A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Howat, William Frederick, b. 1869, ed
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 532


USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume I > Part 3


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).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42


Lowell, as a timber and mill seat, 135; newspapers, 252; banks, 466; found- ing of, 467; pioneer local institutions, 467; largest buildings in the county, 467; strongest temperance town, 467; effects of 1898 fire, 468; high school, 468; churches, 471; lodges, 471 Lowell School (view), 469 Lowell National Bank, 335


Lucas, Blaz A., 732 Luetdke, Edward C., 806


Lukens, B. C., 669


Lukmann, Fred, 507


Lundquist, Albert G., 796


Luther, James H., 30, 70


Lutherans, 55, 166, 361, 369, 411 Lutz, George, 764


Maack, Albert, 858


MacCracken, Henry F., 749


Maloney, C. H., 867


Maney, David, 594


Manhattan Lumber Company, 772


Mankowski, Ignatius F., 515


Manlove, George H., 561


Marcovich, Wolf, 674


Mashino, William F., 799


Masonic bodies, 434 Masons, 373, 415 Mathews, John, 731 Matson, C., 632


Mattern, L. H., 610


Mayer, August, 809


Mayer, Charles H., 527


Mayne, C. M., 620


McArthur, A. R., 819


McCarty, Benjamin, 104, 149


McCarty, Mrs. Benjamin, 96


McDaniel, Charles M., 513


MeDaniel. C. M., 353


McGarry, John E., 560


McGhee, Robert, 854


McGinnity, O. S., 645 MeGwinn's Indian village, 19


Mckenzie, Maurice, 600


MeKinley School, East Chicago (view), 423


INDEX


xxix


McMahan, Willis C., 234 McMahan, W. C., 630 McMichael, Frank J., 745 McNamee, Lawrence W., 813 McRoberts, George M., 764


Meade, Joseph A., 654 Meek, O. E., 745 Meeker, Charles H., 480


Meeker, J. Frank, 233, 578


Melin, D. D., 739


Melton, Arthur P., 851


Melton, Onis O., 564


Mentzer, William, 829


Merrill. John P., 258


Merrillville, 54, 183


Merrillville School (view), 181


Merz, Henry G., 580


Message from La Salle, 22


. Metcalf. J. E., 558 Methodism at Whiting, 445


Methodist church workers, 94


Methodists, 51. 166, 362, 370, 407, 430 Methodists at Indiana Harbor, 433


Mexican War, 254


Meyer, John H., 165


Meyer, John H., Jr., 165 Meyn, Peter W., 516 Michigan Avenue, Indiana Harbor


(view), 435


Militia and war, 254


Miller, Alexander C., 765


Miller, Mark M., 640


Miller, Samuel, 36


Miller School (view), 171


Miller, W. A., 707


Miller, William W., 859


Miller's Station, 171 Milligan, J. C., 857


Millikan, John, 248


Milner, Harry W., 777


Minas, Edward C., 518


Minas, Emil, 827 Miscellaneous figures for 1847, 111


Modern Farming (view), 114 Modern Woodmen of America, 379, 437


Modjeska, Isidore I., 520


Moe, Ingwald, 757 Mongrel schools, 202 Monon R. R., 268 Monteith, Mrs. S. J., 67


Moore, Ross F., 808


Moran, William J., 519 Moser, Peter J., 658


Mothers of large families, 98


Mott, Frederick R., 489 Mountain. John R., 820


Mrs. S. Monteith's memories, 67 Mundell, James, 740 Munster, 175 Munster School (view), 176 Murray, William J., 773 Muschelewicz, Paul I., 602


Muschelewicz, Paul, 760 Muskrats, 5, 26 Muzzall, T. A., 84


Nejdl, James J., 657


Nelson, F. E., 604


Nelson, J. O., 718


New Chicago, 172


New England women, 95


Newest railroads, 277 New Hampshire settlement, 136


Newman, Panl C., 722


Newton, William, 580


Neunfeldt, August W., 582


Nickel Plate R. R., 268


Nichols, C. E., 496


Nicholson, Harry B., 593


Night schools, 424


Normal school, 214


Norris. Karl D., 828


North, John A., 719


Gas and Electric


Northern . Indiana Works, 301 Northern Lake County in 1834, 30 Northern State Bank, 334, 493


