Delaware County, Indiana - Chapter 7: Agricultural, 1924

Chapter 7: Agricultural

The Indians of course were the first farmers of this region, though from all accounts they were very indifferent tillers of the soil, being content with implements of the crudest character and equally content to let the women do the work, which latter arrangement probably saved them from starvation. The "buck" Indian apparently would have gone without corn rather than to bestir himself in the raising of it. Contemporary accounts have it that much corn was raised by the aboriginals throughout this Midwest country. Not only along the streams in the Indiana country but over in the Ohio country Indian villages were numerous and in many of them good management was observed, and the rich bottom lands were filled with corn fields. So numerous, in fact, were the Indian villages throughout this region that General Wayne, writing from Grand Glaize (present Defiance, Ohio) in 1794 observed that "the margins of these rivers appear like one continuous village for a number of miles both above and below this place, nor have I ever beheld such immense fields of corn in any part of America from Canada to Florida."

All contemporary accounts are agreed that the Indians of this region gave much attention to agriculture, one stating that they "had not only much corn, etc., but they also depended largely on the chase. They hesitated about taking the field unless they had large quantities of corn 'cached' in their villages. Some of them had extensive orchards and Wayne cut down several thousand peach and apple trees during one of his expeditions." Another account has it that at the taking of the Piqua village over on the Miami two hundred acres of corn were destroyed and that ten years later during another military campaign in that same region 20,000 bushels were burned. When the Delawares were driven over here from the Ohio country about the year 1800 they brought their agricultural habits with them and the rich bottom lands hereabout afforded them admirable fields that re- quired but little cultivation according to their methods of farming. For fifty years or more they had been under the influence of the Moravian missionaries and thus the generation of aboriginals which came into possession here brought with them a fair degree of industrial habit, the chief of which was to make the most of a primitive corn field. It must be kept in mind, however, that the cultivation of the soil devolved almost wholly upon the squaws and children. It was beneath the dignity of the "noble redskin" to bemean himself by manual labor. He believed in the trite maxim: "Let the women do the work." .

Not only did the squaws till the soil but they prepared the food and did the cooking, this including the "jerking" of the venison, drying the wild fruits and pumpkins, husking and storing away the corn and gathering the wood for the fires, besides which the duty of making the wearing apparel, moccasins, baskets, tepees and the like, the making of maple sugar and all domestic labors devolved upon them. The "braves" amused themselves in fishing, hunting, gambling, fighting or devoting themselves to their toilets - painting, tatooing or otherwise decorating their bodies. They also conducted the religious ceremonies of the tribe, the chief and most solemn of which was their feast of "Ingathering," a ritualistic ceremony in celebration of the harvest, no doubt as devoutly observed as the white man's present day of Thanksgiving. This feast took place, according to an old account, when the new corn was sufficiently matured for use and was rigidly observed, it being unlawful to touch or use the new corn until a part of it had been offered in sacrifice to the Great Spirit. At the ceremony a circle was formed and none but Indians and such white men as might have been adopted into the tribe were admitted. Having formed the circle, the leader, or priest, took two ash sticks and rubbed them together until they ignited and then kindled a small fire in the center of the circle and thereon burned a few ears of corn, at the same time thanking the Great Spirit for the new crop of corn. After having made this offering they were quite at liberty to gather and use the corn. This ceremony was carried out in all solemnity and no dancing or merrymaking was permitted.

Development Of Farming Interests

When one considers the almost aboriginal simplicity of the methods forced upon the first white settlers in this region in carrying on their farming operations and compares those methods with those now of general adoption it cannot be said that agricultural development has not kept pace with all other phases of industrial growth that offer such striking comparisons today as against the days of the pioneers. And the use of power machinery on the farm is really in its infancy, awaiting the development of another generation.

As an older reviewer has so aptly set out: "The appliances used in farming were, at the first settlement of the county, of a very simple and inexpensive sort. An old-fashioned breaking plow or mold board, a single-shovel plow, a heavy hoe or two, a sled for hauling, an ax for chopping and a maul and wedge for cleaving the giant logs asunder and a frow for splitting boards, an ox or two, or a horse, or perhaps a team and a rude harness, with now and then, but very seldom, a wagon, made up what was regarded as a very reasonable outfit for carrying on a farm in that early time. With these rude and scanty helps the farmers contrived to work their grounds and to care for and secure their crops. A scythe, indeed, for mowing and a sickle for reaping were needed, and a fork, often made from a forked limb, but hardly ever a rake, was employed in the harvest time to move the grain crops to the wagon or sled, to be moved thence to the log barn or the stack, for at that day stacking wheat and oats and hay was a good enough method of disposing of those crops for security against the weather. And as for corn, the blessed 'poor man's crop,' that needed no caring for. It simply stood undisturbed on the stalk until wanted for feeding, when it was pulled, thrown upon the sled, hauled to the stable and fed to the hungry horses or oxen."

It was long before the threshing machine superseded the flail of the pioneer farmer, nor had the fanning machine yet appeared to relieve him of the task of winnowing his grain from a sheet shaken in the wind. The sythe and the sickle and the cradle yet had many years of service before being supplanted by the mowing machine and the reaper. However, these latter would have been of no service in this region had inventive genius provided them at that period, for the stumps had to be removed from the fields before these machines could have been utilized in Delaware county. Man's progress seems to be marked by the appearance of labor-saving devices just about the time these latter become imperative in the development of an industry. It is certain that present-day farming machinery could not have been utilized by the pioneers had they even dreamed of having them. Industry solves its own problems of necessity. Roads had to come before automobiles.

The story of the pioneer farmer and the difficulties he had to face and overcome is an old one and has oft been told. The real development of farming methods is a matter within the range of memory of all past fifty years of age and hardly need to be detailed here. But there are some comparative points that ought to prove interesting. A point in particular in the year 1842. Settlement in the region now comprised within the boundaries of Delaware county then had been effective for twenty years. The county had been operating under its own government for fifteen years. In the illuminating diary of Frederick E. Putnam, pioneer merchant of Muncie, as of date December 27, 1842, there appears the following notation: "Lots of pork in town; selling for $1.25 a barrel. In closing this year I deem it very necessary that some general remarks should be made in regard to the present state of our once prosperous country, that the rising generation (if their eyes should chance to meet this 'my log') may warn themselves of the effects of bad government. : There never was known a more fruitful season since the fall of man, and why the cause of hard times? No tariff for the protection of 'our home' manufacturers - no uniform currency for the American people excepting depreciated paper, which will not pass two hundred miles from home; state legislature doing nothing to relieve the people, the general government doing all they can, and the President vetoing (six times already) ; our character lost abroad, our confidence broken at home, repudiating the prevailing sentiment of some states, and how can we have good times! Indiana state scrip worth 50 cents to the $1 and dull at that; wheat, 25 cents; corn, 10; oats, 8%; butter, 4 cents a pound; eggs, 3 cents a dozen; apples, 25 cents a bushel, and all other things in proportion; no market abroad and none at home; everything prostrate; all are seeking office and not many getting except the favored few."

$1,137,284, placed as follows: Salem township, $134,157; Mt. Pleasant, $144,112; Harrison, $74,949 ; Washington, $82,906; Monroe, $97,+ 039; Center (including Muncietown), $239,236; Hamilton, $78,746; Union, $84,367; Perry, $110,978; Liberty, $108,576; Delaware, $97,- 179; Niles, $85,039. There were then 1,567 polls in the county and the amount of tax assessed was but $11,474. This was ten years before the railroad came. Considering the low basis of valuation and the low rate of tax assessment for that period, it is apparent that Delaware county was not in such a bad way, after all. The farmers were getting a good start.

Some Interesting Comparative Statistics

The current (1923) Indiana Year Book gives the total acreage farmed in Delaware county as 236,168, of which 155,930 are farmed by owners and 80,238 by renters. There are 1,866 owners and 930 renters. Of the acreage in farms not used for crops, 15,942 are classed as waste lands; 13,202 as timber; 27,649 as permanent pasture; 24,156 as temporary pasture; 2,419, orchards; 8,086, fallow, or a total of 91,456 acres not in crops. The tilled acreage was planted to crops as follows: Corn, 62,221 acres; oats, 28,267; wheat, 15,797; rye, 8,256; barley, 862; buckwheat, 165; timothy, 12,526; clove,

This same statistical report covers details concerning power machinery and other special equipment on the farm, based on the survey as of January 1, 1922, as follows: Steam engines, 33; gas engines, 491; electric motors, 85; tractors, 165; washing machines, 207; churns, 114; vacuum cleaners, 48; electric lighting plants, 180; acetylene, 73; running water in the home, sink, 203; bath room, 102; in the barn, 35; milking machines, 12; cream separators, 933; incubators, 551; silos, 519; wind mills, 509; bicycles, 25; motorcycles, 12; trucks, 84; automobiles, 1,372. It may be taken for granted that these figures have been materially raised since that report by the rapid increase during the past year and more of power machinery and such special equipment on the farms of this county, where "modern" methods and labor-saving devices have become almost universal.

