USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 49
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"The Ullery creek, upon which the old mill stood was utilized for other manufacturing purposes in early times. A saw mill was erected by Jonas Harris on his property, about half a mile above the mouth of the creek, and this he ran as did the Sheffields and Mr. Carpenter, who came after him. It has long since passed into oblivion, except that a portion of its frame was removed near the old grist mill and converted into a stable. Near where the creek crosses the Niles road north of Notre Dame, Stephen Ullery, over half a century ago, ran a little carding mill, but all traces of this have disappeared.
"The old gray mill of the pioneers is gone yet it lives in the hundreds of pictures of various kinds, great and small that adorn the homes and publie places of this community, chief among them being the large painting on the Auditorium drop curtain with its ap- propriate couplet from the valley's most gifted poet, the lamented Ben King :
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY.
" .For my soul it seenis caught in Old Time's undertow,
And I'm floating away down the river St. Joe. ' "'
The history of Notre Dame and St. Mary's will be reserved for another chapter. In Mr. Bulla's reminiseenees, already referred to, will be found some reference to early educa- tional matters in the township. It is said that the first sehool taught in the township was in Mr. Eyler's house by Charles Murray. The first school house was in the location now known as Stover's, on the Edwardsburg road, the teacher being Daniel A. Veasey. Since 1868, the German Baptists have had a church in the middle of the western part of the town- ship. Among the pastors have been Jacob Cripe, Christian Wenger and John B. Wrightsman. There is no other church in the township, except those at Notre Dame and St. Mary's. According to the United States een- sus for 1900, the population of Clay town- ship, ineluding that of Notre Dame and St. Mary's, was one thousand, one hundred and fifty.
Sec. 8 .- CENTER .- Center township is one day younger than Clay. It was formed May 6, 1840, with the following boundaries: Be- ginning at the northeast corner of seetion thirty, township thirty-seven, range three east ; thence west to the northwest corner of section twenty-seven, same township, range two east: thenee south to the southwest eor- ner of section fifteen, township thirty-six. range two east; thenee east to the southeast corner of section eighteen, same township, range three east; thence north to the begin- ning.
Center has the distinction of being one of the two townships of the county whose limits have remained unchanged since their forma- tion. The other is Lincoln township.
The Michigan road passes north and south through the middle of the township, angling northeasterly ; while the old Michigan bound- ary passes east and west through the north
half of the township. The result is that the lines of survey are somewhat irregular.
The soil is, in general, a strong elay. In the northwest there is a good deal of low land. Rupel lake, in the "Rupel settlement," is in this vieinity. This territory is drained by Wenger's creek, which flows down through Portage township and reaches the St. Joseph almost at the exact south bend of the river. As in case of other such lands throughout the county, these low lands have been in a large measure reelaimed by drainage and now con- stitute the most valuable lands of the town- ship. The general character of the soil and of the people in the north part of Center is like those of the neighboring parts of Greene township; while in the southern part the soil and the population resemble those of the ad- jacent parts of Union township. Altogether, the soil and the people are amongst the best in the county.
The first settlements were made early in the thirties, although it is said that Nathan Rose purchased his land from the Pottawato- mies in 1829. Other very early settlers were : Andrew Milling, James and Ashur Palmer, from whom Palmer Prairie was named, John Rose, Henry Stull, Peter Rupel. Col. John Smith, George Smith, Isaac Lamb, Abiel Hun- gerford, Tyra W. Bray, James and Richard Inwood, William Phillips and William H. Robertson.
Elizabeth Rose, daughter of Nathan Rose. was the first child born in the township. Mathias Stover was elected first justice of the peace. Very few justices or constables however, have qualified or acted in the town- ship. It is a simple law abiding people, who obey the laws without restraint or compulsion of any kind. The pioneer log school-house was erected on Nathan Rose's farm, on the Michigan road, in 1835. A little later a frame school building was erected on Col. Smith's farm, on the same road. Among the early teachers were Mary Milling. Benjamin Gib- bons and Daniel Robertson. The German Baptist church, known as the Palmer Prairie
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
church, was built in 1859. David Miller and Christian Wenger were among the first pas- tors. As we have seen, in chapter sixth, sub- division sixth, the first infirmary owned by the county was located in Center township, where it remained nine or ten years, from 1846 to 1855.
