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| Took this picture downstream from our property |
"Conodoguinet" was the name of the creek that flowed adjacent to our property when I was a kid. The name of the creek was given by Native Americans and meant "A Long Way With Many Bends". Starting in Franklin County, the creek makes a 104-mile-long journey to the Susquehanna River above Harrisburg, PA.
As a kid I was fascinated by the history of our property. The farmhouse was built in 1740 and initially constructed out of logs. It remains the oldest house in Silver Spring Township.
People would often ask to search our fields for Indian arrow heads. In fact, we had a genuine Indian gravesite nearby a clump of trees on the way to the Conodoguinet creek.
One day when I thought I was alone, I started to dig up the graves, since I heard stories about Indians burying treasures when they died (maybe even their horses). I dug down pretty far but was stopped by my Mom before I found any treasure.
Anyway, I spent hours on the Conodoguinet creek in my special "mortar mixing tub" boat. The "boat" was molded out of steel and it is amazing that it floated. But it was all I had. That is, until my dad saved up and bought us a family canoe. He told us we could use the canoe on the creek, but it had to be shared between the five kids.
One day when I thought I was alone, I decided to take a solo run on the creek with the canoe. It was spring and the water was really high from the recent ice thaw. The launch went smoothly, but I had no idea how fast high water current can take control of a canoe. This was a problem, since there was a dam not too far downstream. The solo run didn't go well....check out tomorrow's post.
People would often ask to search our fields for Indian arrow heads. In fact, we had a genuine Indian gravesite nearby a clump of trees on the way to the Conodoguinet creek.
One day when I thought I was alone, I started to dig up the graves, since I heard stories about Indians burying treasures when they died (maybe even their horses). I dug down pretty far but was stopped by my Mom before I found any treasure.
Anyway, I spent hours on the Conodoguinet creek in my special "mortar mixing tub" boat. The "boat" was molded out of steel and it is amazing that it floated. But it was all I had. That is, until my dad saved up and bought us a family canoe. He told us we could use the canoe on the creek, but it had to be shared between the five kids.
One day when I thought I was alone, I decided to take a solo run on the creek with the canoe. It was spring and the water was really high from the recent ice thaw. The launch went smoothly, but I had no idea how fast high water current can take control of a canoe. This was a problem, since there was a dam not too far downstream. The solo run didn't go well....check out tomorrow's post.
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