USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > Michigan City > History of Michigan City, Indiana > Part 14
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2,500.00
1879
40,000 00
40,000 00
1880
40,000.00
15,000.00
55,000 00
188 1
20,000.00
45,000 00
1882
60.000 00
20,000 00
80,000 00
1884
40,000 00
10,000 00
50,000 00
1886
54,375.00
1,875.00
56,250.00
1888
90.000.00
5,000 00
95.000.00
1890
50.000.00
7,500 00
57,500.00
1892
30 000.00
15,000.00
45.000.00
1864
20.000.00
10.000 00
30.000 00
1896
70,000 00
10,000 00
80,000 00
.1899
75 000 00
7,500 00
1900
195,000 00
192.000 00
1902
63,000.00
1905
45.000 00
Misc.
4,130.00
Total,
$1.036,875.00
$151,875,00
$1,588,268.92
It is between the lines of this table that one must look for the sickening tale of congressional imbecility, of inade- quate appropriations, costly delays, waste of material and inattention to pub- lic interests. Wreck followed wreck. Ships, cargoes and human lives were sacrificed. The legislature memorialized, and Hannegan, Cathcart, and others in congress pleaded in vain for relief. Year after year passed by and construction material rotted on the shore for lack of money to put it in place.
The day of the first appropriation was historic for more than one reason in Michigan City. It ivas on that day. July 4, 1836, that the first vessel that ever entered Trail creek was brought in. . little schooner, the Sea Serpent, was dragged and towed by a crowd of enthu- siastic citizens 'to 'a point well past the
108
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
first bend, perhaps nearly to Franklin street, her keel plowing across the bar with great difficulty, and the occasion added to the general celebration of the national independence. "A barrel of whisky was rolled out and set up on end," wrote General Packard in telling the story; "then the head was knocked in, a nail was driven partly in the side, and a tin cup was hung on it, when every man helped himself ; and it may be pre- sumed that no one failed to partake of his full share of the liquid. It was a general spree in which every man lent a hand." Prior to that auspicious date, and indeed for too many years after, it had been necessary for vessels at this port to anchor outside in the roadstead, prepared to slip cables and make for the open sea for safety at short notice in case of sudden storm, and freight was taken or discharged by means of lighters small enough to be poled over the bar. The memorable little schooner Post Boy, which for several years plied between Michigan City and Detroit, was caught one evening in November, 1833, and failed to gather headway in time to pre- vent disaster in a rising storm, for she was driven on the beach toward mid- night, near the mouth of the creek, and in spite of the efforts of a crowd of ex- cited citizens her cargo of salt and furni- ture, brought from Detroit, was damag- ed or lost. This was the earliest wreck occurring at the town, of which the present writer has found a record. The Post Boy was wrecked again, this time near Detroit, with a cargo of wheat billed to Buffalo by Samuel Miller in 1837 and a suit for damages resulted, which seems to have been the first case to reach the Indiana supreme court in- volving a Michigan City cause of action.
The Blairs and perhaps some of the other local forwarding merchants at one time built a pier extending to deep wa- ter from the creek mouth and laid a
track of wooden stringers on which small cars were pushed from the ware- houses to the end of the pier, where ves- sels could tie up in pleasant weather. Many such piers and tracks were con- structed along the shore north of Mich- igan City in after years to accommodate the shippers of wood and lumber.
As soon as the appropriation became available and the necessary orders were passed down through the military chan- nels, Captain Ward B. Burnet, of the corps of engineers, was assigned to the work of initiating the construction of the harbor. The first project contemplated the improvement of the inner harbor by dredging the creek, both widening and deepening it, and protecting the channel thus made by revetments and piers. This was the only plan until 1870, by which time a fair channel having an average depth of twelve feet in favorable stages of water had been obtained. Captain Stockton succeeded Burnet in 1837 and in 1841 Major J. R. Bowes was placed in charge.
Up to this date of 1870, there had been appropriated $287,388.92, the chief purpose of which, as has just been stated, was to establish a shipping port and also a harbor of refuge, at the mouth of Trail creek, Michigan City. In 1870, Con- gress, aroused by the demands of the citizens and impelled by the report of the engineers who saw that a simple inner harbor would not accommodate the rap- idly growing commerce at the foot of the lake, made a specific appropriation of $25,000.00 for the outer harbor.
