USA > Indiana > Lake County > The First Hundred Years (1938) > Part 13
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
With fear and trembling I went to the Grand Trunk officials and told them that the farmers were very slow in taking hold of a new enterprize, and that I was sure if they would put the train on others would soon get the habit and we would grow to some importance. As luck would have it the Valparaiso people just at that time were asking the Grand Trunk people to give them an ac- commodation train, so they agreed to put on our milk and accom- modation train. It has never missed a day from that time to this, only when it was stuck in the snow for several days and the train crew lived on milk and cream. For a while our train was loaded very light, but gradually increased in business. The Chicago deal- ers found Indiana milk all right and when there was a shortage they would rush out here and induce some new man to ship. It finally got to be contagious and now it is the exception rather than the rule, where a farm along the Grand Trunk near enough to be convenient for hauling, does not furnish milk for the Chicago market.
At the early stages of the game we just had cows and cow stables and feed raised on the farm and at times bought a little wheat bran. We were farmers making milk. If we had a cow that would give 35 pounds of milk per day we thought she was a dandy. Some of us were readers and students of the business and we decided that, to get the most out of our business we should have better cows. The best and cheapest way to get them was to
-135-
buy good bulls and raise the heifer calves from the best cows. For furnishing whole milk to the city the Holstein cow seemed best to fill our needs. The pioneers along this line were Boyd Brothers, Schilo Brothers, Fred Knieter, Frank Haffman and myself. It was just wonderful what a little money spent in good bulls did for this young dairy country. It was only a few years until the beautiful black and white Holstein cow was very much in evidence and the yield of milk per cow had doubled. While we were get- ting better cows we were at the same time learning how to feed and care for them. Better barns were built, commercial protein feeds were bought. We have tried almost everything but there is more gluten feed bought in this section than all other feeds put together. We were now getting to be dairymen, which means a high order of farming, making a study of every detail and doing the work in the best possible manner.
Nineteen years ago I built the first silo in this community. There were two or three more between here and Valparaiso. The next year I built another one, each holding 100 tons. From that time on silo building has had a slow, steady growth until last year, and I look for more to be built next year than there were last year.
This section has furnished two principal agitators in the organization of the milk shippers for the management of their business. Some 20 or 25 years ago a Mr. Merryfield, of Valparaiso, came on the scene and proposed to cure all the ills that befell the milk shippers. He was a good talker, not practical, very vision- ary, and his efforts wound up in a dismal afilure. The small dealers were a bunch of hard business men, mostly foreigners, no knowledge of business principles and not altogether honest. Their idea of dealing with the shipper was to give him at the end of the month about what they thought he should have or what he would take without too much kicking. The shipper would not know what he was to get for his milk when he went up to settle with his dealer, who would generally have the money counted and tied up in a rag ready to be delivered over. By treating the shipper to a glass of beer and pretzels, the dealer thought everybody should be happy regardless of what we got for the milk.
But not so-one Simon Hill of Ross township, a new milk shipper, but one of pronounced ideas, rose up and said the shipper should have something to say about the price of milk and should know what it was going to bring before it left the farm. That was about 12 years ago. He had considerable organizing ability and called a meeting at the Sherman House in Chicago with a fair representation from all of the milk shipping districts about Chicago, and there we organized the old milk shippers' union
-136-
with S. Hill secretary and general manager. He was unique in more ways than one. He could hob-nob with the mayor of the city or buldoze the worst kind of a Polack milk dealer. We had a hard time making the dealers understand we had any rights they were bound to respect. Finally H. B. Farmer got in command, was level headed and a pretty good general, and the old milk shippers union was the means for a lot of good. But it did not satisfy everybody, and the rest is late history.
To return to Ross township, a number of us started grading up our herds by buying good bulls, gradually worked up in the breeding of full bloods to some extent, and I believe there are some good herds of Holstein cows in Ross township as you will find most anywhere, and when the sign comes right I am going to send you some photos of them and tell you what we are doing here as in- dividual producers.
