USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development. A chronicle of the people with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 17
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At Warsaw, hourly cars run to the Chautauqua assembly grounds on Lake Winona and to the village which has been created in that beautiful locality, and close connections are also made with the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago (Pennsylvania) and the Big Four railroads.
The freight and express service of the Winona Interurban Railway is not only in connection with these systems, but with all electric lines in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky, and with the Wabash and Chesapeake & Ohio steam lines.
In the summer months, and often far into the autumn, the traveling public of Kosciusko County is also accommodated by auto busses run- ning between Milford and Syracuse, Milford Junction and Nappanee and Warsaw and Columbia City, Whitley County.
In the open season there are few points in the charming lake regions of the county which are not accessible by means of either the steam or electric lines, with their accessories-the autos, either open to the public at a stated fare, or to the individual, willing to pay according to his pleasure or necessity.
RAILROAD STATISTICS OF THE COUNTY
According to the report of the State Board of Tax Commissioners in 1917, the Winona Interurban Railway Company was operating more than sixty-five miles of track, which was valued at over $395,000, or about $6,000 per mile. Its rolling stock was assessed at nearly $40,000 and the improvements on its right-of-way at over $21,000. The total assessed value of the road was given as nearly $461,000.
Within the limits of Kosciusko County, according to the figures of the State Board of Tax Commissioners, there are nearly ninety-five miles of main track of the various steam railways. The railroad prop- erty-trackage, rolling stock and improvements along the right-of- way-was estimated at $3,854,000 in 1916.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
THE GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT IN THE COUNTY
The Good Roads Movement is really but a few years old in Indiana, and it is somewhat unfortunate for the advancement of the cause in Kosciusko County that the main trunk line of the projected state sys- tem, running north and south, passes almost directly through the center of its territory, thereby leaving the county to the east of the longitudinal route. North of Indianapolis, this passes through Hamil- ton, Tipton, Howard, Miami, Fulton, Marshall and St. Joseph, con- necting at South Bend with the main east and west cross trunk line ; the central crosses the main highway at Indianapolis, and the southern routes generally follow the trend of the Ohio Valley.
MILES OF ROAD, BY TOWNSHIPS
The Good Roads Movement in Kosciusko County has been largely local and independent in its character, and chiefly determined by the needs of the larger centers of population to get into close connection with the farmers and rural communities of the more thickly settled and prosperous townships. Wayne, Plain, Van Buren and Jackson townships have been leaders. In the first-named are a number of good gravel roads and it is proposed to build at least a dozen miles of con- crete roadway in the near future. Plain Township has already eight miles of concrete roads and two of gravel, while Van Buren has ten miles of concrete.
On the other hand Jackson Township, in the extreme southeast of the county, is a productive section, and at the same time very deficient in railroad accommodations. Special efforts have therefore been made to provide her farmers and villagers (those of Sidney) with good roads. The county surveyor, Paul Summy, reports that some six miles of gravel roads, three miles of concrete and three of stone, have been built in that township.
That official also gives the following as the approximate number of miles of road now available to the vehicle traveler and the footman in Kosciusko County :
Scott Township-Two miles of stone, two of concrete and two of gravel.
Jefferson-Six miles of gravel road.
Turkey Creek-One-half mile of concrete. The poor showing made by this township is explained by the fact that nearly a half of its area is occupied by the Flat Belly Reservation, and that the natural roads are above the average.
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Prairie-Six miles of gravel and three of concrete. Etna-Five miles of gravel road and one-half mile of brick.
Harrison-There are about six miles of concrete road and three of gravel extending from the northwest corner of Franklin Township, along the Harrison Township line to Palestine, thence north and east two miles beyond the latter township.
A GOOD WOODSY ROAD
Franklin-Six miles of gravel road along the west line of the town- ship and two miles of gravel elsewhere in the township.
Seward-Two miles of gravel within the township and three miles along its south line.
Lake-Four miles north and south along the Hoosier-Dixie High- way, including half a mile of stone pavement through Silver Lake Village; as well as six miles of gravel road along the south line of the township.
Washington-Six miles of concrete road proposed.
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Tippecanoe, Monroe and Clay are not even backsliders in the Good Roads Movement, as they have never entered the contest.
