USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I > Part 39
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Capt. Frank Swigart, who died in 1912, was an attorney for the treas- ury department from 1888 to 1892.
Joseph Dague has been a United States official in the pension depart- ment at Washington since 1882, where he still resides although he claims Cass county as his residence. He was born in Washington county, Penn- sylvania, 1841, came to this county in 1846, with his parents Samuel and Phebe (Conrad) Dague, and located in Adams township where he was educated. From 1863 to 1870, he with Colonel Bringhurst, owned and published the Logansport Journal. He was united in marriage to Mar- garet Fancher, of Logansport, who still survives. They have no children.
. BUSINESS MEN
Logansport has stood high in the commercial world. James Cheney, father of Mrs. John C. Nelson, and former resident of Logansport, was eminently successful in the financial world. He died in Fort Wayne in 1903, but is buried in Mt. Hope cemetery, and his grave is marked by the largest private monument in the county.
George W. Stevens, who was brought up in Logansport by his uncle, E. T. Stevens, and married a Logansport girl, daughter of James S. Wilson, became president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, and now lives in Richmond, Virginia.
L. F. Loree, former Pennsylvania employee in Logansport, whose wife was a Taber, and brought up in Logansport, has risen in the rail- road world and was president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
Frank Hecker and C. L. Freer, now in business in Detroit, have been successful and are said to be millionaires.
Edward F. Kearney, for many years in the Panhandle offices in this city, has filled a number of official positions in railroad circles and has recently been elected to the vice-presidency of the Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain system of railroads.
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CHAPTER XXV
METEOROLOGY
COLDEST SEASON-WARMEST SEASON-DRYEST SEASON-WETTEST. SEA- SON-STORMS AND CYCLONES OF 1837, 1845, 1881-2-SNOW STORMS, 1911, 1912, 1913-FLOODS AND ICE GORGES, 1857, 1867, 1875, 1912- GREAT FLOOD OF 1913-INCIDENTS GREAT HISTORIC FLOODS AND STORMS-REPORT OF WEATHER BUREAU.
In this chapter will be noticed atmospheric conditions; extremes of heat and cold; drouths and floods; metoric phenomena, etc.
COLDEST. SEASONS
According to a diary kept in the Elfreth family, Quakers of Penn- sylvania, the coldest winter in the past 122 years was in 1812. The coldest summer was that of 1816. There were killing frosts every month in the year and on the 16th of June snow fell to the depth of ten inches in Vermont and a man went out to look after his sheep, in the blinding snow storm, was lost and when found he was nearly dead with both feet frozen. The corn was all killed and no crops were raised and people subsisted largely on game. The greatest snow storm ever experienced in the United States was in February, 1817. The coldest winter in Cass : county of which we have records, was that of 1842-43. The winter set in on November 6 with a heavy snow and zero temperature and with the exception of a slight January thaw, never let up until the middle of April. Solomon Fouts, a pioneer of Deer Creek town- ship, relates that they had an election on the first Monday in April, 1843, and the following day he brought the returns, consisting of twelve votes, to Logansport in his sled and crossed the Wabash river on the ice; that the wild game, deer, turkeys, quails, squirrels, etc., nearly all perished.
The Millerites, an erratic religious sect, some of whom were holding religious meetings in Cass county at that time, said that the heavy snows of that winter would turn to oil and burn up the world, and when one of their members died they placed the body in a tight coffin and left the box rest above ground and not in a grave beneath the surface, as the world would soon be consumed anyway. A great comet with a long tail appeared in the northwest and this greatly excited these religious fanatics.
The coldest day in Cass county was probably January 1, 1864, when the mercury registered 30° below zero (Fahrenheit), with the wind blow- ing a gale. The previous day was warm and pleasant but a blizzard from the northwest suddenly swept down on the section, with an unprece- dented fall of temperature.
The summer of 1863 was excessively cold. There were killing frosts every month in the year. Wheat, corn and tender vegetables, especially on low prairie land, were killed.
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The warmest winter was probably that of 1875-76. New Year's day,. 1876, the mercury registered 72°; the sun shone brightly, the grass was green, and it had more the appearance of a June day than New Years. It rained nearly every other day during January but February was warm, dry and dusty ; spring birds, robins, bluebirds, etc., made their appearance and farmers were breaking their corn ground.
