PAGE 2 OF SAM WILSON'S LIFE IN TRUCKING
So knowing that an opportunity was there for him and that all he had to do was make something of it, he took the bull by the horns and went to town. He still hauled houses sometimes, but his main priority was to build the company.
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First thing he focused on was using his experience of hauling houses and find better ways to do it. One of the first things he did was to put storage boxes underneath all of the trailers. The “possum belly’s” were made big enough so the plywood sheets would lay flat and out of the way, |
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and could be unloaded as needed by the contractor. The old way the plywood sheets were always in the way and you had to find a place to put them before you could get to the other pieces of the houses. The new way made it not just easier but faster. Now it was possible for the driver and trailer to get back sooner for another load. Next he set up a maintenance service company to take care of all the trailers. He knew from past experience that lack of maintenance on the trailers sometimes caused late deliveries; and in order to get more of the business you need to trailers to be there on time.
After the infrastructure was tuned up, he went to work on the task of building the company. Soon after taking over, the percentage of on time deliveries went up. And so did the percentage of loads from the factory. More loads meant more trailers, so he started to buy new trailers. 16 trailers in one order alone. With all the new trailers and extra loads, Sam knew he needed to expand his hauling authority.
Back then, you needed the authority to haul certain products. You obtained the authority by applying for it or sometimes by taking the competitors to court in order to get their authority. If you did get a hearing to challenge, you had to prove your case by showing that the competition didn’t have the means to deliver; or they charged to low for others to compete; or they just didn’t do a good job; and so on. From what I can tell Sam mostly took the high road and didn’t challenge others. One of the exceptions was Pre-Fab Transit. He did whatever it took to fight them, because after he rejected a very good job offer from them they decided to take the low road and come after him (unsuccessfully, I might add!!)
Sam said he spent many successful hours in the courtroom against them; only to learn years later, to his dismay, that they were owned by the same company as Morgan Drive-Away! I have heard from many people that when Sam was in the courtroom he was often mistaken for the attorney. I think the reason he was so successful with his ICC authority was the way he handled himself in that situation; plus the fact that when he was dedicated to something, there was no steering him away from it.
It was on one of those trips to yet another court hearing that he realized how much time was taken up by driving to all of those hearings. So he decided that he would learn to be a private pilot and fly to the hearings instead of driving. He paid for the training out of his own pocket and rented the planes instead of charging the company. That is, until (once again) Mr. Morgan caught wind of it. He called and told Sam that he wanted to see his butt at the home office in Elkhart, NOW!!! He thought it was about some more new trailers he had just ordered. After Sam showed up the same day, Mr. Morgan said you must have flown down here. Sam, not thinking anything about it, said yes he did fly, because he just got his pilot’s license. Then Mr. Morgan asked who paid for it, and who pays for the use of the plane? Sam being the simple honest type, said not to worry, that he paid for it on his own and it didn’t cost the company anything.
That was the day he found out what a bad temper was all about. Mr. Morgan went up one side of him and then down the other side. After that, he started all over again. Mr. Morgan was a 6 ‘6” tall, red-headed Irishman, with a very short fuse. He said, "Sam I don’t run a little pretend company! I don’t want any of my employees to think or act otherwise! Damn it Sam! You need to stop acting like a Northwood's hick and start acting like the executive you are." Sam was chewed out, complimented and promoted all at the same time. But that was how Mr. Morgan was. Sam always respected him greatly, which is why no-one ever once heard Sam refer to him as anything but Mr. Morgan!
By then the P-H was so pleased with his performance and his on-time load percentages that they gave him 100% of factory output. He also expanded his authority from three states to the entire Midwest, eventually to include 28 states. At the same time the size of the fleet grew from 17 old mismatched trailers to 70 new highway trailers, and eventually to over 100 trailers
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These photos taken during the loading of a prefabricated home were taken by the professional photographer VERN ARDENT, a long time friend of Sam's Vern & Sam got together and produced a more dramatic group of photos. Shown below. |
Sam, a licensed and skilled pilot, had Vern strapped to the wing while he did the flying. Together, they came up with some dramatic shots of the company equipment.
