THE OLD SWIMMING HOLE
I grew up along the Solomon River. Yes, it was a river when I was a hoy. In those days, it you were to go straight east from Erve Getz's store in Tasco you would arrive at the old ranch house which served as headquarters for the old Currier ranch. In my time it was sort of run down and unoccupied. It was also on the banks of the Solomon. There were many trees along that part of the creek. Just across the stream directly east of the house was a deep water hole. Its water and the stream were only joined during flood. This was the old swimming hole. I am sure it was used in summer because it had a diving board. The tenant who operated that layout was a man by the name of Ed Jones. We neighbor boys considered him a bit cranky and we certainly "were not above boyish pranks. We sometimes deliberately baited him a bit and he would lecture us about trespassing. You see we all had saddle horses and I lived on adjoining land. He had a large fenced pasture next to us and we could cross that fence and ride down to the swimming hole. It was easy to ride through the draws and arrive unseen. Then we would discard overalls, shirts, socks (if we had any) and shoes and enjoy the water. A towel was unthinkable. It was summer time. When we were done we simply dressed and let the water dry as we rode away. There was a gate in the afore mentioned fence but it was a long way over to it so we farm boys would make a let-down in the fence. You see we learned all about 'fixin' fence at an early age. Fixin was the venacular for repairing. What pray tell is a let-down. It sort of explains its self. It required taking the wire loose from the posts (usually about three in a row) then you simply pushed the wire down with one foot and led the horse across with an out stretched hand. It was necessary to teach a horse how to cross. Most saddle horses knew the routine. A word of caution here. Don't try it with an untrained or spooky horse. If the horse puts one forefoot across and then balks you are in trouble. If he fails to raise the foot high enough when he backs up the chances are very good that he will catch the wire below the fetlock and suffer a bad wire cut. He will carry this blemish the rest of his life. It could even damage his ability to function properly. I have used this procedure many times in the past. The trick is to know your horse and above all; you and your horse must be a team. I have known men who would continuously fight their mount. To watch such a spectacle makes an animal lover sick.