(gentle guitar music) (rooster caws) - [Narrator] Shannon
County, Southern Missouri, the beginning of a new day. (fire poker clangs) These are the Rectors, Martha and Jim. They will spend their day
working in the timber. (fire roars) Ray Hicks, he too makes his
living working the timber, but he's also the county's last
practitioner of a dying art. (metal clangs) - Go on Mac and get that cow! Hurry him. (dog barks) - [Narrator] Freeman Hughes, he's 83. - [Freeman] Now you get on in there. - [Narrator] Freeman is one of the county's most successful farmers. (door squeaks) (milk splashes) He is also a strong-minded,
outspoken citizen. - [Danny] Hello sir, how ya doing? - [Narrator] And running for re-election. - I'm Danny Staples, your
State Representative. How are you sir? Good to see you. - [Man] That's how long it's been. - I thought who you are. - Why sure. Take care of yourself. - [Danny] Hello, there. - Hello, hello. - [Danny] What do you say, fella? - Not much, how are you, man? - Fine, you workin' hard? - Yeah, pretty hard. - Pretty hard? - Yeah. Not any harder than I have to (chuckles). - Well, hang in there. - Are you working, going to
work or are you going to vote? - [Man In Brown Jacket] I'm going to work. - Going to work, okay. - Alright, let's get some canoes. - [Narrator] Windy Smith, like the others, his family has lived here for generations. (boat clatters) Windy was a carpenter
in St. Louis for awhile before returning home. He now makes his living from the increasing numbers of tourists. - [Woman] Do I have to tap it? (jet hums) - [Narrator] Claude Treeman. - A country airport. - [Narrator] A wealthy
industrialist from St. Louis and Claude Treeman's personal jet. Treeman came to hunt and fish and relax, then he brought one of
his factories with him. - We're going out over
Johnny Cooper's place and then we'll be back over there later. There's the Ozarks way. (gentle guitar music) - [Narrator] The Ozarks, one of the most beautiful
regions of the United States but for three quarters of a century, one of the poorest. (gentle guitar music) Isolated by the hills, the early settlers lived off the land, needing little from the outside world. (gentle guitar music) With the 20th century, industrial timbering came
in upon a frontier people but the boom times were short-lived and when they were over,
the people remained, retaining much of their
old, traditional culture. (gentle guitar music) That culture is still there, quaint now, because
it's true to it's past, a past we once all lived. In these people, we
can see our old selves. - The way they make a living
was just so foreign to us, you know, like heating
with wood or with wood, like Bill knows how to work
with wood but as far as going out in the woods
and using mules and, all that to us was something that people did a long time ago, not anymore. It was really a different reality. - We knew that they had a lot to teach us and we went out with that attitude and if you do that anywhere with anybody-- - [Narrator] Bill and Betty
Burns came from Chicago in 1968 to get back to the land. - And we did have an awful lot to learn, 'cause we're straight out of the city and I thought I knew a little bit about being back in the country but not a thing when it came down to it. - [Narrator] They have built a home and put down roots. (water splashes) - [Boy] Somewhere around 15. - [Man] Michael, what about
this deer you shot at? (everyone laughs) - [Narrator] Late November, the deer hunt. A rite of autumn in Shannon County. (gun clicks) - [Man] Them things looks drawed up to me, are they done (chuckles)? - [Narrator] The meal today is squirrel. - [Man] Say, Bud, do you want
a young, roasted one, Bud? - Yeah. - [Man] Alright, try that out there. Charlie in coats and garble, Jimmy all hunted squirrels when we can, just so we'll be sure to
have something to eat. Glad you got here in time for squirrel. - It like eatin' rats. (men laugh) - A lot of new people in this country now, coming and going. You could float this
river a week at a time and you might see two or three fishermen going with the flow. Now you see 500 a day (laughs). - [Interviewer] You think it's
good for the county or bad? - Well, it brings a lot of money in. Of course, the privacy
that we used to have, we don't have it anymore like we did then. - [Man] It's pretty hard to go back to the old times, you know? (metal clangs) - [Narrator] The Rectors are
one of about 100 families that still make their living
working in the timber. (metal clangs) - We have worked in the
woods all of our life, Jimmy and me has. When I was a girl, before
