A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 14

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

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In 1884 another scheme was set on foot. The following printed notice was sent out :

LAPORTE, IND., Jan. 9, 1884.

Dear Sir-You are requested to attend a meeting at the Grand Pacific hotel, in Chicago, Jan. 22, 1884, to participate in the re-organization of a company to build a railroad from South Bend, Ind., to the Illinois State Line, near Momence: running via the Kankakee Val- ley. The line to be located parallel to and along side of a ditch to be excavated for the purpose of effectually

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

draining the wet lands in this valley-the earth taken from the ditch to form the embankment for the railroad.

N. GLEASON,

E. H. SCOTT, LaPorte,

WM. NILES, LaPorte, W. B. BIDDLE, LaPorte, M. NYE, LaPorte,

W. E. PINNEY, Valparaiso.

T. J. WOOD, Crown Point.

This was General Gleason's scheme, and they who were interested in it hold to this day that it was wholly practicable and feasable. General Gleason wrote about it to General Cass, who was then manager of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, but General Cass said that he did not wish to parallel any more roads. . The meeting was held according to the published notice, but under the circumstances the prospects were not sufficiently stimulating to unlock and set in operation the requisite capital, and. as there was nothing to float the project and it could not float itself. it went down.

In 1896 and 1897 there was renewed interest in the subject of straightening the bends of the Kankakee river. In July, 1896, a meeting of citizens was held at Dare's schoolhouse in Lincoln township, where the law was discussed and it was decided to organize a company under the statute of 1889, as amended March 5, 1895. A com- mittee was chosen to prepare articles of associa- tion. Residents of Porter, Lake, Jasper and Starke counties sent letters asking that the work be extended. On September 12, 1896, a meeting was held at Hanna for the adoption of the articles of association of the Kankakee River Improve- ment Company and the election of seven direct- ors. At that meeting a number of landowners who were present thought that the work should not stop at the Porter county line, but go on to the state of Illinois, and that otherwise it would be a damage to the lands farther down the river. The company already organized could not, under its previous arrangements of notice and limited means of paying preliminary expenses, meet the requirements, and hence those determ- ined to carry out the work farther down the river, formed a new company called the Kankakee : Improvement Association, with place of business at Wilders. The two com- panies worked together harmoniously and held joint meetings relative to division of territory,

etc. Under the statute the company must keep a journal of its proceedings, which must be open to inspection during business hours. Then the board of directors might appoint an engineer to make a survey, who must make a map of the sur- vey, to be kept with the secretary of the company for inspection' by all interested. After this the directors could apply to the commissioners of the county in which the improvement was to be made, to appoint disinterested persons who should appraise the benefits and damages to the lands affected by the proposed improvement. The land owners likely to be appraised must be given notice of the time and place when and where the ap- praisers were to meet and every landowner should have the right to be present and be heard. The appraisers, however, could go on with their work and set opposite the lands the benefits and dam- ages, but they must meet again that the landown- ers might appear before them in person or by attorney and make objections. The clerk of the board must record the assessments of benefits and damages, and if any person felt aggrieved he could appeal to the circuit court of the county. After adjustment the directors could advertise for bids for the contract and appeal to the com- missioners of the county to issue bonds. No taxes must be assessable for two years, and those as- sessed could have the privilege of paying in in- stallments.

It will be seen that this gave those who were opposed to the improvement ample opportunity to object; object they did, and comparatively little was accomplished.

The Kankakee region, though deeply covered with a rich, black soil, the product of centuries of vegetable decomposition, still remained the same dreary waste. But the time for its success- ful reclamation was near. Certain parties had their eye on it. A little over three years ago some wealthy, thoughtful and thoroughly business men came from Pontiac, Illinois, and formed a syndi- cate called the LaCrosse Land Company, and quietly purchased seven thousand acres of the Huncheon brothers, who had been residents in the Kankakee valley for over forty years. They accomplished this through their agent, W. F. Cook, for $165,000. This company at once began to develop the land in a manner compared with which former efforts were but boys' play. They gradually acquired other tracts of land, un-

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

til other companies were organized in which either the members of the original syndicate or their friends were interested. One of these is the Tuesburg Land Company who own four thou- sand, four hundred and eighty acres. Another is the McWilliams Land Company, who own five thousand, two hundred and eighty acres. Other lands were bought by the friends of these gentle- men, until to-day these companies and their friends own over fifty thousand acres. The head- quarters of these vast operations are at LaCrosse, a little station with five railroads and every pros- pect of soon having a trolley line and becoming a large, busy town.

