History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 8

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

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Meadow areas in their natural condition are ordinarily too wet for cul- tivation, yet they are not permanently swampy. Most of this poorly drained land in Hamilton county has been reclaimed by dredging and straightening the stream channels. Corn is the chief cultivated crop upon such areas and where they are properly drained excellent yields are obtained. Where the valleys are deep and narrow and the surface is frequently broken in shallow depressions or marshy places, the chief value of the land is for pastures.

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Complete drainage of meadow is not essential for this use, and the greater part of the meadow in the county is being utilized in this way. The native forest growth, consisting of silver maple, white elm, sycamore and red oak, is usually allowed to remain.

The acreage of this type is small. It is confined to a few narrow strips along Sand, Tharp, Hinkle, Mud, Prairie and Bear creeks, Long Branch and the other small streams of the county.

SUMMARY.

Hamilton county is situated slightly north of the geographical center of the state of Indiana. It has an area of three hundred and ninety-nine square miles or two hundred and fifty-five thousand three hundred and sixty acres.

The surface varies from level to undulating, becoming broken near some of the streams, particularly along Hinkle and Fall creeks and West Fork White river. The elevation above sea level ranges from eight hundred to nine hundred and fifty feet.

West Fork White river and its tributaries control the drainage of the entire area. The river has a general southern course through the county.

The first settlement in the area was made in 1818. The county was organized in 1823. The greatest activity in settlement came in the fifties.

Noblesville, the county seat and chief business center, with a population of five thousand seventy-three, is located near the center of the county. There are twenty other towns and villages in the area.

The population of the county is twenty-seven thousand twenty-six, of which about fifteen thousand is rural.

The county possesses an excellent system of free pikes and sectionized gravel roads, and there are only a few miles of unimproved roads within its borders. All toll roads have been abolished.

Transportation facilities are afforded by three railroads and one electric line.

There are a number of manufacturing industries in the county, but it owes its prosperity chiefly to its productive soils.

The area is highly developed and prosperous. Good homes, towns, schools, churches, excellent roads, telephone lines, electric railways, and rural mail delivery are among the advantages enjoyed.

The mean temperature for the winter months is 31º F., for the summer 74° F. The average rainfall is about 41 inches, and the precipitation is

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evenly distributed throughout the year. The period between killing frosts is about five and a half months.

Corn is the principal crop, the average yield for the county being forty- five to fifty bushels. Wheat is next in acreage, and oats third. The acreage in corn is considerably more than that of oats and wheat combined. Hay is also an important crop. Corn is being cut and stored extensively for ensilage. Cowpeas are also being grown and used for this purpose.

Much of the farm produce is fed to stock, which has proved to be the most profitable method of disposing of it. The surplus corn, oats and hay find a ready sale in the local markets. Wheat is sold or exchanged for flour and feed at the elevators.

Very little truck is grown in the area except for canning purposes. The excellent market afforded by Indianapolis would seem to warrant the exten- sion of this branch of agriculture. The growing of potatoes, beans and peas should prove profitable, particularly to those having small holdings of land.

Dairying is an important industry, especially in the vicinity of Sheridan, at which point a condensery is located. Much milk is separated on the farm and the cream shipped to Indianapolis or manufactured into butter at the local creameries. Dairying can be profitably extended, as the demand for these products in the larger cities is rapidly increasing.

In 1910 the average size farm was eighty-one acres. The tendency is to increase farm holdings, with a proportionate increase in the number of tenants.

Five series of soils were recognized and mapped in the county-the Miami and Clyde, which occur on the uplands, and the Fox, Waukesha and Genesee, which are found upon the bottoms and terraces. The Miami series represents the areas locally called "clay lands," and the Clyde series includes the greater part of the areas known locally as "black lands." The silty clay loam, which is the only type of the Waukesha series found in the county, is also generally classed with the "black lands."

