• About

stevewiegenstein

~ News, announcements, events, and ruminations about my books, including Slant of Light, This Old World, The Language of Trees, and Scattered Lights, and about creativity, fiction, Missouri, the Ozarks, and anything else that strikes my fancy

stevewiegenstein

Tag Archives: Salem

An Ozarks Eccentric Passes

22 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Missouri, Ozarks, People, Rural

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

eccentrics, Salem, Wana Dubie

I’ve written about Chief Wana Dubie before, but this weekend came the news that he had died. You’re only an eccentric until everybody comes round to your way of thinking, and the gradual spread of legalized marijuana around the country might presage the movement of the Chief from crank to prophet.

A scholarly presentation I once attended made the point that the Ozarks’ “mind your own business” mentality allows truly scary people to flourish in its hollows. Witness the neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups that set up quarters in the region from time to time. But minding one’s own business also leaves room for the colorful personalities to inhabit. I prefer a lawn that has some dandelions to one that’s a uniform green.

Virgin Pine

25 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by stevewiegenstein in History, Missouri, Ozarks

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Eminence, Highway 19, lumber, Missouri, pine, Salem, virgin pine

virgin pine postcard

Postcard from the Boston Public Library.

On a recent float trip, I drove down Highway 19 south of Salem, through the 41 acres known as Missouri’s Virgin Pine Forest. I remember being taken here as a kid, not really understanding what “virgin forest” meant—to me they just looked like regular pine trees.

Since then, I’ve visited the forest several times. There’s a two-mile drive that departs from the highway, passes through the grove, and goes a little way into the Pioneer Forest, the owner of the Virgin Pine Forest. (The highway is paved now, unlike in that historic postcard, although it still has the same stomach-wrenching twists and turns.)

For a time I doubted whether the forest had really remained uncut all these years; it’s not inaccessible, and it is located in the heart of timber country which was utterly decimated by pine loggers in the late 1880s. But this pamphlet from the L-A-D Foundation, which owns and manages the Pioneer Forest along with a lot of other Ozark land, cites research showing that some of the trees indeed predate the logging era, so I guess I’ll have to quiet my doubt, although the pamphlet is carefully worded. You’ll see considerable debate online as to whether the preservation of some old-growth trees means that the tract is truly “virgin,” i.e., uncut. It’s clear that a lot of the trees in the tract are recent growth, so I suppose it depends on what you mean by the word “virgin.” Never touched by human hands? No way. Having some trees that escaped the logging era? Looks like it.

I’d still like to know how those trees escaped the timber cutters. As far as I’m aware, the only other “virgin timber” in the state dating back to the 1700s is in cemeteries, private home lots, and other such areas where commercial lumbering was not possible.

Photo from alltrails.com

 

 

Favorite Ozarks People – 9

28 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by stevewiegenstein in Ozarks, People

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

eccentrics, Linn, Ozarks, Salem, Wana Dubie

Chief Wana Dubie

Chief Wana Dubie

I’ve never met Chief Wana Dubie, born Joseph Bickell, but I appreciate his type. The chief first caught my attention in a feature story in the Linn Unterrified Democrat in the 1990s, when he seceded from the United States and declared his property to be a reservation of the Santimaw Indian tribe, which no one had ever heard of. As you can guess from his adopted name, he is a marijuana legalization activist who served five years at Algoa for his stance, having been busted after his secession for growing 135 plants in his front yard.

The Ozarks have long been home to outcasts and eccentrics of every variety, and that’s part of what makes it such an interesting place. Wana Dubie has even had a movie made about his “war” with the Establishment, and has run for office several times, including president in 1992, Missouri House of Representatives in 2006 (receiving 556 votes, for 3rd place), and currently U.S. Senate. With a name like his, you can understand why he is playing up the “Dubie vs. Blunt” aspect of this year’s campaign. The chief maintains a Facebook page where he reports that he recently smoked his first legal marijuana, on Pike’s Peak in Colorado. The experience was not completely satisfactory; as he writes, “Pot may be legal in Colorado, but there are no hippies. It’s business as usual at the marijuana shops, big business. They were quite busy with people from all walks of life. Old people, white people, rich people and others. But you didn’t see any hippies like me. I saw only one tie dye shirt the whole time I was there!”

Odd characters may seem like the weeds in our tidy garden of life, but as Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “What would the world be, once bereft / of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, / O let them be left, wildness and wet; / Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”

Blogroll

  • Blank Slate Press
  • Cornerpost Press
  • John Mort's Blog
  • Kaitlyn McConnell's Ozarks Alive
  • Larry Wood's Ozark history blog
  • Lens & Pen Press blog
  • Missouri Writers' Guild
  • My website
  • Ozarks Law and Economy
  • River Hills Traveler
  • Show Me Oz
  • Show Me Progress
  • The Course of Our Seasons
  • The Opulent Opossum
  • The Outside Bend
  • Vincent Anderson's Ozark history blog
  • WordPress.com News

My Facebook page

My Facebook page

My Twitter feed

  • RT @uarkpress: Announcing the Forthcoming Reissue of Thames Ross Williamson’s 1933 novel THE WOODS COLT, part of the Chronicles of the Ozar… 3 weeks ago
  • Donating to the library in honor of Josh Hawley. https://t.co/g1w9lQnzIK 3 weeks ago
  • RT @PearlsFromMyrna: Always wear sensible shoes. You never know when you’ll have to suddenly sprint. 3 weeks ago
  • Run, Josh, run! 4 weeks ago
Follow @swiegenstein

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow me on social media!

  • View stevewiegensteinauthor’s profile on Facebook
  • View @swiegenstein’s profile on Twitter

Slant of Light Facebook page

Slant of Light Facebook page

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • stevewiegenstein
    • Join 640 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • stevewiegenstein
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...