the end of the study a book was written recording answers to these and many more questions. It was titled Willow Run: a Study of Industrialization and Cultural Inadequacy by Lowell Juilliard Carr and James Edson Stermer.
     The book starts with the premise that humans are often inadequately prepared when confronted with new situations. The ideal solution would be to plan ahead – holding alternatives in event we need other ways to precede -- before we start to remedy a situation. Instead we muddle through -- and only learn after by recognizing and recording the experience of what works and what makes matters worse.
     The Willow Run Project was conducted under the auspice of the University of Michigan. Both Lowell Juilliard Carr and James Edson Stermer took jobs at the bomber plant. They both took turns living in the dormitories so they would have a personal account of the experience. It was war time, they both took turns working on the production line to collect data of the experience.
     Some students interviewed residents and workers of the plant. This way they had a wider range of data. The facts and personal reports were recorded.
     A few of the questions were:
     How does a rural district that has 2,490 people living in it grow to 42,331 residents?
     How do the original residents feel about new people coming in?
     How are the people housed? What kind of a house do people live in?
     How does a person sleep during the day when they work on the third shift where does the baby 
             play on the space on the floor next to the bed?
      How does the stove get fixed when it breaks down and no one is available to fix it or nor has any
             parts to fix it?
      How can you be sure you will wash clothes in warm water?
      Where do you dry clothes on a wet day when you live in a one room trailer?
      Where do the children go to school?
      How do you manage your electrical appliances if you are limited to a 10amp fuse in a locked box
             for electrical service?

     Working on the assembly line was recorded as was life in the dormitory. The constant coming and going of people in the hall ways made it difficult to sleep no matter what shift you worked on. The walls were paper thin and the temperature often uncomfortable. All this information was documented. It reads like a biography of a moment in the history of the Second World War.
     Today, August 2010 the book is still being used as a textbook as it uses scientific techniques of looking a problem. These are still a valid method of examining changes in a new situation. It is a useful tool for teaching students how to look at life and extract data with a scientific eye.
     When I last borrowed the book from the college lending system, 514 colleges and universities of the United States still have the book available to students in libraries spread across the United States. Evidence on the web showed it is being used in China and India. While it is out of print it can still be purchased on line.

33 Stermer looks at Juvenile Delinquency Problem

33 Stermer looks at Juvenile Delinquency Problem

     James Stermer wrote a Manual for Juvenile Court officers of the State of Michigan- with Harold H. Rosemont. There was an introductory note written by Lowell Juilliard Carr. Carr was Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan at this time. As a Probation Officer with extensive experience in the area of juvenile delinquency, Jim Stermer took a deeper look at problems in the state.
      He was hired by the Michigan Child Guidance, at the University of Michigan as Field Sociology Lecturer. He then wrote recommendations to control delinquency through out the state. He used Hollerith cards to record the data of the delinquency statistics of Wayne County Juvenile Court. He was ahead of his time in using the Hollerith cards to secure the information. The First Comprehensive Report covering November 1, 1937 to December 1, 1940 was given to the Governor of Michigan Murray D. Van Wagoner. It was titled "Defense Begins at Home" based on Jim’s data.

      In the meantime, Jim and Dolores bought an old Victorian house on Pontiac Trail in Ann Arbor. They rented the two and a half acres located next to it for a garden. The house was located at the top of the hill with Taylor Road being between the house and the North side Elementary School property. Dad having no experience in woodworking or carpentry hired an older, retired carpenter to guide him through the steps of building walls, moving stairwells and how to plaster a wood lathe wall. Mr. Smith was a source of inspiration. He convinced Jim he could make the house a treasure. We lived in the house while all the cutting, plastering and changing was done. Mr. Smith ended each day by sweeping before he left the job. This really impressed my parents. He said nothing was too small to take pride in.

     People were preparing for war. We like our neighbors had a Victory Garden. A book called "Five Acres and Independence" was in vogue with my parents and other young professors at the University. Clark Tibbitts bought a farm down the road with an orchard. My parents convinced the family that chicks could be ordered and grown in cages in the basement till time to let them roam the orchard for bugs. The 100 chicks arrived in cardboard boxes one spring day. Dad had built numerous cages sitting about 3 feet off the floor. It is a good thing. Just when the chicks arrived, the heavens opened up and we had the wettest spring in 100 years. We made walkways on blocks. The chicks survived without getting wet but we a smelly basement for a long time. For the next couple of years we would pick a night each week to walk the mile up the road to get a dozen eggs.

     Every so often we would have our meat.  That way we did not have to use our ration stamps for a meal. Chicken came from the Tibbitts. Rabbits came from our cages. We raised them. The McHenry family with 5 kids a neighbor down the street also raised rabbits. The two fathers would trade rabbits - to kill the other family's rabbit and then give them back. Neither wanted to kill their own animals. Killing was the sad part of eating meat. It put things in perspective. We became sensitive. Eating meat became a decision.

       We saved cans, bottles and dress patterns. Metal was for the "war effort". We took the tops and bottoms off the cans and squashed them flat.   Bottles were reused for canning or returned to the manufacturer. Paper dress that mom had used for clothes patterns we out grew were used when we could not get a catalogue for use in the bathroom as toilet paper.  The patterns were much more comfortable.

      Mom also spent long hot summer evenings canning and processing the vegetables from the garden after her days at work at the office as a secretary at a lawyer’s office in Ann Arbor. 