The Vandalia railroad runs north and south through Center township. Nutwood, a station rather than a town, is located on the railroad. Except this station, the township is purely agricultural. It is the smallest township in the county, containing but twenty sections of land. But the land makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity. The population by the census of 1900, was six hundred and eight.
Sec. 9 .- MADISON .- By order of the board of county commissioners, made March 4, 1845, so much as was then left of Penn town- ship was divided into two townships, by a line due east and west through the centers of sections eight, nine, ten, eleven and twelve, township thirty-six, range three east, and through sections seven, eight and nine, same township, range four east. The south one of these townships was called Madison, the name Penn being retained for the northern town- ship.
The north boundary of Madison remains unchanged ; the east boundary is the Elkhart county line ; and the south boundary, the Mar- shall county line. The west line of the town- ship. after some slight changes, is now as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section eight, township thirty-six north, range three east; thence sonth to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section twenty, said township and range ; thence east to the north- east corner of the southeast quarter of said section twenty ; thence south to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section twenty-eight, said township and range; thenee east to the center of said section twenty-eight; thence south to the south line of St. Joseph county.
The territory now known as Madison town-
ship did not attract settlers until a compara- tively late period in the history of the county. The land was heavily timbered and the soil a strong clay, while swamps and low ground met the explorer at every turn. Brave, hardy pioneers, however, perceived the rich quality of the soil of this timbered region. The saw- mill and the ditch converted the forbidding region into the most valuable farming seetion of the county. While the drains were prepar- ing the land for tillage, the sawmills con- verted the timber into lumber; so that the courageous settlers were enabled not only to make their living, but even to accumulate wealth, while waiting for their lands to be- come dry enough for the plow. The soil of Madison township, as might be expected, is of inexhaustible fertility ; and today the most favored sections of St. Joseph county vield to Madison in the production of every grain and vegetable and fruit that grows in our climate. The population, like that of Union and southern Penn, is to a great extent, of the vigorous Pennsylvania stock, which is so substantial and valuable an element in every community of which it forms a part. It was such a brave hearted, strong bodied people that brought a change over the face of Madison township, until the wilderness and the swamps have literally blossomed as the rose.
The first settlers, Mr. Cline, Mr. Bennett and Christian Helminger, came in 1840. Other early settlers were Godfried Enders, Mr. Palmer, Peter Kline, Adam Kiefer, Wil- liam Border, Thomas Crakes, Jonathan Gil- man, Christian Grose, John Schaffer, Philip Berger, Adam Rader, Michael Kettring, Philip MeClellan, Levi Knowlton, Philip, Jacob and John Marker, Daniel B. Jewell, Samuel Shearer, Eli Leslie. Joseph Meyer, Anthony Albert, Adam Layman, Joseph Zeiger. Michael Smith, Amos Jewell, Hiram Locker. Jacob Hetzel, Jacob Conrad.
David Newcomer. Andrew J. Strope, Daniel IIolmes, Adam Mochel, John Kelley, Charles Kelley, Henry Flory, Harrison Pen- tecost, John Hawkins, Jacob Loucks, A. C.
19
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
Heiner, John Shenefield, John Barkey, Jacob Birk, Jacob Futler and Henry Fox.
There are but two small towns in the town- ship, Woodland, in the northwest part, and Wyatt. in the south. The latter is situated on the Wabash railroad, the only railroad in the township.
The first church building in Madison town- ship was a log house, built at Woodland. This was erected by the Methodists, who afterwards built a finer structure at the same place. Later the church was purchased by the Evangelicals. Three or four miles to the east of Woodland, the Evangelicals have another church. In the southwest part of the township, near the Yellow river, the society known as the Evangelical Association erected a church in 1864. The United Brethren also have a society and a church edifice in the township.
The German Lutherans have a church in Woodland, which was built in 1868. Among the pastors have been the Rev. Conrad Schus- ter and the Rev. George Rosenwinkle.
