It took a couple of years longer than in other towns, but The Great Depression finally hit Oil City, Louisiana in 1932. The price of oil plummeted and work ground to a stop. They capped the wells and hauled the rigs away, to wait for better times. In 1934, out of all other options, Lee Allen McLemore and his thirteen year old son Charlie hit the road looking for work, and like many others head west to California.
MY POCKETKNIFE (F.D. Leone, Jr.) Charlie and his father crawl up the embankment Hidden by the bend they crouch and wait The train’ll have to slow down maybe just enough With any luck they’ll grab that freight Charlie and his father left Oil City at dawn Somethin’ called The Depression had arrived Work was for the takin’ out in California Pickin’ cotton under sunny skies Long as I have my pocketknife I’ll be alright, be alright I can make it through the coldest night Long as I have my pocketknife Charlie and his father join a migrant army Ride the rails with tramps an’ hoboes Tent camps were jungles, danger everywhere Do your best to hang on to your coat Charlie and his father dodge a railroad bull Hidin’ in the tender ’til he’s gone A man was crumpled in the corner, frozen overnight It’s a damp and cold L.A. dawn Long as I have my pocketknife … © 2018 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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