32 Stermer Returns

     James Stermer returned from his latest trip in the Fall of 1929. The prospecting he had done in Montana was a bust when he could not sell the mineral rights to the claims. He had to think of something else to do.
     It was difficult to find a job as the Depression hit shortly after his return. Detroit as the rest of the nation was in financial stress. Based on his past experience of teaching he looked at the County as a source of a job. Besides the County paid its employees in script that was as good a cash. Jim, as he now decided to be called, got a job as a Juvenile Probation Officer based on his past experience as a teacher in 1924-27.
     He also met Dolores, who was the court stenographer. They used to tease how them met in junevile court. They were married one year after they met.

31 Gus Bremer wrote to James

Letter from Gus Bremer
Walker Arizona,
Feb 8, 1930

Dear friend Jim,

Hello you old sidewinder. I have been thinking of writing for a long time, but left my baggage in Butte with your humble address enclosed so I was compelled to keep mum.

Just received my things yesterday, so here is the result. I had quite a time after I left you in Sheridan. Landed in Butte with half the sails set. But as the squall increased of soon was sailing before the wind with everything set.

Well as you well know any blow will blow over. So when I got my bearings, I went to Yellowstone Park and went to work on a government highway. Got a job as a stone mason building culverts at 80cents per hour. So I done fairly well.

From there I dropped down into Idaho and took in the spared harvest. Then I got a silly notion, although I should call it crazy, to panhandle on the highway down to Arizona. Everything went fine until I got to Las Vegas, New Mexico. From there all through Southern New Mexico I had to hike - on account of every highway bridge being washed out.

Well after any amount of hardship, I finally got to Phoenix. From there I come out here to Walker, only 15 miles.

Have been here since 1st December. Got a contract on a drift on the 12 hundred level of the Sheldon Mine and making good. Still got 300 feet to go. That will keep me until the middle of the year then I am heading north again.

Will do some prospecting for placement gold between Butte and Helena. Feel it in my bones it will pan out alright.

The Famous Buck Creek diggings we were working in at Sheridan closed down owing 3500 dollars to the store - besides not paying the wages to the old timers. Oh! Faithful. I love you got your wages in hardware.

Well Jim how is tricks? So the kids behaving? Don’t be too hard boiled with them. Remember you was a kid once. Ha, ha, ha.

Whenever convenient sit down and write me a long letter and let me know you future intentions.

Yours as ever, Gus Bremer Address: Walker Arizona via Prescott

30 Assay from Detroit showing chromic Oxide

The reports from the testing arrived. There was ore! But look . . .






This is the copy of the makeup of the ore samples. Note the date on the second report.

November is when the stock market fell and the big auto companies did not want information about chrome supplies. This cut the need. Jim's trip was in vain.

29 Assaying the Ore in Butte

These are copies of the assay information

As you can see this was done in Butte

August 2-, 1929

      Left Horse Creek at 9AM. Went to Sheridon to mail and ore and etc. home. Took train to White Hall. Walked from White Hall to Jefferson Glade, Mont.

August 3, 1929
     Slept all night under stars. Was picked by two young fellows I had met before. We hooked up plan to go to Kansas City Mo together. Camping tonight in Yellowstone Park.

August 4, 1929
     Camped all night of 8-3-29 at Mammoth Camp Park. Went around park drive.  Took in all the sights. It was so cold. I felt just about frozen. I walked down the camp trail to the river at the foot of the lower falls. We will be camping tonight at Fishing Bridge Camp. Had to rent a cottage because of the rain. I am the chief cook of the outfit and we don’t starve by a long way.

This is the last entry in the log book. Jim did get back to Detroit.

28 James Edson Stermer in Horse Creek Gulch with Prospectors, 14 claims

James Stermer in Horse Creek Gulch now with Angus Reed and Bob Crosier

Log Book:

July 18, 1929
     Am here in Horse Creek Gulch in a prospectors cabin with Angus Reed and Bob Crosier. Reed is 70 years old and Crosier 68. They are staking out claims for chrome iron ore. I will be with them for a while. Bob is ill and just keeping the shack.

July 19, 1929
     Arose at 5:30 AM had breakfast, then climbed 2 miles farther up the gulch to another prospectors cabin here. We could use a forge to sharpen our picks and draft bar. Then we returned to the shack made dinner. After dinner we finished the work on one of the claims. We had a hard job getting the hay to release several rocks. Worked until 6:20 p.m. A long day! After working we had to climb a mile up the gulch to the shack, then cook supper. It is a hard life let me tell you.

July 20, 1929
       I had a little excitement today. Killed a rattler as we went down to the diggings.  Bob is a pretty sick man. Worked in the shade today for a change and it was a pleasure compared to being in the sun.

July 7-21-29
     I worked only half day because it was so hot this afternoon. Wrote letters to folks back home this afternoon to take up time.

July 22, 1929
     Chained off a claim this morning. After dinner I walked to Sheridan. 7 miles for food and supplies. Had to pack them on my back on my return. Carried about 30 or 40 pounds of goods. Had 5 dozen eggs in the pack and not an egg was broken. Bob certainly did appreciate my going. Collected specimens to be sent back home.

July 23, 1929
     Tired. I am just about dead tonight. We chained another claim today and put out eight stakes. This afternoon we collected some specimens from the chloral lode. I packed it across the hills to a cache. It just about broke my back to carry it. It is the finest ore I have seen so far.

