From the Vincennes Sun-Commercial, March 24, 1957:
The great Montour Pond, which in old times cut a wide path across central eastern Knox County in a pattern of lakes and marshes, long since has been drained by the Kessinger Ditch, but Lucky Point remains.
Lucky Point is the northern end of a hill which protrudes almost to Kessinger Ditch, a few miles east of Monroe City, in Harrison township.
The name is widely recognized as a landmark by a residents of Harrison township, but few remain who know the significance of the name, or its reference to the days of pioneer Knox County--and even to prehistoric periods of the county.
In the days prior to the construction of Kessinger Ditch, when Montour claimed thousands of cres which now are fertile farmlands, Lucky Point extended far out into the waters of the famous pond. There was a similar hill on the far side of the pond, which extended toward the south. Between these two "points" was the shallowest part of the big pond. Here was the first crossing, when the rainless summer arrived and Montour dried up. And it was the shortest crossing, also.
Wild animals appeared to know the best crossing of Montour Pond, and pioneer residents of Knox County soon learned what for generations had been an Indian trick. A hunter could hide at Lucky Point, and wait for animals to cross the water. The pioneers also used what was an old Indian practice, of putting marksmen at Lucky Point, and then chasing dogs, men and boys to create hubbub in areas to the south, frightening deer and other wild animals into an attempt to cross Montour.
Lucky Point apparently has been called just that ever since the area was settled by white men. It probably will have that name as long as the present order remains. The name was applied with all seriousness back in days when wild game provided the meat courses--if any--on Knox County tables.
It now is part of a farm owned by Paul Wilson. As in days when wild Indians hid in its undergrowth to stalk quick-footed deer, it is wooded. It extends out in the now-cultivated bottomlands of the old Montour Pond area.
This aerial picture (at right) of Lucky Point and its nearby areas in Harrison Township shows how the point of the hill (the dark upward pointing area of picture) protrudes into the bottomlands of the Kessinger Ditch, land formerly covered by Montour Pond.
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EMAIL: rking@indian.vinu.edu