A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 31

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

USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana > Part 31

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

It would seem that Jacob Early, merchant, miller, distiller, lumberman, cooper, etc., was also the first person in the county to engage in pick- ling cucumbers, for the inventory of his estate made after his death in 1873 contained an item of 75 barrels of pickels in brine. The first pickle salting establishment in the county, however, and also the first in the state, consisted of fifteen tanks in an unused railroad shop in LaPorte, fitted up as an experiment by F. & J. Heinz, of Pittsburg in the season of 1880. From this beginning has grown a mammoth business now operated by the

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H. J. Heinz Company. This company has fifteen large salting stations in the state, of which that at LaPorte is the largest and most complete, and other houses have adopted its system. The La- Porte branch factory as it now stands was built in 1892 and is equipped to receive the salted stock from the other Indiana stations and convert it into sweet and sour pickles ready for consump- tion. Oscar A. Burroughs, a native of Evanston, Illinois, has been the local manager from the be- ginning and now has charge of the entire Indiana business. At LaPorte 150 hands are employed in the season, and an enormous quantity of pickles is used, creating a useful industry for the sur- rounding farmers.

The spot where Joseph Pagin built his cabin near the shore of Clear lake, north of the court- house, in 1831, and where the first county court was held, was occupied many years by a brewery, which burned down prior to 1874. Mathias Kreidler ran it half a century ago, beginning in 1854, when he came to this country from Ger- many. The old Pisant brewery, owned for a time by Clement Dick in the eighties, is now the great and prosperous Crystal Spring brewery of Guenther Brothers (John J. and C. F. Guenther), who have found it necessary to make several en- largements in the plant during their proprietor- ship and are making another substantial addition the present season. The Michigan City brewery, established by Philip Zorn more than a quarter of a century ago and now incorporated as the Ph. Zorn Brewing Company, is an enormous estab- lishment enjoying a wide trade. Mr. Zorn's success in the business has enabled him to be- come identified with a number of prosperous local enterprises.

In the early forties Philip Hart, who came to the county in October, 1835, set up a pottery at his home on the bank of Clear lake, where the Metropolitan ice house stood until recently. At that time the only other house on the lake was the Harris log cabin at the east end. Mr. Hart made red glazed dishes for the early settlers, with whom the white ware was a scarce article, and his craft was a great convenience to them. There was a fine oak grove in front of his place, which, with the interest his skillful work attracted, made it a popular place of resort on summer days. He

used a number of upright spindles in turning the clay into the required shapes, and then dried the plastic substance out and put it into a kiln to be baked and glazed. For many years broken frag- ments of imperfect crockery could be found at that spot. He used the common brick clay of the vicinity, and people wondered how he could pro- duce such excellent ware. After a few years he abandoned the business and confined himself to farming until his death, which occurred when he was very old. Samuel Rowe, on Hudson lake, preceded Mr. Hart, undertaking the same busi- ness in 1836, but the collapse of Lakeport's boom a year or so later drove him out of the business. Another hopeful but unsuccessful venture was the ashery erected in 1843 by Logan A. Wakefield on the farm of A. G. Webster, in Noble township. He made pearl ash and potash and failed in 1846. The manufacture of charcoal engaged the at- tention of a number of farmers having land to clear at different times, but the industry never assumed importance in the county. The latest venture of the sort was made by Peter Hack, as late as 1890, on his farm in Springfield township, where he is at present exploring very thoroughly for subterranean oil or gas.

At the county fair held at LaPorte in the fall of 1847 one of the first premiums fell to W. W. Clark in recognition of the merits of a stove manufactured by him in that city. . It was thereupon christened the Premium stove and was advertised as being useful for cooking and heat- ing, but the enterprise soon dropped out of sight. More fortunate was John E. Flucard, who main- tained a fence factory at the corner of Clay and Clayton streets in LaPorte nearly twenty years, commencing in 1863. He came to this city as a carpenter and contractor in 1852, enlisted in the army at the first call for troops in 1861 and re- ' turned in 1863 to embark in the business of manu- facturing plain and ornamental wire fences. He enjoyed a wide trade throughout the county and had a dozen men employed in the shop.

