Jake’s Bargain Shed

 

 Jake’s Bargain Shed was started back in the days of the old medicine shows and panhandlers. Old Jake built a shed on top of a large wagon bed, which also had a small stage. He sold pots, pans, tin ware and trinkets, also the miracle cure-all medicine that most people say today is called Dr. Pepper. He called it Jake’s Bargain Shed and Medicine Show.

Old Jake was well known also as a storyteller. He put on quite a show telling stories, sort of an earlier Red Skelton. He would wear costumes for every character that he portrayed. He even made all the costumes that he wore. He was well known throughout the Old West for his story telling. It’s too bad he did not write those stories down because as I have been told that today if they were put into a book it would have been a best seller.

Times were tough back then in that kind of business. Old Jake was hustled and ambushed a few times so he tried to settle in at night in a town or at a settlement. It was safer that way. He was very handy with a gun. He could strike a match with one shot when he did his character; ROOT’N TOOT’N SHOOT’N QUICK DRAW.

He made a good live’n from the Jake’s Bargain Shed on wheels until he settled down in Deadwood, Kansas. It was here he got married and built a building just like the Jake’s Bargain Shed he had pulled around for years on that wagon only somewhat bigger. At that time it became a general store with the same name only without the Medicine Show. Right in the middle of the store was an old potbelly stove with chairs in a row where town folk could come together and swap stories with Old Jake. Every Friday a crowd would gather to tell stories until the last story was told.

Old Jake had 2 sons and one of them took over the business when he died at the old age of 65. They engraved on his tombstone "Greatest story ever told."

Jake’s Bargain Shed was passed down from generation to generation until the depression came in the 1930’s. That’s when the Shed closed its doors. No more bargain sales or story tell’n. It stood still and quiet. Some say when you walked past the building you could hear voices and laughter inside and that the stories still go on.

It was later that new road construction began in that area and the town of Deadwood was wiped off the map along with Jake’s Bargain Shed never again to be seen.

A few years later "Jake’s Bargain Shed" was back in business. Jake’s great, great, great, great grandson Little Jake (they called him) wanted the tradition to go on since he was named after his heroic great, great, great, great grandpa. He built a store by getting information from all his older relatives on how the old Jake’s Bargain Shed was. Bargain merchandise and story tell’n again was reborn. Little Jake ran the business up until a few years ago when he also passed on and there was no one to take over the business. Again the story tell’n was over. On Little Jake’s tombstone was inscribed "The story is over".

I stumbled upon this story and found out I was a far distant relative so, I, too, wanted to carry on after Little Jake and keep the tradition going. I felt that the best way was a web site and that is why "Jake’s Bargain Shed" web site has been created so we can bring back the bargain savings and story tell'n through the web. We can reach more people than Old Jake could ever believe; shopping, sharing, and tell’n their stories. So stroll through our bargain catalogue and find yourself a bargain.

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If you have an old time story that you would like to share with others email it to us and we will put it on the web site.

All stories must be family oriented and fit for the general public. We have the right to critique every story to make sure it is suitable for the viewers of this web site. Old Jake is smiling down on us. So shop on and write on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If you would like to see a replica of one of the Old Tyme Rope Candle Lanterns that Old Jake sold on his wagon visit our sister site: The Sunflower Fields click on banner below.  Then click on the miscellaneous section in our catalogue and look for an Old Tyme Rope Candle Lantern.