USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > History of La Porte County, Indiana, and its townships, towns and cities > Part 38
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And the following from a correspondent who signs himself "Quiz."
" The editor of the Herald thinks he could not gain anything by fighting with a skunk ! query, would he lose anything ?"
"The readers of the Herald lose nothing by the half-sheet opera- tion-they have the essence, and therefore less will do for a dose ! Would not a quarter sheet ignite?"
"The editor of the Herald complains that out of 720 subscribers only 56 have paid up. Does the editor not know that under a statute of our State, debtors can avail themselves of the defense of want of consideration."
The next issue of the Herald contained the following: "Our neighbor of the Whig is informed that we are somewhat puzzled to conceive of the possibility of his sinking the gentleman any lower than he has already done."
To which on the 24th of June the Whig responded: "Well, a very natural conclusion for Mr. Low-max to come to, none having sounded bottom in those low latitudes more frequently than he has done, and not being able to drag us down with him, his conclusions are very rational that it cannot be done. It is believed that but for his crew, he would have foundered and gone down long ago, and even the crew are dissatisfied, and threaten mutiny. We are told that one of the most prominent of his mates at the city said on seeing the first half-sheet Herald, 'he, (the editor,) ought to be run through a smut mill.'"
The replies of the Herald were often more emphatic than polite and in many cases were such that they could not be quoted here with propriety. Such a course made a political campaign spirited and exciting, and was perhaps a necessity of the times. It may be
463
NEWSPAPERS.
doubted whether there has since been much improvement, if we take into consideration the treatment too generally accorded to can- didates for office.
At the beginning of the year 1852, E. A. Graves established the La Porte Commercial Times, afterwards called the Republican Times and then the Times, simply. This paper passed through many changes of management, and was owned probably longer by John C. Walker than by any other owner of the establishment. Before the year 1852 closed, John C. Walker and John W. Hol- combe were announced as the editors, and a year later, the paper was published by Walker, Holcombe & Everts. Dr. Orpheus Everts continued as principal editor during several years, and in 1857, George H. Sweet was associated with him. After the con- gressional campaign of 1858, in which Col. Walker was a candidate for congress against Schuyler Colfax, he took personal control of his paper for a time. A little later it was edited by Flavius J. Clark, then by a young man named Palmer, and afterwards by Henry Higgins, who was its last editor. John S. Weller also was at two different times connected with it, once in 1852 or 53 as publisher, and for a time in 1860, as local editor. In the issue for November 10, 1860, John C. Walker offered the paper and office for sale, and announced that with that number the paper would be "temporarily suspended." The editor printed the follow- ing as his "valedictory."
"By notice above it will be seen that the publication of the Times will be suspended until the proprietor, Col. Walker, can dispose of the office. This, of course, does away with the services of its editor. For one year and a half we have held converse with the readers of this paper-and it is with some regrets that we leave them now. We have endeavored to do something for the cause of Democracy. What little we have done has been done with earnestness, and with a strict adherence to principle. Short Good Bye's are the best, so we will shake hands and retire, assuring our friends that we will always be found on the side with the Democracy, battling for Dem- ocratic principles. To our brethren of the Press we say "farewell." We part in peace and friendship. HENRY HIGGINS."
The Times was a straight Democratic paper during all its exist- ence, and in the campaign of 1860 supported Stephen A. Douglas for President against John C. Breckenridge, the southern Demo- cratic candidate.
464
HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
Not long after the suspension of the Times Platt McDonald, now of the Plymouth Democrat established the La Porte Democrat, which was published during the war, and down to about 1867, when it ceased to exist.
In the year 1856 C. G. and Alfred Townsend established the Westville Herald, a Republican paper, publishing it until August, when they sold to a company, who afterwards sold out to Chas. G. Powell. He removed the paper to La Porte. Afterwards, in 1867, he purchased the La Porte Union of M. & J. Cullaton, and consoli- dated the two papers under the name of the former. It is now owned by Charles G. Powell and Sims Major, and published under the name of the Herald Company.
The La Porte Argus was established April 15, 1869. by John B. Stoll and Henry E. Wadsworth. It is Democratic in politics, and is now owned by Wadsworth and Kessler.
The CHRONICLE, owned and edited by Jasper Packard issued its first number on the 18th day of July. 1874. It was issued twice a week until November 8th. 18:5, when owing to the pecuniary stringency of the times, it became a weekly paper. It is earnestly Republican in its political views, and unalterably at enmity with the common custom of defaming and slandering men who have been unfortunate enough to be entrusted with official position by their fellow-citizens or the government.
There have been several attempts to establish daily papers in La Porte. On January 3rd, 1859. B. B. Root and Jasper Packard issued the first number of the Daily Union. Three months after- wards, Mr. Packard retired from it. By hard work. Mr. Root kept it alive perhaps two months longer. when it ceased to exist. The Cullatons made a similar attempt in 1866, but it lasted only a week. On the eighth day of October, 1875, the present propri- etor of the Chronicle determined to make another experiment of the same kind. and accordingly issued the Daily Evening Chronicle. At the end of two weeks, it became evident that the receipts could not be made to equal the expenditures, and the new venture expired with the twelfth number.
Besides those named. there was at one time a German paper published in La Porte: and John S. Weller published the Crisis, a Swedenborgian paper, which was a long time ably edited by Rev. Henry Weller.
