USA > Indiana > Vermillion County > The people's guide; a business, political and religious directory of Vermillion Co., Ind., together with a collection of very important documents and statistics connected with our moral, political and scientific history; also, A historical sketch of Vermillion County > Part 12
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I44
VERMILLION COUNTY.
Judge John R. Porter was born in Berkshire county, Massa- chusetts, February 22, 1796, and attended the Episcopal Acad- emy in Pittsfield, of that State. He entered Union College, New York, under the presidency of Dr. Nott, in 1813, from which he graduated in 1815, taking the first honors of his class. He then entered upon the study of law, and in 1818 became a partner of his preceptor. At that time reports filled the air of fortunes easily made in South America, and he sought passage to Rio Janeiro. But before he got off a revolution broke out in Buenos Ayres, which changed his plans, and the spring of 1819 found him on his way to the far West.
Armed with letters of introduction to Henry Clay and others, he landed in Louisville, Kentucky, in December, 1819. Find- ing nothing to induce him to remain there, he struck out for Indiana, stopping at Paoli, in Orange county, where he put up his law "shingle" to vindicate the rights of the people.
Soon after this he made the acquaintance of Charles Dewey and others of the bar, who became his life-long friends. Clients came and business followed, though at that period the labors of the bar were arduous, as those who practiced law had to travel the judicial circuits on horseback, and often over the most mis- erable of roads.
Mr. Porter was commissioned Postmaster at Paoli in 1822, which was the first office he ever filled. In 1825 he was ap- pointed Circuit Judge, and the same year was one of the com- missioners to locate the seat of justice of Fountain county, which was formed from the counties of Montgomery and Wa- bash. He was married to Miss Mary Worth, November 13, 1825. The legislative changes of his judicial circuit were so frequent and so great, that he held courts during his term of
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
service from the counties on the Ohio river to those of the lakes. In 1832, he assisted in making a treaty with the Indians, where, surrounded by three or four hundred red men, some dressed in the richest of clothing, artfully and elaborately orna- mented; while others, in squalor, rags and vermin, gathered in the crowd, while one of them in his speech wrought himself into such a rage that he seized the minutes of the council from the secretary's table and tore them furiously into fragments. Fortunately his ire was subdued, and he was brought back to stolid equanimity of temper again by a few trifling trinkets, which greatly diverted the Judge, as he thought it the finest forensic farce he had ever witnessed.
Many of the early courts of Judge Porter were held in private residences, selected by the Legislature. With such men as Law, Blake, Dewey, Bryant, Blackford, Hannegan and Evans, Judge Porter assisted in laying the foundation of Indiana jurisprudence, and of these and other distinguished associates he ever spoke kindly until the day of his death.
In 1833, by an act of the Legislature, organizing the Eighth Judicial District, he was greatly relieved by having his Circuit cut down to a civilized boundary, which gave him more time to be at home with his family, which he loved so well.
His term as Circuit Judge expired in 1837, and he was after- ward elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the coun- ties of Parke and Vermillion, which office he held at the time of his death, April 23d, 1853, aged fifty-seven years. He was a citizen of this county from 1826-twenty-seven years. His sons, John W., Isaac and C. D., are among the most prominent and wealthy citizens of the county. They still retain the pater- IO
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VERMILLION COUNTY.
nal inheritance, which is one of the richest and most sightly farms in this broad and beautiful valley.
Judge Rezin Shelby who was, while living, one of the promi- nent citizens of this county, came here about the year 1824. His wife was a Thompson, and came to the county in 1822. They lost a valued son in the army of the war of 1861, Major David Shelby, who was a gallant officer, and did his duty fear- lessly and faithfully up to the period of his death. His widowed mother, Mrs. Jane Shelby, still resides on the old place. Their lands are among the most valuable of the Wabash Valley.
There are many other families in this county whom we would have been glad to see enrolled in this connection, but we have no notes of their history and therefore are forced to silence even where worth and virtue have been prominent. In our township. histories we have others to speak of who were taken in that order, and we can not now transfer them.
