I spent my barefoot childhood in Lewistown, 5 miles from the Spoon. Nevertheless, as children do get around, I was taught to fear the Spoon. I was cautioned that this innocent looking little stream was full of sinkholes, snags and whirlpools and many people had drowned in the Spoon. It worked, to this day the closest I have come to the Spoon is the fishhouse at Bernadotte. I also remember standing with a cousin somewhere in the countryside watching the Spoon rise. It was coming so fast you could see it. It was quite close when we got in his vehicle and scooted away. I also remember admiring someone's 40 lb catfish, about a yard long, caught in the Spoon. There has long been talk of damming the Spoon. I understand the benefits of flood control, but I would hate to see them kill this wild little stream ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kay Easley" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 8:03 PM Subject: [ILFULTON] Re:Spoon River memories > Like Pj, I didn't grow up in Fulton County, but in my early childhood, my grandparents lived near Avon when Grandpa worked for Lloyd Luper as a farm hand, so I do have a few memories of Spoon River, though most were made in my adult life. I remember going fishing with Grandpa and my Dad in Spoon River, I think near Ellisville, when Grandpa went to visit his first cousin, Flora (Laswell) and her husband, Chester (Chet) Reed. I remember standing on an old tractor and hanging on to the back of the seat while Dad drove it across an old wooden bridge which crossed Spoon River. I could look between the boards and see the muddy river flowing silently by below us. Grandpa lost his bobber and went hurrying down along the river bank trying to catch up with it and retrieve it. I doubt that he was successful. I would spend weeks at a time with my grandparents and aunts, my Mom was the oldest of 7 girls, so three of my aunts and I were very close in age. The two girls just older tha! > n I am tried to convince me that the holes in the bank of the stream that ran through the pasture at Luper's were alligator holes. I wasn't very old, I'm not sure that I was old enough to be in school, but I was determined to prove them wrong. I whipped off my tee shirt and proceeded to catch one of those "alligators."! I got bit for my trouble, but I managed to hold on to that little striped ground squirrel until we got to the house and found a cage for it. Grandpa had other ideas about us keeping it as a pet, however, and we had to let it go. When I was a student at Robert Morris College in Carthage, the school sponsored a canoe trip on Spoon River. The river was a little high, as it had rained quite a bit that spring, but we boarded our rented canoes at Seville, and floated down the river to Bernadotte, where our trip ended. Good thing too, since the dam is right there and the water was really roaring over it. It was such a peaceful trip, very little sound except the ! > voices of the girls in the other canoes. One of my favorite places to pass through is the Spoon River valley on Route 95. It is such a beautiful sight to look out across the valley when you crest the hill on the west side of the valley and start down it. Spring and fall are the prettiest seasons. Mt. Pisgah has a beautiful view, also. These are just some of my special memories. > Kay > > > ==== ILFULTON Mailing List ==== > To post a message (regardless of "mail" or "digest" mode) > to the ILFULTON list just send it to [email protected] > > > >