USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > A history of Sullivan County, Indiana, closing of the first century's history of the county, and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth, Volume I > Part 23
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and put in a room then occupied by Calvin Taylor as a law office. During the remodeling of the court house, the library was dissipated, and only a stray volume here and there is left as a reminder of the old collection.
At one time there existed what was known as the People's Library, a collection of about two hundred volumes. Fifty persons had each sub- scribed two dollars to form this collection, which was kept for a while in the W. C. T. U. rooms on the south side of the square, but finally went into the American Bible Society's depository. During the eighties a read- ing room was maintained by some of the women of Sullivan, who occa- sionally gave lunches and served ice cream and cake to raise money for the enterprise.
Carnegie Library.
The establishment of the Carnegie Library at Sullivan was mainly due to the Woman's Club of that town. The history of perhaps the majority of the libraries in the middle west present a similar record of the enterprise and labors of women in behalf of the intellectual advantages and welfare of their respective towns.
In 1899 the Woman's Club appointed a committee to work for this object, the members of the committee being, Mrs. Anna Sheridan, chair- man; Mrs. Mary Davis, Mrs. Amelia Crowder, Mrs. Helen Mahley, Mrs. Ida Thompson, Mrs. Mary Hays, Mrs. Rachel Harris. By entertainments and lectures a library fund of one hundred was accumulated, but the movement progressed slowly, and letters to Mr. Carnegie met with no response. In 1901 the legislature passed the new library law, requiring a town board to lay a library tax provided a fund equal to a tax of two- tenths of a mill had been raised by popular subscription. The conditions were met in Sullivan, the fund raised and a site offered for the library, and the facts were stated in a letter to Mr. Carnegie. In answer came a promise of $10,000 for the library building.
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In March, 1904, the contract for the library building was let to J. F. Nicholas for $8,276, and on June 1Ith following the cornerstone was laid, with Masonic ceremonies. The building was dedicated January 19, 1906. The pupils of the schools visited the building by grades in the afternoon, and many of the school children and other visitors brought books to con- tribute to the library collection. In the evening the presentation address was made by John T. Hays, and the building was accepted on behalf of the town by William T. Douthitt. Other speakers were Prof. Robert J. Aley of the Indiana University, Miss Merica Hoagland of the Indiana Library Commission, and Mrs. W. R. Nesbit and Mrs. John Chaney.
Some interesting details concerning the establishment of the library are contained in the following chronological notes, taken from the newspapers :
April 10, 1902-The clubs of town begin to try to raise money for a public library. The women are trying to raise $760 to fill the requirements of law-that being equal to a tax of two-tenths mill on each dollar of taxable property. Fifteen dollars is the highest sum to be asked from any one person.
April 17, 1902-In response to a committee from the various clubs of the town, headed by Mrs. O. B. Harris, the town board has levied a tax of six-tenths mill for library purposes, which gives an income of $1,100 a year. The amount sought by popular subscrip- tion had been obtained.
July 17, 1902-The library board is made up of the following persons : Mrs. P. H. Blue, John T. Hays and Mrs. Florence Higbee, appointed by Judge O. B. Harris ; George R. Dutton and Dr. Anna E. Sheridan, appointed by the town board ; and Mrs. O. B. Harris and John S. Bays, appointed by the school board. July 24-Mrs. Harris was elected president, Mrs. Higbee secretary, and Mr. Dutton treastirer.
Nov. 13, 1902-A reading room over McClanahan's store has been opened to the public. All the late magazines are supplied, and in a back room is a table with games.
January, 1903-Letter dated Jan. 13 from Mr. Carnegie promis-
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ing $10,000, the town board having promised not less than one thousand dollars a year.
March 28, 1903-Library board accepts offer made by Dr. L. A. Stewart and others of a lot for the library at the corner of Thomp- son and Eaton streets, west end of Jackson.
Aug. 27, 1903-Strikes at stone quarries and the prospect of a direct line to the quarries when the Southern Indiana Railroad reaches Sullivan make it advisable to wait until 1904 to build.