Judge John M. Coleman was at one time known as a promi- nent citizen of this county, and though he did not die here, he left behind him a record of honor and usefulness which should give him a place in Vermillion county history. His father, James Coleman, was a soldier in the Revolution of 1776, and also in the war of 1812, and in fighting with the Indians it is said that he received seven balls in his body and clothing in one day's battle. Judge Coleman came to this place from Virginia, and was long intimately associated with the old Col- lett family. He helped to lay out the city of Indianapolis and also the town of Terre Haute, and built the old Court House of the latter city. Afterward moving to Iowa, he took the job and finished the State House of Iowa City. He subsequently died in Iowa City and was buried there.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Lieutenent Henry Groenendyke, a son of James and brother of John, moved by the impulses of patriotic ardor, enlisted in the war of 1861, and went out with one of our Indiana Regi- ments to do battle for the Union. The arduous services and many privations of the camp and field wore heavily upon his constitution, but still being unwilling to quit the field he was detailed by General Sherman and placed in the Signal Corps at Sherman's headquarters. But disease had already made such inroads upon him that even his more favorable position failed to give him back his health again, and he sank to death among the war victims of 1863. His mortal remains were brought back to this, the place of his birth, where amid the deep emotions of those who loved him and had known him from his youth, he was solemnly interred in a soldier's grave.
CHARACTER OF THE TIMBER.
When these broad bottoms were first settled they were cov- ered with heavy timber, except parts of the terrace land, which being free from trees, was termed "prairie." It is probable, however, as we have already intimated, that these ancient clear- ings were a portion of the civilized progress of the Aztecs, or mound builders. This seems to have been the conviction of Prof. Bradley, an able geologist, who assisted Prof. Cox in mak- ing a survey of this county in 1867. We are indebted to the Professor for many valuable suggestions and observations, which we have freely used, as the result of his inspections has become the common property of the State. The Professor thinks it probable that during the period when the Indians occupied this country, their annual fires prevented the growing up of these clearings. We think this possible, if the annual fires of the
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VERMILLION COUNTY.
Indians were not of themselves the primary cause of the prai- ries. The Wabash river, running from north to south through the county, with most of its tributaries coming in from the west, has given rich alluvial bottoms, which once, perhaps, were heav- ily timbered. These bottoms are from one to three miles wide. The first bottom is from twenty-five to thirty feet above low water mark. The tributaries have bottom from one-half to a mile wide. These were originally clothed with giant oak, wal- nut, cotton-wood and hickory trees.
The small blue grass prairies, interspersed along these bot- toms, being exceptions to the general rule of timber, made the work of clearing very arduous to the primitive settlers. But now that they are mostly cleared, they make one-tenth of the county. The second bottoms, which are termed "terrace- prairies," beginning at the north, are called Walnut, Mound, Eugene or Sand, Newport and Helt's Prairies, and are, with the brushy lands around them, from thirty-five to sixty-five feet above low-water mark. The soil is black, sandy loam, producing the richest crops of wheat, corn and grass, and in these respects is considered the most reliable in their annual products of any lands in the county. The well known "Walnut level," at the outskirts, is bordered with walnut, sugar, maple and cherry trees. These terraces comprise three-tenths of the county.
The center part of the county is heavily timbered with good choice growth of hickory, sugar, maple, beech, white oak, wal- nut, etc., and has an elevation of two hundred and fifty to two hundred and seventy feet above low water mark.
GRAND PRAIRIE-FRUIT, ETC.
The Grand Prairie region skirts the county on the west, and is rich and gently rolling, and produces good crops of corn, oats
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and grass. Nearly one-third of the county has an elevation of two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the river. Good fruit, particularly apples, grows on all these lands. The grass crop of the county may be noted as a specialty, par- ticularly the blue grass. Prof. Collett exhibited for our inspec- tion a sheaf which had been gathered off his farm, which meas- ured four feet nine inches.
Newport, the county seat, has an elevation above the ocean of five hundred and twenty feet, and the Wabash river opposite four hundred and sixty-two feet.
COAL RESOURCES OF VERMILLION.