North Township, bounded, 72; created, 101; population, 115: valuation, 120; area, 173; divided, 173; general view, 173; towns, 174; Dutch settlers of 1855, 175 Norton, E. Miles, 693


Norton. H. S., 542 Noted government messenger, 35


Nuppnan & Company, 763


Nuppnan, Charles P., 763


Nuppnan, W. H., 763


Oakland Park, 471 Oberlin, Thomas W., 547 Odd Fellows, 375, 415, 434 Ogden. S. W., 655


Oileloth and asphalt factories, 314 O'Keefe, Wallace J., 560 Okraj, John, 783


Old Baillytown, 32 Old Colfax district, 240 Old courtroom of historie memories, 102 Old District School No. 8 (view), 148 Old High School, Crown Point (view), 454 Old letter of 1843, 69 Old part of Gary, 129 Old Robinson house, 38 Old Sac trail, 185


Old Settler and Historical Association, 79


Old Settlers' Association, 66, 79 Old Style Sawmill (view), 56 Old-time Mail Coach (view), 33 Old-time physicians. 241 Old-time schoolhouse, 207 Old stage routes, 70 One of Tolleston's Pioneer Houses (view), 129


XXX


INDEX


Orchard Grove Literary Society, 159 Original Butler claims, 37


Original member of Old Settlers' Asso . ciation, 81 Orth, Frank, 697 Ottenheimer, Abe, 635