July 24, 1929
     Just about finished the work on another claim. Hunt dig down to the chrome.  Tomorrow. My hands are becoming heavily calloused from handling that muck stick and pick; Bob is feeling better and was up with me.

July 25, 1929
       Talked over property values and specifications with Angus and Bob this afternoon. Have a good idea as to what stuff is like. I doubt if it is worth a million though it is a big proposition to put across at that price.

July 26, 1929
       We have 13 claims done to date. By the time I leave we should have the other one discovered and the work done. I will try to sell 14 claims in all. This afternoon we chained off one and prospected another but found the chrome at the surface to be too poor in chrome oxide.

July 27, 1929
      Hiked down to Sheridan for food and mail. Had shoes resoled so I will good footing when I start home. Enjoyed gossiping with the loafers for a while but it gets you no where.

July 28, 1929
       Just about finished the last hole in the group of 14 at Horse Creek Gulch. Ran into hard rock as we would be done. This evening I panned out some sample ore and discovered silver in them. I now know the fundamentals of prospecting.

July 29, 1929
Have completed the work on 14 claims on Horse Creek Gulch. Panned samples for iron this afternoon had a few surprises.

July 30, 1929
        Drew map of surrounding country and claims.

July 31, 1929
       Finished maps and washed clothes in preparation for leaving Horse Creek. It rained today and I enjoyed every minute of it.

August 1, 1929
       Washed up rest of clothes, laid around all day resting, Made flap jacks this morning.

27 Time to move on

Gravity moves the water when you build the flume.

Log book shows:

July 12, 1929
     Had to bust rocks and roll them today, to work like hell, to make the flume.  Madden (our old timer) was sweeping the bedrock with the giant scooper. He knows how to use it better than anyone else on the job.

July 13, 1929
     Blew up this afternoon on the job. Told the Boss to give me my time. I cannot stand having a man make an ass of me before a crowd of fellow workers. I must say that I learned a great deal while working here and really hate to leave because I now must forgo the privilege of pocket prospecting with Gus.

July 14, 1929
     Today being Sunday it certainly was idle setting around doing nothing. Not working, I took my new camera and walked up to the diggings and took a series of pictures of the place. Spent the rest of the day setting around the town talking to some old loafers. One old German is really interesting. He had a very unusual (sapphire) and a moss agate at least two and a half inches long. I enjoyed doing nothing at that for a change.

July 15, 1929
     It being Monday, I must look for something to do. Landed a job today stacking hay. Although I have never been on the top of a haystack. I must try to do the work. It can be no harder than rolling rock.

July 16, 1929
Got up and ready to go to work at 5:30 AM, went down to breakfast and was
told there would be no work to do until the afternoon. Wrote during the morning to kill the time. Had an excellent dinner of chicken at a small boarding house. After going to the field in the afternoon, I was set to moving.
     It was quite an experience having never been on a mover before. Moved all afternoon until 5:30 PM, returning to the ranch house we put the horses away. Then went to supper. After eating, we returned to the barn to care for the horses. Each man cared for his own team. Then we had to grind the scythe bar for the mowing machine. In other words - finish work at 9PM.
     The wage for putting in so many hours of one’s time is $3.00 per day. I cannot afford to put so much time in on a job and get so little sleep. I earned enough money anyway to keep me until payday.
     The place I had gone to work at is run by a family of sisters. The Rayman Family. In the olden days they had a vast amount of wealth but since the death of the father, who had accumulated all the money, it had slipped away. The sisters now try to manage affairs doing a fair job for women, but the money slips away.

July 17, 1929
     Received specimen of gold in quartz from a garage mechanic. Walter M. Hill the Specimen Mr. Hill gave me came from Noblesville Mining district 8 miles north of Sheridan up Wisconsin Creek. Just received mail from home it certainly does grip one to reestablish contact with loved ones. Am glad everything is all right as I was quite worried. I went through the Buckeye Mine: Lead, copper, silver and gold. Picked up some specimens. Walked through the Buckeye (Vigilante) mine this morning, climbed over the hills looking for specimens.

26 James Edson Stermer Prospecting in Montana

From Log book:

July 6, 1929
     Went prospecting with Gus Bremer tonight after work. We will go prospecting for a pocket in the future. Gus is an American born Swede and a real man. It is a compliment to be taken into the confidence of an old prospector like him. We circled the hills and found a likely spot to look for a pocket.

     Look carefully to see Gus standing among the weeds on the left side of the photo

July 7, 1929
     Have been here exactly two weeks today. And a most miserable day it was. Rain and cold all the time. It snowed up on the mountain tops. They look most beautiful in their white blanket glistening in the light of a July sun. It is so cold that we had to have a fire in the stove to make the bunk house comfortable.

July 8, 1929
     Talk about weary. We certainly did have to work today. We worked overtime tonight in moving the granite forward and it was hard labor. The water is beginning to give out. Work will last about three more weeks.

July 9, 1929
     The weather looked so stormy this evening that we could not go prospecting. But there will be many more nights to go prospecting. Received a letter from Florence today. She realizes that I have gone out of her life as a lover.

July 10, 1929
     We are sweeping the bed rock now. Have cleared quite a space. We must pick up every small stone. Smashed my finger today. Scotty, the graveyard shift foreman asked me if I had his characteristic in the book I have in my mind all I wish to know about him. Went pocket prospecting this evening. Did not find even a color. We climbed over the hills. I carried the pail of water.