The newspaper files show that in July, 1896, when the country was suffering a period of just about as "hard times" as it ever had gone through, local market quotations showed the following prices on staples: Wheat, 59 cents; corn, 25; oats, 18; butter, 12; eggs, 10; chickens, 9; potatoes, 25; hogs, $2.80 to $3.50; cattle, $3.95 to $4.30.

As has been noted elsewhere, the chief business of the early boards of county commissioners was in the matter of establishing roads, appointing viewers to lay off these highways through the woods and swamps and providing means for the creation of local highways to supplement the state roads that at the same time were being established as the main lines of travel between the county seat towns, just as the state today is giving its attention to the trunk highways throughout the commonwealth. During the period 1835-40, as revealed by a review of the acts of the Legislature for that period, there were no fewer than sixteen state roads established affecting Delaware county, among these being the two laid out in 1835, the state road from the house of John VanMatre to Andersontown and the Ft. Wayne state road, or the Muncietown-Marion highway. In 1837 the Richmond and Muncietown Turnpike Company was incorporated with a capital of $200,000 and in that same year roads were established from Ft. Wayne to Murray (in the present county of Wells), thence to the southeast corner of section 4, township 24, range 11, and thence to Huntington; the state road from Anderson to Muncietown on the north side of the river; the road from Middletown to New Cumberland; the road from Wesley Goodwin's, via Sulphur Springs (Wheeling) and intersecting the Middleton-Chesterfield state road; the state road from Chesterfield to the Logansport state road at Robert Sanders's in Delaware county, and the state road from a point on the Knightstown-Middleton state road at the crossing of the lines of sections 2 and 3, township 18, range 9, to Yorktown, thence, via Cumberland, to the Huntington state road.

In 1838 a state road was established from Franklin, in Wayne county, to Windsor, in Randolph county, thence, via Smithfield and Albany, to Huntington, as well as one from Muncietown to Frankfort, thence to Lafayette; one from Rushville and Greenfield, including the Blue River bridge, and thence to Muncietown via Charlottsville, Elizabeth City and Middletown, and the state road from AIbany to Parker Truitt's, thence across White river at the mouth of Prairie creek to Burlington. In 1839 a state road was established from Muncietown via Albany to Camden (Pennville), in Jay county, to intersect the Cambridge City-Ft. Wayne state road. In 1840 the Deerfield, Albany & Marion Turnpike Company was incorporated and state roads were established from Pipe creek in Madison county to intersect the state road running through the town of Wheeling to William McCormick's in Delaware county, and the state road commencing on the Richmond-Logansport state road at Mowery H. Thompson's fences in Delaware county, north to Main street in Wheeling, thence with the county road to Joseph Wilson's town, called Elizabethtown ; thence on a straight line to the center of section 18, township 23, range 10, thence on a straight line to Montpelier. The need for intercommunication between the settlers and the necessity for the establishment of such ways as were possible to make the markets more accessible was being recognized and met by both county and state.

In The Days Of Navigable Waterways

It ought not be forgotten also that the waterways still were recognized as available highways. By an act of the Legislature approved February 12, 1825, Alexander Ralston, the surveyor who had had a hand in the platting of the city of Washington and who laid out the original "mile square" in Indianapolis, was appointed to make a survey of the north branch of White river from Sample's mill in Randolph county to its junction with the eastern branch. By an act approved on January 23, 1827, it was declared that the Mississinewa river "shall be considered and deemed navigable, and a public highway from its mouth to Lewallene's mill in Randolph county." By a further act, approved on January 13, 1844, the Legislature provided "that all that part of the Mississinewa river from and below range numbering 15 east to the junction of said stream with the Wabash river be and the same is hereby declared a public highway." It is thus seen that even during the middle '40s the Mississinewa was regarded as an available highway for local commerce up to Peru and connection there with the canal and on to the lake or down to the Ohio. This act provided "that all supervisors of public highways in the county of Randolph, through which said stream runs, are hereby required to take charge of said stream within their respective road districts and to clear out all obstructions to the navigation thereof, and to keep the same free from obstructions, in the same manner and under the same law, penalties and regulations that require supervisors to open and keep in repair public roads and highways."

Striking Commentary On Changing Conditions

Viewing the well tilled fields and the well equipped farm plants visible on all sides as one drives about over the admirable highways of Delaware county today, it is difficult properly to visualize the conditions out of which these priceless benefits arose. From the unspearable mud roads or "corduroy" nightmares of another day, with stumbling ox teams or quivering horses straining mightily at their task of transportation, to the automobiles of today gliding smoothly over stone or cement highways is, indeed, a far cry - the most striking commentary possible upon the change in conditions that has taken place within the memory of men still active in service hereabout.

writers have left some graphic records of the condition of the roads in the 30s and '40s, much must be left to the imagination, for the highways simply were indescribably bad. Vast areas were nothing but swamps, which the sluggish streams never fully drained. The level plain was covered with a forest that shut out the sun from the rank mold, and this - like a sponge - held the accumulated waters. In times of freshets backwaters from the timber-tangled streams would cover practically the whole country and this would be long in subsiding. Most of the year a journey over the roads was simply a slow, laborious wallowing through the mud; the bogs were passable only by the use of "corduroy," and this corduroy of poles laid side by side for miles was held in place by strips of timber laid on the ends, and not infrequently had to be weighted down with stone or dirt to prevent floating off when the swamp waters rose.

For a graphic and illuminating first-hand description of these corduroy roads, the reader is recommended to look up his Dickens and in that famous author's "American Notes" peruse again the traveler's description of his trip by special stage coach from Columbus to Tiffin, on his way to Sandusky, in 1842. A corduroy road through a swamp was a corduroy road through a swamp and Charles Dickens has preserved a picture of such a contrivance that will live. Conditions along the makeshifts for highways over here in Delaware county must have been much the same as those along the Columbus- Tiffin road - probably worse, if possible - and the reader thus will be able to gain some conception of the difficulties that beset the traveler in those days back in the '30s and '40s. That the character of the thoroughfares impeded growth, handicapped commerce and held in check the influences that are essential to development is quite obvious to the student of that development in Delaware county. The difficulties that were overcome and the building up of the community in spite of such a handicap is an evidence of the sturdiness of the stock that peopled this county, and to those sturdy pioneers all honor is due.

A singularly informative bit of reminiscence along the line of these old highways is that carried in a communication to the Muncie Daily News for July 23, 1885, wherein a writer signing himself "Graybeard" recalled memories of a trip on foot taken by him from Cincinnati to Muncie in the summer of 1845, Muncietown then being "eonsidered a little above the average of ordinary county seats."

"Graybeard" came up by way of Hamilton and Richmond, and after leaving the latter place, he writes, "I soon came where the farms were smaller and fewer in number. Roads! Great Caesar! What roads! Mud, water and water and mud, world without end, and I wended my way through the dense forests, avoiding the thin, black, mushy mud by either taking to the woods along the side or 'cooning it? along the logs that lay promiscuously around loose. I lodged a short distance north of Newcastle and in the morning took up my line of march to Muncietown. Of this town I had heard much talk before my trip and conceived it to be a big place. This was the home of Andrew Kennedy, with whom I was slightly acquainted, having heard him make political speeches.

"Well, it was a nice town, even at that early day. I approached the town from the south and I distinctly recollect the rough corduroy bridge or bridges, with wide uneven ditches at both sides, just at the edge of town, and also the big moss-covered log heaps on each side, slowly decaying and affording a hiding place for reptiles, etc. I took dinner in a frame tavern that stood where the Patterson block now stands (southeast corner of Walnut and Main streets). I think there was but one brick house on the place, the one now (1885) south of the Hodge block. Business was not very brisk on that particular day in June. The streets were not thronged with people; a dozen, perhaps less, were all the people I saw, so I gathered my portmanteau and with a sigh prepared to wade through more black mud. Passing north, I crossed White river on a foot-log, near where the covered bridge now stands. At that place there was a small island and a log from each shore to the island was the means of transit for foot passengers. A mile or so north I struck a mud hole. There was. no getting around it and I went in, and the way I stirred things up was anything but amusing. To add to my misfortunes, the music was continuous and thrilling, to say nothing of the annoyance. The mosquitoes, with a large reinforcement of gallinippers, were just twenty-five feet thick perpendicular, and the number of unsatisfied bills presented was sufficient to compel an assignment without recourse.

