Ron Keller

In an interview, Ron Keller shared his experience working at the barn in 1950. He was twelve years old and had grown up riding horses, milking cows, and picking apples on his family's farm. His neighbor, Mr. Batt, worked for the college and hired him to ride the work horses that were used to haul hay to the barn.

Mr. Keller would strap a large harness around the horse's belly and under its tail. The work horses were very big, so it was a bit tricky for a twelve year old boy to sit on the horse and wrap his legs around it, but he managed to do it. He would ride the horses as they used a Jackson fork to haul bales of hay from the delivery truck into the barn. They could only unload 4 or 5 bales at a time, so it was a long, hot process to unload the trucks, which carried about 150 bales.

The job had its rewards, though. Mr. Keller said, "That was the first job I can remember that I ever got paid for and I made two dollars per day. That was a lot of money, I thought. I remember going down with my first check and buying a pair of pants and a shirt that I'd admired for so long, and several things just out of one day's pay, you know. So it was fun."

When the other barns were dismantled a few years later to make room for the Taggart Student Center, Mr. Keller's father used some of the the materials from the barns to build a garage, which is still standing behind Mr. Keller's house. Mr. Keller later did some other work on campus as a mechanic and welder, and all nine of his children were also involved with Utah State University.