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30 YEARS AGO • MAY 27, 1993

SOPHIE MOLES TO CELEBRATE A CENTURY OF LIVING

Sophie Moles will celebrate a century of life June 1.

She and her new husband, Bert, came to the area from Chester in 1914. A friend of her husband’s, with whom Bert used to round up cattle, had told them about the place.

Her husband got a job cooking for Donlan’s sawmill near Belknap. They lived in a shack by the sawmill, and she helped him by setting the table and cleaning up.

Moles’ first child was born in 1914. Leo was followed by Lester a year later and Clarence two years after that.

In 1917, the couple began building the house Sophie now lives in. Bert had found a job in Whitepine, helping to build the schoolhouse. He worked on the house in his spare time.

Sophie remembered watching people log the mountain with horses, loading the logs on a sled or wagon, depending on the time of year.

Sophie shared memories of living in the partially finished house. Before the door was fastened on, they had to prop it up. She was afraid a bear would break it down, she said. She put newspaper between the two-by-fours in the walls so the family wouldn’t be so cold.

The couple had no electricity and no plumbing. She used to pull the water up from a well and carry it. They finally got a hand pump, she said.

She used to drive the horses for her husband when he plowed, walking alongside the horses for the first round or so until they settled into the routine, she said. When the horses would stop for a rest, she would go and pick long, wild grass to feed them.

Two years after Clarence was born, Wilfred came along. Two years later, LaVern was born.

Five years after LaVern was born, the Moles’ only girl, Altha, came along. She was followed two years later by Louie.

With seven children, owning a garden and a cow helped them to survive. Deer were plentiful, Sophie said, and the warden never said anything about people taking them; many people did it then because times were hard.

The children would help with chores such as weeding the garden. They learned by example, she said. The older children also helped by taking care of the younger children while she milked the cows and did other chores.

When it came time for them to go to school, Sophie had to prepare a separate lunch for each – five lunches at a time when most children were going to school. The families in the area took turns transporting the children to school in Belknap until a school bus was finally available.

At the ages of 12-14, the children got jobs cleaning a pig pen or chicken house for 50 cents.

When the Civilian Conservation Corps came in 1933, three of the boys were old enough to go to work. They got clothes, shoes and approximately $20 a month for Sophie. Whenever she needed one of the boys, she would head up to the project and bring one back. The foremen were helpful and friendly, she said. They would tease her, saying they’d just taught one of her boys how to work, and she would come to take them away, Sophie recalled, laughing.

While wages were less, so were prices. A pair of children’s overalls cost 50 cents, she said. Sophie would make over some clothes for the family.

Eventually, the Moles got a few more cows, at the cost of approximately $25 each, and kept the heifers. They got a separator and sold the cream for $2.75 per 5 gallon can. They also earned a living off of raising chickens and pigs.

For recreation, they would go to dances at the schoolhouse. People took the kids along and laid the babies on desks to sleep. Music included a violin and a piano, and lots of people came, she said.

People would bring a loaf of bread over to the house and sit and visit, she said. Now, people don’t come over unless they’re invited, and they have to have dinner provided.

Sophie remembered riding Dinky, a train running as far as Missoula along the route of the present-day road to Whitepine.

In 1938, the Moles got electricity. Before electricity, Sophie spent time filling kerosene lamps and cleaning their chimneys. t

Bert died in 1942. Two of her boys, who were in the military at the time, returned when it happened, but they had to go back. Four of her boys in all were in World War II. Sophie said she felt terrible about the war. One of her boys was hurt during the war and discharged, but all made it through alive.

Sophie plays poker once in a while with the kids now, she said. Altha and Louie live in Belknap. Lester and Clarence are a little further away, in Libby. LaVerrn lives in Grants Pass, Oregon, and Wilfred is furthest east in Terre Haught, Indiana. Leo is deceased. Sundays often find her at the Rimrock restaurant with Louie.