The coal supply of this county is beyond the comprehension of the most calculating. Prof. Bradley, after making only a par- tial survey of the county in 1869, says :
"The first subject to which the seeker for mineral wealth in this county would turn his attention is the coal supply. The first impression of even a superficial observer would be, that there is a great abundance for all future demands; and the final conclusion of the scientific explorer must be that good coal can now be mined profitably under at least one-half of the area of the entire county, and ultimately under probably two-thirds of the remainder. A thickness of eight feet would probably be a small enough estimate for the coal underlying every foot of the county. This would give, by the usual estimate of one million to the square mile, for every foot of thickness, the amount of 1,950,000,000 tons, or 48,750,000, 000 bushels, as the supply of the county !"
A county so rich in soil as Vermillion, and so beautiful and romantic in scenery ; so well watered and so productive in all
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VERMILLION COUNTY.
the healthy esculents of the West, and so unlimitedly wealthy in its resources of rich bituminous and block coal, must have before it ages of prosperity which no mathematician may calcu- late or financier define.
The coal is here as an extra or surplus revenue, and although the working of mines is yet in the infancy of its developments, the time must soon arrive when furnaces, forges, rolling mills and every other conceivable establishment which works in iron, and which uses coal, must see that such counties as this afford facilities for manufacturing which can not fail to bring fortunes such as other distant portions of the country can never possess. The very freights such localities have to pay for ores and for coal to run their machinery with, would soon amount to a for- tune if it could be saved. The coal resources at the Horse Shoe Bend of the Little Vermillion, furnish the highest coal measures of any other part of the country. At this point man- ufactories might be established, communities of industry be organized, whose products would enrich themselves and give a life of enterprise through all these grand valleys. This is the language of advice and counsel given by nature itself, and if followed out with any ordinary perseverance, would give em- ployment to thousands who could and would make honest and happy livings for themselves and families, and thereby increase the wealth of the country and enrich the State, which would be a far more economical system, both of morals and finances, than the present condition of inactive and useless monopolies.
Indeed it may be safeiy said that the coal, iron ore, and fire brick clay, as it is commonly called, of this county of Vermil- lion alone, would give employment, if the proper manufactories were established, to a hundred thousand people. The crime of
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
inactivity-for it is a crime-lies at the doors of men of wealth- men who have capital, but who hoard it in lands, stocks, bonds and banks, instead of making it active in the way of industrial enterprises. These beautiful valleys might be peopled with happy communities of artizan industry, where peace and plenty would serve as protectors of the public virtue, and this grand Vermillion valley be made the Andalusian garden spot of the State.
The coal fields of Clay, Green, Owen, and other counties of the southern part of the State, may be fully equal, or even su- perior to those of Vermillion, but none of these counties have the topographical and physical advantages of this beautiful Wa- bash county, and therefore they would not be as pleasant and sightly for thickly populated homes, for industrious artizans, as .Vermillion presents in a hundred different localities.
Hitherto this Wabash valley, with the exception of a few scattering and modest villages, has been wholly given up to ag- ricultural pursuits, and until the building of the Evansville, Terre-Haute & Chicago Railroad, the Wabash River was their only resource of transportation. Hence the country all along this beautiful little river, for years remained almost in statu quo. Farms, it is true, were improved, and agriculture was conducted on a pretty fair line of progress ; but still in many respects the country stood still. But the opening of the coal trade, and the institution of splendid railroad facilities, have now brought them to a new era of enterprize and progress, and it might be said that the sun of their prosperity has just now risen above its east- ern horizon-that their day of action has just come-albeit there . are still many of the old " pod-auger " denizens living along the valley, who have eked out a tolerably fair living by raising a
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patch of corn and a little "garden sass," while there are others in the villages dwelling in content with the mere meagre show of " independent poverty "-who perhaps do not know that they have around them a country, built by Nature, far richer than the lands of Ophir or the gold regions of Golconda. With as good soil as can be found in the United States, and as lovely valleys as are seen in the West, with their vast coal fields under- lying almost every acre of land in the county, they have only to wield the resources which God and nature have given them, , to exhibit to the industrious and commercial world as extensive and productive manufacturing establishments, and as large and prosperous commercial enterprises, as may or can be realized in the country.