The plan prepared was to comprise an outer basin of some 40 acres located to the east of the entrance to the inner har- bor, and an exterior detached breakwater to the westward designed to give in- creased safety to vessels entering during heavy weather ; the combination (of out- er and inner harbors) was intended to provide a safe harbor of refuge against
109
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
northerly gales, for general commerce. The structures included in the basin comprise a pier 1,225 feet long, a crib breakwater 30 feet wide and 1,215 long, and a breakwater pier 30 feet wide and 500 feet long.
The plan thus projected was worked out and completed from 1870 to 1885, and the expenditures since that time had been chiefly for repairs. In 1882 an 'ex- terior' breakwater was thought neces- sary ; this was to lie in the open lake westward of all other harbor works, and when completed was to have a total length of 2,000 feet, made of two arms forming an interior angle of 130 de- grees with each other. In 1894 work on this modification had been about half finished, and the total expenditure at that date amounted to $718,029.31. Off and on, as may be noticed from the table, sums had been appropriated by Congress for the inner harbor as well, and the money had been spent chiefly in repairs and in maintaining the requisite depth in the inner channel. The piers here had decayed, owing, it must be con- fessed in some cases, to the negligence of property holders. In 1882 also, the channel upstream had been lengthened, so that later on a total length of 9,159 feet had been secured, and a depth of 12 feet obtained, in 1894, to amplify the capacity of both harbors.
In 1894 Lieut. Colonel G. J. Lydecker became engineer in charge, and he con- tinued the work till February 23, 1899. During his office considerable attention was given to the extension of the inner harbor to an interior waterway of 9,859 feet, and it was owing to his energy that the government began to realize the ne- cessity of fostering the commerce of Michigan City. In his report for the year 1895 he states that no great advan- tage to local commerce can be secured unless all the projects should be imme- diately completed. At that time he add-
ed that "some minor modifications of de- tail may be desirable to finish the harbor in the best possible shape," and he "re- spectfully urged that the next appropri- ation should supply the means for put- ting it all under contract." Michigan City was then in the collection district of Chicago which city is the nearest port of entry. The Light-House Establish- ment maintained a fifth-order coast light on the main shore, and there was a life- saving station at the shore line east of the harbor entrance.
In 1897, however, dissatisfaction not only with the progress of the work, but also at the character of the plan itself, became so general that it could no longer be ignored. The draft of vessels using this area of Lake Michigan had long ex- ceeded the modest allowance of 12 feet ; steamers for the carriage of freight had come into more general use, superseding the original sailing schooners which had in earlier times brought merchandise and lumber to Michigan City ; a considerable passenger traffic had likewise been de- veloped between this harbor and Chi- cago. One great purpose for which the outer harbor had been planned, was the protection to be offered to craft of all kinds exposed to the sudden and severe storms apt to occur at any moment near Michigan City, but in place of the pro- tection promised, the piers and cribs forming the outer harbor had become in reality a source of danger, so that sail- ing masters and pilots actually avoided rather than sought this harbor. Nat- urally the residents of Michigan City were dissatisfied with the result and dis- tressed at the loss of cargoes, or not in- frequently of life, which occurred. An instance of such disasters, as far back as 1836, when the government first un- dertook the construction of the improve- ment may be given. Abraham R. Har- per, from Pennsylvania, came west to seek a new home and to start in business.
IIO
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
He arrived in Michigan City via Chica- go, bound for South Bend, where he had decided to settle. He ordered $10,000.00 worth of goods from Philadelphia, which were shipped to Buffalo the first of June. From Chicago they were reshipped to Michigan City on the schooner Sea Ser- pent. Half an hour after arriving a ter- rible storm arose which beached his boat and finally drove it into the mouth of Trail creek where much was lost on the sand hills. Several other vessels in port were wrecked at the same time and the entire population turned out in great
this time the commerce at this end of the lake had been slipping away, chiefly toward the more favored but naturally no better equipped port of Chicago. While Congress had spent millions upon Chicago up to 1897, only $1,273,- 638.92 had been spent upon Michigan City. When the genuine purpose had not been accomplished, the injustice was evident, and the War Department, Feb- ruary 16, 1897, convened a board of en- gineer officers to advise on some change in the location of the outer breakwater. Their report submitted immediately,
PERISTYLE, WASHINGTON PARK
excitement. Harper got his goods to- gether, dried them out on Hoosier Slide, and transported them in wagons to South Bend, where he was a leading merchant for twenty years.
