Clinton County, Indiana - Chapter 16: Miscellaneous, 1886

Chapter 16: Miscellaneous

Public Buildings. - Fiest Coukt-House. - Fiest Jail. - Second CouRT-flousE. - Second Jail. - Present Jail. - Sale of Old Court- House. - New Coctrt-Hodse. - Description. - Laying of THE Corner-Stone. - Addeess OF Welcome. - Extract from THE Oration of the Day. - County Poor Farm. - Valuation and Taxation OF THE County, 1S45-'85. - Early Methodism in Clinton County. - Early Eoads. - Population. - County Debt. - Financial Statement.

The first move toward providing quarters for the holding of the courts was made by the county commissioners, at their session of September, 1830. After providing for the clearing of the public square and the surrounding streets, the county agent was ordered " to cause to be sold publicly to ths lowest bidder the building of a house of the following description, to- wit: To be built of hewed logs made of good timber, to be eighteen feet wide and twentyfour feet long, one story and a half high, to be covered with good oak clapboards, to have one door six feet high, or more, if necessary, and two twelve-light windows in the front, one on each side of the door, and one window in the back of the house, sash and glass to be put in, a good battened door to be made and hung, the lower floor to be laid loose with good oak plank and the upper floor to be laid with good poplar flooring, the corners to be sawed down, the house to be chinked on the inside and daubed on the outside, a good cat-aud-clay chimney to be built, all of said work to be completed in a good, workmanlike manner, on or before the Ist day of November next, and the agent will take such assurance as he may think best from the purchaser so as to ensure said work to be completed against the time above specified."

amount was, presumablj', the entire cost of the first court-house. This building was composed of one room, and used only for courts, the various county oflBces being at the residences of the oflBce-holders. Colonel William Douglass was the county agent and superintended its erection. It stood on the south side of the square, on the lot now occupied by Allen & James's dry-goods store.

" Ordered by the board that the county agent, William Douglass, cause to be put under contract the building of a jail in or near the northeast corner of the public square in the town of Frankfort, to be sold to the lowest bidder, taking bond of the purchaser or undertaker in the sum of $2,000, with at least three freehold securities, the sufficiency to be judged of by the agent, and that the said agent sell said jail at the court-house ia Frankfort by receiving sealed proposals under seal, on the second Monday in October next, between the hours of 10 and i o'clock on said day, and that he give notice of said sale in the Lafayette i^ree Press, a newspaper printed in Lafayette. Said jail is to be built on the following plan, viz.: To be built of hewed timber completely hewed and squared to one foot. To be twenty feet square. The foundation to be laid four feet in the ground from the lowest part of the ground on which said jail is to be built. The foundation to be laid for the inside wall of the jail and for the outside wall of the jail to be reared upon. There is to be a foundation of good hard brick, laid in a strong cement of lime and sand, to be done in a workmanlike manner, to be raised at least eighteen inches, leveling from the highest ground on the situation. On this foundation of logs and brick, after halving the logs at the corners, and putting them solidly together, and filling up the foundation solid, there is to be laid all over the foundation a floor of hewed logs one foot square, completely let together, said foundation to be made as to the wood of white oak or burr oak. On that foundation there is to be raised two separate walls, completely dovetailed at the corners. The walls to be raised solid, leaving a space of one foot between them eight feet high, and the one- foot space to be filled all around with hewed timber squared to one foot let solid together, perpendicular. And on top of the nine-foot story there is to be laid a fioor of hewed timber one foot square, laid double crosswise, the first floor to be pinned to the wall of the house with large oak pins, and on this floor the second tier of the floor. There is to be raised a story of six feet, and on the top of this wall a floor of timber one foot square, to be laid solid together and pinned down to the wall with large pins, and on this floor there is to be laid plates pinned down to the floor and rafters to be raised and completely covered with poplar or black walnut joint shingles. The contractor will be required to put in a grate in the outer and inner wall on the east side of the jail made of inch bars let into an iron frame, and the frame let into the walls, and well spiked to the wall. The grate to be one foot square, and the bars not to be more than two inches apart. A door to be cut in the west side of the jail in the upper story, six feet high and three feet and a half wide. A partition wall to be run through the upper story of foot-square timber, to run from north to south about five feet from the west wall in the clear. A door to be run through the partition, five feet high and three feet wide, the outer and inner doors to be in the center of the building. A trap door to be cut two by three feet down through the floor, about two feet north of the parallel line between the two doors. The corners to be completely sawed down. A window to be cut in the east side of the upper story in the center, eighteen inches square. All the work to be completed on or before the first Monday in May, 1832. One-third of the money to. be paid in advance, one-third when the work is two-thirds done, and the balance when the job is completely finished and received by the Board of Commissioners."

