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Sara “Sally” Berry (Hamilton) Bundy | Oral History
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Sara “Sally” Berry (Hamilton) Bundy was interviewed on January 25, 2005 in St. George, Washington County, Utah by Milton Hokanson, a representative of the Grand Canyon-Parashaunt National Monument Oral History Project. She related her experiences living on the Arizona Strip, Mohave County, Arizona.
MH: “Sally” Bundy is the wife of Orvel [Allen] Bundy and has a long and varied history of [living] on the Arizona Strip and particularly [in] Bundyville [Arizona]. You are not from St. George or southern Utah. How did you wind up here?
SB: I am from the suburbs of Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]. I met my husband when I was working [one] summer on a dude ranch [near Sheridan] Wyoming. He was from here. [After] we [were] married, we lived in Las Vegas [Nevada] and then in Bunkerville [Nevada]. Finally, we [moved] to Mt. Trumbull [Arizona].
MH: What year was that?
SB: It had to have been about 1960 [or] 1961. It was probably in 1960. First, we went out and spent six months there. Orvel [came down with] rheumatic fever and we moved back to Bunkerville. That summer, the people from Mt. Trumbull wrote and asked if I would come out and teach because they couldn’t [hire] a teacher. We moved back again that summer.
MH: What was your first impression when you drove down Main Street [Valley]? [Laughter]
SB: It was different! [Laughter]
MH: [Laughter] I bet it was!
SB: It was different [and] it was dry. It certainly wasn’t like where I came from anyway. The worst [part] about living out there was [that] it was so primitive and nothing [like] I was used to at all.
MH: [Was there] any electricity [or] indoor plumbing?
SB: No. I had two little children [and] they were not school age yet, [so] it was hard. We had to haul all our drinking water from St. George. We caught water in barrels for washing, but we had to haul our drinking water. A lot of times it was in the back of the truck and I would have to go down to the corrals to draw it! We had a wood stove. The first year we were there we didn’t have a refrigerator. I have always said that was the hardest [time of all].
MH: [Being] without a refrigerator?
SB: You could not keep anything. When Orvel’s family lived out there, they had a dugout in the hill where they kept [their food]. But we didn’t have any place to put anything so [we had] no leftovers. You couldn’t keep anything. The milk was never cold.
MH: So here you are in the middle of Bundyville with two young children and none of the conveniences you felt necessary to raise them. How did you manage to teach school with two young children?
SB: Orvel took them with him. At that time he wasn’t working away [from home and] was building fences. That was the big [project] that winter. He spent the winter building fences on the mountain and took [the children] with him.
MH: What was the schoolhouse like? Did it have central heating?
SB: Oh no! We had a [small] wood stove in the middle of the school. Uncle [James Gwendol] “Ben” Bundy’s [children] were the janitors and they would build the fire and bring the wood in. Teaching school [there] was totally different. I only had eight children, but they were in six different grades: first grade to [the] seventh grade. It was hard keeping ahead of them in all their subjects. In Arizona, at that time, you didn’t teach social studies. You taught geography and history. So it was a lot of work just staying ahead of a first grader.
MH: What was the highest grade you taught?
SB: [The school] would have gone to [the] eighth [grade] but I only had a seventh grader.
MH: After the eighth grade, where did they go?
SB: They had to go to St. George to school.
MH: [Did] you have eleven [students]?
SB: I had eight [students] but they were in six different grades.
MH: Were they like children everywhere else, inquisitive?
SB: Yes. They were good [and] we really had fun. My parents had sent me a battery record player. [Laughter] We square danced and did art projects together. We did creative writing together. It kept me busy!
MH: Can you remember any specific instance where the [students] gave you a bad time?
SB: In school they were [fairly] good. I did have some trouble [laughter] with one of Uncle “Ben’s” [boys]. He gave me quite a lot of trouble. I can remember getting after him and finally threatening to tell his parents. They lived not very far from the school. After school, I got in my car and went over there. I can remember him jumping on the car trying to stop me from going over there to tell his parents. [Laughter]
MH: Did he stop you from telling his parents?
SB: No.
MH: Did you tell them?
SB: I did.
MH: Was some appropriate action taken?
