That Sycamore Tree is My Twin

Stories from Diblee Poett, the grand old man of Rancho San Julian. Now in his 90's, Dibbs has worked the ranch his entire life.

What did you like to do when you were a kid?

Oh! We climbed trees. That was one of the things we liked to do, and we never fell. Yes, we used to climb trees, my sister and I, and we would go barefoot, believe it or not, all around, all the time. After awhile your feet get calloused so you can go almost everywhere. We wore great big straw hats, and one day we were walking along and we happened to get into the middle of a patch of little prickelotas ---somehow before we knew it we were into it-- so we had to throw our hats down to get out.

And we used to ride a lot when we were young. Nan and Frederica and I were each given a horse, horses that were not very good for the ranch hands because they'd been cut in the wire, or something like that. I had a horse once and he had a wire cut, and whenever he was going from home he always limped, but on the way back he never limped.

One day we were riding and we got into a nest of yellow jackets, and they got all around us. I jumped off the horse and was running around a bush about the size of this room. The bees were following me, and the horse was following me, and I couldn't get away, so I jumped into the middle of the bush!

What kind of wildlife have you seen on the ranch?

You name it! We've got skunks, coyotes, coons, bears, lions, all kinds of birds, though no more condors, deer, possums, badgers -- everything you can imagine, almost everything. Lots of birds. The animals like the creek -- habitat, water, protection from their enemies.

Are there fish in the creek?

There used to be. In the old days, there were a lot of pools in the creek, and there used to be the brook trout, which was very good to fish and eat. We used to like to do that, but they started farming the hillsides, and the pools got filled up, so there aren't many left. They've been bringing in other fish like the rainbow trout, and the rainbow trout kill the brook trout.

How long did it take you to get to school?

It took me - well, we lived in this house, and the school was right down here about a half mile, right there where old San Julian schoolhouse is, so it didn't take very long. My brother used to ride to school from Yridises and it took him about an hour. He'd have to go out to catch his pony, saddle it up, and come to school, so he rode five miles to school every day, and was there on time. Then we moved to Santa Barbara. We lived within a half mile from Roosevelt School and he was always late for school.

Was Vista around?

No. Vista didn't exist when I went to school. It started when they consolidated the county schools. Long after my time.

How many kids were in your class?

I think there were eight, probably eight or ten. It was a one-room schoolhouse. The school grades were not segregated. It was just a great big long room and the grades were seated all together, each in logical order. There weren't many young children. There were kindergarten, but I don't remember anybody under the age of three or four years old. But the children who came here had to come in buggies and on horseback. There were no automobiles. They used to come from over the hill that way, way down from Los Amoles, El Jaro, Yridises, La Golondrina...

My sister and I used to come to school from Yridises on horseback and we'd meet friends at the alamo and race with them. We had a sulky cart and the horses pulled it, and we would go along at a fine pace. We used to race the others who had a buggy and couldn't go so fast as we could.

Were you a good student?

No.

Who was your best friend?

When I was going to school in Santa Barbara, a private school in Montecito, my best friend out there was a man named Teddy Greenfield. He always beat me in the shooting matches. They were NRA shooting contests and Greenie would always beat me. He'd win the state title and I would be second. But he was my best friend. He later went on to become D.A. in Sonoma County. One day he was driving along the river and his truck turned over and hit him and after that he wasn't very good at the law profession. He had to sell all his books, and later he died. I had a lot of good friends, though.

What was Christmas morning like in the old days?

Let me tell you a Christmas story about my father. My father worked in Santa Barbara while we lived here during 1917 and 1918, during the war; he left Santa Barbara on the train and got off at Gaviota. It was raining, and he walked from Gaviota to here in the dark with his pack of toys on his back. It was a canvas bag -- they didn't have plastic in those days. And so he was walking along, whipped by rain and wind, the bag soaked through, and he was just across the creek down here, and it was very dark. He walked along, and he stumbled over a bull. All of the toys got scattered around, and the bull went one way and my father the other, and so that was our Christmas. We didn't have any Christmas when he got home. All the toys were scattered in the mud.

How were the roads between Santa Barbara and San Julian?

Well, I'll tell you. It was a winding road. They didn't have any heavy equipment in those days, and all the work was done by horses, so whenever a canyon came, you had to go into the canyon and out, into the canyon and out. And at Arroyo Hondo, where J.J. Hollister lives, the road went way down the canyon and around that way. It was a dirt road. You couldn't go more than twenty-five or so, and it was dusty -- there was no cement on the road. So it took a long time to get to town from here. We had the Model T Ford; the Model T was about the only car that would navigate through the mud. And the roads were all muddy, no cement or gravel or anything. Oh, it was awful!

Do you have any memories of the Hollister Ranch?

Some. In the old days, we used to ship our cattle from Gaviota when they had to go to market. We'd drive down the road, which is now the highway, and drive our cattle down to Gaviota Station. A man was supposed to ride ahead with a red flag. Well, there was a Greyhound bus, and the driver wouldn't stop, so the bull and the bus had a conflict. The bus ran into the bull and the bull stood its ground. The radiator got busted and the bus stopped and a woman fell out of the front seat. The Greyhound people sued us but we won the suit because we proved we had a driver with a red flag.

After awhile we were not allowed to drive cattle down there, not because of this incident, but because there was so much traffic there through Gaviota Pass. Instead, we had to drive our cattle over the hill to the Hollister Ranch. They had a station called Drake. So we drove our cattle over and shipped them from Drake. There was a big corral near the railroad and a chute that went up to the cars. We would manually load the cars. It took quite a long time, but it was a lot of fun. We were always good friends with the Hollisters. Jim Hollister was a good friend of ours and let us drive our cattle over the hills.

What was it like during the Great Depression?

It was terribly gloomy. Oh, it was awful! Cattle prices dropped to almost nothing. Believe it or not, I sold cattle for a cent and a half a pound. Whereas now they sell for 75 or 80 cents a pound. Then, later on, prices went up a little bit, but even up to the time we went out of the cattle business in 1969, we were only getting about 18 cents a pound for beef, and so it wasn't worth our trouble, raising cattle. Too many men, too much trouble.

How did World War II affect ranch life?

All of a sudden the war came along and they needed beans -- navy beans, small white ones, so we started raising beans. And the horses pulled a big tractor. That's what started farming on the ranch -- the war.

What time of year is your favorite?

I guess springtime. We always liked the springtime, and then we were always sad when the grass dried up. Then my aunt showed me how pretty the dried grass is in the summer, and it is. But it's always the springtime that I love, when the grass is green. And I used to love the winter, too, because I didn't mind the cold so much in those days, or the rains. I'd get out in the rain, because when the green grass came, that's the time I liked the best.

When was the arbor built?

The arbor was built in 1910, and I can still remember being outside with my mother when it was going up.

One year I had a big barbecue, and the grapes weren't very good, so I went out to Lompoc and bought a crate of emperor grapes and hung 'em up!

In the summer, the wisteria will take over the arbor. They're stronger than the grapes. But it's beautiful.

That sycamore tree was planted the year I was born. I don't know whether it's a girl or a boy, but it's my twin.

What are you most proud of?

I'm most proud that we have been able to hang onto the land, over all these many years.