Several Indian women had walked up to help. Mrs. Plummer let out a terrible wail as she and her children were led away by the Indian women. By now Otchoo, Plummer and a group of Indians had run downriver with ropes and small rafts looking for Sol. Abelardo stood alone watching the river getting wider. Water was at his feet. He could not move his legs to either go downriver to find Sol or toward the house to face Toypurina. The water was at his knees. Suddenly, several men violently forced him out of the rising water and led him home.
AFTER THE ROPE was cut and the river had taken Sol, Otchoo and the Indians searched up and down on both sides of the river until the darkness and fatigue brought a kind of calm to them. The next day, Otchoo, neighbors and friends—including about one hundred Indians who came from all directions—met on the dock to board four barges and navigate the river to the sea in search of Sol. Abelardo and Toypurina, on horses, led groups of riders on each side searching the inlets and arroyos. Others walked along the river’s edge to search the heaps of bushes and debris, climbing on top of piles of logs and trees that had been stuck on the muddy shores. They searched all day but found nothing of Sol—not a sock, a shoe, a shirt, not a shred of clothing. Then Abelardo thanked everyone who had joined the search party and offered coffee and sweet bread prepared by neighbors back at the Ríos’ home. The Ríos family concluded that Sol had been taken out to sea.
Otchoo’s father and mother had hardly slept since the day the Plum-mer family had lost their house and they had lost Sol. Otchoo saw them sitting outside taking in the sun. What incredible weather: one day it rains curtains of water and the next the sun burns your skin. In the weeks after the flood, Abelardo suddenly had grown older. Otchoo noticed that his father, his body, had slowed down. Otchoo noticed his father’s hands, which showed how he had worked for so many years. He really did not know his father’s or his mother’s ages. He simply remembered them always working. Toypurina worked taking care of them, helping in the fields and with the barge business as well. Otchoo realized what was behind his father’s decline. They seemed resigned to Sol’s death. When Otchoo walked up to his parents, all three embraced and cried. There was nothing to be said.
One morning after breakfast, Otchoo gathered extra shovels, picks and axes, loaded them onto a mule. Otchoo had been doing most of the repairs himself. His father had difficulty working. His legs were weak and his hands shook. After the river took Sol, Abelardo was never the same. Several times the Morretti brothers came to coax him to come to work with them, but Abelardo only lasted a few hours and then had to return home. The brothers had gained respect for Abelardo and his sons. They were impressed with Abelardo’s knowledge of the river and his abilities as a builder and engineer, and recognized that a great deal of Abelardo’s building skills and knowledge of the river had been passed on to Otchoo. The Morettis had become good friends with Otchoo and Sol. Through Cyland they discovered that Abelardo—although claiming not to know much about gringo business matters—was a shrewd business operator who had quietly made deals with the railroad companies and a few major landowners nearby whose land bordered his property. Otchoo had learned much from his father. Otchoo understood that he was in line to inherit the properties and contracts that his father had negotiated. Abelardo and Toypurina had learned well from the ranchers and business colonizers who had invaded from the northeast and southeast.
After the collapse of the bridge and the loss of Sol, the Morretti brothers came to console the family. The Morretti brothers and William Ross Henry started to make repairs on the docks and barges, assisting Otchoo. William Ross Henry quickly became discouraged and returned to work for Cyland. The Morrettis worked a few more days helping Otchoo with most of the heavy repairs; then, they also returned to Cyland’s company. Money was the main reason. They just were not making enough. Although they received a minimum base salary, they wanted to make more for the heavy repair work they were doing.
It had been a week or so that Otchoo had worked alone. He was about to head to the docks when Abelardo pushed open the door. He walked out with his boots untied, his belt unbuckled, shirt half on, and he looked somewhat disoriented. Toypurina came out after her husband, turned him around and sat him down on the porch steps.
“Papá, hoy descansa. Yo me encargo de todo. Vendrás conmigo mañana. You can come help me tomorrow. Rest today.”
