Storyteller brings romance of rails alive
Even in an age of jet and space travel, railroads still have a special fascination for storyteller Dan LeMonnier.
“The railroads were the first thing that made cross country travel possible for the average person,” LeMonnier said. “And since it was the first, it will always have a romance to it.”
LeMonnier appeared at the Pekin Public Library and several area schools last week as part of the Rock Island Trail Storytelling Project.
The project, in its eighth year, was sponsored by public libraries in Toulon, Princeville, Peoria, Peoria Heights, Bartonville and Pekin.
LeMonnier’s “Tales of the Rails” presentation included various legends and ghost stories about railroads, including the famous ballad of “steel-driving man” John Henry and a tale of a ghostly railroad built by Chinese immigrant workers who died working to build rail lines across the Rocky Mountains.
A resident of Munster, Ind., LeMonnier was a professional actor in Chicago theater before turning to full-time storytelling in the early 1980s.
His motto is “Our stories tell us who we are,” and he says rail lore is no exception.
For example, the story of John Henry reminds people today that “trains didn’t just pop up – tracks had to be laid,” he said. “It is a story of all the back-breaking work that went into building the railroads” with pickaxes, shovels, hammers and dangerous explosive devices, he added.
The ghost story, titled “The Iron Moon Hunter,” is not only a tale of the supernatural but a story of the hardships and prejudice endured by immigrants from China and other countries who came to America and worked on the railroads, he said.
More: pekintimes.com