USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley; gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic sources > Part 92
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How charming a book it would be in whose pages the pioneers of Indiana could tell the story of their lives in their own language!
Among the discomforts and the dangers which are common to the
65
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
While it may be true, and doubtless is, that a rascally client can al- ways find a raseally lawyer, and generally does, and that there are some of more pretension than learning, more impudence than skill, more cunning than honesty, and more capacity to practice tricks than to practice law ; it may be justly said that, taken as a whole, the law- yers who have practiced and who are now practicing in the courts of this county are equal in professional attainments, bearing and conduct with their brethren of any other county in the state.
The true lawyer is a hard working man, and always endeavors to return an equivalent for his fee; he is willing to let his work speak for him. and is not disposed to attract business by falsely pretending to be what he is not.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
The first court-house and jail have already been mentioned.
The purchase of brick for the second court-house was ordered by the board of justices in March 1829. In November, 1830, the com- missioners adopted the plan and specifications for " a new court-house," to be constructed of brick, with a stone foundation ; the house to be erected " on the center of the public square "; and the county agent was authorized to receive "proposals unto the first Monday in January next." Notice was to be given in the " Western Register " and " Free Press."
In 1831 an act of the legislature was passed providing for the relo- cation of the county seat, upon certain conditions, among which was the payment of the damages caused by the relocation, and Thomas Brown, Peter Hughes and Peter Rush were appointed to "value the town lots in the town of Covington, and to make an estimate of how much less value said property will be by the removal of the seat of justice therefrom." Their estimate of damages was $9.721, and it was returned to the board in May 1831.
By this act of the legislature commissioners were appointed with power to examine the situation of the county and report upon the same. They made the following report, which settled the county-seat question for that time:
To the Honourable the County Commissioners of Fountain County :
The undersigned, Renben Reagan, Joseph Potts, George W. Bene- field and Zabina Babcock, a majority of the commissioners appointed by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, entitled "An act to provide for the relocation of the seat of justice of Fountain county," approved January 29, 1831, ask leave to report that they did, on the first Monday of June, A.D. 1831, convene at the town of Cov- 5
66
HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY.
ington, and after first taking the several oaths required by law, pro- ceeded to examine the situation of the county, until Wednesday the 8th day of said month. They unanimously agreed that the town of Covington be and remain the permanent seat of justice of said county, and that the plat of said town heretofore recorded be and remain the plat of said county seat, and that the said place in all respects remain as it was previous to the passage of the act above mentioned.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this Sth day of June, A.D. 1831.
REUBEN REAGAN, [SEAL]
JOSEPH POTTS, [SEAL]
GEORGE W. BENEFIELD, [SEAL]
ZABINA BABCOCK. [SEAL]
The building of the new court-house was retarded by the contest under this act about the location of the county seat, and the house was not completed until 1833. Who the builder was, or what was the contract price, is not disclosed by the minutes of the board of commis- sioners.
In March, 1842, the order was made for the erection of a building for the use of the clerk, recorder and auditor, on the public square, east of the court-house, to front east, 38 feet long and 25 feet wide. This building was erected, and will be remembered by many of the older citizens of the county. It was occupied for a great many years by the county officers. What it cost is not now known.
In May, 1856, the commissioners contracted with James G. Hardy and Albert Henderson for the delivery of 300,000 brick, at $5.85 per thonsand, to be used in the building of new court-house ; and in June, 1856, they employed Isaac Hodgson as the architect.
In September, 1856, a further contract was made with Messrs. Hardy and Henderson to furnish all the brick necessary to be used in the construction of the building, at the same price, and the contract was let to Lewis Toms, for the erection of the house, at $28,785.50 ; and he was to accept and pay for the brick to be furnished under the Hardy and Henderson contract. The architect was to have four and a half per cent upon the cost of the building for his services in super- intending its construction.
In March, 1857, Mr. Toms notified the board that he could not fulfill his contract, and he was released therefrom upon the payment of $150.
