How much does he want? He hasn’t called back. Then came the part nobody could believe. The farmer had bought that land in 2001 for $8,000. $30 million was now sitting still because of 12 ft of land.
And one man who had waited 23 years for this call. His name was Gerald Marsh. And it all began at a bank auction almost nobody attended. March 2001, Callaway County Bank.
A folding table served as an auction desk. Four locals stood near the coffee pot just to watch. The bank was clearing out foreclosed land. Then the auctioneer read the next listing.
Parcel 7C, 12 ft wide, half a mile long. Opening bid $5,000. Nobody moved. He smirked. 5,000 for half a mile of grass. Anybody? A hand rose in the back. Clean shirt, work boots, 62 years old, Gerald Marsh.
5,000 to the gentleman in the back. A voice near the coffee pot spoke up. Six. The auctioneer nodded. 6,000. Looking for seven. Gerald never looked up. Eight. The room turned.
Before the hammer fell, branch manager Curtis Wade laughed loud enough for the room to hear. $8,000 for a 12-oot strip of nothing. He looked straight at Gerald. Some people collect problems.
A few people laughed with him. Gerald never looked up. He signed the paper, folded the receipt, and placed it in his coat pocket. Because unlike everyone else in that room, he knew exactly what he had just bought.
To understand why Gerald Marsh paid $8,000 for a 12-oot strip of land, you have to go back to 1999, not to a bank, not to a courtroom, to the Callaway County Public Library.
