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BARTLETT--- Remember Green Hollow and all the tall stories
you used to hear about the Place? Well, the section isn't what
it used to be.
Green Hollow is between Bartlett and Tabor, in a hilly section .
You drive along a county road until you come to an old school house
, turn east---Drive a short distance through a gap and you're in
some of the wildest country you've ever seen in Iowa. All the
hell-raisin, which made Green Hollow famous, is a thing of the past.
In fact not many live there anymore. Remember how the kids
back in the hollow used to make face at you and give the good of
razberry?
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Youngsters Are Scarce
| You can drive
though there now and chances are you won't see any
youngsters. Residents of the section say there are only
three children left . Adults number only eight
making a total of 11 There was a time when the place was
lousy with urchins. When I was back there last
week, there wasn't a soul stirring. There had been
stories of how they 'd run and hide when a stranger
entered the section but it was hard to see how they
could disappear so completely and suddenly. I
asked some of the neighbors.... Not much of anyone
living there any more, they said some of the men
work in the rock quarry: some of them are helping
harvest cowpeas. And the women ... |
Works in Quarry
| Down at the rock quarry was Harold Haynie who works for Fred Wenke.
The latter is doing the quarrying. I'm new back in Green Hollow. Harold said. Stetted in there May 5,1914, right after I came back from service. I worked for Bill King nine years before that, over on the bottoms. Haynie already has developed a fierce loyalty for his neighbors. Several of the old-timers have died, He said. Pretty good
guys too... And you 'd better be careful what you put in the paper. Those that are left don't like some of the stories the papers have been printing. Haynie suggested an interview with Raymond Pierce, who was operating a wagon drill on the crest of a nearby hill. The wagon-drill is a jack-hammer on wheels. It can be rolled from place to place. When Pierce was asked what he thought about the stories which had appeared in the press regarding Green Hollow he snorted and started swearing. |
Didn't Like Reporters.
| I run
some of em off, he said referring to newspaper reporters. And I'll run em off again, if they come back. Pierce went on to tell how times had changed back in the hollow. People have been dying off and moving out, he said. Then he spoke of a disaster which struck the community more than a year ago. Tornado came down through there June,1,1949 and tore out two of the houses, he said . One of em was mine. But we have a new one now. I've lived in the hollow ever since I was a baby. Broken trees and twisted buildings still stand as mute testimony of the store. Hayne and Pierce both are know as good workers. They have been employed for quite awhile now at the quarry. As long as times are good , there won't be many people living
in Green Hollow, |
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| observed one of their
employees. But let times get rough and thy'll drift back in there. According to the Southwestern Iowa Guide book, published in the 1930's by the Works Progress administration, the Inhabitants of Green Hollow are descendants of the
earliest white settlers. who were driven to the hill
county by the severe flood of 1881. |
Living Was Poor
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Those who were too poor to start over again on the bottom remained
in this secluded place , eking out a bare living in the clay hill and living in dug -outs or rude cabins. Today many of the homes are still partly dug into the hill with a room or two built on. The older generation is unlettered much like the mountaineer of the south
but the children have gone to the excellent schools of the neighborhood and are leaving for more civilized habitations.
Well, most of them are gone now. The newer houses are no longer dug into the banks. These are the residents listed by those living in the hollow..Harold Haynie,
Raymond Pierce, Mr. and Mrs. Burl Pierce, Tom Pierce, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Clapper and Bud Study (pronounced Stoodie).
Study has two children who go to Dutch Hollow school about two miles away and the Burl Pierces have one child.... Back in a ravine, one little shack looked disconsolate in the bright afternoon sun. A cat startled at the sight of a human being, scampered into the rustling weeds near an old shed. Overhead wheeled a hawk, its keen eyes searching the ground for prey. On the doorstep of the empty house was a doll cradle, tipped crazily on one side, a weather beaten rag doll spilled on the ground.
Those who were too poor to start over again on the bottom remained
in this secluded place , eking out a bare living in the clay hill and living in dug -outs or rude cabins. Today many of the homes are still partly dug into the hill with a room or two built on. The older generation is unlettered much like the mountaineer of the south
but the children have gone to the excellent schools of the neighborhood and are leaving for more civilized habitations.
Well, most of them are gone now. The newer houses are no longer dug into
the banks. These are the residents listed by those living in the hollow..
Harold Haynie,
Raymond Pierce, Mr. and Mrs. Burl Pierce, Tom Pierce, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Clapper and Bud Study (pronounced Stoodie).
Study has two children who go to Dutch Hollow school about two miles away
and the Burl Pierces have one child.... Back in a ravine, one little shack looked disconsolate in the bright afternoon sun. A cat startled at the sight of a human being, scampered into the rustling weeds near an old shed. Overhead wheeled a hawk, its keen eyes searching the ground for prey. On the doorstep of the empty house was a doll cradle, tipped crazily on one side, a weather beaten rag doll spilled on the ground .
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The silence was unbroken Green Hollow was dead....
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