Nov. 12, 1903-Library board accepts plans of P. O. Moratz, an architect of Bloomington, Illinois.
June II, 1904-Laying of cornerstone. Procession headed by library board and Woman's Club, to which bodies is due a large share of the credit for the establishment of the library. George E. Grimes, master of Masonic ceremonies, and other participants in the proceedings were Rev. W. H. Grim, Grand Master Frank E. Gavin, Mrs. O. B. Harris and John C. Chaney.
Sept. 8, 1904-Miss Julia Mason appointed librarian. '
March 8, 1906-Carnegie donates another thousand dollars to be used for putting in a furnace and furnishing the basement of the building.
June 4, 1906-Unveiling at public library of bust of Daniel W. Voorhees, replica of the one in the Library of Congress. Miss Naomi Harris in charge of the ceremony, and an address by Claude G. Bowers, of Terre Haute.
The Academy of Science of Sullivan county was an institution which was organized for the promotion of scientific studies and investigation. The meeting for organization was held July 17, 1882, the first officers elected being: Sewell Coulson, president; J. R. Hinkle, vice president ; John C. Chaney, secretary ; John W. Spencer, corresponding secretary ; John T. Gunn, treasurer; George W. Buff, Uriah Coulson and O. J. Craig, trustees.
CHAPTER XXIII.
DRAINAGE.
Floods and overflows have from the first settlement to the present time been a serious problem to the residents of the Wabash valley. The flood plain of the river, on one side or the other and sometimes on both sides of this stream, contain thousands of acres of rich soil that, under favorable conditions, produce the largest yields per acre in the county. Inland from the river are also large areas which, though of undulating topography, have sluggish drainage and in times of great rainfall become inundated, resulting in damage and occasionally total destruction of the year's crops.
In Fairbanks, Turman, Gill and Haddon townships, bordering on the Wabash, are the most serious aspects of the problem. The meander- ing tributaries that drain the water of these townships into the river are quite inadequate, and the fertile prairies have often been untillable because of excessive rains.
At an earlier day the drainage of farms was left largely to nature and such means as the individual alone could undertake. By an act of Congress of September 28, 1850 (Sec. 2479, R. V. U. S.) all of the swamps and overflowed lands in Indiana, unfit for cultivation, were granted to the state. The smallest subdivision was taken as a basis and where over fifty percent of such tract came within the provision of the
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statute the whole was to be included. By this act a little over ten thou- sand acres, in Sullivan county, were included in this grant of "swamp land." The greater part of these lands were along the Wabash river and Busseron creek in the "civil townships" of Fairbanks, Turman, Gill and Haddon. Of the "congressional townships," T. 6 N. R. 10 W. and T. 8 and R. 8 contained the largest acreage-the former having ninety- four forty-acre tracts and the latter forty-nine. This grant was accepted by the state and legislature by an act of the general assembly, approved May 29, 1852, provided for the sale of these lands and the application of the proceeds. The lands were put on the market at $1.25 an acre, in cash, and this was to be a "special fund" to be used in reclaiming the lands and for no other purpose. (Those interested are referred to the act itself for particulars.)
This was not much inducement to buyers, for at that time better lands could be bought from the government at the same price. Much of this land, however, was bought by the owners of contiguous farms for pasture and range for stock, and for this purpose was a valuable addition to their tillable farms.
No thought, it seems, had occurred to them of availing themselves of drains or levees, as many of them had already selected the same class of land, preferring it to the drier and higher land. About 1848 a system of levees were projected for preventing the overflow of low lands in the south end of Sullivan county and the north end of Knox county. The distance covered about five miles-three in Sullivan and two in Knox- and were designed to benefit several thousand acres in the two counties. Much of this land was already fenced and in cultivation and very pro- ductive, but owing to frequent high water fences and crops were dam- aged or carried away. The enterprise was to be carried out by a volun- tary association of those who had a community of interest. The survey
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indicated that by a series of levees varying in height from three to twelve feet and in length from a few hundred yards to one mile, all of the lands south and east of the survey would be protected. As there are no records of this work no particulars can be given.