I was even married, I worked in the woods and
he's worked ever since he was about 12 years old and made ties, a huge
amount with a butt ax. - I (muffled speech) with
my dad, worked the timber, if one of us kids (muffled work) work, why, we went out with
him and worked with him and we just got started
on it and all of us is timber workers. There was six boys and three girls. - [Interviewer] You always work together? - Yeah. We're pals and partners,
man and wife and buddies. The same work we do together and the thing we like to do together,
which is usually him spending his time right
here and my time at home. I mean, it's just the two of us, why not? I never was much of a house cat. (wood clatters) - Now boys, this is conserving energy. This is old posts that have rotted off and hauled in and made up
into cook wood (chuckles). (water sizzles) - [Interviewer] Why do you
still cook on a wood stove? - Well, I'm not very much
of a hand for change. I don't like to see things
changed too much and I have 500 acres of timber here and a man's a damn fool
to pay for electricity when he can go out and cut his wood. It's falling down rotting. - [Interviewer] When
did you get that stove? - I got it somewhere between '34 and '40. I don't now what year it was and it cost, as I recall, about $85 and I can remember the shipping weight on it is 485 pounds crated. I can remember that
'cause I had to carry it, about as far as to be at the creek after we got it home. When we bought it, we were poor. We didn't have a lot of money, practically no money and I told my wife, I said, now, you go ahead and pick out the kind
of cook stove you want because, I said, it might
cost you 15 or $20 more to get the kind you want but I said, you likely to use it for 20 years. Well, we've used it for over 40 (laughs). I said, the extra cost
won't amount to anything and I still feel like it's pretty good advice. (birds chirp) - You know, these people live
down here all their lives and they know what they're doing as far as how to do it and everything. Of course, we came down and you have to adapt to local ways to get anywhere. One thing we did, we came
down and built the house and wired the whole thing and we were told on how we were going to put our electric in, so we bought it in the spring and we were gonna come down in the summer. We left a note and talked to him and said here's where we want
the pole and we figured, well, we'd come down
and electric would be in and we'd build the house. - Daddy! - [Betty] Now come on around. - And it was over a year before the house, the electricity even came in. We wired the house, had an air conditioner sitting in there, all the plugs and stuff and for a year we had kerosene lamps, which we didn't even
know about Aladdin lamps. - We learned a lot of patience. We learned that things
do not happen quickly. When you're in the city, if you want your electricity hooked up, it
gets hooked up quickly. We learned not to expect
things to happen quickly. If you want something
done, you ask whoever is capable of doing it to help
you and then you expect to wait quite awhile 'cause
people are not in a hurry and we've, ourselves, have
slowed down accordingly. (metal clangs) - [Narrator] The making of a fishing gig is a good symbol of the
best of the old ways, slow, careful craftsmanship, resulting in something useful and beautiful as well. (metal clangs) (fire roars) (crickets chirp) In the fall and winter, the river belongs to those who live here. It's a place of solitude. But in the summer. - Hey, Ed, let them take the van on down there under
the bridge and park it, that way it'll lighten the traffic here. We're gonna get jammed
up here in a little bit. He's ready to go there in the van whenever you all are. Now then, I've got two more
groups in here on the list. - [Woman] See, Keith had them right there. - I heard all about those. - You heard all about those? - Stapleton gets cushions. - [Blond Woman] Half and half. - [Man] Half and half. - [Blonde Woman] Half and half,
five cushion, five jackets. - When you all get to Two Rivers, there's a log cabin concession stand on the bank to the right, there's a pay phone, you go up there, take a dime and dial our number first and let us answer and
then put your dime in. These phones are backwards to the city, you lose your dime if you don't. - Hey, Angel, you don't need the paddles. You don't need your paddles. - That's one of our major tourist things is the canoe rental business. It brings, oh, I don't
know how many people but there's about 2500 canoes around here that goes in the water
