USA > Indiana > Jay County > Historical hand-atlas, illustrated : containing twelve farm maps, and History of Jay County, Indiana > Part 46
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The 16th and last Article provides for the amendment of the Constitution, as follows :
" Any amendment or amendments of this Constitution may he proposed in either branch of the General Assembly ; and it the same shall he agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two Honses, sueh proposed amendment or amend- ments shall, with the veas and navs thereon, be entered on their journals, and referred to the General Assembly to he choseu at the next general election ; and if, in the General Assembly so next chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to suhmit snch amendment or amendments to the electors of the State ; and if a majority of said electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this Constitution."
Governor Hendricks, in his inaugural message, delivered in January, 1873, called attention to the necessity of providing more stringent laws for securing additional safeguards for guarding against fraudulent votes at elections ; and again iu his last mes- sage to the Legislature, in January, 1877, he renewed the subject, and among the topics urged upon the attention of that body, he suggested a constitutional amendment, providing for State elec- tions on the first Tuesday next after the first Monday in Novem- ber, instead of the second Tuesday in October, and also an amendment requiring a residence of sixty days in the election precinct, as a qualification of voters.
In conformity with the provisions of the 16th Article of the Constitution, and in compliance with the recommendations of the Governor, as well as with what was believed to be the general sentiment of the people, the Legislature, at its session in 1877, introduced ten amendments, seven of which were adopted, and one of which annulled the 13th Article, being a dead letter, as it was in conflict with the amendments of the Constitution of the United States, and besides it was out of all harmony with more enlightened public opinion.
The Legislature, in its session of 1879, repassed the same seven amendments, and provided for their submission to a vote of the qualified electors of the State, at the Spring election of 1880, and they obtained a large majority of the votes cast for and against, and the late Governor Williains gave his official approval of their adoption both by the Legislature and hy the people.
By a test case submitted to the Supreme Court of the State, in full bench of five judges, two of the judges sustained the validity of the amendments, and three decided that they were not consti- tutionally adopted.
The two judges, Niblack and Scott, hased their decision suh- stantially on the position that in any election legally provided and duly announced, a majority of the rotes cast determine the resnlt-the assumption being that electors not voting have no choice on the question submitted, or among the candidates voted for-and that otherwise many elections would not determine anything.
The majority of the Court held that in contemplation of the Constitution, a majority of all the electors in the State, as deter- mined by the last State enumeration, or at least a majority of the votes polled at the Spring election at which the amendments were voted on, was necessary to render valid their adoption.
The Legislature of 1881 approved the seven amendments, and thus there have been three approvals of the same by three con- secutive Legislatures.
Governor Porter gave them bis official sanction, and by due announcement they were submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the State, and at a special election, held March 14, 1881, the amendments were adopted by a large majority of the votes cast.
The Governor, by proclamation, announced them legally adopted, and they are now supposed to he parts of the Constitu- tion, as the present Supreme Court will not probably disturb them by any adverse decision.
The seven constitutional amendments will be made more clear hy the following presentation :
The first amendment changes Section 2 of Article II, so as to read as follows :
" SECTION 2. In all elections not otherwise provided for hy this Constitution, every male citizen of the United States, of the age of 21 years and upward, who shall have resided in the State
during the six months, and in tho township sixty days, and in the ward or precinct thirty days immediately preceding such election, and every male of foreign birth of the age of 21 years and upwards, who shall have resided in the United States one year, and shall have resided in this State during the six months, and in the township sixty days, and in the ward or precinct thirty days immediately preceding such election, and shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, conformnably to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization, shall he entitled to vote in the township or precinct where he may reside, if be shall have been duly registered according to law."
The second amendment simply expunges Section 3, Article II, which was in these words : " No negro or mulatto shall have the right of suffrage."
