CEYLON FACTS &
FANTASIES
June 30, July 1-2, 2000
CEYLON TUNNEL
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In the early days Ceylon was known as
the " Biggest Little Town in Minnesota" The
population of Ceylon was growing by leaps and bounds at
this time. Ceylon, indeed was a busy town. Many
businesses prospered . Two hardware stores, two pool
halls , a drug store, hotel, hatchery, movie theater,
clothing stores, a garage, barbershops a blacksmith shop,
harness shop and many more businesses all supported by
this tight knit little boom town.
It is reported, by the grapevine, that Ceylon hosted
illicit gambling games during this time including card
games; dice, punch-boards, and one -armed -bandits
Everyone knew that a "big game" was in process
when Cadillac's, Lincoln's and Limo's some with out -of
-state licenses were hidden in the back alleys. This led
a garage owner to take advantage of the situatio so that
the vehicles were not in plain view of the law . He hid
the out of staters in his garage until the notorious
games were over.
One Dunnell filling station attendant was known to give
these out of state gamblers directions to Ceylon like
this. While working with his head under the hood of a car
, he would rattle off these directions, " go east
until you can't go east anymore,then go south until you
can go east again. Go east again until you can't go east
anymore, go south until you can go east again---go east
until you get there. It is from this era that we get the
rumors of the Ceylon tunnel.
It is rumored that an escape tunnel was dug out from the
basement of one of the offending business places, across
main street to a building on the other side of the
street. Some have even gone so far as to say that another
tunnel exited at Clear Lake. With the water level as it
is, I think they would have had to swim part of the way
to get there. Another version has it that the tunnel
originated in the a basement which had only the back half
, housing the stove and wood and coal area dug out . The
front half being dug out, forming the famous tunnel,with
a door locking out the interloper.At the first sign of
impending danger all of the card players and the evidence
including their drinks, departed to the tunnel until a
signal was given that all was clear. Maybe this is
possibly where the tunnel theory came into being.
With all of the gambling going on in this little town, I
can certainly see the need for tunnels. Reliable sources
have reported that indeed there were "big time"
card games taking place in the basement of one local
poolhall as well as the hotel down the street. Farms and
businesses would change hands several times in one
evening. It was stated by one source that during his
lifetime that he never saw so much money laying on a
gambling table.
As the story goes there was an elaborate signaling
devices used to warn the players of a raid. First they
had a door keeper at the entrance of the basement door
who kept an eagle eye out for intruders who got past the
upstairs watchers. One time a disgruntled looser came
from within the gambling quarters, madder then a hornet .
When the keeper opened the door to let him out ,he was
given a pop in the nose , breaking it ,as the looser took
off on a run.Bartenders were in constant surveillance of
suspicious " out of towners" always on the
lookout for the law. One method of warning the card
player if all was not well, was to drizzle some drink in
a hole drilled above the player's card table warning them
below to get rid of the evidence right now.Another method
of warning was a light switch under the counterof the bar
upstairs,connected to the light over the card table in
the basement. When trouble loomed upstairs, the bartender
would blink the light off and on to warn them below that
trouble was near, to get the heck out of there.
Even though suspicion of strangers was the call of the
day, it's reported that one local bar owner opened his
mouth to insert foot . It has been said that a fellow
walked into his establishment with a bunch of punch
boards under his arm. Not wanting to deal with another
salesman the bartender said, " I don't need anymore
of those ***###%%%@@@ things I've got a whole basement
full" Much to his dismay he was not aware that he
was talking to the law!
Many of the games were played on Saturday nights. Several
out of town brothers wore their suits under their
coveralls. In the wee small hours of the morning when the
game was over, they skined out of their coveralls and
attended early morning mass before going home.
Problems were on going for the gamblers of Ceylon. There
were too many raids taking place at the poolhall and
hotel. As time went on it got too "hot" to play
in these establishments but gamblers were not easily
discouraged. It is said that they moved their games to an
abandoned farm house outside of town. Things went fine
for a while. The owner of the poolhall would fry up
burgers and take them to the country to sell, and maybe
play a few games. As luck would have it, their fine
gambling location did not stay secret for long. One
evening instead of a raid by the law, the gamblers were
held up at gunpoint. As one gentleman related, upon
reaching town, sore footed, minus one shoe, that he
jumped out the window, ran through cornfields to get away
from those gun toting PRO'S. He said that the gamblers
were jumping out the windows, running down the basement,
out the cellar door, running into the cornfields to
escape. Fortunatley no one was hurt, however, the
gamblers were relieved of all their cash. No one knows
when the "big time gambling" ceased in Ceylon,
or has it? But I am sure the decline must have started
with that hold-up.
In 1987 mainstreet was dug up to put in the new sewer
system, telephone ,power and waterlines. Many spectators
watched with baited breath, waiting to see evidence of
the infamous tunnel. To their disappointment only an
oblong gaping hole below the door transom of the
notorious establishment could be found. but, not a
particle of dirt had been disturbed across the street.
What happened to that tunnel???? Was it filled in with
dirt by someone so many years ago in order to cover their
tracks or are those notorious tunnels just folklore
passed on to us from those rip roaring gambling days? |
WHAT MAKES ICE FISHING NUTS
What will make a perfectly sane person get out of a toasty
warm bed at the crack of dawn, with the thermometer reading 10
below zero and put on longies, insulated undies, swearshirts,
coveralls, wool socks, boots and other paraphernalia, and go out
into the elements when he doesn't have to.