The contract was let to Solomon Wolfe, who began the work at once, and as there were many idle men who had been at work on the "Wabash and Erie canal," the work was soon completed. This experi- ment was successful in saving two or three crops, which more than paid the expense, but by reason of exceedingly high water a portion of the work was destroyed. This was largely due to faulty engineering (if any), as there was only one foot of base to one of height and only three feet of width on top and the elevation only one foot above high water mark. No account had been taken of the fact that when the water was shut out of so much low land and confined to a narrow channel it would reach a greater height. The lesson was expensive, but it was worth what it cost, as the levees have been rebuilt on a more scientific basis, and are still doing service. None of the land included in this levee district was effected by the acts of the state or general government heretofore cited. They had all been entered long prior to the passage of those laws, but it is a little remarkable that those who have bought up large quantities of those lands since those laws went into effect and have expended large sums in reclaiming those lands have not availed themselves of the benefits offered by the government and the state in all cases where the same were applicable.
In 1869 a state ditching law was passed, though it has been only within the last quarter of a century that effective co-operation has brought about any noteworthy results. The residents of Gill Prairie were prob- ably the first to undertake the work on an extensive scale, such as would benefit a large area. In 1886 the contract was let for the construction
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of a seven-mile ditch. John Rogers was ditch commissioner at the time, and the ditch was often called the Rogers ditch. Its benefits were more than the improvement of the lands for purposes of tilling, for the removal of stagnant pools and swamps also caused a cessation, to a large degree, of the chills and fevers which had always been prevalent.
In 1889 an act was passed by the legislature providing for the incor- poration of associations and the issuing of bonds for the purpose of drainage and the prevention of overflows by the cutting of ditches, the construction of levees, etc., the cost of such improvements to be propor- tionately assessed against the lands thereby benefited. In. 1903 the former ditching law was amended, and the opportunities for remonstrance against the proposed improvement were decreased.
The building of ditches and levees has cost the county and its citi- zens thousands of dollars during the last ten or fifteen years. The con- struction of levees to protect the farm lands from the high waters of the river has received special attention within the last few years. The land- owners of Gill township petitioned for the building of a levee in 1893, and one was subsequently built in that township. During the high waters of July, 1902, it was estimated that the Gill levee had protected twelve thousand acres from overflow. The levee was built at a cost of nearly seventy-five thousand dollars, being twelve miles long, and the lands bene- fited were said to have been raised in value from almost nothing to from fifty to eighty dollars an acre.
In the summer of 1902 the movement was taken up to construct a levee along the Wabash in Fairbanks and Turman townships. This resulted in the following year in the organization of the Island Levee Association, which in July voted to build the levee. Suits were brought to prevent the work, but were finally compromised, and the route of the levee was surveyed from a point one mile north of the Turman-Fairbanks
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township line to the mouth of Turman creek, thence along the creek to Collier's bridge. The total length was eleven miles, and the cost of con- struction was nearly ninety thousand dollars. Bonds were issued to the amount of eighty-five thousand five hundred dollars to pay for the work.
In several of the floods which have taken place in recent years the water has broken through the levees, and almost destroyed the embank- ments, and in several cases the levees have been saved only by cutting them and allowing the floods to spread out over the fields. Ditches and levees have often proved inadequate to cope with the conditions resulting from excessive rainfall, but on the whole these means have effected vast saving and have added much wealth in real estate and productivity to the county's resources.
CHAPTER XXIV.
FAIRS-THE GRANGE AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL ORGANI- ZATIONS.
The Sullivan County Agricultural Society was organized at Carlisle in 1852, and the first fair was held in October. The principal officers at that time were W. D. Blackburn, James H. Reid and J. H. Paxton. In a few years Merom and Sullivan became rival claimants against Car- lisle for the fair, but when the directors decided to let the fair be held at the place which contributed the most money, Carlisle retained the title by raising $326 and thus secured the fair meetings for the following five years. Some facts about the fourth annual fair, in 1855, are found in the Sullivan Democrat of that year. The grounds were located near the depot, on the east side of town. Races were the principal feature, and one of the events of this fair was a riding match between three ladies. The gate admission was ten cents, and the total receipts from this source were only fifty dollars. The premiums amounting to over three hundred dollars, the association's treasury was bankrupt.
