|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stockyards book II continues stories (Nov. 28, 2007) – “A Way of Life II: Stories from the Yards” will go on sale at 1 p.m., Dec. 7 at the grand opening of the Betty Strong Encounter Center. The 212-page, richly illustrated book follows the first Sioux City Stockyards book, published in 2006, which has sold almost 1,800 copies. “Even as we were finishing volume I, plans were taking shape for this second book,” says Marcia Poole, author of both Yards books. “There were so many more stories to tell.” Stanley Evans, retired president and chairman of the board of the Live Stock National Bank, was advisor to the project until his death in December 2006. George Lindblade and Christine McAvoy, of G.R. Lindblade, were photo editors. Lou Ann Lindblade designed the book. It was printed by Anderson Brothers of Sioux City. The Yards and its allied industries were at the heart of Sioux City for more than a century before closing in 2002. They pumped life into every part of Siouxland and hundreds of miles beyond. “It wasn’t one person or family that made the Yards a great place. It was thousands of people – wonderful people – who made the Yards what it was,” Evans says in the book’s introduction. Volume II devotes a chapter to Fred L. Eaton, an industry visionary who revived the badly compromised Yards after the depression of 1893. Eaton came to Sioux City from New England in 1894 to represent investors who had sunk millions into the promise of the Yards and other Sioux City projects. Under Eaton, Sioux City rose to become a titan of the livestock marketing industry. Another chapter tells the colorful story of John “Jiggs” Donohue, a legendary commission man and consummate Yards promoter. Donohue’s connections brought sports luminaries Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe Louis to Sioux City as part of his plan to push the Stockyards into the national spotlight. Donohue also devised a number of high-profile publicity stunts, including a flight to the 1928 annual stock growers’ convention in Havre, Mont., in “The Spirit of South Dakota.” Donohue promoted the airplane as the sister ship of Lindbergh’s “Spirit of St. Louis.” The book looks at the impact of the Swift & Co. meatpacking workers’ strike that dragged on from late September 1938 until almost February 1939. It includes the nationwide strike of January 1946 when President Harry Truman ordered the federal government to take over meatpacking plants and spare the nation from a meat shortage. Service men and women had returned from World War II to find an increased cost of living but little or no increase in their wages. The Live Stock National Bank robbery of 1935 and stories of the legendary commission men also figure into the book, as well as dozens of sidebars that pick up family memories and unique events and aspects of the Yards. Photos and memorabilia were contributed by more than 70 people and institutions, including Morningside College which boasted one of the nation’s leading livestock marketing education programs. Readers will learn more about Stockyards Company official and broadcaster Don Cunningham who was known as the “voice of the Yards.” Cunningham took every opportunity to promote the central public market system. In one of his 1940 radio broadcasts, Cunningham urged homemakers to “use more lard” in their pie-making. Lard was best for baking and good for hog prices, he told listeners. A lard-inspired recipe for kolaches is drawn from the 1987 Stock Yards Centennial Cookbook, compiled by The Stockettes, a group organized to promote goodwill among all aspects of the livestock industry. “A Way of Life II” was published by the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center Association with funding from Missouri River Historical Development, Inc. (MRHD). It will be sold at the Betty Strong Encounter Center throughout opening weekend and at the adjoining Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center for $20. Shipping is available for an additional $5. The Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and the Betty Strong Encounter Center,, exit 149 off I-29, is a private, non-profit institution built and operated by Missouri River Historical Development, Inc. (MRHD). Admission, all programs, exhibits and activities are free and open to all people. For more information, call 712-224-5242 or log onto www.siouxcitylcic.com.
|
|
|
