History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 5

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051

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Indiana is rich in natural resources. It not only has millions of acres of good farming land, but it has had fine forests in the past. From the timber of its woods have been built the homes for the past one hundred years and, if rightly conserved there is timber for many years yet to come. The state has beds of coal and quarries of stone which are not surpassed in any state in the Union. For many years natural gas was a boon to Indiana manufacturing, but it was used so extravagently that it soon became exhausted. Some of the largest factories of their kind in the country are to be found in the Hoosier state. The steel works at Gary employs tens of thousands of men and are constantly increasing in importance. At Elwood is the largest tin plate fac- tory in the world, while Evansville boasts of the largest cigar factory in the world. At South end the Studebaker and Oliver manufacturing plants turn out millions of dollars worth of goods every year. When it is known that over half of the population of the state is now living in towns and cities, it must be readily seen that farming is no longer the sole occupation. A sys- tem of railroads has been built which brings every corner of the state in close touch with Indianapolis. In fact, every county seat but four is in railroad connection with the capital of the state. Every county has its local telephone

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HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

systems, its rural free deliveries and its good roads unifying the various parts of the county. All of this makes for better civilization and a happier and more contented people.

Indiana prides herself on her educational system. With sixteen thousand public and parochial school teachers, with three state institutions of learning, a score of church schools of all kinds as well as private institutions of learning, Indiana stands high in educational circles. The state maintains universities at Bloomington and Lafayette and a normal school at Terre Haute. Many of the churches have schools supported in part by their denominations. The Catholics have the largest Catholic university in the United States at Notre Dame, while St. Mary's of the Woods at Terre Haute is known all over the world. Academies under Catholic supervision are maintained at Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, Rensselaer, Jasper and Oldenburg. The Method- ists have institutions at DePauw, Moore's Hill and Upland. The Presby- terian schools are Wabash and Hanover Colleges. The Christian church is in control of Butler and Merom Colleges. Concordia at Fort Wayne is one of the largest Lutheran schools in the United States. The Quakers support Earlham College, as well as the academies at Fairmount, Bloomingdale, Plainfield and Spiceland. The Baptists are in charge of Franklin College, while the United Brethern give their allegiance to Indiana Central University at Indianapolis. The Seventh-Day Adventists have a school at Boggstown .. The Dunkards at North Manchester and the Mennonites at Goshen maintain schools for their respective churches.

The state seeks to take care of all of its unfortunates. Its charitable, benevolent and correctional institutions rank high among similar institutions in the country. Insane asylums are located at Indianapolis, Richmond, Logansport, Evansville and Madison. The State Soldiers' Home is at Lafayette, while the National Soldiers' Home is at Marion.

The Soldiers and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Knightstown, is main- tained for the care and education of the orphan children of Union soldiers and sailors. The state educates and keeps them until they are sixteen years of age if they have not been given homes in families before they reach that age. Institutions for the education of the blind and also the deaf and dumb are located at Indianapolis. The state educates all children so afflicted and teaches them some useful trade which will enable them to make their own way in the world. The School for Feeble Minded at Fort Wayne has had more than one thousand children in attendance annually for several years. Within the past few years an epileptic village has been established at New Castle, Indiana, for the care of those so afflicted. A prison is located at

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Michigan City for the incarceration of male criminals convicted by any of the courts of the state of treason, murder in the first or second degree, and of all persons convicted of any felony who at the time of conviction are thirty years of age and over. The Reformatory at Jeffersonville takes care of male criminals between the ages of sixteen and thirty, who are guilty of crimes other than those just mentioned. The female criminals from the ages of fifteen upwards are kept in the women's prison at Indianapolis. A school for incorrigible boys is maintained at Plainfield. It receives boys be- tween the ages of seven and eighteen, although no boy can be kept after he reaches the age of twenty-one. Each county provides for its own poor and practically every county in the state has a poor farm and many of them have homes for orphaned or indigent children. Each county in the state also maintains a correctional institution known as the jail, in which prisoners are committed while waiting for trial or as punishment for convicted crime.

