The Republican., 1942-09-03
Turning Over An
Old Leaf
By Phillip A. Gladheim

that are not forgotten yet"
Among the best opportunities our
vacation-land has had for publicity on
big scale was in the early twenties.
For two consecutive seasons four of
the most famous American personal
tiles of this century with other men,
bers of their families camped at Swal-
low Falls.
They were Henry Ford, Harvey
Firestone, Thomas A. Edison and
John Burroughs. Henry Ford is the
lone survivor.
Was there any attempt on the part
of any organization in our community
to have this publicized through pic
lures, in the press and the movies? |
think not. Perhaps our folks were
more sensitive to the privacy of their
distinguished guests than to the un-
usual chance to gain publicity for
Garrett county.
Knowing that other places have
utilized such an opportunity to its
full advantage, and knowing that
famous personalities are accustomed
to sudden intrusions of publicity men
it would at least been proper to have
asked this famous quartet for their
cooperation. | am certain they would
have been more than willing to pub
licize this vacation-land, because from
all reports their reactions were i'm
mensely in our favor. One can't help
concluding that Oakland was asleep
at the switch.
Last week while lettering in Stur-
gisss drug store the writer had oc-
casion to exchange comment with our
genial fellow-townsman James Pat,
rick Treacy (better known as plain
"Jim'D. Jim is always ready for such
encounters, either with the stranger
or an old friend, and Jim has always
something of interest tucked up his
metaphorical sleeve.
At the time this famous quartet
visited US Jim was still in the auto
mobile business. You know it was jim
that introduced the Ford car to this
section, and l doubt if any automo-
bile dealer since has surpassed his
sales record.
Jim recalled that he and Mrs
Treacy and one Of their children went
to Swallow Falls to see the celebri-
ties. He finally located Mr.. Ford along
the edge of the river minus his shoes
and stockings, bathing his feet in the
water. Jim asked Mr.. Ford if he OBJ
jected having his picture taken. Mr.
Ford agreed, if Jim didn't mind tax
ing it just as he found him. Mr.. Ford
was too preoccupied in the enjoyment
Of foot-Washing to straighten up and
offer himself in a formal pose. jim
started to make the camera click. He
took five "shots."
Then he said to me, Don't you
know not -- one of those pictures
were good" Naturally we both
laughed and the laughter became even
more hilarious when he told me of
his attempt to take a picture of Mrs
Ford. This proved also to be "dud.' u
Well, Jim, you and the rest of
US were certainly in need of an ex-
pert photographer. Jim found Mrs
Ford and Mrs Edison sitting under a
tree. Mrs. Edison did not get up, but
Mrs. Ford was apparently in a mood
to communicate. She told jim that the
party enjoyed coming here because it
proved them an escape from civiliza-
ton.
One could comment at length on
the reason why this particular quartet
OF famous men came here to escape
from a civilization of which they had
such determining share in its out
ward fashioning. With the exception
of Burroughs, the naturalist, one
could hardly pick another trio that
had so fundamentally altered our way
of living as Ford, the automobile pio-
neer; Edison, electric, and Firestone,
rubber.
There are other stories associated
with the visit of these people, per-
haps all of them legendary. The one
that seems the best known is about
the afternoon the Ford Edison Fire
stoneBurroughs caravan stopped at
a crossroads store, presumably at
GAINESVILLE, to make few purchases
before going to the Falls.
Mr.. Ford is purported to have gone
into the store and asked the proprie-
tor if he had any electric bulbs for
sale. The storekeeper replied that he
had. Mr.. Ford then asked what kind.
He was told they were Edison" !"
Whereupon Mr. Ford said, "What a
coincidence. Mr.. Edison himself is out
here in the car" Of course the store
keeper raised his eyebrows to show
some faint emotion of surprise, per-
haps alarm. When Mr.. Ford returned
to the caravan he was instructed to
make purchase of a spare tire. He
went back to the store and learned
that the kind of tire needed was avail
able and when he also learned that it
was a Firestone make he exclaimed,