The upland soils are derived directly from glacial till of the late Wis- consin stage. They have undergone local changes which give rise to the various types. The bottom lands are also derived largely from the same parent materials, but have been reworked and redeposited by the streams along which they occur.

The Miami silt loam occupies the more rolling areas along the stream valleys and the morainic hills. The Miami silt loam, flat phase, is the most extensive and widely distributed soil in the county. They are best adapted to wheat and fruit growing.

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The Clyde silty clay loam is the predominating type of that series. Only a small acreage of the Clyde loam, the only other type of this series de- veloped in the county, exists. The Clyde soils are especially well adapted to corn. Oats and hay also yield well.

The Fox loam and gravelly sandy loam occupy the greater proportion of the higher terraces. Only a small acreage of the Fox gravelly sandy loam is developed. These soils are well adapted to alfalfa. The Fox grav- elly sandy loam, poorly drained phase, is a level type of limited acreage.

Of the Genesee series, which occupies the first bottom lands, three types were mapped, the silty clay loam, loam, and gravelly sandy loam. The loam is the predominating type of the series and occurs principally along West Fork White river and Cicero and Fall creeks. The Genesee soils are best suited to corn, though oats and hay produce good yields.

Muck and meadow are undifferentiated soils and are of limited extent in the county.

The agriculture of the county is in a prosperous and highly developed condition. Practically all of the land is in cultivation or used for pasture. Scientific farming is being practiced to some extent, but its possibilities are not fully appreciated. Much can be done to increase the crop yields by a more thorough study of the individual soil types and the adjustment of crops and cropping systems on the basis of soil adaptation.

A HISTORIC WATER COURSE.

Some interesting information regarding White river and its course in Hamilton county is contained in the following article which recently ap- peared in the Noblesville Ledger :

White river enters Hamilton county four miles from the north line on the east side of the county and runs across White River, Noblesville and Delaware townships, leaving the county one mile west of the middle.

On its banks are Strawtown, Clare and Noblesville and many valuable farms. with splendid buildings and beautiful homes.

There are only six wagon bridges across this river in this county. One is north of Strawtown, one west, one at Clare, one two miles north of Nobles- ville, one at Noblesville and one at the Eller place, near Mattsville. There is to be a joint bridge at Perkinsville on the line between Madison and Hamil- ton counties. Four of the bridges are made of wood and two of iron.

There are only three fords used to any extent. They are the Shepherd ford above Strawtown, the Strawboard ford. one at Noblesville and the one

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at Jordan, three miles below Noblesville: The latter ford is near the old Conner farm, where the first white man settled in the county and is on his- toric grounds.

A pioneer road follows the east river bank from Perkinsville to the south line and one formerly followed the west bank, but some of it has been changed to section lines.

On its way across Hamilton county the river receives as tributaries Pipe creek, Duck, Cicero, Stony, Mud Run and Cool creeks.

Nearly all the county is drained directly or indirectly by this noble stream. Eagle creek and Williams creek, on the west side of the county, ultimately reach White river.

Niagara limestone crops out on the west bank of the river at Clare and a number of splendid springs are along its banks. There are many resorts along the river. A great fishing ground is found at the Shephard ford; also at the mouth of Duck creek. A noted place one mile below Strawtown is Camp Scrapper, under rule of George the Third and Grant the Second.

Another, and possibly the most romantic spot, is Jordan-the place where the first mill in the county was built.

Cal McClelland's fishing resort holds a good place in the opinion of the sportsmen of the country.

It is said the origin of the name "White" was because of the large num- ber of white sycamore trees originally along the banks of the stream.

The river crosses Randolph, Delaware, Madison, Hamilton, Marion, Owen, Green, Daviess, Knox and Gibson counties.

White river has many bad things charged against its record in this county. It is guilty of destroying several bridges, houses and fences and carrying away grain, wood, lumber, etc. But the worst record is that many persons have been drowned in its waters. Its highest waters ever known by people now living here was in March, 1913.