The contract was then let to Mr. James G. Hardy for $33,500. Several changes were made in the plan of the building while it was in
67
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
the process of construction, and it was finally completed in the fall of 1859 at a cost of about $36,500. In January, 1860, on the first day of the sitting of the circuit court, the house took fire and was partially destroyed, nothing being left except parts of the walls and the founda- tion. Measures were at once taken to rebuild, and a contract was made with John H. Thomas to do the work and furnish the materials for $14,800; this was increased, by changes and extra work, to $18,124.05.
Joseph H. Nelson was the superintendent, and Mr. Hodgson the architect. The house thus built is the one now occupied. Its total cost, including cost of first structure, was $54,624.05. It was finished and first occupied in January 1861.
The county has built four prisons and three sheriff's residences. The first has been mentioned.
In January, 1837, the commissioners decided to build the second, and adopted plans and ordered notice of a letting on the second Mon- day in February following, to be published in the " Western Constel- lation."
The contract was let to Wm. Titus for $1,700. The jail was com- pleted for that sum, and was accepted in January 1838.
In June, 1842, a contract was made with William S. Patterson to build a sheriff's residence in front of and adjoining the jail, 18x20 feet in dimensions on the ground, and two stories high. This building was completed at an expense of $397.50.
In December, 1850, it was decided that a new jail was needed, and an order was made to build one of dressed stone, one story high, 252×27 feet on the ground, with three cells 6×10 feet, and a hall in front of the cells 8×24 feet. There was also a dwelling-house, to be attached to the jail, provided for, and this was to be 20×253 feet on the ground, one story in height, and to contain three rooms. The contract for building this jail was let in March, 1851, to Joseph L. Sloan ; and it was provided that he should not begin work until after the first Monday in the following April, when the vote upon relocation was to be taken. This vote resulted in favor of Covington, and Mr. Sloan completed his contract at a cost to the county of about $3,129. The exact sum cannot be given, but this is within a very few dollars of it.
In April, 1873, the commissioners met in special session and adopted specifications for a new prison and sheriff's residence, and in May, 1873, the contract for building the same was awarded to John McManomy at $49,399.95. At the same session the board required the architect to change the plans so as to reduce the cost to $37,500. To meet the
68
HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY.
expense of this building, an issue of $100,000 of ten per cent ten- years bonds was anthorized. These bonds found a ready market, and were sold before any attempt to prevent their issne was made. An effort was afterward made to have the action of the board, author- izing their issue, set aside and held illegal, but it failed, because, among other reasons, the bonds had been sold and the county had gotten the money, and it was therefore too late to complain of irregularities in their issue.
In September, 1873, in a suit brought to annul the contract for building the jail, the circuit court held it illegal, and enjoined the further prosecution of any work or the payment of money under it. At this time the work had progressed far toward completion, and the county had paid the contractor about $38,000. Of course the ques- tion at once arose as to the rights of the parties, and as to the manner in which the county could secure itself for the large sum of money which she had paid the contractor, and which he claimed was all in- vested in the work done and the materials on hand. The foundation and the superstructure, so far as completed, was on lots owned by the county, and the materials in the building could not be taken ont of it withont lessening their valne. The contracting parties could not proceed any further under the contract, and in this dilemma they adopted the plan of accepting the materials furnished and work done as things voluntarily furnished the county, and under a statute which gave the commissioners the discretionary power to pay for things thus furnished, and prohibited an appeal from their decision, the board made an allowance, based upon the architect's estimate of $41,900, in pay- ment of the work and materials, deducting therefrom the sums previ- ously paid under the contract. This done, the county had an untin- ished jail on its hands, with nearly all the materials on the ground to finish it. The original contract had been held to be void, on the ground that the proper notice of the letting had not been given, as required by a statute which made it unlawful to make a contract for the construction of a public building until after six weeks' notice had been given. As this statute said nothing about contracts to complete a building already begun, the board concluded it had authority, with- out notice, to make a contract for the completion of the building, and accordingly made a contract with the same party to complete the jail and sheriff's residence, agreeing to pay him for the work and material necessary for this purpose at the same rate as that which was observed in making him [the allowance for materials, etc., voluntarily furnished.
