The Fosters/Tuduri Olives JOHN
DEERE TIMES
In my previous write-up I had left off during the years I
had worked for the Anglo as Cattle-Buyer and started working at John Deere
Argentina SAIC. (1964-1975)
John Deere Argentina
was, for many years, represented locally by Agar, Cross & Co.
Agar, Cross & Co. had their commercial offices in the
beautiful building built in 1907 that still stands at Paseo Colon and Venezuela (in the city of Buenos Aires). It represented many foreign companies and in
its day was one of the most important firms in Argentina. Amongst its many clients
it represented John Deere tractors and agricultural implements which were sold
under the name of “El Triunfo”.
However, during 1958 John Deere built its own manufacturing
facilities in the town of
Granadero Baigorria in
the
province of Santa Fé. Coming into the market with
the 730 model tractor and other agricultural implements which were a great
success within a country that was in deep need of modernizing its agricultural
farming.. Later came the JD445 tractor with a two stroke GM engine (built under
license of General Motors) and at the warehouse in Buenos Aires the JD
5010/5020 of 145 H.P. were imported from USA. For further information refer to:
http://www.deere.com.ar/wps/dcom/es_AR/regional_home.page
John Deere had its commercial offices in the first floor of
the Agar, Cross building.
John Deere had to compete, in those early days, with the
following companies: Fiat, Fahr, Deutz, and Hanomag (the latter was later on
bought by Massey Ferguson which came out to the market with its own tractors).
I started working in JD in June 1964 and I realized that I
had to put away my saddle as I now started riding Iron horses
During my time the Management was made up as follows:
President Mr. Klimberg replaced by Mr. A. Solesio
Vice-President:
Mr. Zaumbrecker
Sales Manager:
Mr. Neil Larkin Hall – replaced by Mr. Arthur Anderson
Regional Managers:
Messrs. Abadie, Bill Wallace, Galdeano.
Accountants:
Messrs. Alan Clewell, John Kirton and Roberto Didone
Service Manager:
Mr.Ian Foster
Spare-parts Managers:
Messrss Castiñeira - Jorge Montoto – Philip Fuller
Publicity Manager:
Mr.John Agar. Later; became Sub-Sales Manager and later
still, Manager
in JD Iberia, being
replaced by Mr.Kenneth Murray.
At the same time joined as trainees for Territory Managers:
Charles Agar, Peter Melat, Alberto Brescia and Ernst Harnan.
It was an enjoyable crowd to work for with a strong team
spirit. Salaries were good and we had a monthly adjustment for cost of living.
And our orders were that, as we represented an important company, where ever we
traveled we had to stay at the best hotels and use the best restaurants.
Right from the beginning our training started and Charles
Agar and I were sent down to Bahia
Blanca (Prov. of Bs.As.) to attend a schooling of the
730 model tractor conducted by Mr.D´Espirlet and took place at the large
warehouse JD had in that city.
I do remember it was bitterly cold and on arrival we were
received by the Area Manager Sr.Manghi..
Charles and I stayed at the Austral Hotel and remained for a
week, returning to Buenos Aires.
We were taught to work in all fields, including traveling
with the Mechanic Service and help in manual work at different dealers
work-shops all over the country. We were schooled in accountancy and how to
organize dealers.
The Company had a total of 110 dealers covering the whole
country and it was an excellent net work.
Meanwhile, at home,
on the 20th of August our fourth son was born:
Esteban Eduardo (Stevie)
As time went by some of our crowd were sent to their
territory: Charles Agar was first sent to Rio Cuarto
(Prov. of Córdoba) and Alberto Brescia to the city of Tucuman (Capital city of that Province) Three
of us remained in training awaiting our destination.
During the first 3 months of 1965 I was sent to work with
the dealer in the town of Reconquista
(Prov.of Sta.Fé). I worked at their
offices, went visiting, together with the salesmen, the different farms to
offer our goods. Being summer and very
hot we normally tried to return to town by midday as working ours were from 6
to 11 a.m. and from 17 to 21 p.m. . The
same timetable was applied in the workshop servicing tractors.
