This picture of the Cecropia Moth was taken here at the West Bend News. Charlie Jones brought this moth in to show its size.
There are a number of species of the giant silk moth, native to our area.
In late May or June, the adult Cecropia moth emerges from the cocoon. Their wing span is usually 5 – 6 inches, but the one Charlie brought in, the wing span was much larger than that by a couple of inches or more. Anyhow, this type of moth is considered the largest in North America.
The caterpillar in the cocoon, more or less, liquifies and forms into a big moth in those months. It has no mouth so the moth doesn’t eat in its lifetime. The male looks to mate with a female and then he dies. The female, after mating, will lay two rows of eggs on the bottom side of a leaf and then she will die.
As I understand, males can pick up the scent of a female a mile a way.
Charlie was going to turn this moth loose in the woods.
No. 9
By: Stan Jordan
• Two blondes were standing on the corner talking when a flat bed truck went by carrying a load of rolled sod.
The one said, “When I win the lottery I’m going to send my lawn out to be mowed.
• Oley told Stan, At your age, you shouldn’t stand too close to the curb on garbage day.
• There was a piece of rope that went into a bar and climbed up on a seat and ordered a whiskey.
The bartender said, “Why, you are only a piece of rope. I won’t serve you, so get out and stay out.”
The piece of rope went out into the parking lot and made a knot in one end and then took his pocket knife and chopped the end up pretty good. He put his pocket knife back in his pocket and went back into the bar. He climbed up on the stool and ordered a whiskey.
The bartender said, “Aren’t you the piece of rope that I ordered out of here a while ago?” The rope said, “No sir, I’m a frayed knot.”
• Back in 1940/41 the English had been at war with Germany for over two years and Winston Churchill made a number of trips to Washington in bargain for food and armament supplies.
When Winston was here, he stayed at the White House as a guest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
One night Franklin D. was going to his room, as it was bedtime. As he was going down the hall he saw Churchill coming out of Eleanor’s bedroom, she was F.D.’s wife.
Franklin D. said, “Winnie old boy, I will have no more of that!”
Winnie replied, “And neither will I!”
• This was one of Bob Hope’s jokes as he had a radio show at that time. Bob could get a little raunchy at times.
This woman wanted all of her four husbands to look nice and neat: She had taken all of them to the cleaners.
See Ya!
Wild Game News
By: Stan Jordan
In the last few weeks I have talked with some of my readers about our wildlife in this area.
We are well blessed to have a wide distribution of many species of all types of animals, birds and even bugs.
Just yesterday I was talking with a lady who lives a little ways back off of road 250, close to the river. She said that she sees the eagles pretty often and has had beavers around her area for quite a while.
A few times I have written about people seeing cougars in northern Indiana and I’ve heard it so often I think it is true. Just yesterday I was talking to a reliable source and he said that a cougar has been spotted in northern Ohio.
Now I’m sure the game warden would say that is all hog wash, but I have heard it so often, I think there is something to it.
There are three counties in the state of Ohio that don’t have a game warden and Paulding County is one of them.
See Ya !
Sam Rivers, Indian Agent Chapter 39: Getting Back To Normal
By: Stan Jordan
I haven’t written for a while, it will take me a little time to bring you up to date.
It is now April 20, 1855. We are back at the Indian Agency.
At the fort, Dr. Grooms would not let Callie and the twins ride in a wagon 70 miles until it warmed up a little.
The soldier boys, Farmer and Hunter, along with me, all came over here early and built the fires and had plowed the garden and things are about back to normal.
Rooster’s broken arm is okay now and he is a runner again. He was here for a few days and he has returned to Fort Kearney to report about everything here at the agency, and to check if any new blankets for the Indians have arrived.
Limping Buffalo, the chief of White Elks tribe, and his son, Pony That Walks, their Shaman and a couple of Indian women were here and planted our garden.
When all the boys went back with Limping Buffalo to their settlement one of the Indian ladies stayed here at the agency to help Callie with her chores – sort of an Indian nanny. She slept on the hay in the barn where it was nice and warm, she has caught onto the white mans ways quickly. Her Indian name is Yellow Tulip.
After the boys and Half Moon and a lot of natives finished their garden, the soldier boys and I went over the Calamus River Tribe.
They all seem to be okay and in good shape. It takes one day from White Elks Village to the Calamus Village.
Farmer plowed everything in one long day. Their chief gardener is called Possum, and he had a lot of native help, at the end of the second day the gardening was finished.
We had a day-long Pow Wow with pipe smoking and all. The native ladies had an Indian type of chili, and it was pretty good. Early the next morning we started back to the agency.
We got an early start and we pulled into the agency just before dark. Rooster was back from the fort and while everyone did their chores, he made a big pot of vegetable soup. He had opened up the storage here in the barn and all of our winter stash.
