USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial history of Grant County, Indiana, 1812 to 1912 : compiled from records of the Grant county historical society, archives of the county, data of personal interviews, and other authentic sources of local information > Part 18
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When the first railroad grade. later utilized by the C. W. & M. road, was being built in the county, a man named Steve Grady boarded a number of the laborers in a house built for the purpose near the river at Jonesboro. Two men and two women of the party started to eross the river near MeCormick's spring branch and three of them were drowned. the horses were drowned and the wagon bed was found bot- tom upward in a drift. One of the women managed to keep her head above water until rosened by Jacob MeCormick, who swam out to her. One of the men and the other woman were taken from the water there, while the other man drifted to the wooden bridge at Jonesboro. All were Irish and strangers there. Years ago a traveler left a train pass- ing through Marion, came down town asking protection and saying he was being pursued. When he came to the river at the foot of Adans street he waded in and drowned in sight of terrified persons who had thought him demented as he told them he had been a Catholic and had denonneed the faith. The body was taken from the water and brought to the courthouse, where it was held awaiting identification, and it finally found rest in the potter's field. Along in the sixties two boys were crossing at the Ink ford above Jonesboro. It was winter and they had driven on the iee. The boys and horses were drowned and one of the bodies was not found until the next harvest time, when fishermen made the startling discovery. While a number of persons remembered the inci- dent none remembered the names.
On Saturday, July 15, 1876, D. Marion Kenney, a young man from the south part of the county, came to Jouesboro for a day along the river and he attempted to swim across at a point a little below the mill dam. Three boys started and two succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, but young Kenney drifted with the current and on Monday his body was recovered from the water at the bend of the river where so many have been taken from the water. An albino eighteen years old, named Moore was drowned along about the century year while bath- ing in the river near the old artificial gas plant at Eleventh street. On July 2. 1855. James 1I. Eviston was drowned at the bend of the river back of the Me( Inre farm. He was a medical student in the office of Dr. William Lomax, and was accompanied to the water by a friend named Pugh. As soon as he was in the water he was seized with cramps and drowned before his companion could reach him. The body was immediately recovered and although a funeral sermon was duly preached, Dr. Lomax who was much attached to the young man, one year later called a "remembrance" meeting in his honor.
It was in 1844 that Mrs. Polly Cook and her ten-year oldl son, Wright Cook, of Jonesboro, were drowned while crossing the river on horse back at the riffle below the mill dam, and when the horse stumbled and fell the boy started to swim, then returned to help his mother and both lost their lives in the water. They were crossing the river to visit Mrs. Cook's daughter, and when the horse returned without them search was instituted. Mittens worn by Mrs. Cook and a linsey woolsey vest worn at the time by the boy are in the Octogenarian Musenm in Matter Park, donated by Mrs. Samuel Oliver of Gas City. It was along in the sixties that a boy named Hinshaw, who lived on Back creek. came to the Jonesboro mill with a grist of corn, and while the corn was being
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ground he went bathing in the river. No one witnessed the drowning and the body was never recovered, although the horse tied along the river attracted attention. After a hard day's work in the harvest field. Henry Reed, who worked for Jason Smith, went bathing above the dam that used to eross the river just opposite the north side fire sta- tion in Marion, and was drowned there, although the body was recovered immediately.
Many people will remember the drowning of Bookout and Pucke11. who were swimming their horses in the river above Jonesboro at MeCor- mick's along in the seventies, as it was on Saturday of June Quarterly meeting at Back Creek, and on the following day when they were buried thousands of people looked upon their faces at the cemetery who were in attendance at Quaker meeting. They had finished washing their horses and the Puckett boy went in alone to swim, and when it was seen that he was drowning, without removing his clothing Bookout went to his resete with the result that both were drowned, and as immediate burial was necessary, people at Quaker meeting attended the funeral who had not heard of the terrible misfortune. Just below the stepping stones north of Jonesboro is where Mrs. Moffett, who lived on Wahunt creek, and Mike MeGowan, who had lately come from Ireland, were drowned together. There had been heavy rains and the river was full, and returning from Marion they were crossing in a wagon. It is sand that Mrs. Mediowan, the distracted wife of the drowned man, would wander along the bank, crying out: "Mike, show your face," and she absolutely refused to be comforted. Five days later some one fishing discovered the bodies in a drift where they had lodged clasped in cach other's embrace. Mrs. MeGowan, who had only been in America a short time, returned to Ireland.
