The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1952-06-19


council around a campfre-however,
in place of campfire, it was large
floor fan which Councilman Don
Ream had brought with him to allie
viate oppressive heat of the council
chamber.
And while Bluffton sweltered in
Mondays heat, there was one Bluff
ton man who wore arctics, muffler,
heavy woolen gloves and mackinaw
as a protection against zero temper
ature right here in town.
Paul Clark, employee of the A to z
Meat Market and Locker service was
busy in the big walk-in vault stor-
ing Strawberries after quick freezing
for locker patrons-a good job for a
hot day.
Steven Warren, 13-year-old Raw
SON youth is doing quite well as a
misunderstanding three months ago
collecting advertising pencils, he now
has rs of them and by the end of
the summer expects to have double
that number.
Last Friday-the 13th-an unlucky
day which marked Bluffton's biggest
train wreck with a Cleveland trucker
meeting flaming death impaled on
the front of locomotive the.
area still Uttered with debris at the
Nickel Plate-Dixie highway crossing
northeast of town. This is not the
crossings first fatility-Waldo Diller,
Bluffton manufacturer, met death
there % years ago when the automo-
bile which he was driving was struck
by Nickel Plate train.
And speaking of Fridays wreck,
detouring of highway traffic while
the roadway was being cleared of de-
bris pointed up the size of loads
which are being trucked over the
Dixie. One luckless trucker caught
in the detour was stymied at the ap-
proach to the jefferson street bridge
over Big Riley creek because the
bridge, he said, would not support
his heavy cargo.
More speed-you may recall an
item in these notes last week that
Buttons legislative m h in cry
whirled at a record clip to enact a
necessary ordinance so that the state
highway department could make some
repairs on South Main street-well,
the highway department too, has
shown a notable example of speed
and the repairs, eliminating a nasty
chuck hole in the pavement near the
Bentley road junction have been
made.
If you were down town Saturday
night you probably ran across Oliver
Locher, erstwhile Blufftonite, who
with his wife and family are here on
vacation from Lake Worth, Florida.
Ollie, an executive officer in one
of Lake Worth's big banks, still re-
mains enough of small-towner at
heart to enjoy Bluffton's Saturday
nights-in fact that's one of the
high spots in his vacation here.
He says there's nothing quite like
a summer Saturday night in Bluff
ton-sort of a combination family re-
union and county fair, where every
one knows everyone else-streets
crowded from dusk until well toward
midnight with rural folk enjoying a
weekly get-together-ice cream par
lors crowded and retail stores filled
with customers awaiting turns.
It's a community institution-Bluff-
tons Saturday night-a delightful
mixture of friendliness, small talk,
bits of gossip and a clearing house
for area crop prospects. If you're
so unfortunate as never to have ex-
perienced Saturday night in Bluffton,
you can take it from Ollie that it's
we'll worth seeing, even if you have
to come from Florida.
Mention of Gilboa in these notes
last week has brought some addi-
tional data on the place which bears
L. 80, &c ~ a
oldest towns in Putnam county and
a we'll known trading center of
pioneer days.
Gilboa had the advantage of its
location on the Blanchard river which
furnished power for early saw mills
and gristmills. However, the same
Blanchard which furnished the pow
er proved also a powerful force of
destruction when floods repeatedly
washed out dams and mills.
One of the first stone burrmills in
the country was located there and
later Gilboa boasted of one of the
first roller mills at what is now
nearby Mills Point.
A flood in 1883 washed out the
dam and sawmill and another dam
and mill were built the following
year, only to be swept away by
high waters before they were COM
pleted.
The roller mill continued for years
to make Gilboa trading center with
it's facilities for grinding flour, corn