The fairs were held at Carlisle for twelve successive years, but few were successful and the attractions were meager, and popular interest almost completely failed during the years of the war. In 1865 it was voted to move the fair to Sullivan, but no fair was held during that year,
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the first one at the county seat being in the fall of 1866. In 1868 the association leased the grounds from John Giles, on the west side of the Sullivan-Fairbanks road. The fairs were held with moderate success for a few years, but that of 1878 was pronounced a flat failure and nothing more was heard of the society until 1885, when C. P. Riggs was presi- dent and C. M. Stewart secretary. A very successful fair was held in 1886. In 1888 many improvements were made, a new track built, deep wells sunk on the grounds, and new amphitheater and floral hall. Since 1896 the annual county fair has ceased to be an institution.
In 1908 an association, of which C. D. Hunt was president, inaugu- rated a series of "People's Saturday Fairs," comprising varied attrac- tions and events scheduled for each Saturday, beginning August 15 and closing October 31. These brought a large number of people into Sulli- van and aroused much interest.
The Grange.
During the seventies the Grange movement was a strong influence in this and other counties of Indiana. For several years it was a force to be reckoned with in politics, and in many communities newspapers were established and devoted their columns principally to the promotion of the interests of the organization. The general organization took the name of Patrons of Husbandry and the local lodges were Granges. In a few states the order is still strong, though its activity is now almost entirely confined to the advancement of the economic and social welfare of the farmers through co-operation and organization and does not appear as a political factor.
This order reached its height in Sullivan county between 1874 and 1876. Its essential purposes were thus defined :
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To secure social and educational advantages.
To help in sickness, death and pecuniary misfortune. Knowledge of farming.
Economics, in purchasing. Abolition of credit system. Co-operation in trade.
The Granges reported as organized in this county in January, 1874, were the following: Buck Creek, William M. Moore, master; Cass Grange, J. S. Moss, master; Jefferson Grange, John Hume, master ; Curry Grange, Ed Morgan, master; Turman Grange, T. K. Cushman, master; Oak Grange, John A. McKee, master; Turtle Creek Grange, George W. Hanchett, master ; Fairbanks Grange, Eli Dix, master ; Con- cord Grange, Elisha Chestnut, master ; Union Grange, John Boles, master.
F. M. B. A.
The first lodge of the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association organized in Sullivan county was at Pleasantville, July 24, 1889, with twenty-seven charter members. The objects of the association were to unite farmers in all matters pertaining to the interest of their calling, to improve the methods of agriculture, horticulture and stock raising, to devise and encourage such systems of concentration and co-operation as will diminish the cost of production, etc.
October 26, 1889, the county assembly of the F. M. B. A. was organ- ized at Carlisle, composed of eighteen delegates, representing the twelve subordinate lodges of the county. James L. Nash, of the Paxton lodge, was elected president, and W. I. Long, of the Jefferson lodge, was elected secretary. In January, 1890, the reports of the county assembly showed the membership of the F. M. B. A. in the county to be 1,516.
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The F. M. B. A. had some things in common with the Patrons of Husbandry, or Grange. It also, during the two or three years following its organization, had some of the characteristics of the Populist move- ment. It attempted to maintain a farmers' store, it also sought to secure legislation in behalf of the farmer and laborer, and the last record of its activity in the county, during the panicky days of 1893, was a resolution declaring for the free and unlimited coinage of silver. The association also endeavored to operate a milling plant and a grain and wool warehouse in the interests of its members. Among other principles and policies to which it declared allegiance were an income tax, the prohibition of alien ownership of land, reduction of salaries of county officials, opposition to the construction of gravel roads by taxation, etc. The F. M. B. A. was part of the great national movement that affected the politics and social life of the people of the United States during the early nineties, and with the passing of the crisis of that movement the history of the local organi- zation seems to have come to an end.
Farmers' Institutc.