SB: I am sure there was, yes. [Laughter]
MH: How did the [students] get to school?
SB: They were all within walking [distance]. They brought “Putsie”[with them]. Their dog always came and they had a lamb that followed them to school a lot. It [stayed] outside all the time. [Laughter]
MH: Would [it] have been a long walk for some of those [students]?
SB: No. They weren’t too far [and] they could cut through the fields. “Ben’s” [children] were very close, but [Chester] “Chet” [Marion Bundy’s] [lived] a little further [away]. They [could] cut through so it wasn’t [very] far. I had the car most of the time.
MH: Did you administer all the testing?
SB: Yes.
MH: Was there a graduation ceremony at the end of the [school] year?
SB: I didn’t ever have anyone [who] graduated. They did have graduation [exercises] but I didn’t have any [students who] graduated. We always had a Halloween party and a Christmas party. [We] put on a Christmas program.
MH: Did you have a Christmas tree?
SB: Yes.
MH: Where did that come from?
SB: They cut it out there.
MH: They took it off [of] Mt. [Trumbull].
SB: It was [always] a beautiful tree. I wish that I had pictures of [them]. We made every decoration out of paper. [The tree] was [always] beautiful.
MH: Was there electricity in the school?
SB: No.
MH: Did you need extra lighting? Or was the schoolroom light enough that you didn’t [need] additional lighting?
SB: We didn’t have it, anyway. [Laughter] If we had a program at night, they brought [in] lanterns. But we didn’t have any [extra lights] during the day. The [students] would sit in a circle around the wood stove. I wore my coat most of the winter in the building because I was further away and it was cold.
MH: I imagine it was. What did you do when you [had] a good snow storm? [Did you] close the school or keep it [open]?
SB: No, I don’t remember us ever closing the school. The winter I taught out there “Ben” and his wife [Beatrice (Nelson) Bundy] were off building fences to make a living. [Their children] were [usually] alone. The seventh grader was [their] oldest [child]. They took the ones [who] weren’t in school [with them]. They did have a first grader. I can remember them making so much fun of the one [who] was in [the] fifth grade, Cheryl [Bundy]. They said her oatmeal was terrible! She had to cook their breakfast. I remember they would milk the cows and get milk on their pants. If you have ever [been] near a wood stove with milk on the pants, whoa, it was bad! I remember [that] it was [in] January. It was Wendell [Bundy’s] birthday. He was the seventh grader. I felt so bad because his parents weren’t there. We brought some [gifts] down and made snow cream for his birthday [at school].
MH: How often did you get to St. George?
SB: We usually came about once a month. I would bring [our] laundry in. Of course, I did laundry out there, but when I came I nearly always [brought] laundry. [This] is when we would get [our] groceries.
MH: Was St. George was the nearest medical facility?
SB: Yes.
MH: Did you ever have any medical emergencies?
SB: I had emergency medicals. Three different times I had an appendicitis attack when I was out there by myself. The first [attack] was in the summer and, by the time anyone came, the attack was over. I was so sick [that] I could not walk to the main road to flag anyone down. The second time, Orvel took me to town but, of course, with appendicitis they can’t tell [anything] after [the attack] is over. They said, “Next time, bring her right in.” The [third] time was when I was teaching. It happened in the middle of the night. He took me in and I [had] my appendix out. We missed a week of school but we made it up at the end of the year.
MH: [Laughter] The [students] had to make it up?
SB: Yes.
MH: [Did] you [go] back [to teaching school] a week after an [appendectomy]?
SB: Yes.
MH: That is getting right back up on the horse!
SB: I had to! [Laughter] [There was] nobody else to teach [school].
MH: Who was the doctor in St. George? Is he still here?
SB: It would have been either Dr. [Wilford J.] Reichmann or Dr. [McLaren “Larry”] Ruesch. I [don’t] remember which one it was. Bill [Bundy] broke his arm when he was about four years old.
MH: Is this your son?
