New Resource for Missouri's Civil War History.

JEFFERSON CITY - Secretary of State Matt Blunt announced last week that historians, Civil War buffs, and other interested Missourians now have access to an exciting online database of Missouri’s Civil War history. The Civil War Provost Marshal Index Database is now available online at http://www.sos.state.mo.us.

The Union Army created the position of provost marshal to oversee, among other things: investigating charges or acts of treason and arresting deserters, spies, and persons deemed disloyal. Provost marshals or deputy marshals were assigned to every county or congressional district in the union states. Blunt said the correspondence and legal documents involving Missouri citizens and Provost Marshals in their area would shed new light on Missouri's pivotal role in the Civil War.

"There continues to be enormous interest in the Civil War and the impact it has had on our state and nation," Blunt said. "This online index makes our state's Civil War history both accessible and meaningful to scholars and students. Far from being solely a resource for military research, the provost marshal papers provide information about the role of women during the war, its effect on Missouri's slavery as an institution, and the difficulties experienced by war refugees."

The goal of the database project is to create a definitive finding aid for the Missouri portion of the National Archives' collection of provost marshal records. Historians estimate that over 40,000 documents relating to Missouri exist within the national collection, detailing the experience of war in the trans-Mississippi West. The microfilm collection available at the Missouri State Archives contains thousands of pages that describe how the provost marshal affected the lives of Missouri citizens who came into contact with the Union Army, offering a unique look at a state divided in loyalty and the war society that resulted.

The index database is an ongoing project directed by the Missouri State Archives, a division of the Secretary of State's office. Using the dedication and talent of volunteers and student interns, discrete information, such as name and subject matter, is extracted from a review of thousands of pages of microfilm. This information, entered into a database, provides an online index to a manuscript collection that has been virtually untouched by researchers. The online database index provides a key resource to the further study of a fascinating chapter in Missouri's history.

"I commend the hard work of the volunteers and students who created this database," Blunt said. "It is an extraordinary resource that captures bits of untold history, giving human faces and emotion to a period of extreme turmoil in our state’s history."

NASCAR to the Max

Loose, tight, wedge, castor, camber, aero-push, stagger and countless other words or phrases serve to communicate to the avid fan exactly what is going on with a race car and to confuse the casual or new fan. There are several good reference items for fans of all levels that can help clear up some of the confusion.

www.nascar.com is the official website of NASCAR and is a good site for updates, schedules, driver profiles and official merchandise. The sight is very good but being the official site it lacks information critical of the series. www.thatsracin.com is another site that offers very good information but also is a bit more technical and also offers several editorial observations. For the hardcore fan that wants to know changes in crew members, sponsors, and a bit more "insider" type information, go to www.jayski.com. All are updated a minimum of once daily with several updates a day occurring on race weekends and are good sources of information for fans of all levels.

If printed material is more your style, a very good book is "NASCAR for Dummies" by NASCAR Superstar Mark Martin. Martin should know his material having finished second in the driver’s standings four times during his career. Though the book is written to appeal to the new fan, there is loads of information for fans of all levels including definitions, a run down of a race weekend and how a car is constructed/set up. It also includes driver fan club information, a guide to the tracks, and profiles of many of the drivers.

Several periodicals also provide fans with the information they desire. "Winston Cup Scene" is a weekly newspaper style publication with race updates, insider information and driver and crew profiles. "NASCAR Illustrated" offers similar information but in a monthly, high-gloss magazine format. "National Speed Sport News" is another newspaper style magazine that is published weekly and covers all forms of racing but includes some of the most timely printed information and results.

Whatever your level of interest or involvement, these resources are sure to be of benefit.

I see where the evenin’ paper has selected what it feels are the top ten stories in Carthage last year.

I’m more inclined to think what may have been more important is what didn’t happen last year.

We didn’t see a noticeable reduction in any of the City services. Fire, Police, Street, and Parks Department, McCune Brooks Hospital, and CW&EP continued to provide services that allow the community to function with little disruption. City Personnel goin’ about their day-to-day activities typically not even noticed by most.

But, when ya turn on the water or electricity, go to the swimmin’ pool, see a prowler, smell smoke, break a leg, or twelve inches of snow comes, the big story is the ever’day quality of life of the citizens of Carthage.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom & Ray:

I recently took my 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 conversion van in for an oil change. The shop did a full service check of all my fluids and put a sample of each on a plastic card to compare the colors with those of brand-new fluids. The mechanic said that my differential and power-steering fluids are dirty (dark) and should be changed — for $79.95 each. I thought I read in one of your columns that the differential oil rarely, if ever, needs to be changed. And it seems to me that $79.95 is a lot for these services. I only have 19,000 miles on the van. What do you think? — Scott

TOM: I’m going to guess that he was wearing a top hat, Scott. Because he’s giving you a good old-fashioned song and dance. And an expensive one, at that.

RAY: Of course the fluids are dirty. They’ve been doing their job for 19,000 miles. But that doesn’t mean they need to be replaced.

TOM: In the old days, when cars used to last only 100,000 miles, we would never change the differential fluid. Now that cars are lasting longer and some of them have more complicated differentials (with limited slip, for instance), we wouldn’t argue with changing it at some point. For instance, if your car is still humming along between 60,000 and 90,000 miles, and you plan to keep it forever, I could see changing the differential fluid then.

RAY: Same with the power-steering fluid. Most cars you find in the junkyard have their original power-steering fluid. Usually, a hose will blow long before the fluid ever goes bad. But again, with today’s expensive rack-and-pinion systems, I wouldn’t argue with changing the power-steering fluid somewhere between 60,000 and 90,000 miles.