465
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO AND NOW.
CHAPTER XXIX.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO AND NOW.
When first the foot of man pressed the soil of La Porte county, we know not, but it was more than one hundred years ago that the "pale face " first stood on these prairies and gazed on the beautiful groves, and lakes sparkling in the sunshine. It lacks but three years of two full centuries, since the first white man touched the limits of La Porte county. It is possible, even probable that it was still earlier than that when such an event occurred. In the year 1671, the Governor of New France officially sent Nicholas Parrot to explore the lakes. He came up Lake Michigan along the eastern shore, establishing posts, and took possession of the North-west, in the name of the " Grand Monarque," the King of the French. It is not improbable that he came to the very apex of the lake, which would bring him to where Michigan City now stands, and entering the mouth of Trail creek, landed, and rested on the sands at the foot of Hoosier Slide, perhaps ascended to its summit, and planted there the standard of the cross, by which he took possession of the whole North-west for France. But there is no evidence to support the claim, and therefore the writer does not make it. It is certain, however that this territory, included now within the limits of La- Porte county, became then a part of the kingdom of France. It is appropriate that the name of our county should be French, since to that nation it first belonged, after the red man, whose title was older than that of any European nation. But if the supposition in regard to Parrot is not correct, it is certain that La Salle touched La Porte county in 1679. Coming from Niagara around the lakes in canoes, La Salle and his companions passed up the St. Joseph river, to the portage near where now stands the city of South Bend, and taking up their canoes on their shoulders, they marched two miles to the head of the Kankakee river. Committing their canoes to the waters of that stream, they rowed down it as far as Cham- bers' landing, where they tied up and encamped for the night. No
A
466
HISTORY OF LA PORTE COUNTY.
doubt this was the first time a white man had ever slept on our soil. La Salle's explorations extended far to the southward, and on his return, he reached the lake somewhere between Trail creek and Chicago river. The supplies which he had expected did not meet him, and it was necessary to go after them. He chose the lake shore for a part of his journey, but diverged from it, and pass- ed across the county, following the old Indian trail through the centre of the locality of the present city of La Porte. To make sure of all this great western country for his august master, La- Salle also, as Parrot had done, took formal possession of it in the name of the King of the French, "from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, on the eastern side, otherwise called the Ohio, * as also along the river Colbert or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source. * Thus La- Porte county belonged to France until, by the treaty of 1763 the territory of which it was a part was ceded to Great Britain; and thus it occurred that one hundred years ago La Porte county was a part of the possessions of the English nation, and the French mili- tary posts in the Northwestern territory, were occupied by British soldiers. But soon afterwards, General George Rogers Clarke, under authority of the State of Virginia, captured their posts, and this whole North-western territory was transferred to the proprie- torship of Virginia until by the ordinance of 1787, it became a part of the possessions of the United States. But in these changes of ownership, from Indian to French, from French to British, from British to Virginian, and from Virginian to Yankee, there was no change here. The summer's heat and winter's cold followed each other in unvarying succession, and there was nothing to break the solemn stillness of nature, save the growl of the wild beast, the fierce shout of the savage, or the rush and roar of winds and storms as they passed over the prairie and woodland. Two hundred years ago, one hundred, even fifty years ago, the soil was unvexed by the plow, and the woodman's axe had never been heard. To have a risen over the county, would have been to look down on no settler's cabin or faintest trace of civilization; but instead, boundless emerald seas, and luxuriant groves.
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ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO AND NOW.
" These the gardens of the desert-these The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful, And fresh as the young earth ere man had sinned. Lo! they stretch In airy, undulations far away, As if the ocean in the gentlest swell, Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed, And motionless forever."
Thus it all appeared to those who made here the first homes that were founded in these green gardens. Thus it appeared to James Andrew when he traversed the pathway from South Bend to La- Porte. Thus it looked to Wm. H. Winchell, when guided by a point in the distance, he drove his oxen from La Porte to the vicinity of Kingsbury. Thus Thompson Francis saw it, when he came to La Porte, found it a town of two or three houses, assisted in build- ing some more, then went to Michigan City to see only water and sand, went on to Michigan, and returned to Michigan City in the spring of the next year, 1834. So appeared this blooming country to all the pioneers, while yet they were so scattered as to make only here and there a rift in the loveliness of nature around them.
But now! Here is an industrious population numbering many thousands. The wild grass and flowers that painted the prairies in richest hues have given place to fields of golden grain. The log cabins have been exchanged for stately mansions. The sickle and scythe and cradle and single shovel plow have been laid aside, and the reaper and mower and cultivator now reign in our fields. All the evidences of an enlightened civilization are everywhere visible. The school house stands in every neighborhood, and churches abound in every town and village. Two cities and eleven villages, and innumerable farm houses give evidence of the growth of popu- lation. Eight railroads, numerous vessels laden with iron and lumber entering our lake harbor, large commercial houses, great manufacturing establishments, many thousands of acres of improved farms, all bear witness that there has been vigorous growth in the past, and indicate yet greater rewards in the future for the various industries of the county. The early settlers who yet remain must look back upon the work which they begun so well with feelings of pride ; and the men of to-day can look forward with confident hope ot yet greater results, in material growth and in intellectual and moral developement.
THE END.
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JAN 2 0 1939
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