It was during my stay in this area that I read, in the
newspaper dated 24th of January that Sir Winston Churchill had passed away. A
great man of his times, never to be forgotten.
I had made many friends in this small town. So Antonia and
sons Henry and Charlie came to stay with me several weeks. We enjoyed our stay
and attended the open air cinema within the town where we saw our first James
Bond film “Dr.No”
I also spent many
weeks in the Province
of Entre Rios training
with Manuel Valvasoni the Territory Manager of that area.
About this time Head Office in Moline had sent a Spare-Parts Plan to present to the dealers. It consisted of
the ways a Spare Parts department should be organized and promoted. A team of us formed by John Agar, Ing.García Gonzales, Alberto Brescia and I studied the plan and it´s possibility of development within the local dealers. Once this was achieved we presented the plan to Management and Territory Managers. When the plan was accepted we traveled to different parts of the country (Salta, Parana, etc) where we met all the dealers and suggested the application of the mentioned plan.
By this time I had come to know most of the country. Another
interesting experience was the arrival of big shipments of 5020 tractors that
had to be stocked in our depot.
Together with Peter
Melat we were working at this depot in charge of Eric Ham. We worked very hard
as we were receiving, also from abroad, various type of implements that had to
be assembled.
As to the arrival of the 5020s, we had to drive them from
the port to our depot on the other side of the city. Being winter, and very
cold, tractors without cabins and funnels, we daubed our faces with grease and
drove from port to depot arriving cold and our faces black with soot.
Another experience we had with Peter was the disassembling
of two 5020 tractors in to spare-parts, this was hard work as we had to extract
the part, look into the Spare-parts manual to seek the corresponding number and
set it into plastic envelopes. We were covered with grease and oil from top to
bottom. But within all we had a very good time.
The workers at the depot and our boss Eric Ham were a very
good bunch and it was hard work, with a barbecue at midday with a good time for
idle talk.
Time kept on at different tasks and a lot of traveling to
different parts of the country.
Peter Melat had a thorough knowledge as an accountant, so he
was offered to remain with Mr. John Kirton and Ernst Harnan was sent to the province of Mendoza.
So I remained the sole Manager without a territory.
Time kept passing by and on the 12th.of April my fifth son
was born: Bernardo Simon Foster
Finally, one day in June 1966, Neil Hall called me into his
office and offered me to take over the
territory
of
Patagonia: From Bahia Blanca to the Andes and right
down to
Tierra del Fuego
The Company preferred that I settled in the area of the valley of Rio Negro
and Neuquén, where the rivers Limay, from the Andes meet the Rio Neuquen and
formed the Rio Negro, flowing from West to East into the Atlantic
Ocean. The mentioned valley was, mainly, farms developing fruit
and vineyards and the company had come into the market with the 445 model
specially equipped for the type of farms in this area.
Map of Bahia Blanca/Viedma
Map of Viedma to Rio Negro Valley
Neil Hall had me in his office and gave me a long two ours
lowdown on what was expected on my territory. After which he ordered me home
and have a talk with Antonia and see if she was keen on the idea.
Arriving home and talking things over Antonia was very happy
with the promising adventure.
The following day I, again, met with Neil Hall and, once he
had heard of Antonia’s decision time was not wasted I had my flight ticket to Bahia Blanca.
We arranged my
immediate departure so as to also seek a house to rent in the area. For that
purpose Antonia was to travel whenever possible whilst our boys remained at
home to end their school year.
I worked a few days at the local depot and then Neil Hall
and Hans Klug flew in and together with Sr.Manghi and my allotted 1964 model
Chevrolet Pick-up we drove the 600 Kms. from Bahia Blanca
to the Rio Negro Valley. In my pick-up traveled Hans Klug
and the other with Manghi and Neil.