There were one or two days, the last of January or first of February, that the mercury sunk nearly to zero but no ice was put up.
The heaviest snow of that winter fell on March 28. It was a foot deep with mud beneath, but the sun came out warm and it rapidly melted.
The hottest summer in forty years, according to the weather bureau, was that of 1901, and 1911 was a close second.
DRYEST SUMMER
Probably the longest drouth, taking the country as a whole, was that of 1862, but according to records kept by old residents, the severest drouth Cass county has experienced was in the summer and fall of 1871, the year of the great Chicago fire. It was also very warm, with an early spring. Cherry trees were in blossom on April 9.
There was also a very severe drouth in the summer of 1856, there being only one rain from May to September, so G. G. Thomas reports.
One of the wettest summers was that of 1855, when the rains were almost continuous through the months of June and July, and 1857 was similar. From an old letter written by W. H. Brandt on July 20, 1857, we quote: "Raining like hell and no wheat cut yet." Wheat sprouted in the single head, standing uncut in the field, and shocks of wheat were sprouted and matted together so that they could be lifted or rolled over without separating the sheaves.
Probably the coldest Fourth of July was that of 1873. The railroad to Crawfordsville was just completed and an excursion was run over the road on July 4, 1873, and many Logansport people took an outing on that day. The train was made up of flat open gravel cars with seats made of boards and some green bushes stuck in the sides of the car for protection against the July sun, but they were not needed because it not only rained but snowed on that 4th of July and the temperature approached the freezing point, and everybody nearly froze. Three or four of the excursionists died from the exposure, as they were clad in the usual July garb.
STORMS AND CYCLONES
Cass county has been remarkably free from severe wind storms, cyclones or hurricanes, although destructive storms have occurred all around us. We, lying in a valley, have escaped with only small damages from wind storms and with few or no fatalities.
The first severe storm of which we have record occurred on July 1, 1845. It blew down the first market house erected in Logansport, which stood west of the old canal, now Fifth street, between Broadway and north, back of Frazee's dry goods store; unroofed the courthouse, still uncompleted, T. H. Howe's store at 228 Market, and a number of other buildings.
Enion Kendall, Logansport's pioneer poet, although he could neither read nor write, describes this storm in a poem, that was published at the time; and not only describes the storm, but the poem itself is an historical curiosity which we will reproduce in part, including the original spelling :
twas on the first day of July, A tempest rose the wind blew hi,
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And in a furious shape did dash, And tore what things, it pleased, to smash
the first we "heer" all in its way, into west Logan, it there did stray, And there a whirlwind, in by turns, it cawt the hows of nabor burns.
And tore part of the roof asunder, which cawsed them all to quake and wonder, As it did pass, across eel river, All who saw it, how they did quiver,
to see the water whirled in the air, it maid all present, both gap and stair, it stretched its course towards the ski, and swept the river nearly dri
the next we hear as swift, it did dash, tore pollard's kitchen roof to smash, kind providence held out his arm, his family, they received no harm.
the court hows, next a standing by, its hite is full three stories hie, it cawt the roof all in its flite, as if it was nothing but a kite.
the places rent, fell to the ground, tops of chimblys, tumbling down, this whirlwind, it did caws, much wonder, the market hows was rent asunder,
now i must mention mr. ross, to his office, it then flew across, 'his buggy carried away in the round, and then returned safe to the ground
the next that comes into my view, the methodist church was damaged to, John Hows, next comes in my round, he lives in the upper end of town,
as he was cawt out in the strete, the storm it did, him badly beet, this made him feel somewhat flat, be caws it swept away his hat, this cawsed him for to feel disorders, he lost a hundred dollars, in verbal orders.
May 11, 1837, Logansport experienced quite a severe wind storm that blew down the upper story of a building that stood on the northwest corner of Third and Market streets.
Isaiah Kreider also reports that a cyclone blew off the roof of his father's barn, uprooted apple trees and forest trees in its path, in June, 1851, and again in 1879 a hurricane passed over Bethlehem and Adams township, carrying away the barns of William Winegardner and John Grable.