The building was completed under this last arrangement at a cost, including the sum paid under the contract, of $106,889.08. That this
69
ASYLUM FOR THE POOR.
great sum was largely in excess of what the county ought to have ex- pended in such a building will scarcely admit of dispute; but upon whom the responsibility ought to rest is a question not so easily an- swered, and one which it is not the province of this history to answer. Any attempt to fix the responsibility would revive questions and dis- putes that are better left buried in the past which covers them, and it would serve no useful purpose now.
It would probably be found that the responsibility took a wider range, and included more people, than the face of the proceedings indi- cates, and it certainly would result in nothing better than a bitter controversy. The more sensible course is to profit by what has been done in avoiding similar consequences in the future.
ASYLUM FOR THE POOR.
How to provide for its poor is always a question of perplexing diffi- culty for any state or community to answer. This question has occu- pied the attention of the greatest and best men and women in all ages from the very earliest period. Alms-giving was, at an early period of the world's history, inculcated as a religious observance.
Among the Greeks it was provided that those who were maimed in battle should be supported at public expense, and in the legislation of all modern countries laws for the relief of the poor have a conspicu- ous place.
The duty of providing for the helpless poor has never been dis- puted, but the difficulty has been to distinguish between the poor who would maintain themselves if they could and the poor who could main- tain themselves if they would, and to found public charities so that they will be efficient in relieving the deserving poor, and yet not de- structive of the independence, industry, integrity and domestic virtue which is as necessary to one condition of life as another. The most sen- sible idea seems to be that which makes relief, in all cases where there is ability to work, temporary, and to cease as soon as the recipient of the charity can be put in a position to support himself; effort being made in the meantime to find employment for all who are able to work. There is but little doubt that the ordinary county asylum is as often the home of the voluntary mendicant as of him whose necessi- ties and misfortunes compel him to seek its shelter. The idle and vicious as frequently find a retreat there as the unfortunate.
It is therefore no place for the children who have become wards of the state through poverty to be brought up in. These ought to be provided with the education and training to fit them for lives of use- fulness, and not left to grow up in an atmosphere of idleness and pau-
70
HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY.
perism to become themselves idlers and paupers, and the progenitors of idlers and paupers. Pity and charity are the noblest of emotions, and misfortune always appeals to both, and its appeal ought never to be in vain ; but that is the truest help which puts the unfortunate in the way of helping himself, and it is the help which will be most grateful to the deserving poor, for while it relieves their necessities it preserves their independence. There is but very little to be said of the public buildings erected for the relief of the poor in this county.
The first house was completed in March, 1837, and there is nothing of record to indicate its size or cost ; but it is known that it was a very plain and inexpensive building, which stood northeast from Covington about two miles away.
In 1862 or 1863 the county became the purchaser of the present farm occupied by it, lying three miles north of Covington ; and in 1863 the contract for building the asylum now standing thereon was let to Nathaniel Morgan, of Crawfordsville, for $8,700. The house is well and substantially built, and will be sufficient to meet the wants of the county for a long time to come.
The only other building the county ever owned which needs be mentioned was the county seminary, built under the law of 1843 pro- viding for the erection of a county seminary in each county of the state. This law took effect in 1843, and in June, 1844, the board of commissioners appointed John Hamilton, Benedict Morris and William Hoffman a committee "to superintend the building of a county sem- inary," with power to adopt a plan for the same. The committee adopted a plan, and the contract was let to Wm. S. Patterson and John Billsland, their bid being $1,064.08. The county seminary plan was a failure, and this building was, until it burnt down, used for the common schools of Covington.
SCHOOLS.
The people of Fountain county may justly be proud of their record upon the question of education. From the very earliest period in her history, the people of this county have been the friends of education. Many of the first settlers were possessed of a very limited education, but all of them had enough to feel the need of more; and to her credit be it ever said, Fountain county has never recorded her vote against any proposition looking to the advancement of the cause of education.
