McCreary County Record
Whitley City —
Though the Dixie Transport Company is gone, the men and women who earned their livelihood there have not forgotten.
This year’s Dixie Transport reunion will be held July 31 beginning at 11 a.m. under the upper shelter at Sandhill Conservation Camp. The annual gathering provides former employees a chance to reminisce and catch up.
Silas Sumner, who worked as a mechanic in the Marshes Siding shop from 1947 to 1956, has been attending the reunion for the last three years.
In 1956 Sumner transferred to the company’s branch in Forest Park, GA, where he could make $1.75 an hour.
“I was making $1.50 here,” Sumner said, “and I had kids in school.”
Though he would leave Dixie Transport altogether in 1957, Sumner stayed in Forest Park but the 87-year-old enjoys coming home to McCreary County.
“It’s like daylight and dark,” Sumner said of the difference between how the community has changed. “I still love it.”
It was at the Marshes Siding shop where Sumner got the idea for the double-deck trailer allowing the trucks to haul seven vehicles instead of four. Now they can hold 10-12.
Sumner recalls making several trips to Covington to hammer out the design to be attached to a 6-cylinder Dodge.
“The bosses trusted me with anything,” Sumner said. “I just got in mind what I could do and built it.”
Dixie Transport Company was incorporated by Ernest A. Bettis and Robert Anderson in the late 1930s to haul automobiles from Detroit to Jacksonville, FL. It closed in the early 60’s.
