The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1905-11-11
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FOR THE BRANDYWINE
Stream Riley Made Famous
to be Changed Into
a Ditch.

a ripple, or, in other words make the
stream earn rs board and keep. says
Greenfield Qnd) correspondent Of
the Indianapolis News. Instead Of
happy little wonderland wanderer it is
to be imprisoned and desecrated with
the name of "ditchr
Il was James whitcomb Riley that
gave the world heart interest in The
Brandywine. The poet Of Lockerbie
street spent neuy days OF hangy
boyhood on its Tree bordered banks
The Brandywine is only a creek, a
Wild. crooked, so as it pleases creek.
II begins its journey toward the sea
somewhere above The little town Of
Maxwell, Hancock county, and winds
around toward Greenfield. passes there
on the eastern side Of town and
squirms and twists until the Blue river
claims it some twenty miles below
Greenfield It's bed is OF mosses,
swamp grasses and is much more SOM
Der than any child Of Africa. But the
crystal goblets Of The gods could not
be clearer than the waters Of the
Brandywine 1t Is one OF natures mir.
rors. The shadows Of the saplings and
the sycamores dance upon the ripples.
The water grasses wave TO and fro
at the will of the varying currents, and
the whole family of woodland crea.
aires seems to be constantly a picnic
on the Brandywlne
The creek has changed little in char
acter since Riley was a boy, although
there are those who say that the er-
rattle stream has changed its course
Just enough to leave "The Old Swim.
min Hole" Of Riley's day forty feet
ashore However. Il Is still the Bran
dywlne, the trees still ghade its wa
ters as Of yore and altogether 1t IS
about the same as when they called
/ him Jimmy" But the old rail fences
are gone. Instead there are Ions
/ strands Of barbed wire, and along ia,
\ Brandywinc they seem as one Of tn,
curses OF progress.
Riley's sold Swimmin' Hole" was
about quarter OF a mile back OF Ki
Krkpatrick's barn "a landmark il
! Greenfield and something like a mil'
east of the Hancock county courthouse
1t was marked by an old "sickamore'
that stood about a hundred yards be
low what is now the Park avenue ford
In Riley's day It was simply "th'
ford a treacherous spot on the Bran
dywine where more than Que venture
some youth has been cast into a swirl
ing torrent in attempting to driy
across the stream when it was out o
humor.
The "OId Swimmin' Hole" had only
local reputation prior to June II, 1881
On that date Riley, writing under th
homely nom de plume of "Benj. +
Johnson 81 Boone" gave 20 the old In
dianapolis Journal the poem tbs
brought the Brandywine to fame.
The Brandywlne flows for a consld
cradle distance through a marsh LAND
Hundreds of acres of ground that Is i
its present state unfit for agriculture
purposes borde $ the creek on bot
sides, and It a for the purpose OF rs
claiming this land that the farmers @
Hancock county propose TO deepen an
straighten its channel. Several month
ago ten owners of property along ia
Blandywine filed a petition with th
county commissioners asking that th
creek be deepened TO drain the mars
lands. Immediately there was an ou
cry Of disapproval. and thousands q
names were affixed 10 a remOnstrancl
The matter has gone through numerou
court procedures, but by virtue OF
trivial legal technicality the petitloEer
have won their fight thus fal, and
Is practically settled now that III
Brandywine is to lose its poetry ana I
become a ditch.
The Improvement will cost the faru
ers Of Hancock county and the proI
erty owners of Greenfield more tha
$4,000 In fact, there are those wh
say that before the work is complete
1t will reach into six figures. The argl
ment is made by the petitioners tha
Greenfield viii be benefited by til
deepening Of the creek because IL wi
serve TO carry off the citys sewag
Greenfield has almost uuanimousl
spoken against It, yet the petitioner
appear 10 have the better OF the arg
ment Every property owner iH Hal
cocks capital viii be assessed 10 pa
Tor the work.
According TO the figures Of Count
Surveyor Monger, the ditch will drai
3S.40O acres Of land. The surveyor an
his men are already at work maxim
estimates and placing stakes that wi
show the amount Of fall The dredg
VIII begin its wrecking Of the poet
Brandywine about six miles east q
Maxwell, Hancock county, and cOntiI
ne 10 the south county line. distanc
OF more than twenty miles. Ever
wagon bridge that crosses the streaI
win have to be removed II IS possibi
that only one bridge viii be allowed [
remain during Ike progress OF "a
work-the Pennsylvania bridge east o
Greenfield, mentioned IN Riley's poem
It Is thought that the dredge viii b
able 20 pass under IT, The bridge ques
tion Is one OF the strong points Of di'
pute, as II IS charged by the antldredg
adlleneuts that the removal Of the ol
bridges will mean endless expense 1
the construction Of new ones. Their
VIII be ten highway bridges and fou
railroad bridges ia the path Of III
dredge.
Another feature Of the great task wi
be the digging OF arms for the mai
ditch. 1t is proposed to drain eighty