Kane Trucking Company (ca. 1950)

Grady Kane's letter page 1 of 3
5-22-88 TO: All of you kids, Ryan Allen and others FROM: Grady R. Kane Subject: Enclosed photos and data on the Kane Family When Mary Clare and I attended Vera Kennemer's Funeral 2-23-88 Art brought some 8xl0's he had salvaged from the shop after they sold their ditching service. These were some memorabilia from the late 40's and I don't remember ever seeing some of them before, tho I am sure that I probably did. Bill Kane had recollections of the events happening, but then he was older than I was at that time (still is). Art let me bring some of the pictures home and Andy made negatives of the 8x10's and made copies for all of you kids. So, you have Andy to thank for these prints. Kane Truck Co., was located on Agnes Street in Corpus Christi when these pictures were made. Cheryl (Hahn) Giacomazzi spent her earliest days in the little house shown at the left of the mechanics shop. This house was directly behind the office, which is not shown in any of the pictures. The big "K" with "Kane Trucking Company" on the inside and seen on the truck doors was designed by none other than yours truly. The truck company later moved further out of town, still on Agnes St., and, after Owen Hahn and Clyde Kennemer became partners, changed to "Trucking, Inc.", which was quite descriptive, as they did all kinds of oil field trucking. Their specialty became pipe stringers — hauling oil field pipe to the location of pipe lines, stockpiling, and stringing the pipe along the right—of-ways. They had quite an operation going in the late 40's and early 50's. These were truly the "good old days" for many of us. Bill and I and Jimmy Kennemer got to work a lot at the truck yard and on job locations — we made $.75 to $.85/hour, but we got in a lot of overtime. The minimum wage in those days was $.65 to $.75/hour. I think the highest paid truck driver was getting about $1.75 to $2.25 per hour. I can't recall what Dad and the others were getting in pay, but I do know that Daddy was getting $1,000.00 per month somewhere around this time - and that was a BIG salary. This was quite a family operation and most of you have never heard about it - Besides Daddy, Owen Hahn and Clyde Kennemer all of the following worked for Trucking, Inc., at one time or another - some worked many different times: Mary Lou Freeman (Mary Lou may have been a partner at this time or later, I am not sure about this), Jack Kennemer, Gene Kennemer, Doyle Kane, Warren Kane, Steve Freeman, Bill, Jimmy, and me, and many other friends of the family and friends of us boys. This company provided the livelihood of many families during some pretty hard times. Needless to say, I have many fond memories of those days and, even now, get teary—eyed just thinking about them and the people that made that time in my life so special to me.
Grady Kane's letter page 2 of 3
There is so much more to tell, but Grandfathers don't remember so good - so I am sending this on to you along with some facts about your family that I have sent to you before but you have misplaced. As you get older, these things will become more meaningful to all of you. The picture of the trucks shows several of the "Gin—pole" or "winch" trucks that were used to load the pipe onto the trailers. Later, Dad, Carl Smith, and others designed a work—station that was elevated from the running—board of the gin truck to the top of the headache above the winch so that the operator could see most of his work—area, could sit down and use both hand and foot controls. This was a big improvement, both for safety reasons and operator control. The mechanics shop shows a gin truck, one of the big Federal trucks and the house that Owen, Cody, and Cheryl Hahn lived in for a short time. There is a story that goes with the Federal truck hooking up to the low—boy float. Dad and others designed this float so that you could drive or load a big piece of equipment onto to the float and then, using the winch on the truck, make a gooseneck out of the front of the trailer so that you could haul it down the road. Fixed gooseneck floats were around, but this was the first one that could be laid out flat to load the equipment. The other picture shows the gooseneck float reassembled. The picture with the three big storage tanks moving down the road was quite an accomplishment, according to Bill Kane. You will have to get him to tell you the story, as I don't remember much about this. As the story went, Dad bid this job to move the three tanks - the company figured that he would have to take them apart to move them, but he didn't and they didn't want to pay for the move as he did it at a much greater savings. They paid. There were several pictures of this, but they didn't mean that much to me, so I didn't have Andy make negatives of the others. The picture of the Kane Family is really priceless, as all of the kids were alive and present for this picture, taken in Rockport (I believe). They are lined up by date of birth behind their parents, U. L. and Florence E. Kane: Thelma, Art, Doyle, Albert, Alma, Maxine, Maurine, Warren, and Betty Sue. And you thought that you had a big family. They are a good looking bunch of folks!! Most of you don't know many of your uncles and aunts on the Kane side of the family and that is a big loss for you as I knew and loved them all. Only five of the eleven in the picture are still living. Well, Andy and Mary Clare have been gone almost two hours now. They are driving the little S—10 pick—up to Minnesota so that MC will have transportation while she is there. Mayme, as you know will have a hip-replacement surgery on Wednesday, 5-25-88. I have my instructions to mow the yard this morning before it gets too hot, so I guess I should get on with it. It is only a little after 0900 hours and I hate to wake all of my neighbors on this fine Sunday morning, but that's life.