The third amendment repeals Section 14 of Article II, which provided that all general elections should he held on the second Tuesday in October, and substitutes the following :
" SECTION 14. All general elections sball be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, but township elec- tions may he held at such time as may be provided by law : Pro- vided, that the General Assembly may provide by law for the election of all jndges of courts of general and appellate jurisdic- tion by an election to be held for such officers only, at which time no other officer shall he voted for, aud shall also provide for the registration of all persons entitled to vote."
The fourth amendment strikes out the word " white" in the following sections :
" ARTICLE IV, SECTION 4. The General Assembly shall, at its second sessiou after the adoption of this Constitution, and every sixth year thereafter, cause an enumeration to be made of all tbe white male inhabitants over the age of 21 years.
" SECTION 5. The number of Senators and Representatives shall, at the session next following each period of making such enume- ration, he fixed by law, and apportioned among the several coun- ties, according to the number of white male inhabitants, above 21 . years of age, mu each."
Section 22, of Article IV, prohibits the General Assembly from passing any local or special laws in fifteen cases, which are enume- rated. In the fourteenth enumerated case, to the words " In relation to fees and salaries," the fifth amendment adds this exception :
" Except that the laws may he so made as to grade the com- pensatiou of officers in proportion to the population and necessary services required."
The sixth amendment makes Section 1, of Article VII, read as follows: " The judicial powers of the State shall be vested iu a Supreme Court, Circuit Conrts, and such other courts as the General Assembly may establish." The only ehange being in substituting the word " other " for that of "inferior."
The seventh amendment wholly repeals Article XIII, of the Constitution, in regard to negroes and mulattoes, and which reads as follows :
" SECTION 1. No negro or mulatto sball come into, or settle in, the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.
"SECTION 2. All contracts made with any negro or mulatto coming into the State, contrary to the provisions of the foregoing section, shall he void ; and any person who shall employ such negro or mulatto, or otherwise encourage him to remain in the State, shall be fined m any sum not less than ten dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.
"SECTION 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of the provisions of this Article, or of any law which may hereafter be passed for the purpose of carrying the same into execution, shall be set apart and appropriated for the colonization of such negroes and mulattoes, and their descendants, as may he in the State at the adoption of this Constitution, and may be willing to emigrate.
" SECTION 4. The General Assembly shall pass laws to carry out tbe provisions of this Article."
All this has heen wholly expunged from the Constitution, and the following Article substituted :
" ARTICLE XIII, SEcrox 1. No political or municipal eorpora- tion in this State shall ever become indebted, in any manner or for any purpose, to an amount, in the aggregate, exceeding two per centum on the value of the taxable property within such cor- poration, to he ascertained by the last assessment for State and connty taxes, previous to the incurring of such indebtedness, and all honds or obligations in excess of such amount, given by such corporations, shall be void : Provided, that in time of war, foreign invasion, or other great public calamity, on petitiou of a majority of the property ownors, in number and value, within the limits of such corporation, the public authorities, in their discretion, may incur obligations necessary for the public protection and defense to such amounts as may he requested in such petition."
NORTH-EASTERN INDIANA.
CAUSES WHICH HAVE MADE THE COUNTRY.
THE historic material of Northeastern Indiana is too voluminous to be given in detail in a work of this kind. Rather than present a dry chronologic table, we prefer to briefly review and discuss the causes which have made the country what it is.
To understand more clearly its physical characteristics, we first consider some of the facts and theories of the science of geology, which teaches us that "the sea is the mother of continents," that " what we know as terra firma is a type of instability, that all lands are constantly under- going changes of level," that " over all the continents the sea has rolled, not once, but many times." Geology teaches us that during each period of submergence the primitive rocks were overlaid with a series of stratified rocks composed mainly of the sediment of the ocean. As the southeastern part of North America emerged the second time from the great Silurian Sea, which had extended west to the Rocky Moun- tains, and north to the primitive hills of British America, the retiring flood left immense rock-bound lakes of salt water, covering a large portion of the continent. As those "dead seas" evaporated, their mineral and organic matter solidified and formed a thick stratum of rock, which geologists have named the " water-line " stratum. This is now the topmost layer of rock underlying a large portion of the north half of Indiana. It is the "bed-rock " of Northeastern Indiana, excepting only a narrow strip along its eastern boundary, where an older stratum is exposed, and the northeastern corner, where the edges of the strata of a later formation appear.
