USA > Indiana > Allen County > History of Allen County, Indiana, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 52
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In the autumn of 1859, the first iron bridge was huilt here. It was over St. Mary's River at the foot of Wells street, Bloomingdale; cost, 83,200. In 1860, the bridge fell with a drove of cattle on it; it was built by Mosley & Co., Ciocinnati, Ohio. Mechanics' engine purchased in the summer of 1858, arrived in September, 1858. New engine-house and city prison huilt in the summer of 1860. Stage line established in 1858, to Wolf Lake and Wawaka, carrying United States mail two trips a week, Mathial Glenn, proprietor. Corner-stone of the Court Houso laid May 1, 1861. St. Joe Tannery, formerly H. G. Gray & Co., November, 1858, changed to E. Weiser & Co. West End Market Honse built in the summer of 1860, opened in the autumn. This market was on the west side of Broadway, north of Wayne street; was a one-story building, with the usual meat stalls, etc .; the building was demolished ahout three years ago. July 4, 1835, the first canal-hoat passed from the city of Fort Wayne on the W. & E. Canal, to the forks of the Wahash.
About 1844, a subscription was started in this city (Fort Wayne) to obtain the necessary funds for cutting the heavy timber and clearing up the underbrush, and laying down rails in the worst places, for a wagon road through the county of Allen, toward Bluffton, the county seat of Wells County. Mr. Samuel Stoph- let was appointed agent to superintend tho expenditure of the money. The amount raised was hut a few hundred dollars, hut it was carefully and pru- dently laid out. Wells County undertook to meet us at the county line, with a similar improvement from Bluffton, which was only partly executed.
In May, 1856, the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad, from Pittsburgh to Crest- line, the Ohio & Indiana Railroad, from Crestline to Fort Wayne, and the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, from Fort Wayne to Chicago, 495 miles, were consoli- dated into one corporation, Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. The stock of each was secured as follows : Ohio & Pennsylvania, at par, plus 20 per cent ; Ohio & Indians, at par; Fort Wayne & Chicago, at par, plus 6 per cent. Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago completed to Chicago in November, 1858. Present dapot finished in May, 1861 .; July, 1860, the present Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Depot was huilt, 184 feet long 33 feet wide, center por- tion two stories high, and of brick.
Muncie Railroad .- On the 8th of March, 1842, a meeting was held at Muncie, Ind., to take preliminary steps to organize the Fort Wayue & Muneie Railroad, the object of which was to connect Muncie with W. & E. Canal.
Horse Thieves .- Pursuant to notice, the citizens of Fort Wayne and vicinity met at the American House on Wednesday evening, June 16, 1841, for the pur- pose of making the necessary arrangements to form a society for the protection of the rights of the people, against the depredations of horse thieves, incendi- aries and counterfeiters. On motion, L. S. Bayless was called to the chair, and B. B. Stevens appointed Secretary. On motion, a committee of five was ap- pointed, consisting of James Morgan, Hugh McCulloch, G. W. Wood, S. Hanna and James Berkley, whose business it was to draft a constitution and hy-laws for the government of the society. On motion, resolved that the proceedings he published in the Fort Wayne Times and Sentinel. On motion, meeting adjourned to meet at the American House, Tuesday evening, June 22, 1841. B. B. Stevens, Secretary, L. S. Bayless, Chairman.
In the autumn of 1857, Calhoun street was planked from Berry to Lewis street ; T. P. Anderson, contractor. In 1812, John H. Piatt, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was the first contractor to furnish provisions to the fort; in 1814, John H. Piatt took in as substitute, Andrew Wallace. He subsequently sold this
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HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
contract to his brothers, Robert, Hugh, Glenn and Jacob Fowler, who held it until 1817. Joseph Sinclear and Samuel S. Edsall had charge of the removal of the Indians.
Hoover and William Stevens taught school in the old Presbyterian Church, on south side of Berry, cast of Barr street. Mr. Stevens and wife taught subse- quently.
On May 22, 1851, a severe wind and rain storm visited this place. The Fort Wayne M. E. College was partially unroofed-damaged about $500 ; canal-boats freely floated on Columbia street, and the water was quite deep on Columbia and Harrison streets. Robinson's tannery injured by flooding the vats, etc. Cellars and low buildings suffered very much ; the principal cause of so much flooding was on account of an attempt to change the flow from what is now Baker street ditch into the St. Mary's River by ditching.
On the 17th of March, 1868, a very heavy storm of rain aud wind visited this place, doing itumense damage, unroofing buildings and doing much injury from water, etc. Columbia street, west of Calhoun, suffered very severely, as well as other places where the track of the wind seemed to take its course, viz., from the southwest to north and then northeast.