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They were lined up on the shoulder of the road to be photographed. You did many things in the 1950's that would not happen today. Trucking has lost it's excitement and adventure.
(Below Centre Photo) Sam standing on the far left with his drivers. This was the fleet at the time Sam took over and started to build it up to an efficient up to date operation, around 1958/59.
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(Left Photo) Sam standing in front of his office in Port Washington Wisconsin. He later moved the office to their home. (Right Photo) He bought 66 trailers in that one order. |
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With the expansion of the company, the day-to-day requirements also grew, and it became too much for one person. So Sam hired a secretary / dispatcher, who really had an in with him: Dot, his wife! She did all the dispatching and office duties, and dealt with the drivers (no easy job I might add). Between the two nobody could top them. What makes their family even more proud was how well they succeeded despite where they came from. Because of the times and the farm life, Dot never made it past the eighth grade. Sam made it through high school, but never graduated. Like others of that era, he did try to enlist after Pearl Harbor, but he had flat feet and couldn’t get in.
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During the expansion time, the trucks were upgraded and the old units were put up for sale. Some of you older drivers may remember seeing these stubby short wheel-based trucks on the road. |
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NOTE; This property is Sam's first office. This little town does not exist any more since the building of the Interstate I-43.
And of course no matter who's fleet it is, accidents will happen. The coffee wagon working the plant yard had this chance meeting with a big rig, while an other big rig had his own problems.
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A SHOCKING INCIDENT
The company wasn’t the only thing to expand a little later on. Most of the kids were married by now and had started families of their own. The only ones left at home were their daughter Dixie who was 18, and the brother Windy 17. But that was about to change. Dot and Sam had a visit from an old friend, who brought a package for them. Holy smokes, it was Mr. Stork, and he brought Terry!!! It seems to some like that secretary setup was a little too convenient for Sam. So 17 years after the last surprise along comes Terry. Most people in there 40’s (me included) probably would have fallen over with the news of a second family. But thankfully for Terry, his parents always liked an adventure. Even though he was at all times the perfect (?) child and never did anything to cause his parents any worry, it still must have been a challenge. Then, to up the ante, they decided that he needed a playmate and gave him a little sister two years later, and named her Kim. Sam always joked that their legal names are YOU’RE WHAT! And OH NO!
Even though he was just a little baby at Sam's height of career with Morgan Drive-Away, Terry remembers plenty of his dad’s experiences. This is mainly because of all the years he spent later on with him in the truck. He loved to tell stories and Terry loved to hear them. What he wouldn’t give to be able to hear them again! One of the stories that came to his mind, was when they were at the Chicago home show. Every year my mom and dad would have a booth with P-H Homes at the Chicago home show.
| One year they went as far as to completely set up a model home in the parking lot. A couple years later the show had moved and got more expensive. So dad figured out a way to get the company name out there without spending that money. |
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After the show was over a big shot from Morgan’s home office called and asked my dad, "Where in the heck was your booth at the home show?" He told my dad that he searched all over the place but never did find it and it bugged him.
| He was sure Dad had a booth, because no matter where he stopped, he would see "Morgan Drive Away" pens with my Dad’s name on them, and "Morgan Drive Away" pads of paper. And they were all over the place! Dad laughed and told him they were there, but they didn’t have a booth at the show this year. Instead they brought six cases of pens and pads of paper to the show and left them at every booth and table they could find. |
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Another time, Dad was flying to a hearing when he had engine problems. So he was forced to land in a grassy field behind a house. After landing he walked up to the house so he could ask to use the phone. But before he could use the phone he had to spend the next 20 minutes trying to convince the lady of the house that he did indeed land a plane in her field out behind the barn. She didn’t believe him till she went and saw the plane for herself. After finally convincing her he was able to use the phone and called the mechanic to come out and fix the plane. Once fixed dad took off from the field and still made it to the hearing on time.
