History of Hendricks County, Indiana, Part 22

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co.
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 786

USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana > Part 22

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The family houses are similar in style, forming rectangular build- ings 36 by 58 feet. The basement of each contains a furnace room, a store-room and a large wash-room, which is converted into a play-room during inclement weather. On the first floor of each of these buildings are two rooms for the house father and his family, and a school-room, which is also convertible into a sitting. room for the boys. On the third floor is a family dormitory, a clothes-room and a room for the " elder brother," who ranks next to the house father. And since the reception of the first boy, from Hendricks county, January 23, 1868, the house plan has proved equally convenient, even as the management has proved efficient.

Other buildings have since been erected.

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HISTORY OF HENDRICKS COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

CHANGES OF FIFTY YEARS .- LIFE IN THE CROWDED EAST .- COUR- AGE OF THE PIONEERS .- THEIR LABORS AND REWARDS .- A PEN PICTURE.

Within one brief generation a dense and unbroken wilderness has been transformed into a cultivated region of thrift and pros- perity, by the untiring zeal and energy of an enterprising people. The trails of hunters and trappers have given place to railroads and thoroughfares for vehicles of every description; the cabins and garden patches of the pioneers have been succeeded by comfort- able houses and broad fields of waving grain, with school-houses, churches, mills, postoffices and other institutions of convenience for each community. Add to these, numerous thriving villages, with extensive business and manufacturing interests, and the result is a work of which all concerned may well be proud.

The record of this marvelous change is history, and the most important that can be written. For fifty years the people of Hen- dricks County have been making a history that for thrilling inter- est, grand practical results, and lessons that may be perused with profit by citizens of other regions, will compare favorably with the . narrative of the history of any county in the great Northwest; and, considering the extent of territory involved, it is as worthy of the pen of a Bancroft as even the story of our glorious Republic.

While our venerable ancestors may have said and believed,

"No pent up Utica contracts our powers, For the whole boundless continent is ours,"

they were nevertheless for a long time content to occupy and pos- 8088 a very small corner of it; and the great West was not opened 16 (245)

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to industry and civilization until a variety of causes had combined . to form, as it were, a great heart, whose animating principle was improvement, whose impulses annually sent westward armies of noble men and women, and whose pulse is now felt throughout the length and breadth of the best country the sun ever shone upon-from the pineries of Maine to the vineyards of California, and from the sugar-canes of Louisiana to the wheat fields of Min- nesota. Long may this heart beat and push forward its arteries and veins of commerce.

Not more from choice than from enforced necessity did the old pioneers bid farewell to the play-ground of their childhood and the graves of their fathers. One generation after another had worn themselves out in the service of their avaricious landlords. From the first flashes of daylight in the morning until the last glimmer of the setting sun, they had toiled unceasingly on, from father to son, carrying home each day upon their aching shoulders the precious proceeds of their daily labor. Money and pride and power were handed down in the line of succession from the rich father to his son, while unceasing work and continuous poverty and everlasting obscurity were the heritage of the working man and his children.

Their society was graded and degraded. It was not manners, nor industry, nor education, nor qualities of the head and heart that established the grade. It was money and jewels, and silk and satin, and broadcloth and imperious pride that triumphed over honest poverty and trampled the poor man and his children under the iron heel. The children of the rich and poor were not per- mitted to mingle with and to love each other. Courtship was more the work of the parents than of the sons and daughters. The golden calf was the key to matrimony. To perpetuate a self- constituted aristocracy, without power of brain, or the rich blood of royalty, purse was united to purse, and cousin with cousin, in bonds of matrimony, until the virus boiling in their blood was transmitted by the law of inheritance from one generation to an- other, and until nerves powerless and manhood dwarfed were on exhibition everywhere, and everywhere abhorred. For the sons and daughters of the poor man to remain there was to forever fol- low as our fathers had followed, and never to lead; to submit, but never to rule; to obey,but never to command.

Withont money, or prestige, or influential friends, the old pio- neers drifted along one by one, from State to State, until in Indi-

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ana-the garden of the Union-they have found inviting homes for each, and room for all. To secure and adorn these homes more than ordinary ambition was required, greater than ordinary endur- ance demanded, and unflinching determination was, by the force of necessity, written over every brow. It was not pomp, or parade, or glittering show that the pioneers were after. They sought for homes which they could call their own, homes for themselves and homes for their children. How well they have succeeded after a struggle of many years against the adverse tides let the records and tax-gatherers testify; let the broad cultivated fields and fruit- bearing orchards, the flocks and the herds, the palatial residences, the places of business, the spacious halls, the clattering car-wheels and ponderous engines all testify.