Grady Kane's letter page 3 of 3
I hope that you enjoy these pictures as Andy went to a lot of trouble for your sake — let him know that you appreciate it, send him money!!! His and Peggy's day is soon approaching — August 6th. A lot of Kane kids have gotten married in the past several years, especially this year with Kelly getting married in March and Robert getting married in May - they are probably still on their honeymoon. Your mother is talking to Andy on this drive to St. Paul about trying to get him to work less than the 40+ hours that he is now working and, at the same time, trying to carry a full load of studies at A & M. The college trust fund that all of you used, (to one extent or another, some more than others), was set up by your mother and me using a gift of some stock from Father Raymond Galligan. Over the years this has added up, but not enough to make any of you independent of needs. But it did provide help. There is not enough money in the fund to let Andy concentrate strictly on his studies, but I think that we can provide enough that he won't have to work more than 15-20 hours per week. That should allow him to spend a little more time on his studies and on sleep, as he can't keep going on 3-4 hours of rest a night. After Andy and Peggy get married, he plans on cutting back on his work time, so the added monthly income from the trust fund should come in handy. I am putting this in this letter as I know that several of you have been concerned about Andy's financial problems. He works too many hours to qualify for the grant money and if he didn't work that many hours he couldn't make it at all — typical unthinking policy of people who don't understand humanity but are in charge of handling the grants, scholarships, loans, etc. If Andy decides not to accept the additional trust fund money, are any of you interested? Forget that! MC still thinks that this is her money — I keep telling her that Father Raymond didn't give it to her, but she doesn't see it that way at all. Oh, in case any of you are thinking that Andy will be getting more out of the trust Fund that you got — you are probably right. The way that I look at this is that this is what the money was for — you kids’ college education. We had to make it last for five of you and still provide the maximum amount for each one of you. I will feel real good if the college trust fund is zero at the time of Andy's graduation, because that will be doing what I think Father Raymond intended us to do with the stock dividends. We did pretty good, considering! Betsy, I guess Andy will reap the benefits of your not attending college - but that was your choice. Maybe Ryan Allan will attend college at Texas A & M. After all, Betsy, you and MC are the only ones in our family that have not attended Aggieland. I am going to make MC take summer classes one of these days. You can bring Ryan Allan to Texas and attend summer school with MC, Betsy. Love to all. Dad.
Kane Trucking Co.
Kane Trucking Co., 3050 Agnes Street, Corpus Christi, Texas, ca. late 1940s to early 1950s The picture of the trucks shows several of the "Gin—pole" or "winch" trucks that were used to load the pipe onto the trailers. Later, Dad, Carl Smith, and others designed a work—station that was elevated from the running—board of the gin truck to the top of the headache above the winch so that the operator could see most of his work—area, could sit down and use both hand and foot controls. This was a big improvement, both for safety reasons and operator control.
Kane Trucking Co.
Kane Trucking Co., 3050 Agnes Street, Corpus Christi, Texas, ca. late 1940s to early 1950s The picture of the trucks shows several of the "Gin—pole" or "winch" trucks that were used to load the pipe onto the trailers. Later, Dad, Carl Smith, and others designed a work—station that was elevated from the running—board of the gin truck to the top of the headache above the winch so that the operator could see most of his work—area, could sit down and use both hand and foot controls. This was a big improvement, both for safety reasons and operator control.