Meeting Speaker for May 12, 2015
Posted
on May 06, 2015
Tim Erickson
Born in Modesto, California on June 29, 1945. He attended La Grange Grammar School, 1st - 8th grade (20-25 total students in entire school) and Merced High School, 9th -12th grade (1959-1963).
Tim was drafted by the U.S. Army, 1967 - 1969, Infantry. DMZ Korea - 38th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division
He married Bette Ann Carpenter June 20, 1970 (married 45 years) and their hometown is La Grange, California. They have three children:
Dan & Andra, California
Grandchildren: Alissa Carly (9) & Logan Paul (6)
Elisabeth & Kirk, Colorado
Grandchildren: Mazie Kate (5) & Wyatt Timothy (1 yr, May 30th)
Dallyce & Matt, Kentucky
Rodeo Cowboy:
Bronc Riding & Steer Wrestling, 1961 - 1979
Attended Rhema Bible Training Center, 1979 - 1980, Broken Arrow, Oklaholma
4th generation cattle rancher (Cowboy) on my Dad’s side (Grandparents from Norway). My dad Paul and his brothers farmed with 30 horses & mules hitched, pulling harvesters in to the 1920s. They were in the cattle business also.
3rd generation cattle rancher on my Mother’s side (Mazie). Her dad (my grandfather), Tim Carlon (born 1858), trailed cattle from the Merced Falls / La Grange area to the Yosemite area (White Wolf - Ackerson Meadow) since the 1890’s. He owned the Groveland Hotel in Groveland, CA where my mother was born in 1917.
Tim Carlon furnished beef or the construction crews building Hetch Hetchy Dam in the late teens and early 1920’s. His dad, John Carlon, drowned in Yosemite in 1870.
We still trail cattle over pretty much the same routes today. It’s about a 50 mile trip and takes 6 days. In May we trail up to the Sierras and turn the cattle out on the Stanislaus National Forest that borders the western boundary of Yosemite National Park, Hwy. 120.
We have grazing permits with the U.S.F.S. In the fall we round up the cattle on horseback in to Stone Meadow and Ackerson Meadow (on Evergreen Rd.) then start the trail drive down to winter country in Oct.
Our children and grandchildren along with other cowboys and cowgirls work together with us. Our grandchildren are the 6th generation to take part in this cattle operation.