Ontdoor improvement of county schools, 218 Owen, W. B., 761


Pack, Albert, 708


Packer, Charles P., Jr., 700


Painter, Walter S., 586


Palmer, 200


Palmer, Dennis, 200


Palmer, H. D., 228, 241


Pan Handle R. R., 267


Panorama of the Industrial Heart of Gary (view), 382


Panorama of Jackson Park and Water Works (view), 389


Parks, Beaumont, 651


Parks, Pearle A., 761


Parry, Roy G., 687


Parsons, Mary E., 209


Passing of the water fowl, 9


Patriarch, 142


Pattee, Frank B., 600


Patterson, James A., 236, 695


Peaceful Indian life, 18


Pearce, Margaret, 93


Pearce, Michael, 161


Pearl Laundry Company, 862


Pennsylvania Company's Car Repair Shops, 308


People's State Bank of Crown Point, 335


Pepperdine, William, 606


Peters, Henry C., 564


Petersen, H. C., 808


Peterson, John B., 241


Petrolene Company, The, 681


Petry, Franklin, 779


Pettibone, Harvey, 242


Pettibone, Henry, 242


Phillips, William C., 849


Physical features, 1


Physicians, 241


Pioneer banker of Crown Point, 156


Pioneer families, 288 Pioneer frozen to death, 78


Pioneer judges, 229


Pioneer legal field, 227


Pioneer mothers, 88


Pioneer picture, 61


Pioneer promoters of Crown Point, 104


Pioneer railway stations, 266


Pioneer stores in the Kankakee re- gion, 20 Pioneers, 25


Playground at Wallace School, Calumet Township (view), 132 Pleasant Grove, 41


Plum Grove School (view), 159 Population, 144, 215


Postoffice of Lake Courthouse, 75 Pottawatomies, 16


Prairies and their products, 7


Pratt, A. J., 242 Presbyterians, 368, 410


Present Cedar Lake Township School (view), 151 Present High School (view), 454


Present townships, 104


Present-day field of county education, 216 Present-day judiciary, 233


Press of Hammond, 249


Press of Hobart, 252


Press of Lake County, 245


Prest, Frank D., 522


Prosperous era, 112


Public lands surveyed, 35


Public libraries, 421


Public Library, Crown Point (view), 451


Public Library, East Chicago (view), 421 Public Library, Gary, 395


Public school system, Hobart Township, 460


Public school system, Gary, 396


Public schools, 351, 422


Pyatt, William, 715


Pyle, J. L., 626


Pythian Sisters, 377, 435


Quincy, W. C., 632


Railroads, 264


Railroads of thirty years ago, 269


Railroad yards and works, 282


Rajcany, Benedict, 625


Randall, Louise, 691


Reasons for slow growth of county, 63


Reclaiming the swamp lands in West Creek Township, 199


Recollections of James H. Luther, 70


Recollections of Mrs. Nannie W. Ames, 137 Red Cedar Lake, 47, 77, 144, 145


Reed, John W., 842


Refining companies, 307


Reid, Murdoch & Company, 302


Reilley, Patrick, 567


Reilly, John F., 509


Reissig, Henry O., 552


Reiter, Virgil S., 234, 589


Relics and collections, 23


Religious statistics, 113


Remains of first settlers, 21


Remarkable growth of Gary, 116


Rentner, Albert, 856 Reppa, J. Kalman, 680


Report of Superintendent Canine, 424 Republic Iron and Steel Works, 309 Resort business, 151


INDEX


xxxi


Rev. William Townley School, 209 Richard Fancher and the fair grounds, 154 Richards, Thomas Y., 653


Ridgely, Edgar A., 745 Rigg, P. L., 603 Riley, Walter J., 736 Rise of the fresh beef business, 289


Rivet and bolt manufactory, 310


Roads, 119


Roberts, A. M., 789


Roberts, Victor K., 496


Robertsdale, 298


Robbins, Stillman A., 256


Robinson, Alexander, 17


Robinson, Maria, 90


Robinson, Sarah J., 209


Robinson, Solon. 36


Robinson's Prairie, 73


Robinson, the trader chief, 17 Rockwell, William, 52


Rohde, John L., 573


Rooda, W. J., 639


Roper, Philip. Sr., 817 Ross, 131


Ross Township Consolidated School No. 10 (view), 181


Ross Township, origin of name, 105; population. 116; valuation, 124; area, 180; named, 180; towns, 182; early settlers, 182 Ross, William, 34, 169, 180 Rout of the timber thieves, 101 Rundell, F. P., 792


Sacred Heart Catholic parish, 444 St. Adelbert's parish, 446


St. Bridget's parish, 464 St. Casimir's Catholic Church, 368 St. Johannes' German Evangelical Luth- eran Church, 369 St. John Baptist Catholic Church, 445 St. John Cantius Church, Indiana Har- bor, 702


St. John Township, created, 105; popu- lation, 116; valuation, 124; area, 185; pioneers, 186; churches, 187; towns, 188 St. John, the village, 188 St. Joseph's Catholic Church. 363 St. Margaret's Hospital, 245


St. Mary's Church, Hammond, 372


St. Mary's Catholic Church, Indiana Harbor, 431


St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church, 445


St. Mary's Catholic Church, Crown Point, 456


St. Mary's Catholic Church of East Chi- cago, 675 St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 366