Lake County, Indiana, has gravel roads crossing the north half that carry milk to Chicago, Hammond, South Chicago, Indiana Harbor, East Chicago and Gary. There is a big auto truck that hauls from this vicinity to East Chicago. The Gary and Southern Electric Railway has just commenced to pick up milk along its route and deliver in Gary, which in a short time is going to do considerable business in milk. In another short time the towns in northern Lake County are going to use all, and more, milk than will be produced in the county.
Business for the Grand Trunk milk train increased year by year until the gas drawn truck came into use. The trucks picked up the milk cans right at the farmers' door so naturally railroad milk hauling declined. Finally the milk train was taken off.
Hauling by trucks broadened the area from which milk was shipped to the cities, creating an over supply and in turn, decreas- ing the price to the producer. The consumer did not always bene- fit accordingly. The time came when the milk driver got more for delivering a quart of milk to the home than the farmer got for it. The farmer had capital invested in the enterprize while the driver had none, the milk dealer supplying the horse and wagon.
In late years, many families have adopted the practice of driving out into the country and buying their milk directly from the farmer. This is as it should be-from producer right to consumer. Cooperation between these two classes will work for the benefit of both.
-137-
ARTICLES FROM "CALUMET NEWS"
The continuing articles in this book were written for our local paper, The Calumet News, from week to week. The articles were prompted by the questions of the day as they came up and the editor, Miss Ora M. Riggs, allowed me full and free expres- sion on any subject that I had a mind to tackle. So here is per- fect freedom of the press and free speech without strings.
May 2, 1930
LOCAL HISTORY
Lake County
Lake County is the northwest county in the state of Indiana. and the Calumet region is the northwest section of Lake County. At this time there is no small section of the globe that is re- ceiving more attention in the way of business and commerce than the Calumet region. But it was not always so.
Up to the time that the G. H. Hammond Company started a slaughter house at the state line, now called Hammond, about 60 years ago the Calumet region was a wilderness with the exception of the trunk line railways running through this section and a few scattered houses where the men lived along the lines in the dif- ferent villages of Tolleston, Clark, Hessville and Gibson. It was made up of sand ridges and marshes and its principal crop was huckleberries, wintergreens and sand-burrs. In a great many places it had dense growth of underbrush which had the reputa- tion of hiding the horrses and horse thieves on their road to Chicago from south and eastern sections. And there were many railway cars brorken into and goods thrown off as they passed through the wilderness, and then the goods was picked up by wagon and team and hauled to the hiding place.
The Calumet region was noted for its game and fur bearing animals with its broad expanse of overflow land which grew to perfection the wild rice for the food of the ducks and geese. It was the natural home of the muskrat and mink, and no one was denied the right to hunt, fish and trap to the heart's content. Many a good hunter would fill his boat with ducks, and some times wild geese. The fur bearing animals were not only caught with traps but when the sloughs were frozen up the hunter
-138-
would have a long straight spear to plunge into the muskrat's house and generally secure the rats in great numbers.
Chicago sporting men, coming to know of the good hunting on the Calumet, organized a club, bought up a lot of this good hunting ground, built a club house southwest of Tolleston and proceeded to have a great time and, if all reports are true, there was a lot going on there besides hunting. The boys over the coun- try who were accustomed to hunt and fish wherever they wanted to, continued to hunt on the Club grounds after being ordered off. Before the war was over there were four different ones shot-one the bullet went completely through him-but no one killed.
Not so many years ago the land where Gary now is could be bought for 10 or 12 dollars an acre. In fact, for agricultural pur- poses it was entirely worthless. But as a place to build railroads and mills it fits into the general plan in fine fashion. As to its im- portance in politics it was of small consequence as compared with the rest of the county, but now it just about dominates the whole thing. Most of the voters of the Calumet region in this early day were workers on the railroads of German descent and liked their beer. Every burg had a big saloon. The candidates for office would go over to set up the beer to melt the voters and get ac- quainted. But the big thing for a candidate to do was to see Joe Hess, the founder of Hessville who kept a general store and a sa- loon, the main part of the business being the selling of beer. Joe carried the whole political situation in his vest pocket and the candidate that got Joe's approval got the vote north of the Cal- umet. He was also township trustee and the prospective teachers would go into the saloon to sign their contracts.