on a Saturday morning and I think the town of Eminence is going along better with it. Now, at first, they didn't, they rejected the flood of
tourists that come in here. (uplifting bluegrass music) (uplifting bluegrass music) (water splashes) - I'd say probably tourism is one of our big businesses now in the area. It brings a lot of money in, makes a lot of business. - It's bringing a lot of money but actually, if it had been up to everybody, it's not doing it right now. - [Interviewer] Would you like
to see something come in here to keep the kids around? - I would, actually,
that's something we need. I don't know what it would take. - Our factories kept a
few of the girls home, don't you think? - [Interviewer] You think
things are gonna change much in Shannon County in the future? - If the mining opens up, I think it will. - Yeah, I'd say it'd have to be mining to bring a lot of money
in order to change, it would develop us a lot more activity, year round activity. (truck hums) - [Narrator] Just outside Shannon County are nine great lead mines. - Well, 85% of all lead
produced in the United States is produced here in Missouri. This country, while we
produce a lot of lead, we don't produce all we need. We have to import some lead and this is why that
there are now 15 major mining companies down in Shannon County searching for additional minerals. (machinery rumbles) Right now there is a
worldwide shortage of lead and this is brought on a
great deal by the fact that some of the underdeveloped
countries in the world are now getting automobiles. Russia is buying a lot of
lead on the world market, which they have not done in the past. (alarm buzzes and siren wails) And if our civilization
is to continue to advance, as it is in our standard of living, as it is in some of the
underdeveloped countries, there's going to be increasing
needs for more minerals because this is how civilization advances. (door rumbles) - [Freeman] Come Pate. - [Boy] Get up here, Pate, get up here. - I'm gettin' the mule for you. - No, don't get that mule. When you get your cane gold, you strip all the leaves off of it, cut it and top it and bring it to the mill and then you feed it through this mill and your juice runs out into this barrel and into your pan and you got three cookings of it before it goes into molasses. See right here, this
is molasses right here and it's coming out in this bucket, right here where this boy is rakin'. See, right there's your
finished product, right there. - [Interviewer] What was
it like in the old days, did everybody do this? - Yes, sir. Everybody done it. Everybody has a sorghum
patch and made sorghum, anywhere from 50 to 100 gallon and that's what we lived on, cornbread and sorghum molasses and butter, wasn't it? - Yeah. - And they'd have what I
call 'em, taffy puliin', cooked that down, made
sorghum molasses candy and the boys would go to see the girls and they'd have a pocketful of that and they'd eat that there sorghum, wasn't it? - [Woman] Yep, that's right. - Yeah. And we're telling you'uns the truth. - [Woman] That was back
in the good ole days. - Yeah. - [Interviewer] How come
you don't make it anymore? It used to be so much
fun and a social event? - Oh, they just quit. People now don't work like they used to. They just, there's lots and lots of work involved in this fire pit. - [Interviewer] You make this every year? - No, sir. And I doubt if I'll ever do it again. - [Interviewer] How come? - Huh? - [Interviewer] How come? - I just don't want to is the best answer I can tell you. - [Narrator] Brown's Cafe
is a nighttime hangout for some of the county's teenagers. - [Interviewer] Why do
you like Shannon County? - Not too many people, I just don't like to be
around a bunch of people. They's fishin' and huntin' around here and they ain't out in big cites. - [Interviewer] What do
you think of it here? - I like it. - [Interviewer] You gonna live here when you're out of school? - Probably not. - [Interviewer] How come? - Wanna get a good job. - [Interviewer] Are you
gonna stick around here? - Yeah. - [Interviewer] What are you gonna do? - Carpenter, try it. - [Interviewer] How come you
think you can make a living as a carpenter around here? Seems like everyone we talked
to was a carpenter sometime. - Yeah, that's what my
dad's done all his life and I figured if he can
make a living, I can too. - [Interviewer] Do many
kids still get out of school and work in the timber? - No. (machines whir) - [Narrator] There are three small factories in Shannon County and nearly all of the employees are women. (machines whir) So the girls find it