July 11, 1929
Gus was too tired to go climbing over the hills tonight to go pocket hunting. We had to work hard all day chopping down trees, etc.

25 Rock Pile and Montana Mining Company

The Rock Pile:

The rock had to be moved by hand. It took a long time and was hot hard work.

Lived in these cabins when working for Montana Mining Company.

From Log book:

June 20, 1929
     Saw hot mud shapes spring out of earth outside of Yellowstone Park. This is marvelous to see Life has adapted itself to an environment of acid and heat and living in the hot springs. Had to walk for about 7 miles this morning amid the most fascinating formations south of Worland. Landed in Cody.

June 21, 1929
     Arrived in Yellowstone Park East Entrance at 2PM. Entered the park on foot. Had to walk through a rain for 2 miles before I arrived. Still have 27 miles to go before I reach the hotel. R. R. Wisdom. Ranger East Entrance, Yellowstone Park, Wyo.

June 22, 1929
     Leaving Yellowstone for Butte to go to work. Have been greatly disappointed because I was unable to get a job. I am leaving with W.B. Meyers. Mr. Meyer picked me up while in the park. Stopped all night with him, in the Fish Bridge Camp. Circles the park (North) with him and am now going to Butte with him. Mr. W. B. Meyers Harrah, Wash Yahoo Valley Box 85

 June 23, 1929
     Worked half a day. Walked from Sherri Danna, Montana where I stayed all night with Meyers. Walked four and a half miles up into the mountains to the Sara cure and Montana Mining Company. This is a pacer mine for gold. I started to work today (Sunday) at about 11:30 AM Work stats at 7am and goes to 3pm.
     My particular work at the present is rolling boulders away from the water stream. Some of those boulders weigh into the tons. Twice today, I had a boulder fall on my foot. My big toe,- after removing my shoe was all black and blue. It is a good thing I only had to work a half day as I would not have been able to sand it. As I have not been getting good food here as of late.

     One cannot travel for 1800 miles on the little money I had - $17.00 altogether from the time I left Chicago until I reached this mining Company. I don’t know how long I will last on the job but I am going to stick here (if I can) until I get me a grub stake.
     My shoes have worn out, my pants are torn. I need a haircut and a set of razor blades so really I am quite down, but not out. That is true. I am out of cash but not of grit. If I can just hang on to this job for a week, I will be back financially. Then a few weeks worth of work would put me on the road to some place else.

     It is remarkable the difference in the psychic state. When on the road and broke, there are wishes to help, giving makes no difference. First get away from the place the he is. When he gets to a new place, it is again a desire to move on. Now that I have a place, I feel content (for the time being) and there is no anxiety in regards to a place to eat or sleep.
     The fact that we accumulated something (in material wealth) makes cowards of us because we fear to lose it. The fact that we have nothing and no place to stay also makes us equal cowards so in the end as all things in this life seem to be paradoxes what is the gain for the peace of the soul either way. One, we fear to lose, the other we fear because we have not.

June 24, 1929
     Worked all day wrestling rocks in the pit. Again smashed my great toe. Today after work I had to relieve the blood from under the nail, with my knife. I wore out one pair of leather gloves today. Owe the company $1.15 for a shirt and $6.00 for a pair of shoes.

June 25, 1929
     Wrestled rocks all day. The day was quite easy. The hoist broke down twice giving us plenty of time to stand around and rest. We, on the day shift, were quite lucky as is started to rain just as we quit for the day.

June 26, 1929
     We certainly did some big ones today but I didn’t kill myself by any means. If I keep this up I will get as bushy as any of them. The work is not as hard as some people would like to make out. I am glad I had previous training as to hard labor.

June 27, 1929
     We are getting down pretty close to bed rock and the wrestling of the boulders becomes harder and harder. As long as there is a steep grade to roll the rocks down it isn’t such a great task. But as one works on a level, the rocks become dead weight. One good thing about being here, I am given a chance to wash all my clothes up. They certainly did need washing. I will at least be clean when I leave.

June 28, 1929
     The work is beginning to stiffen me up quite a bit, but it will do me good. I admit I will not try to roll as large a stone as some of the other fellows do. But I figure this way. If you are willing to strain yourself for someone else go to it. I went beyond a certain point. I am now out of debt and ahead of the game.

     Shoes $6.00, Shirt $1.15, Gloves $.40, glove $.25 a total of $7.80 that I owe the company. I have worked 5 ½ days for a total of $22.00

June 29, 1929
     Today I was initiated to the art of handling the muck stick as we are able to keep up with the rest of them. We had to reset the “Gin Pole” and make two “dead men’ when one sees how these fellows place heavy objects one is surprised at their knowledge of engineering principles. Every man knows something better than someone else.

June 30, 1929
     Today I have completed over 7 days. A weeks work. In this place they do not lay off on Sunday. The fact is they work day and night, rain or shine. The water must be utilized as long as it will last. It won’t be long now before the snow has all melted and the water supply runs drys up.

     The Boss contrived a basket which looks something like a dustpan. We fill it, instead of the next pile. It works better. By the end of this pay period, I should receive after deducting my expenses $23.45 (12.5 hours work at $.50 per hour and deduct 7.80 for shoes shirt and gloves)

July 1, 1929
     Today I had my camera stolen. Unless one really knows who stole the article, he cannot make an accusation unless he absolutely knows who took the article. About the only thing for me to do is go to work for three days to earn the price of another one. Such is the experience.

