History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 50

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 50

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BUFFALO AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD.

At a meeting held at South Bend Feb. 21, 1837, the following named gentlemen presented certificates of their election as mem- bers of the directory of this company: William Latta, James R McCord, Goshen; Robert Stewart, Michigan City; John Brown and Aaron Staunton, of La Porte. The meeting of shareholders elected at the same time Robert Stewart as President, and John Brown, Treasurer of the company. After a formal organization of the meeting it was resolved that " books for the subscription of stock be opened on the second Tuesday of March next, at the fol- lowing places: Michigan City, La Porte, South Bend, Goshen, Elkhart, Lima and Steuben, by the following named persons resid- ing in the said respective places, viz .: by David Sprague, in Michi- gan City; William Allen, in La Porte; John A. Hendricks, in South Bend; by James R. McCord, in Goshen; by George Craw- ford, in Elkhart; by Ephraim Seeley, in Lima; and by Thomas Gale, in Steuben; that each of said persons before opening said books be required to file with the president a bond in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars, with security, to the approval of the president, conditioned for the well and faithful paying over to the treasurer of the company all such sums as may be received by them on such subscriptions of stock." Many other resolutions of a like form, succeeded by one requesting the editors of the Goshen Express, La Porte Herald, Michigan City Gazette and the South Bend Free Press to publish the proceedings of this meeting, show-

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ing the progressive character of the settlers. Nor were the editors idle in the matter; for early in March Dr. E. W. H. Ellis addressed the people on the subject, reminding them of its vast importance both to themselves, their posterity and their common country. It further says: " An opportunity will be offered on the second Tues- day of this month for you to prove to the world that the spirit of enterprise is not entirely extinet, and that you have a proper regard for the interests at stake, by coming up to contribute with your neighbors in pushing forward this grand improvement. Let every man put his shoulder to the wheel, and the car, which must scatter wealth around your doors, must move forward! Books will be opened on the second Tuesday of this month in this town and Elk- hart, and we trust there is not a farmer in the whole country who will so far forget his own pockets as to neglect the proper means of filling them by subseribing for stock. If we do wish for these and other benefits arising from this project, let no one depend on his neighbor for its advancement, but all come forward with the single determination of pushing it ahead."

This railroad agitation extended over a few years; but owing to some unaccountable opposing influence the immediate results were certainly trivial and unprofitable. However, later years saw the extension of the iron road, so that now it may safely be stated that every farmer and merchant has all the facilities which railroads offer within easy reach. The progress of the railway was slow. In fact, for many years it was doubtful when the snorting of the iron horse would echo through the woods and along the rivers of the county; but the pioneer of commercial and agricultural prosperity appeared at length upon the seene, and now has so grown in size and wealth as to require the following exhibit on the duplicate books of the county.

LAKE SHORE AND MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD, 1879.

Miles in county, 40.46; valuation of main line, $687,820; side track, 22.87 miles; valnation, 823,380; improvements, $68,100; valuation of rolling stock, $161,840; chattels, $6,940; total value, $948,080; total amount of taxes, $9,211.71.

CINCINNATI, WABASHI AND MICHIGAN RAILROAD.

Miles in county, 10.56; valuation of main line, 852,800; side track, .44 miles; valuation, $1,100; improvements, $5,280; valua-

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HISTORY OF ELKIIART COUNTY.

tion of rolling stock, $5,280; chattels, $ .12; total value, 839,192; total amount of taxes, $499.21.

BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD.

Miles in county, 6.57; valuation of main line, $65,700; side track, .53 miles; valuation, $1,590; valuation of rolling stock, $11,526; chattels, S .10; total valne, $79,126; total amount of taxes , $924.27.

WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

Value of chattels, 83,537; total valuation, 83,537; total amount of taxes, $38.18.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

Number of horses, 9,529; mules, 284; cattle, 20,700; sleep, 29,85»; hogs, 28,916; bushels of wheat, 732,240; corn, 900,127; oats, 290,424; tons of liay, 22,449; bushels of rye, 5,540; potatoes, 61,317; grass and clover seed, 3,657; flaxseed, 268; fruit, 175,753; pounds of beef, 277,050; bacon, 170,780; bulk pork, 2,504,775; lard, 347,260; wool, 67,789: tobacco, 40; maple sugar, 5,705; gal- lons of cider, 247,900; vinegar, 7,287; wine, 26; sorghum molasses, 7,027; maple molasses, 3,183; value of home manufactures, $640; slaughtered animals, $19.126; number of pianos, 105; sewing inachines, 1.540; organs, 210.

This report for 1879.was furnished to the Department of Statis- ties and Geology by Auditor Henkel, who compiled it from the reports of the township assessors.

THE COUNTY FAIRS.

The fairs, or more properly, county expositions, have, during the past few years, become remarkably identified with progress. It has been truly said that with the exception of those that were held during unpleasant weather the county, district, and local fairs of the past season have been well patronized. The comparative large attendance at these fairs may be accounted for in various ways. Times are prosperons in the country, and farmers generally have plenty of money to spend. The roads have been in excellent con- dition, and the railroads have made reductions to persons attending fairs. There is a great deal of interest in fast horses, and horse races form the leading attraction at most of the fairs. Most of the addresses have been made by politicians, and pains have been taken to secure crowds to hear them.

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY,

All the reports of the fairs speak of the large crowds assembled, of the fast trotting, and of the applause that followed the speeches of the politicians. A gentleman who recently ocenpied the presi- dential chair attended several fairs and was the means of adding largely to the receipts. The present president attended a few and caused many other people to attend. A gentleman who hopes to be president, and who is interested in farming to some extent, attended a few fairs in his own State, and proved to be almost as great an attraction as a balloon filled with smoke, a sleight-of-hand performer, or a horse that has trotted a mile inside of two minutes and a quarter. At some fairs female runners have been the means of drawing very large crowds.

The reports of most 'fairs make no mention of any display of field and garden crops, dairy products, or of useful domestic ani- mals and fowls. The failure to mention these articles is probably owing to the fact that they did not constitute conspicuous features of the exhibition. It is likely that there were some pens of sheep and pigs, some coops of chickens, some stalls filled with cattle of different breeds, and a few horses that were not designed for the race-course. It is also likely that there were some specimens of corn, wheat and other grains as well as a few packages of butter and cheese. In the vicinity of the "fine-art hall " were probably displayed a few beets, cabbages, pumpkins, squashes, and other gar- den vegetables, and some specimens of fruit.

The display of farm products, however, was not sufficient to attract persons who were interested in their production. This is not to be wondered at, as the premiums offered for them were ridiculously small, not enough in many cases to pay the cost of bringing them to the fair. The managers of the exhibition did not rely on these articles to render the show attractive or to secure a large attendance. They knew very well that the more nearly a fair resembles a circus the better it is patronized. They accord- ingly arranged to have a large number of fast horses present, as well as several persons who would render themselves amusing. They also allowed numerous showmen to exhibit disgusting mon- strosities within the inclosure on the payment of a license to the managers of the fair.

It is not enough to say that fairs have not improved any during the past twenty-five years. The truth is, they havo greatly depre- ciated in interest and in value to the agricultural community. At the time when specimens of the improved breeds of animals were

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

scarce, it was of great advantage to farmers to have an opportunity to see them. Now they have become so common as to be no longer curiosities. The like is true in relation to new breeds of poultry and farm machinery of various kinds. At one time there was great interest in plowing matches and in field trials of different kinds of machines. Of late there have been no trials of skill or any tests of the merits of different kinds of machinery.

It is likely that local associations made a grave mistake in allow- ing all persons to compete for premiums. The practice lias become general for professional breeders to take their stock to all the fairs they can reach during a season. As a consequence, they take all thie premiums of the stock of the kind they breed and discourage others from exhibiting at all. The professional breeders who can exhibit at 20 fairs derive a large sum by way of premiums, and at the same time advertise their stock if they do not make sales on the spot. The presence of show herds on the fair-grounds discourages small breeders who live in the country or district, as well as farmers who raise stock while they are engaged in general agricultural pursuits.