easier to get a job here than the boys. - [Woman] Yeah, hallelujah,
praise the Lord! ♪ He's God on the platform ♪ ♪ He's God back at the door ♪ ♪ He's God in the amen corner ♪ ♪ He's God all over the floor ♪ ♪ I know God is God ♪ ♪ And that don't ever change ♪ ♪ I know God is God ♪ ♪ And He always will be God ♪ ♪ He's God when the lightning flashes ♪ ♪ He's God when the thunder rolls ♪ ♪ He's God way up in heaven ♪ ♪ He's God way down in my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, God is God ♪ ♪ And that don't ever change ♪ ♪ I know God is God ♪ ♪ And he always will be God ♪ ♪ He's God out in the ocean ♪ ♪ He's God onto the sea ♪ ♪ He'd God all over creation ♪ ♪ He's God all over me ♪ ♪ I know God is God ♪ ♪ And that won't ever change ♪ ♪ I know God is God ♪ ♪ And he always will be God ♪ - My grandmother went, my mother's went, I have gone all my life. It's something that, Pentecostal women, when they go into church, they believe that their children should be brought up in church, taught to believe the way they believe and it's went back generation after generation,
back in my family, I know, that they were all
Pentecostal and even the ones that don't go to church or
even go to other churches, still deep down inside them, they believe this way but maybe they're not around here where they can go to a church like this. You get in the cities,
there's not, you know, not the country church anymore. - [Interviewer] Has either one of you ever thought of leaving the area? - Yeah, I thought of it. - Yeah, me too. Around here, most girls, they grow up and they get married, they don't go on and have
any education because they have to leave here
and most of 'em don't like to do that, they like to stay around here. About the only jobs around here for women is the factories, like
in Eminence and Winona. You can work in cafes but
they don't pay enough, you know, without, for like a young girl, a summer job or something
would be fine but somebody that's trying to make a living, it's just not enough. (people chatter) ♪ Never a man spake like this man ♪ ♪ Glorious King of kings ♪ ♪ He's spoke to my troubled soul ♪ ♪ And now my heart sings ♪ ♪ He has promised in
his holy word someday ♪ ♪ His face I'd see ♪ ♪ Never a man spake like this man ♪ ♪ When he said come follow me ♪ ♪ Jesus went into the temple ♪ ♪ When he was only 12 ♪ ♪ His words awed the elders ♪ ♪ And his wisdom they beheld ♪ ♪ Then the multitude that followed ♪ ♪ To hear the man from Galilee ♪ ♪ Never a man spake like this man ♪ ♪ When he said come follow me ♪ ♪ Never a man spake like this man ♪ ♪ The glorious King of Kings ♪ ♪ He spoke to my troubled soul ♪ ♪ And now my heart sings ♪ ♪ Oh, children ♪ ♪ He has promised in his holy word ♪ ♪ Someday his face I'll see ♪ ♪ Never a man spake like this man ♪ ♪ When he said come follow me ♪ Praise the Lord, hallelujah, praise the Lord, hallelujah. (dogs bark) (crickets chirp) (frogs croak) - [Interviewer] How long have people been gigging around here? - Well, as far as time has been, I guess. I mean, I'm 47 years old and they was giggin' when
I was a little bitty boy and I heard my father and
grandfather talk about giggin'. This is an Ellerman pitch gig that has been used in this country for years and years and still in use, of the few that is left, 'cause he's not made 'em for
the past five or six years and you're very lucky
to have one of 'em left. So that's why I don't use this one anymore than I do, I just
want to keep it for keepsake. - [Interviewer] Is there
a lot of craftsmanship going into those things? - Yeah, there's a lot of craftsmanship and it takes lots of time to make a gig. (dogs bark) (metal clangs) - [Narrator] Only Ray Hicks still makes gigs in Shannon County
in the traditional way. The master gig maker,
Erb Ellerman, is dead and his son, Bill, left for the city. (metal clangs) - I helped Dad blacksmith
for years and years and he was telling, said, well, if he stays down here and helps me, why, says I believe he'll make a good one but said if he does like
most these young bucks and takes off for St. Louis, says I don't think he'll
ever amount to anything. That's what I did. I went up there and went to work. Of course, once you get up there, then it's kind of hard to come back. - [Interviewer] Do you miss it down here? - Yes, I miss it, I
really like to come down and like this huntin', if
I don't kill something, I really like just to get out in the woods where it's quiet and set awhile, I really like it and
I'd just love to go back to the old places where
I was born and raised and see how much it changed