I had met the dealers in Bahía Blanca, Resasco Hnos., and now I was to
be introduced to the four dealers that
Covered the Valleys of Rio Negro and Neuquén, who were:
Campotec in the
capital city of Neuquen..
Arrojo & co. in
the town of Cinco Saltos (Rio
Negro
Silvetti & cía.
in the town of Allen (Rio Negro)
Repuestos Roca in the
town of General Roca (Rio
Negro)
As Neil, Klug and Manghi departed I remained in the area at
an hotel in General Roca and started to reconnoiter
the area.
I went out visiting farmers, together with the dealers and
meeting a lot of interesting people: At Neuquén met up with rugby players of
the Neuquén Polo Club and found some old trainers from teams of Buenos Aires
In Cinco Saltos there was a small community of English
speaking farmers, which we became very friendly.
My first contact took place at the dealers when the manager
Sr.Arrazola introduced me to Tito Gittins who kindly invited me to his home for
lunch where I met his wife Chris and sons Derek and Jenny. We kept our
friendship for many years.
One of the farmers I visited towards the area of
Contralmirante Cordero had attended the same school as I, so I came to meet
Anthony Verel and his wife Raquel and we became excellent friends.
It was thanks to them that I was introduced to most of the
people of Cinco Saltos
Week-ends were spent
at his bungalow (when the weather permitted) on the Lago Pellegrini where we
went together with his family and his Mother Maria. Otherwise to his farm which
was very well kept and the boundary ended on the banks of the Rio Neuquen.
A coincidence was that Anthony’s Mother was in contact by
letter with a family in Canada
by the name of Lewall. Now, Mr. Lewall
had been a very good friend of my Father and had also been in WW1 in the
Canadian Cavalry. He had been Chief Engineer in the Railway for the area of
Bragado (Province
of Buenos Aires). When
the railways were nationalized he settled in Canada.
He had three sons; John
? and David. John was at school
with me and in 1945.I spent Easter week at their home in Bragado.
And in February 1946 John was one of our guests at our
fishing holidays at the Rio Salado (refer to part 2).
Antonia flew into Neuquén to seek a house to rent, a matter
quite difficult, as few houses were to let.
We took the opportunity, together with my boss Hans Klug and
the Manager of Campotec, Salinas, to drive down
to San Carlos de Bariloche spending a few days in this lovely mountain area
where the Nahuel Huapi Lake
flows into the Rio Limay.
No house was found so I drove Antonia to Bahía Blanca where I had, also, made several
friends. We were invited to Jimmy and Susie Brand’s home for dinner. And on the
Saturday we had dinner, at the hotel Austral together with Jimmy and Susie,
Blackie and Bill and Eddie Morley.
Antonia returned home and I took the opportunity to travel
down to Viedma, the Capital city of the province of Rio Negro.
Route 3 was only paved up to 130 Kms. South of Bahía Blanca. After that it was all earth
road right down to Tierra del Fuego.
On my way to Viedma I had two dealers: one in the town of Mayor Buratovich (Casa Bortnik) and Insausti, Cosogliad
and Co. in the town of Villalonga (Both within
the Province of Buenos Aires). That area is usually very
dry, due to the lack of rain, so there was a lot of land watered by irrigation.
The last town in the province of Buenos Aires
is Carmen de Patagones, this is a town that as you enter you have a feeling you
are back in the 19th century, as the town, which has a lot of history: landing
of the Brazilian navy during the war that took place in 1826, Indian attacks,
prisoners revolts, etc. In Part two I mentioned that my grandmother Jorgelina
Puig, had, at the age of 8 (1888) attended school for six months. When you
cross the rio Negro you arrive to the town of Viedma.
VIEDMA –the capital city of the province of Rio Negro-
was in those days a pleasant town of about 8000 inhabitants. I enjoyed staying
in this town although at the beginning there were few possibilities of sales.
However what was happening was that F.A.O. (Food and Agricultural Organization)
had presented to the provincial government the leveling of over 25.000 Hects.
and watered through irrigation canals. The government founded I.D.E.V.I (Instituto de Desarrollo del Valle
Inferior del Rio Negro). (For further information refer to internet.)
and took over the works of its developing.
