The Lobo Tank Busters and Cabin 21 at Valley Forge
Antwerp, The Canal and The Railroad
By: Stan Jordan
The Wabash and Erie Canal was finished in 1843; Indiana share of the canal had already been finished. The canal traffic was slow to start with but then flourished in a few years. In the 60’s and 70’s of the 1800’s, the canal boats carried in supplies and carried out the finished product – buckets, barrels, staves, and ship timbers. It brought in logs to make charcoals for the Smelters furnace. Everything was going well. There were factories all up and down the canal and they done well until the timber was gone. In 1870 Indiana abolished their part of the Wabash–Erie Canal, but the part of 18 miles was open from Antwerp to Junction. This gradually petered out and the canal and reservoir laid idle for years.
The blowing of the canal, locks and reservoir was in 1888 and has been published a number of times. It was abandoned by law in 1888. The Toledo-Wabash and Western Railroad was built through Antwerp. In 1855 the name was changed to just Wabash.
In the 1860’s and 70’s, the town was slowly moving north to be closer to the railroad, but it wasn’t easy or quick. In the metropolitan area of Antwerp there were three huge ravines that had to be filled in. Where now stands the pharmacy and hardware, those building were on legs or stilts, because the ravine ran under them and down under, what is now, the Marathon drive through and then on north between the River Street Market and Clip -N- Curl beauty shop. That ravine dumped the service water into the deep ravine that runs from west to east, past the school and a little north of where the Town Hall is. Madison, Monroe, and Cleveland Streets had to be built up and for a while there was a bridge on Main Street over the ravine by Town Hall.
That ravine goes east under Oswald Street and dumps into the big ravine east of the United Methodist Church. That big ravine starts out south out by Dr. Gray’s office and runs under the corner of East Canal and Erie Street and under the railroad and the old US 24. All of these streets had to be built in to make them as they are now, and that was not easy.
There is a smaller ravine, called the Lindemuth Ravine, that starts about where Rollie Clem lives and goes east and then dumps into the big ravine by Dr. Bricker’s house. It was not a small job, making those street as level as they are.
A little more next week.
See Ya!
The Lobo Tank Busters
By: Stan Jordan
The area was socked in with fog this morning so we didn’t take ofF until almost noon. We had on extra fuel tanks because we were going to a town named Berneck over east of the Autobahn. Col. Bainbridge was here last night and said that valley was well protected for some reason. Like always, the colonel gave us the directions and coordinates to show us how to get there.
We flew at about 9000 feet and 300 mph to get the most out of our fuel. We could look down and see the German Autobahn and then turned north. It is a little north of Northeau, which is considered the music city of Germany.
We dropped down to just enough altitude to miss the mountain peaks and follow the Auto-Bahn and to be under the German radars. We armed the rockets and test fired our guns and looked down that narrow valley and nearly missed them, and out of sight was the town of Berneck.
The valley was so narrow at the one spot, we had to fly single file. I went in first and did not really know what I was looking for. And then to be in a confined area, a strange place and at 350 mph! Then I spotted what was probably our target. It was an old air field where they started to train new pilots. There was a number of old type planes sitting on the tarmac. Some Junker Dive Bombers, some old ME4’s, some old Hinckle and Dornier Bombers.
I was lined up with two Stuka Bombers, the Stuka is an old but good dive bomber. It also has a siren on it, and when it made a dive, the siren was enough to drive a person crazy. They must have been loaded with fuel because they both exploded and burned.
I went on down the valley and them made a big circle and then went up a ways to let the other pilots make their runs. I came down low and lined up again with some old Hinckle Bombers and put a rocket into each one. There was burning planes all over, as the other boys were also having a good day. I could hear the anti air crafts bullets hitting my plane, so I made a quick dip to the left to get out of the line of tracers. There was no way we could make another run, so we climbed up to a few thousand feet and discussed what to do.
We agreed to go back home to our air base, as all of us had some damage from some small arms anti-aircraft fire.
See Ya!
CABIN 21 AT VALLEY FORGE
By: Stan Jordan
It was about eleven o’clock in the morning and the wood cutters were taking a break and #3 trooper, the hunter, was resting around a bonfire they had started in the woods.
The mule and wagon was right there in the area also. The mule started to act a little odd and someone said, “There comes a bear!” Well, things got exciting in just a little bit.
The bear was coming up the path, a lane the hunter used to go to the thick part of the woods. The bear was not running, but it was getting closer. Now, he got up on his hind legs and was heading straight for the group resting around the fire.
The #3 trooper, the hunter, dropped down to his knee and rested his muzzle loader on a stump and got a bead on the bear. The bear was getting close to the boys and was still moving in and in an up right position. The hunter aimed at the bears left side of his chest, where his heart is, and as the bear came forward, the hunter slowly pulled the trigger.
The gun made a loud report and the hunter knew he hit the bear in the heart as he could see the chest and dirt fly from the bear’s chest. Now, the riffle was about a 50 caliber and was plenty big enough to kill the bear. The bear came on a few steps after he was hit then crumpled to the ground.
Hunter told the boys, “Stay away from him till I’m sure he’s dead.” Then he said, “Boys, we got a lot of work to do.” The hunter was in charge now, he said, “Take that load of wood to the cabin and then return with the mule and wagon and bring all the boys who have boots. Bring a number of knives and a couple of big containers for some meat, and have the water boys to get a number of buckets of water and to make as much hot water as they can to clean up later.”
The bear was a big one, but he just came out of hibernation so he wasn’t too heavy now. They boys threw a rope up over a limb and then lifted and pulled on the rope till they had him hanging free.
Hunter had killed and cleaned a bear before, so he knew just what and how to do it.
See Ya!
