USA > Indiana > Adams County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 35
USA > Indiana > Wells County > Standard history of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana : An authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 35
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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
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Company F, mostly composed of Montpelier and Ossian men, was, as stated, organized as a National Guard unit May 3, 1897. When mustered into the United States service April 26, 1898, it was of- ficered as follows: Captain, Elmer E. Derr: first lieutenant, Floyd R. Wilson ; second lieutenant, George MI. Mills; first sergeant, Stanley Allen ; quartermaster sergeant, Levi A. Todd; sergeants, Lafayette Allen, Warner J. Deam, Wilson Hoopengardner and Palmer O. Norris, all of the foregoing but the last named being from Ossian-Sergeant Norris of Roanoke; corporals, Harry W. Beatty, Frank E. Foughty, Victor H. Beatty and Robert F. Tisron, all of Ossian, as well as Frank L. Riley, of Sheldon, and Davis W. Wolfcale, of Uniondale ; musieians, Marion P. Allen and Clyde Wagner, of Ossian ; artificer, Samuel Al- bertson, Ossian ; wagoner, Franklin B. Snarr, Wells County. Of the 89 privates in Company F, 28 were from Montpelier, 21 from Ossian, 6 from Sheldon, 5 from Hartford City, 3 from Kingsland, 2 each from Toesin, Prospect, Zanesville, Roanoke and Poe, and one each from Uniondale, Warsaw, Marion and other scattering places. There was virtually no change in the officers.
The men of Companies E and F, like other units of the One Hun- dred and Sixtieth Regiment, were subjected to a thorough physical examination before being mustered into the volunteer service of the United States on May 12, 1898. The command left Camp Mount May 16th and proceeded by rail to Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Georgia, arriving there two days afterward. Under orders to proceed to Porto Rico, the regiment departed from Camp Thomas on July 28th and arived at Newport News, Virginia, on the 30th. As the orders for Porto Rican service had been countermanded, its next destination was Camp Hamilton, Lexington, Kentucky, and it arrived there on August 23d. It was at Columbus, Georgia, in November, 1898. On January 15, 1899, the regiment was ordered to proceed, in three sections, to Matanzas, Cuba, where it was reunited on January 27th and went into camp. There it remained until March 27th, ready for action, but denied any experience of real Cuban warfare. On the date named the men were ordered to proceed to Savannah, Georgia, to prepare for muster out, which occurred at that city April 25, 1899.
IN THE WAR AGAINST GERMANY, ET AL.
A number of the young men of Wells County volunteered to serve in the war of 1917-18 ( ?) against Germany and the other C'en- tral Powers of Europe.
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CAPTAIN DUNN AND COMPANY A
In April Charles R. Dunn, of Bluffton, organized Company A, of the Fourth Indiana National Guard, the members of which were largely citizens of Decatur and Adams County. This being the case, it was sworn into the service of the United States at Decatur in Au- gust. Captain Dunn had served in the Spanish-American war as a member of Company E, which had been organized in his home town. IIis connection with the organization of the company is thus de- scribed in the Decatur Evening Herald: "The history of Company A, Fourth Indiana Infantry, starts on April 1, 1917, a few days after our relations with the German Empire were broken off, when Capt. Charles R. Dunn began soliciting for recruits for a new company. After a short time he was joined in the work by Lieut. Robert Pat- terson. It was also at about this time that it was decided to have the headquarters of the new organization in this city (Decatur).
"Iu a comparatively short time enough enlistments had been, se- cured to assure a company, and on April 25th, after the physical examination was given by an officer designated for the purpose, the boys were mustered in as Company A, Fourth Indiana National Guard. The ceremony took place on the evening of April 27th, at the Soldiers' Monument, in the presence of a large crowd, Maj. P. A. Davis, of Indianapolis, having charge. At the conclusion of this service, an impressive and appropriate address was given by Hon. Clark Lutz, of Decatur. Subsequent to the above event, Captain Dunn and Lieutenant Peterson were given their respective commis- sions by Governor Goodrich.