CINCINNATI ARCH.
After the water-lime rock was deposited, the continent was again repeatedly deluged, but it is supposed that the subsequent formations in this region were comparatively thin, for an upheaval of the crust of the earth had occurred, forming a low mountain range stretching from the highlands of Canada to the southern boundary of Tennessee. This bulge was caused by the contraction attending the cooling of the earth, and the pressure of the oceans on either side of the continent. This ancient ridge is known among geologists as the " Cincinnati Arch," the " anti-clinal " which separates the coal-beds of the Alleg- henies from those of Illinois. The axis of the Cincinnati Arch was over Sandusky County, Ohio, from which the rocky strata sloped to the east and west.
COAL BEDS FORMED.
Passing the age of fishes, the age of amphibians (during which the coal-beds were formed), the age of reptiles, and the first period of the age of mammals, we come to the " glacial " epoch, the beginning of a geological period in which the topography of the continent, especially of this region, was materially modified. Geologically this period is one of the latest; but, compared with human history, it is immeasurably remote.
CHANGE OF CLIMATE.
Many theories are advanced, but geologists do not yet agree as to the causes of this remarkable change of climate, from the tropical heat which had previously prevailed over nearly the whole of the northern hemisphere, to the constant cold of an arctic winter. Gradually the temperature of the frigid zone crept southward until the entire conti- nent, from the north pole to the latitude of Louisville, was wrapped in one vast field of ice, hundreds, perhaps thousands of feet deep. As the continental glacier came southward, it stopped the flow of the St. Lawrence River, and turned the surplus water of the great lake basin into the Ohio and Mississippi, and even after attaining its most southern limits it was not stationary. Like the alpine glaciers of the present epoch, which move forward ten or twelve inches every day, it had some of the properties of both a fluid and a solid. In its slow, but constant and irresistible motion toward the equator it ground mountains to powder, and scooped out great basins and valleys. Its southern margin was not a straight line, but, becoming thinner as it advanced southward, it was modified by the ancient topography, and presented a scolloped edge. Separating into distinct streams, one glacier, striking the water shed north of the Ohio River, moved westerly, scooping ont the basin of Lake Erie, and grinding down the apex of the Cincinnati Arch. Thence, turning southward again, it swept, with a regular curve, through the Manmee, Miami, and Wabash Valleys to the Ohio River. As the southern edge melted and flowed toward the Gulf of Mexico. the vast field was pressed forward by the accumulations of ice in more northern latitudes. Thus this stupendous agent was constantly at work, during thousands of years, slowly but surely performing its task toward fitting the earth for the habitation of man. The surface rocks were planed down, and the loose material broken into boulders, rolled into pebbles, or ground to sand, or the impalpable powder of the finest clay. In the bottom of the glacier this debris was imbedded, the sharp rocks and frozen sand forming the face of a huge rasp, which has left its marks on the face of the bed-rock in almost every part of the con- tinent north of the fortieth degree of latitude.
MORAINES.
One of the effects of the action of glaciers, is the formation of ridges and hills of debris, known as "moraines " As the ice thaws, the imbedded boulders, gravel and sand is freed, and the lighter portions are carried off by the glacial streamns, while the coarser material remains where it fell. As this process goes on, the glacier moves forward to supply the place of the melted ice. Should these opposing forces be in equilibrium, the edge of the glacier remains stationary, and in the course of time a ridge is deposited called by geologists a "terminal moraine." Such a ridge now forms the western and southwestern boundary of the "Black Swamp," and ever since its deposit has exercised an important influence on the physical character of the Maumee and Wabash Valleys.
