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When we think of the olden days and
men going out to shoot a turkey for Thanksgiving Day, we envision them heading
off into the woods, rifles in tow, tracking the whereabouts of Mr. Tom and
carefully taking aim.
You’d think that could have happened
at Fayette during the company town era from 1867-1891, and indeed turkeys were
shot there, but it’s not what you expect.
At Fayette, they had a rifle club and
a range and some live turkeys. They fastened the birds, one at a time, to a
target, and then someone took aim and killed the bird. Not exactly sporting.
In 1879, evidently the weather did
not cooperate for the annual Thanksgiving Day turkey shoot. The newspaper
reported that due to an all-day rain, half the turkeys provided for the shoot
were left at the end of the day and were to be auctioned off on Saturday night.
In addition, a “close call” was
reported as follows in the Escanaba Iron Port issued on November 29, 1879.
“One of the men attending target on
Thursday [Thanksgiving Day] had a very close call. He was kneeling at the target fastening a
turkey, when a shootist let drive and killed the bird in his hands. He didn’t tend target any more, fancying the
occupation unhealthy.”
So there you go. That’s how it was done at Fayette.
