We were late getting the newspaper printed last week, and heard plenty of negative comments (that’s ok, really… just shows you care, thank you).
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Me? I was just happy it was printed at all.
Most of the previous weekend was spent installing a new brake system on our printing press. Then there were additional hours and problems aligning new procedures and pre-press methods, which we eventually resolved during the rest of the week.
Some customers griped loudly about being a couple hours late with the newspaper last Wednesday. But I was thinking about our four guys in the pressroom who willingly worked through a couple of 12-hour days (weekend, no less). Then they began printing a 13,000-copy run at 9:30 p.m. on Chautauqua Saturday, just to (safeguard) predict how a busy Monday schedule might unfold!
So, Chautauqua was hardly a holiday weekend around here. Cold, rainy weather put a damper on this year’s festival anyway, right?
The man who was helping to install the new press brakes hails from Joplin. He commented how nice it was to see Gallatin in festival fashion even with rain prompting so many not to bother. He didn’t have to mention Joplin’s continuing turmoil in the aftermath of their deadly tornado. Sometimes you get such a reminder not by words spoken but by the tone of voice.
Yes, we just don’t appreciate the good we’ve got.
Maybe you have to go away to appreciate what you’ve got. Liz and I just returned from a long weekend at Branson. Our motel room was a short walk away from the near life-size replica of the HMS? RMS Titanic. We laughed every time we drove by King Kong towering over the wax museum, thinking how our grandkids would react to seeing such an unusual sight. And the list goes on and on, right? Branson’s got all the attractions.
Well, sometimes we just don’t appreciate the good we’ve got.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a list of 25 unusual places to visit in Missouri in its Sept. 7th travel section. Are you surprised that the 1889 Squirrel Cage Jail in Gallatin made the list?
Would you believe 10 on the list hail from Northwest Missouri? Almost 11.
Technically, Marshall is south of the river and thus not considered Northwest Missouri. But we nearly pulled off Highway 65 on our drive down to Branson as we listened to a CD by one of our favorite folk singers eulogizing a truly unusual dog named “Jim the Wonder Dog.”
Jim lived with his master, Sam VanArsdale, in Marshall during the 1930s. Jim came from a long line of champion field dogs and had remarkable talents. He could carry out any request made to him such as locating specific kinds of trees or picking out a car by its license plate number.
The folk song says VanArsdale’s request to bury Jim in the town’s cemetery was denied. So, he erected a monument and buried the dog just outside the human cemetery. Ironically, over time, the cemetery enlarged so that today Jim is right there in the middle of things.
What do you bet… how many folks living at Marshall don’t know the story of Jim the Wonder Dog?
How many living here in Daviess County don’t know the details about one of the worst chapters in Missouri history, the Mormon War, which occurred here and in neighboring Caldwell County? How many here can talk about Adam-Ondi-Ahman with accuracy?
McDonald Tea Room was destroyed by fire on Independence Day in 2001. Perhaps like me, you can remember many good times there and foods that brought thousands to Gallatin from far distances. And yet, a strong memory of mine that fails to fade is a conversation with a lifelong Daviess County citizen who never ate a meal there – not once – and didn’t have the curiosity or desire to. And this was not a singular conversation, but one occasionally repeated.
Maybe we’re trained to think that good is always someplace else, that small towns like Gallatin are doomed to just the subcategory “good ‘nuf.”
This is not to imply that the Squirrel Cage Jail is as attractive as all the glitter at Branson. But it is authentic, a genuine quirk in architecture, and an interesting footnote in history which links directly to the international notoriety of Frank & Jesse James.
Some towns are more aggressive than others, appreciating what they’ve got and making the most of what might be considered less. Chillicothe’s mantra “Home of Sliced Bread” ranked No. 9 on the St. Louis list. Old newspaper clippings researched in 2001 prove Chillicothe’s claim despite what other towns might say. In 1928 Otto Rohwedder invented the first bread slicing machine which was used at a bakery in Chillicothe. He later devised a machine that not only sliced bread but also wrapped it. Chillicothe now has a series of 21 murals to help visitors “experience” the town as it looked when it acquired the appellation. There’s talk of constructing an interpretive center, too.
It’s always surprising to read the guest register at the jail, to see who is attracted to visit the old relic. Sometimes it is even more surprising how they come to hear about it. This past summer season the jail was closed more often than open. Volunteer efforts received a real boost when the gals at the Daviess County Library began taking over tour duties so often demanded on short notice by visitors and guests. Thank you, ladies!
Daviess County lost a champion for local history when Danny Heldenbrand died. As commissioner, one of my last conversations with Danny had him prodding me on ideas to display the water turbine and artifacts recovered from the old Lewis Mill. Danny understood many times when you take the initiative and propose something “good ‘nuf” the actual outcome can be outstanding.
Yes, too many of us just don’t appreciate the potential we’ve got.
1. The Airline History Museum, Kansas City
2. The Arabia Steamboat Museum, Kansas City
3. Black Madonna Shrine and Grottos, Eureka
4. The Bollingoer County Museum of Natural History, Marble Hill
5. Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary, Ste. Genevieve
6. Fantastic Caverns, Springfield
7. Glore Psychiatric Museum, St. Joseph
8. Hall of Waters, Excelsior Springs
9. Home of Sliced Bread, Chillicothe
10. Jesse James sites, St. Joseph
11. Jim the Wonder Dog Park, Marshall
12. Lelia’s Hair Museum, Independence
13. Patee House Museum, St. Joseph
14. Precious Moments Chapel and Gardens, Carthage
15. Predator World, Branson West
16. Ralph Foster Museum at the College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout
17. Squirrel Cage Jail, Gallatin
18. Tombstone of the “Bull of the Century,” St. Joseph
19. The Toy and Miniature Museum, Kansas City
20. White Squirrel Capital of the World, Marionville
21. World’s Largest Flowerbox, Neosho
22. World’s Largest Gas Pump, King City
23. World’s Largest Goose, Sumner
24. World’s Largest Pecan, Brunswick
25.World’s Largest Rocking Chair, Cuba