USA > Indiana > Vanderburgh County > Evansville > History of the city of Evansville and Vanderburg County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 17
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
142
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
the buildings allowed to go to decay. The vein was afterwards trans- ferred through pipes to a point up the hill and this is today known as Mineral Spring Pool, although most people still use the old name of Salt Pool. This land, it is claimed, will be utilized by the Big Four railroad but it is to be hoped that the pool can still be kept up. The bathing is far superior to ocean bathing, for in the case of the latter, there is generally a surf and at all times, either sand, gravel or shells, while at the pool one can take a genuine salt plunge as good, if not superior to one in the ocean and at the same time do away with all danger of cutting the feet. While it will never be a fashionable resort, there are thousands of our citizens who enjoy it every summer. While speaking of the natural resources of Ev- ansville and before taking up her further progress, it is well to state that Evansville is in the midst of what is known and recognized as the corn belt ; that is, the belt in which the best corn in the United States is grown. Also three-fifths of all the tobacco grown in the United States is produced within a circle about Evansville extending over 100 miles. While it was known as a tobacco market, ten thousand hogsheads were sold here each year. As is well known, however, the tobacco interests have been trans- ferred elsewhere but their place has been taken by other products of equal value.
"The greatest hardwood lumber market in the world."
Years ago when the first little pamphlet, telling about the advantages of Evansville was issued to the world, this line appeared. There were many of our own citizens who imagined that it must be either a misprint or a claim which could not be substantiated by actual facts, yet at that time and today the statement holds absolutely good. Evansville is not only the greatest hardwood lumber market in this section, but in the entire world. Figures cannot lie, and the fact has been proven over and over that Evans- ville leads all competitors. It was the knowledge of the wonderful lum- ber resources of Evansville that caused foreign capital to come in here from time to time as was the case of the Hermann Manufacturing Com- pany and others. The great reason for the fact that Evansville holds this position can readily be seen by any one who will simply study geography. In no other place in America is there a city situated on a great river such as is the Ohio where her geographical location shows that so large a por- tion of the soil adjacent to her was what was known as solid woods. Look- ing at the map one will see that as far as Louisville, Kentucky, both sides of the Ohio river were simply masses of dense forests. In Indiana this extends close to the middle of the state. In Kentucky they took in almost the entire state and through this part of Kentucky ran Green river, a very deep stream, and its tributaries, Pond river and Barren river. Any one who hunted in Kentucky in the old days will remember what was known as the Barren river flats, a vast strip of country almost uninhabited, which overflowed every year and which was filled with untold millions of natural forest trees of all varieties. The walunt, the pecan, hickory, ash and oak
143
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
were found in vast quantities and these Kentucky forests extended not only to the mouth of Green river, but far down towards the point just across from the city, covering all the land which has now been cleared up and has been overflowed of recent years, when the river encroached on the land at the cut-off. Around Leavenworth, Indiana, and reaching clear back from that point, were immense forests and from the river there were various little creeks which penetrated so far up into the state that during the high water season, logs could be floated out into the Ohio. Great flat- boats had been built in the old days, away up almost at the source of these creeks and built when there was hardly enough water in them to cover the bottom but the builders well knew that with the first overflow there would be no difficulty in getting flat boats or barges of any size into the Ohio. Then take Pigeon creek. Most of us imagine that it runs back into the Ohio river just above the little own of Newburgh (and a portion of it does), but it must be remembered that even this small body of water has many ramifications and in the old days, extended into almost every section of the country north of Evansville and this side of White river. Above us were White river and Patoka river, both capable of floating logs and below lay the Big and Little Wabash, from the mouths of which it was not a hard task to bring up rafts with tow boats, though the great majority of lumber that came to Evansville was simply floated