It was the sad ending of a merry Fourth of July party at Conner's mill and Battle Ground farm when Thayne Fooshee was drowned while bathing-death claiming him as soon as he entered the water, and it was a saddened group of young people who returned immediately to the city, having recovered the body without difficulty.
Along abont war times David Hamaker was drowned at Comer's mill. Ile was fishing and could not swim. One Sunday morning in 1907 a stranger was found in the bayou at the island whose hat was on the bank, and passersby at first thought it was a devoy, and that the coat in the water further carried out the idea, but upon investigation the police department was called and a man was taken from water hardly. deep enough to cover him-the last man drowned in the bayou, now a part of Island Park along the river. Louis Newberger was drowned from the old wagon bridge at Matthews, where he plunged into the river, and S. B. Beshore was found opposite Eleventh street near his home. Could the river tell others would be chronicled in this list of dead who went down beneath the treacherous waters of the Mississinewa. The river has not always been swollen when the death toll has been taken.
XIX. PEARL FISHERIES ALONG THE MISSISSINEWA
While with the advent of natural gas the industrial conditions were revolutionized in Grant county, and pearl fishing received an impetus, from time out of mind there have been lucky finds along the Missis- sinewa. Many families have mounted pearls that were discovered along the river before the boom period in county history. While they may
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have been accidental discoveries, school boys who went fishing always looked askanee at mussel shells along the stream. When Gas City was placed on the map by the revolution of local industry, the foreign labor employed there was given to a different holiday custom from what had been known to Grant county citizens, and instead of an onting at the lakes many of the factory employes "took to the river" and lived in tents, spending the daylight hours wading the stream and looking for pearls. Some of them made as much in vacation as while working, and it was nothing uncommon to see them with pockets full of pearls. They would go east to sell them.
There are more stones in the lower course of the Mississinewa, and perhaps there has been more pearl fishing down the river. When the county historian visited the month of the Mississinewa one time he found pearl fishers in camp there, and sheltered from a rain storm in one of their tents. They had always found more pearls in the Missis- sinewa than in the Wabash, and the button factory at Wabash has stim- ulated the pearl fishing industry, as there has been a mrket for the unproductive mussel shells. It is nothing uncommon to see a pile of empty shells ready for shipping by wagon to the Wabash button factory. There have been many families who have lived in tents every summer both above and below Marion, and a recent newspaper article by W. S. Wright is a true statement of conditions in the pearl fishery industry in Grant county. Mr. Wright says: "With the recent heavy rains changing the bed of the Mississinewa river somewhat, and washing away the mud deposits, pearl hunting has been renewed with considerable energy, and several parties are encamped along the banks of the stream anxiously digging for mussel shells. The work has all the fascination of gold hunting or diamond digging, with at times remarkable rewards. There is the uncertainty, and days of hard work without any return. Then there are rich finds.
"Henry Andrews of Marion and two companions are the most reg- ular pearl diggers and he has been quite successful. This month, the first week in July, he and two others put in a week a few miles south of Marion, loafing part of the time, and camping out, doing their own cook- ing, with good results. The three dug up six tons of mussel shells, which they sold to a Wabash, Indiana, button factory for $20 a ton. This was on an average of $40 per week apiece, not count- ing the pearls. But they sold $200 worth of pearls to Il. E. Kinnear, jeweler, of Marion, who is the principal purchaser of pearls in this part of the state. The camp was two miles above Conner's mill, a favorite pienieking spot in Grant county. Later, they found a sky blue pearl that weighs twenty grains and is valued at $500, one of the most bean- tiful gems ever found in an Indiana stream.