Charles H. Tuesburg, David S. Meyers, John Murphy, C. E. Legg, A. M. Legg and W. F. Cook constitute the LaCrosse Land Company.

Charles H. Tuesburg, Lemuel Darrow (of LaPorte), James Brown, B. F. Johnson, Frank J. Cook, Rev. Thomas Doney and Thomas Foo- hey are the personnel of the Tuesburg Land Company.

John McWilliams, Sr., John McWilliams, Jr., David S. Meyers, W. F. Cook and W. F. Van Buskirk compose the McWilliams Land Com- pany.

It will be seen that some of these individuals belong to all three of these great companies and that the companies are therefore practically one. And co-operating with them in their plans of re- clamation, are several other heavy land owners, all mutually interested, so that the combined in- terests control forty miles of river front.

It had been noticed that in a sudden wet sea- son the water which covered the land did not overflow from the river but came down from the higher lands. It could be plainly seen coming up out of the ground. These gentlemen were quick to take advantage of this suggestion. They saw that they must not only make a more rapid outlet for the river water, but a way for the water from the higher lands to get to the river. Hog creek, Mill creek and other streams must be assisted in their work. Hence the syndicate be- gan a thorough system of ditching and draining, with Charles H. Tuesburg and George C. Cook, as managers and directors.

No sooner was this work begun than the fight of former years was on again. The syndicate were opposed in their work at every turn and the

matter soon got into the courts. But this time the obstructionists had met their match. They had run up against a set of men who had sufficient capital and no end of shrewdness and persistence. and who knew not what it was to fail. Long and bitter were the legal struggles before the great ditches which now drain that country were ordered and constructed. But the gentlemen com- posing the syndicate gained their point. They thought more of improving the country than of merely gaining a legal fight, and hence they com- promised when it was for their advantage to do so. An instance might be related, but it is unnec- essary. At last the improvers had free course, opposed only by the ill will and bad talk of the obstructionists, for which they little cared.

The Place ditch was by far the greatest un- dertaking ; not because it was of greater magni- tude and cost than others to follow it, but because it was the entering wedge of a new enterprise. It was bitterly opposed and there was litigation con- cerning it, which lingers even yet. When the ditch was finally ordered and when on January I, 1901, Walter W. Chapman, who lives near the river in Union township, distributed the notices, it was in the face ,of threats against his life. Again indignation \meetings were held.

The Place ditch i's over twenty-two miles long, uniformly sixty feet \wide, eight feet deep, and drains an area of fifty miles square. It cost $66,- 000 and the time consumed in its construction, reckoning litigation and all, was about two years and a half ; though the actual work was only about eighteen months.

The Machler ditch cante next, which was constructed under the authority of the LaPorte circuit court. It is thirty-six feet wide at the commencement and fifty feet weide where it emp- ties into the Kankakee river aind averages eight feet deep. It is ten miles long aand almost equal in importance to the Place ditch. The Place and Machler ditches were the beginning of the won- derful improvement which has beten going stead- ily on.

The Cook ditch is about four and drains land which is more These are great, lateral, public d the Kankakee river. The holderss of all the con- tiguous property benefited by theem paid a pro- portionate amount of the cost, but the bulk of the

teen miles long valuable still. rains leading to

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

burden was borne by the syndicate, as its holdings were so much larger than those of any other owners.

The syndicate completed fifty-five miles of lateral ditching last year, and purpose to have one hundred and twenty-five miles completed by the fall of 1904. They propose to clean every creek between South Bend and Porter county line. They own land in St. Joseph county, and from there to Porter.