The first time I visited IDEVI.´s offices I was received by
an engineer named Van Doorn and it was a cold reception. It so happened that they had bought 2 JD 730
tractors at a dealer in Buenos Aires
and somehow they were not working properly. Mechanics used to come, from B.A.,
and presenting very expensive invoice to no avail. After our meeting I drove
back to the dealer in Villalonga and the following day the mechanic service
took over leaving the tractors in good conditions. After that the situation with Van Doorn
became very pleasant and our dealer was in excellent terms. As the months went
by our dealer kept attending IDEVI being able to sell various types of
machinery. In my files of the Daily Reports I read that visiting Van Doorn on
the 14th. of February 1968 I was informed that in the next months they would
present a tender for 8 motor scrapers (by this time they already had in
experimental use a model JD5010)). The tender took place, finally, on the
17/19th. June 1968 and was attended by Messrs. Albertí, Pawlovsky and myself.
We won the tender and finally the total motor scrapers bought were of 17 units
model JD760.
Similar model JD760 motor scraper
When the motor-trailers were delivered a crowd of 10 of us
between people of the Service Department and Territory Managers traveled to
Viedma to service the equipments.
Due to the amount of mechanic service involved the dealer
set up a branch in Viedma to attend to the Service and spare-parts needed and
later named Industrial Dealers based in the city of Bahìa Blanca (Bs.As.)
Today, at I.D.E.V.I ´s offices in Viedma, their waiting
room, have pictures of all the machinery used to develop the land and the
irrigation canals…. Most of them are John Deere.
I.D.E.V.I.: JD760 motor scrapers
By this same time two
things had occurred: John Deere had developed its Industrial Machinery
Department in Argentina
with: as Manager Edgardo Albertí and assistants Julio Pagani and Pawlovsky. And
the co. brought into the market a front-end loader with backhoes model JD200
made in the country. Together with Julio Pagani we made the presentation in Bahia Blanca and Neuquén
where invitations were made out to government, armed forces, mayors
construction companies, etc.. It made a big “splash” in both newspapers of the
area “La Nueva Provincia”(Bahia Blanca) and the
“Rio Negro” (General Roca – R.N.). The
presentation was a great success in all the country and the JD200 made
excellent sales.
And secondly my brother Digby had taken on the
administration of a huge “Estancia” in the North of the province
of Tucuman which was right near the
Andes in which one of the boundaries was the river Tala that divides the
provinces of Tucuman with Salta.
I arranged my traveling in my large Patagonian territory in
the following way:
During the week attended to the four dealers in the
valley. Every two weeks I had to drive,
through route 22 (paved) up to Bahía
Blanca for a meeting at the depot with Manghi and
other territory managers: Wallace, Manuel Ortolani and later Julio Pagani.
After the meeting I used to fly down to Rio Gallegos (prov.
of Santa Cruz) and changed flights to Rio Grande (Tierra del Fuego)
where, by now, we had named dealers in those areas: Concesionaria Austral and Gonzalez and
Tenorio.
When taking the flight back, stop at Comodoro Rivadavia
(prov. of Chubut) and visit the dealer: Jordan
Cruz & Cía.
Then fly up, stop at Trelew. A remarkable town on the river
Chubut where Welsh settlers had arrived in 1865 in the ship ”Mimosa” and after
many difficulties were able to dominate the land and start farming through
irrigation which implied, in those days, opening land by pick and shovel.
The local dealer was Don Pedro Corradi, an elderly gentleman
who also was the Ford representative. He had arrived in Argentina
during the nineteen twenties as a mechanic bringing 3 racing cars. His
investments and hard work had turned him into a well to do person. We took on a good companionship and whenever
I flew into Trelew he would pick me up at the airport and go and have a good
tea at the town of Gayman at one of the Welsh tea shops: the Plass and Coed,
where we were able to talk business although the territory was not very
interesting as farms were rather small and preferred a smaller range of tractor
and it was also an interesting market for second hand tractors. So sales were
scanty.