Toypurina agreed, as she had done for weeks, and gently held down Abelardo Ríos.
Otchoo went right to work repairing the docks on both sides of the river. He hooked up the mule and pulled in the small barge but could not secure the large barge stuck on a mud bank. The river would release it, but it might also get submerged when the river rose again. He contemplated upriver where the bridge had been. Five broken posts sticking out of the water were what remained. He looked across the river at the Plummer ranch. The house, the barn, the fences and the crops were gone. The river had pushed sand and mud against the shore and built up the beautiful little peninsula again. Grass and flowers would carpet it, and soon someone else would want to build their house on it.
Otchoo was alone. He thought about his father, his mother and Sol. The image of Sol was never far away. Every time he faced the river he remembered and held back tears. He needed help. Los Angeles and the Eastside had been cut off again, and the only way to cross the river was on Abelardo Ríos’ barges. Otchoo worked on reinforcing moorings, gathering ropes, cutting and nailing planks, clearing debris jammed under the dock and on the shore. From under the dock he pulled out broken chairs, tables, clothes, a bicycle, pillows and pieces of splintered wood, logs and about a dozen kerosene lamps from the Macy Street bridge. He hung six lamps on each dock and thought that maybe, with the lamps on both sides of the river, he could provide transportation after dark. Otchoo liked the idea, but it required workers. It was well beyond midday and the large barge was still stuck. He rowed out and tied a rope from the barge to the dock post, making sure the rope was secure at both ends. He did not want to lose the biggest barge. Other barges sat floating perfectly still on the glassy river.
Otchoo jumped on his mule and headed to the Indian camp. The Indians lived in terrible conditions and struggled daily to feed their families. If they were lucky, they probably ate twice a day, but usually only once. Most of their meals came from the river, where they gathered wild herbs, fish, crayfish, frogs, berries and rabbit. In the foothills the men hunted deer and wild boar. Few made their clothes as they did in former times. The clothes they wore were donated and had been washed so much that they were frayed and torn. When a job was available, usually they were the last ones considered. Contractors and small businesses had to be desperate to hire an Indian. Otchoo dismounted and stood before one of the Indian hovels in the camp. He had been here many times with his father, and every time it seemed worse. He was grateful that his parents never lived like this, that his mother had somehow found a way out of this staggering poverty. For a moment he felt deep compassion for his parents and his people. It was difficult to imagine how they would have endured this kind of life. Abelardo had hired two men from this camp. Otchoo wanted the same men, but they were not present. He left word that he wanted to see them.
He crossed the fields that had quickly turned green and rode through large patches of wild flowers. After a rainfall the sun transforms the world with greenery and a rainbow of flowers in the hills, the ravines, the fields and along the river. Almost to his dock, Otchoo saw two men waiting there. They were the Indians he wanted to hire. He offered them jobs. They barely smiled.
“Los quiero aquí a las cinco de la mañana. No tolero tardanza,” he ordered them there at five sharp the next morning.
The men bowed their heads and started back to their huts.
“¡Esperen un momento! ¿Sus nombres?” He asked for their names.
“El Indio Garras, señor.”
“Jesús.”
The chirping of birds, the meadowlark’s call, the croaking of frogs and the wind rustling the high cattails and brus
h in the river’s ponds and swamp areas surrounded the three men.
“Gracias, señores, I am giving you an advance to buy food for your families. Go with Don Zeveriño and tell him you work for me now. I don’t want to hear that you are buying alcohol with what I pay you. If you want to work for me, that’s the way it must be. ¿Pues, qué dicen?”
“Aceptado, patrón.”
ABOUT THREE WEEKS went by with Otchoo managing the operations of Ríos and Sons and Cyland River Barge Transportation Company. The Morretti brothers and William Ross Henry came by the docks to see how Otchoo was running the barge business all by himself. It was a busy time for Otchoo, so he allowed Garras and Jesús to operate the large barge. Otchoo had wondered how long these men would last, but they proved themselves. They showed him that Indians were dependable, efficient hard workers. The Morrettis, William and Otchoo gathered under an oak tree. As they watched his barge cross the river, Franco Morretti offered Otchoo an opportunity.
