Cape Girardeau History and Photos

August 9, 2011April 16, 2021

Smelterville 1967: Where Are They?

I need some help tracking down some kids I shot back in the spring of 1967.

Like most folks in Cape, I knew where Smelterville was and would drive past it on South Sprigg, but never ventured into it much.

Periodic cleanup

In the spring of 1967, though, I had an assignment to shoot one of the periodic cleanups. I took that as an opportunity to walk around documenting some of the buildings and people who lived there. One of the cleanup photos ran in The Missourian, I think, but everything else got filed away.

Photos have historical value

When I talked with Lisa Speer, Associate Professor and Special Collections Librarian at SEMO, about picking up my stuff when I move into that eternal darkroom, she was fascinated by the Smelterville pix and some I took of a New Madrid Mississippi River baptism. She said there’s a dearth of photography of the black communities in that era.

What happened to the people?

That made me wonder what had happened to the people in my photographs.

I’ve hit a lot of dead ends (literally) in New Madrid, but finding the Smelterville subjects seems more promising. When I was chasing down the minor league ballpark rumors, I talked with a couple of guys standing in a front yard near Fort D. When one of them mentioned that he had lived in Smelterville, I said, “Have I ever got some photos to show you.”

Got some good leads

One of them knew just about every kid, the names of their dogs and who owned the cars in the background. He even said that most of them still lived in the area. The old folks, have long passed on, but the kids should be in their mid to late 50s.

He put the word out on the street and I met with three members of one family. Interestingly enough, one was sure he could identify his siblings and the house they lived in, but couldn’t be positive if one of the photos was of him as a child.

Hard to identify children

I thought that odd, but then I looked back at photos of me as a toddler all the way up to my teens. If I hadn’t been TOLD that was me or if I didn’t recognize the backgrounds to put things in context, I don’t know that I would recognize myself.

Here’s your assignment

Anyway, here’s your assignment: if you can identify any of the people in these photos, let me know. If you know where they live or how to get in touch with them, that’s even better.

I’m going to be doing a quick swing to Cape to deal with my transportation problems toward the end of this week, but I’ll be back for a longer stay in October when we celebrate Mother’s Birthday Season. It would be great to have some interviews lined up for that trip.

I’ll keep you up to date on how the project is going. I have more photos and lots of stories for later.

Smelterville photo gallery

Here’s a selection of the people I’d like to find. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

August 8, 2011September 18, 2011

Hiram M. Crittenden Locks

The Hiram M. Crittenden Locks in Seattle can raise a 760 by 80-foot-wide vessel 26 feet from the level of Puget Sound to the level of Salmon Bay in 10 to 15 minutes. There are two parallel locks, one for large vessels and the other for smaller craft.

We showed the adjacent Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden yesterday.

Pedestrians can cross locks

There is considerable pedestrian traffic crossing the locks. Cyclists have to walk their bikes, but I counted a dozen or more using the gardens and park as a shortcut.

Locks form permeable barrier

The locks form a permeable barrier between Lake Washington’s freshwater ecosystem and the potentially damaging saltwater of Puget Sound. They are designed to allow the passage of vessels while minimizing saltwater intrusion, something we Florida folks understand too well.

Second Renaissance Revival Style

When engineer Hiram M. Crittenden arrived in Seattle in 1906, he saw a shallow canal used for floating logs from Lake Washington to Puget Sound. His notebooks show that he envisioned a set of locks big enough to accommodate The Lusitania, the largest ship of her day.

What had begun a shallow log flume became an 8-mile-long canal, 100 feet wide and 30 feet deep, a park brochure says.

The construction of the locks began in 1911. Crittenden retired in ill health before his project was officially dedicated on July 4, 1917.

The administration building was designed in the Second Renaissance Revival Style in 1914. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fish ladder constructed in 1916

As salmon move upstream from saltwater to the fresh water to spawn, they have to pass the locks and dam. In 1916, the Corps of Engineers constructed a fish ladder consisting of 10 steps.

I’ve seen and been through enough locks that they didn’t interest me that much. The fish ladder, though, plowed new ground.

Ladder replaced in 1976

The original fish ladder was replaced with a 21-step ladder and underwater viewing gallery in 1976. Program director Jay Wells had his audience’s rapt attention until someone noticed some Sockeye salmon heading up the ladder behind him.

