GROWING UP IN IDAHO

Harry Hicks tells the story of riding the Breakneck Trail along the Salmon River (The River of No Return) in the 1920s. He had to trust his horse Robin and his excellent riding skills to stay alive. 

When I was three years old, my dad came home one Saturday morning from working as a deputy sheriff and accidentally left his gun on the living room chair. When my brother and I got up to watch cartoons, I noticed the gun. I figured it would be useful to help coyote stop Roadrunner. Listen-in and find out the rest of the story. #GrowingUpInIdaho #CoyoteandRoadrunner 

Mike Hicks takes us on another mental journey back to the good ol' days of the 1960s in Boise, Idaho, when he was a deputy sheriff. His police stories of that era were a hit during his career as an Idaho educator in Salmon. Stories of crazy people doing crazy things are a hit, but there's a moral lesson in nearly every tale. Listen in and take a walk down memory lane! 

Mike Hicks was an Ada County deputy in Idaho in the 1960s. Those were the days of hippies and when the drug culture was just beginning. Mike tells of his experiences as a policeman, patrolling the streets of Boise and surrounding communities. He relates how it felt having near-death experiences. Also listen-in as he discusses the need to arrest a vagrant rabbit outside of town! 

#IdahoHistory #AdaCountySheriff #BoisePolice #TalkinBoutTheGoodOleDays 

This Hicks family was looking for some good luck. They couldn't get enough rights to water to keep their ranch running. Their foray into logging ended. Now they needed some good luck for mere survival. Yellow Jacket Mine in Central Idaho was ramping back up, so they loaded their wagon, hooked up the big team of horses, and headed out. Moving in the early 1900s was fraught with danger; survival was reliant on smarts, know-how, and luck. 

Young Harry was sick with Bright's Disease and Dropsy. He was near death; the local undertaker came by to pick up his body even though he wasn't dead yet. Harry's mother put the run on the undertaker. A Native American Indian woman came by and said, "I can fix the boy!" 

Sometimes we all get nostalgic for the old times - maybe remembering when we were kids growing up in our hometowns. I certainly have those moments! This show is about one such incident where I recalled the memories surrounding the Salmon River and my hometown, Salmon, Idaho. 

When you grow up in the country, sometimes you're expected to do dangerous things to get the job done. Listen in as Dan King talks about his experiences as a kid working as a core driller on a rig in Idaho.  

Mike was a deputy sheriff in the good ol' days when drugs were taking off in Idaho back in the 1960s. It wasn't "Mayberry" anymore. Listen to some wild and crazy stories of policing during that era. 

It was 1935 and young Harry was out of work. So, he did what a lot of other young men were doing; he joined the CCCs. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a place to earn money, learn new skills, and stay out of trouble. A lot of men between the ages of 18 and 25 were doing that in those dark days of the Great Depression. Listen in as he tells of his experiences in the CCC camps in Central Idaho. Narrated by Jeff Hicks. 

What kinds of cool or crappy jobs did you do as a kid back in the good ol' days? Bucking hay bales, moving sprinkler pipes, and riding the range were only a few of the things kids did in my neck of the woods. Listen in as Dan King talks of his job as a kid working on a drilling rig. There was no such thing as child labor laws; if you worked hard and smart, you were treated like a man regardless what age you were. 

The beaver ponds was a famous meeting place for the kids in town; it was also the place where my brother and I liked to camp when we were kids. One night, an earthquake in Yellowstone Park set in motion some events that nearly ended our young lives. Listen in to discover what can happen to humans during freak events of nature! 

When you love to deer hunt, but not for the reason to shoot deer, then you're naturally going to have some cerebral dissonance going on! Listen in as Jeff tells the story of woe and misery as he embarks on the greatest hunt and hiking excursion known to man. Will he survive? Talk of 'The Birds and the Bees' might have saved his life!  

The Brown family moved from Lovell, Wyoming to Salmon, Idaho in the early 1900s, using covered wagons, riding horseback, and hauling stuff in a couple old broken-down trucks. They even managed to throw in grandma's old player piano. But moving has its problems. Listen in as Jeff tells the story. 

Sherm Williams experienced growing up in Idaho during the good ol' days. Listen in as he tells the story of what it really means to be a man. 

When you're a kid, you gotta have something to believe in. Harry's first job was riding the range; reality came crashing in when he discovered what his boss wanted him to do. Sickness in the 'good ol' days' often ended horribly. Harry had a bout of Bright's Disease and met the Angel of Death. 

Back in the good ol' days, love and romance took on a different flavor than in modern times. For example, how many grooms have you heard of that are expected to fight his bride's dad before the big marriage ceremony? Check in as Harry takes care of all the preliminaries before he marries his sweetheart, Doris. 

Harry did what he could to survive as a young boy living in the rough-and-tumble Central Idaho in the early 1900s.  Listen in as he talks about his adventures and scrapes with danger. 

Before loggers took their timber out with large tractor-skidders, they used horses and chains. Many men lost their legs, fingers, and lives doing this dangerous work. Listen-in as Harry talks about skidding logs with his horse. 

Robert L. Hicks and his wife Annie were sick of the aftermath of the Great Civil War and yearned to breath air nobody else was breathing. So, they loaded up their wagon and headed west. Despite all the tribulations, including gunfights, they settled in the Camas Prairie of Central Idaho. This is their story. 

For Harry Hicks, getting the flu and dealing with sickness had its price. It was 1925, and the doctor had nearly killed him once already. Would he survive this next bout of illness without the undertaker coming to the door?

In 1925, Harry was a young boy when his family visited the vast Camas Prairie in Central Idaho. He was able to taste watermelon for the first time and learn what it was like to travel in the back of an old Model T pickup.