A Little on the Eagles
By: Stan Jordan
The leaves will be off soon and then we will be able to see if the eagles have rebuilt the nest.
Just east of the Veteran Memorial Park, a pair of eagles decided to build a nest right on the side of the Maumee River… that was over ten years ago, it seems as though everything went fine.
During a wind storm in the summer of 2016, the nest blew down. Well, the eagles decided to rebuild their nest, in that same tree. But along, after 2017, came that nasty wind and blew the nest down again. Right then was nesting time, it was also time for new leaves to come out on the trees, and we can’t see if the eagles rebuilt on that same tree or not.
I have heard of a lot of the folks seeing some eagles this past summer, but I am sorry to say hardly any in our park area. We will just have to wait till the leaves are gone. Thank goodness that won’t be very long.
Mike Knapp and Nick Bragg both told me they have seen an adult eagle just south of the barn on my place. I have heard of action by the eagles this past summer, but nothing on the nesting yet.
I have gotten a number of reports on our wild life but not much news on the Snowy Owls.
See ya!
The Wabash as I remember
By: Stan Jordan
When I grew up in Antwerp in the 1930’s the train stands out in my memory. That big, noisy monster was part of our every day life.
I can remember back when I was first allowed to go to town alone. Mom and dad always warned me, “stay away from the railroad track, don’t monkey around a train, that is a dangerous machine” and we three boys did listen to our folks. We did not linger around the railroad tracks at all.
We had two passenger trains or mail trains that stopped each day, one about 5:30 a.m. and one about 10:00 p.m. Once in a while there would be an extra one, but he wouldn’t stop.
I remember one time they ran a sort of interurban car from Ft. Wayne to Toledo for passengers, but that system didn’t last very long. There were also a couple of freight trains in town each day.
The depot was always a busy place, lots of merchandise came by rail. There was always a good fire in the waiting room, and all the youngsters who had a paper route would get warm there in the winter. There was a telegrapher there on duty during the working hours of the day. You could send a wire or pick up some freight.
A big eight wheeler locomotive had a large space of my memory and still does. I am always glad to see a film on trains of all types, I even have a few of my own.
The old timers, years ago, would go down to the depot and see who came in on the train. Most people, though, had just been to Ft. Wayne on business or shopping. The depot was sort of a focal point. About 40 years ago, the depot was declared a historical site and moved lock, stock and barrel up along the railroad and old US 24 and sit there as a guardian or to remind you of an era gone by,
With my imagination, I can go in the old depot and I can smell the coal smoke, I can hear the steam jets, the rumbling noise, the hustle of the engine and cars and suddenly I am back to a teenager again.
See ya!
Sam Rivers, Indian Agent Chapter 57: Conclusion
By: Stan Jordan
Dear friends and readers, this is the final chapter of Sam Rivers, Indian Agent.
He has been called to Washington DC to meet with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau recognizes the fact that Sam has done an excellent job with the Indians. He has spent eight years with two of the Lakota Nation Tribes. They have learned to speak and understand English.
They have developed a better way to farm and garden. They learned how to cook and raise our type of foods. They had done stuff their way for hundred of years, but the white man’s way were better, easier and quicker. Most of the Indians wanted to learn the white man’s ways, but some old timers didn’t want the change at all.
The Bureau wants Sam to lead some workshops, training men in the ways and learning of the Red Men, showing other Federal workers about their life and beliefs. Sam never lied to the Indians. He always looked them right straight in the eye and talked to them directly. He didn’t look down on the Indians because of their ways. He always showed them respect and it paid off. They respected him and all he stood for. The bureau wants all of their agents to be as successful as Sam Rivers and maybe Sam can teach them that.
Sam said, “Callie and the twin boys, Ned & Ted, and Yellow Tulip will live in a cottage at Fort Kearney. The boys will go to school while Callie and Yellow Tulip run their successful clothing store. Yellow Tulip also is going to school in the evenings.”
“1st Lt. Billy Metzger is the Post Veterinarian now. Rooster or Moe, Gardener and Slim are all corporals now. They are the soldiers who helped us manage the Indian Agency. All are fluent in the Lakota language and that might come in handy down the road.”
“Sgt. Major at the Fort is now eligible to retire. Gen. Kearney is also eligible to retire, but he has decided to stay in the Army for now. He is very worried about the situation with the southern states.”
“He is like a true soldier, he is going to stay and do his part. It was people like this who settled the west. Good Bye.”
See ya!
Transportation in the area over the years
By: Stan Jordan
I am going to write a column on how people got around over the years here in the tri-state area. Ohio was admitted to the union in 1802, and by treaty with the Indians, purchased their land in 1805-1818.
In 1827 the first settler came to Antwerp by boat up the Maumee River, all was thick forrest or swamp, anyhow, no roads, but a few paths where General Anthony Wayne’s soldiers plodded from Toledo to Ft. Wayne.
In 1829 Carryall Township was laid out in 6 miles square. Most of the settlers came by boat or horse, not wagons. Each year, a few more trails were made and sort of a road was made from Defiance to Ft. Wayne and more settlers came by horse or mule.
In 1825, General Curtis settled on a farm in Crane Township at the north side of the river and that was a trading post with the Indians.
In 1835 Louis A. Simonis, along with Mr. Holgate’s journal, wrote a book about the Maumee River. They traveled all that distance by horse. There was some places along the river to stay over night. The best one was Robert Murphy’s west of Antwerp on the north side of the river.
In 1845 they built the turnpike 6 1/2 miles from Hicksville to the Maumee River this was later to be part of S.R. 49.
Ohio’s part of the Wabash and Erie Canal was finished in 1843. The first stave mill was built in 1860 and in the next few years there was a number of factories along the canal as most of them made products out of lumber, which we had many acres of. Most of the factories done well for about twenty years and then lumber was gone and the factories dried up.
The railroad came into Antwerp in 1855 and the town started to move north down to the railroad.
The canal stopped being used and the Indiana section was closed off. The reservoir was not needed anymore to help run the canal so it was destroyed in 1888 with much fanfare.
The area was pretty flat and the county engineer laid out the roads about every mile in mostly north-south and east-west pattern.
Around 1900 the town was doing well, the streets were paved and cement sidewalks were in and the utilities (water, gas, lights, phone) were all added
There was more cars and trucks and in the 1920’s and 1930’s we got some highways, through town.
The Hicksville-Antwerp pike became SR 49 and it was paved. By now US 24 from Detroit to Colorado was paved and moved a bit and before 1930 we already had a traffic light and a water tower. Yes, we were moving along with progress.
And I understand back in the 1860s and 1870’s there was a narrow gage railroad that brought logs into the canal. This railroad was about halfway out to Section 8 where there was a junction there called Fitzmonsville, it carried mostly elm timber to the factory east of town That foundry had a small canal and a small railroad to bring in the logs to make charcoal.
The highway US 24 was moved out of town and made a dual lane each way. That is a very busy artery.
See ya!
