Sam Rivers, Indian Agent Chapter 56
By: Stan Jordan
This is the last part of January 1860. Callie and the twins have gone over to Fort Kearney.
The three soldiers who have been our right hand helpers for eight years are Hunter, Gardener and Slim. The one named Mo, or Rooster, has been the runner between the Indian Agency and the Fort.
The first three and I have been cleaning up the Agency. We don’t know for how long, but it will be awhile anyhow. We boarded up the windows and fastened the doors very well, and all the fires are out. Rooster took all of our furniture over to the fort a couple of days ago. Rooster had a couple of the soldiers to help unload and arrange the furniture.
It was hard for Callie to leave the Agency. It was our home for eight years, and it was a good home. She walked with the twins, Ned and Ted, down to the bridge over Rattlesnake Creek for the last time and took one final look.
We have already sent our extra hay and food stuffs to the Calamus River Tribe. They can use it.
We made it back to the Fort okay, that will be the last trip until who knows when.
This is February 1, 1860 and I am in the Army now. They put me in the first Calvary as a Major, but I am attached to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Commander of the Region says I will be sent to Washington DC pretty soon to tell them all I know and receive all they know and how they want it done.
We have a cottage at the end of the street here at the Fort. It belonged to an Officer who retired a few weeks ago. We bought it for our own, but we pay rent for the small store where Callie will have her clothing business. She says, “It will be for ladies and men.” The twins are six now and will start the first grade in the fall. There is also several other children around the same age and they play school all the time. They can already spell and read their names, know the alphabet and count. I know I sound like a proud father and I am.
The Wells Fargo Stage Line follows the Oregon Trail which goes near the Fort. It runs from Camp Bridger in the East to Independence, MO.
I understand the railroad is as far west as St. Louis and I will ride it all the way to Washington DC.
I hear back east the train will go almost 20 miles per hour. Gee Whiz! In one hour it will go as far as a horse in a day.
This morning Gen. Kearney called me down to his office at 10:00 a.m. He had received written orders for me to report to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC on 400 Pennsylvania Avenue at 10 am on February 28, 1860. Reporting to Colonel Hathaway.
We had a real fine birthday dinner at the Army mess hall for the twins. I think everyone came because it was almost a going away party for me to go to Washington.
The Wells Fargo Stage left the Fort at 11:00 a.m. on February 15. I am an Officer now and I just got my new uniform, so I will ride inside the stage instead of up on top.
See ya!
Streets in Antwerp
Some time ago, a fellow asked me about the streets in Antwerp. He said, “Why don’t you draw a map showing the city streets?” Well, I am not an artist, but I will give you a list of Antwerp Streets, but even I don’t know where all of them are located. I might have missed some, but I don’t think so.
Archer Dr; Belle St; Buckeye Dr; Buffalo St; Canal St; Cleveland St; Daggett St; Erie; Harmann Road; Hickory Dr; High St; Island St; Kroos Dr; Leinard Parkway; Madison St; Main St; Maple Dr; Mervin St; Maumee Lane; Monroe St; Oak St; Oswalt St; Park Ave; Park St; Railroad St; Red Budd; River St; Schaeffer Rd; Smithfield Dr; Stone St; Sycamore; Victory Lane; Washington; Water Plant Dr; Wentworth Rd; Wilcox; Wilhelm.
This Halloween Stuff
By: Stan Jordan
Over the last few years, if there was ever any truth to this Halloween stuff it got lost in a tremendous shuffle, between the costume makers, the hot dog people, the cold drink people, the witches, the spacemen, and too many others to mention. Some are even cute little shavers.
All of this crap started in Sleepy Hollow, PA. There was some guy riding a horse at too fast of a gallop and his head flew off. The EMS took the man and his head to the infirmary and with some duct tape and tiger glue they got his head back on…almost.
I understand Shawn Dooley was upset because he lost a customer, but then I think they made a deal and there was a substantial discount, because the head wasn’t turned in.
Many people think there was a shady contract between Mr. Dooley and the ambusher or the bushwacker to turn in just part of the body on the reduced rate, Saturday night special.
The calendar makers are usually far apart on the correct day of Halloween. Sometimes they get it mixed up with Ground Hog Day in purgatory and other times when the buzzards come back to Hinckley. For some reason a lot of this way out–in–space crap, is credited to PA, issued by the late William Penn. This year it is the last Tuesday after the last Monday in October.
See ya!
Just Stuff
By: Stan Jordan
You might not find this interesting, but I am going to write it anyhow.
Back during WWII, we rode a train a lot and I am still a buff of trains and locomotives.