Circuit Court, September teru, 1854. "It is ordered by the court, with the consent of the meubers of the bar, that all business on the civil docket be con- tined until the next term of this court, on account of the sickness prevailing throughout the county."
First marriage license was issued October 27, 1824. George Wighmer and Ellen Troutner.
First court met August 9. 1824; the first case tried in the Circuit Court was Richard Swain vs. Joseph Troutner, trespass; case continued. The second case tried was Anna Canada vs. Nathaniel Canada, for divorce ; granted at Anna's eust. And the third case was Polly Robertson vs. Thomas Robertson, divorce. Polly relented and the ease was dismissed on her petition, and at her cost. The first grand jury was John Tipton, Paul Taber, William Suttonfield, Alexander Ewing, James Hackley, Charles Mceks, John Davis, William Probest, Horace Taylor. James Wyman, James Connon, Cyrus faber and William N. Hood. W. G. Ewing was the first attorney admitted to practice in Allen Circuit Court, August 9, 1824. At the June term, 1825, Calvin Fletcher was admitted to prac- tice, on motion of C. W. Ewing. At the June term, 1825, the prosecuting attorney being absent, the court appointed Calvin Fletcher as proccuting attorney.
First indictment for murder was found against Sa-ga nash, an Indian man, at the February term, 1826.
At the State clection in 1843. the question of free sebols was submitted to the people. The vote resulted, 1,293 for, and 440 against.
On the east hank of the St. Mary's River, and immediately below the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. Gen. Lewis Cass delivered his address in Fort Wayne, on the completion of the Wabash & Erie Canal, from Toledo to La Fayette, July 4. 1843.
The first steamboat on the Wabash came up from the Ohio, about the 20th of December, 1823. " The steamboat Florence, Capt. Donne, ascended tbe Wabash River, being the first boat that ever passed up that river."-[ Indiana Oracle, December 20, 1823.]
December 10, 1841. a boat loaded with 3,500 hoop-poles started from this city for New Orleans. The boat and cargo is owned by Messrs. William Stew- art, Henry Lotz and Thomas J. Lewis, wbo have started out on a new, and we hope profitable, expidition. The boat is uot to be unloaded until sbe reaches the place of destination .- [Sentinel, December 11, 1841.]
The steamboat lock across the Wahash, at Delphi, is completed. We learn by the Delphi Orucle of the 20th inst. ( March, 1842), several flat boats passed through on their way to New Orleans.
In November, 1842, a flat-boat left Fort Wayne for New Orleans, freighted with 45,000 hoop-poles, and 250 barrels of cranberries, taking 200 barrels of cranberries at Logansport ; boat owned by Messrs. Benjamin Smith, T. J. Lewis, and N. D. Stewart. Another, belonging to some Germans, left a few days afterward with 50,000 hoop-poles, via Delphi to Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Fire in Fort Wayne .- Fifteen buildings burned, loss $30,000. The build- ings were located on the present site of Phoenix Block, west side of Calhoun street, north of Main, May 21, 1849.
December 4, 1841, the canal was opened to La Fayette.
In June, 1842, the water was let in at the foot of the rapids of the Maumee to Toledo, and during the coming week boats will pass from Toledo to Providence.
Board of Health .- Drs. Weimer, Sturgis and P. Ayers, were appointed a Board of Health, by the Counmon Council, in January, 1849.
- Jail Burned .- Saturday evening, February 3, 1849, the county jail was burued. " Well enough it was burned-was a disgrace to the county, and ought to be replaced with a respectable building." [ Times, February 8, 1849.]
Taxable Lands .- The taxable lands in Allen County in 1840 were 58,717 acres, while in 1841 there were 202,709 acres, an increase of 153,922.
Council House .- The council house was built in 1816, for the usc of the Indian Agent, and was located on Lots 32 and 33 of the County Addition to Fort Wayne, fronting north ou the alley running east and west, north of Main, between Lafayette and Clay streets. The well dug then for the use of the ageney was situated on Lot No. 32, and is still in use.
Portage Canal .- The distinguished position of Fort Wayne and the feasi- hility and practicability of a line of canal in addition to the suggestion to the same effect made by Gen. Washington at an early date, to connect the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Mississippi by a canal across the portage at Fort Wayne, were facts noted hy the careful observer, Col. McAfee, during his expe- dition to Fort Wayne for the relief of its garrison in 1812.
