Whale oil delivery to Marion, VA

[NW Mailing List]

This would match with an ad I found in an old Roanoke Times about the display of a huge whale at the Virginian Freight Station. 

Don’t remember the exact year, and have a copy in the files, but the description and plan sounds the same.

Ken Miller

> On Aug 22, 2018, at 8:15 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Gentlemen,
> 
>     The Pacific Whaling Company was a traveling maritime display. It consisted of several convertible flats & gons along with a baggage car/kitchen and sleeper. The star of the show was a @50' dead whale. It was preserved with lots of salt and embalming fluid. Also on board were various stuffed or preserved sea creatures from penguins to sea turtles. A small team of actors pretended they were captains and mates. They told the story of high seas adventures - all made up. Some enjoyed the work so much that they dressed as sea going officers for their remaining careers. For a dime, locals had several days to follow their noses to the display and see the marvels. PWC insisted that their troupe always traveled as an addition to a first class train, or as a special movement on freight only trackage. This endeavor was especially lucrative during the depression, as the outfit set up next to a downtown depot rather than out at the fairgrounds. It was easy for the city dwellers to get to it, which infuriated the other carnivals that were not allowed in center city.
> 
>     WJPowers