But Indiana is great not alone in its material prosperity, but also in those things which make for a better appreciation of life. Within the limits of our state have been born men who were destined to become known through- out the nation. Statesmen, ministers, diplomats, educators, artists and literary men of Hoosier birth have given the state a reputation which is envied by our sister states. Indiana has furnished Presidents and Vice- Presidents, distinguished members of the cabinet and diplomats of world wide fame; her literary men have spread the fame of Indiana from coast to coast. Who has not heard of Wallace, Thompson, Nicholson, Tarking- ton, Mccutcheon, Bolton, Ade, Major, Stratton-Porter, Riley and hundreds of others who have courted the muses?

And we would like to be living one hundred years from today and see whether as much progress will have been made in the growth of the state as in the first one hundred years of its history. In 2015 poverty and crime will be reduced to a minimum. Poor houses will be unknown, orphanages will have vanished and society will have reached the stage where happiness and con- tentment reign supreme. Every loyal Hoosier should feel as our poetess, Sarah T. Bolton, has said:

"The heavens never spanned, The breezes never fanned, A fairer, brighter land Than our Indiana."

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CHAPTER II.

GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY.

The author of this history considers himself very fortunate in being able to avail himself of the 1914 report of the United States department of agri- culture on the geology, topography and soil conditions of Hamilton county. In view of the fact that this report is the latest and most authoritative on the subject it is given here in full. It is the result of exhaustive investigations on the part of Lewis A. Hurst, of the United States department of agricul- ture, and E. J. Grimes, R. S. Hesler and H. G. Young, of the Indiana depart- ment of geology.

DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA.

Hamilton county is situated slightly north of the geographic center of Indiana and is bordered on the north by Tipton county, on the east and south by Madison, Hancock and Marion, and on the west by Boone and Clinton counties. It is approximately a square, with its sides twenty miles in length, and has an area of three hundred and ninety-nine square miles, or two hun- dred fifty-five thousand three hundred and sixty acres.

In topography it varies from a level till plain to an undulating and some- times hilly surface, the latter being found only in the vicinity of stream courses, or where the more prominent moraines exist. Moraines are not very common in any part of the county, but they are more numerous in the western part than elsewhere, the most prominent one being situated north of Sheridan. The roughest country lies along Hinkle creek, in the vicinity of Deming. The banks along the larger streams are usually precipitous, rang- ing in height from thirty to one hundred feet or more. They generally rise in two distinct terraces to the broken country, which along most of the streams merges rapidly into the broad level plain. There are numerous old filled-in valleys in the area, indicating that the preglacial topography was much more irregular than the existing topography. Among the more prom- inent topographic features of the county is an old valley or glacial channel on the west side of the West Fork White river, below Noblesville, and a similar valley above the city on the same side of the river. Another feature of note is a broad depression extending northeast and southwest and con-

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HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

necting the valley of the West Fork White river with that of Prairie creek. The valleys of Fall and Mud creeks are joined by a similar depression:

The county has a range in elevation of one hundred and fifty feet. The western part lies between nine hundred to nine hundred and fifty feet, and the eastern part from eight hundred to eight hundred and fifty feet above sea level. The general slope of the surface is from north to south.

In the northern part of the county the surface is in general more level and the drainage less mature than the southern part. Thus the greater dis- section of the latter region produced a more rolling surface. This is especially true near the junction of the smaller streams with West Fork White river.

The drainage is discharged through the West Fork White river and its tributaries. The river enters the county from the east, about five miles from the north boundary, and leaves it near the center of the southern border. The overflowed first-bottom lands along this stream are generally narrow and bordered by broad level terraces with steep escarpments from ten to thirty feet in height.