“Otchoo, you know we can build bridges, and the city council wants to build two bridges over the river. We want to bid on those contracts. But we need you, your help.”
“What, from me? I’m helping my father now.”
“We need your father, too.”
“Your father has been carrying on business with some important people. He has the trust of bankers and wealthy ranchers. We need him as a partner to secure a loan to buy material and equipment.”
Paolo pointed to the barge slowly making its way across the river.
“Look, that barge is full of people because they trust you and your father.”
“My father is old. Losing Sol made him sick.”
“But he can be a partner in our company. He can help us get the loan to start our construction company. Come on, Otchoo, join us.”
“No, señor. What about Mr. Cyland? My father has a contract with him. What is Mr. Cyland going to say?”
“What can he say? We’re forming our own independent company. We will bid on the contracts. We do not need him!” William Ross Henry spoke emphatically, almost angrily. He was impatient. It was inconceivable to him how Otchoo could even question the offer they were making him.
“This is America!” Paolo blurted out.
Everyone except Otchoo laughed.
“I think Mr. Cyland thinks he can outbid and outperform us. Otchoo, join us! What do you say? Talk to your father. Ask him what he thinks,” Franco pleaded.
The large barge slowly approached the dock. Jesús guided the barge in and docked. Great job, Otchoo thought as he waved good-bye to Franco and Paolo Morretti, and to William Ross Henry.
That night he explained to his parents Franco’s plan to form a construction company. Abelardo agreed that it was a good idea to get into bridge building. He smiled at his son, a businessman. He reached for Toypurina’s hand.
“Yo firmo para el préstamo. I’ll sign the loan papers.”
The Ríos family, Franco and Paolo Morretti, and William Ross Henry went to the American National Bank of Los Angeles to establish a working relationship with their new Sun Construction Company. It was Toypurina and Abelardo’s suggestion to name the company after Sol, which means “sun” in Spanish. However, there was a problem with the bankers authorizing the loan.
“With all due respect, Mr. Ríos, your name is difficult. I can assure you that future clients will have problems with your first and last names. I cannot pronounce or spell them correctly. I suggest you change them for business purposes. The bank can request a name change from the courts. All you have to do is make an official declaration to change your name, sign it and the bank president, Mr. Monnette, will notarize it, and then we can all sign as witnesses. Take a few minutes and select some names. I’ll get Agatha, my secretary, to start drafting the declaration.”
The men were somewhat resistant but ended up agreeing with the bank’s lawyer. It was better to avoid future problems. Future transactions would require all their names, and if people could not spell the partners’ names, the documents would have to be redone. Better avoid wasting time.
“What does your name mean, Otchoo?”
“It’s a sacred name. It has to do with trees and the river.” Otchoo looked at his mother. “It’s a name the elders pronounced when my mother gave me birth. It’s sacred.”
“Okay, but how about something a little easier that has to do with nature?” the bank’s lawyer suggested.
“Llámate Roble, como el árbol. El roble es un árbol fuerte, hijo.”
Abelardo nodded in agreement to his mother’s suggestion that he change his name to Roble.
“What does that mean?” Paolo asked.
“It means oak tree.”
“How about Oakley? Like the straight-shooting, rough-riding cowgirl?”
The men laughed at William Ross Henry’s suggestion.
“No, I like it. It’s a strong name,” the lawyer announced. “Mr. Cyland had a friend named Oakley. He has a big construction company up in San Francisco, and he’s made a lot of money. I think it’s a good luck sign: Otchoo Ríos, Mr. Oakley Rivers. I think that’s it.” The lawyer wrote it down.
“Not my last name, por favor!” Otchoo went to his parents and stood by them.