It will be noticed that in the lower story, which was composed of a triple layer of logs, there were no doors - the entrance being by a flight of stairs on the outside of the building which led to the second story, thence one descended to the lower story by means of a trap door. A prisoner being placed in the lower story with solid timber a foot square and more above and below him, with walls three feet thick around him, was comparatively safe. The jail was completed, and accepted by the commissioners, in May,

Second Oouet-House

In June, 1836, the commissioners appointed a committee to prepare specifications for a new court-house, and ordered the county agent to advertise in the Crawfordsville Record, Lafayette Free Press and Indiana Democrat for bids for building the same. The specifications are too minute and long to be given entire, but among the provisions were these: The walls of the first story were eighteen inches thick, and those of the second thirteen inches thick. The partition walls were of the same thickness in the two stories. A hall ten feet wide divided the lower story, bringing two office rooms on each side of the hall. Above was the courtroom. The lower story was twelve feet high and the upper fifteen feet high. In the court-room the space for spectators was at the south end of the room. The building was erected by John Elder, under the direct supervision of a building committee acting for the county, in 1837 and 1S3S. The payments were made as follows; $1,200 in advance ; $1,800 September 1, 1837; $2,000 on thecompletion of the building ; and the balance in two equal annual installments. The total cost was about $12,000. When built, this courthouse was fully up with the times; but by 1870 the need for a new building was very apparent. Nothing was done, however, for a number of years more, and tiie old building was used in all forty-four years.

Second Jail

The first jail was burned in 1844. At the time of the burning a prisoner was confined within its walls, and as he was never seen after, he was supposed to have been burned. The year following, 1845, a second jail was built on the ground where the first had stood. It was somewhat after the plan of the first, being two stories; the lower was of stone, the upper of brick. A dwelling house for the jailer was built in connection. The builder was John P. Crothers. This stood until 1874, when it was declared insufficient for the safe keeping of prisoners.

Present Jail

Accordingly the commissioners (A. F. "Whitman, Daniel Slipher and Eichard Fraser) began to devise plans which resulted in the building of the present substantial jail. The architect was J. H. Rhodes. The builder and contractor was J. A. Coulter. The entire cost of the jail and residence was $26,250.

Sale Of Old Court-House

At a meeting of the county commissioners held at Frankfort December 4, 1881, the auditor of Clinton County was ordered to give notice of the sale of the old court-house for sixty days before such sale, which was advertised to be held on the 25th day of February, 1882. On the above date, the board having procured the services of David Thompson to act as auctioneer, they repaired to the public square and proceeded to offer for sale the old courthouse, situated on said public square. David A. Coulter bidding the sum of $300, and that being the highest and best bid offered, the said old court-house was declared duly sold to said David A. Coulter, he agreeing to remove the same from the public square by the 1st day of April, 1882.

New Couet-House

- Clinton County may well be proud of its elegant new court-house. Few counties are better supplied in this respect, and its imposing appearance adds much to the beauty of the city of Frankfort. Its erection was the subject of general comment as long ago as 1870. Consultations with citizens, the bar and county oflScers were frequent, and at length the work was agreed upon. In 1877 a tax of 10 cents on $1 was levied for court-house purposes. The tax remained at that rate until 1881, when it was raised to 20 cents. In September, 1881, George W. Bunting, of Indianapolis, submitted a plan and specifications, which were approved by the Board of Commissionei's, and he was accordingly employed as architect of the building. In December, 1881, a contract for building the house consummated with Messrs. Farman & Pearce. During the time of its erection Mr. Farman died, and Mr. Pearce finished the work in his own name.