The vast mound of pure sand that guards the harbor entrance at Michigan City and is known as Hoosier Slide has always been looked upon as the possible basis of glass works on a large scale, but no effort to establish the industry there has as yet . been successful. On one occasion, in 1883, a

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factory was built and some glass was produced, but in the following year failure overtook the scheme and ended it.

The business of manufacturing scenic back- grounds for photographers originated in LaPorte and John W. Bryant was its father. Mr. Bryant opened a photograph gallery in LaPorte in 1868. About ten years later he began making photo- graphic accessories for the trade, using the old building at Tyler street and the Lake Shore rail- road for the purpose, and soon created a large de- mand for the scenic backgrounds devised by him and now in use in every studio in the country. Hiram P. Barnes, a scenic painter long em- ployed by Mr. Bryant, organized the firm of Wear & Barnes a few years ago and bought the Bryant business, which they have since con- ducted successfully. Mr. Barnes is making large shipments of backgrounds even as far as Tokio in Japan, where his goods are commanding a high price notwithstanding the war between Japan and Russia. Lay & Carter took up the same line of business in the early part of 1904. Harry N. Calkin was engaged in it in the eighties.

J. B. Silliman opened a pump factory at the corner of Main and J streets, LaPorte, in 1865, making the then popular Silliman wooden pump, and carried on the business more than a score of years.

The Smith Fire Extinguisher Company (1886), the Munson Company (1899), the Wal- ton, Schnewind and Page cigar factories, the Schultz & Bosserman gate factory (1884), the Backhaus & Droege vinegar works (1880), all in LaPorte; the Fethke and Marsh cigar factories, the fine machine shop of Roman Eichstaedt, the Eureka Wall Protector Manufacturing Company (1884), in Michigan City, should be remembered.

The LaPorte broom factory, established in 1867 by N. W. Fraser & Brother on Jefferson street near the old Merrill house in LaPorte, had a prosperous career and employed twenty hands, producing 160,000 brooms in one year. It lasted about a decade. When it ceased operations at the death of the head of the firm several of the em- ployes set up small shops of their own, Joseph E. Allis, David Griffin, Walter Johnston, John P.

Metiver and Edward Witt probably being of this number. The Weise broom factory on Main street, a busy and successful establishment, grew out of the Edward Witt shop. November 17, 1903, the LaPorte Argus-Bulletin announced that a corporation had been formed by Edward C. How, Jacob Ackerman and Charles F. Lefmann to manufacture a sweeper invented by J. M. Barager, of Cleveland, Ohio, who would act as superintendent of the company. The LaPorte Sweeper Company, it was said, would secure a building, install machinery and employ a force of men within a short time.

In January, 1904, a stock company was in- corporated for the manufacture and sale of Re- New-U food, an invention of David H. Reeder, Ph. D., M. D., of LaPorte, founder of the Home Health Culb and author of the Club Books and Lectures, editor of the health department of the Inter-Ocean Sanitary Home and other health journals. The company is known as the Dr. Reeder Food Company, LaPorte, Indiana. Dr. Reeder is president, E. Julius Lonn vice-presi- dent, Edward Horr treasurer, J. William Lonn secretary, George D. Lay director, and Julius C. Travis attorney. The product of the company is meeting with a wide sale, giving excellent satis- faction and the business is increasing rapidly.

We here take our leave of the trades and of some concerns which cannot well be classed under the heads of mills and factories. Not all of the trades have been mentioned; the dress maker's and milliner's and other trades and useful occu- pations of women have been omitted not from chioce, but simply because the subject matter grew on our hands and we could not mention everything. Among the dress makers should be mentioned Mrs. E. A. C. Woodworth, No. 917 Main street, LaPorte, who in the recent dress makers association in Chicago, took the first prize for the most artistic tea gown. But sufficient mention has been made in this chapter to give a good idea of the trades and minor industries of LaPorte county; and in these respects, as in .others, it is in no way inferior to other counties of its class.

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CHAPTER XIX.

MILLS.

"When, with sounds of smothered thunder, On some night of rain, Lake and river break asunder Winter's weakened chain, Down the wild March flood shall bear them To the saw-mill's wheel, Or where Steam the slave shall tear them With his teeth of steel."

-WHITTIER.