About 1856 the Michigan Central was built through Lake County on its way to Chicago and about the same time the Illi- nois Central was built from Chicago south and west, and in 1857 the Joliet cut-off was built from Lake Station (what is now called East Gary) to Joliet. They established two stations in Lake County-Ross and Dyer-which were very important at that time as they built big grain elevators and grain was hauled 20 to 30 miles to these stations. Part of the teams which drew the loads were oxen. There would be long lines in waiting to unload at these elevators and a hotel and store at that time did a big business. The engine was a small contraption to what it is now and the steam was generated by fire from cord wood. A great lot of it was kept piled up in the depot yard ready for use.
Griffith was not thought of until Divine Providence centered all railroads there. Her early history was not as colorful as Ross or Dyer but modern conditions may make her more important than both of them.
-139-
May 9, 1930
RIDGE ROAD
The Ridge Road lying between the Calumet river and the Cady Marsh is one of the best known wagon roads (now better called automobile roads) second only to Lincoln Highway in now a choice residence district for popularity. It extends from the Illinois line at Lansing to Hobart. It is most of its length, the ridge above the road making a very desirable location for homes.
But it was not always thus. Mrs. Joseph Douthett relates some of the early incidents of her father Rodvick, better known as Red Johnson and what she has heard of her grandfather's experiences. Mike Johnson was a pioneer settler on Ridge Road east of Highland. Deer were very plentiful in an early day and Mike would have the trees decorated along the road with deer heads and antlers.
When Rod was a boy he went down on the Calumet bottoms after a very cold night and found the ducks frozen in the ice, and with a stick he killed and sold enough ducks to buy 20 acres of land at $1.25 per acre, government price, which was $25.00 for the 20 acres.
At another time Mike and his son Rod took the hired man along and went rabbit hunting where Black Oak now is. Mike and Rod did the shooting and the hired man picked them up. They quit when they got a wagon box full and called it a day. Rod saw a flock of wild geese light north of where the school house is in Highland, got on a horse and brought in 5 fat ones before breakfast. Ducks were so plentiful they did not bother about cutting them up-just served each one a whole duck.
Wolves were plentiful and they would come around the houses and make so much noise it would disturb the sleep of the inhabitants. Muskrats were caught by the thousands in traps and when the marshes were frozen over folks would travel on the ice and thrust a long spear into the house of the muskrat and empan- el him on the spear. At that time the skins were worth from 5 to 10 cents each.
Fish were plentiful in the calumet and, in drawing the net, part of the catch would be bull frogs and turtles. Mike made a pretty good trade, the way things turned out, when he traded a yoke of oxen for 40 acres of land.
Up at Munster lives August Richter who came there in 1862 with his father Christ Richter. At that time Ridge Road was just wide enough for a wagon and had big trees on both sides. The pioneers of Munster beside the Richters were Case Klotwyk grandfather of John Klotwyk, who now runs the store, Jacob
-140-
Munster the first postmaster. Olive Brass and wife who were widely known in early times as keepers of The Brass Tavern.
Harvey Wilson, one of the early settlers had a son by name Chausey. They both were drafted at the time of the Civil War and both were killed in the army. Chausey had a son by name Charles, who now lives in Hammond.
A. N. Hart came into this section in 1857 and bought 5 or 6 thousand acres of government land, paying $1.25 per acre. He had great faith in the future of this locality and was often heard to say, "This land will be valuable some day." A great portion of ยท his possessions was wet land, and ditching was his hobby and the cause of success. He with the help of hired men and two yoke of oxen plowed a ditch from Plumb Creek at Dyer to Ridge Road. The ridge had to be deepened more and Hart and Dibble hired Eldred Munster, Jr. and father of Ben Munster to make it deep- er. This he did by filling a big box with sand and drawing it out of the ditch with oxen. There were no scrapers or steam shovels in those days and that was the beginning of the big ditch you now cross on Ridge Road west of Highland.
