The Mississinewa Reservoir

Heartland History Interview 1 - Core Themes 1

Prior to my When Once Destroyed interview with Joshua Kluever and Kevin Mason for the Heartland History podcast in March, I enjoyed answering their thoughtful questions about my work describing the destruction of Somerset, Indiana and surrounding farm land for the Mississsinewa Reservoir in the Upper Wabash Valley Flood Control Project as directed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Indiana Flood Control and Water Resources Commission. For a few days I'll be sharing my responses here.

The Mississinewa Reservoir, Wabash, Miami, and Grant Counties, Indiana

Book/Core Themes

When Once Destroyed centers on the life and death of a small town, Somerset, Indiana. What first compelled you to tell this particular town’s story in the way you did rather than writing a more conventional local history? 

The birth of our grandson, Vern, knowing that telling the story of my dad, Vern, would have to include the story of how Dad’s community was destroyed by the Mississinewa Reservoir, a story that has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. My earliest memory is literally one that occurred on my grandparent’s farm

The title suggests both finality and memory. What does “destroyed” mean in the context of this town, and who decides when a place is truly gone?

It’s the way of life that was destroyed.  It’s an example of Wendell Berry’s thesis. Usually, towns like this and stories fade away unconsciously. In this case I've decided that the place is not gone.  My work has preserved the town. The reaction I’ve gotten from the people there has confirmed that. The town will live on through the course of my grandson’s life, at least, in the sense as I understand it, that our life continues for a long as anyone is alive who remembers us. With the increasing age of the people in the story, there was the increasing risk that the story would never be told. To whatever degree the story makes the people there uncomfortable, the reaction I have gotten is that people are grateful that they and their town are not going to be forgotten.