USA > Indiana > DeKalb County > History of Dekalb County, Indiana, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families > Part 27
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Thus, in the early history of fruit growing, no worms, no fungus and no scale plant attacked the tree. The rich virgin soil and protected conditions made by the forests gave the fruit-bearing trees an ideal home, and the result was a luscious, perfect crop, with but little effort. But as the county became better settled and orchards more plentiful, the natural enemies came also. Near the seventies came the coddling moth, who, by his habits, gave us the wormy apple, the curculo, who robbed us of our plums and ruined our peaches ; then the fungus enemies to scab over our apples, pears and peaches ; then, seemingly bent on utter destruction, the San Jose scale, to kill outright the trees. But it has been said that "necessity is the mother of invention." Our
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county has developed, our towns are now cities, and so man studies the con- ditions. He replaces the humus and fertility that our forefathers unconsciously robbed from our soil; he plants trees now because he can see great financial returns in the future for so doing; he has learned how to meet the enemies which seemed sure to destroy the fruit-bearing trees, the coddling moth, the curculo, the fungus diseases and the San Jose scale. These marauders must submit to the science of man. Thus, while for a time the fruit product of DeKalb county was a disgrace to her name, we now can truthfully boast of her wonderful progress in developing this department of her agricultural life, and her sons should always see to it that her banner floats near the top, and then their recompense will be plenty.
CHAPTER XV,
RAILROADS AND TRANSPORTATION ..
EARLY ROADS AND ROAD CUTTING.
Few of the present generation realize the difficulty of traveling in the woods of the early country. In these days one may cross the country in a few hours over a steel road, or by excellent wagon roads he may travel with facility and ease. The hardy immigrant with his small wagon load of neces- sary furniture followed a trail made by the Indians, when possible, and for the last two or three miles cut his own road through the brush and woods with axe in hand. The road thus made was of the rudest character when dry, and in the spring of the year was nearly impassable. At times one right fore wheel and one right hind wheel would be high in air on stumps or logs; then the fore wheels would plunge into a mud hole, while the rear of the wagon mounted high in air. Again he would slide along in a slough with the mud over the hubs, and suddenly run over a stump. To travel with safety in a wagon he must brace himself with both feet in the corners of the box, with every muscle tense, and use both hands to drive, leaving his face, neck and hands entirely at the mercy of the hungry mosquitoes swarming around. The miring of a horse or the breaking of a wheel was the worst fate that could befall the traveler. The extreme slowness of travel over a newly cut road through the forest in the wet springtime is told without exaggeration by a pioneer. He had been to a mill with a wagon and a yoke of oxen, and arrived within one mile of home at seven o'clock in the evening, but the re- maining one mile took four hours to cover. On reaching home at eleven o'clock his wife told him that she had heard him calling to his oxen ever since seven o'clock.
The Indians, possessing no wheeled vehicles, carrying on little trade, using no machinery, found the trace or trail sufficient for their needs. Be- tween the villages of the Pottawatomies and trading posts were well beaten trails. Two main trails traversed the land of DeKalb county. One from White Pigeon forked near Lima, one branch terminating near Fort Wayne,
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the other leading southeast and at the St. Joseph river intersecting a trail from the east. The other trail, from the direction of Toledo, followed a southwesterly course, crossed the Fort Wayne trail near the Lake of the Woods, south of the Tamarack House, a pioneer tavern of Lagrange. The trail was a path worn in places to a depth of six inches by moccasin and pony hoof, and making wide detours for marsh and lake. Pioneer roads followed the trails as far as practicable. Joseph Miller (first county surveyor) cut a narrow track from the river through to Cedar creek, below Auburn, and also from Auburn to Blair's mill. Miller stated that the logs were left in the track, and that articles were hauled by oxen attached to a sled constructed as follows : A sapling was cut, having a fork at the top, consisting of stout limbs several feet long; the limbs were used as runners, and the body of the stick formed the tongue ; a box was then fixed on the runners. Wesley Park and Mr. Miller afterward widened this road to admit the passage of a cart. The trail was known then as "Miller's trace."