July 2, 1929
     Four of the old fellows left today. We have four new ones in their stead. As soon
as these fellows get a weeks work in they will leave. It is very interesting to live with these migratory workers. $10.00 is a great amount of money and is considered a stake. One quickly falls into the swing of working a week then moving on until the money is gone.

July 3, 1929
Got my first pay today. The boss had made a mistake of $4.00. It didn’t take me long to tell him about it. In the evening we went to town. That is my crew partners Gus and Tom and I did. We all got about half liquored up on beer. Walked home from town after 10:00 o’clock. Enjoyed the walk very much.

July 4, 1929
     Sewed on a pair of gloves all day so that the seams will not let go. Was going to rivet a rubber facing on them but the rivets were no good. The rest of the fellows slept all day. We didn’t have to work rolling boulders as the engine on the hoist had to be repaired.

July 5, 1929
     Had quite an easy shift of it today, owing to the breakdowns and accidents. I certainly did appreciate it because I have had but little sleep the last 2 nights. Went to see it. I enjoyed the picture very much though it really had a terrible meaning to the one who thinks the mildest of the horrors only were shown.

22 New Horse to Ride May 31, 1929

Continuation of trip from Detroit with new horse - Clara.

May 31, 1929
     Replacing Cap with Clara was something not included in my plans for this trip. Riding on paved roads verses soft dirt works hardship on horses hoofs. Clara has had more experience and is used to pavement so I believe she will hold up better than Cap. Hope she works out for entire trip to Glacier National Park.
     Replacing a horse and having her shod involves costs. More than I had anticipated. So I had to look for a way to supplement my finances. When I was in Branson I discovered I have a flair for reciting selections in front of an audience. Many little towns have programs in the evenings with passing-by entertainers. This gives an opportunity to pass the hat and helps my finances. I will keep this in mind in the future

6-1-29
     Mr. August Von Hecks, RR. #2 Box 99, South Bend, Ind.
L. R. Luther, New Carlisle, Ind.  Clara is carrying me right along. Have about 85 more miles to go. She is a little sore but I suppose she will get over that. I don’t push her like I did Cap by any means. Stopped at Von Hecks the night of the 5-31-29. He is from New Jersey. I was well cared for, though Clara had quite a hard time of it.
     Am staying at a farmers by the name of Irvine Redlander. Mr. Redlander gave me a place to stable Clara for a day in town. Clara began to get lame from the hard roadway. June 1 being Saturday, Mr. Redlander asked me to go to the gleaner hall where he runs the dance floor. I danced with the dancers and they certainly were a jumping lot. I recited some selections and then passed the hat among the crowd. I picked up $2.30. Must work this stunt as often as I can. Was offered a job for a week. I think it would be best if I head straight for Chicago. Must get Clara shod tomorrow with rubber pads then push on. Mr. Redlander’s address: Irvin Redlander, Route 2, Box 24. Rolling Prairie, Ind.

6-3-29
     Had Clara shod with rubber pads at La Porto, Ind. Mr. Carl Ulrich, 510 Monroe
St. La Porte, Ind. Mr. Ulrich is the best blacksmith I have ever seen so far. I learned more watching him than I have from any other.

6-4-29
     Stayed the night of June 3rd at Mr. Carson’s of all the shiftless, he and his wife were the laziest I have ever seen. Everything was dirty within the house and all kinds of junk lay scattered about the grounds. Manure filled the barn and barnyard. Slept in the barn as it was very cold and damp. The weather for the last few days has been very disagreeable cold and damp. My distance to Chicago is rapidly shortening and I am wondering just what I will do when I get there. Clara is developing a stipple in her right rear leg and I dare not run her otherwise she is somewhat improved. She now has a cold as well as myself.
     I passed through Valparaiso today for the second time. In 1927, February, I stopped all night in this town when I hitchhiked from Kentucky. This time I saw it with different eyes. One’s appreciation of things even changed with this experience.

17 Brothers start trip from Detroit to New Orleans

                                     17 Brothers start trip from Detroit to New Orleans

                             17 Brothers start trip from Detroit to New Orleans

The Log
Line: Stermer
Captain: James Stermer
Crew: John Stermer
Departure: 1:00 p.m. Belle Ile Michigan June 20 1928

June 20, 1928     
     Wyandotte, Michigan. Mrs. Lester Piper time 7:30 PM These three loafers think they going to be some roaming Romeos, sailing the high seas.                    

June 21, 1928      
     River Basin Leaving Wyandotte. The wind is favorable for a while. Hoisting the  sailes we skimmed along in luxurious ease passing the isle of Gross Isle. A calm befell us, so we had  to paddle the rest of the day across a mirrored lake. We arrived at the mouth of River Basin first.  A hard Southeast wind began to spring up.

June 22, 1928 
       We arrived in Toledo after having crossed a rough foggy lake early in the morning  and a becalmed one later in the A.M. While in Toledo, we had our pictures taken  by the News and gave a story to a cub reporter. We paddled in the afternoon up  the Maumee to a grove outside the town of Maumee. We camped for the night.   Found two leaks to repair in the boat.
                               
