Traverse City Adventure: America’s business is business - Still thinking insurance
DAY 10 • MONDAY 21 AUGUST • TRAVERSE CITY ADVENTURE
WEST NEWTON - We rode 44 miles today on the Great Allegheny Passage and stopped here at the Youghiogheny Canoe Outfitters to camp for the night. The river is close by. The railroad tracks parallel the river. With evening settling, I can hear the cackling of kingfishers by the water when train whistles aren’t blowing.
On the way here I passed a marker for the Darr Mining Disaster. Great loss of life in the early 1900s. Over 200 lives lost. A photo here of a monument stone explains the details.
It put me in mind once more of the Rockwood Casualty Insurance Company building that grabbed my attention a couple of days back in Rockwood.
What’s in a name?
Rockwood - the town where the enterprise began.
Casualty - Dealing with injury or death.
Insurance - A way of stockpiling money to compensate for losses in the event of accidents or other unforeseen circumstances.
Company - A private enterprise formed to sell a product or service - in this case insurance - to generate revenues and make a profit.
So that’s what America is all about - private enterprise and businesses which can create jobs and wealth to help people make livings and - if those enterprises so choose - contribute to the strengthening and enhancement of communities and society in general. Contributing to stronger communities and societies provides a stable economic foundation on which businesses can build and, hopefully, make the world a better place by cultivating this amazing earthly garden.
But business means busyness at its core and people are designed - hands and senses and ability to communicate - to be busy and active.
Jobs are critical for people to use their basic design and have a sense of purpose.
But enough of that. I’m going to research Rockwood and Darr some more and see where it takes me.
Meanwhile, Rob tells me that Youghiogheny is an Algonquin word meaning “a stream flowing in a contrary direction.” The Yough is one of the few rivers in the east that flows from south to north. I asked him how the Algonquins knew that. He said GPS.
Smart boy.
Into Pittsburgh tomorrow. Our mile total is up to 361.5 now. Traverse City still 600 miles away.
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Dennis Forney has been a journalist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972 and has been writing his Barefootin’ column for The Whale and then the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years. Like his Barefootin' Facebook page to get notified of blog updates.