Of late most persons have come to look on the award of prizes at fairs with considerable distrust, if not with absolute contempt. They know that the great majority of judges are not competent to make awards according to the real merits of the animals or farm products that they examine. They may be honest, but they are lacking in knowledge and are easily imposed upon. Many who are appointed judges by the managers of fairs fail to attend, and their places are supplied by persons found on the fair-grounds. The prac- tice of distributing premiums in such a manner as to give the best satisfaction to the various exhibitors has become general. Judges who are conscious that they are incompetent hesitate about making awards, and generally divide thiem in a way they think will give no offense.

To make awards that shall be in the highest degree satisfactory to the breeders of fine stock it is necessary to employ the services of experts who shall pe paid for their trouble. This is the course pursned at the principal fairs in Great Britain, and the awards made there generally give satisfaction to the various exhibitors. The judges devote a large amount of time to the stock in each class, and make a diligent comparison of the scale of points. Exhibitors and all others interested learn by the decision of the judges not only which animals are, in their opinion, superior to the

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

others on exhibition, but in what particular and to what extent they are superior. A decision of this kind is of great'advantage to breeders, as they may learn by it what animals to couple in order to produce young that shall combine the numerous points of excel- lence to the highest degree. In England a prize animal ranks for more than it does in this country, on account of the high reputation of the judges and the great pains taken in making the awards. Here it does not add much to the reputation of an animal that it takes the first prize at a fair.

When the managers of a small county fair advertise that "compe- tition is open to the world," they give notice to farmers in the vicinity that the chances of their obtaining prizes are very small. It the premiums offered are sufficient to attract wealthy professional breeders they will be present with their show herds, and, as a matter of course, will take all the premiums. The expense of driving animals to a fair, of taking care of them for four or five days, and driving them back to the farmns where they belong, is considerable. In addition to this there is ordinarily an entrance fee and the cost of a season ticket for the exhibitor. Few farmers will be at all this expense and trouble simply to render a fair inter- esting. If there is no prospect of receiving some recognition of the merits of their animals they will keep them at home. If com- petition was restricted to the county, however, there would be a friendly rivalry among the local farmers and stock breeders. They would have a reasonable idea of what they would have to contend against, and would run the risk of exhibiting.

Professional breeders can take their stock to most fairs with less expense and trouble than persons can who live in the same county. They have but to load them on cars and unload them in the vicin- ity of the fair grounds. If the animals themselves are " profession- als," or members of a " show herd," they are accustomed to traveling on railroads and will step on or off a car with as little hesitancy as a commercial traveler. They are not frightened at any of the sights they see or any of the noises they hear in a strange place. They will make for the best stall on the fair-ground as expeditiously as a " drummer " will secure the best room in a hotel, though the proprietor has announced to the public that they are all full.

A county fair should be managed in such a way as to encourage agriculture, horticulture, and stock-raising among the people of the county. Inducements should be held out that would cause

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nearly all the farmers to exhibit. Persons are most interested in an exhibition in which they take part. To be first in the county in the production of any class of animals or any kind of field crops is a distinction that most farmers will strive to obtain. Restricting competitions to the people of the county in which a fair is held often has the effect of causing'farmers to purchase improved stock, partly for the purpose of exhibiting it at the annual fair. It also has the effect of inspiring local pride, as the farmers do not like to have their fair compared unfavorably with one held in an adjoining county.

The managers of many local fairs have not been content with limiting competition to the "world." They have even extended it to "the flesh and the devil," and the latter has not been slow in embracing the opportunity offered to exhibit his wares. His trusted agents are found in tents, stalls, and booths, engaged in practices that should not be tolerated in any civilized community. In these vile places monstrosities are exhibited that are disgusting in the extreme. Books and pictures are sold that would corrupt the mor- als of pirates and highwaymen. Games of chance are played in which there are no chances of winning the money that is staked. Songs are sung and low jokes exchanged that would disgrace the vilest den in Five Points. These abominations are bringing many fairs into disrepute.

