'Custer's Gold,' surveyors, and much appreciation

The father of our country was a surveyor. The father of yours truly was a surveyor. These are simply statements of fact without intent to compare one to the other.

For roughly 20 years, I worked on a surveying crew, mostly full-time summers, weekends and, occasionally, weekdays when I wasn’t in school, college or working as a pressman. I always enjoyed the field work. The office work, not so much.

Surveyors have always been held in high esteem by me. Think about it. Whatever road you travel, before there was a road, there was a surveyor. Before there was a railroad line or an airport runway, there was a surveyor. If you’re a fan of electricity, you might know that before there were utility poles and power lines in place, there was a surveyor. The same goes for water lines, sewer lines, bridges, urban streets and sidewalks, baseball diamonds, football fields, community subdivisions, shopping centers and movie theaters. Surveyors were there first.

So, when I was contacted earlier this month by M. John Lubetkin, the author of “Custer’s Gold,” a post-Civil War fictional account of surveyors plotting the route of the Northern Pacific Railroad from Duluth, Minn. westward through Indian territory to the Yellowstone River, well, let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised.

While “Custer’s Gold” is a work of fiction, Mr. Lubetkin also works in many historical accuracies. Surveyors like Gen. Ira Spaulding, Monty Meigs and Shorty Graham (who was both a surveyor and a newspaperman, the poor schlepper) are mentioned in the arduous adventure.

The author, in a recent email, also pointed out several Ohio connections to the Northern Pacific Railroad.

“Beginning with President Grant (from neighboring Brown County), many civilians and virtually every key major military official was Ohio born or raised, including generals W.T. Sherman, P.H. Sheridan, G.A. Custer and D.S. Stanley. Sherman’s influential senator-brother was closely involved, as was the railroad’s financier, Sandusky native Jay Cooke, who owned an island in Lake Erie. Thus, it was with keen interest that Ohio residents followed the army in general and the popular Gen. Custer in particular as they protected the surveyors (with varying degrees of success) in battles with the Sioux along the picturesque Yellowstone River.”

Having been to Yellowstone and the Little Bighorn River (and final battle site for Gen. Custer) only added to my enjoyment of “Custer’s Gold.”

One of the reviews of the book compares Mr. Lubetkin’s style to that of noted Western writer Louis L’Amour. I can see that. (And, yes, I also like Louis L’Amour Westerns.)

One more thing worth noting: "Custer's Gold" also includes a reference to one of President Lincoln's favorite newspapermen, one Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby, pseudonym of 1860s Toledo Blade columnist David Ross Locke.

The first time I recall hearing the name Petroleum Nasby was in a letter about a year ago from one of my dear friends. I'm pleased that Mr. Lubetkin worked Nasby into "Custer's Gold."

If you enjoy a fast-paced narrative, sharp dialogue, with plenty of action, suspense and a lot of adventure thrown in just for fun, read “Custer’s Gold.” It’s an especially great wintertime read.

It is available online at http://www.amazon.com/Custers-Gold-M-John-Lubetkin/dp/1618639269.

Thanks, Mr. Lubetkin, for sharing your wonderful book.

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We get by with a little help from our friends

I started sending multiple emails during Sunday morning church services. Granted, Sunday ought to be a day of rest and worship, and I understand and appreciate those who abide by such.

As it were, I arrived at the newspaper office on this most recent Sunday only to find that our Linksys ethernet hub was fried – most likely during a Friday power outage.

Finding a 16-port local area network hub in Hillsboro on a Sunday morning is the ultimate scavenger hunt – or close to it.

In other words, similar to Johnny Cash, I got to work on Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.

The only two local stores that were open on Sunday morning that came to mind were Radio Shack and Walmart. The gentleman at the former suggested I call the latter – and vice versa.

I then called and emailed Tim Hamilton at Greystone Systems near Marshall. More on that in a moment.

Meanwhile, I was emailing anyone and everyone who may have had a cell phone number for Greystone Systems.

Knowing that the county government uses Greystone, I contacted Commissioners Shane Wilkin and Tom Horst and Auditor Bill Fawley. All three were quick to respond, for which I thank them. Shane was able to provide a cell number.

In between communications with the county officials, I'd also contacted Terry Mikkelsen, a local IT professional. In addition, I called, emailed or faxed Staples, Best Buy, Micro Center Computer Hubs R Us (OK, I made up that last one) and anyone else who might have a multi-port hub.

Then, for some reason, I called my friend Pat Hays, the general manager of WVNU Radio.

"Good morning, Rory," Pat said upon answering my call.

"Who takes care of your IT issues?" I asked, and explained my dilemma about a dead hub.

"You mean a switch?" Pat asked.

(I thought we might be entering into some sort of "Sling Blade" conversation; i.e. "Some folks call it a Sling Blade, I call it a Kaiser Blade.")

Switch. Hub. Any Port in a storm, I thought.

Then, Pat said three magic words. "I have one."

Sure enough, while our old Linksys hub is called a hub, the Netgear switch is called a switch.

Regardless, after a quick trip to Greenfield, when I pulled all the ethernet cables from the old hub and inserted them into the new switch, we were quickly back in business.

With an early press time due to New Year's Day, Pat's generosity is appreciated more than words can say. Thank you, Pat. Thank you. Thank you.

Also, my thanks to Tim Hamilton for returning a Sunday email and offering his assistance. Shane, Tom, Bill, Terry and the gentleman at the Beechmont Avenue Staples store also were kind enough to return a Sunday call. Thank you.

Lastly, my daughter, Meghan, gets a note of appreciation for going to Staples to pick up a new hub er … switch for us.

Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press.