Large Scale Central

Doc Tom's "B'ar Ketchin' Car", MIK'S Build Challenge 2

The MIK - Annual Build Challenge
#1

A Tennessee Tall Tale meets “The Challenge”

Y’all probably recall the action thriller movie “The Ghost and the Darkness.” Filmed in 1996 the movie was set in Africa in the late 19th century and starred Michael Douglas and Van Kilmer.

Set in 1898, this movie is based on the true story of two lions in Africa that killed 35 people (some say over 100) over a nine month period, while a rail road bridge engineer and an experienced old hunter tried to kill them.

If you do not recall the story, or were too young to go to movies in 1996, here is a short story of the terrorist lions.

[Youtube]http://youtu.be/bHDmLcU1IXo[/Youtube]

The story got worldwide attention in books and in the press. Pictures were made of the valiant men building the Rail Road bridge at the TSAVO river crossing and the sheer horror of going to bed each night while man eating lions roamed the worksites.

Nicely depicted in the movie was an attempt to capture the man eaters in a live lion cage. Here are photos of the real cage made of rail road rails, track ties and steel. It was concealed in the bush.

Well sir, it took a while but the African adventure story of man eating lions eventually made its way to the mountains of East Tennessee. It was even published in the Knoxville News Sentinel in 1918.

Well now, the folks along the Little River valley in the Great Smoky Mountains were reading them reports and were thinking back on their own adventures with terrorizing monsters in the woods and thickets. For the good folks along the Little River…….it was bears and bear tales they told.

Wintertime life along the Little River and the Little River RR is slow as cold black strap molasses.

It is a great time for Tall Tale telling and yarn spinning around the fire and a communal bottle of Black Jack. Tales about deadly bears are a particular favorite.

Seems Col Townsend and the boys working for the Little River RR and logging the slopes of the Smoky Mountains have a tale or two about adventures with Smoky Mountain Black Bears.

There is even a very special story about how the Little River Rail Road men tried to capture a particularly fearsome creature in much the same way their African counterparts did years before.

And that is the challenge…… to retell the story of attempting to capture the meanest, dangerous bear to ever stalk the Smokies. How they used their mountain ingenuity and the hard working Little River Rail Road to try and capture the beast. They called their project, using the local dialect, “The B’ar Ketchin’ Car.”

#2

Ghost and the Darkness is a hugely underrated film, its a real Halloween scarefest because it was based on a famously true historical event.

I’ve SEEN the actual lions! There at the Field Museum in Chicago, when they were killed they were taxidermed and put on display there and they are still there.

Bears tend to be less lethal but can be very clever getting what they want.

http://youtu.be/GzWUUZRli6s

#3

Vic Smith said:

Ghost and the Darkness is a hugely underrated film, its a real Halloween scarefest because it was based on a famously true historical event.

I’ve SEEN the actual lions! There at the Field Museum in Chicago, when they were killed they were taxidermed and put on display there and they are still there.

Bears tend to be less lethal but can be very clever getting what they want.

http://youtu.be/GzWUUZRli6s

Thanks Vic for adding the pictures of these fearsome beasts.

Interestingly, science got involved and in analyzing the keratin in those lions skins found traces of human elements.

Here is a Wikipedia article:

The two lion specimens in Chicago’s Field Museum are known as FMNH 23970 (killed 9 December 1898) and FMNH 23969 (killed 29 December 1898). Recent studies have been made upon the isotopic signature analysis of Δ13C and Nitrogen-15 in their bone collagen and hair keratin and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Using realistic assumptions on the consumable tissue per victim, lion energetic needs, and their assimilation efficiencies, researchers compared the man-eaters’ Δ13C signatures to various reference standards: Tsavo lions with normal (wildlife) diets, grazers and browsers from Tsavo East and Tsavo West, and the skeletal remains of Taita people from the early 20th century. This analysis estimated that FMNH 23969 ate the equivalent of 10.5 humans and that FMNH 23970 ate 24.2 humans.[6]

What fate awaits the brave men of the Little River RR as they come face to face with their worst nightmare in the wilds of Tennessee??

#4

P.S. LOVED the Pepsi Bear commercial Vic!!!

#5

[Youtube]http://youtu.be/GzWUUZRli6s[/Youtube]

#6

My son and I went to the Boy Scout sleep over at the Museum and slept right by those! I read about the story after that, Cody was 10 at the time and said he felt all the animals eyes were staring at him, that was A night at the museum…

Tom H

#7

tom huisenga said:

My son and I went to the Boy Scout sleep over at the Museum and slept right by those! I read about the story after that, Cody was 10 at the time and said he felt all the animals eyes were staring at him, that was A night at the museum…

Tom H

Wow, that was a fright night for sure. I am glad the displays did not become animated like in the “A Night at the Museum” movie. That would have been scary.

Tom

#8

The Kid’s Drawing

Col. Townsend wanted someone to illustrate his story about the monster bear in the woods and how the Little River Crew caught him.

There is a new hire at the Engine Shops named Han A. Barbara. He had taken one of those matchbook art classes and wanted to show his talent to the world. Heck he is only 15 and Colonel reluctantly agreed.

Col. Townsend, using executive privilege, decided to change course and stick with photojournalism in telling his tall tale.

