The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 162 - America's Greatest Sack of Flour

Episode Date: March 24, 2016

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Reuel Colt Gridley and his heroic sack of flour.SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

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ran by, darting by, like it's something was chasing it but there was nothing chasing it. Not just any cap. Jose. This is a dollop, a bi-weekly American history podcast each week. Every story to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Kaboom cat! Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Dave okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to become the tickly podcast. Okay. You are Queen Fakie of made-up town. All hail Queen Shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do what? Fray. Hi, Cathy. No. Is he done, my friend?

No. January 23rd, 1829. Okay. Ruel Colt Gridley was born in Hannibal, Missouri. Okay. He was the second child, an only boy of four children. His parents were from old school New England stock that arrived here in 1630 and he was the grandson of the fire-making Colt family. The fire-making fire arm-making. Oh, Colt. Okay. Colt guns. Colt weapons. Yep. Shoot, shoot, shoot. Sure. Well. Ping-pings. Ping-pings? Yeah. That's a technical term. Ping-pings. Okay. Blammers. Blammers? Yep. These are all real terms for guns. Wow. Gridley grew up

on the Mississippi River in the small town of Hannibal. He was, at one time in the town, he was the student of Samuel Clemens, who later wrote another name, Mark Twain. I know him better as Samuel Clemens, though. Yeah, me too. Yeah. So far, it's going great. Yeah. When he was a teenager, Gridley decided to head into the vast open territories of the West and he headed off from Missouri. When the Mexican War broke out. Just for shits and gigs. He was just like, I'm going to go check out the West. I'm going to go walk around. That's what people did back then. I can't imagine. I don't like to go into the forest off the path. No. So I can't imagine. Just going. Yeah. Like, I'm going out there. And by the way, you know, you don't really know where

people aren't giving you a heads up on what all the land is like. You're just kind of wandering. No, you have no idea. And then you would only have to say one word for me not to do that. Which is? Bugs. Oh, yeah. That's it. You would just say bugs. Oh, so many ticks. Yeah, just. So much I undiagnosed Lyme disease back then. They were just like, Mark's gone mad. Everywhere. They were like, no, he's got ticks in him. He's got ticks in him. People probably just sit down for dinner, pick up their ticks and then start eating. Yeah. Tick chili. When the next. When the Mexican War broke out, gridly volunteered to serve in the army during the two year war

from 1846 to 1848. Then after the war, he kept traveling and met Susan Snyder, the two-found love. And at 21 years old, they got married on September 19th, 1850 in Louisiana. Okay. So he's a fucking traveling machine, traveling machine, middle lady, settling down lover. Feels like this is going to be short. But he was the kind of guy who liked to keep moving. And when word of gold being found in California came, he took his family and off again, they went this time to fight his fortune in the foothills. Sure. It's going to go good. Is that really a fucking gardener? Yeah. Should we close the window? Windows closed. Okay, that's weird. Is it going to be too loud? Really? Jesus Christ. No, I guess we'll just do it. We don't have time for this. We ain't got time to bleed.

So he heads off to California, gridly sailed across the Gulf of Mexico to the east side of the Isthmus of Panama. From there, he walked to the west coast of the Isthmus and boarded a ship and sailed to California. I guess that's what you did then. You just took a ship down and you walked across and you probably could have taken a carriage. Well, maybe they didn't have carriages. Well, they might not have like an established road. It was a good condition. It's probably cheaper. A carriage? No. Walking. Walking, for sure. Once he arrived in California, gridly started mining, but he was a little late. The gold rush had started in 1949. 1849, sorry. And California was pretty well picked over. So he started looking for other ways to make a living. First to try to

get a newspaper going. Sorry. So he just straight up showed up at the end of the gold. He missed the gold. He showed up at the party at like 1245 and he's like, what do you mean? What are we doing? The kegs tapped. What's the keg tapped? That's exactly who he is. The gold was tapped. Yeah, it was over. Well, that's cool. So he arrives there, he gets a newspaper going, right, that doesn't work. Then he tries to get into banking and then that doesn't work. And then in 1859, he started an express mail business delivering packages and letters. And that didn't work. Because that, I mean, there was someone already had the market on that at that point, you think, right? Yeah. Then word of gold and silver strikes in Nevada came in the early 1860s. So in 1875, he hit it up.

