The fresno and my Dad.

I can remember watching my Dad excavate for the basement of a church in Pomona with his team of horses and a fresno excavator. The fresno excavator was developed and patented in Fresno, California. I am sure that you agree that the earth moving equipment of today is a huge improvement. It happened in my lifetime.

There were larger fresnos that required teams of four or six horses.

The high point of my Dad's working career is when he obtained a team of horses and worked them in the orange orchards in the Pomona Valley in the twenties..

I remember the team. They were named Bert and Beck. I can remember chewing on the rolled oats. There is better food for a little boy!

My Dad, Charles Abner Monson, worked with horses from his birth in Kentucky, 20 years in Kansas on his Uncle's farm, and many years as a farmhand in Southern California. He was a teamster when teamsters worked with horses.