Sioux City History and Culture by Bicycle Part 170; Update; Council Oak Tree

I originally post about the Council Oak Tree in this post;
Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 26: Council Oak Tree

Since then I discovered another historical piece to the story of the tree. That is this might oak was 30 feet tall when George Washington was a boy and flourished until the late 1950's. Under its branches pioneers and natives that lived in the area met under its branches to settle disputes without fighting. This mighty oak had a legacy of peace. Too bad it is gone, perhaps it could still serve as such a symbol as it once did.

The tree in these photo's is not the original Council Oak. No one really knows where it once stood. It was nearby the Bruguier Cabin inside what is today is Riverside Park.

Sioux City History and Culture by Bicycle Part 165; Update; The Death of the John Rochel House; The house is dead

THe developer or the contractor, neither of which shall be named destroyed the John Rochel House before the stated date of July 10, 2009. It was destroyed on either June 30 or July 1. Someone lied about when the house would be demolished. My guess is the developer, that or the contractor hired to do the job got in too much of a damn hurry. Now that whole area looks a barren landscape. I honestly hopes it stays that way. I hope the developer looses his ass on the deal financially and the school is unable to raise the money to build their new campus. I have also learned that there is someone who is ready and willing to donate the remainder of the money needed to build the school campus, but will only do so if the school changes from being a catholic to a christian school. Knowing how the catholic church operates that will never happen, thus the money will not be donated and the school campus will not be built unless the school district can come up with the funds some other way.

If something is not done to this barren area of the city and because it is Loess Hills soil it will start to erode away. Which means we will loose even more of the beautiful Loess Hills that are often called fragile giants. When it starts to erode it will erode right into the new Perry Creek flood control channel causing all kinds of problems. The city just got done with the Perry Creek project last year to control flooding. Now the food control is in jeopardy because of some jackass developer who was only thinking about money and only saw the dollar signs. They never thought to focus on the negative impact this has on the community.

The obituary for the John Rochel House has been changed;
Born/Built/Created/Constructed Date; 1881
Death/Destruction/Demolition/Razed Date; July 1, 2009
Preceded in death by who knows how many other historical buildings in this area all in the name of so called progress.
After 128 years of life may the John Rochel rest in piece, or rather pieces.