Thursday, November 6, 2008

How Columbus Began.

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Came in 5th at the local poker tournament last night. Pocket Kings killed me this time. It was pocket Aces last time.
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The interesting thing was I had given the guy that runs the tournament a couple of bottles of my Flat Squirrel. He walks into the bar, slaps me on the back and says "That beer you gave me a couple weeks ago? That was the best beer I have ever had. Can I buy a case?".

This comes on the same day when a coworker stops me in the hall and says "I finally popped open one of those beers you gave me and it was outstanding, can I buy some of that?"

WOW - talk about swelling up my head a little. I do have to take it with a grain of salt because most people just have never tasted "well aged non filtered yet fresh" beer. But I'll take all the compliments I can get!!

Shakes - Hazelnut Nectar has not been bottled yet - I should get to it Monday and then it need 3 weeks min to carb up and age. As I have noticed 2 months seems to the prime amount of time for the best flavor for complex beers. Too bad I can't keep any around that long!
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I know many of you think Christopher Columbus discovered . . . . . Columbus. After all, when he died they did bronze him outside of town where nobody can see him.

But the real story is brought to us in an article written by Alice Schmidt.

The Beginnings of Columbus.

Major Elbert Dickason was born in Virginia in 1799 and with his family moved to Ohio and eventually to Illinois. He was married to Obediance Maxwell in 1831. It is known that he had a son Jackson and a daughter Ruth Jane.

By those knowing him, including Imogene McCaffery, he was described as standing over 6 feet tall and having shoulder length light colored hair. He was said to have a military bearing and was a man with a soul of honor, a genial manner and a kind heart.

He became an officer in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War. In the course of his duties following the war he stopped for a rest along the banks of the Crawfish River and fell in love with the site.

Although much of the area was unsurveyed, in the spring of 1839, he returned and settled on the banks of the Crawfish. He built a house of logs covered with bark and Indian bedsteads lined the sides of the single room. In had no floor or fireplace, simply a fire pit near the back wall. It was located in a small clearing among oak trees near the site of the present railroad depot. The writer of this article remembers that as part of the 1940 Columbus Centennial celebration a plaque mounted on stone was placed on the site. The school children were in attendance at the dedication ceremony.

Dickason, with assistance from his two helpers plowed the land around the cabin and sewed it to wheat. They harvested the native grasses as hay. In the fall the wheat was gathered in stacks. Dickason and his helpers then returned to Illinois for the winter. He returned in the spring with his family. He brought with him sixty to seventy head of cattle, twenty horses and four or five wagons.

He took possession if 1,300 acres of land for which he was to pay $2.50 per acre ($48.11 in today's money). He staked out twelve lots near his home and called them Columbus. He plowed the land and put in crops, but the primary need of the settlement was lumber.

Unfortunately, the Major was no real farmer or businessman and soon discovered he needed financial backing to continue his project, which was to be a sawmill. The money was borrowed from Lewis Ludington and his son-in-law John Hustis. They sold him the rights to the land he had settled but had not filed a claim on. They advanced Dickason the funds required to build a dam across the Crawfish River and to build a sawmill, the grain mill and also a blacksmith shop.

Dickson occupied the property and operated the mill for four years without paying taxes or interest on the loans. Finally Ludington gave Dickason $600.000 and the income of the sawmill for a year and took over the property. Ludington leased the mills to Colonel Jeremiah Drake.

Elbert Dickason moved a few miles west and founded the Village of Wyocena where he remained until his death August 9, 1848. His grave is located in the village cemetery.
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SO there you have it. I read somewhere that He called his lots Columbus because he liked the guy and was sort of "discovering" his little area.

More on Lewis Ludington in another blog.

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I'll mention this now because I tend do forget cool stuff. This coming Monday will mark the 33 year Anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald (The Mighty Fitz as it was nicknamed).

The reason for the sinking is now attributed to a rogue wave. Reports show three large waves were detected, two of which were reported by the Edmund Fitzgerald. The investigation theorizes that the Edmund Fitzgerald was badly battered by the first two waves, damaging the radar and hatch covers. It was surmised that it then took on water through the damaged cargo hold covers, which flooded the ore cargo and severely stressed the ship's hull, and then was then overwhelmed by the third wave that snapped the weakened ship in half.

The REAL interesting thing is that my mom on the night that the Fitz sunk became extremely ill and could not stop shaking. Ill enough so that my dad took her to the Fort Atkinson hospital.

The Doctors could find nothing wrong but made her stay overnight. She got better and was released. It was not until a week later that my parents learned that the Fitz had sunk. My mom had a distant relative that was on that ship and with more investigation she became ill and could not stop shaking at about the same time as the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk.

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I try to be a good guy and look at the bright side's of most things but I have been ITCHING to write a letter to the editor about this one.

I'm not a super patriotic guy but if I think this way others must. The American flags of Columbus are just irritating me. I really dislike the fly and forget policy in Columbus. If you are going to fly American flags all over the town, take care of them. They are dirty and stuck on light polls.