in the last 30 years. We was by some of them yesterday and why they's trees now that is about eight or 10 inches through where the houses used to set. I mean, it gives me a strange feeling to go back to them places now. I'd like to live down here but I kind of like it up there too because of the job and everything, so I guess I'll just have to stay up there until I retire, anyway (chuckles). - [Interviewer] You've
been on the school board and Shannon Superintendent of Schools, what do kids do here when
they get out of high school? - Go to St.Louis, go to work,
Springfield, leave here. - Most of them leave, unless- - It's the only thing they can do. - If you'll take a job
in the timber or mills, not too much farming, some businesses. So as they go up, they leave, make a home somewhere. That's like by the city, you can get them started
in business and stay here. - [Interviewer] What do you
boys plan to do when you get out of high school? - [Boy] Go to college. - [Interviewer] Will many
in your class go to school? - I'd say about 1/4 or
1/2 of them will go. - [Interviewer] What will the others do? - No tellin'. - Go to work for the park service. - [Interviewer] Would y'all
like to be able to stay here, come back here? - Yeah but there's not too big of a demand for civil engineers down here. (boys laugh) - There not too big a demand
for anything here of any kind, you know, specialties. - There you go. I believe that one's done. - Nice squirrel. - [Man] God, that looks good. - Who wants it? - [Man] I'll pass. (gun blasts) (gentle guitar music) (guns blast) (people chatter) - [Boy] See, you killed it. - [Man] You killed about
two or three there. (gentle guitar music) - Dollar and a half
(muffled speech), hang 'em. - Pat, you got two shotgun rounds
and turkey shootin' to go. (people chatter) (gentle guitar music) (gun blasts) - [Man] I think I got
one (muffled speech). - [Man] Okay. - [Man] There's one. (people laugh) - Robert, don't give 'em
another turkey over there. - [Man] Where you live at? - Eminence, Missouri,
hello, sir, how you doing? I'm Danny Staples, your
state representative. - Hello. You're late, I just voted for you. - Well, good. - You on the democrat ticket? - Yes, sir, I am. - I'm a republican, but I voted democrat. - Well, good, I'm glad to hear that. - [Narrator] Although running unopposed, Danny Staples still
greets his constituents on Election Day. - The only way you can
campaign in a county like Shannon County is to greet the people and knock on the doors and this is the way that most the candidates down here work. I like to do it. I think people expect to
see you on Election Day. This is the reason I do it. When you go in there, put that
x for Danny Staples, will ya, right here. - Oh, mercy, that's great, Danny. - If you decide to burn
something up, use these. I even got my picture on there. - Oh, boy. - [Danny] Well, that's me, If I can help you anyway, give me a call. - I know. I know your number. - When I graduated from
high school in 1952, there wasn't anything here to
keep the young people here, so most of my classmates, they migrated into the cities to find employment. Hello, sir, how are you? - Hi. - I'm Danny Staples. This used to be one of my girlfriends, long time ago. - (laughs) Oh, I thought Danny Staples was the cutest little thing
that ever lived (laughs). - [Woman] I'll have him
tell me about it someday. - [Danny] Hello, Sheriff. - [Sheriff] Danny, how are you? - [Danny] Fine, how are you? - [Man] Oh, Danny, oh,
Danny, he don't even know whether he's runnin'
against anybody or not, he still campaigns. - He campaigns 24 days. - As the old boys in Eminence used to say, you gotta keep your name
as common as cokie cola. (everyone laughs) - [Man] Cokie cola. - [Interviewer] What do you
think the big economic changes will be for Shannon County in the future? - I think that'll be,
the lead industry will be one of the biggest
things that could happen to Shannon County in the next few years. I think within three
to five years from now we'll see a lead mine
somewhere in Shannon County, probably in the vicinity of Winona. I didn't get to shake hands when you were in there votin' for me. - Tom Wise. - Good to see you, and? - [Mrs. Wise] Mrs. Wise. - Good to see you. - We're ex-Coloradans,
we came down here about five or six-- - [Mrs. Wise] And Kansas
and Nebraska (laughs). - Well, I tell you
what, we're glad to have people from all over the country here and hope you like our area. - [Interviewer] Do you think
there'll be a great influx of people in the future? - Well, there's gonna