At the close of the Great Winter, and the beginning of the Great Spring, the margin of the glacier of the Miami, Maumee, and Wabash Valleys moved slowly northward, until it rested at the points now occupied by Hudson, Michigan, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Kenton, Ohio, extending farther south than Lima and Van Wert. The edge of the glacier corresponded in general outline with the present shore of the western end of Lake Erie, and parallel with it. During an extended period the climatic influences were so nearly in equilibrium, that the margin of the glacier remained nearly stationary, the glaciers during the same period grinding and leveling the Maumee Valley, and depositing a " terminal moraine," which is now recognized as the boun- dary of the "Black Swamp." Just outside of this moraine, and parallel with it, are the St. Joseph and St. Mary Rivers-the former rising in Michigan and flowing southwest ; the latter flowing from Ohio in a northwest direction-which rivers meet at Fort Wayne, and their united waters forming the Maumee, thence turn northeast and flow through the graded valley to the head of Lake Erie. The height of this moraine, above the present general level, is from twenty-five to fifty feet, and its width from four to eight miles. It is composed of coarse gravel and loose boulders, and undoubtedly marks the edge of the ancient ice-field, which, during a long period, lingered in the Maumee Valley.
LOST MOUNTAINS.
Outside, and south of this, is still another terminal moraine, which is the summit of the watershed dividing the waters of the Ohio from those of Lake Erie-known as the St. John's Ridge, in Ohio-extending westward through Hardin, Auglaize, and Mercer Counties, Ohio, crossing into Indiana and appearing in Jay county, and there known as the " Lost Mountains." The elevation of this ridge is near 350 feet above Lake Erie. The boulder clay is thicker here than in any other part of Northeastern Indiana, In Jay and Wells Counties, scattered promiscuously, are now found many specimens, on top of the drift, of streaked and grooved boulders, the rounded and polished surfaces, often on the upper side, demonstrating the fact that they had been ground and polished at a higher level, and then frozen in ice, and transported, and dropped from the melting ice.
Another expansion of the Torrid Zone drove the ice farther north, leaving the great lake basin, which it had excavated or deepened, filled and overflowing with water, forming one vast inland sea of fresh water, and covering the peninsula of Upper Canada and the two peninsulas of Michigan.
SYSTEM OF DRAINAGE.
Still the ancient outlet of this system of drainage, through the lower valley of the St. Lawrence, was completely dammed by mountains of solid ice, and during another long period the surplus water of the great fresh water sea flowed into the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This theory is sustained by the appearance of certain gaps or gorges through the present watershed, separating the lake basin from the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. One of these gorges connects the valley of Grand River, in the eastern part of the State of Ohio, with the Beaver Valley, through the Mahoning; another connects the headwaters of the Cuyahoga with the valley of the Muskingum; the third lies between the St. Mary and the Big Miami; the fourth through the valley of the Wabash. Lake Michigan was drained into the Mississippi by two routes-through the valleys of the Illinois and the Wisconsin. The water then stood at least 350 feet higher than the present lake level.
ICEBERG ERA.
Another depression of the southern half of the continent-another deluge-and we have the iceberg era. Enormous masses of ice broke off from the great northern glacier, and floated with the winds and currents into more temperate latitudes, where, slowly melting, their imprisoned rocks and pebbles were deposited upon the surface of the glacial debris, which in turn rests upon the face of the solid rock, planed down by the ice-fields of the preceding period. The interstices of each of these strata of coarse material are partially filled with sediment precipitated from the water above it, and the entire stratum is designated " Erie Clay." This deposit occasionally appears in the form of detached hills or mounds, and irregular ridges caused by the
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NORTHWESTERN INDIANA-Continued.
stranding of an iceberg in shallow water, and the consequent deposition of its entire burden in one place. Many of the ridges and knolls of Northeastern Indiana may thus be accounted for.
ELEVATION OF THE CONTINENT.