No more the Indian's canoe travels on its waters, but the white man will not destroy the river. They may change its banks and even its course, but it will flow on for ages to come. A day will come when its power will be harnessed to give man assistance in running machinery.

Quite a few citizens have expressed themselves as favorable to having a small dam put across the river below the Conner street, so that the water would be deep enough for boating. There is no better exercise and no more enjoyable pleasure than a boat ride on the river.

If we had a park at the spring and a boating place, Noblesville certainly would appreciate it. May we hope that ere many moons steps will be taken to bring this about ?

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CHAPTER III.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The pioneers of Hamilton county were a race of brave and hardy men and women who came to establish homes in the almost impenetrable forest and conquer a wilderness, known to be infested with Indians, wild beasts and malignant fevers. Probably none of them dreamed how great would become the commonwealth which they were planting, nor how valuable within a century would become the land which they cleared and tilled, nor how won- derful the institutions which they established. How churches, schools and homes, cities and villages should spring up where once roamed the savage Indian, the timid deer and the fierce wolf. How much greater they builded than they knew. As we see our modern civilization, our broad, level acres, comfortable homes, complex school system, the net work of pike roads, of railroads and traction lines, the intricate system of telegraph and telephone, we can scarcely imagine how less than one hundred years ago, all of Hamilton county was a wild and unbroken forest in which but one white man lived.

In 1818 William Conner had a two-roomed log cabin four miles south of the present site of Noblesville on the east bank of White river in which he lived with his Indian wife and two children. His cabin was called a trading post. . In one room he and his family lived, ate and slept; in the other he kept for sale, flints, beads, steel knives, hatchets and such other articles as he needed to trade with the Indians. In exchange for his trinkets he took from the Indians, furs and the fruits of their hunting and trapping. William Con- ner's brother, John Conner, lived at Connersville, where he also had a trad- ing post. These two men had been stolen by the Indians when quite young, which explains the fact of their being with them in this wilderness prior to the coming of other white settlers. There was no road between these two settlements, nothing but an Indian trail. This trail led from John Conner's post through the present site of Newcastle and Anderson to the mouth of Stony creek and from thence to William Conner's place, a distance of sixty miles through wild forest, over marshes and through dense undergrowth in places and no settlement intervening, nothing but Indians and wild animals. The trip between the two posts was made by means of pack horses and was naturally an arduous undertaking. The furs and skins that William Conner

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purchased from the Indians were dressed and packed in proper form and taken by these pack animals to John Conner's and from there John disposed of them by sending them down the Ohio. He in turn sent the needed articles of trade to his brother, William, in Hamilton county. How frequent were these trips between these two wilderness posts, we do not know, but probably not more than three or four times a year, perhaps not so often. A white man named Marshall lived with William Conner about this time, but he left with the Indian wife and children of William Conner, when the Indians left for other lands.

George Shirts, father of Augustus F. Shirts, to whom we are indebted for much of the material concerning these early settlements, was the second white man to live in Hamilton county. He made the journey with his family and earthly possessions from near Connersville on pack horses to William Conner's trading post in March, 1819, one year after this territory had come under United States jurisdiction by a treaty with the Indians. On a later trip to and from Connersville. Mr. Shirts was joined by Charles Lacy, who made a camp on an old Indian field, but did not bring his family until later. His purpose was to build a cabin and plant some corn, which he accomplished with tools and implements brought with him on the pack horses and then re- turn for his family.

In April of the same year several more settlers arrived from near Con- nersville. Solomon Finch, father-in-law of George Shirts, with his wife, three daughters and two sons came to join the band in Hamilton county and settled two miles southwest of Noblesville on Horseshoe prairie. With them came Israel Finch and William Bush, both married men, who did not bring their families, except two sons of William Bush who were almost grown and could add their quota of labor in building the new home and in clearing the land. Two unmarried men were also of the party, Amasa Chapman and James Willason. Only two men had with them their entire families, George Shirts and Solomon Finch.