be an influx of people into Shannon County, with or without a lead mine. I think Shannon County is just beginning to start drawing. I think you're gonna see a tremendous increase in population in all rural areas of Missouri within the
next 10 or 15 years. (gentle bluegrass music) - [Narrator] Just as the
teens hang out at Brown's, Danny Staples, Windy Smith
and other village elders, hang out at Bob's Cafe. - I went up there to have
dinner with them one day and they had a 'coon
and a hunk of bear meat and a deer ham laying on some coals and son, it's black as the ground. (men laugh) You need coffee money? - No (muffled speech). - Let's drank some coffee,
then I gotta go look for some hounds. (men murmur) - [Narrator] Today, Paul Faulkenberry, the mayor of Eminence, has the floor. - I can see some problems. I see 'em everyday. First thing we got to do is and we are gonna have to convince and educate our younger people that we can't have the same kind of lines that we had when we were small, because those days are gone. We're living in a different day, things have changed. We're in a tourist town here
whether we like it or not, because we had a million
and a half people already come through this country
this last year, '78, according to National
Park Service figures, a million and a half people, that was just getting started. So, from what I can see, the future is going to be tourism. People are gonna have to
become accustom to it, whether they like it or not, it's here, it's gonna stay, it's not gonna leave. The National Park's gonna be here, it's not gonna leave, so
we're gonna have to learn not to fight this thing. We're gonna have to join the people and see what we can come up with because that is the way it is. There's no other way. (upbeat bluegrass music) - [Narrator] The Branson Strip, a narrow ridge 150 miles
west of Shannon County. For millions of Americans, this is the Ozarks. (upbeat bluegrass music) (audience applauds) (upbeat bluegrass music) (audience applauds) (audience applauds) - Thank you, thank you so very much, ladies and gentlemen. My name's Darrell Plummer and I'd like to welcome you to the Plummer
Family Country Music Show, here on a Tuesday night in
good ole Branson, Missouri. - Hey, don't let all them
fancy duds fool you now, folks, I mean, he's still a hillbilly at heart. Yeah, he dresses up a lot but I bet he's get on the raggediest underwear
in this place tonight. - No! You'd probably know. - Yeah. (cows moo) - Ho, now, ho! Ho! Ho! Ho, now, ho! Ho, ho, ho! (cows moo) Get up there. Yeah, he's not cooked yet. - Yeah, he is. (metal clangs) Oh, boy! (cows moo) (cow grunts) - [Freeman] There we go. - [Man] Just don't get in
my way if he comes loose. (cow moos) - Turn him the other way, bud. (cow moos) (cow moos) Don't you wish you'd had
that done a long time ago? - [Narrator] Charlie Cooper is a newcomer. He sold a valuable Iowa
farm and came to the Ozarks. (birds chirp) His new home, a 5,000 acre ranch, is just outside Shannon County. - We lived up to Northwest Iowa and it just gets colder than the devil in the wintertime and I just started lookin' for something else and we found this area down here and we just fell in love with the area. So we bought a place at Pomona, 210 acres and I give $27,500 for
it, which the local people thought I give a
tremendous price for it but at the same time, had
a cousin at home that bought a new corn combine for more money than I paid for that 210 acres and I got to thinkin' about that
and I thought anytime a person could buy 200
acres for less money than it cost to buy one combine, it had to be a pretty good deal. But I don't think a lot of people here really realized the
potential of this ground. Of course, I realize
it's got some rocks in it and so forth and it's
not flat and all that but I just wake up every
morning excited about things that can be done because I know that even though I'm getting
a lot of production out of this ground and so forth, there's a lot of things we haven't even scratched the surface on. - [Narrator] Charlie Cooper
is at the leading edge of cattle breeding, taking embryos from prime stock, he places them in common
cows for gestation and birth. This way, he increases his yield of quality calves dramatically. This procedure is called
embryo implantation and it's expensive. For each calf born, he must pay $500. There were 13 calves
born out of the implants done this day and he will repeat this procedure as many as six times a year. - Woo! Come on! Come on, suet, suet, suet, suet, woo. (cows moo) Woo! (Freeman murmurs) - [Narrator] What Charlie Cooper is doing requires the sort of
