Reflections on Chapter 6 and Lake James Project

I found chapter six to be interesting in making note of special jargon or insider language. That is a great idea for the Lake James project. It reminds me of when Jim and Flaime presented their material to us on Lake James and used the word, "summer kids." That would fall into this category. I'm sure there are other words too that could be unique to the lake culture. Making note of these words would help greatly to connect with an insider view. I could see where it might be hard for Jim or Flaime to think of language connected solely to the lake community because it would be so commonplace to them living at the lake year round. I think even words used for special places at the lake or events that only lake people would know what those words meant, would qualify to be in a glossary of the lake culture.

The research is moving along though it seems sometimes at a snail's pace to be moving. I can't seem to find the connection between Riley and Lake James. I have looked through a multitude of sources for anything that would indicate the origin of the name of the lake. Rivers were more important in early settlements while lakes were not important and rarely mentioned. I am learning a lot about early Indiana which is fascinating, but not really on the subject of Lake James. I have learned more about Pokagon than I have too about the lake itself. I feel like I am not really on the right track. I'm not sure if the important topic is Riley himself or just the point of contact between Riley and Lake James. Maybe the topic should be early Lake James rather than one man who seems to have very little documentation about the lake. I still have some books that I need to search though for information before I am ready to call this a brick wall.

I have tried even different searches for ways to find information on Lake James, but little is written about the lake in the beginning days of settling Indiana. Again, it is the towns and settlements and rivers that were important. From what I gather, the northeast section of Indiana was very swampy and hard to navigate through which might be another reason little is written or documented.

If I can't find some information this week, I will talk with Jim and Flaime and see what other direction they might like me to pursue. Jim did say last night at the library that he had an atlas with a notation of Riley and the naming of Lake James. He is supposed to send me an email about this. I wonder why that wasn't in the original folder on Riley. I probably should verify anyway with the two of them just what the main topic of research is again; Riley or history of Lake James or the name of Lake James.

It is interesting that when I started the research on this service learning project, I had a clear-cut idea that I was looking at Riley and his connection to the lake. I didn't expect the waters to be muddied so soon for lack of material. I thought that I was going to find plenty of information and my biggest challenge was going to be documenting everything. It just shows that you never know quite how research will go or what direction it takes you sometimes.