Many boys get their first taste of liquor and take their first les- son in progressive vice on the grounds at a county fair. They invest some money in a prize stationery package that contains a brass ring, ornamented with a piece of colored glass. and borrow more capital to make another investment. They hear vulgar expressions in a side-show, which they repeat among their play- mates. The grounds of many fair associations require purifying, and then need a faithful watch kept over them. Managers should know that thieves, pickpockets, gamblers, sleight-of-hand perform- ers, and the venders of obscene literature are among the first to pro- cure fair lists and to prepare to make excursions. A combined effort should be made to exclude these persons from fair grounds.

The practice that has become very common of late of offering prizes for fancy work, drawings, poor paintings, natural curiosities, school exercises, and a hundred other things that have no immedi- ate or remote connection with any department of agriculture. is questionable. They occupy spaee that should be devoted to farm, garden, orchard and dairy products. They detract attention from

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

the articles for the exhibition for which agricultural fairs were instituted. The premiums offered for them require a considerable portion of the entire receipts of the fair, and diminish the premiums given for agricultural products. They may all be well enough in their place, but there is no more propriety in displaying them at an agricultural fair than at a camp-meeting or a political conven- tion.

Let the projectors of these expositions order the exclusion of the votaries of nonsense, and the institution will be quite in keeping with this progressive age.

RESOURCES.

The editor of the Daily Review has given much attention to the resources of the county. In his columns he shows the remarkable progress, and treats the subject with characteristic candor.

"The REVIEW " he says " will be pardoned if its claims on behalf of Elkhart county appear at all extravagant, for certainly nothing can be further from its wish. On the contrary, it believes that a statement of facts alone, without embellishment, is all that is needed to attract even greater and more wide-spread attention to a section of country that has already received almost every possible recogni- tion at the hands of the Almighty-a section of the State that has from a wilderness, and within the memory of living men, been con- verted into a garden of fruitfulness and a busy hive of productive labor."

The comparative statements elsewhere given, and compiled from the tax duplicates every tenth year from 1845 to 1875 inclusive, are more eloquent than figures usually are, and yet in a concise, unpre- tentions way they speak of a constant influx of immigration; of hard work and patient endeavor on the part of the pioneers and of those who have come after them. They speak of a prudent, econom- ical and accumulative people, whose poverty changed to com- petencies and wealth by dint of labor. They also show us a ratio of growth that is encouraging.

In 1845 the appraised value of all taxables in the county was but $1.319.314. Ten years later the valuation was $5,074,894, an increase of $3,755,580, and in 1855 the valnation of personal property was greater than the total valuation of lands, improvements and personal property combined of 1845.

For the decade closing 1865 notwithstanding the drain made upon the country by the war, an equally gratifying increase is

John Shaver

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

shown. The farming lands in the county, in 1855 appraised at $1,147,383, in 1865 were appraised at $3,597,891, while the value of personal property had swelled from one and a half millions to three and a third millions of dollars.

The total value of taxables (for 1865) was $8,739,494; ten years later (or last year) it was $14,299,034.

The total value of lots and improvements within the county in 1842 was $91,511; last year they were placed at $2,302,560.

Of course no one will understand for a moment that these figures represent the real valuation, but as the ratio of assessment has con- tinued essentially the same they serve to show the ratio of increase.

Such a gratifying showing can really be nothing but a statement of the relation of cause to effect. We see before ns both the cause and effect. We see a county comprising an area of 309,120 acres, and of that total area the per cent. of waste land is merely nominal. We see railways traversing the county in every direction, and whether we ride through the county on the cars or by private con- veyance, we note upon every hand evidences of improvement. We see attractive farm houses,we behold large barns and out-buildings, the fences are in repair, a very considerable proportion of the land is under cultivation, and we can hardly realize that these effects have all been brought abont within so few years.