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In the spring of 1881 or 1882 the severest tornado and hail storm known to the writer swept over Cass county. The back part of a two- story brick building then situated at 524 Broadway was blown down. many chimneys and outbuildings fell and hundreds of window glass all over town were broken. It swept over certain parts of the county, cut- ting a swath half a mile in width, demolishing outbuildings, tearing up trees, and even killing stock and destroying everything movable in its tempestuous pathway. It carried in its wrathful embrace, tops of trees, shingles, loose boards and other objects for long distances through the air.
About the severest snow storm within the memory of the writer occurred on February 21, 1912, when nearly ten inches of snow fell during the day, with a very swift wind and the temperature near the zero point. The snow drifted in great banks, making travel impossible.
April 23, 1910, there was an unusual blizzard and snow storm with severe freezing, which did great damage to the fruit crop, in Indiana and Michigan.
November 12, 1911, there was a sudden drop in the temperature from 72° to 16° in ten hours, or a change of 56°, which was unprece- dented, accompanied by a terrible thunder, wind and rain storm, followed by snow. Many chimneys were blown down, electric and telephone wires prostrated, street cars and interurbans tied up, forms on the Tenth street concrete dam (which was being constructed) carried out, etc.
One of the greatest electrical storms in the history of the county occurred June 30, 1912. A continuous roar of thunder with flashes of lightning that kept the heavens in a glare of light. A barn on the Delaplane farm in Clay township was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. A house at 817 Race street had the roof torn off and many other buildings and trees were struck and the debris scattered promiscuously about. Great balls of fire ran along the electric and tele- phone wires and there were many prostrations and narrow escapes but no fatalities.
The storm of March 21, 1913, while the wind did not have the velocity of some former cyclones or hurricanes, yet upon the whole was probably as severe as any that our county has ever been subjected to. This storm was general all over the western states and blew a gale from the west all day, tearing off the roof of the Dunn hotel, Murdock feed barn, West- ern motor works and hundreds of buildings all over the county were more or less injured. Outhouses were overturned or carried away, wagons and buggies overturned and hundreds of telephones put out of commission and telegraph communication with the outside world cut off, delaying trains and suspending street car traffic.
During all the meteorological and electrical disturbances that have occurred in Cass county since its first settlement in 1826, there has been no great loss of life nor extensive destruction of property as we read about in many surrounding states. There has been some loss of prop- erty by lightning and wind and an occasional death has been recorded where some one has been fatally injured by flying debris, or struck by lightning and killed, but these cases have been very rare.
On September 15, 1911, A. B. Stanton had ten head of fat cattle killed by lightning on his farm in Washington township, which is prob- ably the greatest loss of animal life in the history of the county.
METEORS AND FALLING STARS
The residents of Cass county have from time to time observed meteors or "falling stars" and have found meteoric masses in different
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parts of the county, but the greatest meteoric display on record occurred 'grand and awful; the whole heavens appeared as illuminated with sky- on November 13, 1833. Robert Reed, Sr., describes the phenomena as rockets; thick with streams of rolling fire; scarcely a space in the firma- ment that was not filled at every intsant," almost infinite numbers of falling stars; they fell like flakes of snow, but bright and shining, illumi- nating the whole heavens, and accompanied with a hissing sound similar to that made by a dozen skyrockets fired off at the same time. Says Mr. Reed, "We all thought the world was coming to an end and my mother implored Divine grace as never before." This phenomena was repeated on November 14, 1866, but not nearly so extensive or so brilliant as the meteoric shower of 1833. These November meteors or Leonoids have occurred about every third of a century with some regularity for centuries, but none have compared with the shower of 1833. Numerous meteorites have fallen in Cass county from the size of a man's fist to that of his head, composed largely of iron and manganese.
FLOODS AND ICE GORGES
Logansport being situated between and on both sides of two rivers and portions of the city located on river bottom, not many feet above
ICE GORGE
the river bed, has suffered some from floods during heavy rains or from ice gorges during the breaking up of the ice on the rivers in the latter part of winter.
The summer of 1857 was a very wet season and rains fell in June and July almost continuously and in June of that year the waters of the Wabash overflowed its banks and water ran across Fourth street but did not rise to do any damage to business houses along that thoroughfare, but all the town west of Fourth street and between the rivers was inundated.