"But I was bound to pull through, and pull through I did. Old Mutter, or Mooter's, tavern was the only side show in that mud hole, which extended to the middle of Main street in the village of Wheeling, where the music and the mud partially subsided. I continued my pleasure walk to what then was called the Black Horse tavern, where corn bread and the fattest kind of fat bacon were the principal dishes at both supper and breakfast. Next day I found perhaps a dozen teams hauling wheat from Grant county to Lagro, which was then the nearest and best wheat market for farmers living north of White river. . . . Yes, forty years have wrought out great changes, and what will forty years more work out?"

It is now near forty years since "Graybeard" wrote of his experiences of forty years before. This generation knows of the changes that have been wrought here since the middle '80s. Repeating ''Graybeard's" query - what will forty years more work out? The historical reviewer in the middle '60s of the present century ought to have a very interesting story to unfold.

Something More Along The Same Line

Among other interesting reminiscences along this line is that of Boyd Linville, who had come here as a teamster for a party of Carolinians in the fall of 1829 and who remained here, one of the real pioneer teamsters of this section of the state. Linville's reminiscences, written for the Helm review (1880), among other bits of narrative relating to pioneer times and pioneer conditions pointed out that he was a teamster and used to haul goods from Cincinnati to Muncie, making a trip sometimes in a week; other times, and more frequently, in two weeks. "I have hauled many a load of whisky from Cincinnati to Muncie. Scarce a load of goods was hauled without some whisky was part of the stock. In fact, whisky was the principle commodity, and sometimes we would have a wagon load of it and nothing else. Muncie was a vast hazel thicket, and but one road - the Richmond road - leading into it. The road was down the river and around by the Kirby residence, in the east part of the town, and was a continuation of Main street, which was one vast mud puddle. The wagon way was circuitous, winding in and around through the hazel brush, leaving the main road, sometimes, a distance of fifty yards or more. The state road was also the same way. We very frequently had to leave the main road and go around swamps and bad places, making the route longer and more tedious.

All of Delaware county, from Muncie, south and east, as well as in most other directions, was a vast wilderness. There were no roads and no way of penetrating the woods, except here and there a winding Indian trail."

Concerning the post roads, William Jackson's reminiscences, written for the same review, recalled that "there was a mail running from here to Huntington by way of Granville, Hartford City, etc. The mail was carried by my brother, Frank Jackson. The route, of course, was through woods and the road was very poor, having been but recently laid out. This mail was carried on horseback. There was also a horse mail from Muncie to Connersville, via Newcastle. My recollection is that this at that time was once, or maybe twice, a week. William P. Williams had the contract, but I don't recall who carried the mail. This was in about 1846. There was also mail by hack about three times a week to Richmond. This route was a very important one, as it connected with the mails both ways on the National road at Centerville. It was the principal outlet to the East and offered good facilities for both mail and passenger accommodations."

For this same review a bit of reminiscence furnished by Thomas S. Neely recalled, among other interesting points of pioneer history, something of the days of the old wagoners and teamsters and of the wagon trains carrying on the commerce between here and Cincinnati during the '40s. Mr. Neely came over here from Troy, Ohio, and in 1839 established himself in business at Muncietown. His recollection had it that the men then engaged here in freighting were Jo Davis, Sims Coon, Jacob Armpriester and Increase Sears. "These parties would load their great heavy wagons with furs, peltries, etc., and start on their journey, which was usually out on Main street, to the east, until, at Madison street, the Richmond road bore off to the southeast. They always returned with a load - 'back load' it was called - of such articles and materials as the country demanded. They usually had an order of goods for the merchants, iron for the blacksmith, together with drugs, oils, paints, hardware, salt, fish, molasses, groceries of all kinds; indeed, nothing was brought into the settlement any other way. These trips usually consumed from a week to ten days, each way, and longer when the roads were bad. Main street was one continuous mass of mud from end to end, and this, too, nearly all the year round. Buggies and spring wagons were unthought of. The old heavy Virginia and other classes of wagons were the only vehicles of transportation, and it was 'trudge, trudge along from morning till night ;' camping out on extended trips, buffeting all kinds of weather and enduring all kinds cf hardships."

The Making Of A Pioneer Road

From the considerable bulk of reminiscent matter contributed by Prof. E. Tucker for that review that relating to the roads of the pioneers is here quoted: 'The roads, indeed, were in a very primitive condition. At first, men drove through the woods, cutting out brush and poles when necessary, to admit the passage of the wagon; though at first there were only paths or 'trails' for passing on foot or on horseback. In fact, most of the locomotion was done in one or the other of these two ways, more frequently on foot; although lawyers, judges, etc., in traveling from county to county went on horseback. And when actual roads, intended for traveling for wagons, began to be made, it was done simply by removing some of the largest trees, so as to give room for the wagon to pass, and building bridges, not merely over the streams, but across swamps also, of poles or logs laid crossways of the track (corduroy). Sometimes earth was thrown upon the bridge thus made, but oftener the poles or logs were entirely bare. And the wagons would bump and bounce in passing over that wonderful highway. Occasionally a 'railroad' was built; that is, rails were taken for the road floor, instead of logs or poles, and that was far better than the other because the surface of the track was made thereby comparatively smooth and even. But the regular backwoods 'highways' made with logs were simply 'awful!' And Delaware county, in its early days, had enough of just such thoroughfares."

Evidences of these old corduroy roads were revealed in the streets of Muncie as late as in the late '70s, as disclosed by the following interesting item in the Times for August 28, 1879: "The workmen engaged in making the excavations for gas mains came in contact with a tier of oak, hickory and elm logs about three feet under the surface of Walnut street, opposite the Presbyterian church yard yesterday. The logs average fifteen inches in diameter, extend from curb to curb and about seventy-five feet along the street. The logs are well preserved and it was necessary to cut them in two with axes in order to excavate the trench to a sufficient depth. Thirty years ago that portion of Muncie was a pond and these logs were put there as corduroy roads were made. Several of our older citizens visited the scene yesterday, who aided in hauling and placing these logs where they now lay, twenty-eight years ago. Hundreds of persons secured chips from logs and took them to their offices and homes as relics of 'ye olden days in Muncietown'."

In this same connection Professor Tucker pointed out that "through Delaware county and through what is now the beautiful and thriving city of Muncie, passed one of the great thoroughfares between the older East and the newer West; through Greenville (Chio), Winchester, Muncie, Strawtown, Indianapolis, and so on - westward as far as pioneers had found their way toward the sunset, extended this route of travel. Crowds of settlers went struggling and plunging through the almost fathomless seas of mud, dragging their well nigh impossible way westward, westward, ever westward. And, in a few years, after the regions of Indiana and Illinois had been settled and improved, the tide of travel turned and droves of cattle began to pass on the same great thoroughfare, eastward, eastward, ever eastward." And the work of the drovers was a continually increasing one until the coming of the railroads gave them an easier means of transporting their cattle to the eastern markets. With improved roads, the coming of the railroads and betterment of transportation came better markets, all stimulating the promotion of improved methods of farming, and the modern farm plant is thus the natural and inevitable development. It is interesting to speculate what will be witnessed in the next generation in the way of further development. Power equipment on the farm is still a comparatively new thing and its possibilities seem limitless.

Systematic Campaign Of Road Building

Happily, there are numerous deposits of excellent gravel in the county and when a systematic campaign of road construction was entered upon these proved invaluable. There are numerous deposits as yet unopened and the supply of gravel for road building thus seems practically inexhaustible. Under the direction of the state highway commission Delaware county is maintaining its place along with many other counties of the state in the construction of stone and concrete highways, and the "trunk" roads of the county are in admirable shape, an aid to the extension of the county's agricultural interests that is being appreciated more and more each year.