A COUPLE OF INTERESTING ITEMS THAT HAPPENED TO SAM DURING HIS STAY AT MORGAN DRIVE AWAY.
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Most people think mobile phones are fairly new. Sam had a Mobil phone in his car in the middle 50’s. They called it a radio phone and you had to have an FCC license to use it. The transmitters were spaced every so often on the telephone poles. He said it would get real loud the closer you were to the transmitter, then get lower till you came up to the next transmitter. The phone company also experimented by putting a phone in his plane, but the technology wasn’t up to it yet. |
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Sam worked for Morgan Drive-Away for a total of 18 years. Within those years he was transportation manager for 15 years. When starting out he had a fleet of 17 rag-tag trailers, six owner operators and 60 % of one factory and authority for 5 states. In that time he built the company to consist of well over 100 modern well maintained trailers, 28 trucks, 100% of seven factories and authority to haul in 28 states.
During that time, in 1964 an ill wind (so to speak) fell upon them.
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One of the hazards of living and working in the mid-west (tornado ally) is that you just never know when it will be your turn. This destruction only took a few moments. If you notice the top centre photo, you can see a statue of Mother Mary. It was taken from a hospital 10 blocks away, and set down undamaged. The power and destruction of the weather elements at times is unbelievable.
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This tornado came upon them in 1964. There were 35 trailers knocked around during the storm. To help clean up the destruction, a father and son team came up from Milwaukee and spent a whole week , putting trailers up right. They gave Sam a whopping bill of $150.00. (Even in 1964 that was dirt cheap.)
The last couple years, though, weren’t the best years with Morgan Drive-Away. Mr. Morgan had passed away and the company was sold to investors. Sam said that the day Mr. Morgan died, so did "Morgan Drive-Away." The investors no longer cared about that division of the company and pretty much were using it as a tax write-off. The company decided to move him to Omaha, Nebraska for six months, and then to Evansville, Wisconsin. That’s where Sam finally had enough and left the company that he once loved and was so proud of. I think the investors were trying to get him to leave because they wanted to go with a younger, less-experienced manager who they could mold into their way of thinking. To the company, He was considered an old man at the age of 48. At least nowadays they couldn’t get by with that type of age discrimination.
But it didn’t matter to him, because he was never in it for the money. Many times he passed up better paying job offers with more power to stay loyal to Mr. Morgan and Morgan Drive-Away. His pride was his pay, and he took great pride in the accomplishments that he achieved while building Morgan Drive-Away pre-fab division and P-H homes. In addition he took great pride in his drivers and equipment. It shows in all those pictures that he had taken of him and the drivers at Morgan Drive-Away. In all of the pictures you can see a very grateful, proud Northern Minnesota man and what he was able to do with that opportunity. After leaving the company he bounced around in smaller jobs, but nothing like what he had before. In the mid 70’s he drove for a trucking company whose manager used to do business with him. That was where Terry's jump seat time with Dad came in, and where he learned to love that old smelly screaming Detroit in the middle of a cold night.
THIS NEXT ENTRY IS BY TERRY WILSON DESCRIBING HIS MEMORIES OF SAM WILSON.
As a kid I always wanted follow in my father’s footsteps and drive that big semi. I would dream about the day when my turn behind that wheel would arrive. That day finally came but it wasn’t till I followed some advice from my dad. He told me that I should learn a trade so I wouldn’t have to rely on trucking. At the time I was against it. But being under 21 years old meant I couldn’t go interstate. So, just like my Dad, I had an opportunity come my way and I knew enough to take it. I was already working as an electrician’s helper and doing lighting maintenance when I was offered a chance to be indentured into the electrical apprenticeship program by the company that I was working for. In the long run that was a very smart choice. I did my time and got my journeyman’s license and now have 25 some years in the trade. I drove semi when electrical work was slow. After moving back to Wisconsin from Utah in 1989, I landed a perfect job for me doing both driving and construction. I was delivering and installing dock boards all around the country.