The style of architecture is what is known as new Greek with Italian treatment. The building is in the form of a parallelogram 127 X 81 feet, with six spacious entrances to the ground floor, with halls running full length and width of the building. The height of the basement story is ten feet. This story is used for such purposes as occasion may demand. The height of the first floor is fifteen feet; this is reached from the outside by four flights of stone steps, landing in corridors tiled with encaustic tile. This story is fifteen feet in height and is occupied by the different county ofiicers. The height of the court-room is twenty-five feet, and on this floor are two.court-rooms, witnesses', jurors', judges', library and other rooms. The entire height of the structure to flagstaff on top of the tower is 165 feet. The outside walls are of white Oolitic limestone. The building as it now stands is a gem

The laying of the corner-stone of this building is an event which will long be remembered. This occurred September 2, 1882. Early in the day there was every indication of rain, but about noon the clouds cleared away and the day turned out to be very pleasant. The people from the surrounding country began to come in early and the first trains brought crowds of people from Tipton, Anderson, Muncie, Lafayette, Lebanon. Thorntown and from all points within the county. The forenoon was spent in preparations, and just before noon J. 0. Suit, Chief Marshal, with W. N. Gates, T. J. Smith, James Gaster, W". G. Norris and Dr. Brown, began to form the line which was ready to move at 12:45. The following societies and oi'ders formed the procession, which was headed by the Thorntown band; first came a detachment of the Sherman Guards, who kept the way open and performed police duty during the exercises; next came the Dakota Tribe, Ked Men, in full regalia, and accompanied by several members of visiting lodges; then followed the Knights of Honor under the marshalship of Dr. Gates; at this point in the procession came the Lebanon band; then came the Odd Fellows with Frankfort Lodge, No. 108, in the lead, followed by large delegations from Colfax, Darlington, Kossville, Michigan town, Mulberry, Forest, Russiaville, Scircleville, Mechanicsburgh, Cutler, Bringhurst and Camden. The grandest and most elaborate display in the way of men in beautiful uniforms was the company of uniformed Patriarchs (I. O. O. F.) from Anderson. Next in order were the members of Shields' Lodge, K. of P., with visiting brethren. They were followed by the Crawfordsville band, who immediately preceded the Masonic lodges together with the officers of the Grand Lodge, who came in carriages. Along immediately after these were the architect and contractor, the members of the County Board and several other of the county oflicers and ex-officers, invited and distinguished guests, the mayor and members of the city council and citizens generally. Quite conspicuous could be seen several members of the Old Settlers' Association, men who had seen the first courthouse ever built in Frankfort. Though half the area of the building had been floored and seated, yet not a twentieth part of the vast throng found their way upon the platform.

^^ Fellow Citizens: - To me has been assigned the pleasing duty of giving expression to the sentiments of welcome which abound in every heart on this occasion. What each would say, all say: "Welcome! Welcome citizens of our sister counties; and welcome the sti-anger, if here. Welcome old settlers, male and female, by whose brave hearts and unmitigated labor this unprecedented development has been attained. And welcome all other citizens who have cast their lot with us, to lend a helping hand in furtherance of the great mission of progi-ess.

"Welcome! An equal and unstinted welcome to all, without distinction of party, set or race. Welcome to this modernized city, which has shaken off the ashes of the dead past, and attained to the estate of new life, and gives assurance of a commensurate destiny. Whoever by word or deed gives expression to a new idea adds to the common stock of human knowledge, and though his name may perish, his works live after him; and not unlike the little acorn that drops into the soil by accident, may become the future monarch of surrounding forces. It is so of communities; it is so of States and nations. The true mission of this generation is unselfish. It was not created nor does it live for itself alone. It is to be regarded as one of the links of the endless chain of humanity which the Creator has foreordained for his own glory; and we must soon transmit to our successors the result of our dis-' coveries, creation and experience, and thus exercise an influence upon the minds and actions of posterity, as we have been influenced by our predecessors, and we should well legard such responsibility.

" While we are greatly indebted to the past for our common stock of knowledge - the ideas which facilitate civilization, and our formula of action, we have also inherited many cannonized errors of former generations. Let us hope that many of these have been eliminated. The history of superstition and bigotrv which has been brought to light, show them to be self-limited and rapidly gravitating to their destined oblivion. But neither social nor political disorders, more than physical diseases, are altogether things of the past. We are not to forget that we live in a Government whose constitution and laws and whose true genius recognize no privileged classes. All stand on the same plain; all are equally entitled to be represented in the public councils; and in the courts all are equally protected and equally amenable for transgression.