"The work is not hard, about what an ordinary day laborer would perform, and no partienlar skill is required. It is simply a question of digging and cooking the mussels. The mussels are cooked sufficiently to cause them to open up the shells. Sometimes the pearls are found just inside the shell, but many of the best are discovered in macerating the flesh of the mussel. The campers are eagerly welcomed by the farm- ers because they buy more or less of farm and garden products, but particularly because the mussels make fine food for hogs, which cat them voraciously when slightly cooked, and fatten rapidly on them. And so the campers have the choice of most any location along the river. I. E. Kinnear, jeweler and diamond merchant, is the largest purchaser, and probably the best judge of values in northern Indiana. His store is in the Indiana theater building in Marion, and he has on display in his window a tray of fresh water pearls of value, and another
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tray showing pearls of no vahe because of irregular shapes. He has bought a great many pearls in the last two years, and is willing to buy more, and he probably comes as near judging their value as any one else in this part of the state. His advice is to wear as little clothing as possible when fishing, only overalls and blouse, and to be prepared to go into water up to the neck at times, Tor mussels are found in deep water as frequently as in shallow. The mussel shell stands in a perpen. dienlar position, resting on the hinges. The mouth of the mussel is near the hinges, and the food is the waste matter that settlers or flows sluggishly along the river bottom. The pearl deposit forms about a grain of sand. or any minute hard substance which may lodge in the shell. One layer after another is formed until the pearl assumes quite a size, the deposit being practically the same as that which forms the shell. A singular faet is that this deposit is so minute that the pearl takes the form of the grain of sand, which is the melens, and if the grain is not round the pearl will not be. Much depends upon the Inster also, and a round pearl without much luister is not of much value. "A talk with Mr. Kinnear brought out much valuable information on the subject of fresh water pearls and pearl hunting.
" 'Pearl hunting is fascinating,' said Mr. Kimmear, 'like all occupa tions in which the element of chance enters. I have bought a good many pearls, and I suppose there are thousands of dollars worth still in the streams of Indiana, and more forming. The most valuable one i know of found in any stream was found in the upper Mississippi and sold for five thousand dollars. 1 have paid as high as a hundred dollars for them. IF you want a little scientific information on the subject I can give you some you can put in your encyclopedia if you ever write one. Pearls are a peculiar product of certain marine and fresh water mol- Insks or shellfish. Most of the mollusks, which are aquatic and reside in shells, are provided with a fluid secretion with which they line their shells, and give to the otherwise harsh granular material of which the shell is formed a beautiful smooth surface, which prevents any un- pleasant friction upon the extremely tender body of the animal. This secretion is evidently laid in extremely thin semi-transparent films, which in consequence of such an arrangement have generally a beautiful iri- descence, and form in some species a sufficient thickness to be put into useful and ornamental articles. The material itself in its hardened con- dition is called neere, or mother of-part Besides the pearly lining of the shells, detached and generally spherical or rounded portions of the naere are often found on opening the shells, and there is great reason to suppose these are the result of accidental causes, such as the intru- sion of a grain of sand or other substance, which by irritating the tender body of the animal obliges it in self-defense to cover the cause of offense which it has no power to remove, and as the secretion goes on regularly to supply the growth and pearl of the shell the included body constantly gets its shape, and thereby continues to increase in size till it becomes what is known as a pearl. The most famous pearls are those from the coast of Ceylon, produced by the pearl oyster.
" 'There are famous pearls of history, and famous collections of them, not different from the fresh water pearl, but famous because of Inster and of size. The single pearl which Cleopatra is said to have dissolved and swallowed was valued at $100,000, and one of the same value was ent in two pieces for earrings for the statue of Venus in the Pantheon at' Rome. Fine imitation pearls are made by blowing very thin beads of glass and pouring into them a mixture of liquid ammonia and the white matter from the seales of the bleakfish. The art of making these was derived from the Chinese, but while they are very good imita-
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tions they have not impaired the value of genuine pearls. I have no doubt that there are some very valuable pearls, and a great many of lesser value, lying around in the streams of Indiana, but pearl fishing is a very uncertain occupation. Still, it is a sort of pienie, an occupa- tion to be engaged in in the summer time, camping out, and it is not without its rewards.