In July, 1837, Wesley Park, Cornelius Gilmore and Seth W. Murray were appointed commissioners to lay out the Coldwater and Fort Wayne state road, running nearly north and south through the county. They did so, making their report on September Ist. Wesley Park and one Hostetter were to lay out the Goshen and Defiance state road, east and west through the county. The work was performed by Park alone, and the legislature after- ward legalized this. Joseph Miller was the surveyor, and Henry Feagler and John Miller carried the chain. Other first roads were located as follows : The state road from Auburn to Fort Wayne via Vandoler's mill, by T. L. Yates and Benjamin Miller; the state road from Angola to Fort Wayne, west of Auburn, by Daniel Moody, Solomon Showers and Henry Miller; a road on the southwest side of Fish creek, by Simon Aldrich. Peter Boyer and Roger Aldrich; a road on the northwest side of the St. Joseph river was sur- veyed by R. J. Dawson, and afterward corrected by John Blair, John Web- ster and Hector Blake, and a road from Enterprise to Uniontown by Daniel Kepler, Michael Boyer and John Farlee.
At the May session of 1838 the commissioners appropriated two thou- sand dollars from the three per cent. fund, as follows: Eight hundred dol- lars on the Goshen and Defiance road; eight hundred dollars on the Fort Wayne and Coldwater road, and four hundred dollars on the state road on the northwest side of the St. Joseph river. The commissioner of the three per cent. fund was also directed to have constructed a bridge over the Big Cedar creek north of the village of Auburn, where it was crossed by the Fort
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Wayne and Coldwater state road; another over the Little Cedar creek, near the house of Joseph Stroup, where it crossed the state road; another over the Big Cedar creek, at the crossing of the Goshen and Defiance state road near Auburn; a bridge over each of the three principal branches of the west branch of Cedar creek, where it was crossed by the same road, and a bridge over the Twenty-six Mile creek, where it was crossed by the state road near the house of Byron Bunnel.
These first bridges were poor affairs, and though built at little expense, were more costly in the end than the bridges which have since taken their places all over the county, particularly the fine bridges at Newville, Waterloo and Auburn. In 1842 Isaac Swarthout and J. R. Corper, while journeying to visit at Kendallville, crossed with a yoke of oxen and a two-horse wagon a bridge over Cedar creek, which Joseph Miller had constructed for three hun- dred dollars. This wagon was the first to cross the structure, and its weight broke a stringer. Hiram Iddings had previously crossed it in a one-horse buggy. But with increasing experience and growing wealth, the quality of bridge and highway building progressed, until it has reached the splendid standard of today.
GENERAL SUMMARY.
Before giving any detailed history of the five railroads now crossing the county of DeKalb, it is well to present a short sketch of each of the roads in order to facilitate the understanding of future discussion.
The first road to be built was the Air Line division of the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana, now known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Surveys were made as early as 1852-3, and along the proposed route the villages of Corunna and Lawrence and the towns of Butler and Waterloo became existent in 1855. On May 27, 1856, the forty-one inhabi- tants of Butler learned with joy of the completion of the road to their town. This heralded the growth of Butler, and today it is one of the foremost cities in the county, being third in population. The road enters the eastern side of the county, passes through the northern parts of Stafford, Wilmington, Grant and Richland townships, altogether traversing a distance of twenty miles in the county.
The Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw railroad was opened to traffic on October 5, 1870, but after a few years of operation went into the hands of a receiver, and was absorbed by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Com- pany. It enters the county from the south, and passes through the townships
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of Butler, Keyser, Union, Grant and Smithfield, crossing the Vandalia and Baltimore & Ohio at Auburn Junction and the main branch of the Lake Shore at Waterloo. There are over nineteen miles of road in the county.
The Detroit, Eel River & Illinois, later the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, and now the Vandalia of the Pennsylvania system, was the first railroad be- gun in the county, but the fourth to be completed. It was projected early in the fifties, but lacked sufficient support for completion. In the closing months of 1872 the line was completed from Logansport to Auburn. Here it again rested. By efforts of stockholders in DeKalb county an effort at consolida- tion with the Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw railroad was defeated. After this defeat the road pushed eastward and reached Butler on October 18, 1873. The road has a little over eighteen miles of track in the county.