" But to give full effect to these fundamental principles, and to discumber them of the barnacles that beset them, much remains to be accomplished. The reefs have not all been passed. Gilded vice is too often mistaken for virtue; and constantly recurring examples admonish us that liberty is the reward of eternal vigilance only. When men in savage state meet they meet to fight and elied each other's blood, and to the victors belong the spoils. Bnt civilization and true religion teach us other lessons. They teach us that our highest interest and happiness are best promoted by TDSpecting the right of our fellow-man as we would have him respect ours, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

"Hoping that good feeling and good cheer shall pervade the occasion, and that when we part, we may part rejoicing that we know each other better, I, on behalf of the people of Clinton County, and of this city, again assure you, one and all, of a hearty welcome!"

After music the ceremonies of the Ancient Order of Free and accepted Masons were conducted by Grand Master Bruce Carr, assisted by the following grand officers: Martin H. Eice, Deputy Grand Master; L. G. Foote, Senior Grand Warden; E. H. Wolfe, Junior Grand Warden; N. J. JGaskill, Grand Treasurer; W. H. Smythe, Grand Secretary; J. W. Guthridge, Senior Grand Deacon; J. A. Seawright, Junior Grand Deacon; Eev. J. K. Pye, Grand Chaplain; Henry Tucker, Grand "Marshal; J. A. Tevebough. Grand Tiler; G. W. Bunting, Architect. During the ceremonies a sealed casket was placed in a cavity in the stone, so that in the lapse of time, should its foundations be laid bare, the succeeding generations might find something which would bear testimony of the energy, industry and culture of our own time. Its contents were as follows: Holy Bible; Revised Statutes of 1881; Declaration of Independence; Articles of Confederation; Bar Docket of Clinton County Circuit Court, for May term, 1882; Clinton County Atlas, photograph of old court-house; photograph of new court house; certified copy of contract with the architect; order of Board of Commissioners, accepting plans and specifications; certified copy of order of Board of Commissioners, to advertise for bids for construction; the amountof each bid filed, order awarding contract, and contract for the erection and completion of the new court-house; certified copy of the patent of the United States, to Jolin Pence for the land on which this building is erected, and a copy of the deed from John Pence to the commissioners of Clinton County; certified copy of the original plat of the town of Frankfort; premium list of the Middle Fork fair, held at Middle Fork in 1882; premium list of Clinton County fair held at Frankfort in 1831; Crescent annual directory with list of soldiers of 1861; Frankfort Crescent, and a list of mail subscribers; Frankfort Saturday Banner; Christian Press; Colfax Chronicle; Indianapolis Daily Sentinel, Journal and Sun; school reports for 1880 and 1882; catalogue for 1882 of Frankfort public schools; poster of corner-stone laying; programme of exercises of the day; specimens of wheat, oats, corn, rye, clover seed, flax and new process flour and corn meal; one dollar United States legal tender No. 6; one standard silver dollar; fifty-cent silver coin; twenty-five cent silver coin; twenty -five-cent fractional currency; ten-cent silver coin; five-cent silver coin; five-cent nickel.

After laying the corner-stone in its proper place, and at the conelusion of the Masonic ceremonies, an oration was delivered by Hon. L. McClurg, extracts of which are here given:

"The span that binds the old log court-house to the present magnificent temple is not so great as to reach far back into the dim, uncertain past. It is within the memory of the living. There are persons here to-day who saw Clinton's primeval forests; who saw the Indian skulk after the cowering wolf in tall grass of the twelve-mile prairie; who saw the panorama of civilization pass before their eyes day after daj', and year after year, and see it now. The land is now cleared where the forest once stood. Dry ground now produces bountiful harvests where ponds once covered the earth, and musk-rats built their houses. Happy homes ring with mirth of joyous childhood where the owl hooted, and the catamount stole stealthily on his prey. But there is no magic in this transformation; no wave of the wizard's wand brought plenty out of barrenness. Not a grub was taken from the ground that did not call for the labor of the grubber; each root was cut by the blow of the mattock, and each little embryo tree, torn one by one from its home in the soil, piled in a pile and burned. Not a fence was built but the rails were pounded out, one by one, with maul and wedge, laid up of four-foot worm, the best fence Clinton's farmers have to-day. Not a ditch was dug that was not work of patient, intelligent toil. There is no excellence without labor.