The principal tributary of West Fork White river in the county is Cicero creek, which empties into West Fork White river south of Noblesville. This creek has a remarkably narrow channel and a winding course. The flood plain is bordered on each side by bluffs twenty to forty feet in height. Cicero creek with its tributaries, Little Cicero, Little Wersel and Hinkle creeks, drains about one hundred and fifty square miles of the area. The drainage of the northeast section of the county is into West Fork White river through Duck creek and its tributaries and Pipe creek. Stony creek and its branches drain the central eastern portion, Fall creek and its tributaries the southeast section, and Little Eagle and Williams creeks the southwest section. Drain- age of the extreme northwest part of the county is performed by Prairie creek. The valleys of Little Eagle and Williams creeks are bordered by heavy drift deposits. Along Cool creek the surface is quite broken, while Stony creek has developed a second terrace along the greater part of its course.

As stated previously, the regional drainage of the southern part of the area is better developed than that of the northern. In the latter region numerous inequalities were formed in the surface by glaciation. These de- pressions filled with water and existed under natural conditions as swamps or ponds.

Hamilton county was organized in 1823, the first settlement having been made a few years earlier. The section first developed lay along West Fork White river in the central and southern part of the county. Most of the

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immigrants came from Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In 1820 a settlement was made on the present site of Noblesville, the county seat, and in 1823 this town was founded. The greatest influx of settlers came in 1857, when the Peru & Indianapolis railroad was built from Indi- anapolis to Noblesville. The construction of this road greatly stimulated agricultural development by opening up new markets and increasing the price of farm products.

In the early period Indianapolis and Lafayette were the chief markets, though cattle were sometimes sold at Cincinnati and hogs at Madison. At the present time Indianapolis, situated in Marion county on the south, is the leading market and trading center for the county.

. The population of the county has grown steadily since its settlement, and according to the census of 1910 it is now twenty-seven thousand and twenty-six. Of this number more than twelve thousand live in Noblesville and the other towns and villages of the area. The remaining population is distributed rather evenly over the rural sections.

Noblesville, with a population of five thousand and seventy-three, is the county seat and largest town in the county. It is located on West Fork White river, twenty miles north of Indianapolis. It is not only the center of a rich agricultural section from which it draws much of its support, but the site of several important manufactories.

Sheridan, in the northwestern part of the county, with a population of about one thousand two hundred, is the next largest town. Cicero, Atlanta and Arcadia, situated north of the county seat, Westfield in the western part of the county, and Carmel in the southern part, are thriving towns with populations between five hundred and one thousand. In addition to these towns there are fourteen other smaller towns and villages in the county. All of the towns and villages of the county depend mainly upon agriculture for their existence, though a few of them draw part of their support from manu- facturing industries. The manufacture of condensed milk is carried on at Sheridan, and in the vicinity of the town dairying has become the chief agri- cultural industry. Arcadia has a canning establishment and a glass factory. At Westfield there is a cannery and a mill for the manufacture of sorghum and cane molasses.

The shipping facilities of the county are excellent. The Indianapolis and Michigan City division of the Lake Erie & Western railroad runs north and south through the center of the county. The Central Indiana railway passes through the area east and west, a little south of the center of the county. The latter railroad crosses the Lake Erie & Western at Noblesville.

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HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

The former line furnishes the chief outlet for the products of the county. A main line of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville railway ( Monon route) enters the county near the southwest corner and traverses the southwest and central-western townships. Carmel, Westfield, Hortonville and Sheridan are situated on this road. At Westfield it intersects the Central Indiana railway. An interurban line of the Indiana Union Traction Company traverses the county in a general north and south direction, passing through Carmel, Noblesville, Cicero, Arcadia and Atlanta. It affords freight and express accommodations and is a valuable means of shipping dairy and other farm products to Indianapolis and other cities.

The present road system of Hamilton county has developed from the toll pikes which at one period prevailed in the county. A number of pikes radiate from Noblesville. Chief among these are the roads connecting the county seat with Fortville, Greenfield, Anderson, Pendleton, Lapel, Elwood, Tipton, Frankfort, Lafayette, Lebanon and Indianapolis. Within recent years these pikes have been purchased by the county and thrown open to the public. At the present time they are the main highways. From time to time the sectionized road system has added new local roads wherever needed. As a result every part of the county is easily accessible. Most of the roads have been surfaced with gravel and are in excellent condition. There are unlimited quantities of gravel available for road and other construction.