The Chicago division of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was projected soon after the war. After many controversies, related fully on the following pages, the first train run through the county in November, 1875. The line passes through Garrett, Auburn Junction and St. Joe, running east and west.
Crossing the extreme southwestern corner of DeKalb county is the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, with no station within the county's bounds. About two miles of track are in the county.
The Wabash railroad, the Detroit division, was built in 1901 and 1902, from Butler to New Haven, six miles east of Fort Wayne, where it connected with the main line. It was put into service in 1902. Division point was first established at Ashley, on the. DeKalb and Steuben county line. After a few years, however, this point was transferred to Montpelier, Ohio.
RAILROAD HISTORY.
(By J. R. Skilling.)
The first survey made through the county for a railroad was run in June. 1853, by the Southern Michigan Railroad Company. This survey started from Toledo, Ohio, passed through northern Indiana and intersected the Southern Michigan road at Elkhart, Indiana. This was for the Air Line, or Northern Indiana, road. The survey for the Eel River railroad was made at the same time. This started at Logansport, Indiana, and ex- tended northeast, passing on the south side of Auburn and intersected the Air Line at a point in DeKalb county then called Norris, later Jarvis, and now Butler. The work of clearing off the right-of-way for these two roads was
(19)
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begun in the autumn of 1853, but on account of some embarrassment the work of construction on the Eel River road was suspended indefinitely in 1854. So this proposed road lay dormant until 1875, when it was revived and completed. The work of constructing the Air Line road continued during the years 1854-5-6-7, and as this was prior to the steam shovel period, the grading was done with picks, shovels, hand-barrows and horse-carts. In the early days there was an Indian trading point established on the north side of Cedar creek, about six miles northeast of Auburn, and named Cedar- ville, but the name was changed to Uniontown on account of being included in Union township. As the Air Line railroad was located on the south side of the creek, about half a mile from the village, there was a station established there and named Waterloo. This new town soon became one of the chief trading posts in the county. Four miles west of Waterloo another station was located and named Hudson, and later changed to Sedan. The Sedan post- office was "Iba." Every effort was put forth to build up a town at Sedan. Parties who owned the land donated town lots free of charge to anyone who would agree to build a house on the lot, this being the only consideration re- quired. An elevator was erected, and during the first ten years it was a popu- lar grain market. The late William McIntyre, of Auburn, was agent for the railroad company for about ten years prior to 1872. During this time Sedan flourished, but on his retirement the town lost its prestige.
RAILROAD BEGINNINGS.
The Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw railroad and the Eel River rail- road were built in 1870 and put into operation in 1871. The Baltimore & Ohio railroad was constructed in 1872 and 1873, and in 1874. in November, it was put into active service. The Detroit division of the Wabash railroad was built in 1901 and 1902, from Butler to New Haven, six miles east of Fort Wayne, where it connected with the main line. It was put into service in 1902.
INTERURBAN RAILWAY.
The Toledo & Chicago interurban railway was put into service in 1906, from Fort Wayne to Garrett, where it branched off to Kendallville by way of Avilla, and to Waterloo by way of Auburn. In 1913 this road was absorbed by the Fort Wayne & Northwestern Railway Company.
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FORT WAYNE, JACKSON & SAGINAW RAILROAD.
In 1870 the Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw railroad was constructed under the pretext of being a farmers' railroad. An extensive canvas was made among the farmers and townspeople along the proposed route for the sale of stock in the enterprise. The shares were fifty dollars each, and every one was induced to take at least one share. Farmers through whose prop- erty the road was built were solicited to donate the right-of-way, and many of the transfers were made without other consideration. Other farmers fur- nished their teams and labor to grade the road, for which they were paid in railroad stock. Citizens of Waterloo, prominent among whom were the Hale brothers, general merchants, contributed liberally to the building of the road, for, situated on the only railroad between Fort Wayne and Southern Michigan, the town was the center of an extensive territory. The wheat and corn, the live stock, and wood, the butter and eggs, poultry, and the products of the orchards from southern DeKalb to northern Steuben, found a market there. During the marketing of the grain Market street was thronged with loaded wagons from near and far, awaiting their turn to drive up the incline and unload at the elevator.
