Water Valley Joins Blues Trail With Marker Honoring Famous Engineer

Water Valley joined a select number of places that are part of the Mississippi Blues Trail with the unveiling of a Blues Trail marker downtown just north of the Water Valley Casey Jones Railroad Museum. Mayor Larry Hart (left) and Museum Curator Jack Gurner, Sr. revealed the marker honoring the Casey Jones song at 4:45 Friday afternoon. On the right is Alex Thomas, Music Development Program Manager for the Mississippi Blues Commission. – Photo by Jack Gurner

View of the front side of the marker which faces north. The marker will eventually be moved closer to the museum building where both sides can be viewed safely.

Main Street’s Mickey Howley (left) with Casey Jones Railroad Museum Curator Jack Gurner and Mayor Larry Hart (right) with the front side of the marker.

A portion of the crowd estimated at around 150 people listen as local and state officials praise the work done to get Water Valley on the Mississippi Blues Trail. The city joins 142 places in Mississippi and nine located outside the state with Blues Trail Markers.

Local songwriter Ken Hart (center) performed his song, “Ain’t No Trains” accompanied by blues artist Jimbo Mathus (right) and crawdad entrepreneur and bass player Justin Showah during the unveiling ceremony for the Blues Trail Marker Friday afternoon at the Water Valley Casey Jones Railroad Museum.

Attendees sampled crayfish compliments of the Crawdad Hole, Jr.

WATER VALLEY – Two men with deep roots in local railroading unveiled a Blues Trail Marker last Friday afternoon downtown honoring legendary railroad engineer Casey Jones and the song that made him famous.
Mayor Larry Hart and Casey Jones Museum Curator Jack Gurner, Sr. pulled off the black cloth covering at 4:45 p.m. revealing the 151st marker to a crowd of roughly that same number gathered in the parking lot of the museum.
Hart worked for the Illinois Central Railroad, as did his father and his grandfather. So too did Gurner’s father and his brother, Bruce Gurner, who was considered the foremost authority on Casey Jones.
Earlier, as the marker dedication ceremony began, Main Street Director Mickey Howley thanked the mayor and city administration for their support for the project.
Howley then introduced Hart, who welcomed crowd and noted that Water Valley is a railroad town, “even though some 30 years ago we all gathered right here as the last train went south out of Water Valley.”
When Hart asked for those in the crowd with a connection to the railroad to raise their hands, at least half responded. “Look at that,” he said. “Thank goodness for the Illinois Central Railroad.”
Hart pointed to people in the crowd and commented on how the railroad fed and clothed so many families. “So when we come here today to honor Casey, which is appropriate and proper, we certainly want to remember all those railroad folks who have gone before us.”
Gurner spoke next and praised the Lions Club of Water Valley for their efforts to restore the dilapidated depot building beginning in the 1980s. “It was rotting down. They took over, cleaned it up, remodeled it, got it all fixed up and had a new meeting place. Then they gave half of it away so we could create a museum.”
Gurner also praised the work of the Main Street Association. “We didn’t really realize what we had on Main Street until these folks got together and showed us. Things have been looking up ever since.”
He thanked the Mississippi Blues Commis-sion for creating the Blue Trail and giving Water Valley a place on it.
Gurner noted that when the possibility of having the marker was first brought up, he didn’t believe Water Valley would fit into the Blues Trail. “But, they told me Casey Jones made the grade and he created the situation. We appreciate it. He won’t ever know it, but we do.”
Gurner was followed by blues artist Jimbo Mathus, who played one of the many versions of the Casey Jones song.
More early recorded versions were played by Scott Baretta, who does research and writing for the Blues Trail markers and is host for the radio show, Highway 61, on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
Baretta said that he was pleased to have a marker on this stretch of Hwy. 7 as it would draw visitors to Water Valley who are looking for locations on the Blues Trail.
He continued that many of the markers are about railroads and the theme of travel. “A lot of songs often reference the train as the sort of dramatic means of departure.”
There is a marker in Chicago called “Mississippi to Chicago” in the downtown area where passenger would arrive. And, another in Tutwiller at the railroad station where W. C. Handy first heard the blues. Other railroad related markers are located in Leland, Hattiesburg, Rosedale, Clarksdale and Boyle.
Alex Thomas, Music Development Program Manager for the Mississippi Blues Commission, followed Baretta and explained that because of the connections between the railroad and the blues, “it just makes sense for us to add another marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail here in Water Valley.”
He said there are 142 markers in the state and another nine located outside Mississippi including such places as Rockland, Maine, the site of a major blues festival, and at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
The unveiling ceremony then moved to the north end of the parking lot where the marker is temporarily located. Hart and Gurner took their positions on either side and on the count of three by onlookers pulled off the cloth covering the marker.
Thomas said that the marker would be relocated to its permanent position nearer the depot sometime in the future.
As the ceremony concluded, local musician and songwriter Ken Hart sang “Ain’t No Trains,” his song about the loss of the railroad. He was accompanied by Jimbo Mathus and another local musician, Justin Showah.