Release the hounds! Three Southeast Missouri coonhounds beat five states’ worth of competition in a 1975 contest.
On this date in 1950, union spokesmen assured contractors they were barking up the wrong tree in assumptions about a recent strike. In 1925, amateur astronomers were howling in excitement for a solar eclipse.
100 years ago
Jan. 23, 1925
• Southeast Missourians today can understand the excitement a century ago as sky-watchers awaited a solar eclipse.
This total eclipse would be the first to pass over North America in 450 years, The Daily Republican said. It begins around 8 a.m. tomorrow. Though Poplar Bluff will only see 85% totality, “this will cause the morning to be rather dark.”
The paper advised only watching the sun through a “smoked glass or darkened film.”
75 years ago
Jan. 23, 1950
• Local unions have nothing against the four contractors working on a new Green Forest electric plant, spokesmen said at a Jan. 20 meeting. However, the three-week strike will continue.
Work on the future M&A Electric Power Cooperative generating plant halted Jan. 3 because a non-union company, the Delta Construction Company of Mississippi, was contracted to build transmission lines.
In the meeting, union spokesmen assured, “the contractors having to do with the power plant installation have kept faith with their respective unions in every way possible.”
M&A officials explained the transmission line contract was bid out competitively “without prejudice either for or against union labor” and in accordance with Rural Electrification Administration guidelines. Delta is constructing approximately 144 miles of 69,000-volt lines and their substations.
Further negotiations are expected.
50 years ago
Jan. 23, 1975
• Regional dogs took all three first-place prizes in the Butler County Coon Hunters Wild Coon Hunt on Jan. 18.
Thirty-five dogs representing five states participated in the night hunt and a breed show was also held.
First place in the Champion of Champions division went to national champion canine Woods Tall Timber Moody, owned by Paul Woods of Poplar Bluff. First place in the Registered division went to Johnsons Crazy Jack, owned by Bud Johnson of Qulin. The last category was the Grade division where a hound named Charlie owned by Butch Chilton of Van Buren took first prize.