Red Boots Adventures: Wild West Life Stories of a Young Girl on Mt. Hood Lumberjacks, Native Americans and Mountain Lions

By Heather Bradrick

In 1905, there was more to an Oregon dairy and apple
orchard than milking cows and picking apples. Life was
slower paced, but never dull as mischievous ten-yearold
Josephine gets talked into a logrolling contest on
Hood River by her brothers. She is introduced to Native
Americans and comes face to face with a mountain
lion! She is even in on planning the “great escape” to
a forbidden barn dance with all her siblings. Papa, a
Civil War veteran, would never approve, but he didn’t
need to know!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798765231678

Heather Bradrick

It was 1967 when my father informed me that my grandmother had been born before the turn of the last century, in 1896. I suddenly realized that my Grandma had been there for lumberjacks, Indians and genuine original horsepower! I flooded her with questions about her life at my age of 10. Grandma said to me, “I will tell you about our family history so you will not be lost... without roots.” This book, Red Boots Adventures is a collection of her childhood stories.

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Copyright © 2022 Heather Bradrick.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Cover Design and Illustrations by Heather Bradrick

ISBN: 979-8-7652-3077-0 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-7652-3167-8 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 06/05/2024

Dedicated to You... The Next Generation and Beyond

About the Author

It was 1967 when my father informed me that my grandmother had been born before the turn of the last century, in 1896. I suddenly realized that my Grandma had been there for lumberjacks, Indians and genuine original horsepower! I flooded her with questions about her life at my age of 10. Grandma said to me, I will tell you about our family history so you will not be lost... without roots. This book, Red Boots Adventures is a collection of her childhood stories.

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1     Boots

Chapter 2     Who Trapped Who

Chapter 3     Charlie The Pig

Chapter 4     Elderberry Wine

Chapter 5     Sidesaddle

Chapter 6     Games

Chapter 7     The Mountain Lion

Chapter 8     The Barn Dance

Chapter 9     Maggie

Chapter 10   Progress or Not

Chapter 11   Fire

Author’s Notes

PREFACE

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I was born and raised in the Colorado Desert of Southern California. The thermometer hanging in the shade behind our house, routinely read 125 to 132°F on the hottest days. We so-called desert rats, had our ways of coping with these extremes. In 1966, I stopped coping. I was nine years old and my world came to a screeching halt when Mother passed away. Dad had to threaten a spanking every morning to get me out of bed. Oh, I’d make it to the bus and my fourth-grade class, but I walked in a fog. Or maybe, it was a blinding sandstorm, and the shifting whispering sands were seeping into my bones and filling in the oasis where my heart once lived. I was parched to my soul. I began to think of Grandma, my mother’s mother.

Grandma had not one but two green thumbs. She could just look at something and it would grow! She had rose gardens and plum trees. We had creosote and mesquite. She had a front yard full of green grass. We had bleached sand. Grandma’s heart was deep as a well. I came out of my fog long enough to request that my father take me to Grandma. This he granted and once a month we would spend a whole weekend - a hundred miles away in Yucaipa - with Grandma.

One particular visit, I went dashing through the kitchen on my way outside to my favorite tree. One could usually find me either sitting on or hanging upside down from the branches of my tree friends. I spotted Grandma on my way through the kitchen. It suddenly occurred to me that I did not know her middle name. I stopped to ask. Grandma said, My middle name is Victoria. This made her full maiden name, Josephine Victoria Morton and her married name Josephine Victoria Wilkins. Continuing on, Grandma said, In our family, the oldest daughter would be named for her mother and her mother’s mother. This means, had I been the oldest daughter, then my first name would have been the same as my grandmother’s first name and my middle name, the same as my mother’s middle name. As it was, I was given the same middle name as my mother. This was news to me because I was not named in that fashion. Mother sent that tradition out the window for my generation. I wondered what other traditions were broken with me. I looked at Grandma. How did your mother get the name Victoria? I asked. The Queen. Grandmother replied. The Queen? I exclaimed. I was thinking – We have presidents here. Grandma must have heard my thoughts and immediately clarified, Queen Victoria. Children could also be named after an important relative or after the Queen. What was she the queen of? I asked. England, she said. Nevertheless, I knew grandmother’s sisters called her Jo which was short for Josephine. What did your classmates call you, Grandma? I wondered. Boots! she replied. Now that begs a story, don’t you think?

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Grandma

It was 1967 when my father informed me that my grandmother had been born before the turn of the last century, in 1896. I suddenly realized that my Grandma had been there for lumberjacks,