The Mail-Journal, Volume 4, Number 24, Milford, Kosciusko County, 21 July 1965 — Page 4

THE MAIL-JOURNAL

4

Recall Digging of 'Neff Ditch' West of Milford

'Third m a series' * By KFXM IH HANEY In mushroom time in 1910 the island was nearly surrounded by* water. It had rained off and on all day Sunday . Tut night there was a cloudburst and electrical. display. Thee Haab's bam burned _>T-h the loss of five valuable horses. It had been struck by lightning. Ttie marshes , were full of water from high ground to high ground, ranging in depth from one to four Jeet. ■ - Digging the Neff Ditch 7 Enos Hollar told me the Neff ditch was dug by a ‘‘floating” dredge. A boat was built near the bridge on road 500 or ( the corner of the George !>-<■’■ farm. The wood-fired Iwiler. crane, and other equipment * A .hole was dug by the crane;the boat slid in the water and the present course was du to T irkey < near the bark, of Plonier Michael s. farm. ■ -The wood was bought from far- .. to the boat I The men cooki I lived on .an 1 long ■ IM* mijes ■ were first dug by hand. ■ Mr. H.Jlar states that many times you .could <s wire fences. . "I ■ Hemp ■ I When onions began to fade out of the picture because of insects, low-1 er water ;■ vel, and conapi new crop came to take its place. Hemp—the bark or fiber from, which gunny sacks, twine, and ropei are matte-was '.soon to take over I the marsh. This tough brush’ike plant had no other competitor in growing. | thickness/ and height practically inv penetrable. After cutting by machine It was tied by hand and put in (epee ■ ■ For a few y ears scores of negroes > from Kentucky came in and separated the fibre from the reeds (woody parti by- hand This ‘‘line” hemp | was put m 500 jxxmd b.i>. As you cast vour eyes out the tents and shacks west of Ha.rt.ngs Tfnd lie.trd the .sinking, of the men at work you would have said you were in ‘Thx-. ie.” if you had seen cotton u of hemp.. I Hastings for them to get supplies Th< Kay( around. My. how we enjoyed In a f< w years a fa tory was built was done by ri farmers spent' their wintt rs haul ng ■ hemp to Nappanee IxK’ally. Enx-st and Joshua 23mmerman had a factory oh the back of what is now -the Hewy Stieglitz farm/ It operated' for several years on mostly local labor.- k I never knew exactly what happened. sonic say the wrong kind of •hemp. anyway “out of blue sky - ”, .the whole hemp business wentij'to. pot” and many farmers tost their crop, labor and all. The stacks rotted or

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Wednesday, July 21, 1965

were burned . Today we have this pesky stuff growing wild on ditch banks and ■ fence rows under another name — . marijuana—a narcotic. Mint 1 And row spearmint and peppermint. which had been grown in ! small patebes; came into their own, 1 As most of you are acquainted with their culture I shall be brief. Ln the early high wuids and , a late frost wrecked the mint crop, r The price of peppermint went to S2B a .pound. Mason jars or jugs would hold most farmers’ crop, One pto- . tected lugper-grouiid'farmer. sold 19 pounds at CB amt could have bought . As usual some held for a higher I price and still had theirs when it came down' to. seven or eight dollars. i»d the farmers quit,? Not by a jugfull' Many a farmer gives the .mint growing credit for his success.’ - -hemp way. ' ' Cabbage was grown in large ' amounts and delivered to Libby and j kraut factory ; but a few years ago •it mo--.iii out. ’ Pickles were grown on many > and hauled to Milford. The plant was 1 located near the stockyards. I be- , Sieve Ed Cain was n Guy Lambert bought potatoes, carrots. onions, and cabbage for-. Scott | Company. . . ■ i - today—you say—corn, beans .and on - - i Grandma Rumtolt Many of us have been fearful .that much of this early history would be I lost with the passing of our elders The following is tak-on m part from a by ..Mrs William Oster Turing, Mr< Oster, and grandma Su-ati O<ter Rumfelt in 1983:' , ' Grandma Rumfelt. with little formal education, but graduated from *, to school of hard kntx’ks”. C'<s ’u< a first-hand: view of pioneer life,; iShe was an inspiration in Chnst. living to anyone. My father. iWilliam Oster, was Ixifn in Switzerland in IR2O. My 1827 In due time they came~~fo A.- ■ Ehzaix-th Marquart.' were bom here *n»ey moved to Martial! comity, • 185 CT they bought the 40 acres, John Coldeberg’s ne ' v house from the government; It is near Hastings They cleans! the land and put up a rough unhewed log bouse. Lati wed out the logs . They were also pioneers of Islantl and; money to built it. They were OMn-erted .at a camp nxx-tmg near' H-> men under Bishop Seybert. They wixud walk many miles to hear the Gospel preached—an example for youth today. ' | “In tins log house, Samuel.-Wa-ham. Jr , Emanuel. Daniel. Edward.

