[IndianaTrails] CANAL UPDATE--Flash! This just in from Phoenix!
Admin
admin at canalcenter.org
Mon Sep 18 17:49:22 PDT 2006
CANAL VOLUNTEERS RECEIVE COVETED NATIONAL AWARD
from the Canal Association's FALL 2006 NEWSLETTER
CURRENTS
Canal volunteers will savor this national award for their construction
of the Interpretive Center's exhibits at the AASLH meeting. Dan McCain
(left) and AASLH Chairman David Crosson in Phoenix.
Canal Association Is an Award Winner
We are proud to announce that Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal Inc. is
the recipient of a coveted award from the American Association for State
and Local History (AASLH).
The Albert B. Covey Award is named in honor of a founder and
former president of AASLH. It recognizes primarily volunteer-operated
organizations that best display the qualities of vigor, scholarship and
imagination in their work.
The award is given by the Leadership in History Award Committee at their
discretion. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards program, now in its
61st year, is the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the
preservation and interpretation of state and local history. This year's
awards represent 84 organizations and individuals from the United
States.
"We are especially honored to receive this award," Dan McCain, Canal
Association President said, "because it is not necessarily given every
year. It is especially fitting that it recognizes the hard-working
volunteers that are essential to our success."
Award winners will be honored at a special banquet during the 2006 AASLH
Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona in September. Dan will travel to
Phoenix to receive the award in person on behalf of the Canal
Association and its volunteers. A local presentation may be planned for
later this fall.
A hearty Hip-Hip Hooray to the Canal Association and its great
volunteers!
Parking Lot Landscaping Project Completed
Ethan White, a member of Boy Scout Troop 126 in Brookston,
is finishing a beautification project this month along the Canal Park
parking lot for his Eagle rank. He laid out detailed plans to complete
the split rail fence and add on to the stone wall that a previous scout
constructed a couple of years ago. His Court of Honor will be held in
the Canal Center this winter.
The project adds beauty and attractiveness to the park and
also provides additional safety by keeping traffic inside the parking
lot. Ethan enlisted the help of his fellow Troop members, friends,
family and his 4-H club. Part of the Eagle program calls not only for
planning but for managing a work crew and gathering materials.
Along the same theme, Charlie Fife, of Delphi, has offered
to coordinate Eagle Scout projects that are proposed to the Canal
Association by scouts in the Sagamore Council. He is a former Boy Scout
leader and volunteer.
Good Attendance at Canal Days in July
Attendance was up for our 2006 Canal Days. More crafters
and artisans demonstrated pioneer skills than usual, and games for
children were scheduled all day both days. The pontoon boat made
back-to-back trips both days. Just wait - in a couple of years we will
have the "real thing!" (Your donations and sponsorships can help speed
up the process!)
Can you guess how many cities and states were represented
among those who signed our registry at the Reed Case House? They came
from 30 different Indiana cities and nine other states besides Indiana!
(Not everyone comes inside the Case House, so there are probably others
to add.)
Workshop for Teachers Planned
It will be another Canal Association "first" when
approximately 25 teachers of third through eighth grades gather for a
workshop at the Canal Center October 3. The event is sponsored by the
Indiana Council for Economic Education, the Indiana Department of
Education and the Wabash & Erie Canal Association.
The day's activities will include instructional techniques
for teaching the history and economics of entrepreneurship in today's
classrooms and will offer an opportunity to use information found in the
Canal Interpretive Center as well as other selected sources to design
materials for use at various grade levels.
In the morning, Chris McGrew, head of the state council, and
Wilma Shackleton, retired Warren County teacher with extensive personal
canal interest and research, will present teaching fundamentals,
techniques and activities associated with entrepreneurship education in
schools. A box lunch will be served on the pontoon boat, with narration
by Dan McCain about the effect the canal has had on the economic
development of the town of Delphi. The group also will visit the Reed
Case House, with special emphasis on the local archaeological displays
there.
The afternoon will be devoted to using techniques presented
in the morning to process information gathered on walks through the
Interpretive Center museum. Participants also will be asked to list
topics that might be available through the Canal Resources to use as
lesson plans in the classrooms.