In their eyes, there appeared a sadness. Abelardo and Toypurina sensed that this unexpected change meant a different life and world for them and their son. They had listened to the lawyer’s reasoning. But knowing how things were for Indians and Mexicans, they agreed that the name change would be a business advantage for Otchoo, perhaps even a social advantage. Abelardo and Toypurina offered their hand to the bank’s lawyer in mutual agreement that their youngest surviving son change his name to Oakley Rivers.
About the time that Otchoo Ríos received his new name, Oakley Rivers, many people believed that the world was coming to an end. Horrible riots had broken out in Europe that pointed to an unavoidable war. Russia and Mexico had declared revolution on monarchies and dictatorships. Countries poised themselves to invade or defend national borders. Unheard-of diseases killed thousands, and great plagues lurked to strike and spread worldwide pandemics killing millions. The large communities of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America migrated from terrible conditions, searching for better and safer places to live. From Mexico, people steadily approached the United States/Mexico border. Mexicans had been present in the northern territories of the North American continent for thousands of years; it was only natural for Mexicans to return to their ancestral homelands. The turn of the century started an immense migration north, an exodus that would last more than one hundred years. The mayor and the city council members realized that Los Angeles had grown larger both in area and in population, but the issue was how to deal with this growth, especially with that of the migrants coming from outside the state. The rapidly growing Mexican community fell into this category. More housing, schools, parks, recreation sites and commercial areas needed to be designed and developed.
Sun Construction Company contracted many jobs, becoming an important competitor in the construction business. As the company boomed, the partners brought in business from both the west and east sides of the Los Angeles River. They decided to consolidate their equipment yards at various sites throughout the city by purchasing two ten-acre parcels, one on the west and the other on the east side of the river, directly across from each other. Sun Construction’s headquarters was located at Oakley Rivers’ residence. Oakley and his parents still lived on a large parcel by the river, although they had sold an approximately ten-acre tip of land to the Sante Fe Railroad for a repair and storage yard. Still, the railroad yard was far away and did not disturb their views of the river or Los Angeles. For years the city had made attempts to control the downtown sections of the river by building channels to change its direction and by piling rocks on the shores where it most often flooded. Now the city hired cement companies to construct walls along the downtown sections most threatened by flood. There were parts of the river that were crossable for most of the yea
r, but when the rains came, crossing became unpredictable. However, because of Abelardo Ríos, Sun Construction Company knew where to place its headquarters and equipment yards.
Oakley Rivers’ property on the east side of the river housed Sun Construction headquarters and Abelardo Ríos’ docks and barges. Garras and Jesús continued ferrying travelers back and forth, but the barge business had slowed down greatly. Most people came to ask for an excursion ride up and down the river. Parents brought their children and picnic baskets for a boat outing. When the water permitted, Garras and Jesús spent their days on river excursions. On busy days of pleasure boating they made enough to cover the increasingly slow business days. Even on slow days Garras and Jesús found work to do on the docks and barges, or on equipment that needed repair, but all the while they eyed flatbed trucks carrying loads from one side to the other. The flow of trucks going across became greater as companies started investing money in their own transportation and distribution systems. The investors bought better trucks and built small wooden and cement bridges across the river. When the heavy rains came, history repeated itself again by demolishing the bridges and carrying their shattered bits and pieces to the ocean. Garras and Jesús understood that the barge business was doomed, but they maintained the equipment and continued making some runs of agricultural products across the fickle river to West Los Angeles. Oakley Rivers had changed their lives, and they did not want to stop working for him, so they started repairing equipment for the Sun Construction Company at what was now called the Boyle Heights Yard.
Events happened so quickly that change was the only constant that Oakley could count on. At times Oakley sensed that he could hardly keep up, but he took on more responsibility, including the daily accounting, purchasing, payroll, project budgets, blueprints and business plans. He also dealt with and signed contracts, made investments and handled the profit and loss statements and eventually assumed responsibility for all aspects of company business. He had learned the mathematics from Abelardo, who had been blessed with a talent for engineering and making calculations. But his most consistent and caring teacher was Agatha, the young woman at the American National Bank of Los Angeles who had drafted the documents to change his name.
River of Angels Page 5