Tile Drainage in Indiana First Inaugurated in Allen County .- The first tile machine started in the State was hy Samuel Lillie, who was running an earthenware factory near Fort Wayne in 1853. It was a new enterprise, and Mr. Lillie had some fears of success, but was induced to make the attempt upon Mr. I. D. G. Nelson furnishing the money and agreeing to take it all out in tile, and as much more, which was done, aud the enterprise proved a success. Mr. Nelsou had previously done considerable underdraining with plank, timber, etc., as far back as 1845 and 1846. Some of the drains are still in successful opera- tion. The machine referred to was worked by horse-power, but turned out many thousand feet of tile during the year. Now there are several other factories in the county, and many miles of blind ditches are constructed annually, besides an immense amount of open drainage that is done under the State ditching-law, until Allen County has more acres of tillable land than any county in the State, notwithstanding three large rivers run through its length and breadth.
I. D. G. Nelson was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys by President Tyler for the Fort Wayne Land District to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death nf Maj. Samuel Lewis, on the 24th day of February, 1843. He was re-ap- pointed by President Polk March 16, 1847, and was succeeded by Smalwood Noel on the accession of President Taylor.
Mr. Nelson was also appointed agent for the General Government to pay the Miami Indians residing in Indiana, by President Polk in 1845. He paid the Indians individually, each their pro rata share in silver, ignoring all claims of the traders upon the tribe. This was a new departure, which was accomplished under some difficulty, and under the protest of the traders, but was enjoyed hugely by the Indians. For this course, Mr. Nelson received a bighly compli- mentary letter from Col. Medell of the Indian Bureau in the War Department at Wasbington, dated November 4, 1847, which closed by saying, " Accept, if you please, tbe thanks of this office for the performance of said duty."
A great celebration, upon the completion of the Wabash & Erie Canal, the largest artificial water communication in the world, extending from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, was held at Fort Wayne on the 4th day of July, 1846. There was an immense concourse of people from all sections of this State, and Ohio par- ticularly. Both of the Indiana United States Senators, Messrs. White and Hanne- gan, and several members of Congress, were present. Gen. Cass delivered the oration Congratulatory letters were received from Van Buren, Clay, Webster, and all the promineut statesmen of the day. The occasion was one of great rejoicing as a marked period in the history of Indiana.
The first canal paeket hoat set afloat in Indiana was at Fort Wayne.
A company was formed iu 1838, with a capital stock of $10,000, for the purpose of establishing a line of packets on the Wabash & Erie Canal. At the first meeting of the stockholders, Stephen Coles was elected President, I. D. G. Nelson, Treasurer, and Jeremiah Sherman, Secretary. It was regarded as one of the great enterprises of the day. The sound of the captain's bugle was soon heard with great delight all along the line. It was a decided luxury to sail in these " floating palaces," besides being considered a very expeditious way of traveling ; and so it was, when compared with the keel- boat and Indiana " pirogue," then in use. What a magical change has been wrought in this Maumee Valley since that period !
RES. OF CHARLES F. MUHLER COR. OF WAYNE & FULTON STS. ALLEN CO. IND.
RES. OF ROBERT E. FLEMING CORNER OF WEST BERRY & FULTON STS FYWAYNE IND.
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WAYNE TOWNSHIP.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HON. PETER KISER. BY UON. F. P. RANDALL.
Richard Kiser, the father of Peter Kiser, was born in Rockingham County, Va. Rebeeea Mossland, his mother, was from Cape May, N. J. They emigrated to Montgomery County, Ohio, where they were married in the year 1800. Their son, Peter, was born in that county in August, 1805, or in 1810, as stated by some of the relatives, the family record having been destroyed by fire at an early day. Riehard was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was at Detroit at the surrender of Gen. Hull, at that place, in August of that year. In 1822, the family re- moved to Shane's Prairie, in Mercer County, Ohio, then a frontier settlement, Hav- ing no schools to attend, the youthful Peter engaged as hand on the flat-boats, which at that time conveyed the produets of the Northwest to New Orleans.
As early as 1825, Mr. Kiser was employed by Gen. Tipton, then Indian Agent at Fort Wayne, to furnish the meat rations for the Indians during treaties and other councils with them, which employment was continued by other agents, until 1846. In the early years of the emigrants' Indian Mission at Niles, in the Territory of Michigan, Mr. Klser assisted in conveying provisions to that station. For several years subsequent to 1838, be was associated with Francis Comparet, and then, having worked in the pork and provision business, he erected our first market-house, in 1835, and was the only butcher in the town. When he slaught- ered an animal we had fresh meat, and failing to do so bacon was in demand.
