Here are a few images from an afternoon I spent on the backroads with Jay.
Milton Lott’s Grave
I know it is but a pipe dream, but I do dream that some day they make the old Kate Shelley High Bridge a person walking bridge. I hope that isn’t a “bat wings” type of dream.
For the rest of the Milton Lott/Inkpaduta legend, I suggest a road trip for you boys to the Abby Gardner Memorial cabin in Arnold’s Park. My Aunt lives about 10 miles away from there & we have visited several times over the years. http://www.watchablewildlifenwia.org/sites-AGCabin.htm
I’m afraid old Wagon Wheel looks beyond repair. A testament to the sturdiness of the bridge that it didn’t entirely collapse though. I agree that the old high bridge would make an excellent walking path, though doubtful you would ever find me that high up! Great pictures!
I have never been there. I have been to the Spirit Lake Massacre Cabin before.
If you tell me that there is an exhibit talking about how big of a Human Grackle Henry Lott was, I’m definitely there.
If I ever become big and powerful in the Boone Historical Community, I’m going to put together an exhibit about how terrible of a person Henry Lott was. That guy had it coming to him.
Afraid of heights? So you won’t be checking out the bridge between Madrid and Woodward when they get it done, I’m guessing?
Both cabins are one & the same. The last time I was there (about 5 years ago) the currator wasn’t too happy to hear we were from Boone & started a little rant about Henry Lott. I found it quite humorous as he seemed to think all from this area were Lott lovers. As for an actual exhibit about him, well, he wasn’t really worthy enough to be mentioned much and was just a tiny part of what led up to the massacre.
Heights are a rather curious thing with me. At times I am just fine, at others I end up with a terrible case of vertigo and become shaky. It seems to depend on the angle I’m looking and the severity of the height more than anything. So no, I don’t do well with heights and will only attempt them if I have someone with me that I can trust to save me from a horrible crushing death when I pass out. Or at least help me back to solid ground when I become so shaky I’m afraid to move on my own. I can proudly say that I did face my fears at the top of the Sears tower a few years back though!
Some of my first memories with my grandparents involve driving by the Milton Lott grave. Wow, it’s been a long time. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Jesse is also fearful of heights. We once skipped class to walk from Fraser to Willy’s house near Water Works. Actually we were going to walk across the Bass Creek High Bridge and back, but it turns out that such a walk was several more miles than we had calculated in our head, so once we got across the bridge we got of the B&SVRR track and walked to Willy’s house. That was probably a 2 mile walk by itself.
However, the point of the story is that:
1. What we did was illegal and a couple of weeks later a couple people got arrested for trespassing for doing the exact same thing we just did.
2. Jesse barely made it across that bridge. It didn’t help matters when Eric started climbing down the side. However, he did make it.
Despite his fear of heights, Jesse is also an avid hater of Henry Lott. I wouldn’t say that he had a minor role in the Spirit Lake Massacre. I would say that it was entirely his fault. Stupid Human Grackle!
How can anybody possibly be pro-Henry Lott! That is like being pro-Jim Crow!
Angie, it is sad that you have lost touch with your Boone County roots. One of the first 50 things you better do with that baby is take her on a tour of historical Boone County. Including a trip to see Milton Lott’s grave.
That is a deal. I think she needs to go on the railroad ride at some point early on, don’t you? I may seek out pointers from you. 🙂
I love how you are still incorporating Human Grackle into a conversation this many weeks later.
I will agree that Lott was an ideal definition of a Stupid Human Grackle. And his actions were the instigation of Inkpaduta’s hatred for the white man. However, our own government’s actions were the driving force behind the massacre (which occurred almost 3 years after Lott murdered Inkpaduta’s brother’s family). As much of a Grackle as Lott was, he was only the beginning (not to say he didn’t deserve what he got though).
Remind me to never try to conquer my fear of heights with Eric around then. Good for Jesse, braver than I! Reading your recount brings to mind images of a certain movie from our youth. Were you boys perhaps singing Lollipop on your journey?
To Angie… I highly recommend the Santa train when it comes time for train rides. Not very historical for our area obviously, but builds great memories 🙂
Ooh, thanks, Dawn! That would be absolutely beautiful – I didn’t even know they ran the train in the winter!
Dawn, I’m sad that you have become a Henry Lott apologist. Just like everybody else in this town. It is doubly sickening that you have chosen to back up your reason with facts. Very disappointing.
But on a positive note, if Jesse and I can get just a few more people to use the term Human Grackle I think it will definitely catch on. It will be the new “thing”. This is your chance to get in on something big on the ground floor.
Essentially, this is Sam Wainwright offering you a chance to invest in plastics before it takes off. Dawn Krause, you’re ship has just come in — providing she has brains enough to climb aboard.
Angie, I have to tell you that the Santa Express isn’t all that beautiful. It might provide memories, but they are of the kids meeting Santa Claus on a train variety. Usually during that time of year everything is dead and it just looks brown.
The ideal time to go in pursuit of beauty (which will be lost on a child for several years) is the 2nd weekend of October. That is when fall leaf colors usually peak in this area.
Now, now Mr. Bennett. Apologist would be taking it a little far. I see no reasoning or sympathy for Henry Lott’s actions other than he was indeed of the Human Grackle variety (although quite lower on the proverbial ladder if there were such a thing). By dismissing his actions towards Inkpaduta I am giving slight to his value in historic wars and battles. Would Inkpaduta have still joined with Sitting Bull at Custer’s Last Stand if Lott hadn’t killed his brother’s family? I would say more than likely. Inkpaduta was known as a sadistical hot-tempered madman even before Lott’s shady business dealings. If I’m backing up my reasoning with fact, it’s only because I have heard both Lott’s and Gardner’s stories throughout my childhood since I grew up in both areas. Truthfully the only one I feel sorry for and sympatize with is Abbie Gardner herself.
Angie ~ Chris is right that it is probably not to be considered a beautiful ride. Although my first year as a volunteer reader on the train it was snowing lightly. It was rather breathtaking when we stopped at the bridge to turn back. I can’t say that any of the other trips that I spent reading the Polar Express to young children were quite like that. It is more of a memory builder and very fun to watch the amazement & excitement in a 2 or 3 year old child’s eyes as you ride a train at night to Santa’s workshop.
Why feel bad for her? She didn’t get killed and she probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Sounds to me like it was her own fault for being in a neighborhood where where the prosecuting attorney thinks it is cool to put the head of somebody in the family on a pole over their house.
Even if she was just a little girl, 13 is old enough to make your own decisions.
Inkpaduta was just getting even. He took 4 crackers for every 1 member of his family Henry Lott killed. Seems perfectly fair to me.
He didn’t do it again. Lesson learned!
Ah, you made me laugh Mr. Bennett! I know you aren’t as heartless and black & white as you are trying to lead me to believe 😉 I tire of the banter and straining my brain for historical lore anyway.
Thanks for the fun. Until the next debate….
Fair enough, but I didn’t get to tell you what I really think about Abbie “I’ll just open up the cabin where my parents were murdered as a tourist attraction. No, really. I do have a soul.” Gardner.
I guess that will have to suffice.
Hey, a girl has to make a living after her parents become fish food! Ok, that really was my last comment… quit egging me on 😉
Being a prostitute would be a more noble way of making a living.