Camera roll 119 is one of four rolls (119, 120, 121, 122) containing an interview with Lon Hogan, who, at 97, was the oldest resident of Shannon County, Missouri. This was the second of two interviews with Hogan. It was recorded November 3, 1978. The first interview, filmed August 26, 1978, is on rolls 054, 057, 058, 059, and 060 of this collection. Both interviews are firsthand accounts of life in Shannon County during the heyday of the timber industry. Hogan was born and raised on a farm near Willow Springs, Missouri. In 1897, moved to Birch Tree, Missouri, where he worked in the Cordz-Fisher Lumber Company sawmill. When Cordz-Fisher closed its mill, Hogan worked in the hub mill at Fishertown, a company town built and run by the Ozark Land and Lumber Company, and became an entrepreneur on the side opening a restaurant in Fishertown and a photography business in nearby Winona. After OL&L closed its mill, Hogan moved to West Eminence where he worked for the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company in its sawmill. Hogan spent much of his free time photographing events and social life in the towns, workers at the mills, and anything else that caught his fancy. Many of the photographs documenting the lumber mill era in Shannon County were taken by Hogan. Both Hogan interviews cover a wide range of topics, from his early years on the farm to the closing of the mills. Although he suffered from a mild palsy, his mind was sharp and clear. He often inserts small details and brief allusions to people, places, companies, and customs too numerous to reference, but which lend rich texture to the interview and provide valuable bits of information. This second interview was filmed at the ruins of the West Eminence sawmill. Behind Hogan is the building he worked in as a young man.
Part of the raw footage recorded 1978-1979 for the 1981 documentary motion pictures "Shannon County: Home" and "Shannon County: Hearts of the Children." Located in Special Collections, Meyer Library, Missouri State University.
For more information on the Shannon County Film Digitization Project: purl.missourist...
30 сен 2024