The Farmers' Institute, held for the discussion of questions relating to agriculture and all departments of the farmer's life, has long been an important factor in the agricultural progress of this and other states. The first Farmers' Institute in Sullivan county was organized twenty years ago. The preliminary meeting was held in the court house in February, 1889, with Dan Herbert chairman and T. J. Wolfe secretary. When the organization was completed, February 16th, about sixty names were enrolled as members, and the following occupied official positions : John L. Shields, Samuel Nicholson, John Sisson, William Purcell, Ed Pearson, E. C. Gaskins, James Pounds, W. M. Moore, George Goodwin. The Vol. 1-21
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Institute has held meetings at different points in the county and the attendance has usually been large. Besides the discussions by the prac- tical farmers and their wives, experts have been invited to the meetings, and one or more are usually present each time.
CHAPTER XXV.
TELEPHONES.
One of the important facilities of business and domestic life and one that has become so essentially a part of modern life that people seldom realize the conditions of a few years past, is the telephone. In June, 1882, the county commissioners granted the Sullivan Telephone Exchange Com- pany the right to erect poles and wires along and across the roads of the county, and by the latter part of July following the exchange was in operation in Sullivan. Connection was perfected to Carlisle in August of the same year, the instrument being located in the railroad station and there being only one in town.
This was the beginning of the Central Union Telephone Company, which in 1883 had about 350 individual telephones in Terre Haute and had extended its service to the adjacent towns of Brazil, Greencastle, Carbon, Sullivan, Shelburn, Farmersburg, Paris, Marshall, Vincennes, and the city of Indianapolis.
However, it is within the last dozen years that the telephone has become a familiar aid and convenience in Sullivan county. While the Bell Company had a monopoly the expense of individual service pre- vented its general extension, and it appears that during the early nineties the only telephone service in Sullivan was long-distance connection with other towns. An item in the Democrat of February 2, 1894, says that
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the telephone was a wonderful convenience and was generally patronized, but was finally abandoned on account of the high cost, and with the expiration of the patent on the Bell instrument it was hoped that the price might be lowered. In 1897 another item offers the use of the Democrat phone to all its friends, from which it is clear that the use of the telephone was still very limited in this town. In 1904 the Central Union Telephone Company was granted a franchise to enter Sullivan. It had been granted a similar franchise in 1896, but had not taken advantage of its provisions. This action of the Bell interests in seeking to extend its business in Sullivan was no doubt the result of the great activity on the part of the independent local companies. In 1903 the Farmersburg Mutual Telephone Company and the Hayworth Telephone Company had lines in operation in the northern part of the county, while there were local exchanges in Fairbanks and Turman townships, and in Jefferson and perhaps in other townships. Most of these exchanges were operated on the co-operative plan, and the service cost very little. At the Pleasant- ville exchange each subscriber paid fifty cents each three months, and this was more than sufficient to pay expenses. Since that time there has been a gradual consolidation of the independent interests and the Sullivan Telephone Company, which was incorporated in 1903, controls or works in agreement with the independent telephone systems throughout the county and state and in Illinois.
CHAPTER XXVI.
RURAL FREE DELIVERY.
A few years ago the free delivery of mail from the postoffice to indi- viduals was regarded as a luxury which was only possible in large cities. It is indicative of the rapid progress of our country during the last two decades that at the close of the fiscal year in June, 1906, there were in the United States 35,766 routes for the free delivery of mail from the postoffice to country residents, some of those who received the benefits of the system residing as much as a dozen miles from the postoffice. The annual expenditure of the government during the above year for this kind of service amounted to about twenty-five million dollars.
Free delivery of mail through country districts was first given a practical trial in the United States in 1896, only ten years before the remarkable system had been attained which is indicated in the statistics for 1906. At the end of the first fiscal year in June, 1897, only $14,840 had been expended on these experiments, and but eighty-three carriers were employed. Rural delivery was begun as an experiment, and its continu- ance and expansion were left to the discretion of the postmaster general. It was on this experimental basis that appropriations were made until July, 1902, when the service was formally adopted and declared to be a permanent part of the postal system of the United States.
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