The limestone deposits which crop out in numerous places in the county also have contributed largely to the solution of the good roads problem and crushed stone forms the basis for many of the best roads in the county. These natural resources, gravel, limestone and sand, conveniently accessible, have been invaluable contributing factors in the development of the agricultural interests of the county, afford-

The other great natural resource of the county, the forests, which formed the really basic source of wealth of the county before the fields were made ready for cultivation, has practically passed, though many landowners have preserved considerable tracts of native woodland. These magnificent forests contributed more than can be estimated to the early prosperity of the county, for the lumber mills and woodworking factories that sprang up all over the county offered employment to many. One important source of revenue for many of the early settlers was the cutting and marketing of hoop poles. After the railroads came there was a demand for firewood in quantities, and also an enormous quantity of hickory butts were shipped to the factories for spoke timber.

With the exception of small tracts of prairie land here and there throughout this region, the land hereabout originally was heavily timbered, the various varieties of oak predominating, although there was much hickory, beech, elm, black walnut, poplar, some lynn and considerable sycamore. Necessarily, as a means of claiming the land for agricultural purposes, the greater part of this timber was cut down and burned in the days become the coming of the saw mills and adequate means of transportation offered a proper market for the same, timber that today would be of almost incalculable value thus having been destroyed. Black walnut was the first exhausted when the timbermen came in, on account of its superior value for furniture. Probably the most valuable of these giant trees were the oaks, as they grew to larger dimensions than other trees and had a greater general purpose value. Many of these oaks were as much as five or six feet in diameter, their great boles extending above fifty feet before branching. There also were many sugar (hard maple) trees and these were eagerly utilized by the pioneers as a means of procuring sugar. Much oak bark was stripped and disposed of to the tanneries and a considerable business also was done in wood ashes for their potash content, and charcoal also was extensively burned.

Perhaps the finest timber that ever was taken from these magnificent forests was ship timber. For a number of years crews of expert hewers who had come from the East and from Canada worked out this timber in these woods. The best of oak was used. A single beam was made from the body of a giant oak; the beam was made square, as large as the diameter of the tree would permit, and it was hewed so true and smooth that it had the appearance of being planed. Some of these beams were so large and heavy that it required a sixhorse team to draw a single one from the woods to the railroad. The saw mills used only a small amount of the choicest timber - walnut, ash and white oak - for house building material. Some of the best white oak was used for staves and shingles. Thousands of the finest trees were cut and burned to clear the ground for farming.

The Beginning Of Permanent Highways

With the passing of the plank-road idea in the '50s the attention of the settlers began to turn to the thought of permanent highways. The plank roads, with their broken and upturned planks, had become a nuisance, like the floors of some of the present day bridges. The gravel road then came in. Private enterprise took charge of the construction of these roads, even as it had of the plank roads, the profit on the investment coming out of tolls charged. And thus began the era of toll pikes, which persisted for many years. When the county commissioners bought the Yorktown pike in March, 1898, paying for the same the nominal sum of $1, that toll road had been in operation for thirty years. In the next year the Granville toll pike, the last survivor, was bought by the county and thus when the new century dawned Delaware county had got rid of its toll pikes. The new state gravel road laws then became operative.

It is said that the first toll road to enter Delaware county was that constructed in the early *50s from Cambridge City to Muncie and operated by a company of stockholders representing ''capitalists'" in these two towns and in Richmond. In the '80s there were no fewer than eleven turnpikes radiating out of Muncie and the stoppage of traffic at the toll gates was an accepted incident of travel. This acceptance gradually grew less and less cheerful and through the 790s the pressure on the county to buy up the toll pike companies grew so impressive that these roads one by one were "freed." During the late '60s there were no fewer than twenty turnpike associations formed for road development in this county, these beginning with the Muncie & Middletown Turnpike Company, elsewhere mentioned, organized on June 29, 1866, and being followed within the next three years by the Blountsville & Morristown, the Range Line road, Middle. town & Range Line, Muncie & Wheeling, Middletown & Daleville, Daleville & Bell Creek, Muncie & New Burlington, Muncie & York- town, Jackson Street, Muncie & Bethel, Muncie & Eaton, Muncie & Granville, Junction (intersecting with New Burlington pike), Smithfield and Albany, Muncie & Smithfield and Blountsville & Smithfield, the latter extending north in Perry township to connect with the Muncie & Winchester.

One of the first turnpike roads constructed in the county was the Muncie and Middletown road, for which an association known as the Muncie and Middletown Turnpike Company was organized, this company, or association, to have a capital stock of $10,000, divided into shares of $25 each. The articles of association of this company, filed for record on June 29, 1866, were signed by Thomas Kirby (who subscribed $500), and thirty-six others. Articles of association of the Middletown and Range Line Turnpike Company were filed for record on May 28, 1867. The capital stock of this company was $10,- 000, divided into 400 shares of $25 each, and the articles of association were signed by Jonathan Anders and forty-six others. On May 30, 1867, the Middletown and Daleville Turnpike Company was organized under the terms of articles of association calling for $6,000 capital stock, divided into 240 shares of $25. each. These articles were signed by Frederick Tykle and twenty-five others.

As an instance of the manner in which the financial affairs of these old turnpike companies worked out, a sample statement of the operation of one such concern back in the '70s may prove interesting. This is the statement of the Jackson Street Turnpike Company for the year ending in July, 1877, filed for record on July 6 of that year, the statement being signed by H. W. Weir, George B. Snodgrass and John R. Wellington, directors, and attested by John R. Wellington, secretary. The statement reveals that the company had nine miles of road bed; cash in bank, $76.29; two toll houses and six scrapers, $500; capital stock, $28,000; gross receipts, $643; paid for repairs, $145; litigation, $12; officers, $51; gate keepers, $135; outstanding debts, $223.73.

There are many still living in Delaware county whose memories go back to the days of the open range for hogs and cattle, to the days before the fencing of the farms had been completed and when gaunt "elm peelers" and '"razor-back" hogs roamed at will through the woods, feeding on mast until time to round them up and drive an unruly herd of them to market. Before the railroad came this market was at Cincinnati and the driving of a bunch of hogs to market was a task that required considerable special training. It is a far cry from the time of the half wild hogs of the pioneer days to the sleek purebred strains of today, but the "world do move" and the hog has progressed and developed along with other things to which man has given his thought.

This reference to the days of the "elm peelers'" recalls the system under which those who raised hogs hereabout used to keep track of their widely wandering porkers. Free to roam at will along the unfenced highways and through the open wood ranges, hogs and cattle took the country in common and it was necessary for each owner to have his individual mark or brand in order to make sure of coming into his own when it came time for the annual round-up. That there might be an orderly system and that there might be no duplication of individual marks each owner filed with the county recorder, under provision of law, his individual mark or brand and all others were thus barred from using the same distinguishing mark. A special record book was maintained for this purpose. That was back in the 730s and the record of 'Marks and Brands" is still on file in the recorder's office, musty but in a good state of preservation. The register of marks and brands was kept by townships and the record opens with township 19, range 9 (Salem township), the initial entry in this old book being that of Samuel Dusang - "right ear, swallow fork; left ear, the same.' The date of this entry is December 10, 1836. Then followed the register of Adam Campbell, "right ear, swallow fork; left ear, an under bit ;'' Samuel Clevenger, "crop off the right ear; left, an under bit;'' William Fenwick, "an under bit in each ear;" John Pugsley, "crop off the left ear and under slit in the same;" Justin Steel, "slit in each ear," etc. The last record in the book is that of John Crow, township 22, range 9-8, whose register is "crop and slit in the left ear and slit in the right." The record carries up to the spring of 1861, the latest date apparently being that of May 8, 1861, when George Wilhelm, township 20, range 10, registered his brand as "a swallow fork in each ear."

