also helped other farmers in the district threshing. In 1921 Audley and Ed went in on a haying contract which T. J. Noble and Donald Cameron of the McCorkell Place obtained for putting up hay on the Ricks Ranch, southeast of Morley.
For several winters after the mill burned down, James Richards and sons supplied pilings to Alberta Wood Preservers in Calgary. They took the pilings out of their timber berth during the winter, stockpiled them at the mill site, and in the summer hauled them to Morley where they were put on cars for shipping to Calgary. All of the timber was hauled by horses. In 1924 James and his sons, Audley, Ed and Jim, hauled poles for Calgary Power for the No. 3 Line from Ozada to Chinequay. Audley also had a job stretching wire with a team from Morley to Calgary. Richards had a teepee of their own at this time and used it for camping in while working on their contracts.
The years following the mill’s burning saw James’ girls, Agnes, Gladys and Hazel all eventually take up permanent residence in Calgary. Hazel married Oscar Beaudry and they had three children, Joan, Victor and Louise. She resided in Calgary until her death in 1957. Gladys worked in Calgary as a legal secretary until her death in 1948. Agnes still resides in Calgary where she has her own dressmaking business. James Richards lived mainly in the Morley and Calgary areas until his death in 1956 at the age of 83.
In 1930 Ed Richards purchased some land originally belonging to Andrew Sibbald (now a part of the Stah Wapta Ranches) and the four young bachelor brothers resided there much of the time until the late 1930s. James also stayed with the boys until he purchased a section of land directly south of Ed’s and moved there in the early 1930s. He later sold this section to his son, Bill, after Bill returned from the Second World War. Also during the early 1930s Audley, Jim and Bill homesteaded quarters northwest of the Morley Indian Reserve. Jim and his family still live on his homestead where they carry on ranching.
While the brothers were batching at Ed’s, they raised a number of horses, and broke and sold horses. They also worked out for various local ranchers including Dave McDougall, Jim Boyce (an outfitter in Banff), Tom Noble, Laurie Johnson, and others. Audley, Jim and Bill also made improvements on their homesteads during this period.
During these years of bachelorhood, the young Richards brothers were dubbed “The Playboys of Poverty Bend” by their local neighbours. The first break-up of the group occurred in 1937 when Jim married Tillie Zuccolo. They met in 1931 when Tillie was teaching the Tom Lauder children. Tom Lauder and his family were working for Laycocks then, and Tillie lived with them and taught the Lauder children from September of 1931 through to January of 1933. The romance did not truly blossom however, until Tillie was teaching Laurie and Jean Johnson’s girls in 1936.
After Jim and Tillie married they lived on Jim’s homestead. They moved a log cabin which Tillie owned up to the homestead. The cabin had been located on Guy Gibson’s Soldier grant down by the Ghost River. For the next five years they worked in the mountains for Fred Brewster during the summers, and lived on their homestead in the winters. While they worked in the mountains (mainly out of Jasper), Jim acted as a big game guide and Tillie cooked.
During the 1930s Jim Richards competed in Saddle Bronc Riding at various local rodeos such as Morley, Dog Pound, Sundre and Calgary, He was in the North American Saddle Bronc Riding finals five out of the six years he rode in Calgary, although he was never lucky enough to win the event. Jim recalls that in those days travelling to rodeos did not have all the luxurious conveniences of swift trucks and fancy campers. In 1937 he and Tillie, along with Laurie and Jean Johnson, packed a couple of horses and all rode to Sundre for the rodeo. They camped at Sundre during the rodeo and then packed up and rode home when the show was over. Jim recalls that he won the Saddle Bronc event at Sundre that year and that the total trip took several days.
Jim and Tillie settled down permanently to ranching in 1943 when their daughter, Wendy, was born. A son, Doug, was born in 1946. Wendy married Walter Vaughan of the Dog Pound area. They now own the Vaughan place east of Bottrel, but having pioneer blood in their veins, they rented the farm out in 1974 and moved to the Bonanza area of the Peace River country to prove up on their homestead land in that area. Doug married Jill Harries of Calgary and they reside in Jim’s place, where they are building a new log house. The lumber being used for their house was planed at Brooks’ sawmill and the planer which Brooks have is the one the Richards brothers had in their mill. Like Jim, Doug has become a bronc rider. He won the Saddle Bronc Riding title in the F.C.A. Rodeo circuit in 1971, and also has a small string of good bucking horses. Also, like his Dad, Doug married a school teacher.
In 1938 Ed Richards married Marjorie Eckel. They had one son, Kenneth. Ed and Marjorie ranched on Ed’s place until the mid-fifties when they sold out to what is now Stah Wapta Ranches. They then moved to Calgary where Ed worked for Firestone Tire Co. until his retirement. They now reside in Creston, British Columbia,
Audley married Esther Ernst in 1945. They have a daughter, Jackie, now married and living in Calgary, and a son, David. When they were first married they resided in Audley’s homestead. They then worked for Brewster’s for a number of years and resided part of the time at