Why, it's the sport of ice fishing! I don't know what the
sport involves, but I have heard rumors and I have seen a
conglomeration of wooden structures placed on strategic spots on
ice covered lakes, resembling the little house behind the big
house .. I was very quickly assured that they were nothing like
that. Todays houses"dark houses" have almost all of the
comforts of home. Most of them have a door in one end, some have
a window and a black stovepipe emitting black puffs of smoke now
and then. The most important thing is the icehole bored in just
the right spot. Within reach is a block of wood or a stool to sit
on Truthfully I don't see how the fisherman can bend in the
middle to sit with all all those clothes on.
An oil burning stove sits in one end of the house to keep the
interior cozy and the backside warm. Also to keep frost bitten
tootsies thawed out after standing hour after hour on the wall to
wall fridgid carpeting while staring down a cold ice hole waiting
for the big one to bite.
Day after day I have noticed the same cars and pickups parked
by the same fishhouses. Sometimes I would ask individuals, when I
rarely saw them on the street, "Catch anything lately?"
He'll grin and say "Naw, but I'm going back again early in
the morning." With a gleam in his eyes he'll say "Boy
should have seen the big one that got away!"
One of these days I'm going to visit one of those ice houses
and investigate what makes these individuals carbon copies of
each others. All of them look alike, looking for the big one that
got away. I will continue to greet these fishermen with the same
greeting," Catch anything today and expect to get the same
reply, "You should have seen the big one that got
away."
Watch for a picture of one of a great fishermen here.
THE CARVER TUTTLE FIGHT
1860 when the Sam Carver clan came to the rich beautiful
wooded area of Lake Okamanpedan to set up camp they had not an
inkling of what was ahead for them. When they arrived a huge hulk
of a man stood in Sam Carver's pathway with a grim look on his
face and a gun in his hand pointing it straight at Sam Carver.
Calvin Tuttle poked his gun at Carver saying," What are you
doing here." Sam Carver , not knowing that he was standing
on Calvin Tuttle's private ground stated that he and his family
came here to stake a claim. " Not on my land ,I am telling
you to get and get fast."yelled Tuttle, "
Don't want to see your face again."Carver not wanting
trouble moved on to another part of the wooded area further
north.
The next morning ,big as three mountains ,came the Tuttles
,Calvin and his two son's George and Columbus. They strode into
the Carver campsite , guns in hand telling them to move on.
Carver repeated what Tuttle had told him the following evening,
" You told us to move on and we did." Carver firmly
stood his ground. With this answer the Tuttles left, muttering
threats if the Carvers remained.
The Tuttles and several other men had set up a feudal empire ,
claiming several thousand acres of the rich virgin forest area.
Tuttle and his bunch ruled it like dictators, A small community
with a tract of land next to the Tuttles were very happy to see
that the Carvers were on their side. Some of the disputed area
was land where the village of Ceylon now stands.
During the next couple of years the Tuttles made many ugly
threats, by 1862 the feud between the two giant hulks reached the
boiling point. In a rash statement Tuttle told Carver, "If
You can beat me in a fair fight I will move with my family and
friends leaving my empire to you,Sam Carver."
The date and time of the fight was established. Settlers for
miles around gathered to see the fight of all fights. The
strangest fight in history.
It is said that the bloody battle raged on for an hour . It
began with Carver trying to get his arm out of the sleeve of his
jacket , while Tuttle immediately took advantage of the situation
bashing him with brutal blows. The two giant men rolling on the
ground, with Carver still trying to get his other arm out of the
sleeve of his jacket. Mrs. carver, a very resouceful women, had
carefully stitched cuffs from a pair of long johns on the cuffs
of her husbands jacket . Her act of kindness nearly turned the
tide on the battle. Releasing his arm from the jacket, The battle
climaxed with Tuttle, his head down, roaring like a bull, headed
straight toward Carver. Carver stepped aside, Tuttle plunged
headlong to the ground. Carver scrambled on top of him beating
the living life out of him. Bloody and beaten,Tuttle yelled for
mercy.
This ended the Carver-Tuttle Fight. After a few days, Tuttle,
a man of his word loaded his covered wagon, acompanied with his
family and friends, left his claim for places unknown leaving
Martin County never to return.
Info-gathered from an article written by Johnathan Woods for
Colliers. more then a century ago.
TUTTLE'S GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTERS VISIT SITE NEAR CEYLON
September 20, 1958 the gigantic Martin County Centennial
Parade had three great-granddaughter of it's first settler,Calvin
Tuttle riding in the parade seated on buffalo robes. Instead of
riding in a covered wagon as their ancestors, the three women
rode in a classy convertible with a sign reading, "THE
TUTTLE'S CAME FIRST" .The great-granddaughters, Mrs Pouliet,
of Chicago, Illinois, Mrs Cramer of Alma, Nebraska and Mrs
F.O.Arnell of Mission, Kansas were delighted to ride in the
parade.
The decendents made a visit to the site where Calvin Tuttle
built , in 1856 the first shack, located on the grounds of the
present Boy Scout Camp in Silver Lake Township.Tuttle's family
came a few months later to the inlet of the lake that bears his
name.
The Tuttles lived across the stream from where the Carvers had
set up camp. They lived and verbally
fought together until the great day , in 1862, when Tuttle
lost the fist fight and moved to Colorado.He and his three sons
were soon sworn into the military service the same day and fought
in the Civil War.
In 1968 one of the great-granddaughters, Mrs F.O Arnell, with
some of her family, came back to Martin County to view the site
again. Mrs. Arnell was presented the sign," THE TUTTLE'S
CAME FIRST" by Walter Carlson, Martin County Historical
Society secretary of Trimont.
Mrs Cathrine Hartung hosted the group at her home, for lunch
and guided them back to the site where the Tuttle's lived and
where the great fight took place.
Info taken from the Fairmont Sentinel Aug. l968
Ceylon's Story 2
Story 2 Goes HERE
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