Diane Larson Sjol’s memories of the garbage burn barrels brings to
mind the rest of the story. Johnnie Myer was the dray man for the city
and with this came a rather unpleasant side job—hauling the trash to
the dump ground. I still remember Carmen Myer and Jay Vanorny loading
the barrels, and sometimes the contents with a scoop shovel, of the
barrels that were too burned out– and then hauling the mess to the dump
on the back of an old red Dodge truck. This was usually a Saturday job
for them, as I recall. There were burn barrels behind nearly every house
and business in town. I particularly remember the barrel behind Marie’s
Beauty Shop. She used to use lots of hair spray! I walked or rode my
bike past the barrel every day on my way uptown. As kids, we were always
checking everything out and Marie’s barrel was no exception. We would
stop and spray the last of the hairspray out of the cans—I became
quite a judge of which hairspray was the best smelling. My favorite was
Helene Curtis, it had a sweet smell and little after taste. I guess
nowadays they call it huffing, but I never got a buzz—and only minor
brain damage, I think.