The first schools taught in the county were not of a very high order, and the rod was as conspicuous in them as the spelling-book, while the principal idea of the teachers would be appropriately expressed by the
71
POPULATION, RESOURCES, ETC.
formula, "No lickin' no larnin'"; yet from these schools have come men who would have done credit to any station in life, and from this beginning we have steadily advanced until our county takes front rank with her sister counties in schools and educational advantages and facilities. We have much room to grow in yet; we have not yet learned to pay a woman for the same work in the school-room the same wages we give to a man ; nor do we yet fully appreciate that teaching school is one of the highest of employments, requiring the best talent in the land, and that the position of teacher should be made one of such honor and emolument as to attract the best intellect of the world. We need also to have more fully developed the idea that the chief pur- pose of education is to elevate men and women in the scale of life, to increase their power and capacity, and to make them more useful to their fellow creatures. We need also to have continually present to the minds of teachers and pupils the fact that there is nothing that so completely destroys all true independence of character as that form of education which disposes the individual to avoid all occupations re- quiring manual labor ; and that there is nothing that makes a man so self-reliant as the knowledge that he has, within himself, the ability to earn a living, whatever may happen. It belongs to the school to encourage that true independence and self-reliance which should char- acterize the American citizen, and to teach that no one, no matter what his station is or may have been, is disgraced or does an unbecom- ing thing by engaging in honest labor.
Fountain county has $131,650 invested in school buildings, and a permanent school fund of $47,750.
She expends upon her schools each year $ , and has nearly seven thousand children entitled to admission into the schools. Her schools are improving each year, and there is no county in the state that presents a fairer prospect to those who have children to educate, and who desire a home where this education can be had in the common schools.
The schools of Attica and Covington are a source of pride to the citizens of these places, and deservedly so; they are really first-class in every particular.
POPULATION, RESOURCES, ETC.
The last census gives Fountain county a population of 21,503, dis- tributed as follows :
Jackson township,
1,272
Fulton township,
1,128
Cain
66
1,806
Davis
798
Troy
66
3,986
Logan
66
2,609
Shawnee
1,105
Wabash
2,266
Van Buren
2,111
Mill Creek "
1,830
Richland
2,592
72
HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY.
The census of 1870 gave to Fountain county a population of 15,441. The county has 250,120 acres of land within her boundaries, very little of which is waste. Rich in timber, in coal, in water and productive lands, Fountain county offers a healthy climate, with cheap food, cloth- ing and fuel, and a good market, to the farmer, the mechanic, the mer- chant and the manufacturer.
In 1879 the average wheat yield per acre in the county was 223 bushels; the average corn yield was 28} bushels; the average oats yield was 253 bushels. In wheat yield the county ranked as the sixth in the state. In 1878 the assessor's returns gave the county 6,763 horses, 1,260 mules, 14,670 cattle, 15,364 sheep and 31,208 hogs. The county ranked as the thirty-second in the number of horses owned; as the tenth in the number of mules, the twenty-third in the number of cattle, the fourteenth in the number of sheep and the twenty-ninth in the number of hogs owned. In the same year there was grown in the county 474,114 bushels of wheat from 29,374 acres; 1,424,888 bushels of corn from 46,878 acres, and 141,091 bushels of oats from 6,294 acres.
The rank of the county in this year was: wheat acreage, twenty- eighth; in wheat yield, nineteenth ; in corn acreage, nineteenth ; in corn yield, sixteenth ; in oats acreage, forty-fifth ; in oats yield, thirty- third.
The aggregate yield of potatoes for 1878 was 25,055 bushels; of fruits 21,975 bushels; and there was produced in the county, in the same year, 585,000 pounds of bacon, 227,670 pounds of bulk pork, and 161,869 pounds of lard. There was grown in 1878, by the farmers of Fountain county, 46,410 pounds of wool, 3,237 pounds of tobacco; and there was manufactured 2,595 pounds of maple sugar, 7,061 gallons of cider, 5,866 gallons of vinegar, 758 gallons of wine, 8,270 gallons of sorghum molasses, and 5,166 gallons of maple molasses.
In 1879 the county had 20,911 acres of wheat and a yield of 469,- 163 bushels ; 33,979 acres of corn and a yield of 967,770 bushels ; 3,648 acres of oats and a yield of 92,841 bushels; 407 acres of rye and a yield of 7,490 bushels; and 735 acres of potatoes yielding 28,766 bushels.
In the same year there were in the county 8,623 acres of meadow land, producing 11,979 tons of hay and 168 bushels of seed ; 3,500 acres of clover, and 26,229 acres of pasture.