Many of the men who had not struck it rich poured into the state to tear up the ground and find precious metals. Can you imagine going to Nevada looking for a get rich quick scheme? Jesus Christ. In 1862, Silver was discovered in the Reese River Valley in Central Nevada. And that's where Gridley moved. He had a store built in Austin and he became a merchant. Gridley was now in his early 30s. Everyone liked him and he did well. Quote, his manners were easy, his ways attractive. He attached men strongly to him and made friends wherever he went. So that's a quote. Yeah. Okay. For a second, I thought that was like in the paper or something. Well, oh, no, it's from a bio. A bio. But he attached men strongly to him. Yeah. He attached men strongly to him. That's

important. That's what a lot of guys do. I would say that you attach men strongly to you. You always have. Many as I can. Yeah. So on a weekend, many men 14 or 16. Yeah. Just linking arms. It's kind of a conga line. Yeah. Like, yeah. For those on the other side of the country, the Civil War had been going on for three years when the city of Austin held its election for mayor. Gridley, who was a Democrat, proposed a friendly rite wager with the Republican candidate, Dr. H.S. Herrick. Okay. He's not running. He's just got a wager with the guys running for the Republican. He always runs running as the Democratic ticket. There's a pretty normal bet. If Gridley won, Herrick would carry a sack of flour and march to the tune of Dixie from Clinton to Austin.

More walking. When he got to Austin, he would present the sack of flour to Gridley. If Gridley lost, then he would carry the sack of flour from Austin to Clinton and march to the tune of John Brown's body. Oh, no. Oh, humiliating. Both are humiliating. But to John Brown's body, imagine. I can only assume that's an awesome tune about John Brown's death. It must have been great. I've got an interesting wager for you. So, Gridley did not win the mayoral race. Okay. And therefore, he did not win the bet. And being a man of his word, he wouldn't. He decided to go big. He decorated the 50 pound sack of flour with red, white and blue ribbons and flags. And then he got ready to march. People were thrilled

and packed the march path the full mile and a quarter quote from the peninsula court courier. A grand procession was formed in the following order. 36 men on horseback, headed by the city officials elect, then an excellent band of music. And then the doctor carrying Mr. Gridley's hat. And then Gridley with the sack of flour accompanied by his son Amos, a lad of 13, who was also carrying a flag. And then the Democratic Central Committee, two of them with flags, one of them carrying a huge sponge aloft upon a pole and another a new broom. Then citizens followed by boys as the, what the fuck is happening? As the procession passed along, the spectators cheered, the mill whistles screeched, the band

played and the hills echoed back the music of John Brown's march. Never before had there been such a lively crowd in Austin. Never before. I can tell you what's happening. A man lost a bet and has to carry some flour. Yeah, but he has gone too big. He's decorated the flour, he's got a procession. Well, clearly everyone's into this idea. This is a fucking thing. It's very hard to relate to these times when this was the greatest thing ever seen. I feel like there was a lack of entertainment. So if anything, a vacuum, if anything happened, look, a rabbit. Yeah. And then they're like, let's do it. Oh my God, a parade. Like a guy was like, I'm going to carry a sack of flour for a mile. Let's do this. This is the greatest thing ever.

We'll sell advertising. When he arrived in Austin with his giant sack of flour, he presented the flag to Eric and the flower. And then everyone went to the local saloon for drinks. Now to celebrate. Yeah, an amazing job. Now, one problem was that Mayor Herrick didn't want the flour. Someone suggested they use the flour to bake cakes for everyone in town. But Gridley said, quote, no, the massive people have had their fun at my expense. Now I propose that we put the sack of flour up for auction and sell it with the understanding whoever the purchaser may be must pay the money bid and then give the sack of flour to be sold again for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission Fund. Sorry. So have an auction to sell a bag of flour to someone

that will then be resold. Then yeah, then you give it back and it gets sold again. So you pay money for nothing. Yeah. You rent the flour. You will if even that. You just pay the money. Fake paying for flour. So at this point, are people like, think this cake guy was actually on to something pretty good? If actually, David, you had some good stuff about cake. Yeah, seems good right now. I miss the cake talk. The Sanitary Commission had been formed in 1861 by a New York clergyman and was backed by U.S. General General U.S. Grant. It provided aid to wounded Union soldiers and protected the bodies of war dead on the field. This organization would later become part of the International

Red Cross. So that's what he's giving the money to. Which is nice, but I don't understand why the middle person has to buy the flour and then not get the flour only to then sell it. You can't sell something twice. Oh, get ready. The Sanitary Commission was so much money in the town from Silver Strikes. The auction went very well. Gridley and others bid to raise money for the good cause. Gridley ended up buying his own sack of flour for $300. What? Since he already owned it, he brought it back and auctioned the bag of flour off again. What do you mean? So he bought his own sack of flour. So he got an auction together. Yeah. Then he was like, oh, look at this bag. And then he bought it. He bought it. And now he wants to auction it again. Yeah, now he's auctioning it again.