Ask the farmer how comes those broad acres rejoicing at the coming harvest. He will tell you no fabulous tale of Alladin's lamp pertaining thereto, but of work day after day, gaining victories over nature.

"We are told in Grecian mythology that Jason, in his perilous journey after the golden fleeces, yoked two fine breathing bulls of Vulcan to a plow of adamant, and plowed four acres of land consecrated to Mars, which had never been plowed before. The early pioneers of Clinton County in search of the golden fleece of homes and contentment, yoked the oxen>of patient industry to a plow of wood and iron, and plowed the valley of Clinton, consecrated to civil liberty and human happiness, which had never been plowed before. There they sowed, not the remainder of serpent's teeth of Cadmus, but the seeds of devout veneration for law and order, civil liberty and religious toleration. There they built their cabins, cleared their fields and watched their flocks. There they fostered education and encouraged commerce. There they organized a county, elected their oflicers, and set in motion the political machinery of a constituent division of the great State of Indiana. How well they labored, how well they builded, even better than they themselves knew.

" Nero had his golden palace, and Eome its colossal gymnasium, where her assembled multitudes shrieked and roared in frenzied joy at the sight of blood and death in the brutal contest of her gladiators. Egypt has its pyramids, and the gloved hand of power amused itself in murdering infants and setting young Moses afloat in a willow bread-basket on the Nile. Heliopolis had her obelisks, while Csesar and Anthony hob-nobbed with Cleopatra, had picnics every day, drank the richest Pramnian wine from solid embossed golden goblets, which, when emptied, were thrown to Tagged boys in the street of Alexandria. Those were the monuments of splendid, opuleut^tyranny. Ours the glory of simple representative Democracy.

"What of those who followed ? How have they materialized and brought to realization the ardent hope of the pioneer ? What of the pest and the present? Then the lonely traveler threaded his way to our settlements along the tortuous Indian trail. Now our public highways lead to neighboring counties at every point of the compass. Then education was an institution of the household alone. Now commodious brick school-houses dot every road district in our townships. Then there were no towns and scarcely neighborhoods. Now a dozen villages teeming with busy life flourish within our borders. Then mills were rude structures, with the upper and nether millstones improvised from the neighboring ' nigger head.' ISow our merchant establishments, with corrugated rollers and roller process fixtures grind our golden grain into the best flour in Christendom. Then there was no market, save the consumption of respective neighborhoods, nearer than Chicago. Now our county seat, with its increasing facilities, affords a first-class market at our very doors. Then our surplus was hauled away in wagons. Now it spins to the seaboard in chariots that burn with fire and run like the lightning. Then grain was cut with sickles, and ' Metheglin ' drank out of brown stone jugs. Now with a massive harvester, and Wood's twine-binder attachment, and no Metheglin at all. Then corn bread was baked on broad boards and called Johnny-cake. Now in a ponderous oven and called French roll. Then there came to the treasury for county purposes $315. Now our taxables are $9,000,000. Then we were a handful of people counted by the hundred, clearing away the brush of civilization. Now we number 30,000 souls on the broad highway of progress. Then we paid $100 for a court-house. Now $170,000. Then railroads were unknown. Now four roads with 100 miles of iron within our limits traverse our boundaries in every direction, with not a spot in Clinton County where the hoarse trundling of the heavy freight train and the scream of the locomotive are not heard ever and anon by day and by night. Three hundred thousand dollars drawn from her generous soil have been voluntarily contributed by the county and her citizen in aid of railroads.