SB: Yes. He was jumping off the corral and broke his arm. He came up to the house holding it [saying], “My poor little arm.” We had to bring him to town and get [it] set. Another time we went in [for medical care], it was the year [when] I was teaching, too. After school, we went up to check the fence that Orvel had been building up on the mountain. He had one guy wire across the top. It was dusk [and] we were getting ready to come home. I ran into the wire. [There] was just the one wire and I didn’t see it. I cut my head [and] it was bleeding badly but we did get the bleeding stopped by the time we got off the mountain. He still took me to town and I [had] it sewed up. [I was] back [in] school the next morning! [Laughter]
MH: Stitches and all! What was the road like back in the 1960s?
SB: It was nothing like it is now. [It was] much worse! Going up the mountain [the road] was very narrow.
MH: Was this going up towards Nixon Springs?
SB: Yes, going up towards Nixon [Springs]. You had to back down if [you met] someone coming down. I always listened to make sure nobody was coming either way when I drove up or down. [Laughter] But that was a worry. The dugway coming to town was much narrower.
MH: Was the Quail Creek dugway much narrower?
SB: Yes. The road wasn’t nearly as good. [Laughter]
MH: I can remember coming over [Mt.] Trumbull to Bundyville [Nevada] with John Riffey one time and [the] road was not that [inaudible].
SB: No.
MH: Was there anybody living [in] Whitmore [Canyon] at that time?
SB: When we first moved out there, Orvel spent time down in Whitmore [Canyon] working for Cleo Wood.
MH: Was Cleo still down there?
SB: Yes. Orvel would go down during the week and leave me up there alone. He was down there at that time. [Inaudible] and Sarah Jordan worked down there, too. They stayed down there. When we went to the canyon we would always visit with them.
MH: Did you ever go all the way to the Grand Canyon, down Whitmore [Canyon and to the [Colorado] River?
SB: Yes. The first time I walked down was when Barry [Bundy] was a baby. It would have been about 1964 or 1965. He was about six months [old] and we went down. We all walked down. Margie [Bundy] was almost three years old. I have been back a couple of times since [then].
MH: Was [Vivian August] “Pat” Bundy living there at the time?
SB: Yes, he was. We didn’t see a whole lot of them. [His wife was Ruth (Hofbauer-Sullivan) Bundy.] We would [usually] see them on the road mainly.
MH: Did you have any of his [children] in school?
SB: No. His [children] were all gone by the time we moved out there.
MH: Who else was living out there?
SB: [There] was just “Chet” Bundy and “Ben” Bundy. “Chet” had three or four [children] in school and Ben had four [children].
MH: When did you move into St. George?
SB: We moved in 1968. Julie [Bundy] was two [years old]. It would have been about 1968. We came in [at] Christmas time. I wasn’t teaching then. I only taught one year out there because I had a baby the next year. They had some other [teachers] and we moved to town. They were not happy because they didn’t have enough children to hold school. By then it was down to about five [students]. Mrs. Williams was teaching there for awhile. She had a couple of grandchildren [who] came to school out there, too. By the time we [moved] to town, there were only five [students] in school. My two boys were two of them.
MH: When you first moved out there, what did your family think? Did they ever come out to visit you?
SB: Yes, they did. My dad was ready to pack me up and take me back [home]! [Laughter] They weren’t happy!
MH: What was Orvel doing when you met him in Wyoming?
SB: We were both working on a dude ranch. I was a waitress and he was a wrangler. I worked there four summers. He worked there the last two summers I was there and then stayed [for] the winter as well.
MH: Did he talk you into coming here?
SB: Yes. The first year we were married I taught school in Las Vegas. Then Bill was born and we moved to Bunkerville. Then we moved out to Spring Mountain Ranch out of [Las] Vegas, back to Bunkerville, then to Mt. Trumbull and back to Bunkerville. [Laughter]
MH: [Did] you go back to Bunkerville when you left Mt. Trumbull?
SB: He [was] sick that year. We didn’t move back to Bunkerville. After seven years at Mt. Trumbull we moved to St. George.
MH: [Were] most of the families out there ranching?
SB: Yes.
MH: Was Orvel’s [early] family, going back to Abraham [and Ella (Anderson) Bundy], actually farmers?
SB: Yes, they [were]. They farmed a lot in the early days when he was young. He remembers growing corn, beans and wheat. It rained more at that time. [Laughter] They couldn’t have [grown those crops] when we lived there. It didn’t rain!