Okay. And on and on it went. What do you mean on and on it went? He kept auctioning it? He auctioned it off. And then he kept buying it? No, someone else bought it. And then that person brought it back. And then it went on and on minor after minor. Are they just tipping a bag of flour? Bidding bigger and going with more outrageous amounts to show their support for the union cause. But each time it was one. Why can't they just donate? Each time it was one. It'll be returned and the process will start over again. At the end of the day, $5,000 have been collected. The Dave the day ended with everyone serenading gridly as the hero of Upper Austin.

How what the is everything backwards? Look, it doesn't make a lot of sense. You could just donate the money or you could do fake auctions for a flower for a sack of flour. I don't. Okay. I don't. Okay. Now everyone thought this was a tremendous achievement. I just. It's very hard to relate to. In Austin, they thought it would be a great idea for gridly to carry the sack of flour over to the large silver mining region in Washoe County, Nevada, gridly agreed. And this new campaign was called the army of the Lord. I'm going to need that one more time. So they were like, man, this went so well here that you should carry the sack of flour over to Washoe County and do the same thing there.

And they called it the army of the Lord. Dave, what? I mean, what? Why? Yeah. What is happening? Why? Why? It's the army of the Lord. So now the flower is just going to go raise more. Like, this is the Mike the chicken of cooking ingredients. The Mike the chicken of flour. So it. Okay. So now the flower is going to go. You're having a hard time with this. So now the flower is going to go raise money for the church. Well, no, not the church is still raising money for the Sanitary Commission. Okay. But now it's just called the army of the Lord. The army of the Lord. Okay. Get on board. Yep. I'm ready. He carried a sack of flour over to Washoe County and auctioned it off over and over again. The same process with the same result, gobs of money were

raised. It became known as the Austin Sanitary sack of flour. And he took the Austin Sanitary sack of flour over the Sierra Nevada mountains to Sacramento Stockton in San Francisco. Everywhere he went, he was met with massive crowds. He auctioned. Are y'all ready to meet the flower? I said, are y'all ready to meet the burger flower? All right. You've seen him in Austin. You've seen him all over. Give it up for the best burger flower ever said, burger flower. I'd like to say that's an exaggeration, but I don't think it is not far. Everywhere he went, he was met with massive. All right, I'm going to bring up your bag of flour in just one second. But before I do,

I remember when he was met with massive crowds, he auctioned the sack of flour. It was sold in San Francisco for $10,000 or sorry in Sacramento for $10,000 in San Francisco for almost $25,000, but no one took it. They just kept returning it and starting the auction again. Is this about when charity started? This is a Dr. Bellows wrote to Gridley quote the history of your sack of flowers undoubtedly more interesting and peculiar than that of any other sack recorded. Every other sack of flower pales in comparison to this sack of flour. Then Gridley went east. Oh, you got to spread the wealth to auction that sack of flour, but he hit some resistance out east. He just doesn't know what auction means.

He hit some resistance out east mostly because people didn't understand what the fuck was happening. That's good to hear. That is very good to hear. Apparently this way of auctioning for charity was a bit more common in the west. In the end, Gridley made it auction to the Sanitary Commission Fair in St. Louis. There the flower was used to bake small cakes and each cake was sold for a dollar. And he knew about it or did he just go out for like a smoke and then he came back and he was like, no, I think he got there and everyone's like, I don't understand. And so he was like, all right, we'll just make cakes, make cakes with it. But Gridley's and then when you make

the cakes, turn it back into flour. Gridley's 1864 sack of flower march with his endless auctionable sack of flour had spent 15,000 miles and he had raised more than $275,000 for the Sanitary Commission. Do you know how much money that is in today's money? Shit fucking insane. Millions. Yeah. Millions of dollars off of a bag of flour that initially started that he was just going to march because he couldn't win the mayor's ship. Gridley on his own was credited with keeping the Sanitary Commission financially afloat. He was called one of the greatest unarmed heroes of the war.

He was armed. He was armed. He had a bag of flour. His sack of flour was now cakes. And people in the East not really getting the whole buy this same thing over and over again. Well, when you put it like that, it seems like they have a point. And it ended the auction flower movement. He decided to visit his grandfather's side of the family, the Colts. He found them in Connecticut and they were thrilled to see the son of their sister whom they had never met. There was great rejoicing among his aunts to see the only son of their only brother long since deceased. And when they also learned that he was the hero of the celebrated sack of flour, they rejoiced with great joy.

