Ditch Defenders by Dallas Max Schneider

Ditch Defenders by Dallas Max Schneider (Added to and edited by Bryonny Van Camp)

(Original info Provided by Dallas Max Schneider and added/edited by Bryonny Van Camp- I figured Grandpa Max wouldn't mind as he loved improving a good story).

There was a ditch from the mountain spring that Orval Dallas's Father, Frank William Schneider, has built to irrigate part of the farm on their 400 Acres in Burley Idaho.  This ditch was very important to the family, not only because it was their source of water and irrigation, but because their father had built it before he died.  Frank William dug this 30 ft cistern by hand because there were no utilities in the area at the time (an impressive feat for any man, and especially impressive while he suffered from tuberculosis).   He often would take Orval Dallas and Les, his sons, to the mouth of the spring and he would tell his boys to put their ears to the rock so they could hear the rushing water.  Side Note:  Dallas Max Schneider (son of Orval Dallas), at the age of 14, went to visit the old Idaho family farm and the ditch was still there, Max marveled at the strength of the grandfather, Frank William, he had never had the privilege of meeting in this life).

Life on a new farm was very hard, especially after their provider Frank William died and they were a long way from the help of their other relatives in Missouri, where they had moved from just a couple years before.  The little family was struggling and had 2 years of crop failure during this time.  Times were very tough and desperate for all the farmers in the area.

It soon came the the families attention that, someone up stream was diverting and siphoning off some of their water, however they didn't have any difinative proof.. yet.  Obviously this was extremely unacceptable and called for drastic measures to be undertaken as the family survival depended on this life giving water. 

Hattie Barnett Schneider, the widow of Frank William Schneider, was not to be messed with, she needed to be tough in this harsh frontier land and she was very concerned about protecting her water rights.   So one night Hattie, with her sons, Orval Dallas and Les, crept up to the ditch and lay there all night by the ditch with a loading 30-30 riffle waiting to see who the despicable person was that was taking their water.  At the dark of midnight under the pale moon, they saw outline of a figure approaching, and as he came closer they recognized their neighbor that had came with a shovel to steal the water. 

Fearless Hattie called the man by name and bellowed: "This is the widow Schneider.  Don't steal my water!" 

The neighbor, surely not afraid of a single women, said "Who's going to stop me?" 

She said "This gun and my boys" and to back up the claim, the sound of a riffle being cocked and then a single shot being fired rang out in the silent evening and it was all the proof that the neighbor needed that now was not the time to start a fight.

The neighbor said, "Now.. don't do anything rash!"  as he turned around and ran back to his house like a frightened coward.

They had to take him to court to make him stop permanently, but that incident showed that Hattie Barnett Schneider and her family was not one to be trifled with.

Frank William "Willy" Schneider

Frank William Schneider

Frank William Schneider was the son for Frank Xavier (or Zavier) Schneider and Anna Josephina Noerthmann, and was Born on the July 21, 1876 in West Plains Howell County Missouri and died on October 6th 1913 in Burley, Cassia County, Idaho.  Frank married in West Plans on September 24th 1898 to Hattie Barnett, the daughter of James Dallas Barnett and Tennessee Gunter.  Hattie Barnett was born January 28, 1881 in West Plains and died June 16, 1955 in Santa Ana, Orange California.  After the death of Frank, Hattie remarried and had one child by a second husband Hyrum Clarence Austin.--By Brock Guernsey

Memories of Frank William by Dallas Max Schneider

He (Frank William, also known to friends and family as Willy) came from a large family and was in the middle.  His father (Frank Xaiver Schneider) was a civil war veteran.  We know Willy could add and subtract, since he ran a little store later, but not much else about his childhood.  In the winter he also worked as a traveling salesman.  He was tall about 6'4".  He picked up tuberculosis or "consumption", so the doctor told him to move to a dryer climate. 

He went to Burley Idaho and bought 400 aces for farmland, then built a house on it.  There were no utilities, so he dug a trench from a spring in the mountains for irrigation.  Orval Dallas, his son, was 6 years old when they moved from Missouri.

He would take his sons,Orval Dallas and Les, to the mouth of the spring and he would tell the boys to put their ears to the rock so they could hear the rushing water.  He told them that some day he would harness electricity to take care of all of Burley.

He felt better in Idaho, but slowly failed from the tuberculosis.  He died at age 37.  The family was so badly frighten that they all ran outside-except Dallas.

Max (Dallas Max Schneider-son of Orval Dallas and grandson of Frank William) never saw this grandfather but always felt close to him.  He had a dream at one time that Dallas and Willy came to Grande Cleaners (Dallas Max's Dry Cleaning Business) and the looked just alike.

Relatives told Max that Willy was the kindest man that ever lived.

Orval Dallas Schneider The Early Years-by Dallas Max Schneider

Orval Dallas Schneider-The Early Years
Excerpt from Remembrances of Orval Dallas Schneider, My Father

By His Son Dallas Max Schneider 

He was my father and l owe him reverence for that. I also honor him, not only for my life but the quality of life that he wanted for his children. Everything he did not have as a child and young adult was given to his children, as he labored mightily to provide.

Orval Dallas was born in a small town of southwest Missouri, called, West Plains, The date of his birth was May 24, 1902. His father, my grandfather was also born there. Grandfather, Frank William Schneider died when he was 38 years old and I never saw or knew him.

Orval Dallas grew up without the wisdom and guidance of his father. Orval Dallas was 9 years old when grandfather Schneider passed away leaving his wife (Hattie Barnett Schneider) with 5 small children to raise on a failing dry farm in Burley, Idaho.

The family had moved to Idaho because Frank William felt better physically, there in the dry, arid west. In Missouri, it was humid and hot in the summer and he had a hard time breathing that wet, heated, heavy air. He probably had tuberculosis but they called it consumption in those days.

My father had a scant memory of his childhood days but he told me that he started smoking cigars at age 7 because everyone else did. I asked him, "didn't your parents object?"

 "Yes they did but we all snuck around them and smoked in secret. All of the men smoked, except my dad. He did not smoke. We had plenty of bad examples around us."