St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 361


SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 446


St. Stanislaus Church of East Chicago, 431, 693


Salisbury, Edwin A., 746


Sands, James A., 834


Saric, Lazar W., 672


Sasse, Henry, Sr., 55, 77, 162


Sawmills and bridges, 56


Saxton, Ebenezer, 53, 183


Sayger, E. G., 810


Scenes At and Around Hammond (view), 378 Schaaf, Ferdinand R., 540


Schaeffer, Arthur D., 787


Scharbach, William, Jr., 723


Scheddell, William A., 584


Scheidt, Edmund C., 736


Scherer, Nichols, 192


Schererville, 192


Schlieker, Alexander G., 733


Schmidt, Carl K., 687


Schneider Consolidated School, West Creek Township (view), 196


Schock, M. R., 695 School examiners, 213


School finances, 208


School population, 215


Schools of Lake County, 202


School system of Gary, described, 399


Schrage, Henry, 439, 613


Schrage, W. R., 613


Schroeder, William J., 835


Schubich, Paul E., 640


Seritchfield, L. J., 617


Secret and benevolent bodies, 447


Scely, Ray, 839


Seehase, Otto C. F., 702


Sefton, Clarence O., 677


Semi-centennial, 66


Serais, Samuel, 780


Settlers around Red Cedar Lake, 47, 77


Settlers of 1834, 36


Settlers of 1835, 42


Seyl, Peter W., 852


Shanklin, Eldridge M., 548


Sharrer, Harry E., 566


Shaubenee the Great, 16


Shaw, Frank A., 837


Sheaks, Irvin, 700


Sheehan, Frank J., 750


Shelby, 140


Shelby Consolidated School, Cedar Creek Township (view), 140


Shelden, C. C., 631


Sheridan Consolidated School, West Creek Township (view), 196


Shimp, Earl V., 750


Shine, Nate, 699 Shipping company formed, 290


Shortridge, Ernest L., 577 Simon Brothers, 643


Simon, Charles J., 643


Simon, Edward, 575


xxxii


INDEX


Simon, Lewis, 643 Simplex Railway Appliance Company, 299 Simpson, E. C., 779 Slav element, 405 Slick, S. H., 851 Smalley, John D., 479 Smith, Andrew J., 716


Smith, Andrew W., 559


Smith, Charles A., 566


Smith, Clarence C., 652


Smith, Frank W., 244, 666


Smith, Fred J., 614 Smith, George H., 831


Smith, George L., 547


Smith, Joseph P., 254


Smith, Martin J., 642


Smith, Nathaniel L., 583


Smith, S. A., 854 Snell, Thomas T., 823 Snyder, J. Ralph, 684


Sohl, Cynthia W., 866


Sohl, Henry W., 865


Sohl, Walter W., 866


Sohl, William, 867


Soldiers' Aid Society, 259


Soldiers' Monument, 259


Soldiers' Monument at Lowell (view), 260


Solon Robinson's historical synopsis, 42 Some English settlers, 55


Sommers, Harry W., 679 Southeast Grove, 156


Southeast Grove Cemetery Society, 158 Southside Trust and Savings Bank of Gary. 334, 714 South Township, 101 Shakespeare Club, 347 Spanish-American war, 261


Specimen Indiana Cattle (view), 191 Spencer, Walter L., 655


Sportsmen, 10 Sproat, Erie G., 572 Spurrier. Reuben H .. 659


Squatter's Union protects settlers, 58 Stachowiak, Anthony A., 704 Stamper, R. C., 641 Standard Oil Company, 177, 271, 439 Standard Oil Plant. 311


Standard Oil Company of Indiana, The, 651


Standard Steel Car Works, 300 Start of Hammond, 291 State Line Interlocking Plant, 279


State Line slaughter house founded, 290 State National Bank of Lowell, 331 Statistics, 1912-14, 225 Staube Piano Plant. 303 Stawicki, John P., 724 Stearns, Ella, 734 Stearns, Thomas J., 734 Steel plants, 306 Stephens, Fred, 799


Stephens, Harold, 805 Stevens, Perry H., 688 Stinson, John M., 539 Stout, George P., 501 Stout, William A., 501


Stowell, Starr, 681


Straube Piano Company, 502


Street Scene at Ambridge (view), 322


Stringfellow, Harry, 625


Summer schools, 424


Summers, Zerah F., 247


Superior Courthouse, 236


Superior Courthouse, Hammond (view), 110 Surprise, Peter, 142 Swaim, Silas E., 827


Tabbert, George E., 724


Taxable capacity, 118


Taylor, Adonijah, 78, 135, 146


Taylor, Horace, 78, 146


Taylor, Obadiah, 135


Taylor, William, 755


Teaching children how to play, 220


Teegarden, J. A., 863


Templin, Theo B., 847


Temporary courthouse, 102


Terzich, Lucas, 840 "The Calumet," 253


Thegze, George, 812 Thiele, John M., 661 Thomas, William, 522


Thompson, Austin L., 730


Thompson, B. G., 741


Thompson, G. H., 701


Tittle Bros. Packing Company, 682


Tittle, Joseph, 682 Timber thieves, 101 Tolleston, 129, 266


Tolleston Club Company. 26


Tolleston Concrete Company, 813


Tolleston Gun Club, 128


Tolliver, J. P., 624


Toner, Thomas J., 553


Torrence, General, 304


Torrence, Joseph F., 419 Total population, 215


Towle, Marcus M., 292, 504


Towle, Marcus M., Jr., 507 Towle plats and founds Hammond, 293 Townley, William, 209 Townships, 72, 101, 104