To depend on making money and building up the country by the poor policy of shipping all their coal to other points to sus- tain manufactories elsewhere, can only be compared to the folly of another Western policy, viz: the shipping of all our wool to Eastern markets and then buying all our clothing, ready made at that, from the Eastern manufactories.
But we need not argue the question of Vermillion county enterprise here. This is not the place for it. We are only aiming at brief histories and the presentation of the resources of the county, and the matter of future activities and of future home manufactories we must leave in the hands of the leading, wealthy men of the county, and to the general enterprize of the capitalists of the whole country.
The geological explorations of Professors Cox, Bradley and Collett, have brought before the eyes of the State and of the world sufficient knowledge of the vast mineral resources of this county, to show that Vermillion has in it, over it and under it
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as many of the rich gifts of nature as any other county within the limits of the State.
FIRE BRICK CLAY.
The fire brick and terra cotta works of Messrs. Burns, Porter & Co., of this county, located at Hillsdale, on the line of the Evansville, Terre Haute & Chicago Railroad, one mile west of Montezuma, deserve to be classed among the wonderful pro- ductive and artistic operations of the west.
These works have only been in operation a few years, and already they have demonstrated the fact that the fire brick made here are the very best manufactured in the country. They have been thoroughly tested by being placed in a bridge wall of a puddling furnace along with the justly celebrated Mt. Savage fire brick, and they withstood this trying test during a period of more than seven weeks, in a state of perfect preservation, after which time they were no longer noticed, as the wall ap- peared to be sound. The average duration of time which the best known fire brick stand in a similar situation is nine weeks, consequently we may expect from this deposit a fire brick which will successfully compete with any article made in the United States.
This clay has the rare and desirable quality of drying without cracking or warping, and with but little shrinkage. A crucial test was made in the hottest fires possible, with a common fur- nace, to glaze or melt it, but without success, which indicates that it is clear, or nearly so, from alkali and other objectionable substances. These tests with brick rudely made by hand were deemed so satisfactory that the proprietors felt justified in beginning operations for manufacturing fire brick, etc., on a large scale.
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VERMILLION COUNTY.
They have visited fire brick factories in the Eastern States, and purchased machinery of the latest and best models to be found, including a fire clay grinding mill, which has a roller that weighs four thousand pounds, and is capable of reducing a quantity of clay sufficient to make four thousand bricks per day. This mill and other machinery is driven by a twenty-four horse power engine.
The great and rapidly increasing demand for these bricks is such that the proprietors are making their arrangements to so enlarge their works and to increase their facilities, as to be able to supply any demand which may be made upon them. Their present facilities for manufacturing are fourteen thousand per week. They are now increasing them to twenty-two thousand per week, and even this, as may be seen, is only the "beginning of the end."
The works of this establishment are even now the most con- veniently arranged of any manufacturing works of any sort we have ever seen.
Situated at the foot of the hill, within a few steps of the rail- road, in the opening of a hollow, the material for their work is mined out above, and is dumped down upon the floor, where it is ground, after which it is dumped again down upon the mould- ing and drying floor.
There is also a fine vein of coal in the same hill, high above the works, which is mined and dumped down to the furnace in the same manner.
The deposit of fire clay is inexhaustible. It is seven feet thick, four feet of which is of a very superior quality, from which is made their No. 1 brick.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The shipment of these brick is rapidly becoming a prominent commodity of transportation from this county, and as the de- mand hitherto has been greater than the supply, the prospect is that it will soon grow to be immense.
The Terra Cotta Work, which is being manufactured at this establishment, is a feature of artistic creation, which cannot fail to attract very general attention. It is neat and smooth, taste- ful and beautifully ornamental, and can be made of every order, style and purpose. The parties who own, and who are directing this establishment, have the enterprise and ability, as well as ample means to build up a very large business.
The indications, indeed, are that the Goddess of Art, as well as the Vulcan of Metals, once had homes among these romantic Vermillion hills.
THE EVANSVILLE, TERRE HAUTE AND CHICAGO RAILROAD.