"On August 11th and 12th, the company was given its federal inspection by Lient. R. B. Moore. The results of the examination were given out later, and showed that five had failed to pass, a num- ber very small in comparison with those of other companies in the vicinity. Members who received their honorable discharges were Dwight N. Archer and M. Richardin, of Bluffton; Robert Allspaw, of Berne; George H. Sprague, of Monroe, and Frank Hower, of Decatur. This brought the roster down to 109."
The Fourth Indiana Regiment was commanded by Col. Robert L. Moorehead, of Indianapolis, who, during the Spanish-American war, had served as a sergeant major in the One Hundred and Fifty- eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Subsequently, he rose to the rank of major in the Second Indiana National Guard. Company A, with other units of the regiment, went to Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mis- sissippi.
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VOLUNTEERS AND DRAFTED MEN
In the first quota of volunteers the following boys went from Wells County : Jefferson Brinneman, Liberty Center ; Paul H. Cook, Poneto; Charles Fryback, Richard Harden, Sherman Kumpf, Homer Miller, Roscoe Stout and Medford Wynne, Bluffton.
Later eame the series of drafts, with the result that, by November, 1917, the following were at Camp Shelby, distributed among various commands of the National Army: From Bluffton-Clarence A. Martin, Ray O. Vondersmith, Claude E. Zaekmire, James HI. Mason, Otis V. Plank, David Eddington, Elwin B. Johnson, Charles E. Grandlienard, George S. Studabaker, William II. Inskeep, William C. Humeriekhouse, Alphonso Vachon, John Groh, Earl E. Strohm, Emery L. Cotton, John D. Helms, Gerald M. Dailey, Floyd E. Sands, Jesse Brown, Urban M. Penee, C. B. Ratliff, Charles R. Sturgeon, Raymond J. Tinsman, Hiram Lockwood, Grant S. Hughes, True W. Shepherd, Rudolph W. Borne, William E. Pennington, John A. Ever- sole, Harmon F. Brubaker, Robert E. Nash, Oral Meyers, Vaughn Abshire, Gordon Graham, Ray Gordon, Wayne Summers, Frank Wet- riek and Manuel E. Stinson. The seven last named were the first of the drafted boys to leave for camp. The Ossian contingent eom- prised : Walter E. Werling, William F. Meyer, Fred A. Ileekman, Adolph H. Bauermeister, Clarence A. Jackson, Charles M. Neuen- sehwander, Milo C. Vanee Wilson, Harold Travis, Benjamin F. H. King, Jerre Clark, Hubert Cochran, Robert N. Wolf, Ora C. Toppin, Curtis E. Quaekenbush; from Markle-Ralph E. Allen, Harry King and B. E. Swaim; Petroleum-Chauney King, Forrest C. Johnson, John W. Fox, Lester Knigand, John Shoemaker; Vera Cruz-Fred Heiniger, Albert Baumgardner, Harry Heche and George Heiniger ; Poneto-James II. IIuffman, Otto C. Cossairt, Areh S. Davis and Hugh Kindlesparger; Toesin-Warren G. Kleinknight; Craigville- Frank R. Diehl: Fort Wayne-Lloyd Moore; Warren-Lawrence L. Beavans, Verl C. Ebert, Ray B. Cliekand, Lawrence Earhart ; Union- dale- Frederick T. Riee; Detroit-Albert L. Lewis; Montpelier- Guy A. Kilander, Ralph J. Carter and William E. Riggs; Keystone -Cary E. Mounsey, Frederick D. Day and Edgar L. Lowery; Lib- erty Center-Robert B. Moore; Kingsland-Carroll P. Pursley. Up to the 15th of November, 1917, when the names were published in the Bluffton papers, eighty-seven boys had been selected through the drafts to represent Wells County in the National Army.
