“It was wonderful! It had an agitator and real wringers and it worked by electricity!” Doris Carter thus described her delight when electric power first became available in Midvale, and she was able to have an electric washing machine.
“We didn’t have electricity until 1930. Until then we had used kerosene lamps and hand- operated washers. It seemed like a miracle to be able to just turn a switch and there would be light—even if it was just one little drop-bulb in each room. To be able to plug in the washing machine and have the work done, that was really something! I got my washer from my brother-in- law after my sister died and I paid $40 for it, earning the money by picking strawberries at a cent- and-a-half per pound. It took quite a bit of picking to earn $40 but the machine was worth it.
“Eventually we got an electric iron and a refrigerator but they came along very slowly because they were expensive. Looking back now I wonder how we kept foods fresh without refrigeration. We didn’t even have an ice box—didn’t know where to get ice, but somebody must have had it. Somehow, we managed to stay healthy in spite of our lack of what today are considered necessities.
“Everybody worked hard but we had a lot of fun, too. Picnics on the Maxwelton beach were an important part of our recreation. There were no houses along the waterfront at that time and anybody could use the beach. Usually a group of neighbors would get together, catch crabs, have a big bonfire, cook our supper, and eat right on the beach. We’d do that quite often, especially if someone had out-of-town guests to entertain.
“There were a lot of crabs at that time. We used to take a wash-tub and go out along the beach with a pitchfork after dark. We took lanterns because it seemed that the light would attract the crabs. We’d go along the beach in shallow water, just fork them up and dump them into the tub. Then we boiled them right on the beach.
“Of course we had other entertainment besides beach parties. There were the monthly birthday parties at Woodland Hall when everybody who could sing or dance or put on a play would take part after we’d had a big pot-luck supper. Everybody came from tiny kids to grandpas and grandmas.
“Then there were dances. There was a dance hall at Cultus Bay, one at Clinton, one at Langley, then later the Bayview hall was built. Also we’d have card parties in our homes. We’d make our own fun right at home. Money wasn’t flying around on trees like it is now, but we really had some good times. The women had quilting parties. We’d all get together in the biggest house available because it took a lot of space to stretch the quilts out on their frames. Each of us would piece our quilt blocks at home, then we’d put the pieced blocks together on a frame and tie them. It seemed like everybody in the community had a hand- pieced quilt.
“We didn’t have any money in those days but we raised our own gardens, had our own eggs and milk and meat, and we made our own fun. We were just as happy as anyone could be. Down at Sunlight Beach, the Kohlwes family had a big filbert farm and we used to go nutting there every fall and get a big sack full of nuts.”
Doris Carter was born in Sheffield, England where her father was a coal miner. When she was two and half years old her parents Charles and Isabelle Jepson, moved to British Columbia and then over the border into Washington near Tonasket where they took up ranching. It was there that she met and married Chester Carter. They worked in an apple orchard for a few years before coming to South Whidbey. Early in the 1920’s, Chester’s parents had purchased 30 acres in Midvale and they urged their son and his wife to join them. After visiting South Whidbey Island, Chester and Doris liked it so well that they purchased 15 acres from the senior Carters and built a two-room house on the property.
At that time the main road to north Whidbey still ran through Midvale and the Carter farm was right beside it. Doris continues her account of their early struggle to earn a living.
“Our oldest son Glen was four-and-a-half years old when we arrived at Midvale in December 1926, and our other son Lloyd was born the following March.
“After we got our house built and the new baby arrived, we didn’t have much money so Chester got a job working for Mr. Nearhoff in Clinton on one of his two little ferry boats. He worked all that first summer as engineer, purser, and did everything else except steer the boat.
“All the help they had on those little ferry boats was a deck hand and the pilot. They carried about twenty cars. The engineer ran the ferry and he had to fire the engine with wood. After they would get the boat underway Chester would run up and collect the fares from the people on the boat and stick the money in his pockets until he could take it downstairs and put it in a cigar box. They made the crossing from Columbia Beach to Mukilteo about every hour. They didn’t stay long on either side. There were piles of cord-wood beside each dock and also an old truck. At the end of each trip they’d run and get a load of wood, throw it on the truck, drive up to the ferry and fire up the engines, in order to get the boat back and forth across Saratoga Passage.
“We moved into a little house on Columbia Beach that summer so Chester could be close to his work. Chester worked for Nearhoff until the Blackball people came in with a bigger ferry and started running it back and forth right along side of Mr. Nearhoff’s boat. Of course they were trying to put him out of business.
“Chester didn’t care too much for the rough weather and the storms on the water and he could see that Mr. Nearhoff was going to be put out of business so he quit ferry-boating. We moved back to our Midvale ranch and Chester went to work in the woods, logging, and also working our little farm. By then we had some cows and chickens. The logging camps had a bunk-house where the men stayed. Most of the time Chester would drive back and forth but if the job got too far from home he would have to stay at camp and I took care of the cows and chickens.
“Later Chester was employed by the county on their road grader and he worked for them for over 25 years, first on dirt roads and later on blacktop. Eventually we left the Midvale ranch and made the move to our home on Humphrey Road in Clinton.”
Doris still lives there as this is being written. Chester died in 1965 and is buried in the Bayview cemetery. Their son Lloyd is head of the South Whidbey School maintenance department and lives with his wife and family just above Sunlight Beach. Their son Glen has worked for Safeway for 35 years and lives with his family in Kirkland.