The Time Capsule: Mushroom-smelling dog, picture requests
Morel mushroom hunters I know seem to agree that this season has been the best in recent years. Stories have them being found everywhere, and my wife agrees. She picked up several around a tree in our back yard; morels so large she spotted them from the seat of a riding lawn mower.
Morels bring to mind Charles Rowe, the most consistently successful fungus hunter I’ve ever known. He credited his dog, a pointer that looked to be at least partly of the English setter breed.
Some believed the dog really was the reason Rowe found them when no one else could. Others scoffed. The story he told was that the dog naturally pointed at the scent of birds. While she was still young he attached a morel to a pheasant wing and hid it for her to find. Over time he reduced the amount of wing until the dog was finding no feathers at all—just the morel.
I was among the skeptics, believing Charlie was full of mushrooms.
With that in mind, we move forward to a time when a co-worker set out to train his springer spaniel to find residue from accelerants at fire scenes. He was laughed at, taken about as seriously as was Charley Rowe. I had doubts, feeling there were too many strong and confusing odors in a burned-out building, that any trace of accelerant might be too deeply buried in debris, that under those conditions a dog could not be reliable. The spaniel, though, became amazingly proficient. Other dogs were trained to do the same. I’ve seen a canine hit on accelerants through three inches of ice, and have the findings confirmed by a laboratory.
The experience caused me to rethink Charley Rowe and his setter—maybe the pooch really did point mushrooms. My wife is not likely to find more while mowing the lawn, so if anyone has a promising dog to sell let me know.
On an unrelated matter, I’ve had two requests of late for pictures. One reader is looking for a photograph of the Horace B. Wilde dirigible taken as it was hovering over the streets of Red Oak. I’ve seen this one. If I recall correctly, it was taken in 1910 and made into a postcard. Our paper once carried a weekly old photo feature and used the dirigible, but I have no idea who provided it. (I’m referring to an actual photo, not the doctored version that appears in the Montgomery County pictorial published a few years ago.)
The other request was for a picture said to be taken of a row of airplanes at old Tuttle Field during the 1921 air show. This one supposedly includes a sign or something else that clearly identifies the airfield. I’ve not seen this, but if someone has it there’s a reader who would very much like to obtain a copy.
On a final unrelated matter, a few days ago my wife found it necessary to see Dr. England. As is often the case, she took a dozen eggs for him and another for his nurse. Doc voiced his appreciation, then joked that because of what was happening with the price of eggs he might raise the fee for her office visit in order to balance the books.
I left with a good laugh, and my wife had a medication that cleared her sinuses. We don’t often get both from the same doctor.
Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.