A photo from the early 1900s appeared in the Sept. 16 edition of the Journal with the article “Lost Art | Draft Horses” supplied by Kevin Loftus of the San Juan Island Historical Museum.

The following Tuesday a man named Alric Tuck called the Journal office to tell us that he has the original photo, and the man in the picture is his father, Alric Long Tuck. According to Alric Tuck, the photo was taken during a San Juan Island Fourth of July pulling contest.

Alric Tuck  estimated his father to be in his early 20s around 1905-1910. There was a $50 prize for the winner of the pulling contest, but nobody showed up to compete.

So Norman Tuck, Alric Long Tuck’s father, sent him home to get their draft horses Kit and Kat and put on a demonstration.

“He sent the kid home to get the team to put on some kind of exhibition so that’s what that’s about,” Tuck said, adding that the family ended up splitting the prize money.

Alric Tuck was born on the island in 1937 to Alric Long Tuck (1886-1967). His father was 51 when he was born, and he remembers him wearing bib overalls all the time, even with a necktie.

“But they were always clean, there was pride in that,” Tuck said.

In his teens, Alric Tuck remembers how important agriculture was here, and helping out on the farms and with harvests. He recalled the neighbors working and sharing meals together during that time.

“It didn’t matter if you had 5 acres and your neighbor had 25 acres, as long as everyones harvest was stored away for winter, that’s what was important,” Tuck said.

Alric Tuck now lives on Whidbey Island and is now retired after a career as a carpenter.