Goodbye Bruce Barron, Creator of Waterwheel Park

Just a hand-written note hastily written was thumbtacked to the Manton Post Office bulletin board, "Bruce Barron Has Died; Services Pending." When I returned to my Cedar Ridge Road home with the mail, as I stepped out of the car I heard that distinct but faint call of honkers high in the sky. The white puffy clouds were racing north with an approaching storm and I squinted, searching for the source of the sound. Then I saw one V-shaped string, high, high above, just little specks riding that fast-moving jet stream straight as an arrow to the north country and home. That must have been Bruce calling out his Farewell to Manton, I thought quietly to myself.

I try to remember when I first met Bruce and saw his marvelous gift to the Manton community, the fabulous oasis called Waterwheel Park. It was in the early '80s when Bruce cooked up a huge kettle of beans for the annual Volunteer Fire Department Barbeque. It was so typical of Bruce, always doing something to support the community. Bruce and his wife Elna took their land which they called Lassen Ox-Shoe Ranch and dedicated a portion of it for a community gathering place, a spot for weddings and Grange picnics, a place to meet your neighbors and sip a cold beer while catching up on local news. No other place in Manton existed for such a thing.

Waterwheel Park was his finest creation. In a beautiful creek bottom with giant sycamores and oaks, Bruce built a waterwheel to capture the energy of falling water to turn the spit on which he roasted meat for the hungry hordes. There was cookhouse and picnic tables, a covered bridge adorned with horseshoes and Bruce's welded whimsical creations for entertainment. Fiddle and guitar often would accompany barbecued beef and beans at so many community and fraternal gatherings. Bruce built community and loved doing so.

The plaque which commemorates Waterwheel Park states it best: "Bruce and Elna Barron established the Waterwheel Park in 1961 to serve in conjuction with the Manton Frontier Days Rodeo and Barbeque. Launched by Beef, Beans and Cowboys, the Park was designed to preserve our Western Heritage and pay homage to the memory of our Native Americans and early California Pioneers. May People in future generations continue to appreciate the beauty and serenity of this bucolic park area and enjoy giving remembrance to those venerable traditions of the Old West." Though now privately owned and only occasionally opened for public events, the memories of good times together will always remain as Bruce's legacy for so many of us.

This short blog could not possibly relate all the many adventures and accomplishments which characterize Bruce's ninety years on this earth. Fortunately for us, Bruce was also a superb raconteur who chronicled many of those entertaining life stories in a book he wrote titled "Fabulous Memories of a Truly Adventurous Life--Short Stories You Will Long Remember." This paperback is rich with tales of local history, cowboys, rodeos, and unexpected and unusual events of yesteryear. It is available at the Manton Museum, a place where you can see a display of twenty different kinds of barbed wire, donated by Bruce. Of course, there is much more to see in the museum. To acquire Bruce's book and see the wonderful displays in the museum, contact the President of the Manton Historical Society, Pat Grag at (530) 474-5219. Bruce was a big supporter of the Historical Society and would certainly have welcomed your support of this local treasure.

In conclusion, again I will quote a few lines of poetry from Bruce's book:

After feeding hungry cows
all those hefty bales of hay
A cowboy saved that wire
Twas a sin to throw it away!

Having extra haywire around
just made a lot of sense
He might be needing it someday
to fix that busted fence.

.....

Oh, alack and alas,
when it's my time to expire,
If a cowboy can be found,
who my widow can hire,

I'll feel safe from the devil
and his eternal fire,
If he'll just seal my tomb
with that old baling wire.

May you rest in peace Bruce, and thanks a million for all the memories. Services will be held at the Allen & Dahl Funeral Chapel in Palo Cedro, Wednesday, March 23rd at 11 a.m. It is located 1/4 mile south of Highway 44, phone (530) 547-4444.