Sept 6 -Today we started our “Walk About” in the air checking out the shore line erosion caused by wave action and bluff erosion cause by rain & wind. Thought these sample photos might give you an appreciation of the issue. Also included a view of the Harbor Shores Jack Nicklaus Golf Course -Benton Harbor, MI and surrounding beach areas.
The Hesston Steam Museum is an outdoor museum operated by the Laporte County Historical Steam Society in Hesston Indiana. It started out on 22 acres but has expanded and now occupies 155 acres.
The grounds includes a fully functional steam driven saw mill, the first electrical plant from the courthouse in LaPorte County, IN, a Browning steam powered crane and several older steam locomotives.
Its railroad has four different gauge railroad tracks (7 ½”, 14”, 24” and 36”) for the various sized locomotives along with numerous other pieces of steam powered and vintage farm equipment.
If you think you might enjoy stepping back in time for an afternoon, I encourage you to check out the Hesston Steam Museum. I think you’ll like it!
Sept 2, 2019
For the longest time I had been thinking of going to the Hesston Steam Museum in Indiana but never got around to it. Well this labor-day weekend was different in that a friend of mine knew I had never been, called me up and scheduled a day for us to go for a look-see.
Now the Hesston Steam Museum is an outdoor museum operated by the Laporte County Historical Steam Society in Hesston , Indiana. It started out on 22 acres and now occupies 155 acres.
Some of the interesting items to see in working operation includes a steam powered sawmill, the first electric plant powered by steam to provide electric power (60 KW DC current) to the LaPorte County, IN courthouse, a Browning locomotive steam crane, and added several first steam locomotives.
Hesston now has four different gauge railroad tracks beginning with 7 ½” “real small” scale tracks & engines, 14” Miniature Railroad with 1/4 scale locomotives, and a 24” & 36” narrow gauge rails handling full size locomotives like the 1929, 67-ton Shay logging locomotive. As a side note to the trains, their rides are way longer than I would have imagined!! They go through the woods, over bridges, and through fields. It makes you feel like you are on a real train ride!
If this were not enough to go and see, they also have numerous other pieces of steam traction engines, sometimes referred to as a steam tractor, vintage farm equipment and a fully functional rustic blacksmith shop.
Add in Doc’s Soda Fountain, the market building, and concession stands, and you pretty much had everything you could want. And yep, I’ll be going back there again!
Sept 1: Faces of the Nations
A pow wow is a social gathering held by many different Native American communities. A modern pow wow is a specific type of event for Native American people to meet and dance, sing, socialize, and honor their cultures.
Pow wows may be private or public. There is generally a dancing competition, with many different types of traditional dances, music and regalia, often with significant prize money awarded. Pow wows vary in length from a one-day event, to major pow wows called for a special occasion which can be up to one weeklong.
You may have missed it but the 33rd Annual Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow was held over the Labor Day Weekend at the Rodgers Lake Campus in Dowagiac, Michigan.
This event is considered a traditional pow wow. The Band’s long-running Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow during Labor Day weekend is a contest pow wow, where dancers compete before judges in different categories. A traditional pow wow is a lower-key event focused on bringing the community together.
The 10th Annual Oshke Kno Kewéwen Traditional Pow Wow was also held at the Rodgers Lake Campus on May 25-26.
Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen in the Potawatomi language refers to a new eagle staff, which is much like a national flag. The Pokagon Band veterans constructed two eagle staffs, which hold dozens of eagle feathers, each representing a tribal family. This pow wow honors the staffs and the hundreds of Pokagon veterans and past tribal leaders represented on it.
Part family reunion, part traditional ceremony, the Oshke Kno Kewewen Traditional Pow Wow is a time for native people to celebrate their identity and to visit and share with their friends in the greater community and for traditional drum groups to sing their songs, for tribal dancers to perform their steps, and for craftsmen and women to display their handiwork.
There was no entry fee and it was open to the general public. If you have never been to the “Kee-Boon-Mein-Kaa Pow Wow” put the Labor Day event on your “list of things to do” I think you will find it very enjoyable and educational. Here are a few Faces of the Nations.
