Bruce Lake

This is the outlet of Bruce Lake in Fulton County, Indiana — between the towns of Rochester and Winamac. Before heading to that part of Indiana for a four-day bike ride, I had been looking at my copy of “Indians and a changing frontier : The art of George Winter” by Sarah E. Cooke and Rachel B. Ramadhyani.

I had been looking for information on a Thomas Robb, who had been married to a Potawatomi woman, Sinisqua. I learned that her portrait had been painted by Winter, and is pictured in the book. Winter painted her portrait in July 1837 at a meeting at this lake. In fact an entire chapter of the book is about the “Keewaunay Council, July 1837.” Winter did several portraits there, and had quite a lot to say about his time there. The meeting was part of the process of evicting the Potawatomi people from Indiana.

That meant a destination for a bike ride. I had never before been to Keewaunay Lake, as it was then called. I immediately guessed that the council meeting probably took place at the north end of the lake, near the outlet. While visiting the vicinity, I learned that one local history writer says the meeting did take place near the north end. What the source for this information is, I don’t yet know. But the outlet would have provided a supply of drinking water.

Now there is a small dam at the outlet to the lake, and no water was flowing over it yesterday (Monday). And if the dam has raised the water level since then, perhaps the meeting wasn’t held right here. But I’ll bet anyone standing at this spot in 1837 wouldn’t have been there long without somebody noticing.

I see that one can buy the book from Amazon for $10.00. I bought mine for the same price, I believe, at the Indiana State Library last fall. I quickly snatched it up, and probably should have brought several while I was at it, to give away as Christmas presents. At ten dollars, that has got to be one of the most fantastic book bargains of the century. It had to have cost a lot more than that just to print the thing.

You can look at some of the art work online at The George Winter Collection at the Purdue University Libraries website. But there is also a lot of explanatory text in the book, including excerpts from Winter’s notes. And the physical book is a pleasure to hold and study.

I reached the lake at about the 50 mile point of a 72 mile ride. I had thought of trying for a 100-mile ride, but it’s hard to do that when I spend too much time stopping for photos. And it would have meant riding the last 15 miles or so in the dark, which would have been OK with my Schmidt SON generator and E6 light, but Myra doesn’t particularly like staying up late to wait for me. And I didn’t have a flashlight with me to read road signs and maps. I wasn’t sure enough of a quiet route that would avoid gravel roads to get by without being able to read maps and signs. I’ve done quite a bit of riding at night in places I’ve never been before, but I’ve never tried riding on gravel at night. So Myra picked me up at Rochester, at the site of the Potawatomi Mills, as it was called back in the 1830s, and we got back to our campsite at Bremen before dark.

Additional note, 15-Aug. I’ve added the book to the list of sources at hawkroost.com: Indians and a changing frontier (1993)