With the completion of the new railroad, elevators were built at the various stations along the line, and it became the market place for what had formerly been taken to Waterloo, thus depriving that town of much of its prestige. Six miles north of Waterloo was Mottinger's and Gramlin's Cross- ing, the point of greatest elevation on the road, and consequently the station was called Summit. The station was hard to reach by north-bound trains on account of the grade, and many of the indifferent engines of that day were compelled to take the train up in two sections, after vainly puffing to a stand- still. For years Summit was the leading wood station on the line, as they fired the engines with wood in those days. A thriving town sprung up at Summit, with stores, saw mill, blacksmith shop, brick mill and saloons. A few dilapidated buildings now mark the site of Summit and Sedan. After the Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw railroad was operated a few years it went into the hands of a receiver and was sold to and absorbed by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company. The original stockholders were permitted to retain their certificates of stock as reminders that they were once stockholders in a railroad.
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THE BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD.
The survey of the Baltimore & Ohio & Chicago railroad, known as the Chicago division, was made in 1871, under the supervision of Chief Engineer James L. Randolph, assisted by Charles Archanhiel, T. G. Baylor, W. A. Pratt and a Mr. Manning. The survey was started off the old Sandusky City, Mansfield & Newark railroad at a point two miles south of Centerton. This starting point was called Chicago Junction. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company had previously leased the Sandusky City, Mansfield & Newark railroad. The survey was made through Ohio and Indiana and into Illinois, where it intersected the Illinois Central railroad eight miles south of Chicago and two hundred and sixty-two miles west of Chicago Junction. The point was named Baltimore Junction. Baltimore Junction is now called Brookdale.
"WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE, BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK."
There were many laughable incidents related by the engineers in making this survey, one of which I shall mention. The country, or, in other words, the wild forest, where Deshler, Hamler, Holgate and Standly were estab- lished, was known as the Black Swamp and was submerged in water, so the surveyors were compelled to wear hip gum-boots. Somewhere in this terri- tory they came to a log cabin and they were surprised to see a backwoodsman standing in a log canoe with a long pole in his hands and a tin cup attached to one end of the pole. He was propelling his canoe around in front of his cabin, and occasionally searching around in the water with his pole. Being surprised at his maneuvers, they inquired, "What are you hunting?" The backwoods- man replied that "he was hunting his well to get a drink."
AN UNFORTUNATE IMBECILE.
There was an unfortunate imbecile by the name of Christ Long, who owned forty acres of land where Garrett is located, who was more deserving of pity than censure. He lived in a one-story log cabin which was located between the present Baltimore & Ohio saw shop and the car shops. These buildings and the coal chutes were erected on the land owned by Long. There was no floor in his cabin except the ground, and here Long lived and slept with his hogs. Another man had taken Long's wife, oxen and wagon and eloped
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with the outfit to Michigan a few years previous. When the engineer corps would approach Long's land they were met at the boundary line by Long, armed with a pitchfork, and notified not to enter, which would lead to consid- erable parleying. On one occasion Charles Cochran, the front chainman, pointed the transit rod at Long, and he, thinking it was a gun, took to his heels and kept out of sight during the day. There was considerable trouble obtain- ing a clear title to Long's land on account of his wife's untimely elopement.
TRESTLES AND TROUBLES.
As the Baltimore & Ohio was located through a heavily timbered and undeveloped country, timber at that time was very plentiful. Therefore it was considered advantageous and more expedient to construct trestles of timber over the swamps and ravines than to fill by grading. Therefore, there were three hundred and ninety-six trestles and bridges constructed in build- ing the Chicago division. Number one was in the Chicago Junction yard, and number three hundred and ninety-six was between South Chicago and Baltimore Junction ( Brookdale), making over nine miles of continuous trestle work if they had been connected.
Trestle number two hundred was at the bottom of the incline of the Gar- rett coal chutes, which was filled in 1881. There were over three miles of tres- tles between Chicago Junction and Garrett, and over six miles west of Garrett, the largest trestle being west of Garrett. Number two hundred and ninety, about four miles west of Bremen, was known as the Big Marsh trestle. This trestle was three thousand eight hundred and thirty-two feet long, and con- tained three hundred and nineteen pile trestles. Four piles were driven for each trestle. This trestle was filled in 1882 with sand out of the pit on the south side of the Walgerton coal chutes. The highest trestle was four miles west of Defiance, which was thirty-five feet high. There was a saw mill at the east end of it and a spur track. This was known as White's mills, and all local trains stopped there.