CHAPTER XXI
CITY OF BLUFFTON
ORIGINAL TOWN SURVEYED AS BLUFFTON-FIRST SALE OF LOTS-FIRST MERCHANT AND TOWN TRUSTEES-MAYORS OF THE CITY-ORIGINAL OFFICIALS AND ORDINANCES-"MARKERS" OF PROGRESS-PIONEER AND EARLY INDUSTRIES-THE FIRST NEWSPAPER-THE FIRST BANK -INDUSTRIES OF THE '70S AND '80S-THE BLISS HOUSE BUILT- BRIDGES OVER THE WABASH-TELEPHONE PLACED IN SERVICE-THE WATERWORKS-CITY BUYS ELECTRIC PLANT-PROFESSOR ALLEN WRITES OF THE SCHOOLS-TEACHER LOST IN BLUFFTON WILDS- EARLY DISCIPLINARIANS AND SCHOOLS-THE "HIGH" SCHOOL- THE CENTRAL BUILDING AND SUPERINTENDENT REEFY-HIGH SCHOOL ORGANIZED BY PROFESSOR ALLEN-COMPLETION OF DIF- FERENT SCHOOL BUILDINGS-LIST OF SUPERINTENDENTS-THE PUB- LIC LIBRARY-THE LOCAL PRESS OF BLUFFTON-THE BANKS OF BLUFFTON-BLUFFTON INDUSTRIES-WELLS COUNTY HOSPITAL- BROAD BREATHING SPACES-BLUFFTON'S CHURCHES-THE METHO- DIST CHURCHES-FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-BLUFFTON BAPTIST CHURCH-OTHER ACTIVE RELIGIOUS BODIES-OLD UNIVERSALIST AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETIES-SECRET AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES- THE MASONS ODD FELLOWSHIP IN BLUFFTON-KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS AND PYTHIAN SISTERS-OTHER LODGES, TENTS, CAMPS, HIVES, ETC.
Bluffton' is one of the smaller cities of Indiana, which combines an unusual variety of advantages, growing from its geographical po- sition as the natural center of a rich area, which has induced con- tinuous accessions of population, as well as from the enterprising and substantial character of those who founded the community. Thus were established the assurances of comfortable homes, good schools, and a high grade of social and religious life. Men and women came, remained, reared families, and induced capital to flow in from the more settled and richer sections of the country, until the community was closely woven into the great systems of railways destined to bind the Valley of the Ohio and the East with the Lakes Region of the
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West. Bluffton has thus become a strong link in the industrial, com- mercial and civic chain of brisk municipalities, which have made Eastern Indiana famous. It lies almost midway between Fort Wayne and Muncie, with which cities its history has been intimately mingled, and from which it drew much of its earlier inspiration and stamina.
ORIGINAL TOWN SURVEYED AS BLUFFTON
Bluffton was not a town until it had been created as the county seat, and the original survey was made by John Casebeer, the county
SCENE IN VILLA NORTH, BLUFFTON
surveyor, in March, 1838. The plat was recorded on the 23d of the month, and the name of the new town and county seat was suggested by Robert C. Bennett, Sr., one of the commissioners, who had do- nated land for its site, and, with Peter Studabaker, was considered its sturdiest champion. The name was suggested, not because of the land on the south side of the Wabash River at that point is par- ticularly high or abrupt, but merely from the fact that the town site was on the bluff side of the stream.
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FIRST SALE OF LOTS
James R. Greer, the county agent, laid out the original town of Bluffton into 191 lots, and put them up for sale on the 16th of June, following the recording of the plat. Only the alternate lots were sold, and three or four were reserved for Almon Case, to pay him for entertaining visitors at the sale. It was provided that the pur- chasers should have the privilege of cutting all timber that might en- danger themselves or their property.
The day arriving (June 16, 1838), the first lot was sold by Mr. Greer for $92, and others in like proportion. The sale was said to have been very "spirit-ed," the records showing that Almon Case was allowed five dollars for whisky on that occasion, aud James Scott seventy-five cents for a jug of the same. The liquor was furnished free to all prospective buyers of town lots; being handed around in buckets, "straight." It is reported that all were more or less in- toxicated. Mr. Case had been granted a yearly tavern license, the first one in the county, which, in those times, carried with it the right to make as many of the citizens drunk as he and they saw fit -- that is, the tavern license carried with it the right to retail whisky. Mr. Case's tavern was succeeded by the Exchange Hotel, on the south- east corner of Main and Market streets. Both were noted stopping places in the days of the stage coaches.