The people of the county own 136 pianos, 205 melodeons and organs, and 1,772 sewing machines. There are only fifteen out of ninety counties that own more pianos than Fountain ; twenty-two out of eighty-nine that own more organs and melodeons, and eighteen out of ninety that use more sewing machines.
73
POPULATION. RESOURCES, ETC.
The rank of the county in 1879 was: wheat acreage, thirty-third ; wheat yield, twenty-first; corn acreage, twenty-third; corn yield, thirty-third ; oats acreage, sixty-second ; oats yield, fifty-fourth ; rye acreage, thirtieth; rye yield, twenty-fifth ; potato acreage, thirty- ninth ; potato yield, fiftieth. The county has 3,688 real estate holders, and in this respect ranks very high among the counties of the state.
There are 637 miles of wagon roads in the county, upon which there is annually expended $16,956. The county owns fourteen bridges, erected at a cost of $49,000. The estimated cost of the present wagon roads of the county is $254,800.
There are fifty-one miles of railroad in the county, the estimated cost of construction of which is $2,780,585.
The estimated amount of money invested in roads of all kinds, in school-houses, churches, public buildings, bridges, etc., including permanent school fund, is $3,035,385.
In point of population Fountain county ranks as the forty-fifth county in the state; in the number of acres of land within her boundaries she is the forty-sixth ; in the value of lands, the twentieth ; and in the value of personal property, the fiftieth county in the state.
There are seventy-four counties in the state that expend more money annually in payment of jurors and court bailiff's than Fountain county. The foregoing statistics are taken from the excellent report of Hon. John Collett, chief of the bureau of statistics for Indiana. The figures are mostly taken from assessors' returns and are consequently imperfect. When our people come to know the immense value of correct statistical information they will cooperate with the assessors and other officers in having correct and full reports given. The fol- lowing statement shows the amount of county revenue collected for the periods indicated :
The revenues of the county collected for county purposes in each vear of the first ten years after its organization are given in the following table :
For the period ending March 1827
$79 342
66 1827
632 78
January 1829
1,069 34
66
1830
1,169 66
66
1831
1,270 24
6.
66
..
1832
1,775 71
..
..
1833
2,321 63
..
..
1834
1,686 61
.6
1835
1,817 06
..
.6
1836
1,854 87
66
74
HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY.
And the following table gives the aggregate revenue collected for county purposes in each period of ten years since 1837 :
1837 to 1846 inclusive 834,929 51
1847 to 1856 66 66,099 65
1857 to 1866
259,046 39
1867 to 1876 66
526,973 04
For the remaining five years-1877 to 1880 inclusive-the total revenue collected for county purposes was $272,797.21.
The greatest amount of collections for any one year was in 1876, when the sum was $106,341.34.
In 1874 the collections were $45,207.27, and from this they rose in 1875 to $99,481.28.
In the second period of ten years the collections began with $4,487.36 in 1847 and ended with $11,536.34 in 1856; in the third period the collections began with $12,855.28 in 1857 and ended with $28,598.37 in 1866 ; while the fourth period began with $27,654.01 in 1867 and ended with $106,341.34 in 1876. The last period of five years begins with $95,044.66 in 1877 and ends with $39,068.63 in 1880.
Accurate information as to the coal product of the county has not been obtained, but it is estimated that 300,000 tons of coal are annually mined in the neighborhood of Snoddy's mills, and that the pay-roll of the several companies will reach very nearly an average of $20,000 per month. This product will be greatly increased in the course of two or three years by the opening of new mines and the building of new lines of road for the transportation of the coal. For a great many years Fountain county people were almost wholly dependent upon the Wabash and Erie canal for transportation, but with the build- ing of railroads the canal began to go down and finally was entirely abandoned as a line for transportation, and at this time a line of rail- way is being constructed upon its tow-path from Attica sonthward. The completion of the canal was followed by what was known as the Attica war, in which the citizens of Covington and Attica engaged, over the question of opening the lock at Attica and letting the water into the level below, which reached to Covington. This event was important enough, and the consequences following it serious enough, to justify an extended account; and this would be given but for the fact that it has been undertaken by the gentleman who is writing the history of Logan township.
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