Mr. Hart loved to ditch. He had a one horse buggy to ride over the farm in, and always carried a hoe and if he saw an ob- struction in a ditch would stop and clean it out. His death was caused by a high bank of a ditch caving in on him. He had sev- eral sons and one daughter. His oldest son, West, was consider- able of a sport and would rather make his living by his wits than by hand work. He was quite a horse trader and a good story is told of West getting a fine mule and selling it to his father. Some time after he was hard pressed for cash and he asked his father what he would give for a mate to the mule he had sold him. His father offered him a good price. West went to the pasture and got the mule and sold it to him the second time. The father was pleased to get such a good mate for the mule until he found out he had only one mule.
Ira C. Dibble was another big government land buyer m early times. He sold part of his purchase to Charley Wicker and Wicker Park is now of that tract.
An old family by the name Kimbell had a son named Dick, and a daughter who married Thomas George Mesham, an Eng- lishman, who had an endowment from his people in England, which he spent mostly for high power drink. He was one, we think, who caused the bringing about of the 18th Amendment.
Steve Reed another old settler and Civil War veteran, who lost his eye in the army, was at one time justice of the peace and, if occasion required, he could administer justice by personal ap-
-141-
plication. His daughter, Phena, married Leroy Holms, and they live in California. They have just lately celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.
You can say of Ridge Road in the words of the "Ode to the Indian": "Not many generations ago where you now sit with all that exalts and embellishes civilized life the rank thistle nodded in the wind and the wild fox dug his hole unscared."
TOLLESTON GUN CLUB SHOOTING
The 19th day of January, 1897, was a day long to be remem- bered in the Calumet region. It was not news of the steel mills erecting another unit costing millions of dollars, or that another harbor was to be built-but the Tolleston Gun Club and the farm- ers and natives of the region had had a battle on the marshes of the Calumet, where they shot at each other at close range and reported several dead and others severely wounded.
The Tolleston Gun Club was made up of about 250 Chicago sporting men who built a club house southeast of Tolleston, on the banks of the Calumet marsh, and bought up a lot of the swamp land, which was a great home for ducks and muskrat, and they would come out there and have a great time shooting ducks and other game. But, according to all reports, that was not all they did out there. They owned great tracts of the swamp, but they claimed a whole lot of land, that they did not own; and if any of the natives went hunting anywhere in the vicinity of their possessions, the hired gun club watchman (calling themselves game wardens) would order them off, and, if they offered any resistance, they would be very roughly handled.
This went on until the natives grew desperate, and on this 19th day of January, 1897, a good bunch of them got together on a muskrat expedition and sallied forth on the raging Calumet. They were Wm. Lohman, Henry Nimetz, Lawrence Kondyker, Alvin Bothwell, Rand Bothwell, Wm. Johnson, John Johnson, Frank Costic, Charles Prott, Theodore Prott, Floyd Bothwell and John Bothwell (father of Harry, Floyd and Clifford Bothwell), Herman Grientzel and Alfred Nicholson.
Bill Lohman claims they were not on the club grounds but were on land he had rented from John H. Clough, and had per- mission to hunt thereon. Soon after the boys arived on the marsh the watchmen spied them and came down and ordered them off. Both sides claim the other shot first and the natives claim they were shot when they were leaving the grounds-which must be a fact, for all of them were shot in the back.
Frank Costic was shot by a bullet entering his back and
-142-
coming out at his breast. Theodore Prott was thoroughly rid- dled with shot. Alvin Bothwell carried home some shot. Some others were peppered but not seriously.
The Chicago papers had big writeups and pictures of this shooting one another at close range, the Club house and a broad expanse of the wild marsh.
The Chicago Chronicle of January 21, 1897 heads an article : "Calls It A Murder. Farmers tell the story of the Tolleston Shooting Affray. Frank Costic, one of the victims, will die from his wounds. Guard Whitlock a fugitive.
"Others desert the Preserve Club. Title to land is disputed and legal proceedings will follow."
The Chicago Herald: "Like Barons of Old. Reign of the Tolleston Gun Club. A Chicago Corporation that habitually defies the laws of Indiana, where it owns a shooting preserve. Inde- fensive Citizens Beaten and Maimed."
The Chicago Dispatch: "Bad as the Feudal Days. Shooting of the Farmers of Tolleston marsh told by the victims of this lat- est Outrage. Pleasantly driven from their own lands by Bullies hired to protect the Preserve of the Rich."