Tracey. Joseph C., 642


Transportation, 263, 316 Trappers, 5, 25 "Tribune, The Gary," 850


"Tuesday Evening Reading Club," 421 Turner, A. Murray, 486 Turner, David, 58, 488


Turner, Mac, 529 Turner, Mrs. Samuel, 99 Turner, Samuel, 57, 160 Turner, Susan, 69


INDEX xxxiii


Turner, Susan P., 97 Tuthill, William H., 595


Typical Pioneer Cabin (view), 27 Twelfth Cavalry, 257 Two distinguished graduates, 208 Twyman, Allen P., 677


Uecker, Herman W., 770 Ullrich, Englehardt, 543


United Boiler Heating and Foundry Com . pany, 558


United States courts at Hammond, 236 United States Steel Corporation, 314


Universal Portland Cement Company, 319


University Club, Gary, 415


Up Broadway Toward the Steel Mills (view), 318


Usefulness of consolidated schools, 222 Utilization of tin waste, 307


Valentine, Carl A., 807 Value of personal property, 117 Value of real estate, 117 Van Horne, Willard B., 685 Van Liew, Don F., 710


Van Steenbergen, Joseph G., 699 Verplank, George, 711 Verplank, J. J., 791


Veteran of Mexican and Civil wars, 258 View of Industrial Section (view), 305 View on Court Street, Crown Point (view), 453 View on Fancher Lake (view), 47 View on Present Main Street, Crown Point (view), 39 Village of Ross, 105 "Virginian-Afraid-of-the-Lake," 31


Volesko, Andrew, 680 Von Hollen, Henry, 55, 77, 163 Von Hollen and Herlitz families, 77 Vossler, Henry A., 747


Wabash R. R., 272 Wachowski, J. T., 662 Wall, William F., 821 Wallace, C. Keller, 647


Wallace Consolidated School, Calumet Township (view), 132 Wallace School (view), 354 Walton, E. V., 773 War nurses, 259 Warnimont, Michael P., 503 Warriner, E. B., 145 Warriner, Lewis, 50, 145, 150 Warriner, Lewis H., 828 Warwick, William E., 679 Washington Lumber & Coal Company, 757 Waterfowl, 5 Watershed, 8 Waterways, 2 Watson, Samuel J., 493


W. C. T. U., Gary, 414 Weis, George J., 585 Weis, Joseph W., 840 Weis, William D., 611 Wells, C. H., 736


Welsheimer, Frank L., 641 Westberg, C. A., 665


Westbrook, James, 147 West Creek neighborhood, 54


West Creek Township, created, 104; population, 116; valuation, 125;


named, 193; area, 193; general fea- tures, 193; first settlers, 194; first school, 195: pioneer church, 197; northeastern settlements, 197; pioneer schoolhouses. 198; early times, 198. West Hammond Trust & Savings Bank, 760


West Point. 149, 174


Wheaton, Herbert L., 575


Wheeler, John, 246, 247, 255


Wheeler, John J., 248


Whinery, William J., 569


Whitaker, Henry, 797


White, Emmet N., 640


White, Guy C., 562


White trapper, 26


Whiting population, 115; named, 177; newspapers, 250; and Standard Oil Co., 271; industries, 311; as a town, 439; public park, 440; eity improvements, 440; municipal departments, 440; public library, 441; public schools, 441; churches, 444; lodges, 447.


"Whiting Call," 621


Whiting High School (view), 438


Whiting Public Library, 690


Wieks, O. C., 709


Widholm, Gustave S., 643


Wiggins, Jere, 40, 53, 183


Wiggins Point, 40


Wilcockson, Joseph M., 863


Wild, Alwin, 706


Wiley, M. Clifford, 674


Wilhelm, Fred C., 862 William Graver Tank Works, 634 Winfield, 201


Winfield Township created, 105; popu- lation, 116; valnation, 126; area, 199; pioneers, 200; towns, 201.