Those babies are HUGE

The Sockeye was impressive enough to this 3-Mile Creek fisherman, but then a King came into the chamber.

That’s the kind of fish they were tossing around in the photos of the Pike Place Fish Market. We’re talking about something the size of a respectable log with fins.

Some of the fish were netted and tagged as they passed through the facility.

Crittenden Locks Photo Gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

August 6, 2011September 18, 2011

Seattle’s Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens

When we visited with the Seattle Seyers, Ralph and Debbie said we had to go see the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. It had all kinds of things: fish ladders, unique boat locks and a beautiful garden. The best part was that it was free, except parking.

I have to admit that I was a little concerned about the parking when I saw a sign that said this was a high crime area or something equivalent. The sign didn’t worry me as much as the broken window glass littering the parking lot. I took all my camera equipment with me and stuck the GPS under the seat (like they wouldn’t look there).

Parade ground turned into English-style garden

We were early for the guided tour, so we elected to wander through the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden. The locks were built and maintained by the Corp of Engineers, which has a military mindset. It had parade grounds in mind when it came time to transform a gravel construction area into something more useful.

They hired Carl English in 1931 for the project. The Corps must have been distracted because English gradually transformed a manicured lawn into a world famous English estate style garden.

Ship captains delivered seeds

Working with little money, English established connections with other botanists and horticulturists all over the world to exchange specimens of trees and flowers. Ship captains going through the locks would drop off plants for the garden.

573 species of plants

English heard about the discovery of a dawn redwood in China, something that was previously only seen as a fossil. He arranged to receive some of the first seeds ever shipped to the United States. Eight of these grow in the park today.

Botanical Garden photo gallery

Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

August 6, 2011September 18, 2011

Milton “Uncle Milty” Ueleke

This photo of Milton W. “Uncle Milty” Ueleke is technically flawed, but I think it captures his body language and bemused expression perfectly. I’m not exactly sure when he left Central’s science department for SEMO, but he retired from the university in 1981.

Missourian stories mentioning Ueleke

May 27, 1931 – Milton Ueleke was elected Reporter by the members of the Central High School Electrical Engineers Club.
June 2, 1932 – Central High Band to present first concert of the year in Court House Park, under the direction of W.A. Shivelbine. Milton Ueleke was listed in the band. In announcing the concert, Supt. J.A. Whitford said the public should recall that the band is re-organized every semester, the personnel changing as members graduate and new 0nes enter high school. [Editor’s note: that s0unds like Supt. Whitford had heard the band play and didn’t want to oversell it.]
Dad had a photo of the 1931 band in his scrapbook. Ueleke is in it.
Oct. 26, 1937 – Milton Ueleke has been elected vice president of the newly-formed Physics Club at the Teachers College. (The same story mentioned that Tom O’Loughlin, business manager for the Sagamore, announced that photos for the 1938 yearbook were being taken at Kassel’s Studio.
Sept. 15, 1945 – Milton Ueleke, a member of the Central High School faculty, recently discharged from the Army Air Forces, spoke to the Kiwanis Club about his stay in India. Ueleke, a former lieutenant, was a navigator aboard a heavy bomber and a veteran of 47 mission in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.

{It’s interesting how many of the science teachers at Central had served in bombers in World War II. Howard Bock, who had been a B-26 engineer gunner, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, five air medals, the American Defense Medal and campaign ribbons (Battle of Europe, Battle of the Rhineland and Battle of Ardennes-The Bulge).

Tom O’Loughlin had been a bomber pilot. Maybe that made it possible for them to remain calm in the midst of classroom explosions and hijinks.]

Dec. 24, 1946 – Milton W. Ueleke and Miss Mary Ellen Miller were married in Centenary Methodist Church. Miss Alene Sadler provided the music. Miss Mary Reed (and others) in pink formals, lighted the tapers.
Oct. 15, 1947 – Was vice chairman of presentation on “Visual Aids in the Teaching of Science” at the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association at SEMO.
Aug. 31, 1956 – Was mentioned in list of Central High School faculty in 1956.
April 6, 1973 – Part of team that investigated Piedmont – Clearwater Lake’s UFO.
April 21, 1981 – Was on list of SEMO faculty members who were retiring.