down from the streams above, and of recent years turned into the bank by the use of the little tow boats of which several are kept in constant commission. Years ago, and before the demand for lumber was so great, it was no unusual thing to see the entire bank of the river from clear above the city down below the mouth of Pigeon creek, completely lined with thousands and thousands of saw logs. Of course a small place was left for the wharf and for the land- ing of steamboats but all other spots were utilized for the logs. Any old citizen has seen them in great layers extending from the very highest point reached by a freshet clear down the bank to the river and then fresh rafts in the river itself. The same was true of Pigeon creek. The entire bank of Sweezer pond and the creek itself were simply one mass of logs. Many have seen them lying in long strings where the L. & N. yards now stand. North of Franklin street where the Armstrong Furniture Com- pany did an enormous business, every gully was full of logs. They were pushed up during the high water as far as they could go and were then left on the bank and sometimes were untouched for several years. The same is true of the E. Q. Smith's Chair Factory section, which has lately been taken by the city. All of us have seen even the mouth of the sewer at Oak street filled with logs, while all over the bank which is now filled up, were the long strings fastened together by the original strips just as they came from the waters above. But to see logs one should go to Green river where for several miles the entire river and banks have been full of them, leaving only a little' passage through which boats could come down from Spotsville. Above Spotsville it was the same. Between Spotsville
144
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
and the next lock above, the log rafts were always in long strings as no lumberman ever wished to get his raft short enough to get it through the locks, but preferred to take it over the dam while the water was high. Fifty years ago logs were so plentiful as to be almost in the way and is there any old citizen who does not remember the great swimming places when everybody above Division street went to the upper saw logs and those below went to the lower saw logs, where at each place were plenty of spring boards and where young and old enjoyed themselves. During the afternoons great crowds would go up above the city where the old water works were built. The place is now the upper part of Sunset park and here they found a good current and splendid pure water, as the water from Green river found its way past there. Of course after dark the entire bank from the wharf boat up, was alive with bathers and from points all over, laughter could be heard until midnight. There were few accidents then and it is hard to tell why, except that there was always such a crowd that if a boy was in any danger there were always sturdy swimmers to go to his rescue and in those days a boy had to learn. If he was caught standing around and shivering, afraid to go in, he would be quickly pushed in while the pusher would deem it his duty to see that no harm befell him. In this way everyone of the youngsters somehow knew how to swim at an early age and this perhaps is the reason for so few accidents.
The experience of the early loggers was a great deal like that of the flat-boat men. The most of them who came here were a rough lot of back- woodsmen from up in the Lost, Barren and Pond river regions-great hunters, great lovers of whiskey and thorough backwoodsmen. To make their log rafts, they did exactly as did the old pioneers when they built their houses. No nails or iron of any kind was used on the entire raft, except perhaps a dozen or so in the little lean-to shanty which was always to be found just in the center of the middle tier of all big rafts. These rafts were made as follows :
After the logs had been floated into the main river from the little pond and creeks, a log would be held and an auger hole bored in the top near each end. Over this would pass a strip which was a very tough branch split directly in the center and a hole would be bored in this and a wooden peg driven right through into the log. The upper part of the raft was al- ways fastened to some tree and the raft held in place by the current, while the lower logs in turn were floated down and joined together. `After the raft was deemed long enough, a gouging oar similar to the one used on flat boats was put at each end. This in turn worked on a wooden peg. At one end of the raft, generally on the corner of the outside string, a lot of mud and clay would be fixed. This would be taken from the bank and beaten down until it made a hard flat surface similar to the hearth of the old country fire places, and holes were made in a log into which forked sticks were driven and over this hearth hung a kettle on which all the cooking was done. In the center of the little tier was a little lean-to shack.
CRESCENT EVANSVILLE
-
THIRD AVENUE SCHOOL BUILDING (Colored.)
