Whales Frogs, and Submarines!
James Hughes
Does anyone remember the train carrying a whale stopping in Pecos in the 30s or 40s?
Wilfred Owens
Yes I remember the "preserved whale" that came to Pecos. It was in the early or middle 30's. My dad took me to see it. Can't remember whether it was a dime or a quarter we paid to see it. It was in a converted passenger train car. You walked in one end and out the other. The whale, preserved in formaldehyde, was laid out along one wall and smelled pretty high. It sat on a siding near the depot for a couple of days. To me, as a kid, the car looked about a "mile" long. These many years later, I realize the whale wasn't a very large one. About 25 feet long.
Jim Slack
I remember that whale! I think it was in the late 30s. I remember it on a train of two or three cars and there were a bunch of other artifacts including an Egyptian mummy. Can you imagine folks now-a-days paying to see a dead whale that had an odor all its own?
Duke Hobbs ‘43
I wonder if anyone remembers the night it rained frogs? It happened on a Friday night during the fall of 1942. A group of us went to the Best Cafe (?) for steaks after a football game (it was the restaurant on the South side of the street, roughly across from Ben's Pharmacy). The steaks probably were about a half inch thick (or less?) and hung over the sides of the plates. At that time, not knowing what a steak should taste like, most of us probably slathered the meat with catsup and Worcestershire sauce---I know I did.
Well, the memorable thing about the evening was the storm. A real gully washer blew in with a lot of thunder and buckets of rain. When the storm passed through we left the restaurant. The streets were glistening from the rain and something moving---up and down! Every square foot of pavement had several baby frogs in it and all were hopping! Evidently a whirlwind had sucked them up from a lake somewhere and the thunderstorm dumped them on Pecos. Quite a sight!!
Velma H.McConnell
I don't remember the whale, but I do remember a submarine! Must have been some time after the war. I think I would prefer the submarine!
In regard to the frogs--do we have a biologist in the house? I recall the frogs occurring more than once during the mid to late 40's. I know little to nothing about biology, but I thought they came out AFTER a huge rain from eggs kept from a previous time. I guess that eliminates the tadpole stage though. I remember trying to keep a few, but didn't know what to feed them and they soon expired leaving a very small version of the whale smell--minus the formaldehyde. Some one please tell me about the frogs. My 6 year old grandson will want to know!