Chicago Daily Interocean : "Five men wounded. Deadly Conflict in Tolleston. Club's Duck Swamp. Two may not live. Club Guards and Farmer Boys use their guns." Etc., etc.
But the good part of it is there were no deaths. Bill Lohman tells a good story of the late Dr. H. L. Iddings. It seems that the Dr. had cared for a woman at Bill's house who had taken paris green, and they supposed it would kill her, but she got well. The Dr. was called when the boys were shot. Frank Costic was shot completely through and Bill was fearful he would die and wanted the Dr.'s opinion. He said ordinarily he would think death was sure, but the Polock woman was too much for the paris green and Frank, being a Polock, might pull through; and he did.
Another good story is told of Mr. West, the keeper of the Club House when it was in its glory. As the story goes, one of the other things they did at the club house, besides duck shooting was poker playing for big stakes. When Mr. West found a rich look- ing bunch playing, he would set up the cigars, or wine, or some other good drink. "Why Mr. West, what is this for, my birth- day?" "Oh well then you shall have the next pot," which would be no small amount; and he would have a birthday every time a new bunch would come out-several times a year-making his birthdays very profitable.
-143-
December 26, 1930
A. N. HART
In trying to write some of the history of Northwest Lake County for the Southeast Calumet News some months ago, I made a passing mention of A. N. Hart as being a big landowner and prominent citizen in the early development of the county, especi- ally that part lying between Griffith and Dyer and Schererville and Highland, most of which he owned in an early day. At that time it was partly, and in some places wholly, under water, but through Mr. Hart's perseverance and energy the district was drained and made into good land.
T. H. Ball's History of Lake County has this to say: "In 1856 A. N. Hart from Philadelphia entered a large amount of swamp land, making his home at Dyer. In the second city of the Union he had been a book publisher and business man, and he brought with him capital and business talent. He became to the interest of Dyer a great acquisition. To his capital and energy that place owes no little of its celebrity and growth." Mr. Hart later built a house and made his home at Hartsdale. But his wife. not living with him, still continued to make her home in Dyer.
Most of my information regarding A. N. Hart and his work comes from Mr. and Mrs. Mat. Kuhn who live in the west part of Griffith. They began to work for Mr. Hart in an early day and continued for 18 years. So they know as much about Mr. Hart and his operations in those early days as any one now living.
Mr. Kuhn says that one of their principal lines of business was the making of ditches and wagon roads. The ditches were for the purpose of getting the water from this vast tract of land so that it could be tilled and made valuable for farming. He probably received pay for building the roads, but at the same time the side ditches helped in the draining of the land.
It is interesting to hear Mr. Kuhn relate how they carried on the work in those days. He says they would have six or eight yoke of oxen to the plow to remove the dirt for the ditches. The reason for having so many was that, if part of them would "mire down," the rest would pull them out.
The big ditch from Dyer to Ridge Road was one of the ditches made by Mr. Hart and his oxen. He had 14 yoke of oxen, 2 teams of horses, 3 teams of mules and, in an early day 6 to 8 men but, as his business grew and developed, he had from 35 to 40 men. Mrs. Kuhn was one of the principal actors in these big operations. It was her task to feed the men, and no small task it was.
Mr. and Mrs. Hart had three sons, West, Win and Mal, and one daughter, Flora. The daughter married Mr. Biggs and they
-144
lived in Crown Point for some time. West was a wild fellow and a good many funny stories were told of his escapades.
The principal crop in the early history of the development of this region was wild hay. Some of it was used for stuffing horse collars and some-what they called packing hay-was used for packing breakable goods for shipment.
Most of the railroads went through Hart's land. He made them construct good ditches for more drainage, and he had a pass to ride on all the railways that cut his land.
A. N. Hart was what might be called a crank on drainage and it was his drainage works that made the section what it is now. He lived to ditch, and he died in a ditch. He had a gang of men cleaning out a ditch and he was working with them when a bank caved in, causing his death. After he died the heirs had a public sale of all kinds of livestock, implements, machinery, and all hay, grain, et cetera, such an amount of it that the sale lasted five days. It was the biggest public sale ever held in Lake Coun- ty.
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.