Book Reviews

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Chapter 8 of Fine Line is entitled Wanna Buy Some Swampland? Fine Line is the sequel to Woodcutter’s Revival. Both books are historical fiction set at the beginning of the final phase of the Industrial Revolution in the early Twentieth Century.

In Chapter 8, Victoria asks her aunt Whitney how she had been married and widowed. Whitney explains her past, how she met her husband, John and how lost him prematurely.She also tells about John’s farms, especially the English Lake farm in the area that used to be known as the Grand Kankakee Marsh in northwestern Indiana.

The following is an excerpt from chapter 8:

“The area was called the Grand Kankakee Marsh. It was originally five hundred thousand acres of swampland. Before they were rounded-up and marched to reservations in the West, the Potawatomie Nation made a huge settlement in the area. They placed spiritual significance upon the area where rivers met. The rivers were the Kankakee and the Yellow Rivers in an area known as English Lake.”

Victoria interjected, “Is that Biblical or just a superstition, the part about land near the confluence of rivers holding spiritual powers?”

Michael answered, “Well Princess, I don’t know. You have to consider the Garden of Eden was estimated to have been located between the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers.The Tower of Babel was also located in the same area, considered to be the Cradle of Civilization.”

Whitney continued, “Even with the dredging and drainage ditches, the swamp and farm land didn’t drain until they broke a natural rock ledge in Momence Illinois. By the time John came along in the late eighteen nineties, the land was selling for a dollar fifty an acre. He bought five hundred acres near English Lake. The swamp had been a sportsman’s paradise with hunting and fishing, it drew people from all over the nation and the world.”

Victoria said, “The place sounds like paradise.

“Whitney answered, “By the time he got there, the Grand Kankakee Marsh was mostly gone. His farm, although the soil was extremely rich, still looked like a mud hole. Even with the drainage efforts, John had to pump to drain the land with wind mills. He felt badly that the swamp had been drained and the Potawatomie Nation had been displaced, but that had all been done prior to his purchase.

Fine Line is set to be published in 2014. Woodcutter’s Revival is available now.

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About the Author:

Jerry Slauter is a retired school teacher. He loves to spend time with his family. He also enjoys working in his metal, leather and wood shops. Woodcutter’s Revival was published in 2012. Jerry also published Revived: Story of Publishing a Christian Novel.

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