Digitial Download Audio | The Pipeline Blues

A Few Words About THE PIPELINE BLUES

“The Pipeline Blues” is dedicated to the memory of Jerome Wheeler (1946-2005). This CD was recorded in October 2001 at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. For performance and recording purposes, I edited Jerome Wheeler’s two wonderful songs: Talkin’ Columbia City Pipeline Blues and Talkin’ Columbia City Wetlands Project. I did so with Jerome’s permission. Many thanks to the now late Jerome Wheeler for his ingenious songs and for the impact that he had on a community and on the environment. You can hear his two songs in their entirety and in Jerome’s own voice on the recording River Cowboy: Jerome Wheeler & Friends (Blue Coaster Records, Columbia, Missouri). Since I made this recording, I have further researched the story and made changes which I incorporate into my live performances. The updated version of the story is published in the book The Scenic Route: Stories From the Heartland (Indiana Historical Society Press, 2007). I also was asked to write an article about my process of creating the story. It is published in the book Literacy Development in the Storytelling Classroom, edited by Sherry Norfolk, Jane Stenson and Diane Williams (Libraries Unlimited, 2009), and can be found on my website at www.BethHorner.com.

---------------------------- Before writing and performing the story, I did a great deal of research about my childhood hometown of Columbia, Missouri and about the events that are the subject of the story. As indicated above, since this recording was made, I have learned even more. However, because a recording is a “fixed” form of information, I cannot incorporate the information into this recording. I would, however, love for you to know more of what I have learned. More than anything, I want you to know of a man who was a tireless worker and intelligent speaker and who had a great impact on the cessation of the pipeline project and the creation of the wetlands: Hank Ottinger. Hank was president of the Sierra Club at the time. As Doug Elley wrote to me: “We (Doug and Hank) met when I made my first trip into Columbia and presented the (wetlands) idea to the Sierra Club; from that night ‘til the end, we formed a perfect fit of passion and professorial persuasion that led the battle.” When Jerome Wheeler wrote his second song on the subject (Talkin’ Columbia Wetlands Project: Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo II), he sang of Hank’s work. In my initial round of research, I mistook the name Hank for another prominent Hank: Hank Waters, editor of The Columbia Daily Tribune and Wetlands supporter. It was later that I learned that Jerome was referring to Hank Ottinger’s essential work in the song. My apologies to Hank for not including him in my initial story and my many thanks to him for his dedication to the wetlands project and for continuing to work for our environment even today!

Here are a few other pieces of information that I’ve learned since this recording was made:

-- My parents moved to Boone County in 1946 rather than 1947.

-- At that time, there were actually a couple of doctors in town. However, if you were going to have a baby, you had your choice of only one doctor, our friend Dr. Jim Baker.

-- Also at that time, there were two hotels in town: the Daniel Boone Hotel and the Tiger Hotel. I learned of more than one restaurant in Columbia in 1946, but only two were open for evening meals: those at the two hotels.

-- Market Day was Saturday rather than Monday.

-- The reason that the State of Missouri would not allow Columbia to dump partially treated sewage into Perche Creek was because the volume that was being dumped was legally too great for the volume of the creek. If the volume of the creek had been higher, the dumping would have been considered legal.

--In his first song on the subject (Talkin’ Columbia City Pipeline Blues), Jerome Wheeler referred to Mr. Black and Mr. Veatch. I initially interpreted this to mean that Mr. Black and Mr. Veatch had been the engineers proposing the pipeline. I’ve since learned that the engineers consulting with the City Manager and proposing the pipeline were indeed from the firm of Black and Veatch, but were not Mr. Black and Mr. Veatch themselves.

-- The proposed pipeline was 5 miles rather than 15 miles long.

-- Doug Elley’s official title was Environmental Specialist, Air Pollution Control Program, Missouri Department of Natural Resources. He is now retired.

-- Lupus is only about 2 and ½ miles (about 30 minutes river time rather than 2 and ½ hours) downstream from the site at which the proposed pipeline would have dumped partially treated sewage into the river.

-- Jefferson City is approximately 35 miles (7-8 hours river time) downstream from the proposed dump site.

-- Lupus does not pull its drinking water from the river, but Jefferson City does do so.

-- Jerome Wheeler lived in town (Columbia) at the time, at a house on Richardson Lane. He wrote his song on his little Apple II GS computer over a 10 day period – drawing information from Tracy Barnett’s newspaper articles pinned to a clothes line that he’d strung across his living room, from a poster from The Catfish Coalition and from his observations of a city council meeting he attended. Jerome recorded the song on a cassette recording at Bob Pruitt’s studio and then, took the recording to KOPN listener supported radio.

-- The name of the city council member who cast the dissenting vote on the historic 6-1 evening and who later became mayor is Mary Anne McCollum. Without Mary Anne’s work, particularly as mayor, the Wetlands Project would not have come to fruition!

-- Thanks also to Darwin Hindman, co-chair of the Friends of the Wetlands and later, long-time mayor of Columbia. Darwin worked extremely hard to make Columbia a wonderful place to live!

-- The initial Wetlands consisted of 91 acres and was later expanded. Burns and McDonald, the firm designing it, designed it with approximately one foot of compacted clay, 6 inches-1 foot of topsoil and then, 100% cattail coverage. Although many wetlands projects contain other plants such as water hyacinths, etc., it was decided that Columbia’s wetlands should be composed of 100% cattails.

-- Approximately 12,000,000 gallons of waste water from the Columbia Wetlands flows into the 1300 acre Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area each day, a Conservation Area which was built to mimic the historic hydrological patterns of the Missouri River and which attracts migratory birds and wildlife as well as visitors from all over the world. The Columbia Wetlands is an important part of the Eagle Bluffs operation. I am continually uncovering new information about this remarkable event. If you know of essential facts of which I am unaware, please contact me! Beth Horner – Storyteller November 2023

--------------------------- ABOUT BETH HORNER – STORYTELLER

A National Storytelling Network Circle of Excellence Oracle Award recipient, Beth Horner is a nationally touring spoken word artist. Sought after as a storytelling performance and teaching artist since 1983, Beth has performed at the National Storytelling Festival, on Live From National Geographic, at the International Art of Story Festival, and has produced six recordings of her work. She is a former Board Member of the National Storytelling Association, is former adjunct faculty at Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and recently worked as narrative consultant for NASA/Johnson Space Center’s Story Mining project where she collected the stories of the scientists behind the Apollo Space Missions of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Beth’s love of all kinds of stories – traditional, literary, family, musical, historical and hysterical – makes her the perfect emissary into the world of story!

------------------------------- OTHER RECORDINGS FROM BETH HORNER

Available in Digital Download & CD formats at www.BethHorner.com BEST LAID PLANS: TRUE CRIME AND TRUE LOVE An intended summer retreat & an intended intimate evening go hysterically awry. BETH HORNER LIVE! Two of Beth’s most popular stories recorded live at the National Storytelling Festival: Tabouli to Cremation: My Mother’s Mind and Raven Ravin’ Misbehavin’: When Poe Get Stuck in Your Head ENCOUNTER WITH A ROMANCE NOVEL: HEROINES IN EVERYDAY LIFE Features Beth’s ever popular spoof on one of the most popular forms of literature. AN EVENING AT CEDAR CREEK A lively collection of seven folktales enhanced with music. THE SILVER SPURS: A TRUE STORY OF THE CIVIL WAR (Video Recording) Drawn from the diary of Beth’s great-great grandfather. www.BethHorner.com