" What mighty changes have been wrought beneath the short span that unites the old log court-house to the solid rock of this. What the school-boy saw in Oluey's Atlas as ' The Great American Desert,' and associated with it the great Desert of Sahara, is now an empire within the domains of the United States, with its great concerns and mighty interests, speaking to the world through its daily press and in the halls of legislation. The school-boy saw in the same old atlas, a long, narrow strip of land cut off from the western coast of Mexico by the Pacific, and read printed there ' The Peninsula of California.' He afterward saw a neighboring republic cede large scopes of its territory to the United States, heard avarice raise its fierce howl, and saw enthusiastic multitudes rush across the barren waste, to the gold fields of the Sacra- mento. He saw the pick and the spade unearth fabulous wealth, and send a flood of glittering gold to every commercial center on earth. California, the mother of precious raetals, is to-day the great wheat-growing region of the world. Her proud metropolis sits as a queen by the placid waters of the Pacific, bound to New York by the iron bands of two roads that traverse a continent, and 60,000,000 freemen rejoice at the bondage. The same boy saw in the same old atlas the Alantic Ocean with its wide waste of waters, separating the old from the new world. He saw the pictures ot the great ships, and learned how many knots an hour they made in carrying the mails from Liverpool to New York.

The Atlantic cable and the lightning's flash annihilate time and space. The roar of Britain's heard by the pyramids scarce died away over Egypt's sea of sand, the mangled limbs and quivering flesh of carnage scarce stilled and cold in the embrace of death, then flashes here the news of another battle, another victory in the old world.

blew its dread blast beneath that span, and brothers' hands dripped with brothers' blood. At her country's call Clinton girded on her armor, and bade a thousand of her choicest sons to the battlefield. "When duty called, when patriotism prompted, when valor beckoned, when cannon roared and musketry rattled and sabers flaslied, when death held high carnival and gorged his insatiate man with human gore, they were there. When peace bade the clash of arms to cease, they came with laurels of victory to their beloved homes. Not all. Some sleep where the gulf's tepid waters murmur an everlasting requiem ; some, where the magnolia and orange blossoms waft their fragrance on the zephyr's perpetual summer ; some, in peaceful tombs within our borders. When May comes, with loving hands and swelling hearts we strew their graves with flowers - emblems of gratitude and immortality.

"Indiana is now on the great highway between New York and San Francisco. The wealth'of our nation must flow through her borders. We are connected by rail with the arteries of commerce that give life and prosperity to our country. Neat and commodious dwellings dot our county everywhere; farms in a high state of cultivation yield bountiful harvests ; a thorough system of underground draining is reclaiming our low lands ; malaria has disappeared as our ponds dry up; pure healthful water flows in our streams and rise up to meet us at our digging ; churches and schoolhousessend their elevating influence throughout the county ; intelligence and industry prevail; fair prices are paid for all our surplus products ; work in abundance at good wages ; a sound currency inspires our confidence, and now we build a court-house, by the people and for the people.

" In all ages the public edifices of a people indicate the character of their civilization and tlie spirit of their times. As they grow in strength and power their public buildings rise in corresponding magnificence ; as they decline, so their structures become less imposing. Our county is no exception to this rule. We, however, are a practical people ; like architecture itself, we erect no columns or arches that do not support some useful or Ornamental part of the structure. We dedicate no huge piles to the worship of imaginary deities, or tyrants' follies. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the world, stood astride the entrance to the harbor, with vessels sailing between his legs, and served only to hold a burning lamp.

"For 4,000 years theSphynxhas humped herself on the banks of the Nile, and the pyramids withstood the ravages of time, for no purpose but to hold the ashes of some forgotten kings. In the light of reason revealing the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, we build for usefulness now, and for occupancy hereafter.

"To-day we celebrate the laying of the cornei'-stone of Clinton County's crowning glory. A house consecrated to law and order, justice and judgment. A more sacred consecration never hallowed temple. Man to-day would be an erect tiger but for the law that guarantees in personal liberty, personal security and private property. It is the bulwark of civil liberty, the foundation upon which rests the social fabric. The child is born; when its lungs are inflated the law stamps it with the law of inheritance from its ancestors. The bride is led to the altar; when the vows are uttered the law endows the wife with one-third of the land of her husband. The old man with trembling limb and faltering step goes down to the grave, the law casts the descent upon the heirs of his body. Minerva sat enthroned in her beautiful temple on the Acropolis, guarding the destiny of Athens. So may justice sit enthroned in this, her beautiful temple, forever guarding the rights of the people."

