CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ORGANIZED IN FLAT RIVER TUESDAY NIGHT

    At a meeting of representative business men at the Y.M.C.A. Tuesday night, the Flat River Chamber of Commerce was reorganized by the election of the following officers:  D.H. CAMERON, president;  WM. HOWELL, vice president;  PERCY TUCKER, secretary;  GEO. H. KARSCH, treasurer.

    The following committees were appointed by the president:  Membership--J.A. DEHOVITZ, W.A. MCGRAW, H. TUCKER, and Dr. G.W.WILLIAMS.

Street Oil--SAM MILLER, GEO. H. KARSCH,  J.H. KIRKLAND, DR. J.A.SHOEMAKE, and L.R. REID.

By-laws--Dr. G.W. WILLIAMS, SANDERS GOODMAN, and T.C. MARSH.

Cleanup Committee--H.C.JOHNSON,     P. SACKS, and WM. HOWELL

The membership fee was fixed at $6.00 per year, payable semi-annually.  The following men were present and enrolled as members:  J.A.DEHOVITZ, N.A. ZONNIS, Dr. G.W.WILLIAMS,   W.A. MCGRAW, T.C. MARSH,  F.W. SCHLICK,  F.RIBAK, SAM MILLER,  MORTON WOLFNER, J.H. PIES, GEORGE WENDELL,  J.A.WAMPLER, Dr. J.A. SHOEMAKE, WM. HOWELL,  H. TUCKER, JERRY LEACH,  JACOB ALPER,  S. GOODMAN,  H.C. JOHNSON,  GEO.H.KARSCH,  L.R.REID, A. BOYANCHEK,  J.H. KIRKLAND, F. SIGMAN, D.H. CAMERON, and PERCY TUCKER.

Several chambers of commerce have come and gone in Flat River, but judging from the enthusiasm which prevailed Tuesday night, there seems to be a determination to make this organization stick.  Already the different committees appointed are busily at work.  The membership committee is reporting encouraging progress and there seems to be a general willingness to get back of the organization and push for the general welfare of the community.  Membership will not be confined to business men.  Every citizen will be given an opportunity to join.

For the present, the organization will meet the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.

STREET IMPROVED

A number of the citizens in the vicinity of Taylor Avenue Methodist Church have united their forces both from the standpoint of money and physical labor, to the end that they have built one of the best pieces of road anywhere in the town, making an outlet for traffic from that part of the town to the main highway.  The piece of new street is what was formerly referred to as the alley between the JOHN BURNS residence, and the WALTER SCHRAMM residence, and on past the S.H.RAMSEY residence.  It was formerly little more than a succession of rocks and ditches, difficult of passage.  For the entire length of the block, this has been built up with chat, making a street of which the citizens in this part of town might well be proud.

FIRE DEPARTMENT CALLED OUT TWICE LAST WEDNESDAY

The fire deparment was called out twice Wednesday morning, responding so promptly in each case, that very little damage was done.

                The first of these fires, was in Desloge, and was in a large frame house on Main Street, across the street from the Lead Belt Motor Company’s place of business.  The building is occupied by two or three families.

                The fire was discovered shortly before six o’clock.  The roof was burning some distance from the flue.  It is supposed  that it originated from a spark that had found lodgment in the roof.  The damage was slight.

                The second fire occured about 8 o’clock at the  J.FRANK THOMPSON residence at National.  This fire started on the roof, also, and evidently  caused  by fire that had fallen on the roof from the furnace.  Several square feet of the roof and one or two of the rafters were burned.  Aside from this, there was no damage.

FALSE ALARM

A false alarm was turned in from St. Francois Monday morning shortly after 6 o’clock bringing out the fire department, eager to do battle.  Upon arriving on the scene of the reported fire, the men found nothing to do and immediately hied themselves back to their respective places with the company.  All the excitement was caused by a flue, from which the soot was burning, causing a great deal of smoke.  The house is occupied by a foreign family.

  EAST WARD SCHOOL GAVE ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY

     The pupils of the East Ward put on a very pretty Cantata entitled “The Fairies of the Seasonns”, Friday evening in the high school auditorium.  The play was put on under the direction of the teachers of the East Ward, and was given a good hearing.

    The principal character, “Queen of the Fairies”, was taken by BLANCH KENNEDY.  The pages to the queen were ROBT. WIGGER, and JOHN HENRY ARMBRUSTER.  The spring, summer, autumn and winter fairies were all present and were dressed to represent  the different seasons.  The fairies did obeisance to the queen in appropriate songs and drills.  The Jjapanese fan song, put on by 28 girls and leading the program was one of the most pleasing features, The Brownies, impersonated by 18 boys, provided amusement.  A drill “Coming of the Roses” by 20 first grade girls, was especially pleasing.