Ice gorges have formed in Eel river and inundated portions of the city along that stream. In February, 1867, when the ice broke up an ice gorge carried out the old covered bridge across Eel river at Sixth street
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and flooded both sides of the river west of Nineteenth street, and great cakes of ice were carried and deposited over Riverside park, which was then a frog pond, and along Race street, lower High street, Eel River avenue, then a mill race, Michigan and Linden avenues. Several times since that date, ice gorges have driven the water over the banks of Eel river, notably in the spring of 1900 or 1901, when water flowed down Eel river avenue and across Third street and came up Market street east of the Barnett hotel.
Probably the greatest ice gorge and the most destructive occurred on March 19, 1912. The ice was unusually thick (eighteen to twenty- four inches) and formed a gorge above the Tenth street dam in Eel river, causing the water to overflow, above, carrying tons of ice into Miles and Douglass streets, flooding the houses and carrying some of them from their foundations, covering Riverside park with large cakes resembling an arctic ice floe, carrying immense ice cakes and distributing them along Bringhurst, Race, Sixth, lower High street and Eel River avenue and flooding the houses in those streets. The ice carried out the head gates in the waterworks race and did much damage.
This scene was only of short duration, however, as the ice in the river broke loose in a few hours and the water rapidly subsided, leaving hundreds of tons of ice along the streets affected, in many instances right at the kitchen door, convenient for the housewife's domestic supply, although, if they had their choice, would prefer to have their ice deliv- ered in the old way. But this is a progressive age and this is an innova- tion in free ice delivery.
The old covered bridge at Georgetown, eight miles west of Logans- port, was carried out at this time; an immense ice gorge formed at the bridge and a large tract of bottom land this side of Georgetown was inundated.
There was a June freshet in 1875 or 1876 that flooded Biddle island and the writer well remembers driving across Biddle avenue when the water came up to the buggy bed, and this condition was repeated about 1883 and probably several times before and since.
THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1913
Logansport has had floods and inundations but nothing to compare with that of 1913, which breaks all previous records. On "Good Friday," which came on March 21st, not only Cass county but the whole state and surrounding states experienced a continuous wind storm, a regular hurricane of wide extent, coming from the west, which did a great deal of damage to property. This was followed on Easter Sunday, the 23d, with a heavy rain, which continued for three days and extended through- out all the central western states, which caused the Wabash river to sud- denly rise, and by Tuesday morning, March 25th, the river was overflow- ing its banks. Biddle island and the lower portion of town between the rivers as far east as Third street were under water. For two days the water continued to rise until the whole business district was inun- dated as far east as Pearl street on Market, east of the alley between Fourth and Fifth streets on Broadway, east of the same. alley on North street and nearly to Market on Fifth street. The Panhandle railroad from its bridge at the mouth of Eel river to and including the round house and shops, also the Wabash railroad from its crossing on Berkeley street east to Seventeenth street and all the territory south to the Wa- bash river, also north of the railroads including Toledo street, were com- pletely inundated and looked like one vast lake. The south side, for a square on Burlington avenue, all the lowland along the south bank of
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the Wabash river from the old hospital to west of Heppe's soap factory and all of Shultztown nearly up to the street car and interurban track was one vast inland sea. The west side, including State, Helm, Mel- bourne, West Market streets to the Vandalia railroad; West Broadway, Wheatland and Linden streets west to the Chicago branch of the Pan- handle railroad; Miami street from North Sixth, to a square west of the Franklin school building; Ottawa street from North Wall street to Plum street and the east end of Bates street were all flooded. The approaches to the Third street bridges, both across the Wabash and Eel river, were flooded and also the Market street bridge. The water extended on Syca- more street, north, nearly to the Vandalia railroad, ran west on Ottawa street to Plum and the whole length of Washington street and north on Woodland street to the tracks of the Vandalia railroad and in a swift current west to and under the overhead bridge of the Chicago branch of the Panhandle and down the Vandalia tracks, inundating James Mc- Millen's gardens and on around to the Western Motor Works, connect- ing with the waters from West Market and Melbourne avenue, leaving only a small portion of the West Side, formerly known as Cabbage Hill, lying west of the Franklin school building, above water. The Washing- ton and Franklin schools, the St. Bridget's, Methodist and Evangelical churches on Wheatland street, and the West Side Presbyterian church were all flooded, as were also the English Lutheran and St. Joseph's churches on lower Market street. The following figures show the depth of the water in different localities :
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Panhandle railroad station, Fourth street, six feet; Market and Fourth, five feet; Broadway and Fourth, four feet; in front of court- house, on Fourth, three feet; corner of Market and Third, six feet; cor- ner of Market and Second, seven feet; at the Wheatland street M. E. church, West Side, six feet; at St. Bridget's church, West Side, five feet; at Newby greenhouse, West Broadway, ten feet; at the corner of Market and Wilkinson, nine feet; at the corner of Helm and Park avenue, twelve feet ; at the Washington school, Cicott street, twelve feet; at the Colored church, West Market, nine feet; at the Cumberland Presbyterian church, six feet; at the West Side engine house, six feet; in the Wabash passenger station, Ninth street, three feet.