As might be inferred, the principal occupa- tions of the people of Madison township have been in the timber and lumber business and the business of farming. In all of these they have succeeded in an eminent degree. It need hardly be said that the education of the chil- dren was never neglected. The township, which is now populous and wealthy, has the only rural high school in the county. Wisely the substantial citizens of the township have provided that the ambitious youth of the com- munity may receive a superior education without the expense, and still more without the dangers, attendant on going away from home at an age when parental care is more than at any other time needful to save the dear ones from excesses which are but miser- ably paid for by the most finished intellectual training that any school or college can give. According to the U. S. census for the year 1900. the population of Madison township, in- eluding Woodland and Wyatt, was two thousand, two hundred and four.
Sec. 10 .- LINCOLN .- The last township to be formed out of the original three,-Penn. Portage and Olive-was Lincoln. This town- ship, as we have seen, was at first a part of Liberty. The boundaries of the township of Lincoln, as fixed by the order of the county board, made June 7, 1866, are as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of section thirty-four, township thirty-five, range one west, being the southwest corner of St. Joseph county ; thence east, on the line between St. Joseph and Starke counties, to the southeast corner of section thirty-six, same township and range; thence north three miles, to the . northwest corner of Marshall county; thence east. on the line between Marshall and St. Joseph counties, two miles; thence north two miles; thence west two miles; thence north one mile; thence west to the Kankakee river and the Laporte county line; thence south, by the Laporte county line, to the place of beginning.
As in the case of only one other township, that of Center, the boundaries of Lincoln have remained unchanged since its formation.
The lands of Lincoln township have be- come valuable through drainage. With the dredging and straightening of the Kankakee and the construction of the great river drains through St. Joseph, Laporte and Starke coun- ties, the rich bottoms that were formerly water covered have been changed into meadows and corn fields. The inhabitants of the township have shown the greatest enter- prise in this as in all other directions. The people of Holland, in building their dykes against the sea, have made that country the garden of Europe; and the people of Lincoln, as also the inhabitants of the other townships along the Kankakee, by lowering and straightening that winding stream, have turned their lowlands into rich farms and gardens.
The first settlements in the territory now forming Lincoln township were made as early as 1835. Christian Fulmer came during that year. Soon after came Thomas H. Wiley,
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
Philo Ruggles, Joshua Cole, Washington Fuson, Thomas Barton, Archibald Goit, Samuel Lorens, Ebenezer Jones, Charles and Jackson Usher, Charles Havens, Morris Frost.
The Methodist Episcopal was the first so- ciety to ereet a church in the township. This was built in Walkerton, in 1859, under direc- tion of the Rev. J. E. Newhouse and the Rev. James Johnson, the latter being the presiding elder. The society was long known as the West York Mission church. The Baptists erected a church in 1870, and the Catholics in 1876. The Presbyterians, United Brethren and Seventh Day Adventists also have churches in the township.
The first school house was erected in 1858, about a mile from the present town of Walker- ton, and was removed into the town in 1876. Graded schools of a high order, including a high school in Walkerton, have long sinee provided for a superior education for the youth of the township.
No section of St. Joseph county has a brighter future then Lincoln township and its enterprising town of Walkerton. The popula- tion of the township, according to the eensus of 1900, was one thousand, five hundred and ninety-nine. This ineluded the population of Walkerton, which was eight hundred and eighty-five.
Sec. 11 .- PENN .- When on May 6, 1832, by order of the county board, St. Joseph county was divided into three townships, cor- responding with the three county commis- sioners' districts, Penn township was made to comprise the whole of the territory of the county lying east of range two east. By sub- sequent sub-divisions, as we have seen, all of the present township of Harris, part of Clay, part of Center, part of Union and all of Madi- son, were taken from Penn.
Parts of Penn were added to Portage also, as follows: On January 5, 1836, the west six sections of congressional township thirty- seven, range three east; and on September 4, 1850, the west half of section five, same town- ship and range. Of the six sections so added
to Portage, Jannary 5, 1836, the south two, on May 6, 1840, became a part of the town- ship of Center.
