Foster

The once booming town of Foster was named after the Foster family. James H. Foster came to the area in 1841 or 1842 and built a mill and hotel on the east side of the river. Soon there were 48 busineses and houses crammed in between the steep hillsides that flank the Little Miami here. These included a sawmill, cobblers,hotel,blacksmith shop, and five bars. Forty seven buildings and five bars! Now that's what I call a wild river town. This tradition was carried on by the Train Stop Bar which for decades had an ape in a cage that would smoke cigarettes and guzzle beer. And at least in his early days box, my uncle Virgil was a pretty good boxer and was talked into fighting the ape. My guess is alcohol was involved in that decision. Anyways Virgil supposedly did pretty good at first sticking and jabbing till he made the monkey mad. Legend has the ape jumping up and grabbing the bars of his cage and kicking my uncle allmost senseless. In the late 1800's Foster was a popular destination for picnics and fishing and relaxing. Around 1886 Augustine Hoppe bought the mill and the land enclosed by the millrace was called Hoppe's Island. Here there were picnic tables and a parklike atmosphere and according to old reports you had to show up at daylight to get a picnic table on a weekend. The Foster's Viaduct, a big bridge spanning the gorge and bypassing the tiny town, pretty much put Foster out of business. Now only the Train Stop bar and a couple other buildings remain. The riffle right below the viaduct is one of the fishiest looking spots on the river but is also one of the easiest spots to get to so the fishing is only hit and miss here. Upstream of Foster the river makes a sharp curve creating a rocky bar and riffle and the fishing is much better, protected by the ten minute walk. This was one of uncle's favorite spots and he used to tell me tales of catching lots of channel cats here on chicken liver. Although I haven't fished here much for smallmouth I did try it three times last year and did well each time on an eighth ounce jig head and plastic grub. I think this area between Foster and King's Mill's has potential to be some of the best bass fishing on the river and plan to spend alot more time here in the future.
The old photos are of the old mill dam and covered bridge, plus an old photo of the arches of the viaduct being jacked into place. My great uncle Matt of South Lebanon worked on the Viaduct's construction.