However all the
described area was not prosperous for sales and only visited during the summer
months.
In the future it
would develop mainly for industrial machinery.
I then used to fly to Bahia
Blanca, get on my pick-up and drive south on route 3
(earth road) visiting dealers mentioned, down to Viedma. Sometimes, instead of
returning to Bahia Blanca drove following the
Rio Negro through General Conesa (earth road) and the island of Choele-Choel
arriving on route 22 on my way to the valley and home.
On one of these trips, on an early Saturday morning, I saw a
strange dog trotting, ahead of me, but as I approached I realized it was a
Puma, which gaining on him entered the
bush and disappeared.
Other wild animals I was able so see were: On route 22
(paved) between the towns of Rio Colorado and Choele-Choel there is a long
straight stretch of 160 Kms.Along this area I have often seen pack of over 50
guanacos
crossing the road. The females running and the males at
their side shielding them from any danger. I have also seen “ñandú” running
frantically in their funny way but what really was impressive and I saw during
the first fortnight of every month of December on arriving near Rio Colorado
were hundreds of big black spiders crossing the route either side. This was
also noticed whilst driving to Bahia
Blanca by Antonia and Hans Klug
where we stopped my pick-up and with Klug got off to watch
(Not Antonia). Klug with his funny sense of humor wanted to pick one to take.
However as soon as he got near the spiders gave a jump sideways and Klug
desisted (Apart of the warnings from my wife that she would not allow him to get
into the pick-up).
Another trip was: flight from Neuquén to Esquel, (Chubut)
dealer: Saunders and Larregui S.R.L.and then back to Bariloche (dealer Puelches
S.A.)
and return to Neuquen.
In Esquel I had a most interesting experience. At the Buenos
Aires British Hospital Dr.Ap Iwan had informed me that at his camp in Esquel he
had a 445 tractor with mechanical problems.
So with Victor Saunders we went to Dr.Ap Iwan´s camp in Cholila and with
his mechanic the tractor was soon repaired. Dr.Ap Iwan´s uncle had been
murdered many years before by a Texan named Evans in a hold-up at the camp.
Evans was part of was left the Butch Cassidy bunch. The latter, when lived in Argentina, had
his camp also in Cholila. By that time Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had
left the country. The remaining three, in time, were caught by the police and
shot.
With Saunders we also spotted another 445 disassembled in a
mechanic shop in Esquel. It could not be put in working order due to lack of
spare-parts.-Keep in mind that Saunders and Larregui had just been named
dealers.-I proceeded to phone our spare-parts division in B.A. and contacted
Philip Fuller. I inquired if we had those parts in stock and when confirmed I
asked him send ASP by plain. I took off
back home.
However on my next trip to Esquel, Victor was waiting for
me, and as soon as I climbed down from the plane he informed me that the owners
of the repaired 445 were so happy we were invited to a barbecue at their
camp.
The owners were a large family named Lloyd and had a camp
half way between Esquel and Trevelin. We had a wonderful barbecue and a long
afternoon where the conversation came out about fire-arms so they started
bringing out all sorts of guns and rifles and we spent, part of the afternoon
pot shooting. Things got better as the
good wine went round and we started talking of saddling up and go up
mountain. Victor was not taken to horses
so we left it for another time. Which opportunity never came.
Amongst the many estancias visited with Victor were Maiten
and Leleque and Tecka.
During another trip to Esquel flying up to Bariloche in the
Avro, on a calm warm afternoon, the Avro suddenly plunged down violently, so
much so that passengers that had undone their safety belts hit their heads on
the luggage panel. The Avro normalized and we were served tea, when suddenly
the plane plunged down again. The tea trays flew all over and the
air-hostesses, that looked quite pale, dropped everything and were ordered to
sit with their safety belts on. We finally
landed in Bariloche but were not allowed out till the shambles down the aisle
had been cleaned. The first to be taken out was an elderly gentleman who, I
seem to remember had had a heart attack. In the landing field there was already
an ambulance that took care of the matter.