" "There are. as I said, probably many thousand dollars' worth of fine pearls lying around loose in the streams in Indiana,' said Mr. Kin near. 'but the task of finding them is not an easy one. They are just as valuable as salt water pearls, made of the sante material and in the same way, but every shell does not contain a pearl by any means, and the only way to hunt for them is to go at it systematically where shells are found in large quantities. Pearl fishing might profitably be made a part of the summer vacation, with camp life, an outing and hours of rest.
.. . Auch interest has been aroused in this industry at Matthews and at Upland, south of Marion, and the fishermen no longer fish, but put in their spare time hunting for pearls, and to much more profil. espe- cially as pearls bring cash, and fish as a rule do not. Just now the pearl hunting fever is at its height on the river near Matthews, in tirant counts, almost on the line of Delaware county. Almost everybody in that neighborhood is hunting for pearls. citizens, farmers, pienickers and children. Most of the work is done by amateurs, but Andrew Marshall is making a business of it, with much success. Mace Powell hunts pearls for a business when he works, and makes a living at it. sometimes having fifty or sixty dollars in his pocket, and sometimes less than fifty cents. An Indianapolis jeweler recently paid $107 50 for a 1916 grain pearl found near the Matthews bridge. B. E. Steller of Matthews has a beautiful pearl as far as color is concerned, but the shape makes the pearl of no commercial value. Still, a string of odd- shaped pearls of this sort might really command a good price.
".W. C. Keighler of Matthews also buys pearls, but he is not in the business regularly, being engaged in the fruit and vegetable business. He has the pearls set by a Chicago jeweler, and carries on a small busi- ness in engagement rings and Christmas and birthday presents. And so it has come to pass that most every one in Matthews is wearing a pearl of some kind or other.
" . Pearls were the most valued jewels of the ancients, the scripture is full of references to pearls, and the world has always made the pearl a popular jewel. There is a steady demand for pearls, and 10 make a pearl necklace, with all the jewels the same size and color. a search of the pearl markets of the world is necessary, and the neck- lace has a very great value on this account. I would not advise ans one to give up a good position to make a business of searching for pearls in Indiana streams, but as I said, there are a good many dollars worth of pearls in Indiana not yet found."
"A visit to Matthews disclosed the fact that Matthews has the pearl fever. In reply to the question, 'Who are hunting pearls?' came the reply. 'They are all doing it.' Most everybody walks down to the river a mile away and opens a shell or two during the day. But the regular hunters are down the river, two miles below town, at the riffles. W. C. Keighler, grocer, is probably the heaviest buyer. . I began buying three years ago,' said Mr. Keighler, 'without any idea of going into the business. I sold in Chicago, Indianapolis and New York, and had many pearls mounted for scarfpins, rings, earrings, and so forth, which I was able to sell at a profit. I became able to judge values pretty well, and I learned the classification used by the trade. Vol 1 4
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Pearls are classed as Rose Pearl, Button, Steel. Peacock, Birdseye. Round, Shoebutton, and so on. according to color and shape. The largest pearls I have bought weighed from 19 to 25 grains and sold for $125. A great many people hunt the pearls now and then, but there are seven or eight who put in all their time at it. Some of the pearls are found by accident. A woman from Upland was fishing and using mussels for bait. She opened a shell and found a pearl she sold for fifty dollars.'
"Mr. Keighler has quite a collection which he is hokling for a mar ket. probably five hundred dollars worth. He has one double pearl. two which grew together, and he is looking for a mate to it. If I gt another like it,' said Mr. Keighler, I will have earrings made. and they will be hard to match.'
"W. R. Lewis and family party were in camp at the Joe Littler place, two and a half miles below Matthews. They are from Fairmount, camping and fishing. One of the ladies, in opening mussels for bait, found two pearls, one with a flaw in it but the other perfect. They have not been examined by an expert and no one knows what they are worth. Charles Stevens, merchant, of Fairmount, buys pearls and has several handsome ones on hand.
"The Mississinewa river at Matthews is narrow and sluggish. the roads are dusty and the sun which shines over Matthews shines for all it is worth. It is a hot and dusty walk down the pike, and down the river, and it is much more pleasant looking at pearls in some jeweler's window on the shady side of the street."