145
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
I have seen them where they did not even use boards nor did they take the trouble to get straw on which to lie but like the primitive backwoodsman they built it with rough side logs and then gathered leaves for their beds. The entire outfit of the average raftsman consisted of one blanket and an extra pair of coarse and very heavy boots, as sometimes their feet were wet during the entire day but often times the young fellows who were making their first start, had only one pair of boots and dried out at night as best they could. And somehow the universal fiddle used to nearly al- ways be found on a raft and where two or three rafts would get together before entering the Ohio, there would be stag dances sometimes out on the bank and sometimes on the logs. These men, while not the equals of the raftsmen of Minnesota and the upper pine country, who could stand on a log and roll them beneath their feet and still keep their footing, yet still were expert loggers and with the spike and pole, they could stand on a log and take it almost anywhere they chose. The first mill here was the old Ahlering saw mill which stood where the residence of Mr. Walter M. Schmitt now stands. This existed there for many years and at one time did an enormous business. I think that the name of Pioneer Lumber King of Evansville rightly belongs to the late John A. Reitz, who came here in 1836. At the time of his arrival, he had only a very small amount of money but he was full of energy and industry and having had exeprience in the flouring mills of his father in Germany, he naturally drifted into ma- chinery and worked for a Mr. Olmstead who had the saw mill on Pigeon creek, just where it is crossed by the Stringtown road. In 1845 he went into partnership with Judge Stephens and built a mill at the mouth of Pig- eon creek. This mill was very successful from the start and did a fine business until 1855 when it was burned down. He immediately rebuilt and again in 1873 tore down the old mill and put up a third modern build- ing. It is said that in the ten years from 1883 to 1893 he turned out more hardwood lumber than any one sawmill in the United States. He used a double shift of hands and six days of the week the mill was run for 22 hours out of the 24. The two hours were allowed to go over the machin- ery, etc. While he made money in a great many ways, it is well known to most of our people that his saw mill was the real source of his wealth. So great did the demand for lumber become, that many others entered into it and just after Honorable John J. Kleiner was elected to Congress, he entered into partnership with Mr. Pat Raleigh, the only son of one of our oldest citizens and they built a splendid and most modern mill just below the other saw mills which were near the mouth of Pigeon creek. They put in the very best machinery that could possibly be gotten but there seemed to be some trouble about the handling of their logs. Possibly the very swift current just in front of their place made it impossible to hold the rafts there, but at any rate, the mill was dismantled. To give an idea of the many who have seen the great advantages in the lumber business in Evansville, the following list will be interesting :
146
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
The Federal Stave and Lumber Company, in the Waverly building, the Indiana Tie Company in the Furniture Exchange building, the Mossman Lumber Company in the Waverly building, Anderson & Veatch, on 8th street, the Cottage Building Company on 8th street, the Evansville Lumber Company on Delaware street, the Evansville Planing Mill Company, also on Delaware, the Fullerton & Powell Lumber Company on East Virginia, the Great Helfrich Lumber and Mfg. Company on West Franklin, the McFerson & Foster on the Belt Railroad, the MacLaren Lumber Company on Division street, the Henry Maley Lumber Company on Greenriver Road, the Maley & Wertz Lumber Company on Columbia, the Mechanics' Plan- ing Company on Main, the New York Dimension and Supply Company at Florida and Devon, the big T. E. Rechtin Lumber Company on Seventh street, the Clement Reitz Sons Company on Seventh avenue, John A. Reitz and Sons Company on Seventh avenue, Schnute-Holtmann Company on East Illinois street, Shultze, Waltman & Company on Ninth avenue, Thompson, Thayer & McGowan Lumber Company, East Columbia, Young & Cut- singer, on Morgan avenue, and the Wolflin & Luhring Lumber Company at Division and Morton streets. All of these firms deal more or less in lum- ber and they handle everything from lathes to the very heaviest of bridge timber. In fact, a man can come to Evansville from anywhere in the United States and get almost anything he wants in the way of wood, from toothpicks to the very heaviest piece of section timber, and not only that, but he can get what he needs in almost any variety of timber, and this is where Evansville excels. We hear of the vast lumber yards of Chicago, "The Lumber District," so to speak, but there we see only Michigan pine and lumber of that kind. We go to a southern lumber yard and we find the southern pine and much of it now useless, because the immense pine trees of the south have nearly all been "Turpentined," as they call it. That is, the vitality of the tree has been entirely sapped through the use of the sap for the making of turpentine and the lumber left in the tree of this kind, lasts only a very short time. In other sections of the south is