As the years grew, the losses and fa- talities increased in greater proportion than the government offered means to prevent them.
The inhabitants sent to Congress pe- titions for closer attention to their wants ; the governors of the state, as they followed one another in office, made the crying needs of the city a fea- ture of their annual messages; and all
contained the following statements :
"There has been a material shoaling (3 feet) since the adoption of the plans of 1882. The exterior breakwater, if constructed on the original plans, will be in depths of only 19 to 23 feet. Since 1890 the fill in front of the east break- water has been rapid, and there has been a large deposit behind the west pier. Sand now finds an easy entrance to the outer harbor through the entrance be- tween the breakwaters, in a place of de- posit sheltered by the work constructed after that date (1890). The area avail- able for vessels drawing 85 feet has been reduced froni `40 acres to 25 acres, and the area of depths over 18 feet about 25
III
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
per cent. The area of the proposed harbor for refuge is now, for vessels of 12 feet, less than it was in 1890 for ves- sels drawing 15 feet. Further shoaling is to be apprehended if the work is com- pleted on the lines adopted.
"While the available area of the har- bor has materially diminished, the di- mensions of vessels plying the lakes have largely increased. Depths of from 15 to 18 feet are now generally demanded for harbors on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, although in 1882 12 feet was usually considered ample. Vessels of lengths exceeding 300 feet are not infre- quent, and some of the first class freight vessels, have lengths exceeding 400 feet. "The entrance to the harbor is also becoming difficult during a storm. No vessel drawing 15 feet of water would attempt to enter between the piers and turn under the shelter of the west break- water during a northwest storm. It would be difficult for a vessel drawing 12 feet, particularly if accompanied by a tow.
"It is therefore evident that the pro- posed exterior breakwater, when com- pleted, will be of service as a harbor of refuge only to vessels of light draft, and therefore the value of the exterior con- structions is not apparent. Another ob- jection is raised by pilots ; during storms the entrance to the inner harbor is more dangerous than it would be otherwise, for in a northwest storm a current is produced by the west breakwater tend- ing to throw the head of the vessel to- ward the east, and another, reverse cur- rent tends to drive the vessel toward the west. During a storm from the north or northeast a vessel could enter the inner harbor more readily if the west breakwater be removed. That these ob- jections are not groundless is indicated by the fact the vessels avoid the harbor during storms.
"The board therefore advised some radical alterations in the plans, so as to perfect in reality the intention to make at Michigan City a harbor of refuge for vessels on the lake. Their recommen- dations were: To extend the east break- water, to connect the east pier of the inner harbor to the east breakwater, and to reconstruct the western arm of the west breakwater. This will avoid the
cost of repairs to the works surrounding the outer basin, and will also have a beneficial effect on the currents at the inner harbor."
The estimated cost of completing the work as thus proposed was $282,150.00, but, adds the engineer's report of 1898, these figures will in all probability be largely exceeded if operations have to be extended through several seasons and carried on under small appropriations. Notwithstanding these specific state- ments, the government appropriated in 1899 only $7.500.00 for the inner harbor alone, from which meager sum the cost of maintenance of the watchman at the end of the pier, which by rights should be met by the Light House Board, was deducted. The economical and judicious course would have been to appropriate $195,000.00, which, with the unexpended balance of previous appropriations, could have been made to complete the work.
Finally, on June 6, 1900, Congress did appropriate in one sum, to be devoted to the outer harbor, $195,000.00. It also permitted the engineers to let out the work by contract-the continuing con- tract system-which they hoped would give better and more rapid results. In this respect, however, their hopes were not altogether fulfilled; owing to bad storms at the most unfavorable times, to miscalculations on the part of some con- tractors and to unavoidable labor diffi- culties, much of the work was delayed beyond the period estimated as neces- sary.