June 23, 1928       
     Grand Rapids. We left Maumee after repairing the leaks in the canoe. We moved the boat portaged to the old canal. This canal was at least eighty feet above the river.  It carried us past the rapids which would have made the river impassable had we gone that way. At 1:00 PM, three miles east of Waterville, we were caught in rain. We were drenched. We dried out in a section house, by a railroad.

Later, we paddled on until 11:00 o’clock at night.  Then we camped in a cottage three miles from Grand Rapids for the night. (Cottage called The Castle.")

June 24, 1928       
     Castle Napoleon. Left The Castle in a clean, brisk morning. Arriving at Grand Rapids we portaged around the locks. Going on up the canal, portaged around the locks. We entered the Maumee River above the dam and rapids. The city of Napoleon became the wil-o-the-wisp because whenever we are asked the answer was always “six miles.” We reached Napoleon at 4:30PM We camped in a deserted house. We shipped the boat from this point to Waverly on the Scrota by way of DTol.                                             
June 25, 1928       
     Napoleon, Ohio “We hope you have great pleasure and good luck on your long  journey.” D2 and JRL Frank Barts, agent. Entry of person met.

       “One by one in the infinite meadows of Heaven, Blossomed the lively stars,   the for-get-me-not of the angels.   Florence C. Schmeder, Napoleon, Ohio. Entry                              
      Northwest News reporter Mike Reichert, Napoleon interviewed us.
      Kenneth W. James North Baltimore Truck Driver. “Don’t forget Lentogroney  Finley”.
      Stayed all night in the town of Finely. It was second time I had been in the place.A year and a half ago I had been here. I had never dreamed that I would pass through it again. It is like the rest of the small dreamy Ohio towns.

June 26, 1928 

      Walked out of Finley. Was picked up and carried to Arlington. We walked from  Arlington to within 5 miles of Kentair. Here we were caught in a shower. Stopped on farmer’s porch until the rain stopped. As soon as we hit the highway again old plug from Lexington News picked us up. He drove out of his way to get us into Columbus.

           It being 4:30 we would not make any good connection on the highway at this hour we decided to take the Interstate to Chillicothe. From this point we took a bus to Waverly. Waverly is a half dead town that afforded us a place to sleep. We bunked on a truck bed in a garage near the railroad station.                        

                                             
June 27, 1928          

       Waverly Ohio. “Delivered the boys their canoe at 9:00 AM after sealing one end  of it with shellac. They borrowed one of our twins to haul it down to Crooked Creek so they can float into the Scioto. They might make it. The Scioto is as much as the Creek is - very high at present. Wish them all the luck in the world. Know they will make it. Enjoy the trip. Wishing them well.” D. Barr, Waverly, Ohio

June 28, 1928           
       Portsmouth, Ohio. “James and I went fishing at the Eastern Bridge this morning. We met two gentlemen on a canoe trip from Detroit to New Orleans”.   C E. Maritz, Portsmouth, Ohio 1413 Bld. Friendship, Ohio

June 29, 1928           
        Roy Swearinger, “I met these two men in the early morning of June 29 enroute from Detroit to New Orleans at Dam 32 on the Ohio River."                            
     “These two gentlemen was here on June 29 1928 on their way to New Orleans.” Perry E. Bennett, Lockmaster Dam 33 Ohio River.     “I should think this would be a pretty hard bed but I hope you will have a nights rest.” William G. Craft                                           “
                                     
June 29, 1928            
     Slept in warehouse on the concrete floor. Dam 33 Ohio River, morning under  P. E. Bennett, Lockmaster Maysville KY.
June 30, 1928           
     H. A. Dice Maysville, KY “One Hell of a trip.”  Stanley Hysell, engineer Second Dam 34.   ‘I be damned if I know what to think of this trip."
                                                            
July 1, 1928              
Camp Mearham, Cincinnati, OH. Routed at Mentor, KY Charles E. Lee “Glad to welcome the friends from Detroit. “Bon Voyage.” Wm. Pettit  “Arrived hale  and hearty. Cincinnati Gym basin boat club Cincinnati"
                                       
.July 1, 1928               
     Jo McMann Captian of Cincinnati Gym Boat Club “Good Luck and Happy trip”  As captain McMann says we arrived hale and hearty. But we sure did have to do some tall scratching to get here.
The Ohio at flood waters isn’t as much as I thought it would be. The current in the Scioto, it being a small river, was much greater than the current of the Ohio.
     The first day out of Portsmouth was one of hard luck for us. We had to put up a few leaks that we picked up in coming down Cripple Creek to the Scioto from Waverly. Waiting for our patches to set up, we cooked our stew consisting of cabbage, peas and tomatoes. The shellac having set we starteddown the Ohio. The jinx caught us again at about 3:00pm as it began to rain. Crossing from the Kentucky shore to some cottages on the Ohio shore,                       
      We thought we might get some shelter in a barn in the hospitable town of Friendship Ohio. We were refused the privilege of staying in a vacant barn until the rain would stop.  We went back to the canoe on the river. We paddled down a little way.  We found a small canopy which had been put up for children. Crawling under this sun shelter, we spread what canvas we had and erected the skeleton of a 3 sided waterproof structure. The slope of the bank was at such an angle that water came rushing from higher up on the bank and onto the river. The rain kept up all the afternoon and on through the entire night.
     Dawn found us dogged tired but determined to move on. At the first break of the storm we started down the river. We were caught by another shower. The water came down in torrents, so much so, that we could not see either bank. At last we found shelter in a Kentucky barn. The night of the 29th we
stopped at lock UNB Dam 33. At this lock we slept on the concrete floor of the warehouse. We discovered when we went to get in the boat in the morning, that the river had raised so fast it about covered our canvas. The Ohio ranges from two feet deep to 56 and over during flood periods.

