Edwin LaMott of Silver Lake has been a livestock truck driver for 61 of his 83 years. Even though one of his most frequent destinations, the South St. Paul stockyards, closed April 11, LaMott continues to keep on trucking.

LaMott received the stockyards’ End of an Era trucker award on the 11th, for his loyalty to the South St. Paul Stockyards, Central Livestock — the stockyards’ owner — and his dedication to the livestock industry.

How much longer will this World War II veteran continue to haul cattle, sheep and hogs to market?

“Who knows?” was LaMott’s answer. “The business has changed. It’s down to nearly nothing because farmers don’t have it anymore. So I don’t know how much longer I’ll be going. You’ve got further to drive. My whole family wants me to quit, so … ” LaMott said with a smile.

A family legacy
LaMott started trucking in 1947. The previous year, he returned home from serving with the Army. LaMott had been deployed to the Philippines, mainly to clean up and look after prisoners of war. “The big kill was over when we got there,” he said.

Upon his return to the family farm north of Silver Lake, where he still lives, LaMott said he planned to go into construction. But, his dad asked him to stay on and help at the farm.

To supplement the family income, LaMott’s dad bought a livestock truck and starting hauling animals to market. “(You did) anything you could find to make a dollar in them days,” he said. “And it’s getting that way again.”

For more on this story, see the Leader’s April 22 print edition.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)