Elkhart County, Indiana - Chapter 8: Transportation and Communication, 1916

Early Roads from the Wabash Valley - The Fort Wayne- NiLEs Mail Route - Era of Arks and Flat Boats - The Keel Boats - Big Arks Coupled - Elkhart as a River Town - The Procters as Bridge Builders - Goshen People Rebel at Obstructions - Advent to Elkhart of the River Steamboats - First Train into Elkhart Village - Wilber L. Stonex on Railroads - Synopsis of Progress in the County - As Part of Internal Improvements System - Buffalo & Mississippi Railroad Company - Lake Shore & Michigan Southern a Reality - Divided Favors - Extensions - Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan - The Big Four - The Wabash - The Baltimore & Ohio - The Citizens' Street Railway, of Elkhart - Indiana Electric Railway Company - Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana Railway - The Winona Interurban Railway - Elkhart as a Railroad Center - Railway Facilities as a Whole - The Good Roads Movement - Details of Road-Building, 1912-16.

In the way of transportation and communication Elkhart County has mainly depended on land-ways. Of course, there was an early period when flat boats and arks plied both the St. Joseph and the Elkhart rivers, but as the latter stream was not navigable for steamboats only the extreme northern sections of the county received the full benefit of the water craft. The finality of the matter was that because there was a general demand for adequate means of moving the products and the people from the greater territory of the county to and from their destination, the railroads came early, which quickly solved the problem for the county as a whole.

munication, may be especially traced within the past few years. The early settlers largely depended on the land-ways for travel and transportation of goods; then came the railroads covering years of development, steam and electric; and, with a comparatively recent lull in railroad building, has come an earnest revival of highway construction. The automobile has come to stay; farms are being rapidly improved ; rural districts, as well as villages and cities, must be placed in touch not only with the railroads, but with each other; all of which calls for good roads, and the townships and the county are building them.

Before the advent of steamboat navigation to Elkhart in the early '40s, the southern and central portions of the county, represented by Goshen, were being absorbed into the systems of highways which were being extended from Fort Wayne and Logansport, or the valley of the Wabash.

The establishment of county roads was among the first acts of the county officials after the organization of the county. In the record of the Board of Justices, under date of November 7, 1831, is found a report rendered on a state road running from Logansport, via Turkey Creek and Elkhart prairies, to the northern line of the state in the direction of Pigeon Prairie. Then in the March session of 1832 the "River Road" was reported on, this extending from the western line of the county, mainly following the course of the St. Joseph River on the south side, to Pigeon Prairie. Also an item in the record of the session in May, 1832, ordering that all public roads be laid out in the various districts, shows the progress that communication was making at that early date.

The well known Fort Wayne road was the third to be reported on, the report being made under date of May 31, 1832. This extended from Fort Wayne, via Goshen, to South Bend. Road No. 4, ordered opened at the September session of 1832, was from the west line of the county on the north side of the St. Joseph, as far as Christiana Creek, and thence in a northerly direction to the state line.

From this time on the commissioners' records are filled with reports of proposed roads in various parts of the county, and many roads were surveyed and opened up for traffic within a few years.

It soon became evident to the county fathers that the highways were not sufficiently wide, and therefore at the November session of 1836 it was ordered that all county roads should be made forty feet wide, whereas they had been thirty or thirty-three in width.

With the establishment of these roads between the valleys of the Wabash and the St. Joseph, or really between the Ohio Valley and the region of the Great Lakes, the mails and passengers comr" menced to circulate, and Elkhart County at length felt that she was part and parcel of the great outside world. Joseph H. Defrees tells about the Fort Wayne-Niles mail route, the first to benefit Elkhart County: 'Tn the spring of 1831, I think it was, a mail route was established between Fort Wayne and Niles, the mail to be carried over it once in four weeks. In the fall of the same year the postoffice increased the speed (?) from once in four weeks to that of once in two weeks. Many of you, no doubt, well remember how elated you felt when you heard the sound of the old tin horn, blown by 'Old Hall,' as he came wending his way through the grove east of the village (Goshen) with his tantnmi sorrels, himself astride of one, and the mail bags, containing news from the 'settlements,' on the other, with a 'string' fastened to the bits of the leader in order to guide him in the right path. The old horn with its music discoursed sweeter strains to its hearers than did ever Hall and Arnold's in their palmiest days." Think of it! one mail in four weeks, or in two weeks. Now, radiating in all directions through the country, approaching within convenient distance of every home in the county, are the rural mail routes, delivering packages, letters and the metropolitan dailies once a day, and with greater regularity and punctuality than was the case in the larger towns less than half a century ago.

