This is one of the last, if not THE last, ties between Chaffee and the railroad. The yearbook has always had some sort of loco on the front since its exsistance with the exception of one year in the 1980's when, as I was told, (I graduated in 1979) the teacher/sponser of the Mogul staff could not figure out what a train had to do with the Mogul and had it removed. Chris Abernathy might know a little more about that (remember Ms.Cutler?). From the 1920's to the early 1950's it had an embossed Mogul class steam loco on the cover. After that it had an embossed E-unit on the cover. In the late 1970's it was changed a couple times to photos and then returned to the embossed E-unit. I have posted samples above and will try to get a picture of the early steam loco cover.
SLSF 1426 1979 Chaffee HS Yearbook on This is the back of the 1979 Chaffee High School yearbook and this group is the Mogul Staff.This caboose was spotted just south of the depot for us just for the purpose of this photo (do you think the BNSF would do that?)
SLSF 948 1979 Chaffee HS Yearbook This is the front of the 1979 Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" This was the year I graduated and I was also on the yearbook staff. I was with the person that took the photos but it has been so long ago I can't remember who it was! These were taken at the same time as some of the FOG photos Chris Abernathy has posted on this site. Pretty cool photos!
SLSF 2016 in gold 2002 Chaffee HS Yearbook This is the 2002 Chaffee High School yearbook. 2002 and 1955(Chaffee's Golden Jubilee)both sported this brilliant gold cover.
An interesting sidenote, the caboose survived and is on display at Ozark, MO. There are also other photos of it in the prototype/cabooses/1400-1442 section. Roger http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?4001-Caboose-SLSF-1426
I am trying to find information on Jim or James Barron, a former Frisco employee (conductor, fireman, engineer, ???) that lived in Chaffee, Mo in the 1930's-1960's. He was a widowed friend of our family (Simon Huey, Helen Stroup Huey) when I wan an infant. Mr. Barron gave his Ball railroad watch to my father after retiring with instructions to to give to me when I was older. Dad gave it to me in 1978, and am now considering passing it on to my son and just wanted some background in Mr. Barron and his history with the Frisco railroad.
Re: SLSF 1426 1979 Chaffee HS Yearbook on The BNSF (Satan) would have all of arrested for even asking
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" Tim, did you ever find a Mogul with the steam locomotive on the cover? If not, call my Aunt Eleanor Haman (you have the number), she and my mom both went to Chaffee High and I as recall theirs had the steam loco on it.
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" Yeah, Chaffee was all about FRISCO, the railroad was pretty much the town's raison d'etre.
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" True that, Keith... The railroad definitely came before the town. B.F. Yoakum's "Frisco System" bridged the Mississippi River (C&EI line) at Thebes, Ill. jus south of Cape Girardeau late 1904, I believe. They desired a larger yard/terminal facility than the one they held at Cape (St. Louis, Memphis & Southeastern line), but either didn't have room to grow between the bluffs south of St. Vincent's College and the river, or the land was too pricey. (The river flooded the property in Cape too frequently. klrwhizkid) So, the railroad bought a large tract of land from a farmer by the name of Witt south of the two lines' junction (Rockview, MO) and built a large classification yard, roundhouse and car repair shops. The real estate company followed behind, subdivided the adjacent land into lots and sold them to the workers following the jobs. I've never found conclusive evidence, but I tend to suspect that the railroad officials and the Real Estate company were very closely related. I always joked that I may have been the only kid in Chaffee not to come from a railroad family. My grandfather moved there (grew up around Diehlstadt) after WWII because Chaffee needed a TV and radio repair shop. Many a fine Frisco employee spent time in Chaffee: Karl Brand's grandfather and father to name two, Tim Cannon's grandfathers to name another, and a long list of others who I'm sure I've inadvertently overlooked. Indeed, the east-west avenues are still named after Frisco officials of the early 1900s, including the Yoakum Avenue. Davidson Avenue was previously "Division" from looking at old Sanborn Maps of Chaffee. Hopefully Karl, Tim, Ken McElreath, Keith or others with a history in the area will help fact-check the aforementioned, as I'm sure I've either omitted critical details or inadvertently mangled other tidbits. Alas, things aren't what they used to be. I have some advertising materials where the Frisco advertised the old roundhouse/car shops land for an industrial park, but to no avail. When we were there over Thanksgiving, a visit to "Frisco Park" on the south end of the old yard limits saw a lash-up of orange and green BNSF units aimed south, waiting for a northbound freight to hit town. The Mogul as the title of the C.H.S. yearbook is an interesting title, considering that most of its ilk were long gone by the time the town celebrated its silver anniversary. However, the 2-6-0 class has now been immortalized by a mural downtown near where the old "Bank of Chaffee" building stood at Main & Yoakum. And, even if most students don't know what an "E8" or "Redbird" is, they know that there was a Frisco locomotive named "Citation!" A long message to basically say "You are correct, sir!" Best Regards,
