Evening star., 1936-09-12
By Dennis r. Smith.

h1lISlQeS ABOVE ciud, q oiC-S'icSe
Duck Creek town in the hills Of
Southeastern Ohio, the Republican
party might very likely have been
without its present presidential can
didate.
1t was there that Alfred M. Landon
spent his early boyhood when the
oil boom was on and little Allies big
moment was a ride with Dutton. OIL
we'll shooter, on his nitroglycer1n
wagon.
Elba in those days had much in
common with the towns which Sprang
UP in the West during the gold rush.
Oil had been discovered in South
eastern Ohio and the hillsides which
once grew nothing but wild black
berries became thick with derricks.
At night the valley glowed with the
light of crude-oil flares burning about
the drillings, while the chug of steam
engines and the creak of walking
beams sounded the accompaniment to
O rough. busy life.
One of the pioneers in the new oil
field was John Landon. lease boss for
an Eastern oil company. He was so
successful that he felt able to get
married and brought his bride from
PENNSYLVANIA to keep house in lit
tie, roughboard cottage on the towns
one street.
When it came time for young Alfred
to make his debut in the world. the
young parents were worried. They
knew nothing of the doctors about
Elba. but they had confidence in their
family physician back in West Mid
dlesex, Pa, so they returned home
and the boy was born there. just a
few miles too far east to be born an
Ohioan.
As soon as mother and baby were
able to travel they went back to Elba,
where the boy spent his early child
hood. The town offered no amuse-
ments for children, but young Alfred
was fortunate, for Glib Dutton, living
Just across the narrow dirt street, had
a wagon and a team of horses and
the little Landon boy made his ac-
ouaintance as soon as he was able to
toddle. 1t was not long until their
friendship had reached the point
where Dutton could not drive out of
his yard without little Alfred on the
seat behind him or clambering on the
end of the wagon.
IT WAS dangerous business, to be
sure. The oil country knew what
1t meant when an explosion roared
down the valley, shattering all the
windows for q mile and leaving a
great hole in the ground. Relatives
and friends went out and gathered up
scraps of shoes and gallus buckles
and, in favored cases, few frag-
ments of the driver himself over
which to hold obsequies. The OIL
country people were used to danger
GUS business and, anyway. a few
hundred feet made little difference
when load Of nitroglycerin let 60. so
nobody interfered when the little boy
wanted to ride with the oil-well
shooter.
These pictures you see in the
paper of Landon riding horses are the
real thing" said Dutton, a little
touched with rheumatism, but still all
in one piece after lifetime spent in
the Oil fields.
HE could ride as soon as he could
walk. When I came back from the
fields I'd always find him waiting
down along the road for a ride back
home with me. Then I'd unhitch the
horses and Alfie would ride old Fred
while / rode his mate and we'd take
them down to the creek to water
them. had letter from him not so
very long ago and he promised that
when he came back this way he is 60
ing to stop and visit us.
Hell find the town changed A lot
OF it was washed away when Duck
Greek went on rampage during the
1913 food and 1t was never rebuilt
It didn't touch the Landon house
though, and 1t stands today just as It
did when the Landon family lived
there"
The rest OF the town does not share
Duttons enthusiasm over the fact that
it was the boyhood home of a presi-
Dental candidate. In the post office
building, 20 feet long parallel with the
main street and 10 feet wide, coun-
ter cuts off little corner for Federal
business, while the rest is devoted to
the postmaSters' confectionery shop.
The postmaster and his wife were
rocking in comfortable rocking chairs
In corner opposite the letter shelves
Yes, I believe the Landon house is
still standing" said the postmaster
without rising. You better ask Glib
Dutton. He knows more about it than
anybody else"
John LANDON and his wife deter
mined early TO give their boy the
best schooling that their means af.
forded. E1ba had nothing but drat
little one-room school building, it
there were good schools in Marietta
the county seat. 20 miles away. so the
family moved there when Alfred was
G years old.
He entered Harmar School, on the
site Of old Fort Harmar, where a pio-
heer garrison held the frontier against
tA'" AhN4a'Ls UclOIt tIle Town or MARI
eta was founded. 149 years ago. The
family home was at 223 Franklin
street, q short distance from the school
and on the west side OF the Muskin-
gum River, which to Mariettans at
that time had little OF the meaning
OF the other side OF the railroad
tracks"
The family lived there for six years
and during this time Alfred was the
Kind OF a boy who did little that
would leave anecdotes.
He was the kind OF a boy" SAYS
DR.. Anna Preston, a neighbor. that
people Ike TO have in their neighbor-
hood
He kept chickens and sold the eggs
TO neighbors to get spending money
He had a pony and was generous In
letting his young friends ride it, Fa-
Vorite OF all his pets, however, was a
nondescript dog which was his con-
Etant companion. His next hest friend