In general the county presents a prosperous appearance, with neat farm houses and well-kept barns and outbuildings. Telephone lines and rural mail routes connect all parts of the county. Excellent churches and schools are accessible to every section.

CLIMATE.

The average annual temperature of Hamilton county is 55º F., the absolute maximum 106° F. and the absolute minimum-25° F. Hot spells occur during June, July, August and September, but rarely last any great length of time. Periods of extremely dry weather, with relatively high temperature, are sometimes experienced. Zero weather is not common, and periods of such low temperature seldom last more than a day or two.

The average annual precipitation for the county is forty-one and nine- tenths inches. May, June and July are the months in which the greatest amount of rainfall occurs, but the precipitation is distributed rather uniformly through the year. The mean annual snowfall is twenty-two and nine-tenths inches. Sometimes the ground is covered for weeks or months, but generally the snowfall is periodical.

The length of the growing season is about five and one-half months, the

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average date of the first killing frost in fall and the last in the spring being October 19 and April 16, respectively. During the period for which records have been kept, the earliest date of a killing frost in the fall was September 21, and the latest in spring, May 22.

The following table gives salient climatic data of the region, as shown by the records of the weather bureau station at Indianapolis, about twenty miles from the center of Hamilton county :

NORMAL MONTHLY, SEASONAL AND ANNUAL TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPI- TATION AT INDIANAPOLIS.

Temperature.

Precipitation.

Total for Driest Year.

Total for

Snow Wettest Av. Year. Depth.

Month.

Mean. ºF.

ºF.

Ab. Min. ºF.

Mean. In.

In.

December

-15

3.0

4.1

0.9

5.1

January

-25

2.8

1.6

4.9

6.9

February

-18

3.3

1.6

4.6

4.4

Winter

9.I

7.3

10.4

16.4

March

3.8

4.2

7.4

3.6

April

3.4

3.2

2.3

1.2

May

4.0

2.4

5.I

Spring

II.2

9.8

14.8

4.9

June

100

4.4

3.5

7.5

July

106

4.2

7.5

August

74.

IOI

3.2

3.6

5.9

Summer

II.8

7.9

20.9

September

3.3

3.9

October

2.8

3.5

4.4

Trace.

November

3.7

I.2

2.3

1.6

Fall

Year

106

-25

41.9

30.4

56.7

22.9

9.8

5.4

10.6

I.6

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Ab. Max.

HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

AGRICULTURE.

At the time of settlement the region of which Hamilton county is a part was for the most part heavily forested with hardwoods. Interspersed in this forest were occasional open prairies and swamps. A considerable section of the county was originally poorly drained and unsuited for agriculture in its natural condition. A relatively large proportion of the land was, however, topographically well suited to farming. At the present time most of the forest has been removed and the poorly drained lands reclaimed.

The early settlers took up their claims along West Fork White river, as it gave them access to outside markets by rafts or flatboats. The bottom lands along the river were better suited to corn than to other grains, and this became the main crop. The bottom lands were subject to overflow and did not require fertilizing, and corn was grown upon the same land year after year without materially diminishing the yields. The uplands in the vicinity of the river were generally better drained naturally than the more remote uplands, and when first cleared large yields were obtained. The cost of draining the "black lands" and in many cases the lack of adequate drainage outlets precluded the early use of these lands. However, much of the later prosperity of the county came from the occupancy and development of these lands, which began about 1875 with the deepening, straightening, and widen- ing of the natural drainage outlets by dredging.

Wherever the surface is level it generally has been necessary to make use of artificial drains. At first open ditches were employed, but the disad- vantages of having the fields cut up with them led to the installation of tile drains. Thousands of dollars have thus been expended in reclaiming the so-called "black lands" and bottom lands along the shallower stream courses.

