Cannon Hole
"Okay, get this," I told the kids.
We were out on the porch. We'd been helping out with the yard sale all day, carrying stuff in and out of the tent out front. I'd been dodging back and forth all day, working in some research, and L.T. and I had wandered down to the courthouse. I'd been taking her places like that recently, such as the hidden church balcony in Jaycee Hall. Give the kid a thrill.
"You guys know Dam Island? The one just below the Grant Street Dam?" I asked. "I got curious about who owns it, and checked on it. And it turns out that nobody does---There's no deed and no record of it. Not city property, not private property, not state property. Legalwise, that island doesn't exist."
"So could we, you know, stick a flag in it and claim it?" Haunna asked.
"I'd have to check with a property lawyer," I said. "You'd have to have it somehow registered as buyable land, and I have no idea what that would take. Woman from the city did say I could camp out there without asking permission, though. They said that the island isn't really considered a land mass, as it pretty much formed from debris piling up in the river."
"Cool," said L.T.
After Haunna and L.T. went inside, I asked Ailish,"So, you got any thoughts on what we do after work? We could go after that cache you liked, but it's one hell of an uphill hike."
"And it looks like it may rain," Ailish said. "What else we got?"
"Well, there's the cannon hole."
She grinned.
"Yeah, we've been meaning to do that one all summer," she said. "That'll work. Cannon hole."
During the French and Indian War, a troop of soldiers had brought four cannons up the Susquehanna River on rafts, in what later became Lycoming County. Unable to raft them back upstream, they'd just dumped them in the water, and left them. Later archaeological digs had never uncovered them, and their exact location was a mystery.
I'd found a mention on one page of Lloyd's History, months back, and been meaning to go look ever since. So, since Ailish was leaving for Edinboro soon, Haunna and I jumped in her new car and we rode out to Williamsport.
We walked across the short bridge to Canfield Island, a nature-trail sort of island near where the cannons were dropped. Smoking my cigar, I stopped by the map kiosk.
I squinted at it. Ailish was watching me. I said,"The cannons were in the Susquehanna, near the mouth of Loyalsock Creek someplace, so they'd be around here....We want to go.....Um...."
I envisioned the map, and tried to mentally flip it over to find North. Tried to picture where, long ago, someone would have taken a raft.
Ailish turned to Haunna.
"He's doing that Map Whisperer thing."
Map Whisperer....Okay, I get it. As good a term as any, I guess. But sometimes, I can look at the maps for a while, consider the facts, and it all just clicks.
"We want to go....That way."
We walked around the trail on the island, until we got to the furthest end, and beat our way back into the forest. We stopped on the edge of the river.
"The cannons should be right there," I said, pointing. "Up there someplace....They were dumped somewhere between here and that next island, closer to that one, I think."
"So near the bend in the river?" Ailish asked.
"Roughly. Hard to tell."
"So, what now?" asked Haunna.
"Let's get a look from above."
We rode across the river to the overlook on the mountain, looking down on the river and the collection of small islands below. Along the fence, we found a geocache there, and signed our names to it.
I lit up a cigar, a Cuban that Haunna had given me. As I walked along the fence, I suddenly stopped, and looked down at the small islands in the water.
"Wait a minute...."
Ailish looked at me. "What?"
....Map Whisperer.....
....Click.
"I know where the cannons are."
"From up here?" asked Haunna.
"Just like Dam Island," I said. "I don't know exactly where, but I get what happened. The cannons sank to the bottom, and collected debris. And it formed an island, like Dam Island....."
"Because the debris built up around them," realized Ailish. "Four cannons would collect a lot of it. Sure!"
"The cannons aren't sunk in the water," I said. "They're under one of those islands. They became the base of one of those small islands....I don't know which one, but a metal detector might pick up a high percentage of iron in one of them."
We sat at one of the picnic tables, and I smoked my cigar. And we talked and laughed at the end of summer.
We were out on the porch. We'd been helping out with the yard sale all day, carrying stuff in and out of the tent out front. I'd been dodging back and forth all day, working in some research, and L.T. and I had wandered down to the courthouse. I'd been taking her places like that recently, such as the hidden church balcony in Jaycee Hall. Give the kid a thrill.
"You guys know Dam Island? The one just below the Grant Street Dam?" I asked. "I got curious about who owns it, and checked on it. And it turns out that nobody does---There's no deed and no record of it. Not city property, not private property, not state property. Legalwise, that island doesn't exist."
"So could we, you know, stick a flag in it and claim it?" Haunna asked.
"I'd have to check with a property lawyer," I said. "You'd have to have it somehow registered as buyable land, and I have no idea what that would take. Woman from the city did say I could camp out there without asking permission, though. They said that the island isn't really considered a land mass, as it pretty much formed from debris piling up in the river."
"Cool," said L.T.
After Haunna and L.T. went inside, I asked Ailish,"So, you got any thoughts on what we do after work? We could go after that cache you liked, but it's one hell of an uphill hike."
"And it looks like it may rain," Ailish said. "What else we got?"
"Well, there's the cannon hole."
She grinned.
"Yeah, we've been meaning to do that one all summer," she said. "That'll work. Cannon hole."
During the French and Indian War, a troop of soldiers had brought four cannons up the Susquehanna River on rafts, in what later became Lycoming County. Unable to raft them back upstream, they'd just dumped them in the water, and left them. Later archaeological digs had never uncovered them, and their exact location was a mystery.
I'd found a mention on one page of Lloyd's History, months back, and been meaning to go look ever since. So, since Ailish was leaving for Edinboro soon, Haunna and I jumped in her new car and we rode out to Williamsport.
We walked across the short bridge to Canfield Island, a nature-trail sort of island near where the cannons were dropped. Smoking my cigar, I stopped by the map kiosk.
I squinted at it. Ailish was watching me. I said,"The cannons were in the Susquehanna, near the mouth of Loyalsock Creek someplace, so they'd be around here....We want to go.....Um...."
I envisioned the map, and tried to mentally flip it over to find North. Tried to picture where, long ago, someone would have taken a raft.
Ailish turned to Haunna.
"He's doing that Map Whisperer thing."
Map Whisperer....Okay, I get it. As good a term as any, I guess. But sometimes, I can look at the maps for a while, consider the facts, and it all just clicks.
"We want to go....That way."
We walked around the trail on the island, until we got to the furthest end, and beat our way back into the forest. We stopped on the edge of the river.
"The cannons should be right there," I said, pointing. "Up there someplace....They were dumped somewhere between here and that next island, closer to that one, I think."
"So near the bend in the river?" Ailish asked.
"Roughly. Hard to tell."
"So, what now?" asked Haunna.
"Let's get a look from above."
We rode across the river to the overlook on the mountain, looking down on the river and the collection of small islands below. Along the fence, we found a geocache there, and signed our names to it.
I lit up a cigar, a Cuban that Haunna had given me. As I walked along the fence, I suddenly stopped, and looked down at the small islands in the water.
"Wait a minute...."
Ailish looked at me. "What?"
....Map Whisperer.....
....Click.
"I know where the cannons are."
"From up here?" asked Haunna.
"Just like Dam Island," I said. "I don't know exactly where, but I get what happened. The cannons sank to the bottom, and collected debris. And it formed an island, like Dam Island....."
"Because the debris built up around them," realized Ailish. "Four cannons would collect a lot of it. Sure!"
"The cannons aren't sunk in the water," I said. "They're under one of those islands. They became the base of one of those small islands....I don't know which one, but a metal detector might pick up a high percentage of iron in one of them."
We sat at one of the picnic tables, and I smoked my cigar. And we talked and laughed at the end of summer.