Back when I was in High School (graduating class of 65)....1965 not 1865...I did a little research and found out some information about the little town Silveyville....Silveyville was the predecessor to my hometown. The last building in the town of Silveyville moved to the just completed railroad tracks in 1878 and the new location of Dixon....Go Rams.
It was said that the buildings of Silveyville were moved by oxen team to this new location and were perplexed by the height of the railroad tracks....The moving homes could not make the railroad embankment and were therefore placed on the North side of the tracks.
I knew this to be true....The old church & several older homes were at this location...just North West of the downtown frosty freeze & Dixon lumber yard. The town of Dixon grew around this nucleus and had become the town I knew. Go Rams.....
I drove the mile & a half North out to the home of Sid Schroeder...Sid lived at Silveyville at least where Silveyville used to be......Now Sid was a friend of my fathers....you know how small towns are....They're pretty tight. Often everyone knows everyone else's business....sometimes good & sometimes bad. In this case good...
Sid lived in a newer home (1930's).... A short sidewalk led between two palm trees to the front door of his single story brown shingle home. I knocked on his front door on a Saturday afternoon & introduced myself..... Hi....I'm the son of....and collect old bottles.
Mr. Schroeder was great....he not only gave me permission to snoop around his property but pointed out two tall Cypress trees just of to the side of his property. He said that the two Cypress marked the site of the "old hotel".
Now in my research, I had found that Silveyville was very small & barely noticeable stop on an old wagon trail...The literature said that Sam Silvey used to leave a lantern burning in the hotel window to attract guests.
Wow this would be great.....I walked immediately to the Cypress trees and began to probe around. After a short while I found a soft place & began to dig with a shovel. The trash layer was rather shallow, about 24" in depth. There was very little glass as I dug through the debris....Mostly I found beef bones...like maybe from the hotel kitchen.
I continued digging the shallow layer hoping to drop off into some depth....that would not occur. Several hours later & several hundred chalk white decaying beef bones I had found one spice bottle (nothing great) and a belt buckle (real great)...The belt buckle was a poured brass oval with a raised Eagle....see I told you it was great.
If this was all that I was to find the belt buckle would make the effort worth while....but no there was one more treasure to unearth...
At the back of the beef bones I spotted a curved piece of "clear" glass.....now "clear" usually doesn't mean good news....I carefully dug around the item & found the clear glass to be that of a whale oil lantern...the sides were embossed with union shields & the best part was that the milk glass pedestal that held the whale oil reservoir was attached to it by a brass sleeve. The top of the lamp still had its brass wick & chimney holder.
I gathered up my goodies & drove back home......after several months I was able to purchase a new chimney for my lamp.....In all reality the whale oil lamp is just a lamp..... but in my imagination I see this lamp in the front window of the Silveyville Hotel welcoming travelers in from the night. Sam I'll be keeping the light on for ya
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It was said that the buildings of Silveyville were moved by oxen team to this new location and were perplexed by the height of the railroad tracks....The moving homes could not make the railroad embankment and were therefore placed on the North side of the tracks.
I knew this to be true....The old church & several older homes were at this location...just North West of the downtown frosty freeze & Dixon lumber yard. The town of Dixon grew around this nucleus and had become the town I knew. Go Rams.....
I drove the mile & a half North out to the home of Sid Schroeder...Sid lived at Silveyville at least where Silveyville used to be......Now Sid was a friend of my fathers....you know how small towns are....They're pretty tight. Often everyone knows everyone else's business....sometimes good & sometimes bad. In this case good...
Sid lived in a newer home (1930's).... A short sidewalk led between two palm trees to the front door of his single story brown shingle home. I knocked on his front door on a Saturday afternoon & introduced myself..... Hi....I'm the son of....and collect old bottles.
Mr. Schroeder was great....he not only gave me permission to snoop around his property but pointed out two tall Cypress trees just of to the side of his property. He said that the two Cypress marked the site of the "old hotel".
Now in my research, I had found that Silveyville was very small & barely noticeable stop on an old wagon trail...The literature said that Sam Silvey used to leave a lantern burning in the hotel window to attract guests.
Wow this would be great.....I walked immediately to the Cypress trees and began to probe around. After a short while I found a soft place & began to dig with a shovel. The trash layer was rather shallow, about 24" in depth. There was very little glass as I dug through the debris....Mostly I found beef bones...like maybe from the hotel kitchen.
I continued digging the shallow layer hoping to drop off into some depth....that would not occur. Several hours later & several hundred chalk white decaying beef bones I had found one spice bottle (nothing great) and a belt buckle (real great)...The belt buckle was a poured brass oval with a raised Eagle....see I told you it was great.
If this was all that I was to find the belt buckle would make the effort worth while....but no there was one more treasure to unearth...
At the back of the beef bones I spotted a curved piece of "clear" glass.....now "clear" usually doesn't mean good news....I carefully dug around the item & found the clear glass to be that of a whale oil lantern...the sides were embossed with union shields & the best part was that the milk glass pedestal that held the whale oil reservoir was attached to it by a brass sleeve. The top of the lamp still had its brass wick & chimney holder.
I gathered up my goodies & drove back home......after several months I was able to purchase a new chimney for my lamp.....In all reality the whale oil lamp is just a lamp..... but in my imagination I see this lamp in the front window of the Silveyville Hotel welcoming travelers in from the night. Sam I'll be keeping the light on for ya![
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