Although all this traveling, the real sale area, within all
my territory were Bahía Blanca
and South and the Valley. However prices for fruit were not good and South of
Bahia Blanca we had 3 years of dry weather crops did not give good yield. So
sales were not as expected. After I left this territory the following year they
had a bumper crop and sales soared… Luck to my successor.
I continued to look for a house to rent and got one in Cinco
Saltos.It belonged to an excellent person whom at that time, in his old age,
was not in good health and had decided to return to Buenos Aires. I am writing of one Don Jaime
MacDonald. A person that after WW1 was over was offered to administrate the
Experimental Farm the Southern Railway had, between Cinco Saltos and Cipolletti
to develop fruit farming. In which he
excelled.
That farm now depends of the University of Neuquén
Cinco Saltos town is 22 Kms from Cipolletti. The roads were
earth roads as in the town. We had occasionally very strong winds where dust
used to get into the houses and although summer could be nice and warm the
winter could be very cold with hardly any rain. During the 1967 winter we hit a
week of -19o C. which it truly was very cold. However, some days the sun could
be very strong but by 4 pm you had to get into a warm area as the cold used to
suddenly fall on you.
Top: Antonia and the boys before departing to Cinco Saltos
Bottom: Antonia and the boys many years later
I traveled home to Adrogué to spend Christmas and New Year
with my family and then flew down with Antonia to inspect the house. Around the 15rth of January 1967 Antonia and
the boys arrived to their new home. The furniture had arrived and thanks to
Raquel and Anthony Verel´s help we were able to rapidly set the house in order.
Being summer and the area could warm up to, easily, 36 o C…
a good occasion to go for a swim in the Lago Pellegrini 22 Kms. away from home,
where with our sons had excellent swims in the cool waters.
Lago Pellegrini is an artificial lake of nearly 10.000 hs
and it was construed so as to receive the floods of the Neuquén River.
The bed of the lake had been a salt mine and with the flooding it became clear
water with a salty taste. Although
ideal for swimming, sailing and fishing, it could, according to the wind become
a dangerous hazard due to the high waves. During our stay one Sunday, during
winter, two fishermen were caught unaware and sank with their motor-launch.
Found months later, during the summer at the bottom of the lake.
Foster Family at Lago Pellegrini
Lago Pellegrini, Pilar (mother- in law) at the Verel´s
bungalow.
With most of our friends being young couples with plenty of
children we spent wonderful times at the Lake in Anthony and Raquel’s bungalow,
most times together with “Fito” Menguel, Raquel’s brother, who had a farm half
way to Cipolletti. When the weather allowed we would sail, swim and have a good
barbecue.
During February 1967 took place the Annual Cattle Show in
the town of Junín de Los Andes,
one of the loveliest Cattle Shows that I have attended. The horsemen of the
estancias came out in their best attire and horses and together with the
farmers, from all over Patagonia made it a
grand party, some were, by now, known to me from my travels. With Manghi, Salinas (Campotec) we had
brought down to the show 445 and 730 tractors.
Junín de los Andes (Province
of Chubut) is a lovely place set near
the Andes with the Lanin volcano, the Huechulaufquen
Lake and the flow of the Chimehuin River within sight.
I was often called by the Company for meetings, together
with all Managers, to different parts of the country to attend and work with
different implements or at the factory in Rosario
to be schooled in different Management Courses.
During these years I had many visits from head office: these
included: my bosses 1st.Hans Klug, 2nd, Sr.Abadie and last Galdeano. I also had
Philip Fuller, Peter Melat, John Agar and I had, working with me, as an
apprentice, Fred. Bowden. With most of them we visited the dealer’s network
within my territory.
The time John Agar, Galdeano and Manghi visited the area
during the Sunday Anthony Verel took us sailing in the Pellegrini Lake
where we took the opportunity of a swim and a barbecue.
