The Next Generation of Cottles Take Center Stage

Part 13 - The Next Generations of Cottles
Leland and Clara Cottle are married October 3, 1921 in Malad, Idaho and return home that same night to start their life together. They live in the two north rooms of the family home that also houses Alice Kemp Anderson Cottle and 7 other children. Not a lot of privacy in that arrangement! It is the start of the Roaring Twenties where the old is being tossed aside for the new. The motto is “more, more, more” and the economy booms. Radios become common in most households and – lo and behold – indoor plumbing is becoming standard in city homes (In the rural areas it is still the outhouse and a Sears and Roebuck Catalogue). Movie stars like Rudolph Valentino and the “it” girl Clara Bow become national icons. Sport stars abound, led by Babe Ruth and his partying life style, and are admired by millions. Automobiles, a luxury before WWI, are now a necessity. Henry Ford and his assembly lines make the Model T affordable to the masses. Probation is in force, but Speakeasies abound and alcohol is readily available. Jazz is the music of choice; women earn the right to vote and set new fashion guidelines. Gone is the rigid Victorian dress code, along with corsets and long dresses with covered arms and legs; to be replaced with Flapper dress, bare arm and a short skirt – a rather shocking change. Bankers have few regulations and stock manipulation is rampant. There is a general feeling, even among politicians, that prosperity will never end and everyone should “live like there is no tomorrow.” Now how does all this play out in Stone, Idaho? Let’s drop in and find out.
Newlyweds Leland and Clara are not wholly sweep up in the Roaring Twenties but it does inspire a feeling of optimism in the young couple and Leland decides to pursue the lifelong dream of owning his own farm. However, this does not happen overnight for the financially cautious Lee and his new bride and there are many hurdles to be crossed before this comes close to being a reality.
Leland and Clara spend their first few summers in a little cabin on a dry farm (this means no irrigation is available – they must rely on the rain to produce a crop) they purchase. It is a small farm and the income it provides is not enough to live on. To try and pay for the dry farm Leland takes all sorts of work. In the winter he freights corn the 40 miles from Malad to Stone. He makes two trips a week, starting from Stone, driving the team to Malad, loading the corn, sleeping under the wagon for a few hours and the driving back to Stone where he sells the corn to sheep ranchers in the area. He does this twice a week for six weeks. He also works at the Garland sugar beet (much more about sugar beets at a later date) factory one winter. But by far Lee’s main enterprise is posts! That’s right, fence posts. Just look about the countryside and see all those fenced fields and pastures, requiring thousands and thousands of eight foot cedar posts. Well, someone has to provide all those posts and Leland is the man. He has a good team of horses, a wagon, a saw (not a power saw, just a plain old manual push and pull type), and a propensity for hard work. He most often travels to an area called Black Pine to find the necessary trees, cuts and trims a load (by himself) and then heads back to Stone. Sometimes he sells the posts for cash, but more often than not he uses them to barter for things he needs or wants, including groceries, a bob sleigh and even their very first rocking chair. One winter he trades 800 posts for his first car, a used Model T Ford, the car is fun to drive, but in Lee’s eyes, not very practical. So before long he trades the car for horse, a cow and a pig – now he has the beginnings of farm herd. The horse he adds to the team making it easier to pull a loaded wagon, the pig produces food for winter and the cow, named Acey, is the mother of many fine heifer calves (Lee has one credo concerning calves, “never, under any conditions sell a heifer calf, but keep just one bull calf a year to butcher for meat, a second - every four years for breeding purposes and sell the rest of the young bulls to the first sucker that comes along) as Lee continues to build up his dairy herd. Leland still has only one main goal and it is always a variation of the same theme – to own and operate a successful farm/ranch operation, one that will provide for his upcoming family and even an inheritance for his yet to be born children. But how to finance such an adventure is puzzlement. He can always find work and is able to provide for the daily necessities – but his long term dream remains largely unattainable, alas life continues and it is not long (1923) before a blonde, blue eyed baby girl arrives that they name Bea.
The LDS religion plays and important part in their everyday lives so Leland and Clara feel something is missing in their marriage and in May of 1924 they decide to do something about it. And after much planning and preparation they are ready for a temple marriage. This means a 3 day trip, by horse and buggy to Logan, Utah where the nearest temple is located. Once again Uncle Sam and the Studebaker come to the rescue. He drives them to Logan, where they are married for time and all eternity (and 16 month old Bea is sealed to them), then spend the night with some friends and are back in Stone the next day. Now they feel prepared to tackle whatever life throws at them.
Leland is working both the dry land farm and also rents the home place from Alice and still doing odd jobs on the side to make ends meet. In 1925 a second baby girl arrives, they name her Alice, after her Grandmother and the family continues to grow. Then in 1927 an event takes place that puts an added twist into their lives, and once again it involves Alice Kemp Anderson Cottle. Tune in next week for the details