The postal service in the year 1S37 at Goshen is indicated by the following item in the Goshen E.xpress : "Alail arrival and departure: Western mail arrives from Niles via South Bend every Sunday and Wednesday evening; departs every Tuesday and Saturday morning. Eastern mail via F"ort Wayne arrives every Monday and Friday evening; departs Monday and Thursday morning. Southern mail, via Leesburg, arrives every Thursday at 12 o'clock ; departs every Thursday at i o'clock p. m." And the same paper, on September 16, 1837, calls attention to a project for carrying the mail from Fort Wayne to Niles, Michigan, in four-horse coaches, and praises the proposition as "a grand undertaking," whereby this beautiful county would be opened up to immigrants, who naturally followed the easiest lines of access to new countries. "The mail from Fort Wayne to Niles," says the editor, "is now carried through on a horse."

In a fair consideration of the means of communication which the county has employed, the stage coach must be included - the old "twice-a-week" stage coach. It was a slow mode of travel, but the passengers had a good time. The rate of speed in pleasant weather and with favorable roads was perhaps seven or eight miles an hour and the average cost was perhaps 5 cents a mile.

The era of the arks and the flat boats covered the period from about 1830 to 1844, when their supremacy on the upper reaches of St. Joseph River was disputed by the steamboats. The important towns along the stream were Three Rivers and Mendon, St. Joseph County, Jklichigan ; Bristol and Elkhart, this county ; Mishawaka and South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, and Niles and Berrien

Springs, Berrien County, Michigan. From the point of the island at the mouth of the Elkhart River to St. Joseph, Michigan, by way of the tortuous stream, it is ninety-six miles. The trip consumed from several days to a week, depending on whether you were going up or do<vn stream, and whether you were on a keel boat, or the much more cumbersome ark, which resembled a scow or large raft.

The keel boats averaged 75 feet in length and 12 feet in beam, with gunwales some 26 inches in height. They would carry from 300 to 500 barrels. The boats were rowed down the river with eighteen feet oars, eight to a boat. On the return trip, against the current, it was necessary to pole the boat, a crew of men being used in shifts. Each boat was rigged with a windlass and by fastening a rope to a tree the crew were enabled to get it over the riffles that were found in many places along the St. Joseph.

The greater arks carried about 600 barrels of flour, or perhaps their equivalent in pork and produce. They were made of two pieces of timber, 50 feet long, hewn to a size 6 by 8 inches, then two sticks 16 feet long were hewn the same way, and the four framed together. Sleepers were put in lengthwise, sixteen foot planks spiked on crosswise and the cracks carefully calked. Studding was fastened to the gunwales. Two of the arks were fastened together and each section called a crib. Down to the mouth of the St. Joseph the coupled arks were floated, unloaded, taken to pieces and the timber sold to the captains of the lower lake vessels. Then the tired crew would make the return journey on foot through the forests.

In the palmy days of the river trade, even before the coming of the steamboats, Elkhart was a busy commercial center. The space between ^^^ashington Street and the confluence of the two rivers was set apart for warehouses and wharves. John W. Ellis,

D. S. Simonton, and J. R. Beardsley were all interested in the boat trade, but did not have any part in the handling of the boats. The last named gentlemen frequently shipped as supercargoes and attended to the shipping of the goods upon the lake-going vessels. Three large warehouses stood near the Chamberlain property on Washington Street, besides several flour sheds. At the foot of Pigeon Street (now Lexington Avenue) stood the old Simonton warehouse, and in the vicinity of the Franklin Street Bridge two distilleries had been built. Wheat, pork and high wines were shipped to Buffalo and Cleveland from these warehouses, while from the old Beardsley mill, which stood on the north bank of the St. Joe, thousands of barrels of flour were sent to the cities of the Great Lakes.

