Person:George Longmore (2)

BEP

Utah Timeline (1870,1880,1890), Idaho Timeline (1900,1910,1920,1930,1940,1950)

George Brooks Longmore was born October 17, 1875 at East Millcreek, Salt Lake County, Utah to Henry Charles and Amelia Ann Jones Longmore. His mother died at his birth and his early boyhood was spent with his maternal grandparents.

At the age of sixteen he moved in with his Uncle Edmund Howicks family to West Jordan, Salt Lake County, Utah. He met Maud Mary Walters December 5, 1900 and they were married February 20, 1901 by Elwin Williams. While living in West Jordan two sons were born to them.

He worked at the smelters at Murray, Utah until 1904, at which time he moved with his wife and children to Coltman, Idaho.

He was employed at the Utah and Idaho Sugar Company at Lincoln, Idaho and worked on various construction jobs among them the Blackfoot sugar factory and the construction of the first brick buildings at Ashton, Idaho in 1906 and 1907. From 1910 to 1915 he was self-employed in his own blacksmith shop at Coltman.

While living at Coltman one son and one daughter were born. In February 1915 he moved to Thomas, Idaho. While living at Thomas one more son was born to them.

He became active in the Church and was advanced in the priesthood. In 1920 he reached a milestone in his life by going with his wife and family to the Logan Temple and being endowed and sealed in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

He has been active in the ward as ward teacher and has assisted in various building and remodeling projects in the Thomas Ward, where he still resides at this writing in January 1956.

BLACKSMITH SHOP ^[3]

A blacksmith shop opened its doors for business on the Thomas town site in the spring of 1915, and it proved to be very helpful to the community, and very successful to the owner, George B. (Shorty) Longmore. He is still in business though not so actively. Shorty recalls that Ed Van Orden was the first customer to his place of business. He brought two plow shears to be sharpened. The location of the shop was on the south side of the road, in front of the schoolhouse; where the schoolteachers' homes now stand. In 1917 it was moved to its present location, just west of the Snake River Jr. High School.

Shorty was a very good smith and had a natural knack for repairing broken farm machinery. He has saved the farmers in this community thousands of dollars by repairing a broken, worn-out machine, tools and other articles. His prices were never high and often too low for his own good. He has often remarked that a blacksmith could only be sent to hell for two things, and he was guilty of both. One was for pounding cold iron and the other was for not charging enough. When everything went wrong and the tide of life was at a low ebb, one quotation always seemed to ease him over the situation, "Damned if it ain't the damnedest; by hell."

It made no difference when a person came to his shop day or night. He always considered it his responsibility to see that the p person was fixed up so he could get back on the job.

At one time in the horse and buggy days, a fancy team from Gibbs Livery Barn stopped in front of his shop. Seeing him in the shop the man shouted out, "Hey, kid, which one of these roads can I take to Tilden? Without looking up Short y answered, "Take any one you like; we'll build another."

Shorty recalls that when the farmers got good prices for their produce, they bought and used good equipment; when they received poor prices, they brought their old broken and worn out machinery ad tools to him to be repaired and sharpened so they could use them. Especially was this true during the depression that started in the 1930's. Although it brought a lot of work his way that was not all it brought. People did not have the money to buy new machinery; neither did they have the money to pay for the repairing of the old, so it was put on the books until fall. When fall came it was still worse, they didn't have money enough to pay the banker and the ones who held the mortgage; so Shorty was left holding the "bag". Many people lost their homes and all they ha d. Shorty is thankful that that never happened to him. The farms were rented by mortgage companies to new renters. They, too, were poor, and brought their machinery to be repaired and had no money with which to pay, so it was put on the books until fall. They too lost out and moved on leaving their bills unpaid. At the end of the depression, Shorty had $4,082.00 worth of bad bills. During the years that followed $90.00 of it was paid back. The r rest was chalked up to bad business and good experience.

Shorty also recalls that during World War II when the government took over everything, farm machinery was not to be bought, even though the farmers had the money to buy. The tools and equipment necessary to run the farms could not be had; as the result, they went to the junk-pile and dug out their old broken and worn-out tools and brought them to the shop to be repaired so they could do their farming. He said that he worked almost day and night on this kind of equipment to keep the farmer on the job. He felt it his duty to his friends and to his country, to do his little job the best he could.

Here are some prices for 1915

Horse-shoeing--nails and shoe furnished and tacked on horse, per shoe$ .50
Set 2 inch wagon wheel   1.00 
Sharpen plow shear   .35
Nose and sharpen plow shear  1.25
Work rate per hour   .50
Comparative prices in 1956
No horse and wagon   ?
Sharpen plow shear  1.50
Nose and sharpen plow shear  3.00
Work rate per hour   3.50

Shorty still maintains though he worked hard, lost a lot of money and met some people who didn't like him, that Thomas is the best place on earth. Here he made his home, reared his family, and made a good living; and last, but not least, he made a host of good friends that are worth more than all the money that could be piled up.

Notes

1. ↑ GPS Coordinates.

   GPS Coordinates for cemetery: 43 11.778 / -112 29.020 Phone: 208-684-3861

2. ↑ United States Bureau of the Census. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington, District of Columbia: The National Archives, 19--?)
   1255337/Page 237D.

   Age 4, Head of house in the census is Henry Jones.

3. ↑ The Blacksmith Shop is an article from the book Miracle of the desert : a history of the Thomas Ward and surrounding communities