Succeeding the deposit of the iceberg drift, next came the final, and, as yet, permanent elevation of the continent above the ocean level ; and again we find the great lake basin fuil to the brim, the water standing from 300 to 500 feet higher than at present. At just what period the drainage of the lakes was again turned into the lower St. Lawrence can not now be determined. Referring to this subject, Professor Gilbert suggests that the withdrawal of the waters of the ocean was attended with "considerable vertical movements of the land," and attempts to account for various subsequent phenomena on the same hypothesis. Speaking of these supposed local elevations and depressions, he says: "They did not cease with that event, but have continued, either at intervals or perpetually, to the present time. Their effect on the lake basin has been to so elevate and depress its rim at various points, that not only has the elevation of the outlet been frequently changed, but it has even been transferred from point to point of the low rim. * * * In the intervals of repose, the waves have marked beach lines on the shores at the successive water stages, some of which have been above and others below the present levels of the various lakes." Many of the ancient lake beaches were partially or wholly obliterated by subsequent temporary elevations of the lake level; but between the head of the lake and the great terminal moraine above referred to, at least four distinct shore-lines may now be easily traced. These old lake beaches appear as low gravelly ridges traversing the Black Swamp in regular concentric curves, approximately parallel with the present lake shore.
RIDGES.
Professor Gilbert says : " The Maumee Valley is well adapted to the display of these beaches, since in its easy slopes they are so broadly separated that they can be traced without confusion, and in its soft drift they were inevitably modeled at every stage of the water's lingering. The first, or highest beach, marks a water level at least 220 feet above Lake Erie. It is within, and nearly parallel with, the moraine inclosing the Maumee Valley. We find that it enters the northwest corner of the State, from Michigan, and traversing diagonally the counties of Fulton, Williams, and Defiance, in a southwest direc- tion, enters Indiana and crosses the Maumee River near Fort Wayne. Thence, curving to the south and east, it traverses Van Wert, Allen, Hancock, and Seneca Counties, and thence on around the entire south shore of the lake to the high land of western New York." Mr. Klippart says of this ridge: "From the western portion of Cuyahoga County, one may travel on this ancient beach-for it is a good road throughout almost its entire length-250 miles, by way of Tiffin, Findlay, and Fort Wayne, and through the Counties of Defiance, Williams, and Fulton, to the State of Michigan, and not be subject to an extreme range of seventy-five feet of variation in elevation in the entire distance," and as much may be said of the same ridge east of Cleveland. From Fort Findlay to Fort Wayne, in the early settlement of the Black Swamp, a wagon road was laid out on this old lake beach, passing through Columbus Grove, Delphos, and Van Wert, and it is still one of the best roads in the country.
RIVER WITHOUT A NAME.
At the time this beach was formed, although our great inland sea was approximating its present divisions into separate lakes, Erie and Huron were one, and undoubtedly discharged their surplus water through the Wabash Valley into the Ohio River. "After flowing thus for ages, this river-which never had a name, and no man ever saw- ran dry and ceased to be, for by the cutting down of some other butlet, or the warping of the crust of the earth, the surplus water of the lakes was drained in another direction."
WINDS, CURRENTS, AND WAVES.
Wells and Jay counties have other superficial ridges, knolls, mounds, etc., the origin of which may be easily accounted for by any one familiar with the effects of winds, currents, and waves in our lakes.
But, comparatively, these accumulations of sand and gravel are recent. Underlying them, and above the coarse gravel resting upon the bed-rock, is a thick stratum of fine clay, which is the foundation of the agricultural resources of this region. Immediately following the iceberg deposits, and when the waters of Lake Erie extended over the entire Maumee Valley to the depth of two hundred feet, this bed of clay began to accumulate in the form of fine sediment.
ROCK.
The glacier which " flowed " downward (now upward) through the basin of Lake Erie and the valleys of the Maumee and Wabash, rasped down the topmost layers of the solid rock, exposing in the bed of the Wabash, in the northeast corner of Jay County, a stratum of water- lime. Following down the valley the Oriskany sandstone appears to be wanting. The next rock is the corniferous limestone, found in the quarries at Bluffton and in the Salamonia, at Montpelier. The series
of rock fornations rise to the west and north, and in the Maumee we have the Hamilton limestones and the Huron shales. In the northeast corner of Indiana the dip is to the northwest.
CLAY DEPOSIT.
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