Machinery was not introduced into the county until July, 1832, but it is related that within a year prior to that Arba Heald, who was one of the most progressive men in the community, bought a very small mill, "about the size of a tin pail," for his own family. It was attached to a young tree on his place in Scipio township and the neighbors were obligingly permitted to use it for cracking corn by hand, that being the only service of which it was capable. This was soon superceded by a larger and better apparatus known as an English malt mill and operated by horsepower for toll. When General Joseph Orr settled his family in the county in March, 1833, he inquired about the mills and was told by a neighbor that he would have to go to Niles, Mich- igan, for his grinding. This neighbor said he had twice visited the Heald establishment and each time he "got a small turn of bran and some little flour." The affair served very well as a make shift in those days of small things, but Mr. Heald was not satisfied apparently, for (in a statement made by a member of his family for publication in 1874, he having died in 1852), it is said that "he built the first watermill in the county ; at first an English malt mill turned by hand, and then by horsepower." This watermill was erected in the summer of 1833 on land en-

tered by Mr. Heald in 1831, in section 33, Cool- spring township; but it is referred to by all the county historians as a sawmill and never as a gristmill. It is certain that lumber was cut there from the start and until Arba Heald died; but afterwards the sawmill was removed and only grinding machinery was in use, operated by Mr. Heald's son, until about 1890, when the business was discontinued. It was always known as the Heald mill, and was not the first watermill in the county.

The Andrew saw mill, referred to in a former chapter, was the earliest industrial enterprise using machinery in the county. It was situated in the vicinity of Camp Colfax near LaPorte. Af- ter a few years it was sold and moved away.

Charles Vail, son of Isaac and Sarah, born in New Jersey in 1803, and brought up as a baker, located at Terre Coupee in 1829, and in 1832 moved to Springfield town- ship, and, with the assistance of Erastus Quivey, built the first waterpower mill in the county on the north branch of Trail creek. It was a saw- mill, the second in the county, and stood where the Vail mill now stands in section 31, on land which Mr. Vail bought of the government in the next year. This sawmill was completed in Oc- tober, 1832, a couple of months after the Andrew

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venture was in operation and nearly a year be- fore Heald was at work in Coolspring township. Charles Vail conducted the business of manu- facturing lumber and continued until death stopped his labors February 25, 1872, when he was succeeded by his sons Charles and Aaron S., the latter being the present proprietor and manager of the business. Under the ownership of the sons the third new mill was installed, two having been worn out, and a gristmill was put in. The sawmill was abandoned after 1892, when the tim- ber supply had disappeared. The dam was washed out in the summer freshets of 1902, lead- ing to some litigation with reference to a public bridge spanning the outlet of the pond at the mill. Charles Vail was of good old Quaker stock and is remembered by his rugged honesty and public spirit. In the early days he built a school 'house at his own expense and paid the teachers for three years. The Vail mill is the oldest busi- ness enterprise of any kind in operation in the county, and it is exactly as old as the county seat. - With 1833 the agricultural, commercial and industrial development of LaPorte county was taken up in earnest and the population received large accessions. When the year opened the county could muster only about sevenscore cotes and the county seat boasted but three houses, but as the season progressed the old Sac trail was ex- tensively traveled by a sturdy race of pioneers in quest of homes on the rich government lands in LaPorte county. Productive farms and magni- ficent ranges of hardwood timber invited the miller and the lumberman, and other manufac- turers came along in due time. It will be con- venient to take up each branch of industry sep- arately beginning with,

SAWMILLS.

Six of the twenty-one townships in the county have not borne sufficient timber to attract saw- mill men. These are Clinton, Cass, Dewey, John- son, Hanna, and the newly erected Prairie and Washington townships. The dense forest growth of the north half, pierced by several streams af- fording excellent mill seats and adjoined by a flourishing farming community, with growing towns and villages springing up all about, at once