Notwithstanding the great amount of terri- tory taken from Penn, it still remains the largest township in the county, containing sixty-five and a half sections of land, almost equal to two congressional townships. It is perhaps also, take it altogether, the richest township in the county. The soil and charae- teristies of the south part of the township are quite similar to those of the adjoining town- ship of Madison, as heretofore described. The St. Joseph river flows from east to west through the north part of the township. The river receives two small streams, Twin Branch and Baugo, from the south, and another from the north side of the river. These small streams drain large tracts of low lands on either side of the river. The large marsh between Mishawaka and the hills to the south, and extending almost from the west to the east of the township, is the principal of these lowlands. This is the swamp behind which La Salle lost his way, as related in chapter first of this work. Through drain- age, all these lowlands have now become till- able, and are amongst the most fertile lands of the county.
A unique industry has grown up from the cultivation of these fertile swamps, partieu- larly that which may be called the La Salle swamp. Snch reclaimed swamps have in many cases been devoted to the cultivation of celery, as at Kalamazoo; and that industry has been engaged in at Mishawaka. But it was found that these reclaimed lowlands were even more perfectly adapted to the cultivation of peppermint. The following account of this peppermint industry will be of particular interest in connection with the history of this county, and especially the history of Penn township :"
"The reports that the peppermint growers and oil distillers of northern Indiana, south-
a. Taken principally from a report written for the Indianapolis News, of October 13, 1906.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
ern Michigan and Wayne county, New York, under the leadership of James A. Everitt, of Indianapolis, and his American Society of Equity, are entering into a combine to inject some 'equity' into the mint markets, and also the reports from Washington that the eyes of the attorney-general have been directed toward the infant combination, calls to the attention of Indiana a supremacy enjoyed by her in the world's commercial markets of which few of her citizens know anything.
"If the ordinary Indiana eater of pepper- mint drops, chewer of peppermint gum, or user of peppermint oils for medical or com- mercial purposes were put on the witness stand and questioned concerning where, ac- cording to his opinion, the peppermint for the world is made, he would probably credit it to distant tropical lands.
"As a matter of fact the world's supply of high grade peppermint oils and flavors comes from the northern Indiana counties, from those in southern Michigan and from Wayne county, New York; and the low grade supply comes from Japan. The Indiana 1906 crop has just been harvested and distilled on the northern Indiana farms and it represents a little more than 50,000 pounds of the 250,000 pounds national production. Probably a half of it will be exported to England and Ger- many and some of that may even come back on the Indiana markets as the supreme grades of Mitcham, England, peppermint oils and essences.
"The Indiana mint crop, which has just been put into oil, represents considerably more than $100,000 of value in ordinary markets. It is understood that the Everitt combine of mint growers proposes to hold the oil for market quotations of approximately $2.75 a pound.
"Mishawaka is the peppermint capital of the Indiana industry and when the almost one thousand acres of peppermint fields that lie in what might be called the Mishawaka dis- trict are in harvest, and when the distilling
plants are running, the air is filled with the aroma of the mint.
"When the crop is ready for harvesting the reaper is driven out of the timothy or clover meadow into the peppermint field and there the crop is felled with a three-and-a-half-foot swath, and is raked up like clover, and by the same process into windrows. Into the fragrant fields come the hay wagons and on them the mint is loaded by men who sweat as profusely under their bending pitchforks as they do under the same forks and same loads in the hay field.
"But the mint does not go up into the barn loft. While it is yet green, it is hauled to the distillation plants and is dumped in ton lots into great wooden casks. In these it is tramped tight and the covers are let down and serewed on tightly, and a steam vent in the bottom of the great cask or distilling vat is opened. The steam pressing up through the mint causes the oil in the leaves to liquefy and join the steam, and this oil-steam passes out through the top and through pipes is run into the condensing pipes, over which cool water is kept running.
"The temperature of these pipes is so low that the steam precipitates and finally, after running the long course of the pipes, the water and oil come out into separating tanks. Here the oil separates completely from the water and floats on top of it, and the water under its own pressure is discharged. The ton of mint is left for about an hour in the distilling tanks and the ton produces, ordi- narily, from ten to twelve pounds of oil, though in seasons when the oil values are heavy it will run above this.
