During the first week of October 1906, Paducahans saw something they probably hadn’t seen before. Pumpkins, scores of them, floating down the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers! The Paducah Evening Sun described the pumpkins as being “thick as peas” and suggested residents go down to the foot of the river, hire a skiff and go “pumpkin fishing.”
Due to unusually torrential flooding on the Duck River, pumpkin farmers in Tennessee found a lot of their crops suddenly gone: ripped from the vines, washed away by the waters, and carried downstream by the tons. Pumpkins do float, so wanderlusting gourds followed the current of the Duck River, which connects to the Tennessee River, and ultimately made their way past Paducah. The “Sun” stated that the flotilla of pumpkins “won’t stop until they run against the revolution in Cuba.”
John Rogers, a night guard on the steamer Dick Fowler, managed to gather up an entire wagonload of pumpkins himself and estimated that over a dozen more wagonloads were caught in the debris alongside the steamer alone. According to the report, this was merely a small fraction of the pumpkins that coursed along the current toward the south pole.
Wharf boat officers reportedly considered starting a couple new organizations entitled, “The International Pumpkin Association or “How to Reap Without Sowing.”
Many of the intercepted pumpkins were used as animal feed for the winter.
For more about buoyant gourds, feel free to visit us in the Local and Family History Department at the McCracken County Public Library. And if you like this article, please also “like” our Facebook page.
–Matt Jaeger