drew the notice of lumberers, and in 1833 at least four sawmills were started in Coolspring town- ship, and one each in Springfield, Michigan and New Durham. The Heald mill, already men- tioned, is one of these. General Joseph Orr, who was himself a part owner of a sawmill in Cool- spring township in the same year, said forty years later that he believed Nathan Johnson was en- titled to the honors of priority in mill construc- tion in that township, thus casting a doubt upon Arba Heald's right even to second place in the county. Nathan Johnson was probably the first settler in Coolspring; he was the founder of the once promising town of Waterford, and was often called upon as a juror, election officer, or town- ship committeeman in the Whig organization. He built the dam at Waterford, the longest in the county, and set up a sawmill there; John Walker of LaPorte being associated with him in the en- terprise. It is probable that Walker, who owned much land in the vicinity by original entry, in- duced him to go there. Johnson, December 19, 1839, sold out to Otis E. Bowers for $25,000, including 1,360 acres of land. Bowers added a distillery to the sawmill, which later gave way to the gristmill now in operation there. The saw- mill business gradually fell off and was ultimately discontinued. When Johnson sold out in 1839, or possibly before, he erected a new mill on sec- tion 15, in the same township, and ran it for a long time. This property, after two or three mills have been worn out and replaced, has been owned and handled by Timm Brothers for more than thirty years. General Joseph Orr built a sawmill on a branch of Spring creek in section 14, in 1835, George W. Reynolds and a man named Hill as carpenters, completing it July 3. George Bentley ran it. Elisha Mayhew, a Penobscot lumberman, had an interest in it, but lived in LaPorte, and later sold his share to one of the Standifords, who settled early in New Durham township. As was the case with many of the water mills, a wool carding machine was attached to this one. Orr & Standiford sold to Samuel Weston, who was on the first grand jury in the county ; he added a gristmill; James Mason later became the owner and dropped the lumbering and subsequently the whole business was discontinued. Bentley after- ward, in 1836, built another mill near Waterford and ran it until he died in 1864. In 1833, or pos-

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sibly a year later, John Beatty and Purdy Smith started a sawmill in section 32, in the southwest corner of Coolspring township, and it was in operation many years. In 1881, and again in 1893, the dam washed out in freshets, whereby the adjoining railroad was undermined and in each case a train was wrecked. The first time one human life was lost and the second time two. After 1893 the property was not renewed. In 1836 Amos Smith, son of Purdy, a lad of ten years, was killed by a falling tree as he was car- rying water to some of the timber-cutters work- ing under the direction of his father in the woods. It has been seen that the first sawmill in Spring- field township was built in 1832 by Charles Vail with the assistance of Erastus Quivey. In 1833 Quivey built the second sawmill in that township, utilizing power from the Galien (or Galena ) river. It was situated on section one, and after two years was sold to Solomon Ross with the gristmill ad- joining, the place being still known as Ross's mill; though the machinery disappeared ten years ago and the dilapidated old building is used as a barn. Ross was born in Virginia in 1807, located in the township in 1834 and died in 1869, after which his son Amos J., dropping the lumber busi- ness, continued to operate the flouring mill for twenty-five years. The earliest recorded sawmill in New Durham township is that of Josiah Bry- ant, in 1833, on section 4. Mr. Bryant served on the second grand jury in the county, and his son Benjamin T., became a leading farmer in New Durham township. In 1851 Bryant sold the mill to John H. Armstrong, who sold to Hiram Holmes, and he (in 1860) to Samuel S. Davis. The mill wore out and later Henry Larray built another at the same place.

It is proper at this point to state that some degree of uncertainty necessarily attaches to the dates given, and that many discrepancies exist in the former histories of the county. The writer has used his best judgment in determining the dates, examining for that purpose the court, real estate and election records as well as all available biographical matter and the record of original entries of public land.

As related in Chapter X, Henry N. Cathcart declared that he and his brother Charles W. had their uncomfortable time with the gnats, beacon bugs, etc., while building a mill for Aaron Stan-