    Leaving Dam 33 we stopped at Maysville to get breakfast before making the days leap. In the afternoon, we noticed a group of boys swimming in the river. Thinking they were country boys we went over. This happened to be a YMCA camp for boys of Cincinnati.   Mr. Lee, the Physical Director, after finding out that I had engaged in the same work, invited us to stay for the night.        Entry July 1 1928 Ed Burdick, Captain of Jimmage III New Port Ken. “Wish I was going along with you River Rats !! But you go ahead its your choice” Madison Ave., Covington, Ky.     The above, Edgar Burdick, certainly is a jolly fellow and has a heart as good as gold. He is the owner, captain and holder of the houseboat “Jimmage” We are flopping in the “Jimmage” for tonight. His brother Joe just drove in from Detroit. Edgar is also from Detroit.
                                                                                

                                          

16 Copy of The 1928 Teacher Contract

                                                         
                                               Copy of The 1928 Teacher Contract
This was found in the black box:
                                                                         .
      This is a copy of the Teacher contract James got on June 17th 1928.  He was paid $10.00 a month for janitorial services and $150.00 a month for services as a teacher.
     But what do you do with a summer? Read the next blog.

15 James Edson Stermer, The Classroom Teacher

The Classroom Teacher

        I discovered a black box that belonged to my Dad. I had not paid attention to this for years. As I opened it, I found it contained many things I had never seen. This is one of them.
        This is a photo of Dad, James, when he returned from his desert walk. He was the first member of his family to go beyond the 3rd grade. His dream was to become a doctor. He was taking college classes as well as teaching swimming to earn money to pay for his education. He got a chlorine burn on his lungs from teaching in an enclosed pool that had too much chlorine in the water.  It made him ill.  Doctors told him he would not survive - if he did not move to the Southwest. So he decided he had to do what was best for him.
       At the completion of his trek, he proved to himself he was healthy.
      Since he had gotten certified to teach 2nd and 3rd grade before his journey, he got a job after he returned as a substitute classroom teacher. He liked the idea he could work during the school year and do other things during the summers.

14 Photo from Rattlesnake Rattle

14 Photo from Rattlesnake Rattle

Rattle from snake Jim killed in the Grand Canyon in 1927 as covered in previous blog chapter.

12 Trip through the Grand Canyon by James Edson Stermer

11 Trip through the Grand Canyon by James Edson Stermer

"My trip through The Grand Canyon"
By
J. E. Stermer written about 1928

As I looked across the broad expanse of the Grand Canyon reason gave way to the more primitive forces with in – the emotions. Man is face to face with something foreign to anything he has ever experienced, there is nothing familiar to which he can cling. While looking across this panorama of peaks and towers, pinnacles and spires, castles and minarets of glowing colors and high lights, shadows and clouds blended by a blue haze, and over all, silence, I stood awed, drinking all this beauty into my soul.

I noticed that people become as lost children. Women weep and men mutter curses or prayers. I found, if you do neither you completely lose yourself. Most people are afraid to lose themselves, by tears and prayers they retain their identity and get back to normal. If you are not afraid, continue to drink what is in front of you. Your personality will be annihilated. There is no thought; there is a nothingness within the mind. All memories are banished, ambitions forgotten; there is a settling down, a becoming part of this, a something which feels the vibrations of colors; the tranquility of the blue, the quickening of the yellow, the stimulation of the red, the weirdness of the green, the soberness of the brown, and the supreme reverence of the purple.

These, to me seemed to be in broad bands, as if they were great chords of music seen with the soul in perfect union. Eternities lived in a moment. Then the reality of the present begins to take form: a consciousness that the blue is a turquoise sky meeting the violet north rim many miles away. The quickening yellows are the capping of the pinnacles and peaks towering from the bottom.

Going down into this gash, beneath the ivory are belts of brick red streaked with dirty yellow ribbons resting upon a layer of pale green sandstone hundreds of feet thick. This green stone had been eroded so that great fans of talus spread over reddish brown rock setting on a somber granite.

Down below, at the edge of a muddy yellow green flat, the Tonto Plateau, can be seen - the Colorado river gorge. If your eye follows the shadow of this ravine, far to the northwest is what appears to be a small silver thread winding its way through the granite walls. From the El Tovar Hotel on the rim to the river it is over twelve miles. After the brown in the Canyon’s beauty has sobered the mind, the most natural impulse is to see what it would be like looking up from the bottom. There are two ways of satisfying this urge, either going down on mule-back or walking.  Not having much money I walked.

With only a canteen of water, I left the hotel at nine-thirty in the morning, following the Bright Angel Trail down. I had descended only a thousand feet. Already I felt tired. I found a rake used to keep the trail in condition. I broke off the head, and the handle was as good as a Weiss mountaineer’s walking staff. Farther down the trail I came to a clump of cottonwood trees growing about the ruins of the old Half-Way House which in former days had been a saloon. Water is piped to this place from springs far up on the rock faces.