By collating the foregoing figures, it will be found that over 100 ยท miles of road have been constructed in Kosciusko County, of which fifty-seven are of gravel and thirty-eight of concrete.
GRAVEL ROAD BUILDING
Since 1912, when systematic work upon the Kosciusko County roads was inaugurated, bonds in increasing amounts have been voted for the especial construction of highways of the gravel variety. On January 1, 1912, the amount available for that purpose was $1,440; January 1, 1913, $1,368; 1914, $11,352; 1915, $12,728; 1916, $81,893 ; 1918, $163,452.
In the last named year the auditor of the county reported the condition of the special road funds as follows: Available for the Starner road, $45,490; Polk road, $35,848 ; McAlspaugh road, $18,347; Orn road, $15,466; Vanderveer road, $9,744; Metzger road, $9,289; Davisson road, $8,604 ; Miller road, $8,490; Boon road, $6,817; Anglin road, $2,498. The following had reduced their available funds below $1,000: Heckaman, Johnson, Landis, Circle, Maxwell, Gresso, Snure, Lawrence and Reed (in both Seward and Lake townships) roads.
AUTO LICENSES AS PROMOTERS OF GOOD ROADS
Of late years-in fact, ever since the county has gone into the road- building business-one of the most productive funds for the promotion of the good road movement has been derived from the license tax on automobiles. During the session of the Indiana General Assembly of 1905, was enacted the first state law bringing the "auto" under the supervision of the commonwealth. Few changes were made in the law for some seven years, but the number of machines had so increased and the public highways were being so worn out by their continuous grind that the tax payers came to the conclusion that it was no more than just that the owners and users of automobiles should pay a share of the expenditures required for the building and upkeep of the roads.
"In 1912," says the Indiana secretary of state, "there were about fifty thousand machines in Indiana and the use they made of the public highways became a menace to good roads, which caused their upkeep of deep concern to taxpayers. Automobiles had the free use of the public roads without contributing anything toward their repair, and sentiment began to crystallize for a license tax on all
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machines, the funds thus derived to be apportioned over the State for the benefit of the public highways. From 1905 to 1913 a fee of only one dollar was charged for a perpetual license on a car, not a dollar of which was spent on the highways. To give relief to the taxpayers, the Legislature in 1913 enacted a law by which all the funds received for the licensing of automobiles, above the actual expenses of adminis- tering the business of the department, was to revert back to the ninety- two counties of the State to be applied on the expenditures for the repair of improved roads. That there might be an equitable distribu- tion throughout the State, the law provided that one-third of the total net receipts should be divided equally among all the counties; one- third should be divided in proportion to the number of miles of free gravel or macadam roads in the county bear to the whole number of such roads in the State, and one-third should be divided among the counties on the basis of the amount received from the counties from such registration tax.
"When the law went into effect in 1913 it became very unpopular. Owners of automobiles felt like it was an unjust burden upon them and applications for licenses came in very slowly, many cars being run under the old seal and perpetual dollar license, but when large sums of money began to be returned to the counties and the upkeep of the public roads began to show evidence of the money so well appropriated and so well expended, sentiment changed and the law became popular. There has been a constant and substantial increase in the receipts of the department, and the money applied to the public highways has brought about such splendid results that the automobile license fee is now cheerfully paid."
Under the law of 1913, Kosciusko County received the following amounts from the state license fees on automobiles: Proportionate one-third going to each county, $2,474.28; share according to road mileage, $166.44; one-third net receipts from the county, $3,255.77. Total due the county from the auto fees, $5,896.49. The total gross receipts from the county applicable, for the year named, to the gravel road fund, amounted to $10,381.
The passage of the state law by which the counties of Indiana were made to pay so large a proportion of the expenses incurred in the building and upkeep of their main thoroughfares, out of the licenses levied upon automobiles, was a forcible illustration of the popular use of the machine. In fact, even in the smaller of the counties, the horse and the buggy had become rather a rarity; the machine had the right- of-way.
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THE BUGGY AND THE GAS CARRIAGE
It appears from the tales which have come down to the present that the horse and buggy had a monopoly of the roads in northern Indiana -at least, in the neighborhood of Kosciusko and Noble counties-for about eighty years.