Ten per cent of the funds derived from the sale of lots was re- served for a county library. On the 16th day of August, following the first sale of lots, in June, the county agent laid out an addition of fifty-six lots, which was the first of a long progeny.
FIRST MERCHANT. AND TOWN TRUSTEES
The next month John Studabaker obtained from the commissioners a license to sell merchandise, and has, therefore, always been classed as the "first regular merchant" of Bluffton. He erected a log pen, with clapboard doors, into which he moved his little stock. This he bartered, instead of selling it for cash, coon-skins and furs being the common mediums of exchange. At about the same time the office of the county clerk was built. These two structures then com- prised all the improvements on Market Street, and the view between them was obstructed by various patches of timber, so that strangers usually had to be guided from one to the other.
In 1840 Bluffton had 225 inhabitants, while the entire County of Wells had 1,822.
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The first trustees of Bluffton were Nelson Kellogg, Lewis S. Grove, Joseph A. Williams, Engle Starr and William Strode. Mr. Kellogg was elected president and Mr. Grove appointed elerk.
MAYORS OF THE CITY
Bluffton was incorporated February 12, 1851, sinee which date the following have acted as mayors: David Angel, 1851; Samuel Deeker, 1852; J. H. Buckles, 1853; C. W. Beardsley, 1854; S. R. Karns, 1855; C. S. Bergan, 1856; J. E. Brown, 1857; J. R. MeCleery, 1858; I. A. Godard, 1859; W. R. Ferguson, 1859; Robert Russell, 1860; Newton Burwell, 1861; John McFadden, 1865; C. G. Quiek, 1866: N. Kellogg, 1868; Levi Mock, 1869; William Blackstone, 1877; David T. Smith, 1879; E. C. Vaughn, 1881; II. L. Martin, 1883; James P. Hale, 1883-89; Martin W. Walbert, 1889-94; La Vergne B. Stevens, 1894-97; James P. Ilale, appointed May 26, 1897, for un- expired term of four years; James P. Plessinger, eleeted for term 1898-1902; John Mock, 1902-06; Walter Hamilton, 1906-10; Frank Smith, 1910-14: John Moek, 1914-8; William B. Little, ex-county assessor, mayor-elect.
ORIGINAL OFFICIALS AND ORDINANCES
The first councilmen of Bluffton, who served in 1851-52, were Thomas L. Wisner, Bowen Hale, John Eby and C. T. Melsheimer. The pioneers among the village officials comprised : John Plessinger, mar- shal; Erastus K. Bascom, treasurer; George MeDowell, street com- missioner. The original municipal year was from May to May.
It is of record that the first ordinances passed by the eouneil after Bluffton was incorporated, in February, 1851, were as follows:
1. Taxing each family for the first dog, 50 cents, and for each additional dog, $1; also 50 cents on each $100 of real and personal property, and a poll tax of 50 cents for street improvements.
2. Imposing fines for driving or riding within the corporation limits faster than a common trot, except when going for a physician ; shooting for sport, gambling or disorderly eonduet, retailing spirituous liquors in less quantities than a quart without a license from the corporation ; selling or giving liquors to minors or drunkards.
"MARKERS" OF PROGRESS
In the lives of villages and eities, as in those of individuals, the oeeurrenee of certain events are recognized as "markers," or, m
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time-worn phraseology-therefore, in a way, tried, true and valuable -"mile posts." The founding of the first schools and churches, the establishment of distinctive industries, the spanning of the home river by a permanent bridge, the building of the pioneer railroad, the opening of good hotels and stores and the coming of the most de- sirable community-builders, are some of the happenings which are admitted to be worthy of special and consecutive note before the continuous development of such seedlings into laudable institutions and successful men and women is described in detail.
