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Life at
ranch an improvement
March 28, 2006
Story and photos by Lee Juillerat
H&N Regional Editor
MERRILL - Javier Cobian will celebrate his 50th birthday this week.
He looks much older.
Life hasn't been particularly easy for Cobian, and those years of struggles are
reflected by his tired eyes, subdued demeanor and wisps of gray in his mustache
and day-old beard.
My luck has not been good because I've been working here and there, Cobian
says. In all these years I cannot remember how many jobs I've had. I work a
year and half in one job, and look for another. Every new job you have to start
all over again, from the bottom up.
Cobian first arrived in the Tulelake Basin in 1978, from the Mexican state of Jalisco. He began working in potato sheds.
It wasn't a very good job because the minimum wages were
$2.35 an hour. It was hard to survive.
Eventually he came to loathe being indoors, standing in the same spot
day-after-day sorting potatoes.
I was raised on the farm. I like being outside, he says.
For many years he shuttled from
job-to-job. On a whim, he signed up for classes that led to him becoming a U.S.
citizen in 1987.
I deal with some farmers and they don't treat you too good, he says.
Life improved in 1991, when Cobian began
working for the Orem Ranch, which has ranch and farm lands in the Merrill area.
The Orems provide housing for some of their employees, including Cobian and his
wife, Consuelo. During the fall harvest, she sometimes works seasonally driving
potato trucks or doing other work. They have two grown sons.
I feel comfortable with this job, Cobian explains. I think the people
I'm working for are fair people.
He calls himself a farm hand. I do a
little bit of everything.
This day he's watching as others dig post holes for a new corral. Before they
begin drilling, Cobian directs the man driving the post-hole digger to move left
or right, so that the fence will be perfectly aligned.
Cobian also helps direct other Hispanic
laborers and interprets their comments. Saul Flores has been working seasonally
for two years, Antonio Chabolla for six. With Angel Mendez and Hilarion Alvarez,
the crew builds corrals and feeds cattle in the winter. As the weather warms,
they'll shift chores to irrigating and, in the fall, harvesting grain.
I like these people, Cobian shouts, nodding goodbye as he and the others
return to their work.