noth- ing but spruce and woods of that kind, while Memphis, which is striving so hard at present to become a great lumber center, is compelled to rely on her portion of the wood that can be gotten from the state of Missouri. Naturally St. Louis will claim the greater portion of this, as her own right, so that the future of Memphis as a great lumber center is very pre- carious. While on this subject, it is pleasing to know that in this very section of the country where lumber has always been so plentiful, men of forethought have seen that through the wonderful demand caused by the rapid growth of the west, natural lumber will soon become very scarce and with an eye to the future, thousands of acres of land which is not of high fertility, have been turned into forest preserves. That is, they have been planted with trees of the variety most necessary to make good building material and if there should be a scarcity in this vicinity for a few years, it will not be so long until the new crop will be ready to take the place of
147
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
our old forests. Much has been said of the criminal waste of our trees in this very section, but this waste could not be helped. I have seen in clear- ings, where a farmer would open up a home, millions of feet of magnificent timber burned up to get it out of the way. So little did our foretathers care for the trees, that in building their rail fences, they often used walnut, because it split nicely. Think of the value of these walnut rails today. Years ago, when Eastern manufacturers were willing to pay almost any price for walnut, because it was used so much in veneering, thousands of walnut stumps were pulled up by stump pullers and in some cases, dug out by the roots and shipped on cars direct to New York city. Even if the pioneers had realized what the value of lumber would become in the future, they still should have been compelled to have used it, for this was long before the days of barb-wire fences and there were no stones in this country as there are all through New England and there was absolutely no way to build fences except with this timber, and of course the best grade timber which split the most easily was invariably selected, and of course he could not allow these great logs and branches to lie on the ground, so the only thing to do was to burn them up, and this was done as rapidly as possible. In this clearing up, even the small roots had to be gotten out of the way and they, with the smaller limbs and the "bresh," as they called it, were piled in huge piles of which the main branch of the tree formed the base and were set on fire. In thousands of cases that came under my own observa- tion, the magnificent forest trees were so thick that only a portion of them could be cut down and the others were girdled and allowed to stand. Of course in the spring after the girdling, the tree died and the branches fell one by one, but it is astonishing how long some of these old trunks have stood, for to this day in any except the very oldest farms which have been worked for many long years, they can be seen still standing like grim sen- tinels over the graves of their destroyed brethren.
Very naturally after leaving the subject of lumber, comes furniture. One of its greatest productions and as a furniture market, Evansville is very rapidly encroaching on her reputation as a hardwood lumber market. Of recent years the business has grown to enormous proportions and whereas it was only a short time ago that Grand Rapids and possibly one or two other cities were spoken of as furniture markets, all eyes are turning now to Evansville, and carload lots are being sent from here to every part of the country. The building of what is known as the Furniture Exchange was a great step forward and it has been of inestimable benefit to the furniture men in general as it gave them a beautiful place in which to show their various makes.
Going way back, it is a peculiar fact that the first furniture maker was the man who founded Evansville-Col. Hugh McGary. He had no tools but an axe, but he is said to have been quite an artist and with his axe blade sharpened until. it was almost as keen as a razor he could shave down the wood until it made quite a finished appearance. After fitting out his
148
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
own house, his neighbors began to call on him to make furniture for them and while it was crude, it was said to be very substantial. His first tables were made by taking the broad logs, splitting them and then shaving them as smooth as possible with his axe. There was no sandpaper in those days and no way of setting in the legs except through the ever-ready augur hole and the legs of the tables were made by driving in pegs of timber which had already been smoothed by the axe. As a last finishing process, he took the flat pieces of sandstone which could be found at Pigeon creek at the Falls, and rubbed down the tops of his tables with this. These sandstones were so soft that they rapidly adapted themselves to rough surfaces and became smooth and were sometimes used in place of flat irons by the pio- neer mothers. Again they were used for sharpening knives, so that a good piece of sandstone was a valuable asset in any pioneer family. The first real furniture factory in Evansville was established in 1836 by the Poalk Brothers. It was on the ground where the Morgan residence next to the St. George now stands. It is wonderful