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The inundation in Shultztown was back water, but through the busi- ness streets and on the West Side the current was as swift as in the cen- ter of the river. The water in the Wabash seemed to be higher than Eel river and thus the water ran across Third and Fourth streets and down Market and Broadway with a rapid current. The buildings obstructed the water so it could not spread out, hence the current in the streets was as rapid as in the river. At first wagons and drays were employed to haul goods and people from the flooded stores and houses, but soon the water rose to such a depth that only boats could navigate the streets, and the current was so rapid that it was dangerous even for boats, as they were liable to be hurled against telephone or light poles on the build- ings or trees in turning a corner. It was certainly a unique and novel sight to see boats running along Fourth street from the Panhandle sta- tion to the courthouse and from Pearl street down Market and Broadway to the hotels and on across Eel river. Boats could carry people from the Panhandle shops, through the yards and down over the tracks to the pas- senger station, along Fourth street to the courthouse and Masonic Temple and to any of the hotels, to the English Lutheran or St. Joseph's church, to any opera house or show, city offices and on across Eel river to either of the West Side school buildings or any of the five churches located in that part of town; could cross the Wabash to the South Side church, go to Heppe's factory, sail through Shultztown and back up the South
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Side river road to Tabertown, then float over Biddle island, steam over the South Side Pennsylvania railroad yards above the Eighteenth street bridge, recross the Wabash river and float down through Jerusalem back to the Panhandle shops-all this round, stopping, if desired at any of these places, could be easily taken in a row boat or steam launch. This may seem incredible, yet such a boat ride could easily have been taken during the height of the greatest flood Logansport ever experienced. The scenes in the business district reminded one of Venice or Amsterdam where passengers are taken from the railroad station to the hotels in "gondolas" and the people take a boat from their doorstep to go to church or transact business. By Tuesday evening, March 25th, the water had risen to the Wabash railroad bridge on to Biddle island; it had also reached the interurban and Third street bridges and quantities of drift was fast accumulating at these bridges and endangering those structures. The Wabash Company ran a heavily loaded train of coal cars onto the bridge to hold it down and succeeded in saving their bridge, but the wagon bridge to Biddle island, both the north and south bridges, to-
THIRD STREET BRIDGE, LOGANSPORT, GREAT FLOOD, MARCH 26 TO 29, 1913
gether with the interurban bridge on the north branch of the river, were swept away, and the former was carried down to the mouth of Eel river, so great was the force of the water and the accumulated drift. The Cicott street bridge and the Lewisburg bridge, the last of the old covered bridges in the county, were both swept away. The foot bridge across the Wabash to the Country Club, four miles east of town, was also washed out, and the interurban bridge at Keinly island was damaged, but not so seriously but what it may be repaired and saved. The water was up to the three bridges across Eel river and the Market and Third street bridges could not be crossed owing to their approaches on both ends being flooded, and only the Sixth street bridge could be utilized for the four days in the height of the flood. Had there been ice or any heavy drift these bridges would have been swept away also. On Tuesday even- ing, April 25th, the situation became very alarming. The water was so deep that horses and wagons could not be driven on the downtown or West Side streets, and the few little skiffs to be had in the city were not sufficient and even these were dangerous to navigate the swift waters of
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