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History for Wilbur Bush has come full circle. He’s doing the same kind of work at the Gallatin Sale Barn in his retirement years that he used to do when he was a kid growing up.
"I’ve done this kind of work all my life, actually" he says, grinning, as he shovels a scoopful of manure.
The job isn’t always pleasant and often requires wading through mud and muck. But it does afford Wilbur the opportunity to research one more aspect of Daviess County’s ongoing history. There has been a sale barn successfully operating in Gallatin for at least 70 years.
That’s an important fact to Wilbur, who is in the habit of accumulating such facts. Especially if they touch upon the Depression years.
"I always wanted to write a book," he says. "But I wasn’t sure what subject to take up. I eventually settled on the Great Depression. I started the book. It didn’t do too good. The publishers weren’t interested in that time-frame."
He began submitting articles to the North Missourian and has had a regular feature for about three years.
Wilbur grew up on a farm at Shelbina. His family raised corn and he helped milk cows. The family also lived at Leonard and Grant City. Wilbur’s father worked as a manager at MFA for 14 years and Wilbur did odd jobs for him.
"I remember shelling corn for 50 cents an hour," he said. "As I got older, I kept the books."
He got his undergraduate degree at Southwest Baptist College and Central Missouri State University. He received his master’s at Maryville. He got his first teaching job at Gallatin.
"When Mary Lee Froman had her first baby, I took her place," he said.
He taught fourth grade for 10 years and Chapter I math for the remainder of his 33 year tenure. He taught part-time for two years, retiring in 2000. He and his wife, Judy, have one daughter, Valerie, who lives in Maryville.
Wilbur took the job at the sale barn to keep busy and add to his income. "I’m sort of a ‘jack of all trades’ out here," he said.
Not too long ago, the owner of the present sale barn, Danny Froman, took Wilbur to see the site of the very first community sale barn built in the area. It opened in 1935. It was called the Marion Lankford barn and was located two blocks east of the Gallatin Motor Company (presently the Pamida store). "A house remains at the site now," Wilbur says.
The present sale barn, located eight blocks west of the business square in Gallatin on Bus. Hwy. 6, was built 55 years ago, according to Wilbur’s research. The arena is a 164 x 50 ft. brick barn built back then at a cost of approximately $20,000. The barn proper is 100-feet-long. Wilbur says today between 1500 to 2000 cattle are run through on sale weeks.
"They do a pretty brisk business, from the way the arena looks on Tuesday morning when I go out to clean it up," he says. The arena of tiered wood seats was built to hold between 400 to 500 people.
At the dedication of the barn in 1950, a pair of mules had the honor of being the first item of business for the auction. Wilbur says he hasn’t seen any mules at the sale barn. He says about 99% of the livestock today is cattle.
The work of cleaning at the sale barn has gotten a little easier over the years. Roy Hogan runs the bobcat and it does the biggest part of the labor. Wilbur uses a shovel and a scraper to clean the edges of the pens and panels where the bobcat can’t get. He opens and closes the gates for the bobcat and helps haul hay.
"The only job I hate is cleaning up the vet area, after they’ve worked the cows," he says. "It’s messy."