The law placing upon the recorder the duty of keeping a book of such entries of marks and brands, passed in 1836, provided that "the said recorder shall be entitled to receive of the person employing him as aforesaid, the sum of twelve and a half cents for every such entry of marks and brands; of which entry he shall, if required, deliver a certified copy to the owner." This law protected the proprietors of these marks and brands against infringement as effectually as the trade-marks of manufacturers are protected today. The old settlers maintained a sacred regard for the marks of other's stock. As Cockrum's interesting Indiana pioneer collections says, ''some of the sows that were marked would stray away and raise a litter of pigs and stay with them. The owner and others would see them once in a while and the range she stayed in was noted by the hunters, and the hogs in that range of woods were called after the man who owned the marked sow. Nearly all the farmers would have some hogs which became wild, and their claim on the hogs that came from the marked sow was respected." According to this same authority these wild sows were very prolific, usually raising two litters of from six to eight pigs a year, so that in a short time the surrounding woods would be full of wild hogs, these animals reverting to the wild and becoming as hard to domesticate as the naturally wild animals, an old saying among the pioneers having been "'a wild hog once, a wild hog always." FIGHTING QUALITIES OF A WILD HOG

A considerable portion of the heavy timber growth that covered this section of the state was mast bearing, nuts and acorns, and in the more open or barren wood there were immense thickets of hazel, these bushes producing great quantities of hazel nuts. In the fall and during the winter the ground was thus covered with nuts and acorns, so that there was no lack of food for the wild hogs and other mast eating creatures. Bear and deer meat served the earlier of the pioneers, but as these creatures of the wild became scarce and finally altogether were gone the hog came into general use as a food product. When a tracking snow fell the farmer would take his boys and hunting companions and go to the range where his wild hogs ran, taking his dogs that were trained to guard against the terrible tusks of the boars. Cockrum's observations have it that "there never was a more vicious animal on this continent than these old boars," and sometimes the fights between the dogs and the boars would be terrific. When once attacked, the boars fought to a finish. Their tusks grew to a length of four or five inches, as sharp as knives, and with one thrust of these tusks they could kill a dog, cut a man's leg half off or ruin a horse. The older chronicles have it that wild hogs have been known to give battle to a dozen wolves and put the latter to flight, while it was no uncommon thing for them to attack in a body a bear and tear the latter to pieces and then devour the fragments.

A description of such a fight is carried in one of the older chronicles, detailing a struggle between a bear and a pack of wild hogs farther down the White river. The two hunters who witnessed this fight heard the sound of conflict in a thicket and "climbed up a log to where it was ten or twelve feet from the ground and saw a large black bear backed up against a log. He was using both arms, boxing right and left, as he was being held at bay by twenty or twenty-five hogs. The hunters said they had never seen such a furious fight and they watched it to a finish. There were several large male hogs with terrible tusks and they would charge in pairs, intending to tusk him on each side, but the bear was on the defensive and would knock them right and left. After a long fight the hogs changed their mode of attack and rushed at the bear four or five at a time. In this way they soon got in their work. They literally tore the bear to pieces and were eating it up when the two hunters were glad to slip away without attracting attention."

By the legislative act "regulating the taking up of animals going astray and water craft, and other articles of value adrift," approved February 14, 1841, it became the duty of any person taking up an estray animal '"'or any boat, flat, periogue, canoe, raft, or other article of value adrift," to advertise the same in writing within five days "in three of the most public places in the township." If not then claimed, it became "the duty of the taker up" within fifteen days to report his find to the justice of the peace, who should then appoint three appraisers to determine the value of the estray, and the "taker up" also should make affirmation that he had not altered the marks or brands on such animal. It then also became the duty of the taker up to take the estray to the county pound and keep the same there from 11 a. m. to 3 p. m. of the first day of each of the two succeeding terms of court. .

The justice of the peace before whom the estray should be appraised was required to transmit to the clerk of court this description and appraisement and it then became the duty of the latter to enter the same "in a book to be kept for that purpose." This description then was to be advertised in a newspaper and the clerk also was required to send a copy of the description to the state printer, with a fee of $1, the state printer not only to keep a file of such estray notices but to publish same in a newspaper if not previously published. It the estray animal (or any property adrift) were not claimed and proven by the proper owner within twelve months it then should "vest absolutely in the taker up." By a later act (1844) it was provided "that all moneys arising from the sale of estray animals and property taken up adrift, as soon as the same shall have vested absolutely in any county, shall be, by the proper officers, transferred to the common school fund of the county and shall be ratably apportioned among the several school districts thereof." These were but amendatory acts to the acts of earlier legislatures bearing upon the subject of estrays, which was one of the engrossing problems of the pioneers in the days before fences became possible.

Source Of Revenue For The Newspapers

It thus was that in the days of the open range the newspapers found a considerable and continuing source of revenue in the publication of "estray notices." Evidence also might be figured out on the face of some of the old estray books filed away in the dark corners of county clerks' offices throughout Indiana that it was probable that certain enterprising and perhaps not over scrupulous individuals might have been turning the provisions of this law to their own profit and advantage. It at least is a matter of credible tradition that an estray Indian pony was looked upon by a certain type of early settler as common property to be appropriated on sight and as the Indian's standing in court or in community circles never was very firm he often had silently to suffer his loss. If possible this type of "taker up" would make every endeavor to establish his claim that "'findin's is keepin's" and would profit thereby.

The initial entry in the little old, time-stained "Book of Estrays" in the office of the clerk of Delaware county is of date 20th November, 1827, as follows: "Taken up by Jonathan Bentley, living in Delaware county, Mountpleasant township, a dapper gray horse supposed to be six years old last spring; fourteen hands and a half high, is a natural trotter; artificial marked on left hind leg; saddle marked on both sides. Light mane and tail; appraised to $40 by James W. Brown, John Downing and Lemuel G. Jackson. A true copy from my entry book, this 14th day of November, 1827. Nathan Branson, j. p."

The open range and insecure fences gave much trouble to the pioneers. At the legislative session of 1841 the act "concerning enclosures and trespassing animals" was amended to provide additional qualifications for fence viewers (who were allowed $1 a day for days of actual service) and also to better define a "lawful fence;" this act providing "that all fields kept for cultivation, the fences inclosing which shall, in the opinion of the fence viewers, be of sufficient height and strength, and in every respect such as good husbandmen generally keep, shall be considered a lawful fence against all domestic animals." Needless to say, these fences were rail fences. That was in the days of the great forests, and prowess as a rail splitter was regarded as a local distinction.

One Of The Orderly Precautions Of The Pioneers

Along in the '50s it evidently became apparent that certain of the - domestic animals were a menace to the public. At the June term of the Delaware county commissioners court for 1853 it was "ordered by the board that the following kinds of animals shall be suffered to run at large and pasture on the unenclosed lands and public commons within the bounds of the several townships of said county, towit: All mares and geldings of the horse and mule kind of any age and all young horses and males under one year old; all cows and steers and heifers at any age, and male calves until six months old; all sows and barrows of the hog kind at any age and male pigs until three months old; ali ewes and wethers of the sheep kind at any age, and male lambs until six months old.' This seems a somewhat roundabout way in which to prohibit the running at large of bulls, boars and rams, but perhaps the circumlocution of legal phraseology or the finical prudery of the period required that the order be set out in such fashion. It did not seem quite the polite thing to refer to a bull or boar in plain terms. This was true even in the middle '80s. In his speech on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the court house in July, 1885, Judge Buckles referred to the first election held in Center township, in which one of the pioneer electors cast a vote for Goldsmith Gilbert's bull for justice of the peace. This historic animal was referred to in the speech, as reported by the Muncie News, as "Gilbert's male cow."

In accordance with the law of 1913 many Delaware county farm owners have given distinctive names to their farms and have registered the same, thus protecting their proprietory right in the use of the names thus selected. From the Register of Farm Names in the ofiice of the county recorder it is noted that the first entry in thfs behalf was that of O. H. Scott, who on November 10, 1913, entered for record the name of his farm as "Fair Oaks Stock Farm." Since then other names have been registered, as follows:

The Old Muncietown Race Track

According to the reminiscences of Nathaniel Fuller Ethell "the first race track was along the river from a slight hill near Judge Thompson's present (1913) residence, and the ford at the foot of High street. Its length was a quarter of a mile, more or less, and many a race was run there. Afterward the track was laid off in the flat north of town, beginning in the middle of the flat across the Granville road. Racing was numerously attended by the sports of town and country. Being a young sport myself, I remember going there on one occasion when some noted nags were put to their best heats. One of the races was the cause of much acrimony and dispute, resulting in a noted fight between Nelse Jewell and John Bowen. The men were strong, active, determined men in the prime of life and fought long and bitterly. When they were pulled apart their faces were not in condition for dining or the company of ladies. There were three Jewell men - Nelse, Tom and Os. I think they lived with their mother (Goldsmith Gilbert's second wife) in the Gilbert Mansion - a house afterward torn down by John Jack, who bought an interest in the estate (the present Wysor home site in North Walnut street) - and were somewhat noted for their pugnacity - hardworking men when properly occupied. John Bowen's sister was Minus

Turner's first wife. His brother Hiram was sheriff of the county a term of two (in the '40 and 50s). There was more or less drinking of tanglefoot in those days in the town, which on Saturdays was visited by carousing young bucks from the country, and when these and the town boys got to sampling the raw stuff easily procured, there was bound to be a collision or two or more, and fights of greater or less bloodiness."' |

In the '70s much cattle and horse stealing was going on hereabouts. A review of a volume of the Muncie News for 1877 reveals numerous items of such news, the suspicion being expressed that the operations of the thieves must be directed by a definite organization. The circulation of counterfeit money also was the subject of complaint, particularly in the Yorktown neighborhood, and the editor expressed his wonder if there was not a "coinaker" at work some place in that part of the county.