Katie <Swartdlander) and Wesley were bom. Wesley was bom six months after his father died in 1870. “Two years later our house and all the contents burned. All of the records of births and marriages dnd the family Bible were destroyed in the fire With the lielp of kind neighbors another house was built and these same kind friends helped furnish beds, bedding, and furniture, and the family hfid a home again? Mother lived in I ter own home until all of us were married and went to her eternal test in 1906: ; . “I heard my-mother say tibe walked n-ne miles’ tlm-e days a week to learn to read in Switzerland. She also told d the boat to bury Ix r baby half brother by the big canal on the Way to America. Tbt- experience of death had a deep influence on mother. .“After settling on the island. I saw z runways across our farm. Somet a bsjar w*as seen. Me had to build tight pig pens forth? little pigs to keep" the fox from taming them off “We did our farmi oxen. ■ Mother would ride this horse- and carry baskets of eggs and butter to Clunette to get groceries. Often we walked and carried our produce to “Sb- always knit wool stocking* ' and sacks for her family. They would take the wrool to the carding mills and have -it carded Then, she ; and we bide- girls would spin it into bur We had fun on the marsh fields with pui “There were no schools near ”©»- nough for us older children to attend and our book learning was very limited “Later a school house was built at Hartings where the younger ones attended.” ’ -i Mrs Rumfelt passed to her reward about 1936 in the home where I now live She left a better world than she found. j Eliminate a fire hazard by discarding small leftover amounts of ■ containers, advise Puntoe umversafety specialists. ; ? . . : MBBIJWtt ’’Last jiay of school! Be sure and bring home* plenty of aspirin tonight!”

CAPITOL COMMENTS k hy U.S. Senator Vance HARTKE

A Great American

By U. S. SEN ATOR VANCE HARTKE ; July 19, 1965 ' As this is wril.teQ*-a casket is on its sorrowful way from Washington to Springfield. 111., a journey somehow reminiscent of another made one hundred years ago. Then, the railroad tracks and stations were lined with thousands of tire sorrowIng. exposing iheir grief ’at fee death of Abraham. Lmcfen. 5 day, it was Air Force Ond which brought to Washington the body of Atflai Stevenson, to be greeted at Andrew’s Air Force Base wife a tenminute ceremony including “.America the Beautiful” in dirge time by the Air Force Band. The mourners President Johnson and half fee cabinet, among them Stevenson's old

Milford Tomato Canning Plant TO START THE 1965 TOMATO SEASON AUGUST 10 200 WOMEN NEEDED DAY SHIFT NIGHT SHIFT p.m. - 5 p.m. 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY . ■ ■ ■ - - Opportunity For Good Earnings To Help With Back-To-School Expenses. Please Apply At Our Plant CECIL FOODS, Inc. MILFORD, INDIANA NOTICE: Riders Available For Applicants With Cars

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law partner, Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz, who could not restrain his tears. Few .Americans, except for John F. Kennedy, have stirred such international mourning as this statesman, a friend of peace •who could .yet talk tough if need be-in the United Nations; fee prophet—then wifeout honor—who in 1956 proposed the test ban on atomic testing. Twice defeated for President, he was still, as a' London newspaper headlined, 'The Greatest; the Best Loved Loser in the Whole History of .American ’dlitics.” In Springfield, before movng to hri last rest in his. home own of Bloomington, he will rest on the same black catafalque which bore Lincoln's body a century ago. t is as dose as Adlai Stevenson coiild come to the Presidency, and t is a tribute which fee American le would take as fitting for very

| ew men in our history. I knew Adlai Stevenson, and I j poke in the Senate of his passing. 1 noted that last August I nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in a letter to the Committee in Oslo. When they made another choice, I wrote him that I intended to nominate him again this year. He de- . served such recognition. , Last night mourners passing by the flag-draped casket in the Cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel included red fezzed Shriners skipping their big convention parade on Pennsylvania Avenue to pay their respects. Stevenson, with his ready and. gen- . tie wit, wxiuld have had some quip ( to make. But underneath the wit, which he shares with Lincoln, was the same dedication to' the people. It 1 is appropriate that he share also the Lincoln bier in Springfield, 111. 1 -—~~ To Goshen Hospital I After Accident In Wolf Lake On U.S. 33 Mrs. Lma G. Scheel, 71, resident near Syracuse, was taken to Goshen General Hospital wife injuries to her left arm. result of a Saturday accident in Wolf Lake. Site was riding in a southbound car on U.S. 33 operated by Leia G> Myers, 73. also near Syracuse. The driver trit the brakes to avoid an onetjming car. causing Mrs. S.-?.etl to be thrown against the dash.

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The accident happened as Nile W. Egolf, 47, Churubusco, northbound on the highway, stopjxxl his * car in the traffic lane to wait for traffic to clear before making a left turn. His vehicle was hit in the rear by a truck operated by Alvin C. Conley, 51, Hicksville, Ohio who told State Trooper T. P. Malone that he glanced away briefly ana did not see the halted auto until too late. Conley was ticketed on a char-: ge of following too closely. 1

NEW OWNER VILLAGE BARBER SHOP Located In Wawasee Village ■»>, . ■ ‘ ■ Ed Harting Formerly of Huntington HOURS: 8:00 A. M. to 5:30 P. M. Closed Monday You Are Invited To Come In SMITH'S Lakeside Market & DuPont Paint Store i/t Mile North of Wawasee Fish Hatchery On Road 13-A e. Sweet Corn PICKED HOURLY > i FULL LINE OF FRUITS & VEGETABLES Western ROUND-UP Pays MANY BARGAINS INCLUDING Dickie Work Pants $3.99 PAIR Wash & Wear Pants $3.00 PAIR MEN'S, LADIES', CHILDREN'S SHOES SI.OO and UP REGISTER IN OUR STORE FOR FREE PRIZES DRAWING AT 9 SAT., JULY 24 THE -W STAR STORE

MEETING OF : BLUE ANGELS An organizational meeting will be hekl Tuesday, July 27, at 7 p.m. at Mrs. Hugh (Barbara) Neer’s home for those junior and senior girls of Syracuse high school inter- ■ ested in the Blue Angels club. v J If someone can't attend the meeting and-wants to join, call Deborah ' Leer or Mrs. Neer of Syracuse.