This is not all. Tributary to the public ditches the syndicate has built many miles of open ditches around its own sections, and also of covered or tile drains across its sections. In this work they have spent $38,000, and used over a hundred car- loads of ten and twelve inch tiling. The tile drains empty into the ditches, which are so constructed that they drain not only the farms but the roads which run around the sections, making hard roads on which heavy loads can be hauled the year round. This plan insures not only good farms, but good roads, for the two belong together.

The work thus far described refers almost exclusively to lateral ditches which lead to the river, but there is another company organized especially for river work. This is called the Kan- kakee Reclamation Company and was organized on February 7, 1902. Its officers are Charles H. Tuesburg, of LaCrosse, president; Frank J. Cook. of LaPorte, secretary; and David S. Meyers, of Pontiac. Illinois, treasurer. Its di- rectors are Charles H. Tuesburg and W. F. Cook, both of LaCrosse, but formerly of Pontiac, Illi- nois : Charles J. Danielson, of Hamlet, Starke county: Jacob Keller, of North Judson, Starke county : and W. H. H. Coffin, of Davis Station, Starke county. The secretary and treasurer are not directors but are elected from the non-official members. The object for which this company is organized is to deepen, widen and straighten the Kankakee river. The work immediately pro- posed. and which at the present writing is partly accomplished, is the construction of a ditch from section twenty-four in Hanna township, or where the Place ditch ends, to the Porter county line. The ditch will follow the general course of the river but will cut off all bends. Its length is seven- teen miles, of which about six have been dug. It will be completed in 1904. It will shorten forty-five miles of the river to seventeen miles and increase the fall from four and one-third inches per mile

to fourteen and two-tenths inches per mile. This will reclaim about one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land in LaPorte and Starke counties. The ditch will be from eight to twelve feet deep ; forty, forty-five and fifty feet wide at the bottom, and most of the way not less than seventy feet wide at the top ; in one place, or where the ditch goes through "goose neck," it will be eighty feet wide. It is estimated that there will be thrown out, in constructing this ditch, one million, four hundred thousand cubic yards of soil which is clay, gravel and sand, mixed with muck and peat, an alluvial soil containing no rocks. The amount necessary to construct the ditch, including all incidental expenses, is estimated at $120,000. The amount of assessed benefits in La Porte coun- ty is $141,659, and in Starke county $72,366, a total of $214,025. For this work, LaPorte county has issued bonds to the amount of $79,500, which may be paid in installments during seventeen years ; and Starke county has issued bonds to the amount of $40,500, which may be paid in in- stallments during fourteen years. Pallard and Goff have the contract for constructing this ditch from the Place ditch to English lake, and John McAndrews has the contract for constructing it from English lake to the Porter county line. Mr. McAndrews' new dredge is one of the largest in the country, having a capacity of throwing out two and one-half cubic yards of soil at each dip of the great scoop; therefore the work will pro- gress rapidly. The average cost of lateral ditch- ing is about $1,000 per mile; that of river work, or ditching along the general course of the Kan- kakee to cut off its bends, is about $5,500 per mile. The ditches by which this black, loamy land has been redeemed, are models of engineering skill. Years ago it was thought that the ditching could be done on a small scale, each individual farmer for himself; but after visiting and inspecting the magnificent operations now going on in the Kan- kakee valley, one can easily see that there must be a gigantic and concerted effort at improvement or none at all. The "Danielson arm" of the Place ditch is river work; this makes the Place ditch practically a river ditch; it shortens sixty-five miles of the river to twenty-two miles, and as the new ditch will shorten forty-five miles of the river to seventeen, here are one hundred and ten miles shortened to thirty-nine. Thus is the sluggish Kankakee, which takes its rise near South Bend

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

and winds its crooked way through seventy-five miles of Indiana, being straightened and quick- ened. In an ordinary season the traveler finds much of the old river channel dry, or nearly so; the water prefers the new, straight and swifter course.