They had no idea about his. They had heard about the sack of flour guy. But they just didn't know the man behind the flower. Who was the Wizard of Oz? And then it turns out they're related to him. No, it's you. How would you feel? Oh, Gridley. Oh, Gridley. How would you feel if you, you know, were living somewhere and you heard about this great hero, this great sack of flour hero, and then it turned out to be turned out to be related to you? No, it's just like Batman walked in and he was like, I'm your dad. It's exactly right. Yeah. Gridley then went and visited different cities on the East Coast where

he was celebrated and finally returned to his family in Austin, Nevada, which he did in 1865 as a hero. So it kind of feels like 50 percent of heroes back then just did something ridiculous and somehow idiots latched onto it. And that's how you became a hero. Well, the hero threshold is really low. I mean, I guess or is he does his mind work like he knows what is heroic back then. And so he's able to. But then the people on the East Coast are like, this guy's a fucking idiot. Well, they didn't think it was an idiot, but they also didn't know partake in the flower thing, but they also treated him like a hero for raising all the money. But at the same time, they're like, I don't get it. Yeah, way to go,

but we're not going to buy you a bag of fucking flower dickhead. Get the fuck out of it. Get the fuck out of here. I bet I buy the flower. I keep the flower. Okay. It's fucking New York. That's not how this works. You give me money for the flower. Shut up. I bought the fucking flower. Make some cakes. I would really rather if maybe I could just have my bag back. I will refund your money. I don't think you know what you're toying with. This isn't a regular bag of flower. This is a very patriotic bag of flower. This bag of flower has saved the why are you looking at me? I'll see myself up. Yeah, you sure will. Alrighty. I went bad. It's got that flower, guys. I'm still here so I can hear you. I haven't fucking flower guys. I'll just open the door. All right. Well,

I'd rather if you didn't disparage me. Farewell. He returned to Austin, Nevada in 1865 as a hero, but unfortunately, Gridley was ruined. The silver boom was over and his business was going down the toilet along with it. He had spent his entire fortune on his crazy charity march across the country and worst of all, Gridley's health was now suffering during his journey. It's all coming together for old Gridley. He had contracted a type of rheumatic condition. In 1866, Gridley left what was left of his business and moved to Stockton without a dollar to his name. He was in terrible health. He had ridden across the Sierra in a bed placed in the back of a horse-drawn wagon. That doesn't sound too comfortable. He should have done it for charity. Yeah.

Gridley decided to go to Stockton because his sister lived there. He stayed with his sister for two years until 1868 when he moved to Paradise City in Stanislaus County, where he opened another store and lived there until his death at the age of 41 on November 24th, 1870. He left behind his wife and four children. The great war hero. The great war. He had a bag of flour. The great war hero who had a bag of flour. The great war hero just had a simple board that marked his grave. In August, 1882, 12 years after his death, the local Civil War veterans of the Union Army and Stockton citizens started fundraising in order to erect a more dignified monument to the war hero Gridley. They raised money by publishing a small booklet about his life for 25 cents

called A Tribute to the Memory of a Rule Cold Gridley. But every time you got the booklet, you had to give it back. On September 9th, 1887, a tall monument with a statue of Gridley and his sack of flour. I'm real. I mean, if you're the artist, sorry. I mean, one more time, walk me through what this is again. I just want to make sure you guys, you want, you want a bag of flour, right? That's what you guys said. Yeah, big bag. So him and then the big bag of carrying a bag of flour is a war hero. All right, cool. I just wanted to, I saw that and I was like, kind of like, what the fuck is this? You know, but I get, have you been to war? Okay, so you don't know what you're talking about. Right. No, but I made cakes. So I feel like I've, that's not the same thing.

I'm going to get the fucking chiseled. Let's get out of here. You can see it at the, it still exists. You can still see it at the Veterans Area, the Stockton Rule Cemetery. The words cut into marble. I've always thought Julian Child was the hero of Vietnam. The words cut into marble called Gridley the soldier's friend. The empty sack of flour was saved or he either brought it back with him or they saved it in St. Louis. I started to think he was banging this flower. I couldn't find that out. But today, you can see the sack, the empty flour sack at the Nevada Historical Society, if that is something you wish to do. Or you could go to Denny's. Both are as exciting. Look at that bag. Imagine. You know what, your, your lack of support for veterans is noted. Whoa.

Whoa, bro. Not even. It's no, I support veterans. I just don't support flour. Okay. Well, maybe they're the same thing. Is your thing a heroic flower? The flowers should have run for fucking mayor. Probably would have won. You're a monster. I'm not a monster. I'm a man, baby. You can find us on Twitter at the dollop. We're on Facebook with dollop also there. And we have an Instagram where we put a picture of Jose. Yep. There's a good boy. Podcasting. That's dollop podcast, right? Dollop podcast. Podcasting. That's probably all you need to know. There's also a reddit,

subreddit for the dollop if you want to get in there and talk to people about stuff. Yeah. And we're also auctioning flour. And we sign cars. That's everything we do.