A strange job

This past week contractors were on the Saint Joseph's College campus leveling concrete. The freeze-thaw cycles gradually break up the even surface of sidewalk, lifting some sections and lowering others, so that the danger of tripping and falling increases over time. For some sections of walks, the contractors were grinding down high points. Near Halleck Center they were doing a more complicated procedure, drilling holes in the slab and then forcing concrete underneath its low side to raise it and get rid of the slope.

I was told that it was expensive. But it must be cheaper than removing the old concrete and replacing it with new.

I had never seen this procedure before.

Our new mountain

I do not get west of the I-65 too often, so I do not often see the mountain that is rising south of Mount Ayr.

Someone told me that there is now a water tower next to the landfill, and I saw it in the distance on a week ago. There are interesting stories from this area, but I have lost my informants who used to tell me what was happening. There is a cardboard or egg carton factory there. What else?

Shopping at Greene's Furniture

A few weeks ago we visited Greene's Antique Mall west of Rensselaer on SR114 and mentioned that it was next to Greene's Amish Furniture.

Outside the store was a selection of storage sheds. They are a strange form of furniture, but if they can be sold for a profit, why not sell them?

Greene's sells expensive and very high quality furniture. The desk shown below was as nice a desk as I have ever seen. It was listed for $16,999 but was on sale with the chair for only $11,999. If you want the best, you have to pay for it. (The only piece of furniture that we ever bought from Greene's was a desk just like this one except that it was about one third the size and a lot less than one third the price.)

The front show room is full of beautiful tables. On the day these pictures were taken, Greene's was having an open house and a number of Amish craftsmen were in the store. If you look carefully at the left side of the photograph, you can see several.

On of my complaints about new furniture is that much of it is poorly made. That would probably not be a complaint I could make about any of these pieces. Since there is a limited market in Rensselaer for furniture of this quality, it should not surprise anyone that Greene's markets to a much boarder audience. People will travel for quality. I have seen their ads on the Lafayette television channel, and their website make clear that they are quite willing to ship out of state. Apparently it is not uncommon for Amish furniture to be sold mail order.

Behind the main showroom is the bedroom room. (I had to say that.) The entire store has 14,000 square feet of space and has been in operation since 1986.

 

In another part of the store there are displays cabinets and living room furniture.  There was also a selection of beds and tables in the primitive, loggy style shown below. It looks solid but not comfortable.

 

Did you know that there was once an Amish presence near the Mount Ayr? They settled there about 1870 but left around 1890 because they did not like the growing conditions. They left an Amish cemetery two miles west of Mount Ayr a bit south of CR 325S.

A single span Warren deck truss

The Newton County Interim Report, a publication that inventories the historical structures of Newton County, lists a bridge south of Lake Village as a outstanding structure, and because I was passing by recently, I stopped and took a look. I was surprised to find a plaque:

The Conrad Bridge
A single span Warren Deck Truss built by the Elkhart Bridge & Iron Company in 1916 with a clear span of 80 ft.
Entered on the state register of historic places April 26, 1999
Restored 2003
Commissioners: Russell C. Collins, Jr., President
James C. Pistello, Vice President
Matthew V. Gibson
County Auditor: Patricia L. Carlson
Engineer: Beam, Longest & Neff L.L.C.
Contractor: Wirtz & Yates Inc

 What makes the bridge unusual is that the trusses are below the bridge. This is fairly common on railroad bridges, but apparently not on bridges for automobiles.

 

There is a parking pull-off just west of the bridge so you can stop and take a closer look.

The bridge spans a stream that has quite a bit of water in it. It may be the ditch that was used to drain the old Beaver Lake and the wetlands around it--I do not know enough about the area to be sure. If you go all the way under the bridge and look up, you will realize that the decking on the bridge is wood.

You can also learn that by going up on the bridge and looking at it. It is a wooden bridge, or at least partly a wooden bridge.

 

I am impressed that the local government in Newton County preserved this structure rather than tearing it down and replacing it with a bland concrete-slab bridge.

North of CR 700N lies the Conrad Savanna, a nature preserve run by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. I have not explored this preserve, though it sounds interesting.  The area south of the road has No-Trespassing signs on it.

(Conrad Savanna is not to be confused with Conrad Station, run by the Nature Conservancy and east of US 41. The Conrad Station preserve has an interesting treasure in it that will be the subject of another post. The bridge mentioned in the link is our bridge described in this post.)