Wirt, William A., 399, 484 Wisconsin Lumber Company, 634


Wise, Edward P., 749 Wolter, William H., 616


Wonderful rise of Gary, 129


Wood, Frederick H., 870 Wood, James A., 241


Wood, Jolin, 46, 182 Wood, L. Clark, 636 Wood, Martin, 230 Wood, Thomas J., 240


Woodbridge, George A., 133 Woodbridge, Mrs. George A., 93


xxxiv


INDEX


Woodlands of Lake County, 5 Woods, Bartlett, 60 Woods, Carroll R., 356 Woodvale, 46, 182 Woodward, Lewis E., 767 Woszczynski, Konstantine M., 620 Wright, W. G., 623


Yasulis, B. R., 705 Yeoman, S. B., 242 Youche, J. W., 232, 690


Young, Alva A., 571 Young, George W., 823 Young, James N., 297 Young America is launched, 153 Young Men's Christian Association of Gary, 413, 619


Zawadzki, Frank, 670 Zielinski, Joseph A., 694 Zimmermann, Richard, 526 Zion's German Methodist Church, 370


Lake County and the Calumet Region


CHAPTER I


NATURE IN LAKE COUNTY


DISTINCT PHYSICAL FEATURES-THE GRAND AND LITTLE CALUMET- BALL'S DESCRIPTION OF THE CALUMET REGION-THE MAGIC HAND OF MAN-THE WOODLANDS OF LAKE COUNTY-THE GROVES-THE PRAIRIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS-FLOWERS OF BRIGHT AND VARIED HUE-GRASSES OF THE COUNTY-LAKE PRAIRIE, GEM OF THE COUNTY -THE WATERSHED-THE KANKAKEE REGION-THE PASSING OF THE WATER FOWL-THE COMING OF THE SPORTSMEN-DRAINAGE AND DITCHES-DENUDED OF TIMBER.


Lake County forms the extreme northwestern corner of Indiana, between Lake Michigan and the Kankakee River, with Porter County on the east and Cook and Will counties, as well as the northern part of Kankakee County, Illinois, on the west. It is sixteen miles in breadth from east to west, and varies from twenty-seven to thirty-seven miles from north to south, the general westward trend of Lake Michigan being toward the north, and of the Kankakee River, toward the south.


The county comprises an area of land and marsh surface of about five hundred square miles, and, according to the statutes of the state its northern boundary, as a portion of the Commonwealth of Indiana, also extends ten miles into the waters of Lake Michigan. Although this fact may seem to some immaterial, it undoubtedly has a very direct bearing upon the riparian rights of a number of big corporations whose property abuts upon that body of water.


DISTINCT PHYSICAL FEATURES


The physical features of Lake County, while not bold are distinct and very interesting. First comes the low, sandy Calumet region of the north, netted by the Little and Grand Calumet rivers with the


1


2


LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION


chain of little lakes in the northwestern part of Lake County and the southeastern part of Cook County, south of Chicago.


Below the Little Calumet, toward the central portions of the county, are the gentle uplands of Lake County, Deep River, its chief southern branch in that region, embracing the varied and pretty country north and east of Crown Point.


Then comes the Divide, which sends the waters of the Calumet north and those of the Kankakee south; in other words, the barrier between the waterways of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.


Southward from the Divide flow the main tributaries of the Kan- kakee-Eagle Creek, Cedar Creek and West Creek-watering a fertile country of prairie lands and groves, and gradually seeping into a region of marshes, islands, drained bottom lands and productive meadows and farms.


THE GRAND AND LITTLE CALUMET


The waterways of the Calumet region tributary to Lake Michigan form one of the most complete system of protected harbors in the world, and point to that section as a grand center of commercial and industrial activity. The Little Calumet forms the outer rim of that region, loops around toward the west into Cook County and joins the Grand Calumet about a mile and a half southeast of Lake Calumet and some two miles west of the Lake County line. The Little Calumet is much longer, but neither so broad nor deep as the Grand. The main east and west channels of the streams are only about three miles apart, and as the Grand Calumet has both its source and its mouth in Lake Michigan, quite a section of Northern Lake County is an island.