I think having a town show it's patriotism with flags is great but if you do that you MUST keep the flags clean and free of light polls. Yea - it takes a little more work and money but a dirty flag tells me they are there only for show. It tells me we love America but not really enough to take care if it.

A town of CLEAN flags makes me proud.

Rod

29 comments:

  1. Rod,

    Thanks for the props to the American flag....it does seem that there is so much indifference in our country and we take WAY to much for granted. How lucky we are to live here and we should honor this country and the flag stands for her.....

    Char

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  2. Rod you answered my question before I asked it! lol Sorry, I jsut left you a bunch of comments on yesterday's blog (no time to move them now)


    I AM a proud patriot!


    TAKE CARE OF THE FLAGS!!!!!!!

    TAKE CARE OF THE FLAGS!!!!!!

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  3. On flag Etiquette:

    http://www.capitolflags.com/flag-etiquette.html

    http://tinyurl.com/6rchu7

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  4. Great Blog!!
    Love the History Stories..
    And yes, You should write about your Mom's experience. I have heard that some people have some type of feeling when something happen's to someone they know.

    For curiosity sake, Is the Cabin on the Uncle Nutty's Log Cabin Ale suppose to be upside down?

    I'm thinking it is because it is Uncle Nutty!


    And I agree with the Flag Etiquette!
    Take Care of Them!!!!!

    Try and enjoy the day,Stay fry if you can!LOL!!!!

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  5. Thanks Mary and Char for being so eloquent on the subject!! ;)

    (I can get carried away and sound like a hammer!)

    Great Day in America All!!

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  6. What is with the guy that lives across the street from Jenny - that has his flag UPSIDE-DOWN on the pole that is off his back porch????

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  7. He does?

    Now I'm gonna have to look!

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  8. self-puffery - now THAT is funny!

    "guy that lives across the street from Jenny" maybe he is in trouble and the police should check on him - that IS the sign of trouble correct?

    Robbi - upside down? Looks OK to me - perhaps YOU should put down that beer. I'm sure others will agree with me that the log cabin is right side up!

    BTW - I have not been a proud American for many years but for the first time, seeing how the world (except for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin) is once again looking up to the U.S. as a country run by adults and a calming force, I do feel a little pride.

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  9. His eyes uplifted, his posture regal...

    He IS very erect isn't he!

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  10. I think the republicans have

    "no electile dysfunction"

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  11. Rod is spicing up his comment page!

    And just for the record....
    I'm Bi-




























































    partisan.

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  12. M-
    Was your team based in Florida? Anyone named Chad on the team?

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  13. I'm Bi-vegetarian. I'll eat both meat AND vegetables. Pretty picky on the vegetables though.

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  14. Why is there a big gap in the comments section. All I saw was that JP is Bi and then I thought that was all...

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  15. I blame that space on the democratic congress.

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  16. A little late to comment on this one. Very strange how things work, my wife (Diane) and I noticed the very sad flags on West James Street last weekend.

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  17. **Robbi - upside down? Looks OK to me - perhaps YOU should put down that beer. I'm sure others will agree with me that the log cabin is right side up!


    I put down the beer..
    LOL!!!!!!

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  18. Awww, Shakes....baby Ginners!!

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  19. My neighbor's flag IS upside down... Hmmm.... strange...

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  20. Jenny,
    I don't know your neighbor, but an upside down flag means SOS or a sign of distress, or in some cases it means anarchy...maybe it wasn't pleased with the election?

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  21. Strange... Maybe he is being held hostage inside his house?

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  22. That's a new thing about the Fitz. I always love to hear new things about her. Thanks for telling about your mother also. I've heard people have things like that every once in a while.

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  23. The Christopher Columbus statue outside of town was donated way back when by the Amato family. The run the Christopher Columbus Museum.

    It always seemed strange - looked like the statue was flipping off the city.

    It was put out on the edge of town because the city fathers thought the industrial park would boom and a nice park could be created by the statue.

    Funny - I don't think there is a path that can be used to get to the statue!

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  24. A little more history of Columbus- Dickason had moved here from Columbus Ohio- thus the name....
    and instead of writing a letter to the editor could we please try to find out some facts first, not just about the flags, but about anything that concerns. Perhaps going to the City Admin. and start from there. I totally agree about the flags but we need to be pro-active and go thru the proper channels before writing to the editor. Too many people just use that as a bitch column before they get some facts or try another way. If you don't get satisfaction going that route, then you can write your thing in the paper.
    Just my 2 cents...:o)
    Another tidbit- the Christopher Columbus statue belongs to Dan Amato of the Columbus Antique Mall & Museum. I have suggested to him several times that those trees around Chris need to be cut down so we can see him. And, I've asked if we can "dress/decorate" him for various Holidays but he didn't laugh at that one! The museum in the Antique Mall is quite impressive- not so much on old Chris but lots of very interesting things from the 18?? Columbian Exposition in Chicago- the one the book "Devil in the White City" was written about.
    I'm just full of it this morning!!!

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  25. Thanks for your nice article......

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  26. Thanks for your nice article.''.


    ___________________
    Julie
    "BEST PRICE for the BEST ENTERTAINMENT"

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