Here I met a “desert rat” who took me about. Telling me its history. He showed me the drift of a deserted mine hidden back of some brush. According to the “Rat”, it had yielded a low grade of copper, silver, and gold ore. From here on and for several miles the trail leads over the Tonto Plateau which is covered with pale green sandstone shale. It forks at the base of a high wall of red rock. One prong, the Bright Angel Train goes directly to the river. The other, the Tonto runs across this table round a granite gorge, then over the Turtle Head and finally joins the Kaibab which ends at the suspension bridge.

If you think this descent was an easy eleven mile jaunt you are badly mistaken. When I left it was a cool bracing autumnal morning, it had frosted during the night. As I dropped into this chasm it became hotter and hotter; at the bottom it was worse than a sultry day in July. I began to get light-headed from the heat. My ears began to buzz. I knew enough to make my head and hat wet, to pour water from my canteen on to my chest, shirt, and back; to lie and rest while I watched a rattlesnake wiggle away from my couch, -- a gigantic rock. The lightness having left my head, I started again, but my ears rang worse that ever.

I had to hold them shut with my hands as I walked along. It was a relief to swing into the Kaibab Trail below that plateau which had glared into my eyes and cause me to have such queer sensations. Rounding a turn, there, some two miles farther and at a drop of as many thousands of feet could be seen the Colorado.

Hurrah: I had gained sight of my goal. There was the thing that had during the countless ages cut its way through, not only one layer but all these colored layers of rock. I hurried. I was so anxious to get to the water’s edge, to put my hand in the water, to feel its force and the colored mud it uses as a tool to cut the rock. I did everything I wanted to do. I stretched out on a damp sand bar, took off my boots to bathe my feet and give them a much needed rest; lulled on the cool sands and looked into that blazing orb shedding its burning rays on me. Then I laughed. Laughed not once but many times, because I thought I had overcome so much.

It has been said, “If you want to be great, be alone”. I am alone in this, truly I was great. But how quickly my ego vanished among those towering pyramids lifting their heads from that eternity, the past, into that longer eternity, the future, how small and insignificant I became, for I represented the present. I was less to these symbols of time than the grains of sand at my feet were to the heights above me.

What had become of me? I had overcome the heat, the thirst, the fear of my own weakness. I realized how little I was. I amounted to nothing. These things looking from the ages would continue to be long after man and his words had disappeared. How little man became. How useless his desires to become famous in the eyes of others. It was terrible to lose one’s personality, to feel that everything so highly prized was a sham, to realize that the life of the individual amounts to nothing. That he is born to propagate the race – then die.

It dawned on me, if I stayed in the bottom I would lose all my preconceived ideas. It was time to leave. I pulled on my boots, refilled my canteen and left the river, I climbed up and up those zig-zagging switch-backs which never seemed to end; up through a red and brown inferno. The sun had heated the rocks all day and now the heat poured into my tired body. Sweat came out all over me. I could feel it trickle down my chest. I gasped for air. My head spun.

“Oh, God! I must rest!” Though I had only climbed two miles, I sank upon a huge square of red sandstone, flat on my back with arms and legs outspread. The fierce heated brazen sky sat like an inverted bowl on the rim. I knew I had to crawl up to it to get out. I tried to get up with what agony! Every fiber had set. Every muscle was sore and wracked with pain at the slightest move. My water was gone. I was thirsty, with five more miles to go and the rim thousands of feet above. It was enough to make one crazy. I was crazy, I was an obsession moving forward always up. The trail was only a few feet wide. “Why not step off and drop?” It would be so easy.

“No. Keep on going. You will get out some time if you keep moving, no matter how slowly. This is Life. Life is a continuous climb. It is one all must make and as we travel along we should help others.”

Rrrrrr-rr—my eyes popped out, hair on end, chills racing up and down my spine, heart pounding every muscle paralyzed, and covered with an icy ooze. The warning of a rattler coiled in the middle of the tail brought me to myself. What was I to do? I was over half way out, afraid to advance, too heartsick to turn back, to the right it was a sheer wall, and to the left a drop off – I dared not look. The dread of going back became greater than the fear of the snake. I timidly poked at it with the end of my walking staff. It struck – it coiled. Then I fought, fought until I had killed it. With vengeance I cut off the rattlers; there were ten of them. I was weak but I did get round to a point broad enough to lie down without fear.

As I lay there trying to regain composure, the last rays of the sun blazed through the canyon. Far below in back of the walls and pinnacles of the west were the richest of purples contrasting with the streaming golden luminescence flooding the towers and spires to the east bringing out every color in a new splendor. After the glorious struggles of the vanquished sun, came the shine of the stars to guide me through the mourning of the night.

Darkness crowded in with its chill and roused me from my rocky bed of ease. I had a little more than a mile to go before I came out on top. Of the last, I remember little, I walked the narrow trail along these towering cliffs, part of the time with my eyes shut, because I was so tired. I did not know I had landed on top until I stepped into a puddle of water. You will probably doubt the truth of this last statement, but if you have walked a long way, you are well-neigh exhausted, and the path is well roughened with tracks, your feet become so sensitive that they feel you are going aright.

From Yavapai Point where the Kaibab Trail begins it is four miles to the El Tovar Hotel. I walked to the hotel and arrived at ten o’clock at night. I have covered twenty-two miles in about thirteen hours on two quarts of water, with nothing to eat, passed from autumn to summer, through hell to heaven, learned that terrors may be found in beauty, and a combination of all these having a meaning for a man by making him think.