It was thought that the trouble was at Mo- mence, Illinois; and a natural rock dam at that place, which held the water back as in a basin, has been' partially removed at the expense of the state of Indiana, under contract with David Sisk, of Westville; but the managers and directors of this valley improvement saw that the trouble was not at Momence, for the river there is seventy feet below the stream where it enters Porter coun- ty. They therefore determined upon these vast improvments in LaPorte county. Practically at its own expense, though under the state assess- ment laws, they have built fifty miles of drainage canal, from forty to eighty feet in width, and from six to twelve feet deep. The magnitude of this may be imagined when we think that to-day a man may take a steam launch and travel over fifty miles through ditches and laterals created by these men who are developing the resources of LaPorte county.

When we consider that but a little over three years have been consumed in this enterprise, and that at no stage of the work have the improvers had the co-operation of many of the natives, but on the contrary have been opposed at every turn by an army of doubters, we must admit that they have accomplished great things. In 1903 two big dredges were at work. Much lateral ditching was also accomplished by smaller dredges. Be- sides these the company employed horse machines to each of which eighteen horses were hitched at one time. This horse machine work is at an expense of $25 per day; on this work $150,000 has been spent.

The result of all this is, that the allied inter- ests working this grand transformation in the valley, now have a total acreage covering ap- proximately seventy-six square miles, which is rapidly coming under successful cultivation. This land is located in Dewey, Union, Prairie, Johnson and Hanna townships, in LaPorte county ; though some of it lies in the southeast part of Porter county. All of it borders on the Kankakee river, but some scattering tracts are in Starke county, on the south side of the stream.

As soon as a particular section of land has been drained by the big ditches and private drains, each half section has been set off for cultivation, and supplied with good, painted buildings. Each group of buildings consists of an eight-room dwelling, and of barns and capacious corn cribs, the capacity of the latter having been doubled this year to meet the size of the remarkable crop. All of these buildings are set on concrete or brick foundations and the dwellings are plastered and papered and have water in each house. Mr. C. H. Tuesburg and family were living in one of them when the writer first visited the locality, though he has since built a home in LaCrosse. By the allied interests fifty groups of these build- ings have already been put up.

On each half section is placed a tenant or lessee who is to occupy the buildings and conduct the farm. But he must agree to be temperate, to keep so many hired men, so many horses, and cultivate so many acres in corn, oats or whatever the owners may elect, according to the size of his tract. Some of the tenants on these drained farms are handling three hundred acres in corn alone. For the company have cultivatable land enough not supplied with dwellings, so that a tenant can have more than his half section if he can successfully work it. Last November hun- dreds of men were employed in husking. One man would husk and put into the crib from seventy to one hundred bushels of corn a day, for which he was paid two and a half cents a bushel and his board. The first year the company exacts one third of the earnings of the farm for rent, and thereafter it requires two-fifths of the income. It is calculated that in eight years the tract will pay itself out on this basis and then the owners will have their money back and still possess a vast amount of the best land in LaPorte county, one of the garden spots of the world. Last year, 1903, there were three men on those prairies, each of whom gathered and marketed from fifteen thousand to twenty thou- sand bushels of corn each, or an average of about eighteen thousand bushels for each man.

Little or no effort was made to do any plant- ing until draining was commenced, but there was a tract of land in the immediate vicinity, which had been drained, a fair sample of the average Kankakee soil, and this tract had produced eleven crops of corn in eleven successive years, the last

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TYPICAL TENANT HOUSE, KANKAKEE RE-CLAIMED LAND

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

crop as good as the first. This was taken by the improvers as good evidence that the land would not soon become exhausted.

The year 1903 was the first since drainage commenced that there was a real test of what the land would produce. Of the fifty thousand acres owned by the allied companies, fifteen thou- sand. have already been brought under success- ful cultivation. On five thousand acres of this the yield was from seventy to eighty bushels to the acre, of as fine corn as was ever produced in this country. In no place in the county can superior corn be found. Thousands upon thousands of acres were standing in the fields when the writer first visited the locality, reaching many miles in all directions. Much of it towered above the buggy top and it was no uncommon thing to see stalks twelve or fifteen feet high. The crop last fall was estimated at three hundred thousand bushels, which made three hundred and seventy carloads. The resources of this immense enter- prise have as yet hardly been brought into service. Other sections of the big tract will soon be equally valuable for agricultural purposes. Before 1905 a large portion of the other thirty-five thousand acres will have been brought under cultivation, and probably the whole of it will be bearing crops two years hence, or as soon as it can be brought under the effect of drainage.

