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Lindbeck, Marinell and Lloyd

About | Abstract

About

Consultant describes farming in the Radium Springs/Dona Ana area. Discussion regarding L.B. Lindbeck's inventions and patents on farm equipment that he manufactured in Las Cruces, N.M.

Interviewee Marinell and Lloyd Lindbeck, female, born in -0001
Date Range 1928-2014
Date & Location January 31, 2017 and February 1, 2017, Farm and Ranch Museum
Project Farm and Ranch Folks
Region Southwest New Mexico
Number of Tapes 3
Transcribed September 14, 2017

Abstract

Tape 1, Side A

Marinell describes her life as a child, how she met her husband, L.B. Lindbeck, and how he started farming. The farm operation in Radium Springs is described. Some of the crops grown were cotton, lettuce, onions, alfalfa, and turnips.

Tape 1, Side B

Lloyd Lindbeck describes his father as someone who "tended to live on the edge financially" and says that on the farm they were always fighting weeds but does not recall any losses due to famine or pestilence. There is a brief discussion about the Elephant Butte irrigation and water issues on the farm. Lloyd recalls that he began doing chores at an early age, not because it was expected but because he wanted to. He was driving the tractor at age eight. Daily life on the farm is described such as typical meals. They had a garden and grew vegetables and melons. Lloyd recalls that his father would drop him off on Solano Street with a trailer load of melons and he would sell them. There was always something to do on the farm so there was not a lot of time spent playing.

Tape 2, Side A

Marinell recalls the flood of 1938 when several members of a neighbor family dies while trying to cross the swollen river. She briefly describes attending church, and attending school at a three-room schoolhouse at Hill, N.M. She recalls that her parents often had to struggle to make ends meet, but that her father was a bit of an entrepreneur and always provided for the family. There is a discussion regarding an article in the Seventh-Day Adventist publication The Record in which Lloyd is mentioned as having participated in a fundraising when he was only four years old.

Lloyd makes mention of the fact that his parents were married in Carlsbad Caverns, and had their honeymoon in Truth or Consequences, and that on the morning of their first day of married life there were two sunrises. That was the morning that the Trinity Bomb was ignited.

Marinell recalls that there were struggles when she was growing up and there was always work to be done. However, she says that they were good memories. When asked what she considered unique about living in a rural area she replied that she always enjoyed country living and open spaces. She believes that the quality of life is better today that it was in the past because there are better ways of doing things, and better equipment. Lloyd states that while it is true he feels that people are missing the family closeness that comes from working together to reach a common goal.

Tape 2, Side B

The interview continues as Lloyd states that children do not have the experience of working anymore. They are too interested in watching television. When asked what the most critical issues facing farmers today are, the Lindbecks agree that water issues and a scarcity of arable land due to development in the Mesilla Valley are the most critical. Lloyd is very concerned about development and how global climate affects the future of farming. "If you're developing in the wrong ways you cut down on the possibilities of anything good happening."

L.B.'s inventions are discussed. The equipment was built at a shop in Las Cruces, and L.B. would go out to various farms to demonstrate what the machinery could do. The machines were marketed under the name Speedline. Each of L.B.'s patented machines is discussed. The machines were marketed in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California.

Tape 3, Side A

The operations at the manufacturing building in Las Cruces are discussed. Marinell and Lloyd have many items pertaining to the manufacturing shop that they are currently sorting through, including a wire recorder.

Tape 3, Side B

Marinell wonders who is interested in the Museum's oral history transcripts so the interviewer describes how the Museum uses them, and their value as research tools.