Through the energetic and persevering efforts chiefly of Josephus Collett, Jr., this important thoroughfare was com- pleted from Terre Haute to Danville, Illinois, in 1870. Of course there were many obstacles to encounter in accomplishing such an enterprise, but whatever they were they are all over- come, and the people owe to its chief manager and friend a debt of gratitude which it will be difficult for them to pay. Mr. Collett, however, makes no demands upon the public gratitude, for he feels that he is fully paid for all services ren- dered when he sees the road, as he now does, in "the full tide of successful operation," and comparing with any other in the State.
Running through as beautiful valleys of lands as any the Wabash contains, where industry and the agricultural improve- ments of the age have made almost the entire country a flower
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garden of verdure and beauty, the scenery along the full length of the road can not but feast the eye of the traveler, while the regularity and substantial smoothness of the entire track will not fail to make the impression that it has been well built and is well managed, and will compare favorably with any other road in the West. Connecting directly, as it does, at Danville, Ill., with the Danville and Chicago Railway, it is properly a com- plete and immediate north and south road from Evansville to Chicago.
As President of this road, Mr. Collett shows his capacity to manage as well as build such a thoroughfare, and while the management remains in the same hands its healthful interests and success need not be doubted.
George Penn and W. D. Guernsey, conductors, whom we have met on this road, are modest, business gentlemen, who merit the confidence of their present eminent standing.
This road has thirteen stations within the bounds of Vermil- lion county, all of them at present small in population, but the enterprize of the coming years will no doubt greatly enlarge them.
INDIANA AND ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD.
This is a new road, of which H. B. Hammond is President, and is now completed from Decatur, Illinois, to Montezuma, in Parke county. Its Indiana division will pass through Parke, Hendricks and Marion counties, to Indianapolis. This latter portion we learn will soon be put under contract and completed to our State capital, making another addition to its already superior railroad center.
The completion of this road will add no little to the opening up of the mineral wealth of this county, as it passes directly
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through a portion of its richest coal fields and unexplored stone quarries, and near the inexhaustable beds of fire brick clay, thus opening the way to industrious enterprises where fortunes will be made for thousands in the coming years.
AGRICULTURAL SPECIALTIES.
The agricultural products of this county, in connection with its general wealth, furnish good evidence of its prosperity, as well as of its industry, enterprise, and rich productive power. The farmers we have met in the county are men of more than the ordinary culture and intelligence; quite a number of them we found to be good scholars and well posted in all the affairs of general business, commercial interests, the economy of gov- ernment, and with the modern developments and improvements in agriculture. It is not, therefore, strange that Vermillion county is in a state of good cultivation, and presents to the eye of an intelligent observer as much domestic and rural comfort and beauty as any other county in the State.
It will be seen from the following exhibits, which we gather from the Ninth Census Reports for 1870, that the agricultural interests of the county are well sustained in every department :
PRODUCTIONS OF AGRICULTURE.
Number of acres of land improved, 87,558
Unimproved woodlands, 62,065
Other unimproved lands, 613
Cash value of farms, $4, 148,925
Farming implements, etc., 98,358
Wages paid for, 82,935
Estimated value of farm productions,
892,74 1
Orchard products, 13,819
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VERMILLION COUNTY.
Forest products,
$8,756
Value of home manufactures,
3,881
Value of animals sold or slaughtered,
241,419
Value of live stock, 597,764
Number of horses, 3,551
Number of mules,
292
Number of milch cows,
2,278
Working oxen,
37
Other cattle,
4,865
Number of sheep,
13,552
Number of swine,
14,047
Bushels of wheat raised,
261,250
Bushels of rye,
2,440
Bushels of Indian corn,
598,322
Bushels of oats,
54,257
Bushels of barley,
166
Bushels of buckwheat,
235
Tobacco, pounds,
290
Wool, pounds,
44,595
Bushels of peas and beans,
289
Bushels of Irish potatoes,
33,167
Bushels of sweet potatoes,
222
Gallons of wine, .
20
Butter, pounds,
145,253
Tons of hay,
9,659
Maple sugar, pounds,
10,485
Gallons of sorghum molasses,
10,593
Gallons of maple molasses,
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