Benjamin Yohn, who came to Kosciusko County in 1847 and settled in Tippecanoe Township, had the honor of introducting the first buggy to that region on the occasion of a Fourth-of-July celebration, held in Noble County in 1833. He drove eighteen miles for his "best girl," and when taking her home the buggy broke down and she had to ride horseback for the remainder of the trip, he walking beside her. The
OLD COVERED BRIDGE OF THE "BUGGY" PERIOD
account of the accident does not specify whether it was because of the poor condition of the road or of the vehicle, but probably, if the expres- sion had been current in his day, Mr. Yohn would have said that it was a case of "fifty-fifty."
Little did the pioneers of that day dream that mammoth gas car- riages, with blown-up rubber wheels, would be rushing over hard, smooth roads in almost a continuous procession, at a rate of speed far exceeding any of the locomotives of the East in their day, and even at that, wearing down substantial beds of gravel and cement with their constant grind and friction. But Mr. Yohn and his kind had their long, happy, comfortable day, with all its little drawbacks; now it is the turn of another kind and generation. Query: Which gets the most good out of life in the long run ?
CHAPTER XI
AGRICULTURE AND LIVE STOCK
RECLAIMED LANDS-LOCAL PHASES OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRICULTUR- ISTS-THE TIMES OF THE SICKLE AND THE FLAIL-THE REAPING HOOK AND THE CRADLE-"GROUND-HOG" THRESHING MACHINE AND FANNING MILL-CORN HUSKING BEES REPLACE LOG ROLLINGS -WOOL AND FLAX WORKED INTO "HOME SPUN"-CORN AND THE HOMINY MORTAR-BRINGING THE WHEAT TO GRIST-STRONG POINTS OF TODAY-KOSCIUSKO COUNTY CATTLE-DAIRY PRODUCTS-HORSES AND COLTS-SHEEP AND WOOL-HOGS-POULTRY AND EGGS- CLOVER HAY AND SEED FLOURISH-AT THE FRONT AS RYE PRO- DUCER-GOOD ONION AND ONLY FAIR WHEAT COUNTRY-FARMS AND RURAL POPULATION-PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE-THE COUNTY AGENT. AND HIS WORK-FARM DEMONSTRATIONS-HOME PROJECT WORK - STATE FAIR EXHIBITS AND COUNTY AGENTS' CONFER- ENCES-WORK COMMENCED IN KOSCIUSKO COUNTY-THE FIRST YEAR'S WORK-FINE WORK OF THE EMERGENCY LABOR BUREAU --- IMPROVEMENT OF WHEAT AND CLOVER-RAISING THE RYE GRADE- CULTIVATION OF HEMP AND MINT.
Kosciusko County is in the rich agricultural and live stock belt of Northern Indiana which is watered by various streams constitut- ing a portion of the headwaters of the water system of the Wabash. Not a few of the head reservoirs are represented by the beautiful lakes of the county, and the network of streams in the county em- braces a series of productive prairies, as well as woodlands, uplands and bottom lands. The general result is an unusual variety of lands and soils, which naturally adapt the country to the raising of the crops upon which live stock flourishes and to furnishing the physical requirements under which they thrive.
RECLAIMED LANDS
The industry and forethought of the permanent settlers of the county have improved upon the offerings of nature, and thousands of acres which proved to be among the most productive and valuable
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KOSCIUSKO COUNTY CORN
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
within its bounds have been "made"-that is, reclaimed from shallow ponds and marshes. To show to what extent that work had pro- gressed by the late '70s, it is only necessary to reproduce a portion of the report of the county auditor, made during the latter part of that period. He gives the following as the length of the different ditches which had then been constructed in the county: William McNamara's ditch, 30,850 feet long; Kindig and Irwin's, 17,550; Levy Tenney's, 9,318; John Kirlin's, 8,700; Thomas Rhinehart's, 7,400 ; Herman I. Stevens', 7,425 ; Jeremiah Adams', 7,215; Samuel R. Valentine's, 7,090; Jacob Doremire's, 6,150; Abraham Haas', 2,900; John G. McNamara's, 4,300; James Cook's, 2,650.
At the present time, there are few miles in Kosciusko County which are not cut by one or more ditches, leading from the natural lakes and streams of the country. In many cases the original creeks and rivulets have been cleared of rubbish and their channels straight- ened and deepened, what were formerly useless waters being made to fertilize the land or supply water to grazing live stock.