capital that Freeman Hughes could never have raised. (cows moo) - Woo! - [Charlie] I'd like to
place a credit card call, the credit card number is 275279-- I get a lot of friends that come from different parts of the country and they see what we're trying to do here with the land and that and they can see the opportunity just like that. So, I think the people that come from the outside and take a look at this and see the opportunities,
than there the ones that's gonna be putting up the money to bring whatever type of industry here, agriculture or whatever. (birds chirp) (jet hums) - [Narrator] Claude
Treeman is one outsider who saw the opportunities, that's why he brought his factory here. - Charlie Cooper's house is right over the top of this one over there. It's to the east of that lake. You want to swing over and get closed in on that factory? - [Narrator] Treeman hired Rick Moger, a Shannon County boy, to manage it. - One interview and the
first time I met Claude, within 30 minutes he'd hired me. Of course, I haven't
had time to regret it. It was super. - I move pretty fast, probably scare the heck
out of a lot of people. Yeah, go ahead. We're really not moving on
anything that we do in the city. - Two nights ago he called from Denver. It was 1:30 here and he was coming back and he wanted me to make sure the hangar door was up and his rig was out so he wouldn't have to stop
and get out of the jet. - Okay, Dick, we're getting
ready to go into a landing. We don't really have a tower here but we always kid about having to call into the Mountain View
International Airport. (jet hums) And wouldn't this be a James Bond movie? (speaks foreign language) - [Narrator] Claude Treeman's factory is one mile west of the
Shannon County line. It makes coin change mechanisms that are shipped all over the world. (machines whir) - [Interviewer] What made you bring one of your factories down here? - Well, I think that's part of falling in love with the town, just giving them some work. The town needs an infusion
of money and industry and a few other things. - [Interviewer] What does this place have to offer to industry? - Well, I think the biggest
thing it has to offer is a good labor market and a very serene and nice climate, industrial
climate, for working. (machine clangs) - This is one of the particular different varieties of what we make. Here at Mountain View we
do all the metal work, all the plastic will be
done still in St. Louis and Puerto Rico, it's simply a coin acceptor that will accept a
quarter, dime and a nickel, reject a penny, particular
ones would go in a telephone or whatever. (coin clinks) We hope it never fails. When Claude first come to the area, he was, the acceptance
is not what it is today and still today there's
a lot of people acting like they're afraid of Claude. I don't know whether
they're afraid of Claude or what he represents. It's changed a lot now
that they can visually see what he's going to do 'cause so many people in this area said, I'm going to do this or that and that's as far as they got,
just in the talking stages and he's actually, what
he said he's gonna do, he's done that and more. (tractor rumbles) - [Narrator] Claude Treeman
continues to do more. He is already doubling the
size of his facilities here. - With this plant that
we're going to build, we're have electronic development, electronic assembly, electronic repair, electronic design. I suppose when we're through with it, we'll have 150, 200 jobs. - The aspect with humans are everyday, great things about living in the Ozarks, the face to face contact
and knowing people by name rather than by number or
just another employee. This part of the country is what's so great about it. Yet we could have that and have a thriving industry which ships parts to who knows where all over the world and some people think maybe
you can't have this along with the old adage
of just country living, yet I see no reason we can't have it and I think the blend is great. (machines whir) - [Narrator] And that's the big question, can you have it both ways? Can you have factories
in the quiet wilderness, corporate employment and individualism, innovation and tradition, so many new people and
the old sense of solitude? (log thuds) (bird caws) - [Interviewer] You must like it. - Huh? - [Interviewer] I say, you must like it. - Oh, yeah, yeah, I do, because I'm my own boss. If I wanna set down right this minute I ain't hurtin' nobody but myself, see? - You just think you're your own boss. - And if I'm workin' for the other man, you think, there's nothing
