Lou’s View – June 23, 2016

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Grin and Bear it

by Lou Bernard

June’s been an interesting month. I recently had three brand-new experiences, all within three days. On Thursday, June 16th, I gave my first walking tour outside Lock Haven, in Beech Creek. On Friday, June 17th, it was my first time ever having a tour interrupted by a bear. And on Saturday, June 18th, I gave my first talk on a moving train, on Downtown Lock Haven’s annual trip to Bellefonte.

Let me guess which one you’d like more detail on.

It started out pretty much like any other tour I give. The topic was new. I’d announced that I was going to give a tour on Lock Haven’s railroads. I’d been asked by Downtown Lock Haven to do a talk on their train ride, so I thought I’d warm up by including the trains in my tours.

I give these tours all summer; you really should come along. Each one begins at the Ross Library at seven PM on a Friday. Each one has a different route or topic. Tomorrow’s is the history of Piper Aviation. On July 1st, it’s Church Street.

So anyway. I had close to twenty people on the tour. I talked about the origin of the railroads, and showed where some of the old depots used to be. I talked about the time President Grant took a train through Renovo, and the time a passenger train saw a naked sewing machine salesman running through Flemington. We got over to the ruins of the old machine storage building, and I was about to talk about them. You ought to check out the ruins—On Liberty Street, right beside the tracks, is a concrete base with a couple of metal girders sticking out of it. (I know you want to hear about the bear. It’s just that if I don’t work in some history, I’m in violation of contract. Or I would be, if anyone had ever made me sign a contract.) This is marked as “Machine Storage” on a 1925 map of Lock Haven, and is most likely where the railroads stored larger maintenance items.

As I was beginning, one of the people on the tour said,”Is that a bear?”

I looked, expecting to see maybe an especially fat German Shepherd. But, no, it was an actual black bear, running around near the Best Western.

I have to admit that my first thought was something along the lines of, Oh, god, my boss doesn’t even like me to give these tours in the rain.

I am relieved that it was a black bear, which can usually be pretty benevolent. I’ve encountered them in the wilderness three times, and while it was pretty nerve-wracking, at no point was I attacked. Grizzlies, on the other hand, will attack easily. They’ll attack if they’re annoyed, but that’s not hard. Being born about does it.

All of a sudden, all the cell phones came out. Everyone started taking photos. Chris Miller, who works for the Record, called the police. I was actually glad that we had about twenty witnesses, so I didn’t end up breathalyzed.

In all fairness, I cannot reasonably be blamed for not foreseeing this.

We watched as the bear ran around Lock Haven for a while. Nobody got too close, and in fact I gave a short talk on bear safety in the wilderness, in case anyone ever encountered one. It’s very important not to mess with them; always leave them alone. If you ever feel an animal is about to attack, hold up packs or lift up the ends of your jacket to make yourself look bigger; animals aren’t that smart. And make a lot of noise to intimidate them.

I gave a quick lecture on all this. I live to educate. And then I finished up pointing out the railroad ruins, and we headed back toward the library. Which, quite honestly, couldn’t come fast enough for me.

The next day when I bumped into John Lipez, the Record’s publisher, he said,”This needs to be a column!”

That appeals to me. It’s the kind of outrageous thing the newspapers would have reported on back in the early 1900s. And I love the idea of some researcher like myself finding this in a hundred years, and writing it up for an entertaining mention in the newspaper. You’re welcome, future readers of the Record.

And I’d like to invite everyone to come on the rest of the walking tours, which will be every Friday evening in June and July. I’ll have a lot of good information about local history. And, hopefully, at least seventy percent fewer bears.

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