There was a time when pioneers waded through deep snows, across bridgeless rivers, and through bottomless sloughs, a score of miles to mill or market, and when more time was required to reach and return from market than is now required to cross the continent, or traverse the Atlantic. These were the times when our palaces were constructed of logs and covered with "shakes " riven from the forest trees. These were the times when our children were stowed away for the night in the low, dark attics, among the horns of the elk and the deer, and where through the chinks in the " shakes " they could count the twinkling stars. These were the times when our chairs and our bedsteads were hewn from the forest trees, and tables and bureaus constructed from the boxes in which their goods were brought. These were the times when the workingman labored six and sometimes seven days in the week, and all the hours there were in a day from sunrise to sunset.

Whether all succeeded in what they undertook is not a question to be asked now. The proof that as a body they did succeed, is all around ns. Many individuals were perhaps disappointed. Fortunes and misfortunes belong to the human race. Not every man can have a school-house on the corner of his farm; not every man can have a bridge over a stream that flows by his dwelling; not every man can have a railroad depot on the borders of his plantation, or a city in its center; and while these things are desirable in some respects, their advantages are oftentimes outweighed by the almost perpetual presence of the foreign beggar, the dreaded tramp, the fear of fire and conflagration, and the insecurity from the presence of the midnight burglar, and the bold, bad men and women who lurk in ambush and infest the villages. The good things of this

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earth are not all to be found in any one place; but if more is to be found in one than another, that place is in our rural retreats, our quiet homes outside of the clamor and turmoil of city life.

In viewing the blessings which surround us, then, we should reverence those who have made them possible, and ever fondly cherish in memory the sturdy old pioneer and his log cabin.

Let us turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log-cabin days of a quarter of a century ago, and contrast those homes with com- fortable dwellings of to-day. Before us stands the old log cabin. Let us enter. Instinctively the head is uncovered in token of reverence to this relic of ancestral beginnings, early struggles and final triumphs. To the left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose commodious space a group of children may sit by the fire, and up through the chimney may count the stars, while ghostly stories of witches and giants, and still more thrilling stories of Indians and wild beasts, are whisperingly told and shudderingly heard. On the great crane hang the old tea-kettle and the great iron pot. The huge shovel and tongs stand sentinel in either corner, while the great andirons patiently wait for the huge back-log. Over the fire- place hangs the trusty rifle. To the right of the fire-place stands the spinning wheel, while in the further end of the room is seen the old fashioned loom. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Opposite the door in which you enter stands a huge deal table; by its side the dresser whose pewter plates and " shining delf" catch and reflect the fire-place flames as shields of armies do the sunshine. From the corner of its shelves coyly peep out the relics of former china. In a curtained corner and hid from casual sight we find the mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a ladder indicates the loft where the older children sleep. To the left of the fire-place and in the corner opposite the spinning-wheel is the mother's work-stand. Upon it lies the Bible, evidently much used, its family record tell- ing of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of children

"Scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the bridal, some at the tomb."

Her spectacles, as if but just used, are inserted between the leaves of her Bible, and tell of her purpose to return to its comforts when cares permit and duty is done. A stool, a bench, well notched and whittled and carved, and a few chairs complete the furniture of the room, and all stand on a coarse but well-scoured floor.

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Let us for a moment watch the city visitors to this humble cabin. The city bride, innocent but thoughtless, and ignorant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband, "Pray, what savages set this up?" Honestly confessing his ignorance, he replies, " I do not know." But see the pair upon whom age sits " frosty, but kindly." First, as they enter, they give a rapid glance about the cabin home, and then a mutual glance of eye to eye. Why do tears start and fill their eyes? Why do lips quiver? There are many who know why; but who that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, can comprehend the story that they tell to the pioneer? Within this chinked and mud-daubed cabin we read the first pages of our history, and as we retire through its low door-way, and note the heavy battened door, its wooden hinges and its welcoming latch-string, is it strange that the scenes without should seem to be but a dream" But the cabin and the palace, standing side by side in vivid contrast, tell their own story of this people's progress. They are a history and a prophecy in one.

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CHAPTER II.

SCIENTIFIC.

GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. - STREAMS .- CLIMATE .- GEOLOGY .- ZOOLOGY.

Hendricks County occupies a central position in the State; the county seat is nearly in the exact center from north to south, and twenty miles west of the center on an east and west line. Its geographical position is between parallels 39 and 40 north latitude, and meridians 86 and 87 of longitude west of Greenwich. The exact position of Danville is 39° 40' north latitude, and 86° 30' west longitude. In extent it was intended to be twenty miles square, but the surveyor's correction line, which passes through the northern part of the county, destroys its quadrilateral shape, and makes it something more than half a mile wider at the north than the south; but owing to the irregularity in the surveys, which is caused by the passage thro gh the county of both the second principal meridian and a correction line of the Government surveys, the county averaged just twenty miles square, until the year 1868, when a strip two miles in width, extending from the meridian line west to Mill Creek and containing twenty square miles, was added to the county from Morgan, which makes the area of the county 420 square miles, or 268,800 acres. It is bounded on the north by Boone County, on the east by Marion County, on the south by Morgan County, and on the west by the counties of Putnam and Montgomery.

