Area wood industry was built on the artful loading of burros

Photo: Photo by Marc Simmons While a helper steadies the burro with a head-hold, Juan Mendez gives a last tug on the rope to tighten the load of wood during a demonstration at El Rancho de las Golondrinas.

[Danny]

I will show my children the statue when we are in Santa Fe so they may learn and better appreciate the ways of the past.

[Reality]

Again, thank you for writing these columns.

[George Pomonis]

I remember as a youngster in the early 1930's burro pack trains, on College St., loaded with wood heading toward the Plaza in SF. I always looked forward to seeing them. We were fortunate in that we had a gas stove but many of our neighbors had the wood cook stoves.

[Reality]

George Pomonis wrote:

I remember as a youngster in the early 1930's burro pack trains, on College St., loaded with wood heading toward the Plaza in SF. I always looked forward to seeing them. We were fortunate in that we had a gas stove but many of our neighbors had the wood cook stoves.

Thanks for sharing that memory with us. College Street is, I believe, what we today call the Old Santa Fe Trail.

An ignorant question: what sort of wood did people prefer to burn in their cook stoves?

You should write up your membories of those days,if you haven't already done so.

[Reality]

Excuse the type -- memories -- not membories