[at-l] [Fwd: History of the AT]
Felix J
athiker at smithville.net
Thu Jul 20 20:45:03 CDT 2006
Well, since Rockdancer and I were talking about this little piece of
literary trail-drivel the other day, I thought I'd send it along one
more time....
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [at-l] History of the AT
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 22:25:52 -0800
From: Felix <AThiker at smithville.net>
To: AT-list <at-l at saffron.hack.net>, That hiking list thing
<atml at trailplace.com>
History of the Appalachian Trail:
Most folks remember the mid-80's when the Japanese were buying
everything they could get their hands on in America. Most folks are
unaware that it all started back in the late 19th century. In August of
1892, a large group of Japanese settled the area now known as Toccoa,
Georgia. (This name comes from the fact that the locals had no idea how
to spell "Tokyo") The Japanese, being entrepreneurs without compare,
began selling their wares: fruits, canned goods, tack. The area became
known far and wide for its fine stock of many necessities, and a few
luxuries.
The locals still had trouble communicating with the Japanese. Some of the
names of the store owner's were so long that they had letters the locals
had never even seen before, let alone pronounced. So, a store owner was
generally called by a nickname relative to what his product was. The
owner of the general store was known as "General". The owner of the bait
shop was "Worm". The owner of the fruit stand was "Apple". And so on.
Of all the store owners, "Apple" (real name J. Fred Yamaguchi) was the
most innovative. He decided to start raising and transporting his own
apples. "Well," thought J. Fred, "anyone can raise apples locally. I
shall buy an orchard in the north and bring the produce here. If I do
this with my own company, I shall cut out the middleman." (Footnote: This
was all thought in Japanese. This is a loose translation.)
J. Fred travelled to the north and bought the finest orchard he could
find. It was in New Hampshire. "Now," pondered J. Fred, "how will I get
the apples to Toccoa?" After much deliberation, it was decided: train.
The great railroad was the best way to get the apples from the orchard in
New Hampshire to the apple stand in Toccoa. Well, the problem was that no
railroad ran from New Hampshire to Toccoa. What to do?
J. Fred went back to Toccoa and talked to his Japanese counterparts. They
agreed that with a rail linking them with their suppliers in the north,
all the shop owners could carry more products and save on overhead. A new
rail company was born and land purchasing began.
In their efforts to buy land, the Japanese would tell the landowners that
they wanted to put in a 'train rail'. The locals would laugh at the way
the Japanese would say this. Later, they shortened it to '"T" rail.' As
the land-purchasing made its way north, across the ridges of the highest
mountains, the clearing of the future railroad began. Progress was being
made at an astonishing pace.
As is often the case in business dealings such as this one, there began
some dissention. The land had been purchased all the way to J. Fred's
orchard and the clearing process was nearly complete. Some of the other
business owners became upset when J. Fred tried to name the rail company
"Yamaguchi Express". So, it was agreed that a compromise was in order.
They wanted a name that would show their pride in their heritage. The day
the crew clearing the way for the rail reached the orchard (near Pinkham
Notch, it is believed), J. Fred unveiled a sign proclaiming the name of
the new company (This was also on the checks and letterheads as well...).
The sign read:
"Apple's Asian 'T'-Rail"
Well, needless to say, this did not meet with the approval of the others
involved in the company. Before the first section of rail was laid, the
company disbanded. J. Fred moved to Bastian, VA, where he had fancied a
mountain girl he had met, and opened a mart. Most of the rest of the
businessmen moved to Minot, North Dakota and began making wind chimes.
I don't know how the hell the Trail ended up on Katahdin...
:)
--
Felix
Now with FICTION!!! http://members.tripod.com/~Felixhikes/index.html
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--
Felix J. McGillicuddy
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
ALT '03 KT '03
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/
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