MH: No, or today. They just don’t have the moisture. [Are] any of the other ranching families still living out there today?
SB: No. Orvel is probably the only one [who] spends much time out there. Some of the families have homes out there where their [children] go, like [to] a cabin. Ed Bundy does spend some time. He works for [the] Atkins most of the time, but he does have a ranch there, his dad, “Chet’s,” [ranch]. Les [Bundy] and Wendell [Bundy] have “Ben” [Bundy’s] [ranch] so they go back and forth. But nobody [lives] out there.
MH: Did they have mail service when you were living [out] there?
SB: Two days a week the mail [truck] would come by with the mail. Orvel’s brother was the mailman.
MH: I imagine he had some stories to tell about that!
SB: [Once] we had a big snow [storm and] we were snowed in for a week. It was just before Christmas and they dropped our mail from [an] airplane. [Laughter] I don’t remember who brought it.
MH: Did Orvel have a brother, Owen [Bundy], who had an airplane?
SB: No, [he] is a cousin.
MH: Did you ever fly in it?
SB: No, [Orvel] did but I never did.
MH: You never had any desire to fly in [it]?
SB: I don’t know. I never even considered it. I had little [children].
MH: Where did he land it? Right [in] Main Street [Valley]?
SB: They [kept] it over there at Uncle “Chet’s” place. [Owen] was one of Uncle “Chet’s” boys and he had an airstrip over there.
MH: What sort of cattle is Orvel running now? Are they mostly Herefords?
SB: He has [Red] Salers cross [breeds], mostly. He has Salers with Herefords and Salers with other [breeds] but mostly he has a duke’s mixture! [Laughter]
MH: Are your children involved in the ranching operation today?
SB: Yes. Our boys all help him when he needs to move cows. The three boys all help.
MH: Where is your market? Do you take them to Cedar City [Iron County, Utah] or do the buyers come out [to the ranch]?
SB: [For] quite a few years he has sold them through Superior Livestock Auction and Video.
MH: A lot of people in Southern Utah are doing that now rather than truck them out.
SB: That has been [fairly] good. A few years ago we had to get rid of most of our cows and we are trying to build [the herd] up again.
MH: Let’s talk about [the] Bundyville Reunion. I understand you had an instrumental part in [this event].
SB: Actually, they had [the] reunion when we were first married. I can remember the first year it was up on Pine Valley Mountain [Utah]. It has been going since the 1950s. We went to Duck Creek up on Cedar Mountain [Iron County, Utah] for awhile [but] the group got too big. We moved over to Navajo Lake [on Cedar Mountain] until they kicked us out [of] there because the group was too big. Then they got [some] property from two of the [Bundy] family members. The organization bought twenty acres on Mt. Trumbull.
MH: Is that up near Nixon Springs?
SB: It is. [The reunion] is always [on] a weekend. A lot of people stay a lot longer than that now. We usually go out the week ahead and take the grandchildren [with us]
MH: How long does it last?
SB: The reunion itself is Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have an actual campground there now [and] they have piped water down. We have [a] water catchment there with two big tanks. They have outhouses scattered around and a big cement slab. Oh, it is a big deal! I can remember when my children were younger, people [would] quit [their] jobs if they couldn’t get off to go [to the reunion]. It was the big deal. We have over 800 [people] there. We have had as many as 1,000 there, but we average 800.
MH: Do some [folks] go out and stay for a week or more?
SB: Some do. It seems like more [do that] lately than used to. They have lots of activities. Friday night they have a dance mainly for the young [people]. [There] usually [is] a deejay who is a member of the family. [Laughter] He brings his [equipment] from [Las] Vegas. They usually have a talent show, a skeet shoot tournament, a horseshoe tournament [and] roping contests — just dummy roping. Then they have an auction. That is how they raise their money. Saturday night they have a big dance. “Easy Country” comes out [from St. George] and plays for at least four hours. Everybody dances, whatever [their] age. Sunday they have a genealogy meeting and reminisce [about the] ancestors. They talk about one of the older ones and [have] a testimony meeting.
MH: Wow! It sounds like it is a full schedule.
