Gordon. When a fairly large succession of people cycle through the ranch jobs some are just great and others not so much. Gordon definitely fit into the first group. I picked Gordon up at the bus and all he had with him was a small suitcase and a saddle over his shoulder. He had come for a riding job and we were happy to get him.
It turned out that he actually had many talents and quickly became an appreciated and valued member of the community. When he wasn't riding he had worked as a welder on the steel structures on the high rise buildings down in Vancouver. That meant he hung out on those beams 15 or more stories in the air. It makes my heart race just to think of that job. Thus he was an excellent welder and totally fearless.
He had been trained as a crawler tractor mechanic in one of the large dealerships and his skills were very good in that area as well.
After some time while at Empire he acquired a fine little heeler dog and the cat that gave Duane the "worms". The dog caused him major frustration and concern at times. He always let her sleep in his house and he laid his leather chaps by the door for her to lie on. Several times she came in heat and when she did wherever Gordon went he had an escort of 10 or more very friendly male dogs. There were several heated exchanges with the owners of those obnoxious males and a bout of fisticuffs or two. The problem was never completely solved at least to the satisfaction of those involved.
When Gordon first came he said that he had ODed a time or two and once in a while he would do unusual things. He was very conscious of having the right clothes to be fitting for whatever job he was performing. When he came to work each morning he would have on what he called his appropriate uniform for the job of the day. This in itself was not unusual at all, but the times that he didn't know just what job the day held he would show up in his Sherlock Holmes uniform to investigate just what needed to be done that day. Sherlock was complete with curve stemmed pipe, double billed tweed cap, tweed jacket, vest, and gold watch chain. When the rest of us could straighten up from laughing and tell him the proposed job he would merrily whistle his way back to his house and change into the appropriate uniform.
Our neighbors there had an employee years ago that insisted that whenever he got a new pair of pants he needed to sew a one inch wide yellow stripe down the outside seam of both legs. He never went anywhere without his yellow stripes. When he was on the ranch he also carried an army bugle wherever he went. Early each morning he would blow revel lee, and just before dark, taps. This went on for many years.
Another strange outfit hit me when I came around the corner of the store house on the way to the shop in the morning and I did a double take when there was a man standing by the shop door. He had on pink wranglers, a silk Korean dragon jacket, and a black felt stovepipe hat. He wanted a short time job and I hired him right then. He didn't stay long and his name was Wahoo, he was Indian, and absolutely the best horseman I have ever been around including those that travel around giving clinics. He had trained horses and mules for the Canadian military at some time in the past. Reportedly he was one of the only men who ever swam across the Frazer River and made it. Also he was reportedly encouraged to make the swim just ahead of the RCMP. A few years later he unfortunately met his end at a small rodeo where a car ran over him. His condition might have contributed to his being vulnerable to that danger.
One day I spotted quite a crowd, for Empire that was three people, down around a culvert in a ditch over the road which went to where the lower ranch houses were located, Since that was a very odd place to gather and take turns looking in the culvert I was curious enough to go down there and see for myself just what was so fascinating in that culvert. When I first arrived I couldn't see anything unusual but the onlookers said that Gordon was in the culvert. The culvert was flowing about half full with 500 gallons a minute, It was right below our hydro-power house so I knew the amount. Gordon had determined that near the middle of the culvert it had been crushed down some and he was in there in the water with a jack straightening back up the crushed spot. No one could believe he was trying that but as I said he was totally fearless.
Another very endearing quality of Gordon was that he just loved to "tune" on the local hippy. This one quality just made him invaluable to everyone in the area.
