SMALL BOOTHEEL COMMUNITY HOPES FOR GAMBLING RICHES

WYATT, Mo. -- In years past, Wyatt Junction was a busy place.

The intersection of Routes 61-62 and Highway 77 had a truck-stop service station and two restaurants. Truckers pulled into a huge parking lot and settled into one of the restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a midnight snack.

The night-life crowd from nearby Cairo, Ill., packed the restaurants from midnight to dawn.

"That was before Interstate 57," said Riley Fitzgerald, mayor of Wyatt, the small community the junction was named for. "The big-truck trade is gone now; about all that is left at the junction is a small food-mart and liquor store."

Fitzgerald, who operates Fitzgerald's Marine Repair Inc. on the Mississippi River a few miles from Wyatt and the Wheelhouse Bar and Grill in Wyatt, is the community's largest employer, with more than 60 workers. The majority are at the marine repair company.

Activity at Brewer's Lake, once a fishing and recreation mecca between Wyatt and the Mississippi River bridge into Cairo, has also dwindled to the occasional fisherman.

A number of Southeast Missourians have heard of Wyatt, but can't say just where it is.

All that could change.

Wyatt officials have entered into a 25-year docking and franchise agreement with a California gambling company that wants to place a riverboat casino and entertainment center on the Mississippi River.

Wyatt, population 370, could be the smallest town in the nation attempting to land a gambling riverboat.

Although the city is a half-dozen miles from the river, it has annexed a possible riverboat site near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and visible from Interstate 57. The spot is near Bird's Point.

"This could be the beginning of a new prosperity for our city and county," said Fitzgerald. "The riverboat will provide 300 badly needed full-time jobs and generate a $6 million annual payroll for our community. That's a big improvement for a community that is probably among the poorest in the state."

Fitzgerald said the casino operation would not result in job shifts. "We're talking about jobs that don't exist in our area now," he said. "We're talking about generating a $6-million-a-year payroll."

Wyatt had a number of names before it became Wyatt in 1895. That was the year William M. Wyatt became postmaster (the town went by the name of Payne from 1892 to 1895, when it was named for its first postmaster, Jasper Payne).

When settlers first moved into the area from Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1850s, the community was called Willows because of the many willow trees that grew in the swampy land between the village and the nearby Mississippi River.

People who lived in Wyatt were primarily farmers or worked in the timber industry. The community is still primarily agricultural, and a sawmill is the only industry inside the city limits.

Small's Lumber Co. employs six to eight people. A one-man grain elevator is at Wyatt, along with a grocery store, cafe and lounge, beauty shop, post office, city hall and six churches.

"We need something," said Jimmy Sparks, who serves as city marshal and water superintendent. "I've been here over 50 years and I can remember walking down the streets and seeing people. That's all changed."

A gambling casino could change that again, Fitzgerald said.

He pointed out, however, that the process leading to a riverboat casino could be a lengthy one for Royal Casino Group of Calabasas, Calif., which has not yet filed its license application with the Missouri Gaming Commission.

Royal Casino plans include a riverboat capable of carrying 1,000 passengers, more than 500 slots and 20 table games. The project also calls for a 7,400-square-foot visitor's center with a 150-seat buffet restaurant, lounge, ticketing area and a Missouri arts and crafts shop.

The 5-year-old company hopes to open its first casino in Deadwood, S.D., in January or February.

Jon F. Elliott, Royal's president and CEO, is no stranger to Southeast Missouri. Royal Casino was a finalist for a riverboat casino site at Scott City, and the company discussed the possibility of a riverboat casino with New Madrid officials.

"Our philosophy is to develop properties in small to mid-sized niche markets," said Elliott. "In looking at the markets, we feel that Wyatt will work. We feel this a home-run area and we're excited about the potential."

Once Royal is operational, Wyatt could turn into one of the wealthiest communities per capita in the nation, said Elliott. It has been estimated that the village could receive up to a $1 million a year from the gambling company.

Under the Wyatt-Royal agreement, the city would receive a $100,000 bonus "when the first passenger goes aboard." The city also would receive $1 of each boarding fee and 2 percent of profits, as mandated by the state.

Royal Casino would start out small, Elliott said. "We're looking at an $18 million project -- a 1,000 capacity riverboat, a visitor's center with restaurant and lounge and a parking area."

The Wyatt riverboat would be christened The Royal Missourian.