Jersey Lilly would certainly have covered the news the Land Conservation Foundation had purchased property where the gentle waters of the stream Jordon flows into the Salt Fork River in Vermilion County. The writer was the newspaper correspondent for the Jordon community and the pen name is on numerous newspaper clippings from the early 1900s.
The Land Conservation Foundation’s mission is to preserve and restore natural communities in East Central Illinois, to create interconnected corridors, to provide wildlife habitat and connect people and nature for future generations. LCF will create nature trails at the Mouth of Jordon Reserve and visitors will be able to hike and fish among other activities.
The Reserve is home to numerous wild flowers and children might find a fossil in the river there where they abound on, and in, rock dating back millions of years. The Mouth of Jordon was the location of a river ford that dates back to the early days of Vermilion County.
Dorothy Nugent was born in 1906 and the retired teacher had fond memories of the area. She recalled it was a well maintained gathering place in her youth. It was the site of neighborhood picnics and many baptisms. She fondly remembered the joyous sound of the singing by those gathered on the bank of the river following a baptism. Her father Joe was born in 1865 and he told her many stories about the historic river ford and what he called a camp ground.
Mike Rozell has a picture of his mother when she was a girl taken at the Mouth of Jordon in 1927. She was with a group of people swimming and wading in the water. It also shows nine automobiles and a Harley Davidson with a sidecar parked nearby.
There is a deep area in the Salt Fork River near where Jordon enters the river and a long stretch of water that runs up stream was known as the English Channel to local residents. People appreciated and cared for the area in the past. Then as times changed the area was no longer used as a community gathering place.
Robert L. “Bob” Hart was born in 1925 and lived most of his life along the road that follows Jordon as it winds its way to a meeting with the Salt Fork. He said the area around the Mouth of Jordon “fell on hard times” when people began using it as a place to leave their discarded items. He recalled it was not unusual to see old refrigerators and other appliances left behind as well as tires and other items that had outlived their usefulness. Periodic cleanups took place, but the dumping continued.
Bob noted it also became an area where people rode their four wheel drive vehicles and eventually trails with deep ruts were created in the area. He observed on some weekends it sounded like there was a racetrack in the neighborhood as the engines of vehicles were revved up to challenge the muddy trails.
That is all a part of the history of the Mouth of Jordon. Now it has a new beginning and the area joins thousands of acres of land being preserved for the public in Vermilion County.
Land Conservation Reserve is dedicated to preserving land in its natural state and providing an environment where people can enjoy and learn from nature. Jersey Lilly, the Jordon correspondent, would certainly have provided that information to the faithful readers of the Fairmount Review. It might have been under the heading “Good News.”