The current (1923) official announcements and premium list of the Delaware County Agricultural and Mechanical Society refers to the meeting of the society in this year as "the seventy-first annual fair," which would imply that the first county fair in Delaware county was held in 1852. This is no doubt correct, as the annual serial number of these recurring fairs doubtless has been kept "'straight," but unfortunately there is no official record to confirm it. The current records and minute books of the society date back only to the year 1885, John M. Graham then having been president and Major John F. Wildman, secretary. Frank J. Claypool, present secretary-manager of the society, is of the opinion that the earlier records and minutes of the society were kept "loose leaf" and that these insecure records have been so thoroughly misplaced as now to be beyond recovery.

It is probable that the first meetings of the farmers of the county for purposes of displaying the products of their farms were more or less voluntary "get-together" meetings, beginning perhaps in 1852. These meetings also may have been held in what formerly was known as "'the old fair ground," a beautiful grove off Gilbert street at about the northeast corner of the original plat of the town of Muncie, about where Hackley street cuts in, now long ago built over in a valuable section of the city, for that would have been a quite fitting place for the meeting. This grove then belonged to Jacob H. Wysor, who had it from the Goldsmith Gilbert estate. The first meetings of the farmers must have attracted sufficient attention to claim official recognition and to lead to the organization of a definite society for the purpose of promoting similar meetings in the future, for in 1854 there is a definite official record in this behalf, together with evidence that the county had bought a tract of land for fair ground purposes.

In the journal of the board of county commissioners for the September term, 1854, the minutes point out that it was "Ordered by the board that all that certain piece and parcel of land containing five acres, being a part of Hackley's Reserve, better known and described in a deed from Jacob H. Wiser (Wysor) and wife and John Jack and wife to Delaware county, Ia. . . . be and is hereby leased for fencing and keeping in repair to the Delaware County Agricultural Society for an agricultural show ground for the term of fifteen years if the said society see proper to use it for that purpose; so long and as much longer as the board of commissioners then in office deem expedient said society is to have the full and exclusive, sole use and control, and possession of the above mentioned land for their own use and benefit during the above mentioned time," etc.

The old fair ground property was restored to the Wysor holdings by a deed of the county commissioners (John Parker, Thomas J. Matthews and Benjamin F. Smith) on June 25, 1868, conveying to Jacob H. Wysor, for the sum of $1,500, the tract - "being the same ground conveyed by deed from Jack & Wysor to commissioners of Delaware county by a deed recorded in Record of Deeds, vol. 15, p. 381." This tract is described in the conveyance as "commencing at a rock at the northeast corner of the Ft. Wayne & Southern Railroad Company's ten-acre lot - witness black walnut six inches in diameter, north 44 degrees, west 31 links; thence north 86 degree and 2214 minutes, east 26 rods and .66 of a rod to a rock - witness black walnut, 8 inches; south 7234, degrees, east 3934, links; thence south 3 degrees and 3714 minutes, east 30 rods to a rock - witness black walnut, 6 inches - south 4514, degrees, east 1014, links; thence south 86 degrees, 2214 minutes, west 26.66 rods to a rock at the southeast corner of the railroad company's lot - witness hickory, 5 inches - north 41 degrees, east 12% links; thence north 3 degrees and 3714 minutes, west along the line of said railroad lot 30 rods, to the placé of beginning, containing five acres." north of Gilbert street, extending to the river, east of Plum street, with the entrance to the ground at Hackley street. The race track was a half-mile track and was in the form of a circle instead of an oval. A five-acre tract now would hardly be regarded as a very extensive fair ground, but it is recalled that there were some pretty good and quite comprehensive exhibits at the old grounds, while the racing on the old round track attracted the attention of horsemen from far and near.

How Present Fair Gounds Were Acquired

And thus with the organization of the Delaware County Agricultural Society, perhaps in the year 1854, and the leasing to the society of the grove and plot of ground bought by the commissioners for the purpose, began the definite history of the organization which ever since has been maintained, under several changes of name meanwhile, and which has kept up an unbroken series of county fairs in Delaware county, these for many years having been recognized as among the most important exhibits of the sort in this section of the Midwest country. The old fair ground was maintained as a meeting place until about the beginning of the '70s, when it was found that it no longer was adequate for the expanding demands of the fair. In the minutes of the board of county commissioners as of October 9, 1871, it is noted that "The board order that the ground now occupied by the Delaware County Agricultural Association and owned by Jacob H. Wysor be purchased of the said Wysor and that the title thereto vest in the county of Delaware, said county paying the said Wysor in consideration of said real estate and as a difference between the price of what is known as the old fair ground and said real estate the sum of sixty-three hundred doilars ($6,800) and further order that the auditor draw a warrant upon the treasurer of Delaware county for the sum of $6,300 payable to Jacob H. Wysor." The commissioners then were William Miller, John Parker and Liberty Ginn. The deed record shows that on October 7, 1871, Jacob H. and Sarah Wysor deeded to the county a tract of land containing 41.68 acres (the present fair ground) in the Hackley Reserve, the consideration there being set out as $7,800, the difference in price, $1,500, no doubt being accounted as the value of the old five-acre tract before that time used as a fair ground, and the fifteen-year lease on which to the Delaware County Agricultural Society expired in 1869. And thus the county fairs came to be held on the present fair ground more than fifty years

The lease of the fair ground from the county commissioners has been extended from time to time, to the present. One particular period of development followed the extension of the lease for a period of fifteen years on March 5, 1906, C. H. Anthony then being president of the Delaware County Agricultural and Mechanical Society and M. S. Claypool, secretary, when the lessee "further promises and agrees to erect and leave upon the leased premises a new amphitheater and a new floral hall, each to be of good and safe construction and of safe capacity." This lease was renewed on June 5, 1922, for a period of twenty years, John E. Green, president, and Frank J. Claypool, secretary, signing for the society.

First Officials Of Old Society

Though there is no remaining official record of the beginning of the work of the agricultural society in this county, there has happily been preserved in the invaluable reminiscences of Prof. E. Tucker (1880) a story relating to this organization that is accepted as authoritative. The professor did not give the source of his statements, admitting that even then '"'the record of the formation of the association is not now at hand," but he says that "an agricultural society for Delaware county was formed March 4, 1852," and he then sets out the first officials of this society as follows: President, Martin Galliher; vice president, Thomas J. Sample; secretary, Daniel Jarrett; treasurer, Thomas J. Matthews; directors - Center township, Jacob Calvert; Mt. Pleasant, Josiah Slack; Liberty, John Smith; Salem, John Tomlinson; Harrison, A. Shank; Monroe, William Mansfield; Hamilton, Timothy Bennett; Union, William Adsit; Washington, William McCormick; Delaware, James Jones; Niles, John Worster; Perry, George Ribble; Muncie (city), James McKimmey.

Continuing, this narrative sets out that "the first meeting found in the record occurred June 6, 1853," and that "the directors at that time resolved to hold a meeting July 4, ensuing." And then there is quoted an item in the report of the secretary of the local society to the state board of agriculture concerning the annual exhibition held on October 6 of that year (1853), stating that "its second annual exhibition was held at Muncie on the date before mentioned, which was well attended and a laudable interest manifested. The society comprises seventy-four members. Addresses were delivered before the society on the 4th day of July, 1853, by David Kilgore and Joseph

S. Buckels, Esqs., but no copies preserved." The belief is expressed that the exhibition here referred to was held on the public square in Muncie, which no doubt would have offered ample space for an exhibition of this sort at that time. A further quotation from 'this record says that "premiums were offered on horses, cattle, sheep, swine, wheat, corn, potatoes, grass seed, butter, cheese, domestic manufactures, farm implements and various articles displaying mechanical skill, poultry, fruit and flowers. About $75 were awarded in premiums." As a bit of comparison, the premiums offered in the speed class alone for the current year (1928) aggregated almost $5,000, this aside from 'the thousands of dollars offered as premiums in the exhibition classes.