The general elevation of the surface of Hendricks County is much higher than the surrounding country, except portions of Boone and Putnam counties. The altitude of the town of Dan- ville above tide-water is 943 feet.

Passing through the county from south to north, from near Clayton to Lebanon, in Boone County, is a water-shed, which divides the waters of Eel River and Sugar Creek from the waters of White River, and at a point northwest of Danville, three miles, at Mount Pleasant Church, it attains an elevation of more than 1,000 feet.

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In comparison with the country immediately surrounding Hen- dricks County, the figures taken from railway surveys, we find that Danville is 8 feet lower than Lebanon, 222 feet higher than Indianapolis, 97 feet higher than Greencastle, and 200 feet higher than Crawfordsville.

In a general comparison, the highest land between the Ozark Mountains, in Missouri, on the west, and the plateau north of Richmond, Ind., on the east, and the region north of the Great Lakes, on the north, and the Appalachian swell south of the Ohio River, on the south, except a knob or two in Brown County, is found in Hendricks County.

The general surface of the county is level or gently undulating. Though the streams have in many places eroded deep, narrow valleys, there are but few acres in the county which, on this ac- count, cannot be cultivated, and not one which cannot be made useful for grazing. Owing to the elevated position of the country and the depth of the valleys, which are everywhere accessible to the level lands, not an acre need be lost on account of being too wet.

The streams which make the natural drainage of Hendricks County are the White Licks, Big, Little, East Fork and West Fork, Abner's Creek, Mill Creek, School Branch and Eel River. The east and north parts of the county, composing about three-fifths of its area, are drained by the White Licks, the southwest by Mill Creek, and the northwest by Eel River.

Owing to the elevation of the land but few valuable springs are found in the county; but pure water in great abundance is obtained at no great depth by digging through sand and clay. Originally the county was covered by a dense forest composed of every va- riety of timber, trees and undergrowth found in this latitude, with an extraordinary amount of the more valuable kinds-poplar, wal- nut and the oaks. After the Indians were gone, and the annual burning of the woods ceased, there grew up a dense undergrowth, and the highways of the early settlers consisted of narrow trails through the brush, the thickness of which may be illustrated by the statement of a pioneer that when driving cattle from place to place they often tied handspikes across their foreheads, which prevented them from leaving the trail.

The county is traversed in every direction, mostly east and west and north and south, by roads, about 100 miles of which are either toll or free turnpike. There is great abundance, in almost every

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part of the county, of most excellent road gravel, which is being utilized for the improvement of the roads.

Four railroad lines, the I., B. & W., I. & St. L., Vandalia, and I. & V., making about sixty miles of road, run through the county and touch every civil township in it except one. Upon these roads are twenty stopping and shipping stations in the county.

The county is subdivided into twelve civil townships, each of which has one voting precinct, and two or three have two each.

Danville is the county seat, and is situated in Center Township, within a few rods of the geographical center of the county.

In all parts of the county the soil is very productive and well adapted to the production of all the standard cereals, grasses and fruits, which are grown very successfully by as skilled and intelli- gent husbandmen as may be found in the State. Blue grass is a spontaneous production of the soil, and is as abundant and of as good quality as that of the famous "Blue Grass Region of Ken- tucky." On this account Hendricks County stands among the first in the State in the production of fine cattle for breeding and beef.

Its excellent advantages for dairy purposes are only of recent date beginning to be utilized, and already the Maple Grove cheese factory and creamery, which is one of the largest in the State, and is situated in Guilford Township, has made an excellent reputation in the Eastern markets for the superior quality of its cheese.

CLIMATE.

Within the space allowed us in this work it is impossible to give a complete analysis of the climate of this locality, and the various causes which modify it from year to year. In this region we are free alike from the Arctic blasts of a New England winter, and the enervating heat of the Gulf States; but as often as once in eight or ten years we are visited by a Polar wave, which continues for a greater or less length of time, sometimes giving us for several weeks a fair exhibition of a Labrador winter; and about as often the current sets in the other direction, and we have for a season the isothermal of the Tropics transferred to Hendricks County.

This oscillation of temperature in different seasons, and in the same season, is owing to the vast extent of comparatively level land, unobstructed by mountain or large body of water, from Hudson's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The average temperature

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for twenty-five years past, during the winter months, at Indiana- polis was 35° Fahrenheit, or three degrees above freezing point. In Hendricks County, owing to its greater elevation, the average must be somewhat less, about 32°. The mean annual temperature at Indianapolis, as obtained from fifteen years' observation, is 55°.