ARTHUR MCGRAW BUYS BYINGTON CONFECTIONERY 

 W.A. MCGRAW who has been in the employ of the Federal Lead Company for the past seven years as assistant to H.S. BOUCHARD, superintendent of the railroad department, has resigned to take charge of the Byington Confectionery, which he purchased the latter part of the week, and of which he assumed management, Saturday.  In future, the place will be known as Mack’s Confectionery.

Mr. MCGRAW is well and favorably known here.  We predict success for him in his new business venture.  ROY GREEN of Desloge has been given the position with the lead company left vacant by Mr. MCGRAW’s resignation. 

MITCHELL-PORTER WEDDING 

    A pretty, but quiet wedding was solemnized at the MITCHELL residence in Flat River Thursday afternoon at 5:30 o’clock when Miss EDYTH MITCHELL, daughter of the late Mrs. EMMA MITCHELL became the bride of Mr. CHAS. PORTER, son of WM. PORTER of Omapaw, Okla,  Rev. F.M. BAKER pastor of the local Baptist Church officiating.  Immediately following the ceremony, a wedding supper was served, after which the bridal couple departed to motor to St. Louis where they will spend a short honeymoon.

    The house was tastefully decorated in white roses.  The bride was dressed in white.  The bridal couple was unattended.  The only guests were members of the immediate family of the bride.

    The bride has spent all of her life in Flat River.  She is a member of the graduating class of the Flat River high school of 1912.  Later, she graduated from the normal school at Cape Girardeau.  She attended  Northwestern University in Chicago, specializing in music.  For a period of three years she was director of music in Flat River schools.

FARMINGTON TROLLEY MAKES LAST RUN

by HOWARD ROBERTSON
(Lead Belt News Nov 14, 1947)

    When the St. Francois County Railroad Company  announced some time ago that it would soon disband the old electric trolleys, a request from the St. Louis Railroad Enthusiasts Club to charter one of the old trolley cars for a final run was received.

    The officials obliged, and last Sunday, November 9 (1947), six of those rail fans were on hand, together with a few local fans and the memorable runs were made.  Those locally making the run were FRED BROOKS of Flat River,  J.O. SWINK,  Dr. L.M. STANFIELD,  FRANK ZIMMER, MAYOR MORRIS of Farmington, and HOWARD ROBERTSON of Bonne Terre.

    With a toot, toot of the tuneful whistle of trolley Number 54, we pulled away from the Farmington station at 10:45 a.m., headed north toward Hurryville, with JESSE HAYNES at the throttle and EMMETT WELCH, conductor.

    Most  all the fans had their cameras so the car stopped wherever it was thought a good picture could be taken.  Once the car stopped while some gathered persimmons and again to gather bittersweet.

    Arriving back at Farmington at noon, we had lunch and then made the run to Delassus, stopping off at State Hospital No. 4 on the return trip.

    We were then taken over all the tracks in Farmington.  It was then decided to make another complete trip of the entire route.  Some rode on the front of the trolley (the cow catcher); turns about were taken in blowing the whistle and ringing the bells.

    Of all the miles we traveled, only one cassualty occured.  On our last run to Hurryville, we were going down grade at a fair speed when two chickens were noticed on the tracks.  The writer was at the while cord and Motorman HAYNES applied the brakes, but in spite of all, we ran over a big fine red rooster.

    We were greeted by residents all along the line, wondering, no doubt, what the occasion was for the trolley to be running on Sunday.  The citizens of Farmington turned out in goodly numbers to witness the final run of Number 54.

    At 4:30 p.m. we pulled into the Farmington station, thus ending the final run of the electric streetcar of Farmington.

    Dismantling of the overhead power lines along the line will start this week.  Old trolleys Number 50 and 54 will be sold or junked in the near future.

    The electric line was built in 1903, financed by a group of local citizens and was operated by them until 1910 when it was sold to the M.R. & B.T. Railroad.  In 1926 they petitioned the PSC to cease operations since they were operating at such a loss, but the petition was turned down, so they cancelled the bonded indebtedness of $250,000 and gave it to a group of Farmington citizens who refinanced it by selling 250 shares of stock for $50,000.  CHARLES GIESSING was appointed general manager and served in that capacity till October 1946.  During this time many improvements were made and equipment bought.  It was reorganized and named the St. Francois County Railroad Company.  Immediately thereafter, service to Flat River was discontinued and the rails taken up.  Passenger service to Delassus was discontinued in 1930.  The old passenger cars Number 102 and 103 were junked and later the old freight locomotive Number 101 and trolley Number 100 were also junked.  They operated with trolley cars Number 50 and 54 until early this year when they purchased their first diesel.

