Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
We have yet to deal with some very important history on the lower course of the Kenapocomoco. Seven miles above the mouth of Eel River about half way between the villages of Hoover and Adamsboro there existed for a century or more one of the most important Miami Indian towns in Indiana. Its Indian name was Kena-pe-com-a-qua, which the reader will recognize as one form of our word Kenapocomoco, or Eel. When it was founded we do not know. The early settlers of Kentucky and southern Indiana knew of it as the place from which marauding bands of Indians would descend upon the frontier settlements. Many unfortunate white captives were brought to this place and burned at the stake. The early Americans learned to know this place as one of the largest and most dangerous Indian settlements in the Northwest. So great became the ravages that it was decided that something must be done.
With the coming of the white settlers in the thirties, Old Town, the former Kenapecomaqua, ceased to be important and soon ceased to be. But the name and Indian traditions continued for decades. Mr. John Wild who is still living near Adamsboro says that he plowed up the old battlefield in the early seventies. He uncovered guns and relics of all descriptions. In the same furrow he found a Catholic cross and a medal struck in honor of Frederick the Great with the inscription "The defender of Protestants." Mr. Wild points out the old dancing circle and many other traces of Indian days.
An old tradition has caused many searches for hidden gold in this community. The story goes that during the French and English struggles for this territory the French government at Montreal and Quebec sent some $10,000 in gold by a Catholic priest down the Eel River to pacify the Indian tribes here and below. When he reached Kenapecomaqua, he learned of a plot to murder him and take his money. He is said to have buried the money and returned to Canada. He never returned and many have been the searches for the lost treasure.
With the coming of the white settlers in the thirties, Old Town, the former Kenapecomaqua, ceased to be important and soon ceased to be. But the name and Indian traditions continued for decades. Mr. John Wild who is still living near Adamsboro says that he plowed up the old battlefield in the early seventies. He uncovered guns and relics of all descriptions. In the same furrow he found a Catholic cross and a medal struck in honor of Frederick the Great with the inscription "The defender of Protestants." Mr. Wild points out the old dancing circle and many other traces of Indian days.
An old tradition has caused many searches for hidden gold in this community. The story goes that during the French and English struggles for this territory the French government at Montreal and Quebec sent some $10,000 in gold by a Catholic priest down the Eel River to pacify the Indian tribes here and below. When he reached Kenapecomaqua, he learned of a plot to murder him and take his money. He is said to have buried the money and returned to Canada. He never returned and many have been the searches for the lost treasure.