because you're hurtin' him. Of course, most usually all of 'em will give you a bite (muffled speech) but workin' out here,
you can work just however you wanna work. (truck hums) - [Narrator] The Rectors
and their view of work may not return again. - 50 years ago, 25 years ago, this area was one of the
poorer parts of an old country and I think that within 15 to 20 years, it's gonna be the richest
part of the state of Missouri, due to the fact that we'll have, maybe we'll have a land mine and maybe we'll have, I know we'll have tourism and I think this area of the state is gonna be full of Cadillac's and I hope I'm fortunate
enough to have one. - We've dreamed about
it for a long time but not until six years ago that we really made any money. Like, say, we'd get a few
bucks now and then but like I said before, we
just always dreamed of it but we couldn't afford it. We couldn't afford to play music because at that time, times were
really rough for us and we'd go out and maybe once or twice a lady would give you something for playing but most of the time it was just, you had to pay to play. Back around Knob Lick, we had an old school there where we had the pie suppers and box suppers and it took gas money to
get there and get back. Most of time you got nothing out of it, you're just happy to go play. We loved to play it so much. - 8:30 showtime. - [Customer] Okay, thank you. - The doors open at 7:30 if you'd like to come early. - Some people complain about the traffic, it takes them 30 minutes to get downtown or something like that
but we never complain. If it wasn't for that traffic, we wouldn't be here. Hey, we're gonna have a
little bluegrass music. This is one of the old time ones, Melody and Larry's gonna
do the pickin' on it, "She'll Be Comin' Around the
Mountain When She Comes". (lively bluegrass music) (audience applauds) (lively bluegrass music) - [Interviewer] Do you know
a lot of people in this area that were wanting to do what you did? - Hundreds.
- Yes. - [Darrell] We sure do. - [Darrell's Wife] Some family
or some group wanted to-- - [Darrell] Some of them
are much better than we are. We know that, that's why we support them. (lively bluegrass music) (audience applauds) ♪ Some bright morning
when this life is over ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ ♪ To a home on God's celestial shore ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ ♪ I'll fly away, oh glory ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ ♪ When I die ♪ ♪ Hallelujah by and by ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ (lively bluegrass music) ♪ Just a few more weary days and then ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ ♪ To a land where joys forever live ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ ♪ Oh, I'll fly away ♪ ♪ Oh, glory ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ ♪ In the morning ♪ ♪ When I die ♪ ♪ Hallelujah by and by ♪ ♪ I'll fly away ♪ - [Preacher] Praise God, praise God. (cows moo) - [Narrator] The ways of the
past cannot remain unchanged. - There was a time, you know, a man come out here and get hold of enough money to buy him a team,
a wagon and a saddle, harness and a breaking
plow and a double shovel and clear him up a little
piece of land and go farming. You don't do that anymore. (cows moo) It takes a hundred to $200,000 of money to start in on the thing now, anything you gonna do to farm. (cows moo) - [Interviewer] What's gonna happen to this land when you're gone? - Well, it'll go to the boy. (cows moo) And when it's gone, it'll go to his boy. - [Interviewer] You hope
they'll keep farming it? - Huh? - [Interviewer] You hope
they'll keep farming it? - I hope they will. I know this one will. (cows moo) - [Interviewer] Can you
make a living off of it? - Well, I did and paid for it. (gentle guitar music) - [Narrator] What price progress, what price the preservation of the past and a price must be paid, if not by us than by our children. (gentle guitar music) - [Interviewer] What do
the young people want? - [Man] I'm not sure
that I can answer that, based on the son, I would say, a home, family, about what
the old people wanted. - [Interviewer] Do they want to stay here? - [Man] Most of the young
people would rather stay here if there was any opportunity,
if there's any employment. The young have read a book, so to speak, and they are trying to find an easier way to make a living than the pioneers did. (gentle guitar music) (fire hisses) (metal clanks) (gentle guitar music) - I don't see nothing
wrong with that, do you? - [Interviewer] Looks great to me. - I ain't pretty or nothing, Gayle. (lively bluegrass music)