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" Aside from space considerations, the most probable reason for the Frisco to abandon the old SM&A (Southern Missouri & Arkansas) shops and yard in Cape and move to/develop Chaffee was the old Mississippi River. On average, the river would flood the area where the shops and yard was every 2 to 3 years - a significant annoyance at the least and an expensive recovery each time at the worst. One other nail in the coffin, so to speak, was the desire to have a more direct way to interconnect with the MoP and the SSW (Cottonbelt) which crossed the river at Thebes to Illmo & Scott City and went due west just north of Chaffee. The combination of space, flooding, and better interconnect with other roads all doomed Cape as a division point and blessed Chaffee.
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" Excellent point, Keith, especially on the flooding aspect. Isn't the street that sits between St. Vincent's and the old shops/river called "Aquamsi Street," which is apparently French for "watery?" I remember hearing that somewhere. The water level route has its advantages, but it has its drawbacks. Anytime the river hits about 37 feet on the Cape gauge, the BNSF crews have to install the floodgate over the track by Sloan Creek. http://www.semissourian.com/story/1436718/photo/1205193.html It's interesting to read the old "Out of the Past" columns and news reports of the 1905-1910 era that came out of Cape. There was much gnashing of teeth over the shops being moved out-of-town. Best Regards,
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" It did not sound French to me, which does not mean much, since I got C's in French, and that was only because the teacher felt sorry for me. I put my French educated son to work on it. It is not French, being the linguist he is, he is guessing Native American. A little more research will tell. I would bet it is the only Aquamsi Street in the country. I have driven on the street and never notice the neme. Kent in KC
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" First, as Kent's son indicated it is not French; it does not fit any of the French language root patterns. Based on an extensive internet search using several search engines, the only references to Aquamsi are solely found in the Cape Girardeau area. The first home (often referred to as the Red House) of Don Louis Lorimier, the founder of Cape Girardeau sat a couple hundred feet from the Mississippi River bank just west of the spot where a new reproduction of the Red House has been built in Cape. Lorimier called the land between his house and the river the Aquamsi Front. Lorimier had a close relationship with the native American peoples in the area, so it most likely has basis in the native American culture. There is no historical documentation that explains where Aquamsi came from or what it actually means, but its usage by Lorimier in "Aquamsi Front" seems to imply that it could be interpreted as "river front", thus Aquamsi could be interpreted as an impersonal "river" or possibly a more personal "Mississippi". In later years the road/street that ran past Lorimier's house was name Aquamsi Street and the bluff just to the south and west (just north of the old river bridge) was referred to as Aquamsi Bluff.
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" Hmmmmm..... this Aquamsi thing got me to thinking and searching. Anybody know latin? It could have originally been "a quamsi street". Quamsi is sometime used as the adverb of quasi. I don't know why. I have also seen, I think, it is a latin word meaning "landing" which would make sense it being a street next to the landing area of the river. I don't really know as I do not know that much latin. Somebody check it out. MERRY CHRISTMAS! E PLURIBUS UNUM!
Re: Chaffee High School yearbook "The Mogul" DUHHH! I did not think of trying a Latin - English Translator (they're free on the net! AQUAMSI - Latin, water. Hence, the water front (not river front). Good catch, Tim! It is interesting to note that Cape Girardeau has two streets, similar name/meaning. Water Street - the street right along the central river front between the river and the buildings. Aquamsi Street - to the south of Water Street and back from the river front but realistically a southern extension of Water Street.
