Tell It Like It Was - Klondike Plant and Bob Brail

Tell It Like It Was – Klondike – a walking fool - Hank and Jean Macler – Tavern Rock – Bob Brail – Kevin Massmann

Gentle readers, what does Klondike Park, located a few miles east of Augusta, mean to you? Maybe you walk there for exercise or to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Possibly it’s

The Creative at Klondike arts center that connects you. Or maybe you reminisce about the days when it was an active sand plant where one of your relatives worked.

My relationship with the park started in 1980 when I moved into the Salem Schoolhouse near Berg’s Crossing. I was a walking fool in those days, and I frequently trampled all about the quarry even though it remained in operation until 1983. After it officially closed, I pretty much thought I owned the joint. And I continued to enjoy my “ownership” until 1992 when Hank and Jean Macler bought the property.

But the new owners didn’t cramp my style. In fact, my relationship with the plant was enhanced with their arrival; Hank and Jean were nothing but fun. They were creative, generous, enthusiastic, and pleasant to be around. Before long, I and the other members of Augusta Bottoms Consort, were making music at their extraordinary house…repeatedly. One time I mentioned to Hank that I was planning a jam session that would include nearly every musician I knew, to which Hank said, “Why not do it here?”

So, I did. I invited about 50 friends, and Hank and Jean cooked up a true feast, and they probably enjoyed the occasion more than all the players.

The Macler home, now the Creative at Klondike

Of course, along the way, I picked up bits and pieces of the plant history. Some of it mystified me…like, why it sometimes was called the Tavern Rock plant? Isn’t Tavern Rock a bluff across the river in Franklin County? Which reminds me: I want you gentle viewers to see this baseball jersey which was used by Aloys Struckhoff in his baseball days.

So, gentle readers, last month my friend Franz Mayer called me to persuade me to write a history of Klondike. Oddly enough, it was only the day before that I had read a great article by Bob Brail on that topic. You see, Bob is the editor of the Boone-Duden Historical Society’s newsletter. He contributes amazing stories to every issue. He also maintains a blog of his writing. To see the Table of Contents click on this link: http://justawalkdowntheroad.blogspot.com/2015/01/table-of-contents.html

But I want to tell you one more thing. Last December, Kevin Massmann, who works for the county parks at Klondike, organized a field day for a handful of interested parties. He invited me, and I invited Bob Brail, Angela Stephens, and Judy Renner.

Kevin took us back in time with a great number of large photos which documented the quarry history. Then he walked us around the property to help us understand all that was to be seen, including an old dinosaur of machinery down in the floodplain. 

Enough said. Here’s a link to Bob’s story on Klondike. https://justawalkdowntheroad.blogspot.com/2022/09/klondike-by-bob-brail-according-to-st.html     

This guy is good!    

Nurture your curiosity,

paulO

The Friends of Historic Augusta's S.A.G.E project (Stories of Augusta's German Evolution) is sponsoring this program (TILIW stories) in partnership with the Missouri Humanities and with support from the Missouri Humanities Trust Fund. If you wish to read more stories, or want to make a donation to Friends of Historic Augusta and Tell It Like It Was, please use this link: https://www.augustamomuseum.com/tell-it-like-it-was-stories