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By: Jim Fitzpatrick |
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Email: jim@nunica.com |
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Local Farmer in Polkton Township writes for the Coopersville Observer. |
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Along Brandy Creek By Jim Fitzpatrick
The Coopersville Observer April 21, 2014 - - No. 128 |
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The two brothers loaded their canoe into the back of the dark green pick-up truck. Their thoughts were on the new bridge they had been hearing about that is being built across the Grand River at the end of 120th Avenue, to the south and west of Nunica. Construction continued on through the past winter even though it was one of unusually blustery conditions. It was time to have a first hand, close-up look at what was going on over there. To believe that soon there would be a nearby crossing of the Grand, without traveling to Eastmanville or Grand Haven, seemed a bit strange.
The ice had gone out of the river more than a month ago. Their canoe slipped easily into the muddy waters flowing west; and carried the two paddlers downstream toward the huge pier rising high above the surface at mid-stream. At opposite banks, one each of the same, towered skyward; waiting to span the Grand with the huge steel I-beams lying on the banks. In the distance, both north and south, identical concrete supports dotted the surface above the wetlands leading away from the river.
An unusually interesting and pleasant woman met the two guys as they pulled their canoe up into the construction area on the south bank. Helen’s house and yard were obvious, at the edge of the torn up work area. She had lived in the peace and quiet of the river’s edge for more than forty years. “We all knew that it was coming,” she said, “so might just as well live with it!” She offered a slight smile with her words. “They wanted to take my place too, like the three others that are gone now; but, I said no - I won’t be leaving here.”
The north side of the river, the south side of the river; two very separate communities soon to be joined by a new road over the water that was an obstacle for generations. Will Helen sleep as well when the swish swish of vehicles passing over her grand river through the night break the silence of centuries past?! The two fellows in the canoe returned to the north bank, both feeling some reluctance to the changes to come. |