The brave men and women made the trip over the Indian trail and, being the first to come through with wagons and teams of oxen. the road had to be made as they proceeded. Many hardships impeded their progress. The weather was cold and inclement, rain or snow falling almost every day of the journey, but they went on undaunted by obstacles either of climate or wilderness. Only necessary articles of furniture, farm implements and tools were included in their outfit. These with a few sacks of meal and the chil- dren too small to walk were all the wagons contained. Some cattle, two horses, a few sheep and one or two brood sows included the entire amount

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of stock. Aaron Finch was the driver and, when moving, one or two men were constantly by his side, while the others, with axes in hand, went ahead cutting trees and clearing a road through the forest and underbrush. At times the wagons were unloaded and their contents carried over mud and mire, the horses or oxen having all they could do to pull the empty wagons through the mud. When night came on they camped, cooked whatever was at hand in the way of game shot while on the march and meal for bread or mush, and slept in the covered wagons till daylight called one and all to the road again. When the party arrived at Blue river, the stream was so badly swollen they found it impossible to cross. As cross they must, there was nothing to do but build with their own hands, out of the plentiful material on every side, a rude bridge upon which they made the transit in safety, and the enterprise only required two days. How the bridge was constructed in so short a time so that the party might cross a river at high water mark in safety, we are not told, but it is but another example of the daring of those early pioneers.

Each of these men and women had their particular task assigned them before beginning the trip from Connersville. For instance, Solomon Finch was head driver, others were detailed to help him, while still others cleared the road. A very important office was the fire keeper and builder, which was assigned to Israel Finch. This was no easy task on account of the wet, rainy weather prevailing. It is said that in order to keep fire always on hand, he carried it in an iron kettle from day to day and never was sacred fire better guarded by vestal virgins than was this more than necessary fire guarded by this faithful man, for had it once been entirely extinguished, with no dry fuel and only old fashioned flints to relight it, it would have been almost an impossibility to renew it. But no such word as failure when ap- plied to one's duty was found in the vocabulary of the early pioneers. So through rain, snow and storm, in spite of swollen streams to ford or bridge, in spite of many other tasks to perform, Israel Finch and his fire kettle were inseparable companions on that long tedious journey.

One day while on the journey, James Finch, the ten-year-old son of Solomon Finch, was told to ride the gray pony instead of one of the horses which he had been accustomed to ride. He evidently started ahead and out- distanced the slowly moving caravan of wagons because Mr. Shirts says. "Soon after starting a snow storm came upon him. As the boy was young and thinly clad, he was soon in a sad plight and was suffering very severely from the cold when the party overtook him." But the pioneer mothers were equal to the emergency and the little fellow was removed to one of the cov-

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ered wagons and rubbed and "doctored" as only mothers can and was soon revived and they all went on their way rejoicing. Mr. Shirts further says, writing in 1901, "This same boy, now a man past ninety years of age, lives in Kansas and is the only survivor of that pioneer band."

This trip through the wilderness was not all given over to the serious things of life, but the party was enlivened occasionally by strains of music furnished by Amasa Chapman, one of the pioneers. From all accounts he seems to have been the whole orchestra himself and his musical instrument was a fife. When the party came to the present site of Anderson, the Indian chief of that name, with a part of his tribe, was encamped there. After sup- per was over, which was evidently partaken of with the natives, Chapman produced his fife and soon the woodlands re-echoed the wondrous strains which charmed the savages. The effect upon the Indians was remarkable, they wanted to put the music to motion and, as a fitting expression to their feelings, suggested a dance. Anderson's wife was one of the company and she proposed that their baby boy should be chief performer. She stood him upon a broad smooth stump of a tree that had been recently felled. The boy performed all the antics of an Indian dance, while Chapman furnished the music, to the amusement and delight of all present.