We visit the factories of Elkhart and Goshen-they are many and they give employment to large capital and hundreds of work- men and work-women; we know that through them Elkhart county is levying tribute upon communities elsewhere throughout the length and breadth of the land; and we can hardly realize that this system of productive enterprise, with its manifold ramifications, is, so far as our county is concerned, the child of to-day, as it were.

And while the county possesses all the attractions of a rich agri- cultural section, while its prairies, its " barrens " and its erstwhile forests produce the fruits of the fields in abundance, we realize that the grandest development of the future must come from our constantly increasing manufacturing interest.

The abundance of water-power obtainable in the county is the "open sesame" of its success thus far, and will prove the magic watchword by which difficult pathways may be traversed and otherwise impenetrable barriers passed. The principal streams of the county are the St. Joseph, Elkhart, Baugo, Christiana, Little Elkhart, Yellow creck, Pine creek, Rock Run and Turkey creek. Elkhart river furnishes magnificent water-power at Elkhart, Goshen.

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Benton and other points; the St. Joseph. at Elkhart, affords suffi- cient power to operate almost countless factories, and at Bristol a magnificent power can be obtained from it. At Middlebury the Little Elkhart affords good power; Pine creek serves to operate a number of saw mills along its course, and so does Rock Run. At Goshen and at Elkhart a system of hydraulics, costing thousands upon thousands of dollars, has been perfected, and the power that nature has provided has been conserved to a degree that augurs well for the future.

For the details of the industries of the county, see the histories of the respective townships.

CHAPTER XIV. NEWSPAPERS AND THEIR CONSTITUENTS.

The Press, all lands shall sing; The Press, the Press we bring, All lands to bless. O, pallid Want ! O, Labor stark ! Behold ! we bring the second ark ! The Press, the Press, the Press !

God and the intelligence of the American people have given a free American press! It is the exponent of the American mind with few exceptions, and these only occur in the few cases where ignorance leads the freeman of our soil to become a convert to the European school of flunkeyism, or where the people are so short- sighted as to permit an immigrant newspaper writer to indulge in eulogies on the greatness of transatlantic peoples. Some unfor- tunate men are so situated: though happily few in number, their nonsensical praise of the slave-holding monarchies of the world rests only in the minds of the more imbecile of our citizens, so that now, and to our shame, it is not very uncommon to hear a man, born on this free soil and raised under its liberty-inspiring influences, extolling the glories and the pageants of foreign lands. It is all most disgusting trash! There is little in the government of Europe, in the slavery of four-fifths of its population, to com- mend itself; and the knowledge of this, so prevalent in the United States, is a full safeguard against the growth of that foolish, if not unnatural and most pernicious vice commonly called flunkeyism. The people understand their duties to the Republic. and none among them more so than these indefatigable men who identify themselves with the press of the country.

Elkhart county has been really blessed in its newspaper men; all evidences point out the writers of the past to equal those of the present; flunkeyismn was not the attribute of one of them: they labored late and early in training the minds of their constituents, and in most cases in a philosopical manner; so that they conferred inestimable good on the district, and won, by degrees, the confi- dence of the people. They opposed all innovations and constitu- .

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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY.

tional amendments which might have a tendency to subvert the principles of this Government; they set their denunciations of tyrannical and arbitrary measures in " black-letter;" they stigma- tized inoral cowardice, and showed that from the village council room to the chambers of the national Government virtue should be doubly cherished, and vice subjected to rebuke and punishment, and thus bestowed a mine of sound reason upon the nation, and deserved a share of national gratitude. A reader may possibly imagine that the idea is too far fetched; but let him claim the con- fidence of the men under notice, or act their part for even a brief space of time, and then a full realization of their labors and their sacrifices will break upon his mind. He will learn something of their studies and their anxieties, and join with the writer in the high opinion which he has formed of the honest newspaper men of the Republic and of this county.

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History of Elkhart County, Indiana; together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history: portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 50

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, C. C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1192