The number of days on which it rained or snowed in Hendricks County in 1884, was 131. The average number of days in the year in which it rains or snows in Indianapolis is 128. The average depth of annual rain-fall may be set at from forty-three to forty-five inches. The greatest number of rainy days occur in the month of March. The great rainfall of the year is closely contested by March and June.

The prevailing winds of this region are from southwest to north- west; the coldest are from a point between west and northwest, and the warmest from a little west of southwest.

This is very nearly a climate of latitude; its elevation of 1,000 feet makes it a little colder, and there is a greater rainfall and more frequent atmospheric changes than generally occur in this latitude in places so far from the sea. This is caused by the position of the county, on the line of interchange of winds between the gulf and the great lakes. The water of the great lakes maintains in sum- mer time a much lower degree of temperature than the land, and . the winds from the Gulf of Mexico, freighted with moisture and unobstructed by mountain ranges, meet with no cooling surface to condense their vapore, until they come in contact with the cool at- mosphere in the lake region, when condensation begins, and soon a storin is the result, which backs southward until this region is favored with a thunder storm from the northwest. For this reason long continued drouths rarely occur in this region ; and when they do occur they are generally ended by a storm from the northwest, produced by the above causes.

Thus it is seen that the position of Hendricks County is a fortu- nate one, and that to murmur on account of the frequent changes of weather, or at "cold snaps" in spring, is double blasphemy; for such are the results of these fortuitous climatic conditions. When drouths occur, it is when the wind comes from a point a little north of southwest and has been deprived of its moisture in its passage over the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. The most steady and long continued rains in this region are from the east and southeast.

Since the early settlement of the country changes have been

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taking place which have, to a considerable extent, modified the climate, and these changes will continue until a further modifica- tion of it will be observed. Dr. R. T. Brown, in his chapter on the climate of Indiana, in the Historical Atlas of Indiana, says : "The greater portion of the State was originally covered with a dense forest, which, aided by the thick undergrowth of shrubs and weeds, completely shut out the earth from the direct rays of the sun, and greatly obstructed the free circulation of the air. The great level plain which embraces the greater portion of the State, receiving the water from the melting of the winter's snow and ice, and from the spring rains, retained most of it through the spring and summer, the drainage being obstructed by driftwood, leaves, growing vegetation, etc.

"This water, slowly evaporating, tempered the summer heat and gave a moist and cool atmosphere. In winter the sweep of the cold northwest wind was broken by forests, and the freezing of so large an amount of surface water as was retained from the fall rains gave off heat enough to sensibly modify the winter cold.

"The earth, covered with a heavy coat of autumn leaves and de- caying weeds, scarcely froze during the winter, and as soon as the spring sunshine warmed the air the earth was in a condition to respond by an early growth of vegetation. So, in the fall, the earth, not having been heated by the summer sun, soon felt the influence of the autumn winds and frosts, and winter came early.

"Now the forests have disappeared to make room for cultivated fields and the earth receives the direct rays of the sun, and the air circulates freely, obstructions have been removed from the streams, and artificial drainage has in many places been added. The cultivated lands in many districts have been underdrained with tile, so that the melting snows and spring floods are carried away directly, and but little moisture remains to temper the sum- mer heat by evaporation.

"The earth, relieved by drainage of its redundant moisture, and stripped of its protecting forests, is exposed to the direct rays of the summer sun. Before the fall months come it is heated to a great depth, and this heat, given off to the air, carries the summer temperature far into autumn and postpones the advent of winter several weeks. But when this store of summer heat is ex- hausted and winter comes, the winds from the plains of the west come unobstructed, and the earth, now deprived of its former pro- tection, freezes to a great depth.

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"These conditions operate to render the springs later, the sum- mers warmer, the autumns later and the winters more severe."

GEOLOGY.

For the benefit of the thousands of pupils who receive instruction in the excellent schools of Hendricks County, and because the greater part of those who have come to mature years are unac- quainted with the subject of general geology, it is advisable, be- fore saying anything of the special features of Hendricks County to describe the formation of the world as a whole and give such an account of the great periods of the earth's history that we may be able to find our place in that history, and thus, as in locating a place upon a map first, we may be the better able after- ward to study it more satisfactorily and understandingly. Indeed, withont this method of procedure, all our ideas are vague and the entire work unsatisfactory and unscientific.

Omitting the nebular hypothesis, which assumes the earth, to- gether with all our bodies of the solar system, to have been in primeval times in the form of an incandescent gas of incompre- hensible dimensions, and the second step derived from the former, through long cycles of whirling motion, radiation, and condensa- tion, the liquid or molten earth, with its wonderful processes of crust formation, we begin our brief description with the process of

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History of Hendricks County, Indiana, Part 22

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co. Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages: 786

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co.
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 786