SB: They used to have a watermelon bust. That got a little bit dangerous [laughter] and so last year they had an ice cream [social] on Sunday afternoon. That was good.
MH: The [children] enjoyed that, I imagine.
SB: Oh yes, [the children] have fun. They have a couple of merry-go-rounds out there for them.
MH: Are these all descendants of Abraham Bundy?
SB: Abraham and Ella [(Anderson) Bundy] had nine children. [Lillie Belle, Roy, James, Omer “Dick”, Ina, Mamie, Vivian August “Pat”, Chester “Chet” Marion, and Edna Bundy.] These are all descendants from them. Orvel’s family alone, just from his parents, [has] almost 300 [members]. His family is some of the best attendees.
MH: [Did] Abraham [arrived] in about 1905?
SB: [It was in] 1916 [or]1917. Orvel’s sister [Barbara Bundy] was the first child born out there [on] September 7, 1917.
MH: Did Orvel serve in the armed services?
SB: He didn’t. He had rheumatic fever when he was young and had heart problems so he was [rated] 4-F. Every one of his brothers served. His father was terribly crippled with arthritis.
MH: Was that Roy [Bundy]?
SB: Yes. Orvel doesn’t ever remember him standing straight up. [Orvel and his brothers] had to help [do the work] on the ranch. When they were all called into the armed services, the girls had to [do the work]. So it was kind of bad. Then his brother [Iven Leroy Bundy] drowned in the Colorado [River]. He was the oldest [child]. That [happened] before Orvel was born. They all left for the service.
I was telling [this story to] my grandson. He had to talk in church [about] enduring to the end. He said, “I want to tell a story about Grandpa Roy.” I said one of the best stories that we can remember was Orvel’s brother, Newell [Alma Bundy], [who] had to go into the [United States] Army. It was time for him to leave. I don’t know whether he was driving or Roy. Roy, his dad, was with him and the truck broke down. Orvel says it was between [inaudible] Divide and near Wolf Hole somewhere. Newell had to go to catch the bus. He got his dad out and [put] the seat from the truck under a tree. [He] sat his dad under [the] tree and he walked towards town. He ended up getting a ride. This is what I heard, anyway, that it was six months later before he found out if his father had been picked up or [if] someone had found him. He was in Italy [by then].
MH: When you were teaching school, raising your family, Orvel was ranching [and] fencing. I suspect most of the other men [in] Bundyville were out working at various jobs. [This] left just you and the other wives.
SB: Aunt “Gen” [Genavieve Bundy] was there most of the time. Aunt Chloe and Uncle [James] “Jim” [Bundy] were there. Yes, it was lonely. It was very lonely.
MH: You must have had quite a sisterhood with the women [who] were out there.
SB: Yes, but I didn’t have transportation [much of the time] and I ended up having to walk and pull [children] in a wagon or push them in a baby carriage. [The other women] were busy with their own [activities]. Usually, I only saw them at church.
MH: Were [meetings for] The Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] held in the schoolhouse?
SB: Right.
MH: Who was the local bishop at that time?
SB: When we moved out [to the area] there were only the three men, “Chet”, “Ben” [and Orvel]. I guess Uncle “Jim” was there. Orvel was called into the bishopric too. “Chet” was the bishop. I was a recent convert to the church. When they called me out of the audience to talk, I almost had a heart attack! After that, we decided when Orvel was in charge our family talked. Finally [it] got so that when they were in charge, their family did the talks. [Laughter]
MH: Did they hold church every Sunday?
SB: Yes. We had Sunday school, too. I had to be the gospel doctrine teacher. [Laughter]
MH: All you did was teach!
SB: I led the singing in Primary. It was interesting! I taught Relief Society [meetings].
MH: They had you going in every direction!
SB: [We] had to [as] there were only three of us! [Laughter]
MH: What about some of the local characters out there? [Are there] any that you remember? [Who] stands out or was particularly interesting?
SB: No. I remember Al Craig came down and got wheat for his chickens all the time. My [children] loved to have him come because he always brought them candy. He was fun and he would go visit them once in awhile. Of course, we visited Riffey’s [John and Mary Beth Riffey] when we went up there. I don’t really remember. We didn’t see a lot of people. [Laughter]
MH: There wasn’t a lot of traffic [in] Main Street [Valley] in those days!
