Cass County, Indiana - Chapter 4: Flora and Fauna, 1913

Cass county and all northern Indiana has a very rich and varied soil which has been largely modified by the abundant deposits of ** drift" which, bringing material from widely separated localities and frequently from the b^t soil making rocks of the north, has rendered very fertile much land that otherwise would be extremely unproductive.

This variation in soil will necessarily give Cass county a large and varied flora. The county being covered by glacial drift, the rocks cannot be examined except along the rivers where they outcrop. Here we find but few specimens of fossilized plant or animal life, and we will not attempt to relate the '* paleontology'' of Cass county, but refer the student of this subject to geological reports and special works. We will only speak of the flora and fauna of the present age. It will be impossible even to mention a complete list of all the plants and animals of the county, and we expect to confine these notes, largely, to the changes occurring and the causes producing them.

Maurice Thompson, state geologist, assistedby Prof. John M. Coulter, in his annual report of 1886, page 281, reports 1,191 different plants in the state, a large number of which are found in Cass county.

Scientists tell us that Dame Nature always has placed each species of plant in one locality. If we find the same plant in America and Europe, we know that it has been transpo^d. This opens up a very interesting field of investigation how plants or their seeds are carried from place to place.

Gray in his manual mentions 342 distinct species of plants that are found to be common to northeastern United States and Europe, which would indicate that there was at some geologic age a land connection between northwestern Europe and northeastern America, by way of Iceland and Greenland and that those northern latitudes, by certain seismic disturbances, possessed a temperate climate. Ocean currents carry seeds long distances' and may be the means of transporting tjiem from one continent to another.

Rivers - About the greatest carriers of seeds within a county are streams. During floods seeds are carried by them in countless numbers and deposited in the rich alluvial soils along our river banks where they germinate.

Wind - The seeds of some plants have hairy outgrowths as the thistle, others as the maple, have a winglike appendage so that they may be carried long distances by the wind. Storms and hurricanes, however, may carry the heaviest seeds great distances.

Birds are often the carrier of seeds. They may eat them and carry them in the alimentary canal, on the feathers, or in mud adhering to their feet and legs. Birds migrating hundreds or thousands of miles may thus carry seeds from one section to another.

Railroads bring in many new plants and distribute them far and wide. The various fruits, vegetables and other commercial plant products of the world are being constantly shipped from point to point all over the world, and seeds are thus widely distributed. The changed conditions in Cass county have driven out many plants that were found here by the pioneer. The forests have been cut down, and many plants whose habitat is in the shade cannot survive and have become extinct. The draining of wet places, swamps and bogs have driven out many other varieties that only grow in wet soil. The old-time rail fence has furnished a home for many species to which the wire fence gives no protection. These and many other changed conditions and environments with the onward march of civilization have exterminated many species of plant life in Cass county, but these changes have also opened the way for new plants and weeds, brought in by various means above related, and it is interesting to observe the many new weeds and plants throughout the county. The writer well remembers fifty-five years ago of gathering medicinal plants as spignet, yellow root, ginseng, may-apple, snake-root, etc. ; wild fruits as grapes, plums, paw paw, wild cherries, black and red haws ; nuts as walnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts, hazel nuts and acorns. Many of these - have become extinct and others a rarity. The land is rapidly being denuded of its timber, and if measures are not soon taken to prevent its further destruction many of our native forest trees will become extinct.

A few fossil shells have been discovered in the Devonian limestone outcropping along the Wabash river, but not very distinct or characteristic. Some tusks and teeth of the mastodon or ancient elephant belonging to Tertiary or< Post-tertiary periocT have been found in several localities of the county ; generally found in boggy ground. The animals found within the bounds of Cass county by the earliest explorers were an occasional buffalo or American bison ; bear, deer, wolves, beavers, otter, panther, wild-cat, wild hog, lynx, fox, mink, raccoon^ opossum, woodchucl^ porcupine, and skunk, and possibly others.

The clearing of the forests and draining of marshes have driven them all out except an occasional skunk and woodchuck may be found in certain wood lands along the creeks, and about the only native animals now to be seen are squirrels, rabbits, chip-munks, moles and ground-mice.

Rattle snakes, copper-heads, black water and land snakes, green snakes, tree snakes, blue racer, garter snake, hard and soft shelled turtle, bull-frog, green-frog, salamanders, eels, and toads were numerous in all parts of the county, but removal of the forests, draining the ponds, cultivation of the land has destroyed the habitat of these reptiles, and only a few garter snakes, small turtles, frogs, toads, moles and ground-mice can be found in this age of progress, even the hoarse croak of the big bull-frog is heard no more.

In the first settlement of this county wild turkeys, geese, ducks, pheasants, prairie-chickens, pigeons, snipe, plover, eagles, sand-hill cranes, and

The edible birds and animals were quite a source of food for the early settlers ; in fact, these were the only meats they had until the land could be cleared and com raised to fatten hogs and cattle. Quite a number of small birds with crows, hawks, and buzzards are still numerous, but no edible birds are left except a few quail. The boo of the prairie hen and rumble of the pheasant, the gobble of the wild turkey, the cry of the eagle, the thunder of the thunder-pumper, the mournful sound of the whip-poor-will and the hooting of the owl are seldom now heard, and the sounds of these birds of pioneer days would startle the youths of the present.

Removing the timber and breaking the ground and draining the swamps began to show their eflEects upon the springs and water courses. Many became dry during the warm season. All life, be it salamander, fishes, mollusks, insects or plants that found therein a home, died. The birds that lived among the reeds and flags, mingling their voices with the frogs, disappeared, and the land reclaimed, tells, in its luxuriant growth of com, no story of the casual passerby of the former inhabitants which occupied it.

The following list of birds may still be found but not in such numbers as formerly: Robin, meadow-lark, blue-jay, black bird, bluebird, woodpecker, dove, pee-wee, chip bird, catbird, thrush, king-bird, hawk, crow, owl, swallow, and English sparrow, the latter being introduced some years ago, is very hardy and prolific and is becoming a nuisance rather than otherwise. It has great endurance, its fighting qualities and audacity is unheard of, and it is driving out such birds as the martin, bluebird, pee-wee, and bam swallow with which it comes so intimately in contact as their habitats are in common.