Counto Poor Farm

In 1864 the Board of SuperWsors, acting for the conntj, purchased of Joseph Baum 303 acres of land about a mile northeast of Frankfort. This is the present poor farm of the county, with the exceptioD that eighty acres have been sold since. In 1864 and '5 the county building was erected on the farm, at a cost of not far from $20,000. It is a very substantial building, and speaks well for the county's liberality toward its indigent poor.

Valuation And Taxation, 1845-'85

As a matter of curious interest we give here the valuation of Clinton County for 1845, with amount of State, county, road and school taxes, and also the total valuation and taxation of each township; and then subjoin the same items for 1885, to show the progress made in forty years.

By John Mitchell

In examining the means of tiie unprecedented success of the first Methodist preachers in Clinton County, 1 have arrived at the conclusion that while they always aimed directly at the salvation of souls their success may be chiefly ascribed to their great simplicity and earnestness of manner in preaching the gospel. The vast concerns of eternity were felt to hang upon the hour, and, like judicious husbandmen, they aimed at securing the fruit of their labor at once and in due season.

October i, 1831, the Illinois Conference met at Indianapolis, Bishop Koberts presiding, and appointed Miles HufFaker to the Frankfort Circuit, in Crawfordsville District, James Armstrong, presidinoj elder. The General Conference met at Philadelphia, May 1, 1832, and divided the Illinois Conference, and Indiana was set off and formed into a conference and called the Indiana Conference. Durino; this year several members of the Methodist church emigrated from Champaign County, Ohio, to Indiana and settled on Potato Creek, near the west line of Clinton County, and Rev. Miles Huffaker visited this settlement. After opening up his mission as a pioneer preacher in the house of Roily Kendall, he opened the doors of the church and received into her pale the foUowing-nained persons, whom he organized into a class : Roily Kendall, Elizabeth Kendall, George M. Kendall, John Hamilton, Hannah Hamilton, Milo Waugh, Elizabeth Waugh, Joseph Parrish, Lydia Parrish, John Cooiey and Sophia Cooley, and divine services were held from time to time at the cabins of some one of the members.

The first Indiana Conference met at Yincennes on the 17th of October, 1832, and appointed James L. Thompson presiding elder of the Vincennes District, and Stephen R. Ball to the Frankfort Circuit, which was embraced in the Yincennes District, October 16, 1833. The Indiana Conference, at their second session, met at Madison, and appointed Rev. James Armstrong presiding elder of the Northwestern District, and Rev. Stephen R. Ball and Rev. William Campbell were appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

October 22, 1834, the Indiana Conference met at Centerville, and James L. Thompson was appointed presiding elder, and Boyd Phelps was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. October 14, 1836, a conference was held at Lafayette, and Ancil Beach was appointed to thj Frankfort Circuit, James L. Thompson, presiding elder.

October 26, 1836, the Indiana Conference met at Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Frankfort Circuit was divided, and the southwest portion was formed into a circuit and called Dayton Circuit, and Rev. Eli Rodgers was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

October 17, 1838, conference met at Rockville, and appointed Tiioipas J. Brown presiding elder of the Crawfordsville District, and Rev. Joseph "White was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

October 23, 1839, the annual conference of tlie Methodist cliurch convened at Lawrenceburgh, and appointed Thomas J. Brown presiding elder of the Crawfordsville District, and Rev. Joseph Wiiite and George W. Stafford to the Frankfort Circuit.

October 21, 1840, conference met at Indianapolis, and appointed Thomas J. Brown presiding elder of the Crawfordsville District, and Ancil Beach and J. B. Demotte were appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

October 20, 1841, the conference met at Terre Haute, and appointed J. C. Smith presiding elder of the Crawfordsville District, and William Wilson and S. Reed to the Frankfort Circuit.

October 19, 1842, a conference at Centerville appointed Charles F. Hollida}' presiding elder, and Jacob Colclasier to the Frankfort Circuit.

October 18, 1843, conference met at Crawfordsville and appointed Aaron Wood presiding elder of the Lafayette District, and Draper Chipmau was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. May 1, 1844, the General Conference met at New York and during their session they divided the Indiana Conference, making the National Road the dividing line.

