After the excitement of graduation, at least one graduate's family sought /the solace of the Republican River. Though the drought has reduced the stream flow and made spring canoeing and kayaking difficult if not impossible, I understand the water was warm and the family found the quietness of the river to be refreshing.
In this day of political discord, we should not think the selection of the Republican River's name was the endorsement of a political party. The river's name predate's the formation of the Republican political party.
It was based upon the form of government selected by early residents of this area, the Pawnee Indians.
Some believe it was named after a Pawnee tribe for their way of governing themselves in the 1770s in Nebraska and Kansas. The Pawnee Indians at that time selected their leaders based on merit, not inheritance of the titles given. Hence republicanism.
The Pawnee were well established in this area. It is now thought the Spanish Flag was lowered at a Pawnee Village overlooking the river southwest of Guide Rock.
A museum is located on the site of a former Pawnee village with overlooked the Republican River west of Republic. If you haven't visited the museum or if you haven't been there recently, this is the year to do so for the normal admission fee is being waived. Betty Bouray is the current museum curator.
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Rita and I had occasion to be out and about in Superior Sunday afternoon. It was delightful to see people were outside enjoying a beautiful afternoon. We have had a cold and dry spring and people haven't been out much. Sunday garage doors were open and people were outside grilling or working in their yard. Some were just sitting visiting and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. We thought it a pleasant change from being shutin with technology.
Reminded me of my childhood and how nice it was to visit my grandparents. In those days before air conditioning was common and we were glued to our television sets, people were outside a lot more. I liked to sit on the front porch with my grandparents and listen to them visit with the people who walked past.
My dream house would have a large porch with chairs and a swing overlooking a river or lake. I planned to spend much time sitting and visiting on that porch. Not sure where I thought the visitors would come from since the house would be located in rural area, but dreams don't always have to make perfect sense.
While I miss the country home I was raised in, one of the things it lacked was a front porch with space for lawn chairs.
But there were other good things.
Dad built me a platform on the windmill tower, so I could climb the tower and comfortably look out over the Republican River valley.
And the gasoline station had a place for lawn chairs. In his retirement years, Grandfather Blauvelt held "court" sitting in one of those chairs. As the cooler night air settled in, he could be found sitting on that concrete slab in his favorite captain's chair. I preferred one of the chairs made from an Allis Chalmers tractor seat mounted on a steel wheel from an old farm implement.
I never drove the tractor with a similar seat, but farmers who had told me the seats were best suited for the station porch. Apparently, they were not suited in their initial application on a tractor.
The seats were sold when we moved from Blauvelt's Hill. Today I wish I had kept a couple for I think they would fit on the porch of my current home. It would be fun to sit on the porch, sip a glass of iced tea and visit with the people who walk past our house.
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Now that I live in town and can sit on a porch, I miss living in the country and watching the storms develop. I now know it wasn't a smart thing to do, but I used to go across the road where it was higher and I could get a better view of the developing storms, Now, I go to the basement and watch radar. But sometimes, I fall asleep and miss all the excitement. That never happened when standing on the hill or racing the rain back to the service station.
Fifty years ago this week I wrote a story for The Express reporting 1.30 inches of rain fell on Superior in 20 minutes. Many longtime residents said it was the most rain they had ever seen fall on the community in such a short period.
As the rain was letting up, I went over to Fourth and Bloom and took pictures of the water pooling in the street in front of what was then the Dairy Queen. I have since made some of those pictures into a slideshow and posted it on the internet. Will plan to post a link to that slideshow with these entries on our website which can be found at superiorne.com or youtube file called;
Bloom Street Flood in 1973
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