Re: Eureka & Palisade #4 "Eureka"

Thanks Herb.

There were a couple things going in my favor with Eureka which really helped get her going again. One is that my family let me devote myself to it. My late father Mike Markoff was instrumental in helping acquire Eureka and backed me financially in the endeavor. Without him, nothing would have ever happened. Over the years people have thought I did the project on my own. But, that is not true. Without my father being behind me 100% Eureka would still be a pile of scrap. He never got the credit he deserved because he was always in the background. Likewise, my wife Ditty allowed me to put Eureka in our back year when it was a complete pile of junk. Now, how many wives out there would allow their husband to do that? That made the project so much easier to work on. Another is that I had a couple people like Chris DeWitt (NSRM CC head of restoration) and Bob Craddock help me in those areas where I was not proficient. On top of that, there were no committee meetings, boards to report to, grants to write, or governmental bodies to explain what I was doing.

If Eureka has been an inspiration to anyone, I am very pleased by that. But if so, I hope they also picked up a hint or two from my experience: Keep the project focused on one thing; have a couple extremely dedicated and talented people who know their stuff help out;learn to scrounge for parts, materials and supplies and make what you can't find; and try to have a few bucks available every so often. Money is by no means the thing that completes a project, but it sure does help it move along! Consider it a financial lubricant.

Dan