Louis Philip Trutter Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
Louis Philip Trutter Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
Louis Philip Trutter Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
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Q. Rope, and they used to take it out over the river and drop themselves someyhere. (Chuckle)<br />
A. I'l tell you this. They had camps on the Sangarnon River, In the '20's, thew was a camp<br />
called Camp Colgan. Now the Colgans were a good Irish Catholic family<br />
money in coal during the World War I and there was movement called the<br />
and it was in competition with the Boy Scouts. Have you ever heard<br />
Q. No.<br />
A, Do you want me to talk?<br />
Q. Sure.<br />
A. So, I can remember the Colgans donated a couple <strong>of</strong> hundred <strong>of</strong> acres <strong>of</strong> l&d for Camp<br />
Colgan out west and a little bit north <strong>of</strong> <strong>Springfield</strong> here. I'm not quite sure I +an find it now but<br />
the Sangamon River ran around it and they had a sand bar. There was a big cu@e in the river<br />
there and there was a sand bar and that's where the kids from the camp went down to swim and it<br />
was, oh, a good block to go down there, and we went down and swam in that damn river and as a<br />
matter <strong>of</strong> fact my father lost a younger brother. They had a picnic. This was ears and years ago.<br />
The kid was 12 or 13 years old, 11 years old, and they had a country picnic. 3h ey lived out on<br />
the east side <strong>of</strong> Springfdd and they had a country picnic out there and one af+rnoon all the kids<br />
went swimming in the river and he drowned.<br />
Q. Was there a rip tide that made it so dangerous or whirlpools?<br />
A. Yeah, whirlpools and there were lots <strong>of</strong> trees and things which fell in the dver and the<br />
swimmers would get caught in them<br />
Q. Was there a waterfall <strong>of</strong> any kind to change the terrain. Was it a rushing fiver? How deep<br />
was it?<br />
A. Shallow and deep. It just depended on where you were in it.<br />
Q. It varied.<br />
4. It varied, yeah,<br />
Q. What size boat could you take on it?<br />
A. Well, how far back do you.want to go? Look at Abe Lincoln who was in a flat boat that came<br />
all the way up there and got stuck in a dam or a raft. They got stuck on the (8am at Petenburg<br />
there. New Salen SQ it was much more navigable than it is today. But thaq Camp Colgan. That<br />
was terrible. My father took me out there one Sunday and then they dumpeQ me there to stay for
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