Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 158

Bradford Island (continued) $tfySi'TiVily- few Portuguese and Italian families then and they used to have guests that would spend weeks here." In 1927 Joe and the other families built a schoolhouse on the island for the. teacher who came by boat and lived four days a week with the families of his pupils. Today, the handful of youngsters on Bradford attend school in Oakley, nine miles away. They use the Victory II to get to the mainland where a station wagon picks them up. Joe-figures that he pretty well fits the description of the country man.

"I guess I haven't been to the city since 1942," he said, "and I have no desire to go. I just couldn't take all that traffic and confusion." He gets no argument from his wife. "I much rather ride horse than a car," Mrs. Nichols said. "At least a horse has two eyes and can see where it's going." a "Islanders respect each other's privacy," she said, "but they are quick to help whenever anyone needs help." Most of the families on the island raise, corn or cattle but lately at least two families have settled down to take advantage of the hunting and the fishing.

The rich peat spil produces bumper corn crops. One of them lives on the levee near a sign that reads: "SLOW! KIDS! DOGS! DUST!" "I came here for a six months vacation," the sign's owner said. "That was five years ago and as far as I'm concerned I'd never live anywhere else." Joe Nichols, who tends the eight natural gas wells on the island, is its oldest permanent resident. He came in 1924 to repair and watch the levees and he tended them for 32 years. It would take a tidal wave to wash Joe and his wife back to the mainland.

"In the old days it was a lot livelier here," he said. "The island had quite a Joaquin dike keeps the waters off the rich peat soil. 7 IF i. mm 15 71 Mrs. Marvin Davis prefers horses to motor cars.

erryman Jack Freitas not only works on the water he lives on it. T-three.