Corn has always been the main crop of the area and the aim of the majority of farmers is further to increase the production of this staple. The acreage of corn in 1879 was 60,479, with a total production of 2,233, 158 bushels, or an average of about 37 bushels per acre. According to the census of 1910, the acreage had increased to 77,815 acres, from which a production of 3,857,667 bushels, or an average of about 50 bushels per acre, was secured. This increase in the yield per acre is due largely to the increase in corn acre- age upon the "black lands" (Clyde soils), considerable areas having been drained and brought under cultivation in recent years. These soils produce approximately twice as much corn as the lighter colored clay soils (Miami soils). The increase is also due to better cultural methods, including fertil-

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HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

ization and seed selection. Some commercial fertilizer is being used in the production of corn, but barnyard manure is chiefly employed. Fertilizers may be used with profit to increase the yields of corn, but other methods of maintaining the fertility of the soil should also be employed, such as crop rotation, green manuring, etc.

Selection of the variety of corn best suited to the soil on which the crop is to be grown is an important factor in increasing the yields. Too often no attention is given to this matter or to the testing of seed corn. The seed, to produce the best results, should be strong in vitality and the kernels graded to uniform sizes so as to drop evenly when used in the planter. In general, Reid's Yellow Dent, Leaming, and Boone County White are well adapted to the climatic conditions of the county. The best varieties to grow on the different kinds of soil can best be worked out by the farmers themselves. The seed corn selected from the clay lands should be planted on the clay lands so far as practicable, and that selected from the "black lands" should also be kept for the black lands. Well-selected home-grown seed is generally pre- ferable to any other on any soil. By this method it is believed that the quality and yields from these lands can be increased.

Corn is generally planted with the check drill so that it may be cultivated both ways, which frequently does away with hoeing. Three to four cultiva- tions are usually given, although five are not uncommon. Riding cultivators are in general use. In the last few years a large proportion of the corn has been cut for ensilage. This practice is being extended as the value of silo feeding becomes better understood. The planting of cowpeas and soy beans in the corn for ensilage is being practiced extensively. The advantage of having a legume growth in connection with corn can readily be appreciated, as it adds organic matter and nitrogen to the soil.

The acreage in wheat in Hamilton county in 1879 was 36,988 acres, as compared with 30,827 in 1909. The average yield of the earlier year was about twenty-one bushels, and in the later about eighteen bushels per acre. In order to produce the largest yields of wheat on the clay lands, which embraces the types of soil best suited to the crop, they should be subsoiled if possible every three years. The application of two tons or more of finely ground limestone to the acre, as recommended for corn, will be equally bene- ficial to the wheat crop. The general practice is to apply lime or finely ground limestone to the wheat lands prior to seeding. The effect is par- ticularly noticeable upon the following clover crop, and subsequent wheat crops are benefited by the increased productiveness of the land. due to the addition of organic matter and nitrogen by the clover crop. More attention

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HAMILTON COUNTY, INDIANA.

should also be given to the selection of suitable varieties of wheat for the soil and a proper grading of the seed. The rotation followed, the fertilization, treatment of seed for disease, and the combating of insects which attack the wheat are important factors in the production of this crop. The Purdue experiment station recommends the use of three hundred pounds per acre of a fertilizer analyzing two per cent nitrogen, eight per cent available phos- phoric acid, and two to four per cent of potash. This can be applied at time of seeding by using a drill with fertilizer attachment. When clover has been turned under for corn and the latter is followed by wheat, an application of nitrate is generally advisable. This can best be supplied by a top dressing of nitrate of soda in the spring, using fifty to one hundred pounds per acre. Where barn-yard manure is used it is best to turn it under with the clover sod preceding the planting of corn. The most profitable results from the use of commercial fertilizers with wheat are obtained where this practice is fol- lowed.

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History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 5

Author: John F. Haines Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1051

Author: John F. Haines
Publication date: 1915
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051