I traveled through the Cincinnati depot a lot at that time, as it was a very busy hub of the middle east. The C&O, the B&O, the Chessi System and a lot of other lines like the L&N, that stands for the Lou and Nash or the Louisville & Nashville, which has a Cincinnati head out.
Well, a little south of Cincinnati in Independence, KY and south of there on the L&N is the tallest railroad trestle in America, maybe the world. Anyhow, it is about three quarter of a mile long and, in some places, over 300 feet high. It is over a valley or wash and a ditch, a real breath taking experience to cross it, but it has been safe for a hundred years. It is quite an attraction for tourist.
Now the scene changes to here in northwestern Ohio.
For years, a number of Antwerp fellows ate breakfast at Country Time Market and Restaurant. Over the last ten years from there on south those windmill farms were erected.
One time, a few years ago, one of the blades of the windmill were destroyed by lightening or wind.
Well, a while back about a half dozen repairmen from those windmills also ate breakfast there. They stayed in Fort Wayne at a Holiday Inn, and they came down the new U.S. 24 and came to the same restaurant. They were here for a few months, 3 different times. They didn’t build the towers, what they did was put some copper in those blades so the lighting wouldn’t bother them anymore.
Well, there was a table full, most of them came from a small town area and it wasn’t long until we knew all of them. They were all big steel crane operators and workers.
Three or four of them came from the town of Independence, KY, where that railroad trestle was, and I talked to them about it. Yes indeed, it is out of the ordinary.
Some of those winter months were very nasty cold and windy and on extremely windy days they could not operate the crane.
I asked one of the Kentucky boys, if those months here were the most miserable he ever worked in. He said, “No sir, the most miserable was one he worked for Cedar Point on some of their tall rides, and it was miserable cold and with the wind blowing it was almost too miserable to work, but we had to finish the job before they opened in the spring.”
We all talked a lot and when those boys left, they all liked the small town of Antwerp.
See Ya!
I told you so
By: Stan Jordan
As a rule, I don’t watch the news anymore because it is all bad, but this morning I wanted to catch the final score of the Indians and Yankee game.
But on G.M.A. they reported that President Trump wants to cut down on the news system, in other words, do away with the free speech that we are so proud of.
I’m afraid that if the president gets his way with the news reporting, then he will try a little cutting of our other rights.
That is how Hitler started back in the early 1930’s. He cut out all news reporting. The only thing you could report on was Hitler’s speech or maybe August Bremer’s new calf.
The news media must be able to report the news, good and bad.
You wont believe this
By: Stan Jordan
It is less than 50 feet from the Antwerp Bank to the Post Office, but it takes three days to make the trip.
That’s right, three days! I was just as astounded as you are. I was expecting a letter from the bank on the 10th. When it didn’t arrive, I asked one of the girls at the post office and she said our mail must be sent to Columbus to be sorted and then back to Antwerp to your box.
I can think of at least 10 nasty words for a deal like this. I won’t get over this for a while, three days for a letter to travel 50 feet!
Now right away, quick, let me tell you that the postal clerks in small towns, have nothing to do with that ruling. It came right out of the postal department in Washington. You must have an engineering degree to make a plan like that.
In my way of thinking, the government has gone with those costly sorting machines in the Columbus district office and to keep them busy, bring all the day’s mail to them at the expense of employment at the small offices and the wasted three day travel time.
Almost no mail is sorted at a small office. It is all dumped into a pouch and taken to the sorting machines at Columbus and then it is scanned electronically with the bar code on the front.
I asked about a person in town to mail a check to the farmer. She said you must hand it to the clerk and tell them that it goes on the rural route , any where in town.
Others go into the first class pouch to the Sectional Center.
To me that is unacceptable, make a letter days late, just to use the sorting machine that the big boys had to have. The old way of sorting the mail worked out pretty good. In this case, faster isn’t better.
The old mail clerks would roll over in their grave if they would know about this operation.
Whatever happened to the motto: Deliver today’s mail, today!
See ya!
My idea of the Weather
By: Stan Jordan
Everybody talks about the weather, whether is is happenstance or they are serious.
Our weather had been different all year, from a wet spring until this wonderful fall that we have enjoyed.
I know that last spring, some of the farmers got some crops in and some of them didn’t. But in talking to some farmers, those early crops have done well, even though they had water standing in the fields a number of times.
The fall we have had is so nice that it gave the later crops a chance to mature. Some farmers even had some time to wash the ground for next year’s planting.
Yesterday was Sunday, October 22 and the farmers were working like it was the middle of the week, because it is suppose to rain a couple of inches over the next few day.
Everybody had a guess on the coming winter weather, but I, and my pal Josh, look for the present circle to continue, you know nice weather, a few cold days, a few windy days, then nice weather again. We can handle that.
See ya!