SB: There is way more traffic now than there ever was then. That is for sure!
MH: How did you get involved with the Arizona Strip Interpretive Association [ASIA]?
SB: When they organized, they asked me to be on the board and I have been on [it] ever since. [Laughter] I was still teaching school when they started it. I was always interested in it. We did a lot of fun collecting [items] for the Mt. Trumbull Schoolhouse [project]. Margie, my daughter, and I collected all the pictures and put them all out there.
MH: Then, of course, [there was] the tragic fire. [July 2000]
SB: Yes. Then we had to do it [all over] again. The sad part is we actually have probably more pictures now but they are not the same ones.
MH: I am sure there were [items] lost in [the] fire that cannot be replaced. Did you teach here in St. George when you [moved] in from Mt. Trumbull?
SB: Yes, I did. I taught [for] thirty years at East Elementary [School].
MH: [Did] you finally retire from teaching?
SB: Yes, in 2000.
MH: When did you build the house you live in now?
SB: At the ranch? Gosh, I am not sure. Five years ago? I don’t know. It hasn’t been too long ago.
MH: What about your house here in St. George?
SB: We built this house twenty-five years ago when there were only two houses in Bloomington Hills [Washington County, Utah].
MH: This is Bundy Lane [and] there is more than one house here now!
SB: These [houses belong to] all our [children] except for the two houses past us.
MH: I see they are carrying on the tradition; I notice you have a roping arena.
SB: Oh yes! Our [children] all rodeo [and] our grandchildren rodeo. [The arena] is a lake right now. They have been trying to drain it so the [children] can start practicing again. [Laughter] We like to do that! Our [children] are good ropers and the grandchildren are good ropers, [too].
MH: What was the most frightening thing that ever happened to you out on the strip?
SB: Probably the time I was most frightened was when someone came. I saw a truck drive up, and at that time, we were having a lot of trouble with people stealing gas. We had [gas] in barrels down by the corral and I saw a [vehicle] drive in. My [children] were little. The [vehicle] came in and [they] turned [the] lights off. I thought sure they were stealing gas. I watched and watched and [the vehicle] stayed down there and stayed down there. I was very nervous. I was very scared. I never was one [who] liked to be alone particularly, anyway. I have gotten over that, but at that time I was not good [at being alone]. Orvel was not there. He was working down in the canyon. Finally, after about an hour, the truck [drove] up to the house and pulled right up by the front door. It was Uncle “Chet’s” [children] coming to drop [off] valentines. I hadn’t even realized it was Valentine’s Day! [Laughter] But they could see me watching [them].
MH: You sat there for an hour worrying to death!
SB: I [did]!
MH: What were your Halloween parties like?
SB: The [children] would dress up and go down to the schoolhouse. Sometimes deer hunters came. [Halloween] was usually during hunting season. We always had an Easter picnic, too. The year I taught, we went down [to] Whitmore [Canyon] and had a big family picnic. All the adults and everybody came.
MH: If the weather is good, that would be a nice thing to do about that time [of the year].
SB: It was fun [and] we had a good time.
MH: Did you ever have a Fourth of July parade or anything like that?
SB: No, we didn’t. The Fourth of July is when the Bundy Reunion is [held]. We do have a patriotic program up there now, on Friday. When Orvel was a [boy], they used to go up on the mountain, the whole community, and have a big Fourth of July party. I think they camped over sometimes, but not when we lived there. By then, the Bundy Reunion was [being held].
MH: There were some [fairly] good cowboys that came out of Bundyville.
SB: Yes. They did a lot of riding. In Orvel’s family, when they were young, they herded sheep down in the canyon before they had cattle. Again, his dad was [in poor health and] he couldn’t do anything. I think Newell was eight or nine [years old] when he went down. [He] would spend a month at a time down there with his brother. Sometimes the oldest one was only twelve. They would go down there and spend time by themselves herding sheep.
MH: That is a lot of responsibility.