| It was around the same time my dad, Myself and my oldest brother Woody (who also was bitten by the driving bug and spent many a miles behind the wheel) all became Members of "American Truck Historical Society." During their national convention and truck show in Milwaukee, My brother Garwood "Woody" presented Dad with the founder’s award that is given out to members who were instrumental in the early development of transportation, either by driving or management. Our family was so proud of Dad for that award and all that he did. |
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My father always loved to reminisce about our time together in the truck. One time in particular that he always talked about and I’ll never forget, was when dad started to drive truck again. He took a load of Mallard camping trailers to Kansas from the factory that was located across the street from our house. The company leased a big green cab-over Mack from Saunders leasing. I wanted to go so bad that I pleaded, I begged, and I held my breath. But dad told me that I couldn’t go along because the company didn’t allow riders. I couldn’t stand it! I went as far as to hide in the sleeper, but he found me and told me how sorry he was, but that was the rules. After peeling me out of that cab, he slowly started to pull away. I chased him all though the neighborhood crying and yelling as that big fancy diesel was heading to Kansas with out me. From the look on his face, you could tell he felt really bad that I had to stay behind. After the truck was out of sight, I stood there for awhile wiping the tears from my eyes, wishing that he might have changed his mind and I would see that big green and white Mack coming back to get me. As I turned around to walk home I suddenly became aware of the neighborhood watching me through the whole ordeal. Talk about wanting to disappear. Anyways when dad came back from Kansas I overheard him tell mom that he found out the "no rider policy" wasn’t enforced and in fact I could have gone with him after all. That hurt more than before.
Years later, as I was on a run down through Kansas, I stopped for dinner at a truck stop close to where Dad went on that trip. As I sat there eating I started to think about that trip and how exotic Kansas would have been to a 7 year old boy from Wisconsin. After finishing dinner, I noticed a post card in the store that said "Welcome to Kansas." So I bought it and sent it to dad saying "May have taken me a while dad but I finally made it." Which he loved and we both had a good chuckle.
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During my time on the road, I sometimes would sneak dad along on short trips (we
also had a no rider policy, but I told dad "Your son would break the rules for
YOU"). On the first trip all he did was sit back and look at the inside of the
truck. It was a 1989 Kenworth cab-over Aerodyne with all the bells and whistles.
My Dad came from the 4 cylinder gas job days, and it was a little overwhelming
for him.
(Left to Right in Photo) - Mom, family friend, Sister Kim, Dad Circa 1990 |
After that truck, I had a new Kenworth conventional, and I took dad on a short trip to Madison Wisconsin. We stopped off at the Pine Cone Truck Stop in Johnson Creek Wisconsin, just like we always use to do when I was a kid in his truck. After we finished breakfast, he went to use the restroom and I headed for the truck. When he came back to the truck he tried to open the passenger door, but it was locked. Dad looked up and saw me sitting there with a smile. I said "What’s the matter? Forget what door it is to get to the steering wheel? "He paused, and then got the biggest smile I ever have seen on anyone. Pops drove that big old cat for about five miles, then pulled into the rest area and said way too many horses for him! He hadn’t been behind the wheel of a semi in about 20 some years, but besides the shifting rpm difference he was ready to go. Mom later told me that dad couldn’t stop talking about it. I spent so many miles in that jump seat with dad driving, dreaming of the day when I would be steering that big old semi truck to those exotic places. Oh what I wouldn’t give to be in that jump seat with dad again. Dad passed away February of 2000 after falling on some ice the prior Christmas Eve.
I miss him everyday…….. Terry Wilson
Sam Wilson accumulated many awards and commendations for his work.
A small number of them are displayed here.
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This web page is a tribute to a trucker who in his day, was dedicated to his work and family, never giving up trying to improve the trucking industry. He was a class act all the way.
----- William (Diesel Gypsy) Weatherstone,
