San Bernardino- California's Central Valley drew the majority of the Depression-era
migrants from the Midwest, but more than just a few passed through San Bernardino in their
quest for work.
"I remember seeing them come into town all the time," said Fred Holladay, a
longtime San Bernardino resident. "You'd see a number of cars all piled up with
everything but the kitchen sink, and that was probably there too, if you picked around a
bit," he said. But the opportunities for migrants here were few.
The railroads were the major local employers at the time, and they had few jobs to
offer the unskilled. Even their longtime, skilled employees found their hours being cut
back, Holladay said. His father was fortunate enough to have a steady job with the Pacific
Fruit Express, a railroad operation established to haul produce to market. But keeping
that job required some major adjustments in his personal life.
"He worked through part of the Depression and then he was sent to work in their
plant in Roseville. They had a big icing plant up there and he went there and worked
steady," Holladay said. "They just moved their employees around to where ever
they needed them", he said.
Because refrigerated railroad cars did not yet exist, railroads established icing
plants along their routes so perishable items could be iced down to prevent spoilage.
But some railroad employees didn't fare as well as Holladay's father.
"A lot of people didn't work more than two or three days a week, and they'd been
with the railroads for years", he said.
An employee who complained about such treatment had little to gain. There were too many
other people eager to fill his job.
Some guy got mad at my dad one day and told him, "You don't like your job? You see
those people out there? We'll just get one of them to take your place". Holladay
said.
Young people also felt the pressure of the Depression. Many quit school to take low
paying jobs and help out their families.
"I had to quit school and go to work because Mom was losing the house and
everything else. It was bad", said a woman who lived in Colton at the time. She asked
that her name not be used.
"Everybody was just dirt poor back then. Butter cost 8 cents a pound and bread was
11 cents a loaf, but it didn't matter because no one had even that much money," she
said.
S.H.Kress and Co., a five and dime store located at Third and E. Streets in San
Bernardino, employed more than a few high school-age girls trying to help out their
families.
Those who lived on small farms fared somewhat better. Their gardens and farm animals
kept their families fed and they shared their food with others.
"Everybody kind of took care of everybody else," said Virgil Hicks, who lived
in the Highland and San Bernardino area since his family moved here in 1919. He grew up on
a 10-acre farm his parents owned on East Base Line, across from the Base Line Laundry.
"We had a group of gypsies come through and I remember my dad giving them milk and
eggs," he said.
Because his father worked at Santa Fe Railway, Hicks was able to get a job there, too.
"He got me in. If someone knew you, you could usually get a job," he said.
Those with homes and jobs grew accustomed to people knocking on their doors, seeking
work or a little food.
"They weren't bums. They were just people who needed help, "Holladay said.
Many of the down-and-out congregated in shanty towns thrown up near the railroad lines,
he said.
"Whenever you took the train anywhere, on each side of the track there would be
nothing but little shanties and shacks. They built them out of corrugated metal or just
anything they could find," Holladay said.
Holladay and Hicks agreed the Depression was hard on many San Bernardino business
people.
"A lot of stores closed down", Hicks said. "It was a bad time for a lot
of people."
But the hardship didn't seem to lead to much crime, the men said.
"There wasn't that much trouble", Hicks said. "There wasn't any
meanness."