An exceedingly interesting statement was carried in this old report of 1853, which just now possesses peculiar value for comparative purposes. This statement is carried over the signatures of John Cullen and John Galbraith, as follows: "Statement of a field of wheat raised by Stephen R. Martin, on his farm in Hamilton township, and measured by us, and we certify the measurement to be correct, to the best of our knowledge." The statement then goes on to show in carfully itemized particulars that the field contained twelve acres, seven rods, and produced 306 bushels of wheat, as cleaned by a separator threshing machine. Other items were: Clay soil, slightly mixed with sand; elevated, with western exposure; three crops of wheat previous to this one - the first on clover sod, second on wheat stubble, third fallowed, and the present fallowed; a few loads of straw fed on the field; broke up in June, stirred the middle of August, harrowed down, sowed and plowed in with the shovel plow, and cross harrowed in the last week in September; one and one-half bushels sowed to the acre - white wheat. The items of cost of production and profit then follow:

Other items in this connection have it that a patch of potatoes forty-five rods square produced 5314 bushels - Nova Scotia potatoes, large, round, yellow, and that a field of corn four acres and 128 perches in extent produced 484 bushels of ear corn, at a cost of $39 for production; value of crop, at 25 cents a bushel, $121, thus realizing a total profit of $82, or about $17.50 an acre.

The Tucker narrative then goes on to say that the next annual meeting was held on April 5, 1854, and that the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, David Kilgore; vice president, John Smith; secretary, John C. Helm; treasurer, T. J. Mathews; directors - Salem township, John Shoemaker; Mt. Pleasant, John Horne; Harrison, Jacob W. Miller; Washington, Robert Winton; Union, William A. Long; Hamilton, Mark Moore; Center, E. C. Anthony; Monroe, John Lenox; Ferry, David Stouder; Liberty, J. Dynes; Delaware, James Orr; Niles, John H. Rutter; executive committee, Jacob Calvert, William Y. Williams, David Tomlinson, Timothy Bennett and Volney Willson. It was in this year that the county commissioners procured the five-acre tract (the old fair grounds) above referred to, and the society's report on this transaction to the state board set out that "the society has procured a fifteen-years lease on a piece of ground owned by the county - indeed, bought by the commissioners for that purpose, at a nominal rate - and is proceeding to enclose it and erect the necessary fixtures in a permanent and durable manner, thus giving the society a permanen and stable character." |

In his report to the state board for this year (1854) the secretary of the Delaware County Agricultural Society set out that "the society fair was held on the 28th and 29th days of September and was of increased interest and importance over those of preceding years, showing a decided and rapid improvement in the stock, etc., exhibited ; increased attention to the improvement of stock by procuring animals of good blood, and more attention to the details of good breeds and improved breeding; proving, also, that more attention was being bestowed on the manner of farming and that our former loose, slovenly and careless habits were being reformed, giving place to systematic farming. But we have much, very much, to reform and improve, which will require time, as our progress necessarily will be slow, encountering, as we do, our full share of apathy, prejudice, bigotry and stubborn attachment to old customs and habits. Our society numbered something over one hundred members the past year and our prospects for usefulness are encouraging."

In 1856 Joseph 8. Buckles, who two years later was elected judge of the circuit court, was elected president of the agricultural society. In 1859 Thomas J. Sample was president. At a business meeting of the society in January, 1860, it was resolved "That, at the next meeting of this society, competition for premiums be open to all mankind." The directors of the society apparently were beginning to feel that the Delaware county fair was coming to be something more than a merely local affair. During the period of the Civil war there probably was something of a let-up in the activities of the society. People had too much else to think about. A report of the secretary following the annual meeting in the fall of 1865 showed a balance on 'hand of only $188.30. In 1861 the directors of the society threw the gates of the fair ground open to all proper general public use, passing a resolution to the effect that "the fair grounds be free for the use of schools, picnics, etc., by our citizens," and the old Wysor grove tract was used as a fair ground for some years thereafter, or until the society took over the present grounds on the north side of the river, agreeing to pay for the same at the rate of $165 an acre, or $6,765. The struggle to pay this sum presently was given up and the county commissioners stepped in and came to the relief of the agricultural society by buying the grounds, as set out in the introduction of this review, and in October, 1871, leased the tract to the society for fair ground purposes.

Beginning Of Present Society

Meanwhile, in 1868, there had been a reorganization of the old agricultural society. At a meeting held at Muncie on January 11, 1868, Judge Buckles presiding and J. A. Wachtell acting as secretary, the Delaware County Agricultural and Mechanical Association was organized, the real forerunner of the present organization, which carries the same name as a "society" instead of an "association." The stated object of this association was "the development of the agricultural resources and the advancement and encouragement ot the mechanical and manufacturing interests of the county of Delaware." The articles of association of the new organization, filed for record in the office of the county recorder, fixed the capital stock at $50,000, divided into shares of $10 each and were signed by the

The premium list and announcement of the "twenty-fifth annual fair of the Delaware County Agricultural Society, to be held at their fair grounds at Muncie, Ind., Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, September 11th, 12th, 18th and 14th, 1877," required eight columns of the Muncie News for publication. The officers of the association for that year were: President, Thomas W. Tuttle; vice president, John Williams; treasurer, John E. Burson; secretary, Mare S. Claypool; superintendent, William M. Petty; directors (besides the above), Peter R. Shaffer, J. J. Clevenger, Jonathan Martin, John Fullhart, Samuel Parkinson, Eli Ogle, Watt Wilson, Charles Mansfield, James Carmichael, David Justice and Frank F. Peterson.

This association carried on for ten or twelve years with varying degrees of success and on June 10, 1880, to meet new conditions and clear the decks for more effective action, was reorganized under the name which it ever since has borne, the Delaware County Agricultural and Mechanical Society. The articles of association of this new society, as found recorded in the office of the county recorder, were signed by John M. Graham and thirteen others, and set out that the society was organized with a capital stock of $20,000, divided into shares of $10 each. The records show that a month or more later the county commissioners renewed in favor of this society the lease held by its predecessor, the old agricultural association, to the fair grounds in consideration of the society's agreement "to erect and expend in permanent improvements to the value at least of $1,000 in addition to the $2,000 already expended upon said grounds." And here was laid the ground work for the continued expansion and improvement of the society's fair ground facilities that in all the fortythree years since have gradually brought this plant up to a point equal to that of any county fair ground in the state and far superior to most of them.

The Men Who Have Kept Fair Going

The initial officers of the Delaware County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, following its organization in 1880, were as follows: President, John M. Graham; vice president, Thomas W. Tuttle; superintendent, William H. Wood; treasurer, George Kirby; secretary, Frank Ellis; superintendent of gates, Eli Ogle; directors, Thomas W. Tuttle, Thompson Sharpe, William H. Wood, James Carmichael, Samuel Parkinson, Sr., Samuel Drumm, Charles C. Mansfield, John M. Graham, Eli Ogle, George Kirby, J. L. Martin, James Barrett and John S. Fudge. The continuous minutes of the society since 1885 are on file.

Galliher, and mechanical, J. Cooper Props. The fair grounds are conveniently situated within the city limits of Muncie, are well shaded and have ample halls, sheds and pens for the accommodation of exhibitors. The society has expended more than $40,000 on improvements "and now has everything second to no other society in the state." The week of the Delaware county fair is always regarded as "home-coming"' week in the city and county and the reunion features of this annual event are not the least enjoyable of the many features which for years have spread the fame of "the Muncie fair" far and wide. The society boasts of "the fastest half-mile track in Indiana and one of the fastest in the world, the track record being 2:0414," and its annual speed program is an attractive one.

This society for years has acted on the principle that generous premiums will insure attractive exhibits and the wisdom of this policy has been amply demonstrated. By very reason of these generous awards to exhibitors the profits of the society generally have been negligible, the society's endeavors thus having been largely a labor of love without much individual compensation for those who have kept alive the spirit and the activities of the society through all the years of its progress. As set out in the society's current (1923) year book, "the work of giving our fair, keeping the track, buildings and ground in shape, is one of large proportions and has never been a paying investment from the view of the stockholder; in fact, it has been almost a 'gratis job' in which the stockholders have never received a dividend and very meager compensation for their efforts to conduct the fair, obligating themselves for a large indebtedness." The seventy-first anniversary meeting of "the Muncie fair" was held on August 7, 8, 9 and 10, 1923, and, as per announcement, was "given this year on a larger scale than ever before." In concluding their announcement the board of directors expressed the belief "that the splendid co-operative spirit manifested by the citizens of Delaware county justifies their efforts to enlarge the scope of usefulness of the fair." And this co-operative spirit not only is manifested by the people of Delaware county but by the people of adjacent counties whose friendly rivalry in the matter of exhibits and whose attendance help to make the annual Muncie fair one of the great gathering places in the state of Indiana.

