Timber operation yielded jobs
for Galena workers in 1933
By Bryce Martin
Noah Martin. Everyone - not just family members -- called him "Poppy."
Poppy supervised a large tree felling and wood cutting operation consisting of upwards of 70 men in 1933 three miles or so southeast of Galena nearing the park region, an area known by locals as "the old Fahlenbach," named after a pioneering immigrant identified with the land. It sounded like someone was saying "the old fallin' back."
Noah Martin. Everyone - not just family members -- called him "Poppy."
Poppy supervised a large tree felling and wood cutting operation consisting of upwards of 70 men in 1933 three miles or so southeast of Galena nearing the park region, an area known by locals as "the old Fahlenbach," named after a pioneering immigrant identified with the land. It sounded like someone was saying "the old fallin' back."
He kept tab of his many workers by entering their output in a weekly pay ledger he kept. If he was the one providing the instrument, he always wrote with a flat, carpenter pencil he kept crudely sharpened with his Keen Kutter pocket knife.
Such work was highly anticipated and needed since mining operations had slowed in the vicinity and the country itself was slowly rebounding from the Great Depression during which time any job was a premium.
In March of 1933, the workers, as noted in his ledger included: Bill Bailey, Harry Bailey, Joe Donald, A. Holland, R. Miller, Robert Hurst, C. Maur, Chas. Allen, Cecil Allen, Claude Allen, Jim Peters, W. Burris, W.E. Cook, Cal Buttrum, J. McMillan, Fred Dalton, Arthur Dalton, Jim Givens, W. Mancill, Harry Toop, *___ McMoon, Tom Foster, Vick Brown, W. Beller, Darb Tingle, Mike Tingle, R. Bray, Frank K. Messer, Tom Randall, Fred Lee, Ben Fields, Fred Peters, C.M. Storm, Harold Storm, Harry Donaldson, W. Donaldson, A. Sex, E. Linderman, Ira Davis, H. Case, H. Gates, Bob Leach, F.L. McCoy, A.S. Murdock, **Ollie Wessgerber, Ray Karch, Carl McEwing, J. Noland, W.M. Kimball, Dewey Williams, Lawrence Foster, M. Boaz, Lee Raybin, Jerry Olds, A. Ray, C. Donaldson, Dick Tingel, and Georgie Shaw.
W.E. Cook was the father of the notorious Bill Cook, who in 1951 murdered the five members of the traveling Mosser family and threw their bodies in an abandoned shaft in Chitwood, killed a motorist and was the subject of a nationwide manhunt. I accompanied Poppy in the 1950s on trips to Chitwood where he would visit with Mr. Cook to see if his needs were being met.
"Cal Buttrum" may be "Burtrum," part of the Hi-Dollar Joe auto sales family that Poppy knew way back from Granby, Mo. "Buttrum," however, was a common surname in the area as well.
Not long after the timber operation, Poppy started work for Mike Grundler, August 22, 1934, in a mining venture. He made $1.75 per shift. Grundler was a longtime boss in the region. A notation from older days in The Mountain Echo newspaper out of Marion County, Ark. (August 23, 1890), mentioned that Grundler was a supervisor for a mining company based in New York and was living in Joplin, Mo. Apparently, in that mention, Grundler left the position temporarily and Henry Jones, of Galena, Kan., took his place, according to the Echo.
Poppy was working at a young age and did not have the benefit of a public education. His wife Edna May (Wood) taught school at Cave Springs, Mo., at the family homeplace on the stateline near Short Creek, and taught Poppy to read and cipher (add, subtract, divide and multiply). What we called "grades" in school were called "readers" in his day. He always said he went as far as the "third reader."
* No first name for McMoon
** "Wessberger" is best guess on the spelling
Such work was highly anticipated and needed since mining operations had slowed in the vicinity and the country itself was slowly rebounding from the Great Depression during which time any job was a premium.
In March of 1933, the workers, as noted in his ledger included: Bill Bailey, Harry Bailey, Joe Donald, A. Holland, R. Miller, Robert Hurst, C. Maur, Chas. Allen, Cecil Allen, Claude Allen, Jim Peters, W. Burris, W.E. Cook, Cal Buttrum, J. McMillan, Fred Dalton, Arthur Dalton, Jim Givens, W. Mancill, Harry Toop, *___ McMoon, Tom Foster, Vick Brown, W. Beller, Darb Tingle, Mike Tingle, R. Bray, Frank K. Messer, Tom Randall, Fred Lee, Ben Fields, Fred Peters, C.M. Storm, Harold Storm, Harry Donaldson, W. Donaldson, A. Sex, E. Linderman, Ira Davis, H. Case, H. Gates, Bob Leach, F.L. McCoy, A.S. Murdock, **Ollie Wessgerber, Ray Karch, Carl McEwing, J. Noland, W.M. Kimball, Dewey Williams, Lawrence Foster, M. Boaz, Lee Raybin, Jerry Olds, A. Ray, C. Donaldson, Dick Tingel, and Georgie Shaw.
W.E. Cook was the father of the notorious Bill Cook, who in 1951 murdered the five members of the traveling Mosser family and threw their bodies in an abandoned shaft in Chitwood, killed a motorist and was the subject of a nationwide manhunt. I accompanied Poppy in the 1950s on trips to Chitwood where he would visit with Mr. Cook to see if his needs were being met.
"Cal Buttrum" may be "Burtrum," part of the Hi-Dollar Joe auto sales family that Poppy knew way back from Granby, Mo. "Buttrum," however, was a common surname in the area as well.
Not long after the timber operation, Poppy started work for Mike Grundler, August 22, 1934, in a mining venture. He made $1.75 per shift. Grundler was a longtime boss in the region. A notation from older days in The Mountain Echo newspaper out of Marion County, Ark. (August 23, 1890), mentioned that Grundler was a supervisor for a mining company based in New York and was living in Joplin, Mo. Apparently, in that mention, Grundler left the position temporarily and Henry Jones, of Galena, Kan., took his place, according to the Echo.
Poppy was working at a young age and did not have the benefit of a public education. His wife Edna May (Wood) taught school at Cave Springs, Mo., at the family homeplace on the stateline near Short Creek, and taught Poppy to read and cipher (add, subtract, divide and multiply). What we called "grades" in school were called "readers" in his day. He always said he went as far as the "third reader."
* No first name for McMoon
** "Wessberger" is best guess on the spelling