The afternoon portion was constructed and will be presented
under the direction of volunteer retired teachers Wilma Shackleton
(Seeger H.S.), David Kelly (Twin Lakes H.S.) Nancy Beech and Mary Kelley
(Hillcrest El.), and Susan Feller (Lebanon El.). Susan is the Canal
Education Coordinator and arranges the tours of more than 1000 school
children at the Canal Center each year.
Next Painting Ready for a Sponsor
The subject is chosen and the design completed for the next
painting in the series gracing the walls of the Canal Center lobby. BUT
it is awaiting a sponsor or sponsoring group.
This latest painting features a lock and warehouse at Lagro,
Indiana. Lagro was an important stop along the Wabash & Erie Canal as
the waterway stretched into Indiana from Ohio. Each scene in the 14
-panel series depicts a structure or location along the 468 miles of the
canal from Ohio to Evansville where the boats connected to river routes.
The Lagro scene will be painting #10. All of the panels have been
painted by Delphi artist Terry lacy.
Two of the most recent paintings depict two ends of the
Wabash & Erie. The southernmost scene is of the historic canal in
Evansville. It was sponsored by the Canal Society of Indiana. To the
northeast a scene from the Toledo area was sponsored jointly by the
Canal Society of Indiana and the Canal Society of Ohio. We are grateful
to these two latest sponsors and to others who have sponsored paintings.
If you'd like to sponsor a painting, contact Dan McCain at 765-564-6297.
Not only have the paintings added color and interest to our
grand lobby (also sponsored by Canal Society of Indiana) but our guides
are finding them helpful in explaining the canal era to tour groups,
especially the many children who visit the Interpretive Center.
More Donations will "BRIDGE" the Gap
Although expert and talented volunteers continue to give
their knowledge and time almost daily to reconstruction of the historic
Winamac/Stearns Truss Bridge for canal trails use, it also takes dollars
to fund this major project.
A pleasing number - several of them first-time Canal
Association donors - have responded, to help get the bridge moved from
Pulaski County. But more funds will be needed to complete this massive
project. If you can help with a donation of any size, please see the
form on the back page and check "Bridge Fund." Or contact Dan McCain
at 765-564-6297 for information or to volunteer.
Helping the cause is word that we have just received a
$10,000 gift from the Efroymson Fund of the Central Indiana Community
Foundation in support of work on the bridge. This will help to get the
ironwork repaired and the bridge reassembled. Then will come the heavy,
expensive task of placing it over the canal where it will provide an
easier, safer access point to the lower trails from the Bicycle Bridge
Road area to the canal's confluence with Deer Creek and the Wabash
River.
We are especially grateful for the expertise and guidance of
Vern Mesler, a metal restoration expert from Lansing, Michigan, who
continues to volunteer his help and advice. He has trained local
volunteers in dealing with "pack rust," riveting and iron restoration
work. Fowler resident Layton Whitus, another volunteer technician; Dr.
James Cooper, of Greencastle, an expert on Indiana bridges, and Ross
Brown, Cutler blacksmith, also have guided our teams of volunteers.
Volunteers! Mark October 14 on your calendars for a special
workday (with free lunch for workers) to help with clearing of the site
where the bridge will be re-located. Please bring gloves and
tree-trimming tools. Meet at the Canal Park at 9:00 a .m. for
assignments.
Second Six-County Byways Meeting Scheduled
The next meeting of the six-county grouping that is studying
ways to link their routes with each other for hikers, bikers and
motorists, is scheduled for October 25th in Lafayette.
"With the Governor's emphasis on trail connections between
communities, Carroll County may stand a good chance of being a high
priority for a trail along the section of Hoosier Heartland Highway
being planned," Dan McCain, President of the Canal Association observed.
"The trail would intersect our Monon High Bridge Trail," he added.
The goal of the participating counties (with Carroll County
at the center) is to mark trails and routes to reach natural and scenic
attractions. Maps would be published to encourage public participation
so that special sites can be enjoyed by more visitors to any of the six
counties.
