Ford’s Frontier

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By Dr. Jim Foster

 

“There’s sharks and minnows in this world, Jimmy, and if you don’t know which one you are, then you ain’t a shark.” – Rip Wheeler (“Yellowstone” TV Series by Taylor Sheridan)

The entire town of Shelbyville, Missouri was under attack in the summer of 1914. Warriors had taken over the city, sounding off a barrage of ammunition that frightened every nervous cat and elderly lady in town and drove local dogs either underneath the porches of homes or sent them running to nearby wooded areas in a fit of terror.

C.B. Ford, conductor of the locomotive for the Shelby County Railway engaged his engine pulling his loaded passenger cars away from the depot in Shelbyville heading south away from the war that was being waged by the local boys who had enough change in their pockets to buy firecrackers to celebrate the 4th of July. The special rate for this 4th of July holiday for those in the northernmost part of Shelby County in the town of Cherry Box was one dollar and the rate was the same for the next town to the north in Knox County where a depot had been built in Novelty. Passengers south of Cherry box at Leonard, Keller Switch, Shelbyville, and Christine Crossing paid seventy-five cents.

There was nervous excitement on Ford’s excursion as many families including children were dressed for a day of intense heat. White linen clothing to keep cool was promoted in various dry goods stores throughout the county as well as straw hats for men and boys as well as hats and bonnets for women and young girls. Picnic baskets full of food and dinnerware were onboard as well as quilts and blankets needed to create a covering on the ground for a makeshift tablecloth. The children whispered and laughed in anticipation as Ford’s locomotive began to pick up speed on a journey they would never forget.

Ford and his passengers viewed the drought-stricken scenery of dying trees near Salt River where the wheels traveled on the rails over the trestle bridge supported by stonework pylons. They peered through the open windows of the passenger cars as they passed the track and two large amphitheaters of the Shelby County Fairgrounds one mile north of the town of Shelbina where Conductor Ford stopped the train at the tiny Shelby County Railway depot that connected to the Burlington Railroad (formerly the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad). The passengers were conveyed by horse drawn carts to Center Street passing by the livestock yards where large supplies of alfalfa hay had just been shipped in from the State of Oklahoma to assist local farmers whose hay crops were cut short due to drought.

Shelbina hosted the 4th of July holiday event with a spectacular agenda of events that began in the city park with the reading of the Declaration of Independence and patriotic numbers played on the bandstand in the west park by the Shelbina Band under the direction of W.E. Thurman. While in the east park food vendors supplied those who had not brought their own supplies. 150 gallons of ice cream were on hand as well as orange cider, hop ale, ginger ale, lemon, and strawberry soda from the local Shelbina Bottling Works.

Nearly seven thousand attended the event that took them from town to the fairgrounds for all sorts of events of competition. The Shelbina Baseball boys played the team from Monroe City while auctioneer Lee Francis sponsored a greased pig contest, and grease was also applied to a tall wooden pole challenging children to ruin their clothing in the attempt to get to the top. High school athletes competed on the track followed by the pony races and potato races bringing cheers from both amphitheaters that were full.

Conductor C.B. Ford watched the competitions including his own competitors that he was now engaged with in a race to the future. In this year 1914, an enormous number of automobiles made their first appearance carrying those who didn’t buy tickets for the trains. Ford knew what was coming as he informed the stockholders of the railroad of his train less traveled. Neither he nor the local horses could outrun what was coming.