    J.O.SWINK was appointed general manager in October 1946, and under his able leadership plans are being accomplished in making it a real up to date line.

    The first diesel (No.6) was purchased this spring from the Muncie & Western Lines at a cost of $30,000, and their second diesel (No.2) was purchased just a few weeks ago from the War Surplus Administration in California at a cost of $21,500.  They expect to get enough out of the old electric cars, cables, wires, and poles, etc., to pay for the last diesel.  Plans also call for a complete working over of the road bed, lots of new rail, and numerous other improvements.

    Honorable mention is in order here of several of the employees who have served the line so faithfully for many years.  HERMAN HOGANMILLER, station agent since 1920;  W.E.HOGANMILLER, auditor since 1927;  GERD MCCLINTOCK, master mechanic since 1918;  JESSE HAYNES, forty-two years of service except during his service in World War I;  and HENRY RICKUS, section foreman, forty-one years sevice.  Many are the stories told of these good men of their hardships in the early days of the electric line.  With its passing, its memories will live dear in the hearts of many St. Francois Countians.

THE CRAWLEY BRANCH RAILROAD TRACK

    One of the sad things to witness is the tearing down of that which was built many years ago to help a community.  One such said thing occured in June of 1960 when the Crawley Branch Railroad track was removed. 

    For the benefit of our younger LBN (Lead Belt News) readers, the Crawley Branch was the tracks that ran behind the old Schramm building, across West Main Street, down the side of The Lead Belt News building and into the Crawley Bottom area of Flat River.

    The old Crawley Branch railroad was built in or about 1896 to haul lead ore from Crawley Shaft in East Flat River to St. Joe Lead Company’s concentrating mill at Bonne Terre.  It probably took about six months or a year to build the rail line;  it took three days to tear it down.

    Many millions of dollars worth of lead ore passed over those tracks since 1896.  The main purpose of the Crawley branch was to haul lead ore in those days, but in later laters it served other purposes, and along with its nearly three-quarter of a century of service, some tragedies did occur.

    One of the tragedies along the branch line occurred a good many years ago when a switch engine hauling a train load of ore from Crawley Shaft turned over just a few yards below where The Lead Belt News building now stands, and a fireman by the name of SHEETS was killed.  The wreck was caused because the engineer was running a switch engine which was top heavy because of the big boiler on top of short drivers.

    As a matter of information, the Crawley Shaft (St. Joe No.8) was sunk in 1893, at a depth of 322 feet.

    After the old Illinois Southern was sold to the Missouri-Illinois Railroad, and operations resumed along that line, the Crawley branch was discontinued as far east as the Flat River bridge.  The remaining portion was left intact to serve some of the business firms bordering the rail line.

    Back in the old days railroad engineers were also guardians of their runs, and one old time engineer carried  a double-barrell shotgun on his engine, daring anyone to stop him.  Nobody dared.  Others were not so fortunate.  SAM CRAWLEY’s head was split wide open with an ax in his wood yard by somebody who did not like him.

    Thus, the Crawley Branch is now only history.  The old Crawley Farm is now known as Crawley Bottom by all the old-timers and a few of the younger generation.

  COLE FAMILY REUNION HERE LAST SUNDAY               

    Immediate relatives and a few friends of  BRUCE COLE came in Sunday and spent the day with him and his family in celebration of his 51st birthday.  Chief among the guests were his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. JOSHUA COLE, of near Blackwell, and the COLE family circle was complete save for a brother in St. Louis and a sister in Texas who were not present.  A bounteous dinner at noon was a feature of the day.

The guests were:        

Mr. and Mrs. JOSHUA COLE of Blackwell

Mr. and Mrs. L.E.COLE and sons of Blackwell

Mr. and Mrs. N.L. COLE and son of Bonne Terre

Mr. and Mrs. W.L. JOHNS and sons of Farmington

Mr. and Mrs. JAMES COLE  of Desloge

Mr. and Mrs. GILBERT ELDERS of Desloge

Mr. and Mrs. S.E. WILLIAMS of Leadwood

Mrs. A. RANDOLPH and daughter, INEZ of Desloge

Miss MARIE LAXTON of Flat River

JAMES LONG and daughter GOLDIE of near Desloge