XX THE PRICE OF REALTY AN INDEX TO PROGRESS
In the Bible story of creation is the line: "And the earth was without form and void." but before the process was ended the earth brought forth grass, and from that time there has been speculation and the freeholder and householder certainly make up the sum total in any community. While agriculture is the oldest oreupation, trade in real estate concerns many who never followed the plow a day in their lives, and "Monarch of all I survey," cannot apply to the man who does not own his own "vine and fig tree" somewhere on the footstool.
The advance in realty has created fortunes, and those who came early and followed the advice of Mrs. Means in "The Hoosier School- master" about getting plenty are of all men most fortunate. As a result their posterity sits in the lap of affluence today. Under the Henry James theory the landowner would pay the running expense of the government, but those worst afflicted with accumulitis do not seem to fear single tax at all. It is said that acemulitis is the most con- tagions of all Grant county maladies, and when a man has acquired one farm he immediately wants those that join him. Those who are well- to-do today, bought their farms and homes when they were cheaper, and they have benefited from the advance in prices. unless they hap- pen to be "land poor" from having acquired realty from which there is no income at all.
When men die they do not take their broad aeres with them, and when the law takes hold of an estate its divisions among heirs results in smaller plantations, and the larger farms with acreage enough to designate them as estates are rapidly disappearing and the smaller, better tilled farms are the result. The men who acquire large farms have no indefinite lease on them-no continuing city in the
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country, and the time comes when they must leave them no matter how well they may enjoy possessing them. When Samnel Charles, then a prosperous Wayne county farmer, visited tirant conaly on a prospect- ing expedition in 1835, thinking of a land investment at the preemp- tion price, he looked over the territory in the vicinity of Deer creek, but because so much of it was under water, and notwithstanding the Bible injunction : " Let the waters under the heaven he gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear, " he did not see fit 10 invest, although later when his son, Dr. Henry Charles, located at Fairmount be recognized his mistake-and drainage was the solution.
One of the early extensive land deals was when Joseph Winslow who "came early and got plenty" located on Back ercek, the settlers all lorating on the Mississinewa or one of its contributing streams, infin- enced no doubt by the water question, and Nature-Lea, now the home of Aneil Winslow, was his original investment at $1.25 an acre. At the same time Mr. Winslow invested in seven other quarter sections, locating his four sons: Matthew. Seth, Daniel and Henry, and his three daughters: Nancy (Aaron Hill), Sallie (Solomon Knight) and Mary ( Exam Newby) as his neighbors, their heritage the splendid blue grass country between Jonesboro and Fairmount, and some of those farms are occupied today by descendants of Joseph Winslow. While there are few changes of ownership in that locality now, it is because the residents know a good thing when they have it, and do not price their farms.
When William Howell entered a farm on Deer creek in Liberty. Angust 26, 1834, he paid the exemption price to the county agent for it, and in war times he soll it to David day -- the writer's grandfather, who had entered the present Schrader farm west of Jonesboro in 1835 (and who wanted more and better land). at $25 an acre, and there was a good barn and the only two-story log house in Liberty town- ship on it. In 1867 David Jay sold the land to Richard Jay and D. M. V. Whitson at $41, and when this land was sold again at adminis- trator's sale in 1878. B. F. Sutton paid $60 for it, although Daniel Stiers, the present owner, only paid $55 for it a couple of years later. and today he dare not name a price or he would be a homeless man "quicker than you can say Jack Robinson." and the above is related simply to illustrate what is tine in hundreds of instances in Grant county farmsteads.
There were 106.7 acres in the original land entry made by Martin Boots, October 19, 1825, for which a deed or patent signed by John Quincy Adams was granted May 1. 1826, although this original real estate transaction did not become a matter of record till August 1. 1842, from which time there was considerable real estate activity till 1848, when western Grant county -- that part lying west of the je- serve boundary crossing Pleasant, Franklin and Liberty, -- was placed on the market, seventeen years after the older part of the county was open for settlement and realty transfers conducted in it. Although later on the land market in the twentieth century has witnessed more land trades in western Grant county at advance prices than anywhere -- the reserve boundary still serving an important purpose, although originally planned in order to cheat the Indians. The Ilinois farmers who really raised land values all seem to have located west of the reserve boundary.
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