Changes, during all this time, came along in head
office: Mr. Klimberg was replaced. Neil
Hall was promoted and returned to the States. The new administration changed
its policy towards the personnel: Messrs. Wallace, Abadie and others were made
to take their retirement. Charles Agar was sent to Chile,
John Agar left and together with Ian Foster set up a JD dealership in the town
of Venado Tuerto (Prov. of Santa Fé).But later
Head Office in Moline (Illinois)
offered John a management in Deere Iberia
in Madrid. Kenneth Murray also left and Peter Melat
departed and started working for Sir Alexander Gibbs, Consulting Engineers,
working on the project of the Chocón dam. On the river Limay.(Neuquén)
The new
administration did away with the previous policy of team work and slowly people
departed for other fields. However, most of the people that left, due to their
training, covered managements in other important companies.
Social Activities: during the years that we lived in the
valley we had a very interesting social life.
When I first arrived I met in the area an old friend, “Pinky”
Heiters, who was partner in a fruit farm and later built the bottling plant of
Coca Cola in Neuquén. Also arrived, Juan Cruz Varela and his wife Marta
Juan Cruz became the administrator of the Experimental Farm
in Cippolletti and later organized a rugby team The “Ruca Carel Rugby Club”
that played, very well, only for one season, which they performed very well,
and then most of the players departed to different lanes in their life. Later
Juan Cruz became manager of the Coca-Cola bottling plant and Marta became
secretary in Sir Alexander Gibbs with a house at the Chocon site. Antonia and I
started playing tennis again and met with friends at the mentioned club.
Other visitors that
came to stay home were: Joan and John
Mackenzie from Trelew that later settled in U.S.A. in the wool business. My
school friend Tommy Cleland and his wife, from the town of Comodoro Rivadavia
My aunt Letty from the town of Balcarce together with
another cousin arrived in Bahía Blanca where I went to look for and was shown
the lovely house my parents had lived in during their stay in that city.
 |
| 25th.of May parade in Cinco Saltos |
 |
Asado at the Ruca-Carel Club
Myself, Jimmy Brand,Nevil Glynn, Pilar,Antonia and three of the boys |
For New Years Eve we had the visit of David Fooks, another
school chum, who was administrating a sheep farm named Serro Vigilancia. He
came with his wife and three children and a lamb to be cooked on the 1st.
January 1968. However, after dinner at the Ruca Carel Club we went: David and
wife together with Marta and Juan Cruz to dance in the town of Neuquén. We had a very good time and as the
sun rose on the first of January the 6
of us got into my pick-up and slowly
drove back home. At midday David cooked the lamb at the Experimental Farm and
amongst us were Raquel and Anthony …. It was a rather rough day..
During the years we were there the Chocón dam was built on
the river Limay. So we had another crowd of friends came into our lives,
including some from the firm of Sir Alexander Gibbs.
Photo of the
southern side of the Chocon Dam crossing the Limay River
Another visitor that came on holidays, passing by to the
South was Roberto Didoné, one of our accountants in JD., his wife, Mariana and
their children We spent several days at
the lake. The Didones in a tent and we at Anthony’s bungalow.
The first evening I cooked a barbecue and when we went to
bed I told Roberto Id call him at sunrise for a swim, which he took as a
joke…. Well, it wasn’t, I woke him at
sunrise and got him into the water for a most awakening morning. As we came out
of the water we took the following photographs as the sun was rising:
Sunrise at the lake (1968)
Not only were we members of the Ruca Carel Club but I also,
when back from my trips attended the Shooting Range where I practiced with my
.22 and also shot with Mauser 7.65 and although I was offered, but could not
become a member of the Rotary Club, due to my travels, I was often a guest at their dinners that took
place at the Ruca Carel Club
During February 1968
I took my holidays and with all the family in the pick-up we drove down home
staying at my in-laws house as I had rented my own house.
