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| A long
time ago, there was a doctor in Pinckneyville named Doctor Hiller. The
best I can tell it was something like the 1920's and 1930's. He
served many people during the depths of the Great Depression. A
lot of people could not pay him but that did not stop him from serving
the community. How to collect some of this debt? "Doc" Hiller had a plan. He purchased some land near what is now Route 127. All the families who owed him money were asked to come and provide labor to develop the property. They brought horses and mules to dig the lake. A number of cabins were constructed, no doubt also by families who owed money. Wayne's Grandmother, Winnie McKinstry, had her appendix removed. The family of course had no money to pay Doc Hiller. So some of her sons brought their farm horses and helped dig the lake. There were a LOT of people who did the same thing. "Hiller's Lake" was a rural getaway for the Doctor and his friends. It was, and is, a nice place. Before he passed away Doc Hiller was concerned that someone would acquire the land and turn it into a honkey-tonk. (A sort of disreputable nightclub.) The Doctor was happy to sell the property to Illinois Baptist State Association to use as a church camp. They renamed it Lake Sallateeska (some kind of Indian name). |