The trip to the mouth of Stony creek occupied nineteen days. They found the waters of White river also so swollen that it was impossible to ford, but they secured some canoes and rowed their entire stock of provisions, live stock, etc., besides the women and children, across to the west side of the river and "then and there the settlers went into camp."

After a night's rest so near the end of their journey, the settlers rose the next morning, yoked their cattle, harnessed their horses and together the caravan moved in a northwesterly direction across Horseshoe prairie to the timber beyond. At the first rise in the land above high water mark, they paused to reconnoiter and after thorough investigation of the country in that vicinity they decided here at last was the land of their dreams where they would build their cabins and make their future homes. But, though they had come to the end of their journey without any serious misfortune, yet their hardships were not over. Before they had time to build even a tem- porary shelter, a terrific wind and rain storm came upon them and, as some of their belongings had been unloaded, they were in danger of being de- stroyed. A tub, containing dishes belonging to Mrs. Solomon Finch, was struck by the large limb of a tree which the wind had torn off. Most of the dishes were broken by the accident. This was, indeed, a serious loss, for these

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were the only dishes in the company. None could be had any nearer than Connersville, sixty miles away. But this was not a time to cry over spilled milk or mourn the loss of broken dishes, so when the storm abated all set to work with a will to build a cabin for Solomon Finch and his family. As all cabins at that time were built after the same fashion, we are indebted to Mr. Shirts for the following excellent description of the construction of the same :

"The location for the cabin having been decided upon, some of the men began clearing the ground, others began cutting logs, and others began mak- ing the boards for the roof, loft and doors. The following is a list of the tools used : One mattock, one cross-cut saw, one hand saw, two augers, one maul, one iron and several wooden wedges, one broad axe, one chopping axe for each man and one hatchet. The ground being cleared, the logs, boards and puncheons for the floor being on the ground, they were ready to begin the erection of the cabin. The size was usually eighteen by twenty feet, story about eight feet. The sills were placed in position; the corner men, as they were called, took their positions, axe in hand. The first thing done was to make what was called a saddle at each end of each sill. These sills were twenty feet long. The next thing was to notch each end of the short log to fit the saddle on the sills and place them in position, then another saddle for the next log and so on up until the main body of the building was up. The two last logs were on the narrow part or end of the building and were about three feet longer than the others and were called eavesbearers. These logs projected over the wall and a hole was bored in the end of each of them and a stout wooden pin driven into each. Just inside of these pins the piece of timber called the eave log was placed. The log for this place was split, the split side being next to the building and against this the first tier of boards rested. From the eave to the comb, ribs, as they were called, were placed at proper distance upon which the boards rested. These ribs rested upon logs placed under them that constituted the gable. This done, the first tier of boards was laid. Three pieces called knees were laid on the boards, one at each end and one in the middle, the lower ends resting against the eave log. Above the knee a pole called a weight pole was laid to hold the boards down and so on to the top. Joists inside were placed about three feet apart and boards for the loft placed on them. The door was of boards riven out and fastened with wooden pins to cross pieces and hung on wooden hinges. Wooden latch sleepers, from eight to ten feet apart, were placed to hold the puncheons for the floor. A log was cut out for a window, some small sticks arranged across the space and white paper, well oiled, was fastened to these

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sticks. A space in one end of the house was cut out for a fire place and a frame of wood was placed outside of this space. Against this frame the mud jams and back wall were placed and a hearth was made of the same material. This was topped out with a stick chimney laid in clay. A suitable place in one corner of the cabin was found for a bed. Holes were bored in the walls, one post set on the floor with holes bored in it. connected with the walls by poles sharpened at each end; boards were laid across the top for a cord and all were covered with grass. Two or three benches, a half-dozen stools and a dresser for dishes were made by boring holes in the wall, driving pins into them and laying boards across them with chinking between the logs daubed with mud-the cabin was complete and the Finch family ready to move in."

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History of Hamilton County Indiana, her people, industries and institutions, Part 8

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

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