Nevertheless, progress was made dur- ing 1901 and 1902, and in this year there was added encouragement in the action of Congress which now appropriated $63,000.00 to continue the work, this time making no distinction between inner or outer harbor, thinking it best to leave to the discretion of the engineers on the spot the particular places on which the money should be expended. They re-
I12
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
joiced to feel that "it was conceived to be the intention of Congress hereafter to treat the Michigan City work as a unit."
That commerce was growing, may be seen from the report of 1903, in which the tonnage was given for 1901, at III,949, while that for 1902 had become 130, 115; and in 1902 there had entered the har- bor, exclusive of traffic between Michi- gan City and Chicago, 826 steam vessels and 51 sailing craft.
In 1904 a slight modification was made in the plans of 1900, so that the length of the breakwater was reduced from 1,400 feet to 1,300 feet. Moreover, the engineers had received and transmitted to the government, a petition signed by the mayor and nu- morous citizens of Michigan City, re- questing-"the removal of the portion of the west pier south of the part now undergoing repairs, and the construction of a new pier practically on the line of the remaining outer part, whereby the width of the entrance channel would ob - tain uniform width of about 220 feet."
Thus the year 1905 is reached, but the harbor is not completed, yet the gov- ernment is wiser than it was, and there is every prospect that Michigan City will before long be equipped to care for and foster the extensive commerce that is hers by right. The condition of the har- bors at the present may be described as follows: There is a channel 9,159 feet long between revetments from 100 to 175 feet apart, except at the turning basins, where the width is about 330 feet. The upper limit of this improved channel is 100 feet above the upper turn- ing basin, but above the lower part of the upper turning basin the channel has shoaled and is not available for lake ves- sels. In the outer entrance there is a depth of 20 to 32 feet ; at the entrance to the inner harbor, 18 feet for a width of 120 feet next to the east pier ; thence to the inner end of the piers, 16 feet in the
channel of best water; thence to Sixth Street Bridge, 15 feet, except about 300 feet below the angle above Franklin Street Bridge, where the available depth was 14.5 feet; from the Sixth Street Bridge to the first angle above, 14.5 feet ; thence to the second angle 12 feet, and at the lower end of the upper basin, 7 feet. The channel does not maintain itself and provision should be made for periodical dredging.
In the outer harbor the piers and breakwaters covering the outer basin have a total length of 3,171 feet meas- ured on the harbor face, viz., a pile pier 1,225 feet long, extending in a northerly direction from the shore and closing the basin on the east; a crib breakwater 1,4II feet long, extending westward from the lake end of the pile pier and closing the basin on the north, and a crib pier 535 feet long, measured from the angle in the harbor face or 505 feet measured from the rear face of the breakwater, extending northward from the west end of the crib breakwater. Of the exterior breakwater,-a length of only 700 feet has been completed. On October 20, 1904, the care of the lights at harbor entrance, which had been maintained up to that time at the expense of the appro- priations for this harbor, was assumed by the United States Light-House Es- tablishment.
In 1905 Congress appropriated $45,- 000.00 for general use so that, deducting all expenditures and liabilities, there re- mained on hand, available July 1, 1905, to meet future obligations the sum of $53.037.13.
Whatever discredit may have attached to the early governmental processes on and about this Michigan City harbor, should not be reflected upon the engin- eers in charge. In some instances there is evident neglect, deafness to the cry of a stifled industry, and incompetency, but none of this arose from the engineer
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
corps of the army in charge. The folly of useless expenditure and the ignoring the local petitions of Michigan City's business, arose altogether within Con- gress, and the active engineers stationed on the ground, could do only as they were told, or as the funds at their dis- posal permitted. There was bad politics at the bottom of it all, in which outside interests prevailed, although the repre- sentatives from this district did every- thing possible to gain a proper recogni- tion for their only state harbor on Lake Michigan.
But the story of the Michigan City Harbor would be incompletely and poor- ly told, if only the reports of Congress were examined. To catch the vital ele- ment in this growth of nearly eighty years, the unwritten history of the town itself must be studied, and public docu- ments, transactions of the local business organizations, as well as the public spir- ited and often self sacrificing conduct of the men of affairs, must be investigated.
