New Spillway - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

New Spillway

Several years ago, this blogpost described the plans for a new structure to replace the 110 year old spillway on Lake Loramie. During a trip back home this summer, I finally had a chance to see the new spillway, now called a "labyrinth weir”. To quote an article in the June 15, 2018 Sidney Daily News about the grand opening, "In total, the spillway project cost $5.8 million to complete. The design, called a “labyrinth,” results in a seemingly zigzag-shaped spillway and is a structure designed to convey large flows of water at low heads by increasing the effective length of the weir, or dam, crest with respect to the channel width”. Here are several aerial photos of the new weir under construction adjacent to the old spillway and the finished product after the spillway was demo’ed.

There was one unfortunate incident during the construction when an excavator accidentally slid into the lake as pictured here. Thankfully, the operator was able to swim to safety and the construction company recovered and restored the machine to working order.

The first labyrinth weir dam was built on Indonesia's Ciwadas River in 1988 as pictured here.

Read all about the civil engineering details of a labyrinth weir at this link. Bottom line, this design concept is much more efficient that a conventional spillway dam and takes up less space while allowing more flow during peak periods of rainfall to maintain more nominal lake levels. However, a labyrinth weir is more expensive to build. One of the key features is its self cleaning means to remove sediment build-up in front of the weir that a conventional spillway does not provide, so maintenance costs are lower. Here are some photos taken during my visit:

That all being said, I had so many memories of the old spillway, it’s sad to see it go. Furthermore, as a regular visitor to Jack Hoying’s photography website, I’ve noticed countless photos posted by Jack of the old spillway, but have yet to see one of the new structure. Seems we are of the same mindset! Here are some of my favorites:

 Note the difference in just one day at the old spillway

Thanks for the memories, Jack.

For more information on the new Lake Loramie weir, click on this ODNR link.

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Aunt Mary- Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Aunt Mary

On Veteran’s Day, my 93 year-old aunt Mary gave an organ recital at the Landings, a senior living facility in Sidney. Watch her play this famous Marine hymn, From the Halls of Montezuma, in honor of her late husband, Leo, aka Legs Francis, who served in the Marine Corps during WWII. Impressive how she can still play the organ so well and also remember the significance of the song at the end when asked by her daughter, Glo.

Here are the lyrics to the poignant song with my favorite verse underlined:

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.
Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in every clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes,
You will find us always on the job
The United States Marines.
Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve.
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.

My uncle Leo has been the subject of several previous blogposts, one about his business and the other about visiting their home in Russia with my parents as a kid.

Aunt Mary in 1928

All my aunts in 1945 at the end of WWII, with 19 year old Mary second from right

Here Aunt Mary on the left with her sister Ruth and their musical instruments in 1946

The happy couple's 1947 wedding photo

Candid photo from my parents wedding day in May 1947, showing Mary & Legs on the right

Dad and Legs taking a nip before the family Christmas party in 1947

Aunt Mary in 1963

Christmas 1988 photo with three of their grandkids. Legs unfortunately passed away 7 years later at age 75.

2016 photo of Aunt Mary and with all her descendants

Aunt Mary, please keep up the fine organ playing to the enjoyment of all your relatives as well as the Landings residents. And uncle Leo, keep guarding those pearly gates!

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Bear's Mill - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Bear's Mill

Recently, my wife and I traveled back to Russia to visit her Mother for the weekend, so on Sunday afternoon, we planned an activity for the three of us. While growing up, for some reason, I spent very little time in Darke County so decided to explore on-line what the county had to offer and found that Bear’s Mill was holding a fall open house. None of us had ever heard of or been to Bear’s Mill, so off we went for the short ride from the friendly confines of Roo-shee to the old gristmill built in 1849 between Versailles and Arcanum.

My wife and her Mother enjoyed the mill store while I took a self guided tour of the old mill, exploring all the floors Included was a gristmill demonstration that was very interesting. The mill was built over a fast flowing tributary of the Greenville creek next to a dam created to power a turbine that turned the gristmill on the floor above.

Meanwhile, the ladies were surprised to discover a beautiful art gallery connected to the mill store that they really enjoyed.

The gift shop offered candy buckeye balls for $1 each, but my mother-in-law didn’t want one saying they were too expensive; she could make the whole plateful for that price!

With our appetites whetted, we moved outside for some apple cider and soup that was delicious. A two person band was playing the violin and banjo next to an open fire that we enjoyed with our food.

That respite gave me a chance to tour the grounds around the mill and take some more photos.

The old mill even generated its own electricity powered by a water-driven turbine just like the gristmill. The electric generator must have been retrofitted years later well after the 1849 mill construction as Thomas Edison didn’t invent the generator until the 1870’s.

For a virtual tour of the old mill, click on this link.

We took a photo in front of this Ford pick-up truck because it was built the same year as my mother-in-law was born, 1929!

The tour of the old mill was a memorable experience that we really enjoyed on a perfect fall Sunday afternoon exploring Darke County. Our next trip back home will be in mid-December to celebrate my mother-in-law's 90th birthday. We have the perfect gift for her, but after searching all over near our home in Michigan, I come to find out they go by a different name. And are priced higher to boot!

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Paul Harvey - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Paul Harvey

Recall last week my blogpost about listening to Ft. Wayne’s WOWO radio as a kid while milking the cows with Dad. My favorite segment was entitled “The Rest of the Story” by the legendary syndicated announcer, Paul Harvey, pictured above. The theme of each segment was Paul recapping some unknown topic, but then finishing by telling the widely known aspect of the same story, always ending with “and that’s the rest of the story. Good day.” Click here for a special example of Paul Harvey telling "the rest of the story".

This was Dad’s favorite Paul Harvey segment about God creating a farmer.

Except I didn’t spend my life doing what Dad does as suggested in the last sentence - and neither did my younger brother!!

Listen to his commentary after President Kennedy’s assassination.

This 1965 segment about the Devil unfortunately still rings very true today.

As does this Paul Harvey radio broadcast about taxes.

Paul Harvey was a coiner of words, such as Reaganomics, guesstimate, and skyjacker, all were the themes of one of Harvey’s famed stories. He was a close friend of J. Edgar Hoover, the legendary FBI Director, who apparently had his agents research many of Harvey’s stories for accuracy.

Paul Harvey Aurandt, the newscaster, was the son of a police officer and a Danish immigrant. He dropped his surname in 1933 when he began his radio career at KVOO in Tulsa. Here’s a wonderful Charles Osgood tribute to Paul Harvey upon his death in 2009 at age 90.

Now years later, Mike Rowe, TV host and narrator, publishes a weekly podcast called "The Way I Heard It” as a tribute to Paul Harvey. Here’s a preview.

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