We sit around the fire and talked just like we did last year. Callie and Yellow Tulip had the twins well dressed and out for everyone to see and admire. It was a nice warm spring evening. Yes, our life here at home with the twins is the same as before but then a lot different. The boys and I got rid of all the hanging meat in the barn that the bear and wolves didn’t ruin.
Then we went out to get some fresh meat. I got a small deer, Hunter got a big buck and some prairie chickens. We smoked some of the meat and we dried a good part of it and we fried up a lot of it. Yellow Tulip is learning to cook and eat like a white man. She is learning to cook and eat like a white man. She is learning to speak English and wants to learn to read.
She is a good worker after she learned the ropes and what to do. Well, this summer rode right along and it’s almost time to harvest the garden.
Rooster rode in last night and said General Kearney and some of the troops are bringing over the allotment of blankets and some other tools and supplies. About 164 blankets for Limping Buffalo’s tribe, and about the same number for the Calamus Tribe.
I think we will harvest our garden and load up the plow and go do the same at each of the other villages. We will distribute the blankets on the same trip. I think the general will enjoy those trips. The mess sgt. is going along and has a good time showing some of his wares.
Callie is going to stay home with the twins, Yellow Tulip and also the Hunter. If nothing else, Hunter will bring in a good supply of wood for the winter.
See ya!
OUR FIRST STUDIO: 3 (THE FINALE)
When we build our new home on the canal in the winter of 1902-1903, I build me a real dark room upstairs, real modern. First a hole in a straw stack, after using that for several months, I found out I could make a dark room in our cabin at night, by just blowing our oil lamp. The only need of a dark room in those days was for loading the plate holders and for developing the plates. Photos were made on printing out paper, such as the proof paper of the present time. The prints were put through a gold toner, then fixed in a Hppo solution and washed for an hour. This could all be done in the light of an ordinary room, except of course, the printing had to be done in the sunlight.
When we first came to this country, they had just completed an open ditch from the Six Mile Reservoir, west to the state line through the low swampy sail where we lived. Across the state line in Indiana, the swamp was still there. I remember wading around in it with my chum, Archie Chapman, who lived on the state line along the Wabash RR, now the farm of Ed Moore. The water was about knee deep in most of the places were we waded. Little sunfish were there in big droves, when we would stand still they would come up and nibble around our legs and we would try to catch them with our hands. I can remember catching quite a few of them.
Beaver brush grew throughout the marsh and it seemed like every bush had a black bird nest in it. Great sport for boys.
Several years later they began to dig the large Stateline Ditch, starting at the Nickleplate Railroad at Edgerton, IN, then north to the Maumee River. The digger, they called a Dredge, it floated on the water, and they used to steam power to operate it. We use to stand on the bank and watch it dig, they would dig a patch of about twenty feet, then stop digging and move the dredge up the distance to resume digging. I remember one time of gathering there just in time and the manager asked us to get on the dredge and ride on it for about 20 feet – that was something. I don’t remember how long it took them to complete the ditch to the river, but it was several years. There was no outlet until they got to the river, so the ditch was always full of water, the dredge was of a boat like structure and would float on the water.
After the drain was complete it was necessary to construct a large concrete overpass bridge, on what is now U.S. 24 between the Indiana and Ohio stateline and the Stateline River Bridge. At that time we lived about one mile easts and on several occasions I made some photographs of the constructions, selling a few pictures for 25 cents each, 5 X 7 mounted.
When the structure was completed they had me to come up and make a photograph of it with the workmen on the job. I sold four dozen 5 X 7 photos for $12.00. It was then and there, that I decided to make photography my career.
During the early part of this century, there was a light oil boom in our locality, several were drilled around Antwerp, one near our farm, just across the stat line and just north of U.S. 24 on the Doctor farm. On several Sundays, when they were not working, some of us boys would climb up on the derrick, 75 feet to the top. Boy was that fun. None of us ever fell off.
There were several more wells put down on the Frank Butt farm, about two miles farther west. To my knowledge, none of the well amounted to anything. I made some photographs of them.
When we moved to the studio from the Railroad Street location we also purchased our first home, the old Dilts home on the north end of High Street. House and two lots cost us $225.00. At that time there were no electric lights or telephones on the hill. About 1915, some of the neighbor children playing with matches set fire to our home. The roof was burned off, we saved most of the furniture down stairs, the Antwerp Fire Dept. saved part of the house. I repaired the loss, the insurance company covered the cost of material used in repairs.
In 1918, after the death of (Mr.) Munson I purchased our present home, house and two lots for $375.00, but it required $1100.00 worth of material to put it in a condition to move in. I and Dale done the work.