Mr. Kiser was married in January, 1842, to Rebecca Snyder, then of Wells County, Ind., the result of which was eight children, all boys. In 1844, he com- menced the mercantile business at his present place, on Calhoun street, and has not changed his location since. In 1828, he became a member of Wayne Lodge of Masons, and bas been a worthy and accepted member to this day. Mr. Kiser has twice represented Allen County in the State Legislature.
By a close attention to business, he has secured a competency for himself and family. A man of strict honesty and integrity ; in business affairs his word was as good as his hond; at heart one of the kindest of men; his charity and benevolence will be long remembered by many of the poor and needy of the county, who bave received food and clothing from his liberal hands, and when called from us to go up higher few men will be more kindly remembered than Peter Kiser.
JESSE L. WILLIAMS-CIVIL ENGINEER. BY COL. R. S. ROBERTSON.
Jesse L. Williams, who, for a period of over forty years, has been closely identified with the rise and progress of public works in the States of Indiana, Obio, and the great West, was born in Stokes County, N. C., May 6, 1807. His parents, Jesse and Sarah T. Williams, were members of the Society of Friends. In May, 1814, his parents removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and subse- quently to the adjoining county of Warren, and in 1819, to Wayne County, Ind. In his early youth, be was a pupil of the Lancasterian Seminary at Cincin- nati, and afterward, at various places of residence, in villages or on the farm, he had only the educational advantages offered in such locations, for those portions of the time his other avocations would allow.
After he had, at the age of eighteen, selected a profession (that of civil engineer), his leisure hours were well occupied with the study tuore especially of those branches of general science having direct relation to this profession, thus inaking up for the lack of early educational opportunities. Though regretting the lack of opportunity and leisure for higher educational attainments, yet it would seem, from the results of a long, arduous, varied and remarkably successful professional career, that the want of early advantages, in his case, were mainly overcome.
The year 1825 witnessed the completion of water communication between Lake Erie and tide-water, by the Erie Canal-an achievement in practical science and statesmanship which, for the times, was bold and far-reaching in its results. Other States caught the spirit of publie improvement, and Ohio undertook the mission of extending water communication from Lake Erie to the Obio River, by her two canals. It was under the inspiration of these movements, great for their day, that the subject of this sketch-then a youth of seventeen, living and work- ing on a farm in Indiana-accepted a subordinate position in the corps of engineers, which, early in 1824, had been detailed in charge of Samuel Forrer, civil engineer, to make the preliminary survey of the Miami and Erie Canal, from Cincinnati to Maumee Bay.
Mr. Williams continued to serve in this corps until the final location and construction of the canal in the Miami Valley. He was present at the formal breaking of ground in Ohio by De Witt Clinton, and, with other young engineers, had the fortune to take the land of that great man, and receive from him kind and encouraging words, which tended to confirm them in the pursuit of their profession, tben in the dawn of its great usefulness.
In the spring of 1828, at the age of twenty-one years, he was appointed by David S. Bates, then Chief Engineer of Ohio, to munke the final location of the Ohio Canal, from Licking Sumiuit to Chillicothe, and to construct afterward an important division of that canal in the Scioto Valley.
In 1832, Mr. Williams was, in his twenty-fifth year, appointed by the Board of Commissioners of the Wabash & Erie Canal as Chief Engineer, to take charge of the location and construction of that work, then about to be commeneed at Fort Wayne by the State of Indiana.
Two years later, when surveys of other canals in Indiana were ordered hy the Legislature, these canals were also placed under his eharge, in addition to the Wabash and Eric.
Under the aet for a general system of internal improvements, approved January 27, 1836, he was appointed Chief Eagineer of all the canal routes, portions of each of which were in process of location and construction.
In September, 1837, the Chief Engineer of Railroads and Turopikes hav- ing resigned, those works were also, by the State Board of Internal Improvements, placed under his charge, as State Engincer, enlarging his supervision to 1,300 miles of public works. Afterward, he was elected hy the Legislature to the same position, and continued therein until 1841, when the prosecution of the publie works, with the exception of the Wabash & Erie Canal, was suspended for want of funds.
Perplexing duties and great responsibilities and lahors devolved upon the State Engineer at this period. The general surveys and locations, the plans of important structures, and the letting of all contracts, eame under his general supervision.
In the summer of 1838, thirteen public lettings of contracts, covering every section, were ordered by the Board. To attend all these personally, and give attention to details of their location and construction, must have taxed the mental and physical energies of one man in no ordinary degree. It was computed at the time, tbat his journeyings during those four months, mostly on horsehack, amounted to some three thousand miles.
In March, 1840, and until 1842, in addition to his duties as State Engi- neer, he became, by appointment of the Legislature, ex oficio a member of the Board of Internal Improvements and Acting Commissioner of the Indiana Division of the Wabash & Erie Canal, ineluding the management of the canal lands.