Frank J. Claypool, who for years has officiated as secretary-manager of the agricultural society, has long given his attention to movements having to do with the betterment of farm conditions. In 1888 he aided in the organization of the Delaware County Farmers Institute, which ever since has been an active, going concern in this county, and was elected first secretary of that organization, the present directing officers of which are C. L. Retherford, president, and William Rutledge, secretary. He also was the secretary of the old Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association which during the period of its greatest activity back in the middle '90s had a membership of 1,800 in this county. His particular efficiency in connection with this association's activities in this county and throughout the state of Indiana led to his election as secretary of the national organization of this body of farmers and during his incumbency in that office he edited and published The Farmers Record, a journal devoted to the interests of the association, with publication office at Muncie. He also is the secretary of the Eastern Indiana Live Stock Breeders' Association, an organization of three hundred members or more in eight counties hereabout, with offices in Muncie. During the time of local activities in connection with this country's participation in the World war he was a particularly active factor in promoting increased productivity of the farms and gardens and was helpful in organizing each township in the county in this behalf. As a county fair executive Mr. Claypool is regarded as one of the best in the Midwest country, and has a wide acquaintance in that connection.

No review of this sort would be complete without special mention of the former activities of the Delaware County Horticultural Society, a voluntary association of enthusiastic horticulturists that for about twenty years, reaching from the middle '70s to the middle '90s, kept Delaware county well to the front in the ranks of Indiana horticulturists and of which Frank J. Claypool, present secretary-manager of the Muncie Fair, was the last president. This society had its inception along about 1875 when Granville Cowing, an eastern man who had taken up farming here, began to promote locally a better regard for horticultural interests hereabout and it was not long until he had induced several others of like mind to join him in an informal organi- zation looking to the promotion of these interests, particularly in the cultivation of strawberries, for which the soil of this county is so admirably adapted. An older chronicle has it that a formal organization growing out of this informal "get-together" movement was effected at a meeting held on April 15, 1880, at which D. R. Pershing was chosen president, Granville Cowing vice president, Dr. Will A. Egbert secretary, John Fullhart treasurer, and Dr. Stephen Hathaway, H. J. Lockhart and Evan T. Babb an executive committee.

The announced object of this association was the better promotion of the cultivation of fruits, flowers and garden products, and it now is freely admitted that much of the advanced interest in local horticulture today is due to the earlier interest thus manifested and stimulated by the members of this society, which continued its effective labors until about 1895 when its work gradually became merged with other specialization work of a similar character. The meetings of this society were held monthly and were "migratory" in character, the families of members meeting at the home of one or another of the members during the summer seasons and combining a picnic and strawberry or garden feast with the formal business program, these "basket dinners" being still recalled with pleasure by many in the county. Besides the names of those given above as the promoters of this horticultural society, Mr. Claypool recalls many others who, besides himself, took an active interest in the affairs of the society, these including John Vance, William Walling, Lewis Moore, R. A. Andes, John Fudge, P. W. Patterson, John M. Graham, Parker Moore, William Ribble, Charles Legg, Walter Cecil, Jerome Galliher, John Mock, William Luick, John L. Powers, John Dungan, Cale Maitlen, Henry Marsh, William Vance, John Meeker and William Abbott.

Before leaving the subject of the county fair it will be proper to make mention of another fair project that was promoted back fifty years ago at the time the "grangers" were going strong throughout this section of the Midwest. On February 11, 1874, there were filed in the office of the county recorder articles of association of the Delaware County Agricultural, Horticultural and, Mechanical Society, whose object as there stated was "'the development of the agricultural resources and the advancement and encouragement of the mechanical and manufacturing interests of the county of Delaware." This document was signed by S. C. Moffett and sixty-five others. These articles provided that the thirteen directors of the society (one for each of the townships with the exception of Center, which was to have two) should be elected by the taxpayers of the county and that "the corporate seal of this association shall be the seal of the office of the auditor of Delaware county." Just what came of this apparent movement to take over in behalf of the grangers the seal of the county and to make the society a civil body responsive to the electorate is not now recalled, but there is no record of it having got very far with its ambitious program. The directors of this grange organization were 8S. C. Moffett, of Salem township; Joseph Hancock, Mt. Pleasant; James P. Snodgrass, Harrison; George Beuoy, Washington; A. W. Ross, Monroe; A. J. Wilson and John Williams, Center; Samuel Martin, Hamilton; John C. Long, Union; Lafayette Whitney, Perry; Mordecai Whitney, Liberty, and Nicholas Poland, Delaware.

As an indication of the value of the Farm Club movement, a newspaper comment in connection with the report of the county fair meeting in August, 1920, may be considered timely. In that year the "big day" (Thursday) attendance on the county fair was more than 25,000. The Muncie Star said that "the Delaware county Boys' and Girls' Calf Club, originated by the Merchants National Bank, for the purpose of encouraging the boys and girls of the county to take more interest in raising better grades of cattle, and gradually to educate all people of the county to the possibilities in higher grades of cattle, has done more than any other one feature toward making the interest in cattle more general than it ever has been in connection with the fair. . . . The club was only given a start this year, and those in charge declare they are 'going in it big' next year." In this first year's activity of the club there were forty-seven entries.

At the Indiana state fair in the fall of 1923 Robert Wilson, a twelve-year-old Muncie lad and a member of the Delaware County Calf Club, was awarded first prize for his entry, "Baron W.", a purebred Angus steer, which not only won the grand championship in the boys' and girls' club classes, but also won first prize in the open class. Young Wilson is the first club boy to win this honor, a distinction to which the other members of this club organization in this county point with pride. In the Cotswold class in this same exposition Alberta Heath, a nine-year-old Muncie girl, won second prize on a lamb she had raised and which at the end of eight months had reached a weight of 115 pounds. Robert Wilson, the young prize winner above referred to, also contributed a generous share to the Indiana winnings at the international live stock show in Chicago in December, 1923, when he carried off honors in the junior feeding contest. He won the grand championship in this class with his Angus junior yearling. At this same exposition Charlotte Moore, Muncie, won the girls' junior canning judging contest over competitors from twenty-four other states. The interest aroused among the boys and girls of Delaware county in this behalf promises much toward the elevation of agricultural and farm life standards hereabout and is meeting with all proper encouragement in responsible circles.

The Farm Bureau Movement

The Delaware County Farm Bureau is a well organized body operating under the general regulations of the farm bureau movement and directly affiliated with the operations of the office of the county agent. A. L. Hodgson is the county agent and his office assistant, with offices in the court house, is Mrs. Althea Harvey. A late report of the operations of the Delaware County Farm Bureau reveal that it has a membership in Washington township of 109; Union township, 99; Niles, 35; Harrison 77; Delaware, 9; Mt. Pleasant, 28; Center, 100; Liberty, 124; Salem, 12; Monroe, 88, and Perry, 69, or a total of 829. The bureau is officered as follows; President, W. S. Puntenney; vice president, M. H. Pickell; secretary, W. A. Shirey; treasurer, L. E. Doughty. Following are the township chairmen of the bureau in the respective townships: E. D. Sayre, Washington township; Karl Nottingham, Union; Walter M. Black, Niles; Forest Hiatt, Harrison; J. F. Friedley, Hamilton; Cyrus Stafford, Delaware; Clyde Burgess, Mt. Pleasant; Ray Meeker, Center; G. C. Arbogast, Liberty; Jno. Cromer, Salem; Ray Hall, Monroe; Carl Huffman, Perry.

The Delaware County Farmers Association, organized in the fall of 1919, has proved a useful factor in the development of the mutual interests attaching to farm life and conditions. The articles of association of this organization declared its object to be to "organize the farmers of the county by the farmers to protect the farmer; and promote by education and legislation, with other honorable means, an agricultural program for the good of all the people." The initial officers of this association were as follows: President, W. S. Punteney ; vice president, O. O. Lindsey; secretary, Joseph Landsay, and treasurer, J. W. Truitt.