ton in 1833. This fixes the date or origin of the old Stanton mill, in Coolspring township, which was built by Aaron Stanton of LaPorte, as a saw- mill and afterward converted into a gristmill, in which connection it will be again mentioned. The earliest sawmill in Michigan township was estab- lished in 1834, by John Walker, of LaPorte. It likewise was superseded by a gristmill; and the Eureka mill of Roeske Brothers, in section 34, is its lineal successor. It appears that James M. Scott acquired the property, perhaps in 1834, and installed the flouring machinery. Samuel Olinger (who was the first justice of the peace in Michi- gan township, defeating James M. Scott by a vote of 12 to 8), is said to have been engaged in saw- milling in that township at an early day, but no satisfactory record has been found. In that year he opened a hotel in Michigan City, Thompson W. Francis having erected the building for him, and in 1836 he is found running a sawmill in Porter county. There seems to have been no other lumber manufacturing in Michigan town- ship in the early days. Matthew Mayes, a Penn- sylvanian, who located in Galena township in 1834, and had a blacksmith shop many years at Maye's Corners, also called Hesston, visited that locality in the preceding year and assisted John Tolbert is setting up a sawmill in section 8, on the Galien river. This was the first sawmill in that township. It was not completed and set in motion until 1834, by which time Wrightman Goit had taken a partnership interest in the enter- prise. Mr. Goit, who was commendably active in local political and religious affairs (he donated the land for Posey chapel), met an untimely death in January, 1852. While cutting timber in the woods he was struck by a falling tree. He was engaged in getting out ties for the first railroad in the county. His descendants are still repre- sented in the county. March 5, of the same year, Kellogg Shedd, also a man of local prominence in the township, lost his life by the upsetting of a load of logs, with which he was going to the Barnes mill. This occurred near Center school. After the death of Mr. Goit, the mill stood idle and fell into decay until R. B. Goit and William Ingersol rebuilt it in 1854. It was operated at least twenty years longer by different owners, Philip M. Hess being one of the latest proprie- tors. It came to be known as the Bliss mill and

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was owned for a time by Dalrymple. Some have said that George W. Barnes had the first sawmill in Galena township, and perhaps the matter is open to dispute. He is accorded the honor of having been the first settler in that township, dating his arrival in 1833, and it was at his house that the first township election was held, in April, 1836. He was in the county early enough to be summoned on the first grand jury and vote at the first county elections, in 1832, and he died about July, 1844. Mr. Barnes was born in Maine and moved to Ohio, whence he came to this county. It is recorded of him that he was "a man of uncommon nerve and force of character, possessing traits which made him eminently fit for a pioneer of civilization;" and it is further recorded that "he was a married man, but never brought his family to his new home," which state- ment is followed by some speculation concerning the possibility of domestic infelicity. In his will, dated June 11, 1844, and probated two months later, he spoke of his wife as "my be- loved wife Alvira" and left her an equit- able share of his very considerable prop- erty, including the household furniture, pro- visions on hand and certain livestock which she was to select for herself. These terms would seem to indicate that she was with him at that time and that he was solicitous for her wel- fare. Having no children he left the remainder of his property to two brothers and two sisters. This man built his mill in 1834 in section 20, and the establishment bore his name for half a cen- tury. At his death it was left to his five testa- mentary beneficiaries, above mentioned. At the · village of Lakeport, now Hudson, once a formid- able rival of LaPorte, Garret Bias in 1834, built the first sawmill in Hudson township, locating it not far from the blacksmith shop of "Wishtean Bish," the earliest mechanic in the county. With lumber from this mill James F. Smith constructed the first frame house in the place. Bias ran the mill until 1838, when he traded it for seven acres of land within the corporate limits of Chicago, and the mill was hauled down the old Sac trail to Rockford, Illinois. The land was afterward sold for taxes. Bias opened the second tavern in Lakeport in 1835, and in 1838 was elected captain of a local militia company which was formed there, and was armed with old fashioned govern-

ment flintlock muskets. The first lieutenant of this train band was Andrew Avery, who holds a prominent place in this history. Caleb Davis, fa- ther of Eugenius W. Davis, of Galena township, came to LaPorte county in 1831 and in 1835 to Springfield township, where he built a sawmill in section 25, and ran it until he moved over into Galena in 1838. For many years he preached the gospel without pay, and in 1879 he moved to Shelby, Michigan, where he died at a ripe old age. The mill was abandoned about 1875 under the ownership of W. Hough.

About 1835.or 1836 two sawmills were placed on the Little Kankakee in Pleasant township, one by a Mr. Whitmer on land now known as the Elizabeth Burson place, the other, probably a little earlier, close by on section one. The Whit- mer mill long since passed out of sight. Gristing machinery was soon put in the other, the Root & Graham mill, and in time sawmilling was drop- ped. This place came to be known as the "Mud mill" and the "Hickory mill," and the old building is standing yet near the roadside, and is called the Forney mill. About five rods from the town- ship line, in section 31 of Scipio, on a branch of Mill (formerly Markham's) creek, there are yet visible some decayed timbers of the only sawmill the township ever had, as old settlers have said. It was built in 1836, by Asaph Webster, who lived in the adjoining section on the south, and was discontinued many years ago.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 31

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