Many people ask me why I name my signature bamboo rods after American Indians and other historically relevant people in the Mad River Valley. Here's why. Over 220 years ago, my ancestors, who were French trappers, arrived in what is now Bellefontaine, Ohio. Bellefontaine is French for “Beautiful Fountain.” Back in 2009, my wife Jenny and I paid a visit to the Bellefontaine Historical Society, where we were met by two librarians who spent about 4 hours with us reviewing records dating back to the 1760s. My grandfather and my great-grandfather, Roy Lane, originally lived on Mad River Street in Bellefontaine and worked at the Iron Works, so-called “Iron City,” as fabricators. Further back in 1780, the land in what is now western central Ohio was known as the Upper Mad River towns. Shawnee villages existed, including Wapatomica, which is now present-day Zanesfield. Zanesfield is named after Isaac Zane, a frontiersman captured by the Wyandot Indians as a child and who later married My...