Learn More about Canals on CSI Fall Tour
The Canal Society of Indiana has planned a tour of the
Whitewater and Cincinnati & Whitewater canals from Metamora, Indiana, to
the Ohio River on October 20-22. "Canal Passages" will be the
theme since both canals passed through the Whitewater Valley. The tour
will emphasize the junction of the two canals at West Harrison, Indiana
and Harrison, Ohio. The tour headquarters will be in Harrison, Ohio.
Reservations must be made by October 3, to Canal Society of
Indiana, P. O. Box 40087, Fort Wayne, IN 46804. Or for more information
call 260-432-0279.
Canal Site in Ohio Visited by Local Volunteers
A full bus-load of canal volunteers and several Delphi
governmental officials traveled to Grand Rapids, Ohio in July to see the
result of restoration of a section of the Miami & Erie Canal (originally
named Wabash & Erie) and the attractive little city of Grand Rapids.
Volunteer efforts there have resulted in a restored section of the canal
and a lock, and the building of a canal boat. The trip gave the local
folks a chance to visualize what is in store for us when our canal boat
is built and what Delphi as a city can aspire to.
What more is Happening at the Canal
. Mark your calendar for a VOLUNTEER CALL-OUT at 7:00 p.m.
November 9 at Canal Center.
. Get out your walking shoes for the St. Mary's/Interurban Walk
on Saturday, October 14. Meet at 2:00 p.m., leaving from the parking lot
across from Delphi Body Works on Washington St.
. Only how many days until Christmas? In the holiday rush,
reserve some regenerating time by coming to the Canal Christmas on
December 9th and 10th. Don't forget to order your apple dumplings!
(Volunteer to help make them, too.) Contact Pat Draper at 765-564-3676.
. We are still looking for funding of equipment and supplies for
the Archives Room at the Canal Center. Storage shelving, book shelving
and a supply cabinet have been purchased. File cabinets, a map cabinet
and archival supplies are still needed. Thanks to donors who have
already designated gifts for the Archives Room!
. Rain dampened some of the activities of our Transportation
fair on Fathers' Day, but as the skies cleared the pontoon boat and
other activities could be enjoyed.
. We welcome Georgianna Southwick of Waukesha, Wisconsin, as a
new Life Member!
. A special Thank You to Wal-Mart and its employees of the
Monticello area who put in hours of work grading and seeding the site at
the new walking tunnel under the railroad and planting flowers and doing
other work around Canal Park. In honor of their volunteer
participation, Wal-Mart Foundation donated $2,000 to the Canal
Association.
. Wabash & Erie Canal Interpretive Center is featured as one of
101 topics that author Earl Conn describes in his new book, My Indiana:
101 Places to See.
. The annual Rendezvous was held at Canal Park during Old
Settlers week.
New Phone Numbers for Reserving Canal Center
Call Mary Crary at 765-564-4661 or her cell phone 765-412-8932
Please make note of new telephone numbers to call to reserve the Canal
Center
for your reception, party, or business meeting. You may also leave a
message at the Canal Center 765-564-2870, but docents cannot make
reservations for you.
Planning a Christmas party or family holiday gathering? Get your
reservation and deposit in early, as the Center is in demand. We can
recommend caterers, too.
Want to make an impact? Help us this way!
Make checks to Wabash & Erie Canal Inc.
Send to return address at right: 50 Redwood
Court
Lafayette, IN 47905
Enclosed is $_____ for membership
$_____ for a donation
$_____ Bridge Fund donation
$______TOTAL
Telephone: _________________________
All members and donors receive our newsletter
_____$ 5 Student Membership
_____$ 10 Basic Adult & Family
_____$ 25 Leadership Level
_____$ 50 Contributing Level
_____$ 100 Sponsoring Level
_____$ 150 Corporate Level
_____$1,000 LIFE Membership (4-5 installments)
Visit our web site at www.wabashanderiecanal.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/list_indianatrails.org/attachments/20060918/cfab0d47/attachment-0001.html
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 23550 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : /pipermail/list_indianatrails.org/attachments/20060918/cfab0d47/attachment-0001.jpe
More information about the List
mailing list