While the government was doing nothing, the city itself was by no means idle. After the appropriations of 1836, '37, and '38, there was an interval of six years before another cent was allowed ; in 1844 $25,000.00 was given, not till 1852 did even $20,000 appear, but from that date till 1866 there is a hiatus of fourteen years during which nothing whatever was attempted or accomplish- ed for Michigan City by those having power in Washington. Much of this neglect must be explained by the crisis of the civil war, in which all the money obtainable from any source was devoted to the cost of that awful struggle, but the need was there, and the citizens themselves bravely attempted to meet it.
As far back as 1864, on July 4th of that year, in fact, a meeting was held in the City Hall of Michigan City to com- plete the organization of the Michigan City Harbor Company, and to devise
such other work as they thought best to aid the projected improvement. They then memorialized Congress in dignified terms ; they omitted to mention that the expenditure of the money from past ap- propriations was barren of results, they did not complain that the harbor afford- ed no shelter to the ships plying at this end of the lake, they drew no particular attention to the patent facts that the piers were fallen into decay, that material purchas- ed by the government had been allowed to rot or to slip unused and unobserved into the water, they restrained their im- patience at seeing the work of one sum- mer nullified or destroyed by the pitiless storms of the succeeding winter, but they did ask that the government permit them to take over what remained of the original plans and construction already accomplished, and to carry out as best they might, a plan of their own whereby they hoped to do something to further the interests of the nation, of the state of Indiana, and of their own city.
In 1865 authority was granted to this company to use the government piers in the harbor for the purpose of protecting said harbor. Under this authority, and power created by the State Legislature in 1865, the Michigan City Harbor Com- pany commenced to collect money from the stockholders, and continued to do so until many of the stockholders were nearly, if not entirely bankrupt and im- poverished. This money so collected was used to rebuild foundations on the old government piers, and to make ex- tensions out into the lake so as to protect the mouth of Trail creek before dredging could be undertaken.
The Company stuck manfully at their self appointed task ; up to June 1867 they had expended $100.526.53. The city also had done its share toward facilitat- ing commerce by dredging and building docks, even since the government had
INTERIOR OF THE HALL / FOR .TEE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF MICHIGAN CITY IND REED & STEM ARCHITECTS ST.PAUL MIAN. ..
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GRAND STAIRWAY IN CITY LIBRARY
115
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
taken charge of the work, and their ex- penditure had amounted to $20,767.85. In addition to the above, private parties had added improvements to the extent of $63,000.00.
The harbor thus again began to take definite shape, so that commerce found here a degree of safety, not perhaps com- mensurate with what had been promised when the government first assumed con- trol but certainly encouraging to those who had feared that the vicinity of Trail creek might be forgotten as navigable water on Lake Michigan. Then, as the petition states, not their ambition nor their confidence, but their funds, began to run low ; and when Congress showed a disposition to aid other harbors, not only on the sea coast but those on inte- rior waters as well, this company again petitioned the national government to take over the work where the Michigan City Harbor Company had left off. Here may be noticed an item of self sacrifice which everyone will acknowledge, speaks well for the innate goodness of human nature. This company petitioned Con- gress to appropriate a sum equivalent to that sum which the stockholders had ex- pended out of their own pockets, and for which they had directly received no re- ward; but instead of asking that this sum be repaid them, they begged only that it be further expended upon the har- bor, as an earnest of what the govern- ment intended to do in future.
It cannot be doubted but that by this action the harbor of Michigan City was saved. Although Congress did not im-
mediately comply with this petition, yet it did allot in the years 1868 and 1869 the sum of $100,000.00, and the work was thereafter continued, as has been ex- plained.
That Michigan City might have been the immense commercial emporium of which the first explorers and settlers at this end of the lake had at one time dreamed, cannot be by an impartial ob- server denied. An early student of the problem had declared that in comparison with Chicago the possibilities of Michi- gan City were immeasurably superior. By nature this would seem to have been so destined ; by the inhabitants of the spot, who lacked no ambition or enter- prise possessed by those of the lake sta- tion on the opposite shore, it was so planned. But fate, and a congress blind to the calls and petitions of our neigh- bors, and more inclined to yield to the influences of those who were shrewder politicians though by no means cleverer or more alert business men, decided oth- erwise. Yet today, in spite of the fact that we cannot call ourselves a metrop- olis in the world's eye, we nevertheless have what is a possession of equal pride, a city growing in all that makes life profitable, and a city of peaceful homes.
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