SB: His sisters did it too. [Orvel] never had to do that because he was the last of twelve [children]. [Laughter]
MH: Let me ask you a philosophical question. You came to Mt. Trumbull, Bundyville, [and] your [family] has a history [on the Arizona Strip] that goes way, way back. Your own children all spend time out there. The Grand Canyon-Parashaunt [National] Monument is a fact. It [does] exist. If you had a chance [to make any] suggestions, how you would like to see [it] managed and administered? What do you think they should do with [it]?
SB: I don’t know. I hate to see them do too much improvement on it to bring [in] more people. There are already more people out there [than should be]. We have had to [rescue] so many people [who] have been stranded out there because they don’t realize there is nothing out there — no gas, no tires. I hope they will let the ranchers keep using it. To me, it should be used. People we have taken out there think it is neat, but it is primitive. That is the bottom line. There isn’t much out there. I definitely think it should be used. Multiple uses [should be available]. The cattlemen ought to be able to use it.
MH: [Should it] continue to [be] used it the way it has been?
SB: The way it has been used, right.
MH: One last question. What is your favorite place out on the strip?
SB: Goodness, I don’t know. We had wonderful Easter picnics down in the canyon where we would camp. We did it for years ─ even when our [children] were [newly] married. Now they don’t go anymore. We had a lot of fun going down there. The whole family would go down and camp. It was Easter so it was moonlight and bright. We would put our sleeping bags out on the ground down in the canyon. It was always a time when Orvel let us do whatever [we wanted to do]. We didn’t have to work. Well, I shouldn’t say always! We did have to work some of the time. A lot of times we would hike and look for Indian [artifacts] around. That was always fun. Now I would say [for] our [children] and our grandchildren it is “that house” out there. We built that house ourselves. Clay was the builder [and] they went out every weekend from May until August. We would go out and camp because it is right in the same place that the original house was. Our grandchildren love to go there. [They] beg to go out and love to stay there.
MH: [It is] more fun than Disneyland!
SB: Heaven’s, yes! Most of them have never been to Disneyland anyway! [Laughter] They love to go out. [A] grandson [who] lives in Salt Lake [City, Salt Lake County, Utah] was down at Christmas time. [He said], “Can we go to the ranch? Can we go to the ranch?” We didn’t. He was only here four days. They all love to go to the ranch.
MH: It seems like all the people who grew up or spent any considerable amount of time in Bundyville still have a real attachment to [the area].
SB: They do.
MH: Far more so than a lot of other places. They may leave, but they ultimately come back.
SB: That is really true. Of course, I felt like building that house helped our grandchildren even more because we went out every week. They worked on that house. They helped build it. They did the same with the schoolhouse. So they have a real attachment to the place. They really enjoy it.
MH: It is [good] cement for a family!
SB: We had good times out there. We lived there [and] I say that is why my [children] turned out as well as they did. We had fun. We made our own fun. We had a radio. In the summertime we would all [bed down] out on the porch and listen to Mystery Theater. I always read to them after lunch when they would rest. We read a whole bunch of different books. We played baseball out front. We made our own fun and had ice cream parties. We had an [ice cream] freezer but we could only [make] ice cream in the winter when we had snow to freeze it. We never had ice otherwise. Sometimes in the winter we actually made snow cream instead. Those were times that the [children] really remember. We had fun.
MH: [Do] any of your [children] know how to cook on a wood stove?
SB: I don’t know; [I guess] they probably could. Orvel still has a wood stove in the canyon. They haven’t cooked on one, I don’t think. My [children] tell about taking pancake sandwiches to school for their lunch. We didn’t have bread unless I made it. [Laughter]
MH: It didn’t hurt them.
SB: No, it didn’t hurt them. We had a good time together. We spent time together. After it rained, we would drive around to all the ponds and check them. They would swim in the ponds. They had fun. I think they remember the good times.
MH: Sounds like there were more good times than bad.
SB: Oh yes!
MH: “Sally”, thank you. It has been a great interview and I really enjoyed it.
[END OF TAPE]
Description
Sara “Sally” Berry (Hamilton) Bundy was interviewed on January 25, 2005, in St. George, Washington County, Utah by Milton Hokanson, a representative of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument Oral History Project. She related her experiences living on the Arizona Strip, Mohave County, Arizona.
Credit
NPS
Date Created
01/25/2005
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