LOCAL PHASES OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRICULTURISTS
There were many areas in the county, especially in the pioneer period of its settlement, which were profitably cultivated to wheat and corn, but, with the opening of the far western states, the vast prairies of which offered such superior advantages for easy culti- vation and modern machinery, such middle western states as Ohio and Indiana turned their attention to cattle, horses and sheep, to dairy products, to poultry and eggs and to vegetables. The experi- ence of Kosciusko County farmers has been that of many other sections of Northern Indiana, in that while not making them gen- erally rich it has rendered them, as a rule, self-supporting and fairly contented. The average of comfort is high and, in comparison with many of the states farther west which are classed as the royalty of American agriculture, the farmers of Indiana do no shifting about. The consequence is that there are an unusually large number who can recall the pioneer times not only of Indiana, but of the formative period of American agriculture itself, before the ingenious labor- saving inventions considered almost necessities of the present-day farmer were conceived.
THE TIMES OF THE SICKLE AND THE FLAIL
Regarding these pioneer times in the agricultural communities- and there were then virtually none other-Mrs. S. Roxana Wince
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
says: "Wheat in the pioneer times was mostly cut with the sickle. Neighbors helped each other. The field that ripened first was first harvested, and so on, until all was safely in shock ; then it was stacked in the same way. On the woodland farms the patches were small, and tedious, as the process would seem now, it was soon over, many hands making light work. On the prairies the fields were large, and the cradle had probably been introduced.
"Threshing was done to a great extent with the flail, and often the whole winter was consumed in getting the grain threshed and cleaned ready for the mill and market. This, in cold, snowy weather, could only be done in a barn, and as most of the settlers had no barns I cannot see how they managed. Horses and oxen were sometimes used to tread out the wheat, as they have been for ages in Palestine and other countries."
THE REAPING HOOK AND THE CRADLE
In the early days, the sickle mentioned by Mrs. Wince as the pioneer harvesting implement of the county was often called a reaping hook. It was a crooked steel knife, with a serrated edge and a handle at one end. As more land was brought under cultiva- tion, and the number of acres sown to wheat each year increased, progress demanded a better method of harvesting the grain and the cradle was invented. This consisted of four fingers of tough wood, bent to conform to the curvature of the scythe, over which they were mounted on a light framework. A good cradler could cut four to five acres a day. At a comparatively late period, it was no unusual sight to see half a dozen or more cradlers in a field, each followed by a boy with a rake to bunch the wheat into sheaves and a man to bind them. These were followed by a shocking party, which stacked the sheaves into shocks.
As stated, when one man's grain was harvested, the party would move on to the next ripest field, until the wheat of the entire neigh- borhood was taken care of and made ready for the flail, or the primitive threshing machine.
At the log-rolling and harvesting bees a little whisky was always provided for the men, yet it was uncommon for anyone to drink enough to become intoxicated. On these occasions the women would assist in preparing the meals for the harvest hands.
"GROUND-HOG" THRESHING MACHINE AND FANNING MILL
After a while the flail gave way to the old "ground-hog" thresh- ing machine, which separated the grain from the straw, but did not
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clean it of the chaff. Then the fanning mill was invented, and many a boy who wanted to spend an afternoon along some stream fishing for "shiners" was compelled to turn the crank of the fanning mill, thus furnishing its motive power, while the father fed the wheat and chaff into the machine.
CORN HUSKING BEES REPLACE LOG ROLLINGS
After the settlers had been in the county for a number of years, and commenced to raise considerable crops of corn, as well as wheat, husking bees began to take the place of the log rollings of the earlier days. This does not mean that the log rollings ceased when the corn huskings began, for both were continued together for a number of years. But after each farmer had a comparatively large acreage cleared, the log rollings became less frequent and corn huskings more so. The women had their methods of co-operation, as well as the men, and took occasion to combine sociability with the business in hand. Wool pickings and quiltings were among their "frolics," and these occasions were not less enjoyable to them than the log rollings, raisings, huskings and harvesting bees were to the men. Often they also assisted their husbands in the fields, in order that the farm work might be done in season.
