Aukiki River Festival

10/16/2026

10/02/2026

Religious persecution and economic hardships led many Dutch to emigrate to America during the mid to late 19th century. The Kankakee Marsh, in Jasper County, attracted a large number of these dissatisfied Dutch. Thomas Swart left his native Holland in 1868 and settled in Cicero, Illinois. Then, in 1888 he purchased 234 acres in Keener Township along the Kankakee Marsh and built up his farm. This farm property contained the legionary Grape Island! Thomas’s son Louis moved to Jasper County in 1903. Louis and his wife Anna Abbring had six children, the last of which was Leonard, born in 1908. Leonard purchased his farm in the late 1930s. In 1992 Leonard sat for the Demotte-Kankakee Valley Rotary Club Oral History Project to tell his story. Leonard “Buzz” led a diverse life along the Kankakee, including playing for the DeMotte baseball team. Leonard saw first-hand the dredging of the Kankakee: “I saw the dredge that dug the Kankakee River out on the Old Grade. My dad heard in town that it was going to be up close by the Grade. We got in the Model T and went out to see it. It was a big outfit. It wasn’t done in one year.” Leonard married Mary Catherine White in 1933 and four children.

Leonard passed away in 2000, Mary Catherine followed eight months later. I want to thank Dan Swart, Leonard’s grandson, for family pictures and more details about his grandfather’s life. Go here to read Leonard’s life story: http://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org/?page_id=1416 Leonard Swart in front in between his parents. His brothers and sister are standing behind

09/18/2026

Historian Dick Schmal wrote in “Tales of the People and Places of the Olde Kankakee River:” “Rol Gordon, a Paul Bunyan-type character, is supposed to have roamed the Kankakee Valley for as long as anyone can remember. The buck-skinned giant was said to tell tall tales about the animals in the region, including man-eating turtles and buffalo fish bigger than a man, with scales twice as big as a silver dollar. That old river holds lots of secrets, and some people say that if you listen to the murmur in the wind down the valley, it may be old Rol telling animal stories once again in the "Land of the Wolves."

The Gordon family settled in the Kankakee Marsh area of south Porter County by the mid-1840s. Solomon “Sol” Gordon was born in 1834 to John and Sally Gordon. The John Gordon family arrived in Indiana by 1844 and established his farm in Boone Township. Sol was the oldest of seven children born to John and Sally. Sol was ‘one with the marsh’ and knew it like the back of his hand. His listed profession was butcher, but his love and knowledge of the Kankakee Marsh was where his heart was.

Around 1875 Sol built a steam powered barge that he used to transport timber to Momence. By that time railroad construction was in full force and the demand for timber was huge with that; and the rebuilding of Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire. Soggy ground conditions made hauling timber by wagon impractical. One day the engine quit — Sol traveled to Valparaiso to fetch Dell Kellogg, who installed the engine. After replacing a gasket and stripped out threads the engine was up and running. Sol and Dell later partnered and formed one of the earliest steamboat businesses of the Kankakee Marsh. With Sol’s vast knowledge of the river and Dell’s machinist background the business was quite successful.

Roscoe Leslie “Rol” Gordon was born in 1858 in Indiana to Samuel and Rachael McCandless Gordon. Sol and Samuel were either brothers or cousins. Rol was born in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana. By 1870 the Gordon family is living in Union Township, Porter County. In 1883 Rol married Sophia Volke, they had five children. In 1934 Rol’s daughter, Gene Gordon Dye wrote to the Vidette-Messenger about the life of her father. Rol was best known for building and running hunting clubhouses on the Kankakee. In 1896 Rol operated the place at Baum’s Bridge, later known as Colliers.

Rol passed away in 1937. His obituary sums up his life and that of the Kankakee best: “Mr. Gordon was widely known among sportsmen, having been intimately identified with the Kankakee in the days when that entire region was teeming with wildlife of endless variety. The clubhouses owned and operated by him were gathering places where the friend and the stranger were equally welcome. It seems a sad but fitting coincidence that with the ruination of the marsh lands by commercial interests, and the passing of that river paradise, so passed the prime of life for this man, exponent of that era of freedom and Rol Gordon and the Kankakee gradually faded from the picture together, the curtain to rise no more.”
Rol Gordon is pictured in the above image.

Dick Schmal's "Tales of the People and Places of the Olde Kankakee River" is now in its third printing. Go here to purchase "Tales of the Peoople and places of the Olde Kankakee River" :https://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org/?page_id=3147

08/21/2026

The Hall family story is one of the more interesting Kankakee River tales. Edward Hall was born in Ireland in 1812. He immigrated to Canada with his wife, Ann Maxwell, where they lived for two years and then on to Indiana in 1836. They owned property in section 6 in Pleasant Township, Porter County. Major McFadin was a close friend of Edward Hall's and wrote this: "I was acquainted with him for over 20 years, and he was a good, kind man, and had a large family of boys, all hunters and trappers, and they lived like Robinson Crusoe in the wilderness, without any neighbors within 5 or 6 miles of them, and I begrudged them their happy and wild life, and would like to have joined them in their romantic home near the banks of the Kankakee." Edward died in 1881 and Ann in 1914.

James was born to Edward and Ann in 1853. James married Nancy Cannon of Kouts in 1875, they had 8 children. A majority of the following comes from the writings of historian Richard "Dick" C. Schmal as was told to him by Kris Hall, the grandson of James.

James and Nancy Hall lived in San Pierre, Indiana. James was working stacking hay on the Brown Ranch near Shelby, Indiana. He heard that a dredge barge was for sale and purchased it. In 1900 he decided to move his family to Shelby on the barge that he converted to a houseboat. The houseboat was 34 by 14 feet in size. Schmal writes: "There were nine family members who made the trip: James and Nancy, along with daughters Ella, Daisy, Dora and Hazel, and sons Elmer, Millard and John (who was just a baby). Also, several old hound dogs, a flock of chickens and barrels filled with staples such as flour and apples added to the clutter."

The Hall family moved slowly down the Kankakee. "In late November they finally reached the 3-I railroad bridge above Shelby. Here they had to stop for the winter because they were driving pilings for a new bridge... In the late spring of 1901 the new bridge was completed and the old pilings were cut away, leaving room for the barge to pass through." writes Schmal.

The Hall family found a place near Shelby. "The family lived on the floating houseboat for a period of time until it began to leak so badly that it had to be pulled onto the bank, where they lived for several years (at least through 1917), paying five dollars rent annually for the site."

Around 1910 James leaves his family in Shelby and moves to Florida. His obituary dated July 23, 1920 reads: James Hall, known as "Dad", was found dead on Shell Island in his bachelor's quarters Sunday afternoon by Tom Williams. As near as could be ascertained the old fisherman came to his death from natural causes. The only articles found in his pockets were receipts for dues paid the Odd Fellows Lodge. He had been living on Shell Island, acting as fisherman and guide for a number of years, and living the life of a hermit." Nancy died in Shelby in 1945.

The Halls were a large family and many descendants remain in Northwest Indiana to this day. Pictured is the Hall family in front of the barge that brought them to new home in Shelby.