Random Mysteries of The Deep South

Clarence Cannon...

(This dude)

Driving through Missouri there seemed to be a rash of things named for Clarence Cannon. Clarence Cannon Dam, Clarence Cannon State Park, Clarence Cannon this- there was enough stuff out there with his name on it that I thought it was worth checking out and lo and behold he was a pugnacious, boisterous Congressman from Missouri from 1922 to his death in 1964. His money 'graph (courtesy of Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge):

Always outspoken, sometimes irascible, Cannon earned a reputation for pugnacity. He once lampooned a fellow House member, "Of all the 'piddlin' politicians that ever piddled 'piddlin' politics on this floor, my esteemed friend, the gentleman from Wisconsin, is the greatest piddler that ever piddled." During an argument in 1945 Cannon punched in the face Representative John Taber of New York, the ranking Republican member of the House AppropriationsCommittee. Cannon noted gleefully that Taber ran out of the room with a bleeding lip. In 1962 Cannon engaged in an unseemly and well-publicized dispute with Senator Carl Hayden of Arizona, another octogenarian Democrat, over obscure matters of parliamentary precedent.

Sounds like a cranky old dude worth of naming a dam after... or it could be that he was just a cranky old parliamentarian that was good at bringing home the Congressional Bacon.

2nd Mystery: Daniel Boone...

(Y'all know this dude.)

That was another thing that I was curious about- there was a lot of Daniel Boone references around good old Missouri. Turns out in 1799 he moved there (it was still Spanish) and eventually died there. So he spent a good chunk of time there. Easy explanation.

3rd Mystery: Just what exactly is going on here...

This was also somewhat intriguing... a little bit of checking around revealed that both the Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis play basketball at the FedEx Forum now, so what exactly is the Pyramid Arena being used for?

Well, right now, not much of anything at all... Bass Pro Shops of all people are going to take it over and convert it to a superstore of some kind. But people out there are concerned about the stability of the area- I guess the land up there might be suspect to liquefaction in event of an Earthquake.

So there we are... mysteries solved.