Almon Case had scarcely got his tavern under way, and John Studabaker had been bartering his meager stock of goods for only a very short time, before those who believed that education and re- ligion should walk together as handmaidens in all American com- munities were active at Bluffton. In the year of the platting of the town, Rev. George W. Bowers, a Methodist missionary, preached the first sermon at the county seat, under an oak tree at the foot of John- son Street. He lived many years in an adjoining county to enjoy that honor. Sometime in the following year, 1839-40, the first school- house was built within the town limits. It was a log shack, thrown up on the land of William Studabaker, its more exact location being the northeast corner of the lot afterward occupied by the residence of Henry Thoma, on Scott Street. The first teacher to hold forth in this crude schoolhouse was a United Brethren minister, Asa Cohoe by name. It is said that even his combined duties did not overwork him, but Mr. Cohoe centered in his person many of the best hopes and ambitions of what was then Bluffton.
The Baptists, Universalists and Presbyterians entered the religious field within the succeeding four years, and in 1847 the Bugle gave notice that from that year on, the local newspaper could not be ignored as a Bluffton inspiration and stimulus. Also, in 1840, Robert C. Bennett, Sr., one of the founders of the town, transformed a large frame house, across the street and east from the courthouse, into the Exchange Hotel. Mr. Case was its landlord, and made it a credit to Bluffton, in the way of comfort and sociability. It became one of the most popular stopping places in Eastern Indiana for travelers passing through the country, and for the lawyers and out-of-town people who came to Bluffton on various errands of business and pleasure. Besides Mr. Bennett and John Studabaker, Henry Thoma had come into prominence as a leading merchant and business man, and he later established a furniture business, which developed into an extensive mercantile house.
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PIONEER AND EARLY INDUSTRIES
The two representative industries of Bluffton, in the early times, were the grist mill, built in 1849 by Williams & Morgan, at the foot of Main Street, and the Bluffton Woolen Mills. The latter proved a most unprofitable venture, and the enterprise was finally crushed be- yond revival by the fire of 1879, which destroyed the plant. The grist mill enterprise, however, passed through the usual stages of be- ing operated by water power and steam. Regular flour mills after- ward came into this field of industry. The Clayton Mill was built on South Street, cast of Main, in the late '50s, and in 1861 was pur- chased by J. T. Clayton. In 1886 he introduced the roller system to the millers and public of Wells County. After the Civil war pe- riod, was erected the flour mill near the railroad bridge, of which C. S. Burgan and D. Brown & Son were proprietors at different periods.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER
Although there is no hard and fast rule by which to measure the "pioneer period" of any community, in the case of Bluffton it would probably be safe to say that the decade or dozen years from the plat- ting of the town as the county seat would fall well within that desig- nation. In fact, if any rule could be applied to American communi- ties by which they could be said to have graduated from the raw state of existence, it was that such condition virtually ceased with the establishment of the press in their midst. It will be remembered that the Republican Bugle first commenced to blow at Bluffton in 1847. Two years later that newspaper quoted the following as the ruling prices of the local market: Wheat, 50 cents; rye, 28 cents; corn, shelled, 25 cents ; oats, 19 cents; flaxseed, 56 cents; butter, per pound, 8 cents ; ginseng, 25 cents; beeswax, 18 cents; feathers, 25 cents ; eggs, per dozen, 5 cents. The foregoing prices are certainly inter- esting, by comparison with the war prices of 1918; but many things can happen in seventy years besides a complete revolution in living conditions as they simply affect the stomach.
THE FIRST BANK
Perhaps the next most epochal event from the viewpoint of local happenings after the establishment of the Bugle was the founding of the first bank as a local necessity. Business men demanded it and
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the business warranted it. In 1856 John Studabaker commenced lending money and selling New York exchange in connection with his produce trade. In 1863, in company with George Arnold, Jeffrey Bliss. Amos Townsend and James Van Emon, he organized the First National Bank of Bluffton, with a capital of $50,000. In 1868 it closed business, and on New Year's Day of 1869, he associated him- self with John and Peter Studabaker and Hugh Dougherty in the formation of the Exchange Bank, which, still later, became The Studa- baker Bank.