I think this trestle was number one hundred and forty-nine. It was filled in 1883, after a twelve-foot arch culvert had been constructed. Trestle number two hundred and one was west of the Garrett coal chutes, over the tamarack swamp. This trestle was one thousand one hundred and forty-two feet long. The early pioneers will remember this swamp was covered with brush and tamarack trees, so dense that the lake in the center of it was not visible from the railroad. The tamarack trees were converted into cross ties and tele-
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graph poles. There was about three hundred feet in the middle of this swamp covered with a crust of peat about eight feet thick. Under this there was an open lake. It broke in in 1873, when the road was being graded. Then it was piled for trestles. The contractors claimed they drove some of the piles six hundred and twenty feet, which led to a case of litigation between the company and the contractors. The general opinion was that the piles angled off into the lake underneath, as Engineer Manning, who made the survey, testified that he took the soundings when he made the survey, and the deepest sounding was eighty-two feet. This trestle was filled in 1886 and 1887. The filling was commenced with clay, which soon crushed down through the peat, forming an open lake, and the water in the lake north of the trestle soon be- came the color of the clay that was being dumped in at the trestle. The piles commenced to give away, which let the frame trestles turn over on their side. The filling in with clay was discontinued at once and cribbing up with old timbers was adopted, and filling with cinders which were not so heavy as clay. The track was supported on a pontoon of old car sills and bridge stringers. Every morning the track would be down, as the pontoons would settle during the night, some nights as much as two feet. I had charge of this work, and to my personal knowledge, there was sixty feet of pontooning of this descrip- tion crushed down in this sink.
The construction work was commenced at the various railroad crossings, where engines, cars and tools were delivered, and the work was rushed for- ward each day. One of the construction engines was shipped from Toledo to Defiance on the canal, where it was placed on the Baltimore & Ohio track. It is presumed that it was not as large as the present Baltimore & Ohio engines. There was some trouble encountered in crossing the Michigan Central tracks, which place is now known as Willow creek, of which I will give a brief sketch. The Michigan Central people objected to the Baltimore & Ohio people crossing their track on a grade crossing, requesting the latter to construct an elevated crossing. The Baltimore & Ohio refused to comply with this request. The case was carried into court, and the decision was re- turned in favor of the Baltimore & Ohio. The Michigan Central ignored this decision by placing all kinds of obstructions at this point.
About three hundred men, from appearance supposed to be "Chicago roughs," were established here, evidently preparing for a "pick and shovel" fight in case the Baltimore & Ohio attempted to put in the crossing. The Baltimore & Ohio, being overpowered, called on the sheriff of Porter county for protection. The sheriff responded with a corps of deputies and their
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entreaty and authority were impertinently ignored. The sheriff at once re- ported the situation to Thomas A. Hendricks, governor of Indiana. Two companies of soldiers, in charge of Captain Whiteman, were dispatched to the scene at once. At early sunrise, on the morning in November, 1874, the pick and shovel brigade located at this barricade was amazed at the transparent luster which was reflected from two brass cannons mounted on a flat car, which slowly approached in front of a train from the east, followed by cars with the boys in blue, who were at once lined up in battle array.
Captain Whiteman then took a stand and addressed the opposing faction. advising them that he had not come there hunting trouble, but had been sent there by legal authority to prevent trouble, stating that they had the decision of the court to put in the crossing and they were going to put it in. The men were lying around, some on the ties which were piled up as an obstruction, and they would not move when ordered, as the order did not conie from the parties by whom they were employed. There were quite a number of Michi- gan Central and Baltimore & Ohio officials present. The former officials maintained silence, and gave no orders, therefore the men would not move. The sheriff was present with a corps of deputies. After parleying and maneuvering all forenoon, the sheriff commenced arresting the Michigan Cen- tral officials until there were thirteen under arrest and imprisoned in a caboose, which was run to Michigan City.
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