This Day In History

[Zephon]

The purpose of this column is to identify particular dates in the history of SDC that were pivotal in it's development.  It is just for fun, therefore the veracity of some of the entries will be unable to be verified.  I'll get it started and you'll get the idea...please feel free to contribute.


August 2, ??BC
Ground breaking on what has come to be known as Marvel Cave began on this date in history when, while foraging for food, local entrepreneur, Oz Erk, tripped over the skeleton of a saber-toothed tiger.  As he stumbled forward, his foot landed on it's scapula, driving it into the ground.  Recognizing the value of this new "tool," he demonstrated it's usefulness to his peers by beginning to dig in the ground.  Before long he was able to retire as hundreds lined up, willing to trade food and other items for a chance to try their hand with the new tool, all the while expanding the size of the hole.  Originally just a by-product of Oz's entrepreneurial skills, the hole is now a popular tourist attraction in the region which was named for him.  Sadly, Oz's original scapula wore down to just a nub after several months of use and is now lost to us.


There you go.  Does anyone know of any other events that might or might not have happened on this date that relate to Silver Dollar City?

[Ozark Outlaw]

Awesome idea Zephon!

This thread could go full circle all year long. Never heard the Oz Erk story, but it was quite fansinating!

At first I thought maybe he was the reason Marvel Cave is as big as it is!
I'm just teasing.

This thread should be fun.

[betamike]

Great idea Zephon!  I wonder if the entire Ozark region pays homage to Oz Erk for naming it after him!   

[Zephon]

Only in a round-about way, betamike. It's my understanding that his descendents carried on the tool tradition, expanding on the variety and quality of tools they were able to make available to their fellows.  These tools became known collectively as Erks and because of the migratory nature of people back then, they gained world-wide acceptance with the passage of time (as evidenced by archeological digs).  As a result, the pronunciation of the word "erks" passed through many different languages and became somewhat corrupted over time such that by the time writing was invented in the Middle East, the tools were known in that part of the world as Arks.  As a matter of fact, Noah used such a variety of these tools in the construction of his boat that he just called it "the Ark".  Fast forward to the period of time when the French settled in areas up the Mississippi River.  For want of a better name for their post, they just called it after the tools they carried with them...arks and saws, shortened to the "Arkansas" Post.  The French phrase "aux Arkansas" means "going toward Arkansas", referring to the Arkansas Post.  The French trappers shortened it to just "aux Arks" which was later anglicised to Ozarks.  So...do we pay homage to Oz Erk?  Only kinda sorta.  For the most part he is lost to history.

And there you have...the rest of the story.

Ozark BBQ,
Oz Erk only got the process started and over the years his descendents expanded it.  Eventually though, the cave was abandoned as the people migrated away and nature took over it's continued expansion for a long time, in the process wearing away the tool marks left by Oz and his people.  That's why we don't see much evidence of them down there.  The cave was eventually rediscovered and the rest is history.     

[Junior]

Spring,1977: Silver Dollar City puts the finishing touches on a whole new area of the park...The Deepwoods. No asphalt or concrete here, to emphasize the theme, pathways are sawdust covered. Fine on a sunny day, but messy on rainy days. In this area is log cabin building, a smokehouse restaurant, a wagon works barn for special events, the one mule swing, a small theater for park entertainment like music, a childrens play area, and the new keynote attraction, Rube Dugan's Diving Bell. Over the years that section of the park would develop so much, the Deepwoods theme was dropped and the area became known in 1982 as The Riverfront. Of the original attractions/shops in the area, only the smokehouse is left, but the building that once housed the diving bell was transformed in 1985 to The Lost River of the Ozarks. The Deepwoods increased SDC's size by 25 percent, at that time, the largest park expansion project over one winter (1976-77)