"The ordinary oil yield is twenty-five to thirty-five pounds an acre, which selling at $2.50 a pound, would run from $62.50 to $87.50 cash. But there is nothing certain in these figures. At times the mint crop in this part of the state has run up to sixty-five and even seventy pounds an acre, and at times it has dropped to less than twenty pounds, while
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY. 293
the prices have run as wide a range-from 50 cents to $6 a pound.
"It is a very costly crop to produce, the weeding having to be done by hand, while the distillation requires considerable labor. Still in years of average production of oil for each aere and of average market price the mint farmer is in clover.
"While Mishawaka is really the Indiana peppermint capital-its district covering practically all of the fields in St. Joseph county-the culture is carried on in parts of Elkhart, Lagrange, Noble, Steuben. De- Kalb, Marshall and Laporte counties, and has been introduced recently in an experi- mental way into the Jasper county Kankakee swamps.
"Like broom eorn and many other erops, mint can be grown almost anywhere. but only with commercial success and excellence in very limited areas. Thus far in all of this country only Wayne county, New York, south- ern Michigan and the northern tier, or tier and a half, of Indiana counties, have been found suitable to its culture. It thrives in just those old lake and drained swamp beds that made Kalamazoo famous for celery.
"A black muck-sand loam is the soil in which it is raised with greatest sucess, and that soil must, like that used in raising the finest grades of celery, be situated in a finely-drawn elimatic zone. Mint of greater growth and finer appearance perhaps has been grown in the fine soils of Illinois, in Kansas and in Oregon by people from this part of Indiana who wished to take the industry into new see- tions, but while it was most promising in ap- pearanee it was found. on subjecting it to the distilling process, to be decidedly short on oil, and therefore not a profitable erop.
"The plant looks a great deal like alfalfa or clover. when growing in the field, and it grows high enough to reach almost above a man's knees. It has a stalk a great deal resembling the clover or alfalfa stalk, and its roots are of much the same character. It would natur- ally be thought that a considerable part of
the oil would be found in the stalk, but hardly a trace of it comes from any other part of the plant than the leaves.
"The under side of the leaf, when it is green, has a sort of velvety finish. When plac- ed under a powerful glass it is seen that the soft finish is made up of minute oil cells. In these the oil is carried. It seems that the oil supply is much greater when there is a season of hot weather. It seems also to diminish when there is a drop in temperature. Where does it go, or from whence the increased supply, no one seems to know. When the plant is nearing maturity a person going into a mint field and running his hand through the grow- ing plants finds it "finished" with mint oil with so great staying power that the odor will remain for many hours.
"Jerry Woodward, who lives in Mishawaka, is known over northern Indiana as the "In- diana Peppermint King." With his brothers, Walter and William, he has about 320 acres in mint, and this year the Woodward erop ran more than 4,000 pounds. The Wood- wards are the largest growers in Indiana and the second largest in this country and possi- bly in the world, as the Japanese, who supply the inferior oil, are said, individually, to be small growers. The greatest grower is A. M. Todd, who lives in Kalamazoo, and generally has 600 to 800 acres in mint.
"There are a number of Indiana growers who raise from 100 to 150 aeres of mint a year. Each of these has his own distilling plant and distills the erops of the smaller growers.
"In respect to marketing the crop as a finished oil or spirit, the peppermint growers of this country who distill their own crops, nearest approach the German potato growers, who distill their crop into alcohol in their own farm distilleries.
"The mint grown by these commercial cul- turists is a cross between the wild America and the old English mint. The growing in this country was begun a century or more ago in Wayne county, New York, the wild
-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
mint being used. At that time Mitcham (England) peppermint oil was standard and was sold to all countries. It was, in fact, very limited in quantity and the grower that made the name famous only grew his mint in a small garden and bought the mint grown by others. He, however, developed a very superior plant, and this later was crossed with the American plant grown in New York. From New York it was brought to Michigan and from Michigan into Indiana sixty or seventy years ago, probably the first Indiana grower being Elam Eller, of St. Joseph county. The Woodward Brothers, who moved from Michigan to Mishawaka, seventeen years ago, were the first extensive growers.
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