In 1847, the Wabasb & Erio Canal, under the State Debt Act, passed into the control of a Board of three Trustees, two of whom were appointed by the holders of Indiana bonds, and one hy the Legislature of Indiana. The act, by its terms, required the appointment of a " chief engineer of known and established char- acter for experience and integrity." To this station, Mr. Williams was appointed in June, 1847, by the Canal Trustees, in which position he was continued under all changes in the appointing Board, until the canal was sold by decree of the United States Circuit Court in 1876, though during the later years, his canal duties were chiefly advisory. During his long official services in charge of the public works of the State, he was not exempt from unfriendly criticism at certain periods of political excitement. But the Legislative Committee appointed from both Houses in 1842, with a large majority of opposite polities, after general and searching investigation into the management of the State improvements, reaching public officers of every grade and class, in closing their report respecting Mr. Will- iams, and completely exonerating him, applied tbe maxim so creditable to ouc holding, as be did, in the settlement of contracts vast in amount, the key to the public treasury, that " every man has his enemies who deserves them."
In February, 1834, he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, which position he held until its consolidation with the Ohio & Pennsylvania, and Ohio & Indiana Railroads, in 1856, under the name of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. He has been a Director of this last-named Company ever since, a period of twenty-three years.
In July, 1864, Mr. Williams was appointed by President Lincoln a Govern- ment Director of the Union Pacific Railroad, and remained in that position until the Union Pacific, and Central Pacific from San Francisco met west of Salt Lake, in 1869, when the two oceans were connected by rail. He received commissions from three successive Presidents-Lincoln, Johnson and Grant.
Having long experience as a civil engineer, be was placed on the Cor- mittee of Location and Construction, and in his official capacity, frequently accom- panied the chief and consulting engineers of the Company, making many tours for personal inspection of the various lines, through the canyons and the slopes of the several Rocky Mountain ranges, thus aiding to secure the best location, and, as his reports to the Government show, always insisting on the lowest practicable maximum grade for the commerce of the world in its transit over this mountain region.
Of these official examinations, both of location and construction, he made frequent reports to the Secretary of the Interior, which were communicated to Congress, and printed as public documents. In his report of November 23, 1866, he described ten distinct routes, surveyed or examined, across the Black Hill Range and the Snowy Rauge, stating briefly the prominent features of each route. Subsequently, he submitted like reports as to the other mountain ranges crossed by the railroad further west. In all these investigations, the question of para- mount interest to the country and its future large commerce, was the maximum grade to be established, as that decision would he final. Congress, for want of accurate preliminary surveys, had fallen into the grave error of permitting by law
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HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY, INDIANA.
a maximum grade of 116 feet per mile. The Railroad Company, would of course, for the saving of expense in grading, adopt the highest limit. But Mr. Williams, having ascertained that ninety feet maximum per mile was practicable, at a cost that was reasonable, considering the important reduction of expense in transpor- tatiou, resisted tlin establishment of any grade above ninety fect per mile on any part of the road east of the Sierra Nevada. For a high grade, at a single point, would lhmit the load of the train throughout.
The fair and reasonable cost of the road, as actually constructed, in contrast with the extravagant subsidy fixed hy Congress in the Pacific Railroad Aet of 1862, also became a question of great publie interest at an early period. In this matter, as in the question of grade, Congress, for want of definite locations, had made a conspicuous mistake. As soon as the definite locations had advanced far enough to furnish the data, Mr. Williamus submitted to the Secretary of the Inte- rior his report and estimu ite of November 14, 1868, showing the actual cash out- lay to be made by the Company in construeting and equipping their entire railroad of 1.110 miles. This estimate, prepared with labor and care, and based upon data in the main reliable, amounted to $38,824, 321; while the cash means pro- vided by the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, as a subsidy, in Government bonds. together with the Company's first-mortgage bonds, equal in muount to the Gov. ernment subsidy, was, in the same report, shown to amount to the total sum of 856,647,600-far exceeding the entire outlay required of the Railroad Company ; and this without including the value of the land grant, whatever that might prove to be. This report of Mr. Williams', exhibiting to the country an actual cost so small in comparison with the subsidy, ereated so strong an interest in the subject so general, that, ou the first day of a subsequent session of Congress, one of the leading members of the House proposed a Congressional investigation of the sub- ject. The committee was appointed, and thus was brought about one of the most engrossing investigations known to Congressional history, which occupied much of the time of that session, and opened the way to the famous " Credit Mobilier " investigation.
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