Sunday, July 01, 2018

Laughery Creek in S.E. Indiana

Laughery Creek is an 88.6-mile-long stream that flows through Ripley, Dearborn, and Ohio counties in southeastern Indiana, and is a tributary of the Ohio River.

Laughery Creek was named in memory of Lochry's Defeat, a Revolutionary War skirmish that occurred at the mouth of the creek, two miles south of present-day Aurora, Indiana on August 24, 1781. Colonel Archibald Lochry and his Pennsylvania militiamen, were rafting down the Ohio River to join George Rogers Clark in an attack on the British garrison at Fort Detroit. After two days of river travel they sighted and shot an American bison (Bison bison) at the mouth of what would come to be called Laughery Creek. While the Pennsylvanians were cooking fresh bison meat for breakfast, they were ambushed by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk military leader allied with the British. Lochry and 40 of his men were killed.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Busching Covered Bridge crosses the creek at Covered Bridge Road, just below the Versailles Lake Dam. This 176 feet (54 m) covered bridge was constructed in 1885 by Thomas A. Hardman. The timbers for the superstructure are said to have been cut from the site of the local Baptist church. The 170 foot clear span over Laughery Creek utilizes a modified Howe truss design and the varying dimensions of the structural members address the changing loads and resulting forces.

Built in 1885, the historic Busching Covered Bridge crosses Laughery Creek just below the Versailles Lake Dam. Photo by: Jack Demaree

Busching Covered Bridge
People of Versailles (including myself) only have a very short drive to see a covered bridge of noted history. As a kid I crossed this bridge with difficulty on a bike as the floor was uneven with the planking. A little later as a teen It was a nice place to set looking out the side at the sparkling Laughery creek with your best girl. On the way to the park we crossed with a few toots of the horn to warn oncoming traffic as the bridge was only one lane, but the real reason was just to hear the echo inside. I have many fawn memories of the Busching Covered Bridge. ......... Jack