As the St. Joseph River trade increased, the Government expended many thousands of dollars to make the stream navigable. Channels were dredged, and at the various riftles wing dams constructed for the purpose of forcing the water into the channels.

While river navigation was active the dams and bridges thrown across the St. Joseph and Elkhart rivers were always fertile sources of contention and trouble. John and William Procter, father and son, who settled on a farm six miles north of Elkhart in 1834 and 1835, respectively, were active builders. William Procter, who died only a few years ago, had many interesting stories to tell of the early period of navigation on these streams. He was authority for the statement that the first dam in the St. Joseph \'alley of Northern Indiana, and in the construction of which he assisted as a boy, was thrown across the river at Mishawaka about 1830. Every spring a new dam had to be constructed, as the ice would carry the old one out when the spring freshets came. Boats were running on the river during this period, but only arks and keel boats were seen at Elkhart until in the early '40s. Mr. Procter's father constructed the first wooden bridge across the St. Joe at that point. The bridge was in the same location as the present Main Street Bridge; that is, the southern end stood at the same point, but the northern end extended about seventy-five feet farther east, so that it was at right angles with the current. Ice breakers were constructed on the east side in order to break up the ice packs as they came sweeping down the river, and prevented the combined forces from carrying away the structure. It was the intention of the authorities to make this a covered bridge in time, but it was never done, and in the course of fifteen years the timbers rotted away and one span was carried down with the current. As a boy, Mr. Procter assisted his father to build the first bridge, and he had a hand in the construction of the second one that was built. A factional war was precipitated when it came to deciding on the location of the second bridge. The inhabitants of Main Street, believing that their thoroughfare would soon be the leading business street of the future city, insisted that the bridge should cross the river at the foot of their street. At last a compromise was effected and the bridge was built from the alley between the two streets.

Against the ice breakers of the first bridge the old Swan, a well known keel boat, was wrecked and the cargo of flour lost in the swift waters. It was during the later part of the '30s that the first dam on the Elkhart River was constructed, but the water power was not used to any extent until years later. JMr. Procter worked on the river in 1842-3 and became familiar with boating. He says that steamboats ran up as far as Bristol as early as 1842, but that the commerce was irregular until about 1845.

From one of the county papers, it is evident, from the following extract, that the trade by way of the St. Joseph, had reached large proportions by 1842 : "We learn that on this day a large number of arks laden with 2,200 barrels of flour and nearly 1,000 barrels of pork and highwines passed through the locks of Alishawaka destined for the eastern market. A large proportion of this was from Elkhart county."

But conditions along the Elkhart River and at Goshen were not as favorable as along the St. Joseph and at Elkhart. Illustration taken from a local newspaper of 1842 : "The Elkhart river from Hawks' mill, three miles above Goshen to the mouth, might easily be rendered navigable for arks and keel boats. A large number of arks have already left Waterford and Goshen laden with flour, highwines and pork ; but great difficulty and damage have been experienced in passing the dams and bridges on the route, and boats have frequently been sunk in the attempt. On Thursday last several of the merchants of Goshen, interested in the navigation of the river, assembled at Kellogg's dam and proceeded to tear up the new bridge, against which several boats had struck. They were unmolested in the work and desisted only when they had made a free passage for the boats. We understand it is their determination to remove all obstructions, such as mill dams and bridges, peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must: if the grand jury and Circuit Court cannot effect it for them. The next threat is against DeCamps dam : and if the law is not complied with, by the construction of suitable locks, it is certainly as proper for a boatman to tear down a dam as for a traveler to let down a fence built across the highway."' So we see that dams across the river were even more often objects of resentment in those days than at present.