Here are the Faces of the Nation:
It never ceases to boggle my mind that I can have so many keys laying around and not have a clue to what they fit!
Aug 30: Diving the Saint Joseph River – Niles, MI
The specific reason for today’s dive in the St. Joseph river was to determine if there were enough items/ trash to support the need for a 2019 Ecology Dive.
We explored the right side for the river as it flows downstream from the upper Bond street park and boat launch down to and under the Grant and West Main street bridges all the way down to the kayak launch behind the Wonderland theater.
Today the visibility averaged 3 feet in most areas of the river. There were a number of fallen trees and debris in many places near shore and out to deeper water that were definite snag, impalement, and entanglement hazards.
The current in many areas was manageable, especially if using a river stick, BUT in several areas approaching the bridges and bends in the river the current was very fast, and you had little control of your movement or path.
We have determined that the river conditions are hazardous for the inexperienced river diver and there is no way we can mitigate these risks and feel comfortable with inviting divers to dive this section of river at this time.
Based on these safety issues the Michigan U/W Divers club is NOT going to have the planned September 2019 Ecology Dive in Niles this year.
With that said, If you need a cell phone just dive the St. Joseph River in Niles. Recovered 4 in today’s drift dive. Almost 5 except the fisherman on the docks went in the water to get his after he dropped it.
I was wandering about getting things done on a typical Saturday when I drove past a sign saying “train rides today” at the old Eden Springs Park. Since I had been meaning to drop by to see what remained of the old park for years, that sign was the trigger that said today was the day to stop. My not having the gift of gab or oratory expertise,I take stock in the old saying that pictures are worth the provable thousand words so I will let them speak for me.
In 1908, the House of David opened Eden Springs that over the years had a zoo, amphitheater, beer garden, hotel, restaurant, bowling alley, and a mile-long miniature railroad that wound its way around the park, through a corridor of trees, and across two train trestles that span the valley where the amphitheater once stood.
It was closed down in the 70s and became an overgrown patch of woods with crumbling buildings, and though there’s not much more to see now, a lot of progress has been made since the train started running again in 2011.
The land was cleared of brush, one of the depots was renovated and painted, and of course the remaining mini steam engines have been fixed up to run on about a quarter mile of restored track.
In the depo there are binders of photographs that show the park in its heydays and provides you a reference of “What it was” as you tour the grounds.
Eden Springs Engine Shop & House
And here are a few train pictures not normally available to see!
August 22: Thirsty Thursday’s Latest Dive
Todays dive started in the sun and ended in the dark. It was back to Niles, MI and the river along Riverview Park. Big John, Rob K and Mack entered the river down at the Marmont launch and putted upriver to dive near the Broadway Bridge. The current today was not bad at all when within 20 feet or so of shore which was plenty of space for grubbing. Water temp at 74F, visibility before grubbing varied consider ability but was at least 3 feet. Lights were not needed but it was close. everybody got out with at least 1000# remaining. Good Day, Good Dive, Nice Treasures (bottles and creates an impalement hazard.
Nice boat launch area but there is a almost foot drop off at the edge of the concrete ramp that’s makes getting the trailer out a bear especially if you do not have a true 4 wheel drive. 
River looks nice but the calm looking surface belies the undercurrent. Great day with lots of sun (even at 5:30 pm) and mild air temperatures.
We anchored close to shore just below Main Street bridge. Makes getting in and out much easier.
Well it was light when were started but diving but it was time to get out about now. At this time of the year we lose minutes of daylight daily..
No major finds today but there were a few keepers. The wallet was a mess and only had two items of plastic within with a name to track down. You are always curious how the wallet (etc) got in the river but often times the owners never want to be contacted.
It is always pretty along the shore on the ride back to the launch point. You always get a few bugs in the face on the trip back as they are attracted by the boats lights and our speeding along in the night. (Thats the AmTrack train headed into the Niles RR Station)