After a few days we departed heading down to the town of Balcarce where my
Grandmother Jorgelina still lived together with my aunts Letty and Alida. We
remained there a few days and then drove to the town of Necochea and we all went into the sea. After
lunch we departed and arrived at the Hotel Austral in Bahia Blanca When all the
boys had had their baths the tub was full of sand
And so passed the year ´68 with travels and sales until the
middle of November when I received Arthur Anderson, John Kirton and Edgardo
Albetí and visited the dealers in the valley and then took off to Bariloche.
Their visit was not only to contact the local dealers but I
was offered to return to Buenos Aires
working for the Industrial Machinery Department as Territory Manager. Although
the excellent life led in the valley I jumped at the offer as it would mean the
return of my sons to their school, St.
Michael College
later St. Alban’s. During our stay in the valley they had attended a good state
school and spoke very good English thanks to the teaching of Mrs.Anette Harris
and Mrs. Gloyne.
Sons Henry, Derek and Charlie (Cinco Saltos 1968)
I requested a few days to tour my family to Bariloche and
Esquel and say good-bye to the dealers which was granted. And so, during the
first days of December Antonio and Pilar (Antonia’s parents) arrived in their
Citroen 2 C.V and we all departed towards the South.
Some previous months I had been in Company/Dealers meeting
in the city of Mar del Plata
where the company proceeded to change my Chevrolet Pick-up for a Chevrolet
“Special” car with all its comforts. However for use in my territory within Patagonia and the earth roads my pick-up was more
preferable.
On the way to Bariloche with my new company car.
In Laws car on
banks of Rio Limay – two gauchos passing by.
So at the beginning of December, being a lovely warm day, we
departed towards Bariloche. Half way the weather turned cold and rainy and it
continued so all the days of our trip.We arrived in Bariloche where Manghi, my
replacement as Territory Manager joined us.
We were very fortunate in, surprisingly, meeting, in the
town, both the Millan family – our neighbours in Adrogué - and my Uncles Lila
and Osman from Necochea and my aunt Letty from Balcarce.
After a few days in Bariloche, with Antonia and sons Henry,
Stevie and Brian, together with Manghi we continued to Esquel. Sons Charlie and
Derek stayed behind together with Antonio and Pilar.
We drove all the way to Esquel, but as we arrived at the
peak of the road – el Cañadon de la Mosca – it had been snowing. So we got off
the car and had a snow-ball battle. Henry caught me bending and I threw a ball
that hit him on his right cheek which remained quite red.
So we arrived in
Esquel and we all visited this lovely area together with the river Situación.
We were well received, as usual by our dealer Victor Saunders. But with the cold
and drizzle we decided, after two days to return to Bariloche. There got
together with my in-laws and sons Charlie and Derek and drove back to Cinco
Saltos.
Son Henry on JD445,
Son Stevie, and JD730 at the dealer in Esquel
We traveled back to Cinco Saltos where the car was passed on
to the new Territory Manager, Manghi, and during the following week we sent our
furniture back to Adrogue and after saying good-bye to all our dear friends
departed back home.
Fortunately, on arrival in Adrogué our tenant was kind
enough to return our house so we moved in.
And so ended our adventures in Patagonia
where we had spent nearly three exciting years.
So, after Christmas and we turned into the year 1969 on the
2nd.of January I reported to my new duties as Industrial Territory Manager.
Notes: a) Most of the information regarding my work in Patagonia can be traced through my files where I keep all
my Daily Reports sent to head office during the years spent area.
b) All the area I attended in Patagonia
in the late ´60s, today, roads are all
paved and, all have become modern towns:
Mayor Buratovich, Pedro Luro, Villalonga. As to Viedma it has become
a city of fifty thousand inhabitants with lovely houses and hotels, many with
an excellent view of the Rio Negro flowing toward the sea.
I am to agree in the
saying that: “Whilst politicians sleep the country grows”
JOHN DEERE ARGENTINA
(1969- 1975) to be continued……….
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