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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 30
Sam works in a big shed close to the house. It's made of rough slab lumber, which means saw marks and second cut, about 1 x 12 with 1 x 4's to cover the cracks (board and batten). The shed has one big room and a little kitchen leaned off. Sam always has something going on in his shop. Walter Joiner, a black youth (Claudie and Parthenia Joiner Horton's son) comes to Sam's shop and sometimes stays a half a day. He likes to see the work Sam does at the forge, and he learns while he watches. He says Sam Harris will help anyone who has a desire to learn and “to do.” Sam tells Walter about what he's doing, and Walter helps out by cranking the bellows. Sam is creative. On his gristmill he made a spider gear (a small wheel that meshes inside a larger wheel) out of wood. Sam makes whatever he wants out of wood and steel. He made rakes that are about 16 feet wide to drag and break up dirt clods. To make them, he would heat long spikes, have a hole drilled in the timber, and let the spike burn itself in and wedge. The spikes would usually stand up or be tilted, but Sam put a lever on it. The spikes are set in a small 6 foot by 6 foot log, with a lever of oak. He notches every other log, staggering the holes, so he won't have two spikes dragging in the same place. In addition to everything else, Sam has one of the best fishing ponds around. He built some wooden boats, which he rents to people who want to go and fish on the pond. The pond has become a bit of a recreational place where people gather. It's time for us to leave Pond Beat. I hope you've enjoyed the journey. Groundbreaking day for the Horton School. The men pictured were the trustees of the school. They were: Frank Jacobs, Henry Lacy, Wattie Timmons, Yancy Horton, and Alva Jacobs. Yancy Horton donated the land for the school; he and the people of the Pond Beat community built it. [Alva Jacobs who is pictured was the uncle of the boy of the same name who is in the story presented above.] NOTE: According to the source of this photograph, Pearl Horton Higgenbotham, when the photograph was published in the July 2, 1980 edition of the Redstone Rocket, the men were identified incorrectly, thus, they may be identified incorrectly in other places where the photograph is on record. 30 - (4063)