4th of July in Leetonia

Ferns on Leetonia Rd

Lee Mowing near Township mower

Ruins officially becomes the Tannery

There are a lot of people up to their camps this weekend. It is a big weekend for picnics and outdoor fun. Mother Nature cooperated on the 3rd, but the fourth looks like a chance of rain again. The rain has been so consistent that it has been hard to keep up with the mowing. It seems the sunny days are only for mowing the grass that has burst up from all the rain then it is back to rain. The township parked their mower in our yard for over the weekend as they too have been working on brush chopping the sides of the road. Next week they are closing Leetonia road going South of Leetonia for a couple days to repair a couple of culvert pipes under the road between Leetonia and Fahneystock.  The forest is so green in comparison to winter time it almost feels closed in this year...like living in a cave of green.

The old Ruins Camp is officially changed names to "The Tannery". They posted a very nice sign in front showing the old tannery. So from now on I will only refer to it as the Tannery. According to John at the Tannery, Snagglenose is still around and so is a smaller bear who is very much covered in mange. John thinks it is a second year cub. It made a disturbing look into his kitchen window while they were cooking bacon. The poor thing's entire face and ears were bald and most of its chest. Mange is very spreadable to other bears and the State tries to catch the ones with Mange and treat them or put them under if they have lost more than 50% of their hair. Mange is a cruel death when winter comes as the bears can not stay warm and will end up dying. Here is link to page with Mange bear's picture. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Ruins has new owners

After a long day of cleaning

This weekend the new owners of ruins spent some long hard hours cleaning. The picture of them is a bit dark, but from left to right are: Eric Kosek, Pat Wildeman, and John Schilken. They bought the Ruins to have a nice place to bring family members who are interested in the hunting and fishing in the back woods of Leetonia. It had been a while since the Ruins had seen so much soap and elbow grease and the smell of dead things was greatly reduced by the time I visited on Saturday evening. In fact, the place smelled so good I wasn't sure I was at the Ruins.

They have a lot of plans for the Ruins, not the least might be a name change according to Pat, they are looking for something a little more upbeat. Also plenty of maintenance and remodeling will be going on to give the place an inside face lift.

The men were smart getting the most of the cleaning done before they have the women come up who I am sure will re-clean everything without the knowledge of squirrels and many mice who had taken up residence in the camp during the periods when few people came up.  So when you see some new faces in Leetonia give them a big welcome to our area. 

On a sadder note. Jimmy Crooket, who was one of the previous owners of the Ruins, passed on a couple weeks ago. I think he did this so he can spend all his time walking around the hills and mountains of the woods of Tioga with all the old hunters and residents of Leetonia who have gone before him. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

If you want to see the Half-track that used to be at Ruins click here.

Ruins Camp for sale

All good things come to an end and it seems the members of the Ruins Camp are all getting older and decided to sell. This camp has three acres and at least a couple hundred feet on it are right on Cedar Run Creek.
They put a kitchen addition on a few years ago...which is very nice. The rest of the camp needs some work. The water comes from a spring and I am not sure what the septic system is.
The camp has 4 bedrooms, one of which holds to bunk bed units(one is 3 bunks high..the room is tall in bunk room).
There is an old barn on the place which had a new metal roof put on it last year. The back side near
creek needs some foundation work.
The creek view from the deck is unmatched. There is a solid rock bottom to creek that runs at least the length of the cabin and makes for great body sledding down the stream. You can always see trout swimming just outside the back door.
For someone not afraid of a little work this place has a lot of potential. They have made me in charge of showing it to people and are taking offers. Contact me at campeaglebear@yahoo.com if you are interested.
The hummingbirds are still at it strong and it seems all I do is fill feeders when I am not working. I am down to my last ten pounds of
40lbs I bought just a week ago. For such small birds they can sure eat a lot. If you are in the area come sit on our porch in the evening or morning it is quite a treat. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Rattlesnakes and memories

This is in response to a nice email I received from Peter saying he was enjoying the blog and recalling his time as a youth in Leetonia during the 70's.

According to Peter his family owned the cabin in the first two pictures, which is now owned by Cassels. Peter's memories are as follows:
Our cabin was built by my dad as a pre-fab home. As you drive up the very steep hill on the way to Wally's, ours was the first cabin on the right.....just above the Cassels (our relatives). It was red/rust with a small shed in the front that my dad built. It had a screened in back porch.

We would drive down from central New York often and enter from Ansonia. I remember how excited I'd get as we'd gas up at the Ansonia gas station before entering the forest. Writing about it now makes me realize how much I miss it, and what a special place Leetonia is.

I remember Dad had interviewed Leo Bailey, who had been born in Leetonia and he had given dad a, autobiography and pictures of Leetonia back in the logging days. On the quietest of afternoons there, I had difficulty trying to imagine how different Leetonia was in the early 1900's with barely a tree in sight.

Peter also recalled being nervous walking around "The Ruins", shown in the last two pictures because of the rattlesnakes in the old Tannery Foundations. I can tell you from personal experience his nervousness is well founded. I have seen two Timber Rattlers in that area one on the road going up to his old place.

If you haven't been up for a while you will notice the Ruins added on to their camp last year..the siding is still waiting to be finished. Also for all of you wanting more information don't worry there is a lot to tell about Leetonia. I will repost some of the stories I have had published in the near future on this blog. Until then, Mountain Girl, Paula, Logging Out!