Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing series which runs each Thursday morning titled the Richland Chronicles Volume 2, by author Paul Lintern. It is set in the summer of 1831 and tells the story of Richland County through the eyes of young people. This is the second in a three-book trilogy. Volume 1 was Amelia Changes Her Tune.
Amelia’s recovery was a long one.
Autumn and the women of the Inn took very seriously the long-term plan for getting her better, which meant that Amelia had to wait until Elizabeth gave her permission to do anything new.
The boys had been around day and night for quite some time. Wolf Paw had given Amelia a belt made out of the skin of the snake that bit her.
Wolf Paw’s grandmother had waited until Amelia was better then asked Wolf Paw to take her and Mrs. Big Rivers back home. Isaac decided to go with him.
It had been more than a month since Isaac had been at the reserve, and though that was not unusual, Isaac had especially wanted to get back there, and not because of Eliza. It was because he wanted to know that the Wyandots would stay and not move west.
When they arrived in Upper Sandusky, Isaac asked to meet with Margaret’s father, Squire Grey-Eyes.
“What does the friend of Widow Tallman’s grandson, and of my daughter and son, want to know of this son of the great Doctor GreyEyes?” he asked.
“Are you staying here?”
“Son?”
“Are you staying here, or will the President make you leave?”
“Son, when we signed a treaty with our Great Father in Washington, it was with the promise that this land would be ours forever. Mr. Cass was the agent who helped make the treaty. He told us, and me personally, that we should always keep this land.
“That was only 13 years ago.”
“But what about the law?” Isaac asked.
“That same Mr. Cass is now Secretary of War for President Jackson, and he now says that the Indians should be moved to the Kansas territory.”
“Then you are going?”
“I am going to believe his words of 13 years ago, and we will keep this land forever,” Squire Grey-Eyes said.
“Then you are staying.”
“Forever. Unless we can’t.”
“So you may not be staying,” Isaac said.
“Things change, and we must change with them,” he replied.
So I hear, Isaac thought.
As he walked out of the house he saw his group of friends gathered around the fire, even though the evening was too hot to need a fire.
“Was your conversation good?” Wolf Paw asked.
“Guess he said what I expected,” Isaac said.
“Which was?”
“Things change,” Isaac said.
“Things change,” Wolf Paw said.
“Things change,” Margaret said.
“Things change,” Eliza repeated.
The others nodded in agreement, until Wolf Paw spoke again.
“Why are we sounding so miserable? We are not old men, wishing for our youth. We have many tomorrows, and we must make good use of them. Change does not mean bad, it just means different. Maybe we can turn change to good.”
Wolf Paw’s speech inspired Isaac, who suddenly hatched a new plan.
“Let’s go to Kansas and see this land for ourselves.”
“Do you even know where Kansas is?” Wolf Paw asked.
“To the west, where the sun sets,” Isaac said.
“Yes, after the sun sets on Ohio, and Indiana, and Illinois and the Mississippi River and Missouri,” Wolf Paw said. “Your older cousin, Samuel, went all the way to the Mississippi two months ago, just to see, and he is not even back yet.”
“Then where can we go?” Isaac asked.
“Go visit one who has seen the most change,” said Squire Grey-Eyes, overhearing the conversation. “Go see my Shawnee brother, Chief Black Hoof, down in Wapak village. He has been on this land longer than anyone I have known, more than a century. Let him tell you about what he sees by telling you what he’s seen.”
Isaac and Wolf Paw looked at each other and nodded.
“If he is that old, we must leave tomorrow,” Isaac said.
“If you think we should wait that long,” Wolf Paw replied.
The next morning, with Green saddled, fed and groomed, and ready for adventure, the boys hopped on and started west. They were to travel about a day’s journey to the Miami and Erie Canal, then follow south along the canal until they reached the village, after about 20 miles.
The land was flat, the travel was easy, and while the boys were tempted to run Green through the pasture lands, they kept the pace slower for the longer trip. The canal was a new sight for both boys, a long straight path that would allow two boats to pass each other.
These were not the big ships with masts, which they had seen in their geography books. These were long and narrow boats, with flat roofs, sitting low in the water, pulled by horses walking on towpaths next to the canal.
In hilly land, the canals had a series of locks, designed to raise and lower the boats a little at a time. It slowed the travel down a lot. But here, out west, the locks were hardly needed and the canal boats went unhindered for many miles.
The boys hoped to see many boats but rode the towpath for several miles before they finally saw one, and then they were chased off the path by a foul-mouthed, mean-looking boat captain.
“I don’t suppose it is as exciting to ride the canal as we thought,” Wolf Paw said.
“We could canoe faster than that,” Isaac said.
“And meet nicer people,” Wolf Paw added.
Isaac burst out laughing. As they entered the village of Wapaughkonnnetta, they saw many things similar to Mansfield and Upper Sandusky — houses, shops, hotel, markethouse, central park, livery barns. Some of the people were Shawnees, certainly, but many others lived there, from the east, from the south, from Canada and Europe.
Isaac asked the blacksmith if he knew where Black Hoof lived.
“The old man does not leave his home much anymore. You can find him at the edge of the village, near the farm with a big white barn,” he said.
The boys found it and, looking as polite and well-groomed as possible, walked onto the front porch and knocked on the door. An elderly woman, whom they later learned was the chief’s daughter, invited them in, after they introduced themselves and the reason they were there.
She asked them to sit in a parlor, a nice room with two soft horsehair couches, while she prepared her father for visitors. A quarter hour later she returned to invite them in.