The Grand Calumet River is from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet wide and from fifteen to twenty feet deep. It rises in Lake Michigan within two miles of the east line of Lake County, and flows in a southwesterly direction through what is now the city of Gary until it reaches a point about five miles south of the Great Lake, thence northwest through East Chicago and Hammond and joins the Little Calumet River just southwest of Hegewisch, after which it takes a course north-of-east and empties into its source at South Chicago, barely within the limits of Cook County.


BALL'S DESCRIPTION OF THE CALUMET REGION


The imagination does not have to turn back many years to see the Calumet rivers and the Calumet region in a state of nature. But it


3


LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION


is well to see them both through the eyes of one who was as well ac- quainted with the country and the people as any who has ever lived- the late T. H. Ball, to whom all local historians are continually referring and deferring. He said, thirty years ago: "The Calumet region of the county of Lake is formed by a little winding, sluggish, grassy stream of clear, pure water, which rises in Porter County and flows mainly westward across the county of Lake into Illinois, and then, turning back from the large Blue Island bluff in Cook County, flows again mainly eastward nearly across Lake County. The strip of sand ridges, low, narrow valleys and of marshes, between the two channels (the Grand and the Little Calumet rivers) is from two to three miles wide. That strip of land is from east to west sixteen miles in length and varies but little anywhere from being three miles in breadth.


"Following the natural windings of the stream the whole river course in the county is, in round numbers, fifty miles. The area of the space between the two channels is nearly fifty square miles. To this area there are properly to be added twelve square miles between the river and Lake Michigan, and as much as eight square miles south of the lower channel, making in all an area of seventy square miles included in the term Calumet Region.


"The mouth of this stream on the shore of Lake Michigan is two miles from the spot where it enters the county, and from that spot to this mouth, by the channel of the river around by Blue Island, must be seventy-five or eighty miles. It is not common to find a river, big or small, that having made some twenty-three miles of westing, three of southing and then seven of northing, doubling upon itself, flows back, making twenty-one miles of easting.


"It was said that the water of this stream is clear and pure. It is thus in its natural condition, inviting the lone loiterer along its margin in summer time, to take a refreshing bath in its gently flowing, reedy, limpid waters; but a large slaughter house and some factories have largely injured, of late years, the purity of the water of the upper channel. But with these, and the immense ice houses along this river which seven great lines of railroad cross, this paper has nothing to do.


"About six hundred feet above the sea level, the comparatively low, flat land through which this river flows, the many marshes, large and small, the grass roots, pond lily roots and other herbage in the waters, have made this region, through all its known history, a thriving home for small fur-bearing animals. It has also been a favorite resort for wild animals.


"In low water, in the summer, children can ford the southern channel in many places; but in spring, or in the winter time, when the


4


LAKE COUNTY AND THE CALUMET REGION


melting snow and heavy rainfalls fill to the brim the low banks (where there are any), the overflow covers a large amount of surface, justifying the expression of the early geographers that 'the country around the extreme south bay of Lake Michigan has the appearance of the sea marshes of Louisiana.' "


The testimony of the first generation of pioneers who settled in Lake County is to the effect that the sand ridges along Lake Michigan in the Calumet region were originally covered with a valuable growth of pine and cedar, which was stripped off to assist in the upbuilding of Chicago. But even as early as the late '40s one was writing of Lake County : "In the northeast the sand hills are very abrupt and have yet some good pine timber, although very difficult to obtain." And another: "Near Lake Michigan the country has extensive sand hills which are covered only with stunted and shriveled pines and burr oaks."


"I am glad," says Mr. Ball, "that I was on those great piles of sand so often and saw with my own eyes the great pine trees as early as 1837, before the white settlers had made much impression on the vegetation or the sand hills. Large and delicious were the high bush huckleberries that grew on these high sand hills, and very abundant were the fragrant wintergreen berries. Mr. L. W. Thompson, now living in Hammond, born July 14, 1814, remembers well the pines and wintergreens, and he thinks the pines were twenty inches in diameter, as the logs were sawed at the City West sawmill."




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