Travel Tuesday- Dream Trip

 

I have started planning a fantasy trip to the Midwest.  It’s silly, I know, but if I were to win a trip anywhere in the world, I’d go to Russell, Iowa and Capa, South Dakota.  I think that because I don’t ask for Paris, I should get two small towns, don’t you?  I can work it in one trip, so they only need to fly me to Minneapolis (see how thoughtful I am?).

Here is my fantasy plan:

Fly into Minneapolis on a Wednesday.  See my Minnesota family and friends Wednesday night and then on Thursday drive to Chariton (it’s a 6-hour drive). Chariton is where I will stay for a few days (it’s close to Russell and where the library and courthouse are).  On Friday, I’ll visit the library and cemetery and just drive around, getting my bearings.  On Saturday, I’ll drive to Oskaloosa, What Cheer and Chillicothe, visiting the libraries and museums there.  On Sunday, I will visit Zero and, if they will have me, visit with my friends in Des Moines.  Monday I will spend in Russell walking the town and exploring.  Monday night will be the Lucas County Genealogical Society meeting, which I will attend.  Then Tuesday I will head to Minneapolis again and pick up Grampa (in my fantasy, Grampa flies out from Seattle to go with me to Capa).  I get Grampa and then we head to Midland where we have a hotel reservation.

We spend a few days in Midland while Grampa walks me through the ghost town of Capa.  We compare my working map with what he remembers this trip and make it more accurate.  I keep copious notes for the book about Capa that I will someday write.

We then head to Sheridan where Grampa can show me the work he did while in the CCCs.  Then to Lead and the other mining towns where Grandma’s family lived/lives.  We head back and I fly him home to Seattle and then come home myself.

I think it’s doable.  It’s my dream trip.  Pathetic, right?  But aside from pathetic… DOABLE!!!  It’s not really a “dream.”  It’s a to-do list for the future.

Those Places Thursday: Zero, Lucas County, Iowa

My great grandfather, Thomas Orville Conner, was born in Zero, Iowa in 1896.  Zero has always fascinated me because it’s now a true ghost town with apparently not even a building left.  It began in 1883 due to the coal mining and railroad that was nearby, but never became incredibly huge. 

It was in Lucas County, Iowa, about 4 miles east of Russell off of Highway 34.  As Frank Myers says in his article, titled, “Ghost Towns and Post Offices of Lucas County, Iowa”:

“The 1978 book, ‘History of Lucas County, Iowa’ said, ‘Located halfway between Melrose and Russell, Iowa, is the ghost town of Zero. Only a couple of old wooden buildings and a few foundations remain of the old town that was platted in 1883 by the Zero Coal Company. There were 61 lots, 5 streets and 3 alleys drawn into the town.

‘Zero did have a post office operated by Aquilla Kern and there was a general store run by Henry Gettinger. The Zero mine was never a big mine. It never exceeded 20 railroad cars of coal a day and finally closed in 1886 because there was too much water in the mine.

‘Today Zero, Iowa, is losing its contest with time. Fred Schreck is the last person living there in 1978 and he is 78 years old. The few buildings that remain have deteriorated past the point of ugliness and have achieved a weathered beauty of their own. The lovely countryside is closing in on the once proud house and sagging barn, and the shingle roofs no longer hold back the rain.’"



From:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9ibKwq1jRTUkjKscfofAi9ADu-O624kxOjaiss0hMBX7NoPb3um6L31ZKJIChVF1RnjI10oIY6qh6ypOVtJgRMcZJoGM8uxPxldKRNKd_nIi3YwufywUSJBfC2UUzvuhZ5g4RT7TOA/s1600/ZeroIowa1977.jpg

The Russell Historical Items blog also has a story about Zero, Iowa to go with this picture the I linked to:

http://russellhistoricalitems.blogspot.com/2010/12/short-story-about-town-of-zero-ia.html