The Border Collie Chronicles Observations from (arguably) the World's Smartest Dogs; (but, without question, the bestest friends!) or, Life As We Understand It, as told from dad's shop. |
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Posted October 31, 2019 |
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The Pecan Picking Primates of Pecos County
Viva Voce, but put down in words
This is the first article of a series of word
of mouth, or viva voce, which is the passing down of stories by oral
communication – but since only dad understands us when we speak, we’re
gonna have it written down for you to read!
You see, storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth
communication where one person tells others a story about a real event
or even something that might be made up. Storytelling may
sometimes involve improvisation or embellishment. Stories
or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of
entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill
moral values. Traditionally, oral stories were committed
to memory and then passed from generation to generation. However, in
literate societies, written and televised media have largely replaced
this method of communicating local, family, and cultural histories. Oral
storytelling remains the dominant medium of learning in some areas with
low literacy rates.
While oral tradition is cultural material and traditions
transmitted by word of mouth through successive generations. Oral
tradition (sometimes referred to as "oral culture" or "oral lore") is
cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation
to another. The messages or testimony are verbally
transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of
folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants. In this
way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral
literature, oral law and other knowledges across generations without a
writing system.
So here is this tale of those Pecan Picking Primates of Pecos County
…
Well, it was back in the
late naughts or early 10’s of 1900, when settlers west of the fort
decided to start cultivating a permanent planting of pecan trees, a
species of hickory native to northern Mexico and the southern United
States[i]. The
seed is an edible nut used as a snack and in various recipes, such as
praline candy and pecan pie – well, actually, the pecan, like the fruit
of all other members of the hickory genus, is not truly a nut, but is
technically a drupe, a fruit with a single stone or pit, surrounded by a
husk. The husks are produced from the exocarp tissue of
the flower, while the part known as the nut develops from the endocarp
and contain the seed. The husk itself is aeneous, that is,
brassey greenish-gold in color and oval to oblong in shape[ii].
Anyway, these settlers
went about starting their orchards and before too long (it takes around
5-7 years for a pecan tree to reach full production) the trees started
bearing nuts, The arid country and sweet well water
must’ve been just what the tree doctor ordered. All the
neighbors pitched in and helped each other harvest their crops. This
was the start of a thriving economy and the community of Belding was
laid out in April 1913. Belding is on the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe railroad tracks ten miles southwest of the fort in Pecos
County. The community was named for A.N. Belding, director
of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway. Lots in the
townsite were reserved for a town square, a hotel, a general store, a
pump company, a lumberyard, a hardware store, and stockyards. Track
construction of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient reached Belding in
the same year[iii].
Then the conflict started – no, not in the pecan orchard – but across
the sea. The War to end all Wars, World War I, began. All
of the able bodied men immediately signed up and went over to whip the
Kaiser over in Germany. This left the community with no
help to harvest pecans.
Then tragedy struck in
the small community! A circus train[iv] was
coming down the KCM&O[v] railroad
late one night, on the way to Presidio to perform a show when all of a
sudden some of the cars came loose while coming around the big bend and
flipped over! Well, as it turned out, it was the animal
cars that came loose. It seemed that the elephants weren’t
strapped in securely and leaned away from the turn at just the wrong
time. A number of animals were injured and a few were even
killed in the wreck. The locals came out in force and
helped the circus people[vi] round
up all of the animals that they could (as good west Texans will do), but
they had a really hard time rounding up the monkeys. Since
the monkeys were scared and jittery after the wreck – they immediately
went to the tall pecan trees and took shelter in the high branches.
After a few days and some coaxing from the locals and the animal
trainers – the monkeys started to come down from the trees. The
circus folks were so glad to have the majority of their crew and animals
back safe and sound, and were grateful to the citizens of Belding for
their assistance – they asked how they could repay the favor. The
citizens expressed to the circus people about their plight that since
all of the laborers were off fighting in the war, that they had no way
to harvest their crops this year. As they discussed their
situations, a brilliant idea was formed – why not train the monkeys to
pick pecans!!??
And so they did – the
monkeys learned quickly with the guidance of the circus trainers. The
crop was harvested in record time!! After the Treaty of
Versailles[vii] and
all of the men came back home, the circus had become accustomed to
over-wintering in Belding and simply continued to do so since it provide
them with a nice climate and provided excellent exercise and cardio for
the monkeys. This relationship continues through this day! So,
the next time you’re bored and are looking for something to do … bring
the wife and kiddos out to Belding during harvest and watch the Pecan
Picking Primates of Pecos County!
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Now – I have to say that all of this is 100% true! We confirmed
our data by researching it on the internet and everything (check out
the endnotes above!)! Well, except for that part about the
monkeys – we might have embellished that part. And well, the Belding
Orchard didn’t start until the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. But – other
than that – you can take this story to the Bank, and that’s
a fact, Jack!!
One More Thought ...
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