1934 Dirt Floor House

My mother, Christine, lived her early years in Carson, New Mexico (near Taos.) She was the second of 8 children born to Joseph E. Clarkson and Norma Shupe Clarkson. They were very poor, like everyone was during the Depression.

Here is an excerpt from my Granny, Norma's life story.


1934 Living in a Dirt Floor House
Written by Norma Shupe Clarkson Crandell
Reprinted in the book "Have Joy in the Journey with Mother and Me" by Christine Clarkson Kelly, p. 46

Living in a dirt floor house was one of the most difficult times of my life. When Dean was a month old, on July 2, 1934, Daddy (her husband, Joe Clarkson) found a house and barn that we could rent for $12 a month. It had a 15-acre pasture, with a stream of water running through it, for our cows, horses and chickens. We thought a cow and chickens were a must for our living in those days. The only trouble was the house had only a hard packed dirt floor. I thought with our Indian rugs and a piece of linoleum it wouldn't be too bad, but I found out the dust was terrible. June was in the second grade; Christine was age 4, Dale 3, and Dean soon learning to crawl. I built a sort of a platform for the children to play on and that helped a lot. When June came home from school she taught Christine and Dale all she had learned that day which was a big help to me.

We did enjoy the fireplace that winter and I still had my blue cook stove. The winter was cold and snowy, but we were blessed with good health and plenty of the necessities of life. I mended blankets for an artist that lived on the mesa, making a little extra money with which I got you girls and me each a sweater set and made pleated plaid skirts to go with them, also cute outfits for the boys. I was so proud to have you all looking so nice.....

I got a gasoline powered washing machine to help with the big family washing for four children. We lived in the dirt floor house for nine months.

My mother, Christine, painted a 6' long folkart montage of all the houses from her family history, and I have a copy of that painting hanging in my house. In the book "Have Joy in the Journey with Mother and Me", she tells about each story and some details about each house. Here is her description of the painting of the Dirt Floor House:

In the painting you can see the dirt floor house has a little black pot at the left of the house that Mother (Norma) heated water in for doing the washing of our clothes....Daddy (Joe) had his two thoroughbred race horses, Dummy and Liz, which he would soon sell with much emotion and with tears in his eyes. Daddy was always training his race horses, doing everything possible no matter how tired he was and hoping that one would be a "stakes winner".

In this photo, (left to right) Dale, June, and Christine (my mother) are a little younger than they were in the Dirt Floor House.

In the lower photo, (left to right) Christine, Dale, Grandad Joe, Dean, and June are a little older than they were in that house.
Also, notice these two vehicles. I think they are the same two vehicles mentioned in tomorrow's post.