#9

Oh, b’ar! I thought it said “bar” and thought, "Huh, is this another one of those cars that hauls a can of Miller Lite around yer train layout? Guess that shows where my mind is at…

#10

Joe Rusz said:

Oh, b’ar! I thought it said “bar” and thought, "Huh, is this another one of those cars that hauls a can of Miller Lite around yer train layout? Guess that shows where my mind is at…

Hi Joe,

Thanks for catching my tongue in cheek jab at the Eastern Tennessee way of speaking the King’s English.

Doc Tom

#11

The Bear and the Train. The story Begins

The symbol of the Smokies, the American Black Bear, is perhaps the most famous resident of the Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee. Encounters between Bears and humans stretch back to prehistorical times and to the first pioneers of these beautiful mountains.

The sale of bearskins, taken in traplines and huge rifles augmented the meager income of early mountain residents. Fur buyers came to the mountains and carried away the hides in tow sacks mounted onto pack horses.

(Photo from ShutterStock)

The pioneers would set big steel traps, homemade with the blacksmith skills passed down generation to generation. They were sprung so strong that the trapper hung a C-clamp close to each trap he set, so that if a man stepped into one he could use the clamp to hold the jaws open and free himself. The traps weighed more than 60 pounds each.

Needless to say, the animals met their demise in these huge traps or were dispatched with the long rifles of the hunters. An adversarial relationship between hunter and prey soon developed.

The Little River RR under the astute leadership of Colonel Townsend entered the Smokies in 1904 to harvest the vast stands of virgin timber. The logging railroad was built through the wilderness of the Smokies and encounters between bears and rail road workers were frequent and frightening.

How to contend with an angry bear population and keep rail road workers safe soon became a primary concern of Colonel Townsend and his Little River Rail Road.

#12

They just need more pick-a-nick baskets.

#13

A Bear’s Lament. Here Come the Tourists.

The beauty of the Smoky Mountains was soon capturing those from the city who hitched rides on the Little River logging trains and breathed in nature.

Colonel Townsend, realizing a good and profitable opportunity, soon found ways to convert logging flats into tourist conveyances to meet the demand of nature hungry city dwellers.

The tourists brought there newfangled photography and movie making equipment to catch images of wilderness they just did not have at home.

[Youtube]http://youtu.be/f3rdIdJS8NA[/Youtube]

This put further pressures on the Bears and stoked their ire.

#14

David Maynard said:

They just need more pick-a-nick baskets.

That would make for interesting bait and Boo Boo bear agrees.

Tom

#15

We are Watched

As the pressures of an expanding railroad logging empire and intrusive tourists increased on the bear population they retreated higher in to the mountains.

Wondering how to reverse the tidal wave of human progress Ursus Americanus began to study Homo Sapiens.

#16

Bears Gone Wild

The destructive power of Bears is awe inspiring. With their keen sense of smell they will locate even the smallest morsel of food. With their huge claws and fearsome teeth they can literally tear off house walls and break open car windows in search of that food.

As the Bears in the Smokies retreated they began to vent their anger on the little logging line encroaching on their habitat………the Little River Rail Road. Rail is torn up.

Logging and construction camps are attacked.

And rolling stock is overturned.

#17

The Tall Tale Begins

As the Bears wreaked havoc on the Little River Rail Road rumors and fears circulated amongst the Mountain folk. Children could not sleep for fear that the Bears would be at their home that very night.

Stories of a 9 foot tall Bear with huge teeth and claws began to be told around crackling wood fires in camps and cabins throughout the Smokies.

Rare, dimly lit, sightings of this huge creature were made and only added to the fear and trepidation of the locals. They named this great beast “GOVOLS.” GOVOLS was native Cherokee slang for “Big ***Bear” and became a feared word amongst those who had to work in the wilds of the Tennessee mountains.

#18

Plans are Made

It was soon apparent that GOVOLS, the giant bear ,was the ring leader of the marauding bears harassing the Little River Rail Road. Colonel Townsend, the logging magnate, had to do something. The bears were cutting in to tourist revenues, logging operations, and wrecking rail road assets. GOVOLS and his gangster bruins had to go.

Colonel Townsend convened a meeting of his staff at Fish Camp Commissary, high in the Smokies to work out a plan.

Now, Colonel Townsend was an incredible business man with a keen mind. He knew that the zoo in Knoxville would pay top dollar for the capture and transport of GOVOLS to the zoo. He knew that the public had learned all the tall tales of the wild bears of the Smokies and would pay a fortune to see the bear in captivity. He hoped to get a portion of the royalties.

But how to capture this ferocious beast?

#19

I love this thread if for no other reason than all the bears kickin the crap out of people. My dad was a park ranger at a lake in N Idaho that had real bear issues. They were constantly trapping bears. I plan on sharing this with him.

#20

Devon Sinsley said:

I love this thread if for no other reason than all the bears kickin the crap out of people. My dad was a park ranger at a lake in N Idaho that had real bear issues. They were constantly trapping bears. I plan on sharing this with him.

Thanks Devon. In keeping with Dave’s admonition to “go over the top” with this build I have laid it on pretty thick to heighten the drama for a story (tall tale) about catching a huge bear using rail road equipment.

Would love to hear more on how modern day rangers deal with wayward bears. I suspect they do not use rail road equipment and little flat cars???

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom