Sligo Section Crew

[wpmoreland719]

This is the Sligo and Eastern section crew, circa 1900. Sligo was incorporated as a town in the early 1880's, and was named for Sligo Ireland. The town had a huge iron works there, and operated a line that connected with the Frisco's Salem Branch about two miles north of Cook Station at a junction known as Goltra.

The Sligo and Eastern operated eastward through Dillard, Viburnum, Bixby, and terminated at a village named Roulon, which was called East End by the railroad. The line was rough and rugged, and used Shay locomotives after about 1910.

The furnaces of the Sligo Iron Works were forever extinguished in 1922, and the town, with once a population of neary 4,000, was deserted. When the Frisco built the Lead Line in 1967, part of the original roadbed was re-used south of Viburnum.

[wpmoreland719]

Here's a couple of old photos of Sligo life as it was a hundred years ago. The luxury observation car was definitely out of place on this line. Note the stringer of fish hanging from the awning of the coach. Fishing has always been good on the Huzzah Creek!

Photo appeared in a Salem newspaper in the 50's. It was copied with permission by Jay Anderson, fellow Salem Branch researcher and member of this group.

[meteor910]

As a kid, I spent several weekends each year on the Huzzah at Old Mill Lodge at Dillard, Mo. run by Mr & Mrs Lester Klemme, formerly of Kirkwood, Mo. During the afternoon, when it was too hot to fish or do much of anything else except maybe swim in the Huzzah, we would often go for a ride in the surrounding countryside. The Mark Twain Forest surrounding that part of Missouri is beautiful and very rustic. We visited Sligo, Mo. several times on those rides. I remember seeing the site of the old iron works there, and climbing the slag piles more than once. Each trip, I usually brought home a piece or two of broken slag, and a bunch of chiggers!

Ken

[wpmoreland719]

I consider myself blessed to have grown up in the area. We were miles away from the nearest movie theatre, but I never was at a loss for something to do. I roamed the river (Meramec) bottom land as a kid, and fished, swam, and played in the remains of the old mill at Wesco. I once found a brass spit-toon (not sure if I spelled that right) that said "Ship it on the Frisco" in red letters sticking out of the sand beneath the mill stream dam. I remember looking at it for a few moments, then throwing it back in the water.:(

Last summer, Jay Anderson and I went to Sligo to search for the remains of the old trestle that crossed Crooked Creek. We determined that it was on some ground owned by the daughter of a well-known dentist in Salem, and got permission to go there on the condition that she accompany us. It wasn't hard to find, as the driveway leading off of Hwy TT was actually the old roadbed. There were rows of pilings in the water, along with nuts, bolts and washers. We even found a large wrench laying there. Keeping in mind that this bridge had been gone for over 80 years, we considered these artifacts treasures, but turned them over to the landowner while persuading her to display them at the next Sligo reunion festival, which will be held this March. The roadbed approaching the west bank of the creek is actually made with a lot of slag used as fill.

This would be a great model opportunity. A Bachmann three-truck Shay (wood cab) interchanging traffic with Frisco 2-6-0's at the iron works and switching cars in and out of the smelter would make a really neat layout. I've run out of money and space for another project, but not enthusiasm.:)