Oral History Program Columbus Whipple Interviewed by Mack S. Taft circa 1960s Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Columbus Whipple Interviewed by Mack S. Taft circa 1960s Copyright © 2016 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Great Depression in Weber County, Utah, is an Oral History Project by Mack S. Taft for completion of his Master’s Thesis at Utah State University during the summer of 1969. The forty-five interviews address the Great Depression through the eyes of individuals in several different occupations including: Bankers, Laborers, Railroad Workers, Attorneys, Farmers, Educators, Businessmen, Community and Church Leaders, Housewives, Children and Physicians. All of these individuals lived in Weber County from 1929 to 1941. The interviews were based on what they remembered about the depression, how they felt about those events and how it affected their life then and now. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Whipple, Columbus, an oral history by Mack S. Taft, circa 1960s, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. 1 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with Columbus Whipple. Mr. Whipple describes his experiences during the Depression, including working for the Coastal Transportation Service, or the Railway Mail Service, and the organization of the LDS welfare program. The interviewer is Mack Taft. MT: Where did you live from 1929-39? CW: I lived over in Ogden, on Brinker, all during those years. MT: What type of job did you have during those years? CW: I was with the Coastal Transportation Service, known in those days as the Railway Mail Service. I was out on the road from Ogden to Lovelock, Nevada. MT: What do you remember about those years that is of interest? CW: Well, as far as the Depression is concerned, I didn't feel the Depression like a lot of other people did. I had a fairly good salary, and even though we did have to take a 15 percent cut, my salary was still coming in regularly every month, and it was larger than most men of my fittance [sic] were getting. So we got along real good during those years. MT: How many children did you have? CW: I had two at that time. I'm not sure, but my wife passed away right at the end of the Depression in 1939, she passed away. My youngest child was then eight years old, and my oldest was 13. She passed away in childbirth, or the effects of childbirth. But the Depression didn't affect us too greatly because I remember how our family doctor, Dr. Leslie S. Merrill, we could call him on the phone and in 15 minutes he'd be at our home. He'd charge up $2.50 for the visit. Things were 2 quite different then from now. It was a lifesaver to us because we did have a lot of sickness, and he was at our home many, many, many times. MT: What do you remember about the situations of the people around you at that time? CW: Well, my neighbors, my two closest friends and neighbors, were bricklayers, and they were in bad circumstances at that time. I rented a home from Brother Fred Burdett. He had an apartment in the basement, and he moved into the basement and I rented the upper part of his home. We rented that home for $35 per month during the Depression. It was raised to $40 per month. But they were in very bad shape. They didn't have any work at all. The neighbor next door also had an apartment in the basement and he rented there, and that's about all they had to live on for many years. Building was at a standstill, and the professions, the occupations had very little work to do. MT: What were you doing in the church at that time? CW: Well, I've been active in the [LDS] church all my life. During the Depression I was in the elder’s quorum presidency and then, later, in the presidency of the seventies quorum of our stake. MT: During the Depression years, was your elder’s quorum active in helping people that were affected by the Depression, or what was the situation? CW: Yes, we were quite a fortunate group in the fact that we had so many professional men in our group. We had dentists, doctors, and lawyers, and they volunteered their services to some of the members who needed their help. MT: Do you by any chance remember when the [LDS] welfare program came in? 3 CW: Yes, that came in during those years. In fact I think the Depression had a lot to do with the welfare program being established. MT: Was there any particular, noticeable difference right then, that you observed when the program came in? CW: Well, as far as my own personal family was concerned, I saw no difference. But I know that some of the members of the elder's quorum did get assistance from the welfare program. MT: Do you think of any interesting things that happened to you during those times that would somewhat depict the times and conditions? CW: Well, because of the health of my wife, we didn't do many of the things that we would have liked to have done. She was confined to her bed for about four years right during the worst part of the Depression. MT: Did you own an automobile at that time? CW: Yes, yes, I had an automobile at that time. I had a Chevrolet. When her health was so she could, we would go places. We always liked to go, and as we do now, we used to go places.