The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 49: Dream Job

Episode Date: April 4, 2017

The greatest World's Fair on the planet - and it all started with shoveling horse poo.

This is the way I heard it. The frigid wind tore across the icy surface of Lake Michigan and ripped through the construction site, transforming the grimace on Eli's face into a frozen rictus and creating yet one more job for the man who was already doing everything. Chicago couldn't endure another great fire. So, Eli was now making sure that hundreds of newly installed fire hydrants in Jackson Park didn't freeze, a task he accomplished by in Kee.

casing each one in a steaming pile of horse crap. It was not the job he had signed on for, but Eli didn't mind. He just hoped his contribution to building the Chicago World's Fair would get him one step closer to his dream job, that of a contractor with his own shingle on Main Street, USA. For as long as he could recall, Eli had imagined his name on a modest shop in the heart of a small town, where a hardworking immigrant could claim a small piece of the American dream. So, Eli focused on that dream and ignored the mind-numbing cold and the stomach-churning smell of the task at hand,

just as he ignored the exhaustion that followed every ten-hour shift and the long walk back to the tumble-down shack where he tried to sleep off the cold. It was the winter of 1893, and America was in the grip of her first first. Great Depression. So Eli was happy to cover fire hydrants and horse crap. He was also thrilled to dig trenches, pour concrete, and tend to the raging coal fires that belched thick smoke into the icy air. In between doing whatever needed doing, Eli apprenticed with tinners, bending metal planks for hours on end. He assisted the electricians, who taught him how to fuse the long black wires that would carry something they called

alternating current to thousands and thousands of light bulbs. Eli learned carpentry, erecting giant frames that dotted the landscape. He went underground with the plumbers, steam fitting and pipe fitting and helping build the subterranean infrastructure of a destination that would attract visitors the world over. He learned to weld, also had a plaster. He worked with the painters and then helped whitewash every edifice until the whole of Jackson Park

was transformed into a gleaming white city on the lake. In short, Eli worked like a dog building the Chicago World's Fair. He did every dirty job there was and along the way he mastered more than a few useful trades and provided for his wife and five children quite nicely.

But he never did get his dream job. He never hung that shingle over a modest shop on Mainstream. and that's not to say his dream didn't come true. You see, Eli possessed another skill, one that turned out to be every bit as valuable as those he perfected at his day job. Let's call it an active imagination.

Every night, usually after dinner, Eli regaled his five children with tales of the Chicago World's Fair. He talked about the grandeur of Mr. Ferris's giant wheel. The marvels of modern technology, the wonder on the faces of thousands of tourists who raved with excitement in a dozen different languages as they explored every nook and cranny of this magical kingdom. Eli spoke reverently about the gleaming pavilions bursting with exotic exhibits and described in mouth-watering detail the veritable smorgasbord of French crapes, German sausages, and a delightful new treat called Crackerjack. His kids ate it up, but it was Eli's youngest son who begged for more. The lad was positively insatiable. He yearned to witness the technological wonders for himself, to taste the flavors of the world firsthand, to actually see and hear the booming fireworks displays that he could now only imagine. Eli ruffled the boy's close-cropped hair. Ah, you would have loved it, son, he said. That fair, it was a happy happy. place on earth. If the father didn't tell the son the whole story, perhaps we can forgive him. It's unlikely that people today would stand in line for a chance to smother a fire hydrant and

horse crap, but make no mistake, a hundred years later, people are standing in line every day to enjoy the fruits of Eli's labor, a slightly newer version of the Chicago World's Fair, where visitors from all over the world wait for hours. to experience the legendary rides and countless attractions. But to get there, they must first stroll down Main Street, USA. It's a nostalgic stroll that reminds every visitor of what can be accomplished with a little imagination and a lot of hard work. The storefronts are impossible to miss.

You'll see a dentist and a haberdasher, a lawyer, and a barber. And there, just above the jewelry shop, you'll see a sign that's impossible to miss, a sign that reads Elias Disney, contractor. It's right there, right in the middle of Main Street, USA, right where he always dreamed it would be. A simple tribute to a hardworking dad named Eli from a hardworking son named Walt. Anyway, that's the way I heard it. The ocean delights us. Some marvel at the colorful world below the surface.

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