By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
It was in August of 1941, that Herbert McNeal of Caribou started his own business hauling trash. Now 70 years later, Jack Herbert and his wife Teelynne McNeal Herbert, the third generation of the McNeal family, continue to operate the business.“My father, Herbert borrowed a black horse from Rands McFarland, hitched it to a wagon and proceeded to pick up the trash in Caribou,” stated Phil McNeal, who worked with his father, later taking over as owner in 1963. “He would use the horse and wagon but had to return it to McFarland when planting season came around. At that time the dump was off of Washburn Street. After a while he bought a 1939 second-hand pick-up truck; charged $2.50 per month to pick up the trash weekly and that trash included everything from dishpans to pianos — everything went.”
Circa 1946-47, the Ogden Road became the location of the town dump and in 1948 Herbert McNeal brought a brand new three-quarter-ton Studebaker truck with a canvas on the back to cover the trash with.
“In 1963, I took over the business,” said Phil McNeal “and soon after that I bought a brand new truck/rubbish unit, I paid $14,900 for that vehicle and it was the only one like it north of Dexter.”
As the years went by, McNeal’s Trucking added a second vehicle at a cost of $58,000 to service their growing number of customers, both residential and commercial. During those times, Herbert McNeal, although retired still helped his son and the other employees by literally walking all over town on pickup days, bringing the trash barrels from the businesses to the side of the road, making it easier for the workers. McNeal’s also transported freight from the Central Pacific Railroad and delivered to J. C. Penney’s, Sears and Loring Air Force Base.
In the earlier days before the trucks were outfitted with hydraulic equipment, the trash was loaded and unloaded by hand. Working from 6 a.m. until dark, six days a week, made as many as 10 to 15 trips a day to the dump.
“Sometimes during a really bad snowstorm,” said Beverly McNeal, Phil’s wife, “people would call and tell me that they had been skipped over, that their trash was still there and it was 8:30 a.m. Customers could set their clocks by the trash pick-up time, never stopping to think that the crew had been delayed by the weather.”
“We never lost many customers,” said Phil McNeal, “most of them were (and continue to be) very appreciative of the service we provided.”
“During those days before we had a garage to keep our vehicles in, we used to have to go out early in the mornings, clean the ice and snow off and then just hope they would start,” McNeal added. “One day I had to repair a driveshaft — there I was laying on the ground under that truck and when I went to get up, I couldn’t move — my coat was frozen solid to the ground.”
In the years before the environmental laws came into effect, many citizens used metal barrels as their outside trash receptacles or to burn some of their rubbish or yard scraps in and McNeal said it wasn’t uncommon for the barrel to still contain hot embers when it was dumped — causing a fire on the garbage truck. At one time, finding himself close to his own home and realizing there was a fire on the truck, he pulled into his dooryard and dumped the entire load on his front lawn.
In 2001 Jack and Teelynne (McNeal) Herbert became owners of McNeal’s Trucking. Jack had worked with his father-in-law since 1994 and Teelynne currently does all the company’s book work.
Today’s environmental regulations have brought about many changes in the way Jack Herbert must run the business at McNeal’s Trucking. “Over the last few years, specific trash items must be separated and the electronic items must be brought to a different site, and there is a fee that is attached to this type of disposal. Before, everything could be hauled and it was simpler.”
But with the environmental changes also came improvements with the capabilities of the vehicles used to haul debris away. “The modern trucks with advanced hydraulic fittings makes it more efficient when lifting a trash barrel as well as those that now can empty the heavier roll off containers and the 2-10 yard dumpsters,” said Herbert.
As with all technology and advancements comes higher costs, including the hike in the sticker price of a new vehicle, as Jack Herbert is well aware, “I bought a new truck in 2001 and it was $82,000.
McNeal’s Trucking continues to provide residential and commercial trash removal. Weekly pick up, roll-off containers, dumpsters are all part of the service provided by McNeal’s after 70 years of operation.
For more information call 493-4433.