WOOL AND FLAX WORKED INTO "HOME-SPUN"
Some of the farmers had sheep, from the wool of which, in the very early times, were made the flannels and other "home-spuns" required in cold weather. There were some who were fortunate enough to have both flax and wool, and who consequently could produce a greater variety in their wearing apparel than those who had only one variety of raw material.
In nearly every neighborhood of any consequence there was at least one set of hand cards for converting the wool into rolls; the card was a sort of brush with short wire teeth, all bent slightly in one direction. After the rolls were made, they were spun into yarn on the old-fashioned spinning wheel. This was turucd with a stick having a knob at the end, the housewife walking back and forth as the rapidly revolving spindle made the roll into woolen thread. After the yarn was spun it was colored with indigo, or the bark of some such tree as the walnut, and then woven into flannel, jeans or linsey on the old hand loom.
When the flax plant was ripe, it was pulled up by the roots, and
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spread out to dry or rot. After the straw had been made brittle by this process, the flax was ready for the "break"-an implement which broke the straw into short pieces. Then, in order to separate the straw from the fiber, the flax was thrown over the rounded end of a board set upright, and beaten with the "scutching knife," a piece of hard wood with moderately sharp edges. Pieces of straw too small to be caught by the scutching process were removed by the "hackle," which was made by sharpening a number of nails or pieces of wire, of equal length, and driving them closely through a board. Combing the flax through the hackle also split the fiber into fine threads and thus made it ready for the spinning wheel.
Flax was generally spun on a small wheel operated by foot power. After the linen was woven, it was spread out upon a grass plat to bleach, after which it was used for table cloths, sheets for beds and numerous articles of summer clothing.
CORN AND THE HOMINY MORTAR
As to the food crops, of course wheat and corn were the leaders. Corn at first entered most generally into the diet of the pioneer, probably because it was more easily and quickly grown than other grains. It was beaten into a coarse meal in a hominy mortar, an implement which long ago passed into disuse and of which there is perhaps none in existence in the county-certainly none which is not classified as a great curiosity and an interesting heirloom.
BRINGING THE WHEAT TO GRIST
As soon as the first wheat crop was harvested, it became pos- sible to procure flour from the home-grown crop. But for some years the early settlers of Kosciusko County, who had mostly located in the northern townships, patronized the grist mills of Elkhart County, as superior to the half a dozen or so which were first erected along Turkey Creek in the neighborhoods of what are now Syracuse and Milford, and on the Tippecanoe between Monoquet and the present site of Oswego.
STRONG POINTS OF TODAY
There are various general phases of agriculture which apply to Indiana as a state, but they may be said to be a collation of the best
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or strongest points presented by the counties separately. Kosciusko County has a number of specialties in the live stock and agricul- tural fields which has given it positive standing, and it is the design of the following paragraphs to bring them to the front. The facts presented for that purpose have been largely taken from the six- teenth biennial report of the Indiana Department of Statistics, pub- lished in 1917. There is nothing later, covering so much ground and also the data required for the purposes of this history.
KOSCIUSKO COUNTY CATTLE
From the figures furnished by the Indiana Department of Statis- ties, it is evident that Kosciusko County is well to the front in the
DAIRY HERD AND MODERN BUILDINGS
raising of cattle. In comparison with the other counties of the state, it is usually among the first. In 1916, it led all the rest, with 24,777 on hand. Allen County had 24,216, and Adams and Marshall a trifle over 20,000 each. In the year named the cattle of Kosciusko County were valued at $889,615. During the previous year (1915), 10,644 had been sold valued at $475,148. Although first in the number of cattle on hand, Kosciusko County stood twelfth in the value of those which had died of disease, demonstrating both healthful surround- ings and good care.
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HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
DAIRY PRODUCTS
The advantages of Kosciusko County as a dairy country need be demonstrated in no more forcible manner than by reference to the hard figures supplied by the State Department of Statistics. They show that there is no county in the state which, as a whole, has surpassed it for a number of years past in the production of butter, milk and cream, the money value of these articles mounting well toward $950,000 in 1915.
In the year named the county was first in the amount and value of cream sold and second in the butter produced. As it stood fifth in the number of gallons of milk produced, it follows that its quality must have been an unusually rich quality. An intelligent study of the statistics in this field, as in other matters, will yield other valuable information.
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