OLD CORN PLANTER FACTORY
In the '70s, a number of local industries assumed form. One of the first was placed on its feet by Dr. T. Horton, who furnished the capital to the Bluffton Manufacturing Company in 1871. for the primary purpose of making the eorn planter invented by Samuel .Jones, a poor blacksmith of the place. A washing machine was after- ward added to the output of the factory, as well as a new rotary corn planter, but two of the original partners withdrew, complications arose with the patentees, the business went into the hands of a receiver, and, with the passage of the years, "petered out."
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INDUSTRIES OF THE '70S AND '80S
In 1870 G. W. Breckenridge, of Fort Wayne, built a factory on Washington Street, near the railroad, for the manufacture of hubs and spokes and other forms of hard-wood products. The Norths- Jere and Brother-afterward assumed the industry. In 1877, J. E. and C. A. MeKendry, father and son, established a mill at the june- tion of South Street with the railroad, for the manufacture of barrel staves and heading. A portion of the plant was moved to Muncie by the elder MeKendry in 1884. In the same year Theodore Horton founded the Bluffton Shovel Handle Works, the products of which were shipped to the famous firm of Oliver Ames & Sons, of Massa- chusetts. In 1886 Frank Adams also established a mill for the manu- facture of barrel parts, at South Street and the Wabash Railroad.
THE BLISS HOUSE BUILT
In April, 1884, the Bliss House was thrown open to the public, and it has since been the leading hotel of Bluffton, having been im- proved several times and brought up to date. The original building was erected by Jeffrey Bliss, at a cost of about $10,000.
BRIDGES OVER THE WABASH
As to the various bridges which have been thrown across the Wabash, to bind the people of Bluffton to the landsmen of the re- gion, near and far, the first structure of the kind was a stout frame near the dam ; the second, also an uncovered frame, was built on Main Street; the third, a covered frame, was carried away in the winter of 1887. The bridge last named was replaced by an iron structure, on Main Street, completed in March of that year, at a cost, with masonry, of $12,000. The contractor and builder was the Indiana Bridge Company of Muncie.
In the meantime a number of distinctive publie improvements had been completed. In 1879 the City Building, a large two-story brick structure, had been erected for the accommodation of the City Council, the fire department and other municipal business. A few years afterward the fire department had so developed that it pos- sessed two chemical engines, two hose carts and hook and ladder, which, in connection with the Holly System of Water Works, consti- tuted an efficient protection against fire.
Vol. 1-25
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TELEPHONE PLACED IN SERVICE
The telephone was first placed in service at Bluffton in 1882, and James Sales was the first manager of the local exchange.
THE WATER WORKS
The original city water works were built during the summer of 1886, at a cost of $17,755, and commenced operations in September
THE WATER WORKS
of that year. Their daily capacity was 1,000,000 gallons. The pump- ing station was near the river and the eastern corporation line, and the original distributing system embraced 21/4 miles of water mains. Thirty-three fire hydrants were in commission as a part of the system of fire protection.
The original water works were under the management of three trustees-L. A. Williamson, Charles G. Quick and George F. Mc- Farren. The well from which the supply was drawn was thirty feet
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across and was sunk to a depth of 480 feet. In 1890 a deep well, eight inches in diameter, was bored to a depth of 1,200 feet, and in the following year one was put down more than twice that depth. A new set of pumps was installed in 1892, at a cost of $3,000, and four 450-foot wells were added to the plant the same year. In 1902 three more were sunk.
CITY BUYS ELECTRIC PLANT
The City of Bluffton has owned its water works since their es- tablishment, and in 1896, after its residents had been supplied with electric lights and power for some time by a private company, the municipality bought the arc-lighting system for the benefit of its streets, and in 1903 took over the commercial part of the business. Since that time the combined plants and systems for the supply of both water and electricity have been municipal property. The total number of water consumers is now 825; number of electric con- sumers, 1,200; appraised value of the plant, $140,000. Within the city limits are 110 are street lights, 12 arches and 35 ornamental posts. The present number of fire hydrants is 110, the annual tax for their maintenance being $5,000. The same amount is raised annually for lighting the streets. The last accessible figures as to the finances of the two departments indicate that the gross earnings, on account of water, are about $14,000 annually, and the expenses, nearly $10,000; the same items on the electrical account being respectively, $37,000 and $23,000 ..
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