October 16, 1844, the North Indiana Conference met at Fort Wayne, and Rev. John Daniel was appointed presiding elder of the Crawfordsville District, and Samuel C. Cooper presiding elder of the Lafayette District, and Enoch Wood was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. September 24, 1845, the North Indiana Conference met at Lafayette and appointed Samuel C. Cooper presiding elder of the Lafayette District, and James Johnson was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. June 15, 1845, the Methodist society erected a church building which was dedicated as McKendree Church, situated on section 7, township 20 north, range 2 west, on the lands of James Hamilton. Said society was an offshoot of the society formed by Rev. P. Huffaker in 1832. September 23, 1846, the annual conference convened at La Porte and appointed Jacob M. Stallard, presiding elder of the Logansport District, and Allen Skillman was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

September 15, 1847, the annual conference met at Indianapolis and appointed Jacob M. Stallard presiding elder for the Logansport District, and B. Webster was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. September 6, 1848, the annual conference was held at Greencastle, and made the following appointments : Logansport

August 29, 1849, the annual conference met at Logansport, and appointed John H. Bruce presiding elder of the Logansport District, and John "W. Barrett was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

August 21, 1850, conference met at Cambridge City, and appointed John H. Bi'uce presiding elder, and Luther Taylor and J. C. Reed were appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

August 20, 1851, the IS'orth Indiana Conference met at South Bend, and appointed J. H. Bruce presiding elder of the Logansport District, and Luther Taylor and Frank Cox were appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. May 1, 1852, the General Conference met at Boston, Massachusetts, and during their session they divided. the North Indiana Conference, making the Michigan Road the division line, and set off all that part of said conference situated west from the Michigan Road as a separate conference, which was constituted as the Northwest Indiana Conference.

September 8, 1852, the Northwest Indiana Conference at its first session met at Terre Haute, and appointed Joseph Marsee presiding elder, and P. J. Beswick and Jesse Hill were appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. September 7, 1853, tlie Northwest Indiana Conference held its second session at Attica, and appointed Joseph Marsee presiding elder for the Delphi District, and Thomas Bartlett was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit.

September 6, 1854, the Northwest Indiana Conference held its third session at La Forte, and appointed Benjamin Winans presiding elder, and George W. Stafford was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. August 28, 1855, the Northwest Indiana Conference met at Delphi, and appointed Benjamin Winans presiding elder of the Lafayette District, and George W. Stafford was appointed to the Frankfort Circuit. October 8, 1856, the conference met at Crawfordsville, and made the following appointments : Benjamin Winans, presiding elder of the Lafayette District, and G. W. Warner to the Frankfort Circuit.

In 1830, about the time of tha organization of the county, the public roads engaged the atte|tiDn of the pioneer. His little " patch " of ground was now growing into a field, and a surplus was being produced. He had no home market, hence the necessity of roads to enable him to get beyond the limits of the county.

castle and Lafayette road, passing from the former place, in Henry County, through Straw Town, Kirk's Cross- Roads and the Twelve- Mile Prairie to Lafayette. The road was laid out by Morgan Shortridge, Commissioner, in 1830. About the same time, the Michigan State road was laid out from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River, passing through the county from north to south. Soon after this, roads were located from Crawfordsville, through Frankfort, to Fort Wayne, from Kirk's Cross-Roads to Delphi, and, in 1838, from Muncie to Lafayette, through the center of the county.

In examining the county commissioners' record of about this time we find their principal business was the hearing and granting of petitions for county roads leading into the State roads.

Many of the farmers of that day hauled their grain in wagons to Chicago and Michigan City, on the lake, where they received from 37 to 60 cents per bushel for their wheat. It required from twelve to fifteen dajs to make the trip. We venture the assertion that the farmer of 1835 went through the laborious undertaking just described with less murmuring than is heard from the lips of the farmer of 1886, who hauls his wheat over a pike a distance of four or five miles and receives for it $1.15 per bushel.

The completion of the Wabash & Erie Canal from Toledo, Ohio, to Terre Haute, in October, 1849, marked the beginning of a new era in this part of the State. A good market was then opened at Lafayette and Delphi. To make this trip required but one and two days, and better prices were received for their products than in former days at Chicago.