The company have not been unmindful of the interests of the community. They have built roads, bridges, schools, stores, fences, and ulti- mately will build a town ; which they have good occasion to do, with such a productive tributary country. La Crosse, which lies in the center of these vast operations, is destined no doubt to become a large and busy town ; though the syndi- cate wisely propose not to boom it much until the capital which they have invested in the ditching enterprise comes back to them. The place, how- ever, is growing in spite of themselves. But this is mentioned elsewhere.

Whether these gentlemen have been wise thus far, may be seen from the fact that their entire holdings cost them on an average $21.90 per acre, whereas now the same land in the neighborhood is valued at $47.50 per acre, while some tracts are held as high as $100 per acre, and some even higher than that. But the improvers do not wish to sell any of their lands. On the contrary they are in the market to purchase any good land in the

vicinity which may be obtained at a reasonable figure, for they are convinced that capital invested in this way will return manyfold. Land which three years ago rented for fifty cents an acre, now brings six dollars' rental.

The syndicate are still adding to their holdings and enlarging their operations. In January, 1904, Charles H. Peters and others conveyed to Charles H. Tuesburg a tract of land in Hanna township for $10,000, and the same parties conveyed to C. Elmer Tuesburg a smaller tract in the same town- ship for $1.500. The latter is the son of Charles H. Tuesburg. The father has been, and still is, the leading spirit of these vast operations. He is a man of great force of character. He began life a penniless young man, but by strict and invariable honesty and good business judgment he proved to the holders of capital that they could trust him absolutely, and hence he was able to obtain the capital which he needed to begin a successful business career. Such a life is a lesson to the young men of to-day. He succeeded in Illinois and he has succeeded in LaPorte county. It was he who took the initiative in this improvement of the Kankakee valley. It was he who led the fight against the opposition. It was he who secured the efforts of Hon. Lemuel Darrow as attorney, whose pluck, energy, perseverance and peculiar faculty of getting along with the farmers have been of great service to the syndicate in the successful prosecution of their enterprise. It was Mr. Tuesburg who effected an honorable com- promise with the opposition rather than have end- less litigation which would prevent the beginning of work. Time has shown the wisdom of his course. The energy which he everywhere infuses into the operation, is a large factor of their suc- cess. And the son, who is a young man of good character and ability, is gradually taking charge of the business so that he may be able to conduct it when the father is laid aside.

The success of the syndicate has given a great impetus to the reclamation of the valley. On Friday, October 30, 1903, the Kankakee River Improvement Company held an important meet- ing. Of this company, Dixon W. Place, of Walkerton, is the president, and H. C. Shannon, of LaPorte, is the secretary. The directors are Dixon W. Place, of Marshall county, Charles J. Danielson, of Starke county, and James S. Long, James E. Gilchrist and Charles F. Holmes,

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HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

of LaPorte county. Mayor Lemuel Darrow, of LaPorte is attorney for the company. The com- pany had projected the construction of a drain- age ditch to improve tens of thousands of acres of land in the valley, and the October meeting was for the purpose of awarding the contract, which was given to John McAndrews, of Illinois, against two other bidders, at seven and a half cents per cubic foot. It is estimated that in ex- cavating the ditch four hundred and sixty thou- sand cubic yards of dirt will be thrown out. One arm of the ditch will extend from Walkerton to Mud lake, and another from the Wabash cross- ing to Mud lake, and then the ditch will extend from Mud lake to the Place ditch intersection. The drain will be nearly ten miles long and will cost about $35,000. Contractor McAndrews was the one who secured the contract to dig the Machler ditch a few years ago, since which time he has been at work in the Kankakee valley con- tinuously. According to the contract he must begin work on the improvement ditch not later than May 1, 1904, and must complete it within a year. On Friday, November 6, 1903, the com- missioners of St. Joseph county ordered an issue of $16,000 of six per cent. bonds for the con- struction of this ditch, and LaPorte county has issued $30,000. The bonds enable the property owners to pay their assessments on the install- ment plan.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 14

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273