to see what beautiful work could be turned out even in those days, for Mr. James Scantlin of upper 3rd street has two pieces made in 1836. One is a bureau and the other a sideboard and they are as perfect today as when they were turned out many years ago. The first successors of the Poalk Brothers were the Armstrongs who for many years were known as the furniture men of Evansville. They established various factories and for a long time owned one just to the right of the bridge over Pigeon creek on Franklin street. They started with small be- ginnings but made money very fast and soon needed up-town offices, so that just after Samuel E. Gilbert retired from business, they rented from him the property known as the Gilbert Block, which consisted of three stores. To accommodate them, arches were opened between the cellars and all four of the floors, so that their furniture could be moved easily from one part to another and here they remained for many years, paying $9,000 per year rent until, wishing to strike out still further, they prevailed on Mr. D. J. Mackey to build them a building for furniture only and the house now occupied by the Ichenhauser plant was the result. The large open front and the fine light in this building together with the system of arrangement, is different from that of any other building in the city, with a view to giving the Armstrong's a better chance to display their work. For some years there were three of the brothers here, but two removed from the city and Mr. Uel Armstrong bought the old Barnes property at the head of Sunset park and resided there for many years, finally retiring from business and selling out to Mr. Puster, who at that time became about the only furniture man of note in Evansville. It was some years before a num- ber of enterprising men began to see the wonderful possibility for furni- ture manufacturing in this place but soon factories began to spring up everywhere. The furniture exchange was opened only a year ago and has 60,000 square feet of space. It has attracted great attention everywhere and has been one of the best advertisements ever put out by the city. It
149
HISTORY OF VANDERBURG COUNTY
grew out of a meeting of the furniture manufacturers and the prime mover in the matter was Ben Bosse, of the Big Six Carloading Association. He was aided by A. F. Karges of the Karges Furniture Company, H. H. Schu of the Crescent Furniture Company, H. J. Rusche of the Specialty Furni- ture Company, Edward Ploeter of the Bosse Furniture Company and the Evansville Metal Bed Company. It is said by those in a position to know, that the business has increased far beyond their expectations since this place was opened. Travelers have been here from all over the United States and even from foreign countries. There have been many new buyers who had never been here and who had never heard of Evansville as a furniture market until this building was put up. One of the merchants connected with it was asked where Evansville furniture was sold and he replied, "All over the world." It is a fact that there is not a state in the Union where Evans- ville furniture has not been sold of late. It has been sent to Mexico, Can- ada, Porta Rica, Panama, Cuba, the Philippines, and also to many countries in Europe. There is even now a representative of Evansville who is in South America, showing the different lines that are represented in this building. There is no reason why Evansville should not have great South American trade. The only competition that this city recognizes at all, is that of Grand Rapids, and with the saving in freight between here and that city, it will be but a short time until Grand Rapids will take second place. No one in the south or in the South American countries or in Cuba would think of sending to Grand Rapids and paying the difference in freight, when the same or better furniture can be sent direct from Evansville with a great saving in freight. Panama is taking quite a place and it is stated that six cars during one month have been sent to that place for distribu- tion. As a matter of note, Evansville furniture is now used by the royal family in England. About one year ago, the late King Edward sent a representative to the United States to buy furniture for his London Palace and this representative visited the various markets in this country in search of what he needed. We had no Evansville exchange at that time, but for- tunately the city had a large exhibit in St. Louis and the representative bought quite a lot of Evansville-made goods while there. It is claimed by our furniture men that practically every piece of furniture needed in a home is made right here in Evansville. One need not send away for any- thing and as to upholstering, that also can be done here, perhaps more cheaply than in any place in the United States. Mention has been made before, of the immense trade that will be brought to Evansville through the opening of the Panama canal and this applies practically to the furniture business, for when the Ohio river has the right stage, boats can be loaded right at this port for all points of the world. The furniture men all see this and realize what a great thing it will be. It is hard to tell just how much furniture is turned out at present, but $4,000,000 a year would be a very low estimate and with such increase as we had of late, it will be but a short time until $10,000,000 worth will be sent out yearly. We have the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.