For four or five years after the advent of the first steamer to the trade of the St. Joseph Valley, Elkhart and the northern portion of the county enjoyed an increased boom in prosperity; but the fate of even that improved form of transportation was forestalled by the oncoming railroad. The new followed the old so promptly that one might paraphrase the old-world shout of the populace with "'The Steamboat is dead ! Long live the Railroad !"

The appearance of the first steamboat at the mouth of the Elkhart, with the exit of river traffic and the introduction of the railroatl to the good people of the city, is thus told by Truth :

"It was a beautiful Sunday morning in the spring of 1844 that the first steamboat came puffing up the river. For days this event had been awaited by the inhabitants of the little village and most of them were down to the bridge to witness the advent. A group of boys playing on the commons were startled when the sonorous whistle sounded, the cattle pricked up their ears and scudded away, as the apparition came in view around the bend of the river. In that crowd of boys was Major James D. Braden and James Smith. Puffing and wheezing the boat came, slowly on, but when the low wooden bridge at Alain street was reached, a halt had to be made as the smoke stack could not go under the bridge. A consultation of war was held and the next morning the timbers in the middle span were removed and the boat moved through and up to the warehouses.

"These river steamers were built somewhat on the plan of the lumber carriers on the lakes. They were clear amidships and low, and the engine room was in the stern. Paddle wheels were built on either side, on some boats they were covered and on others exposed. A few of the larger boats could not come this far up the river. The steamers, and keel boats also, only drew about eighteen inches of water when loaded. The Matilda Barney was one of the first steamers to push her nose up the river to this port, although it is probable that the Indiana was the boat that arrived on that eventful Sunday morning. Pioneers will remember the Pocahontas, John Stryker, South Bend, Michigan, Gem, Ruby, Niles and many others of the river craft. These steamers would tow from three to four keel boats and the running of the riffles was accomplished by the means of windlasses with which every boat was provided. With fair luck the trip down the river could be made in three days and from four to five days consumed on the up trip. Mr. Davis says that the most exciting trip that he ever made down the river was early in April of 1848. A man at Three Rivers had built an 'Ark' eighty feet long and was carrying a colony of young men and women to the settlement at New Buffalo. They had succeeded in reaching Elkhart and the 'Ark' grounded on a sand bar. Mr. Davis was called to pilot them to St. Joe. The current was running swift and four days were consumed in reaching the mouth of the river. Many narrow escapes from sand bars and riffles occurred during that voyage.

"The advent of the railroad sealed the doom of the river traffic and it passed away, never to return. In 1848-9 the Michigan Central reached Niles, and the road purchased a large number of the keel boats and hauled them up on the banks to rot away. Mr. Davis hauled the first rails to be used in the construction of the present Lake Shore road from St. Joe by boat. They were known as the English 'T' rail and were eighteen feet in length. When the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana R. R. came in 1851, the day of the steamboat was ended for Elkhart. Many of the old steamers were sold for the Wisconsin river trade and the old Indiana was taken to Chicago, where it was utilized as a river tug; in fact, it was the first tug to be used on the Chicago river."

As told by Elkhart Truth: "About four o'clock on a Friday afternoon early in the month of October, 1851, a wood burning engine, hauling a train of flat cars and caboose rolled over the wooden bridge over the Elkhart river and puffed along to the foot of Main street, which was then in the forest south of the village proper. For weeks this event had been the topic of conversation among the inhabitants of the little hamlet and the night previous to the advent of the 'Iron Horse' had been an anxious one. Many people waited all night long in order to be on hand to welcome the incoming train. Captain Chamberlain says that he was one of a party of boys, who, escaping from the confines of the school room, presided over by C. J. Conn, had gone in swimming while awaiting the coming of the train. It had been heralded abroad that the road would run a free excursion to White Pigeon on the following Sunday and people came for miles around to participate in the wonderful event. With an old time passenger coach, a box car and a number of flat cars arranged with planks for seats and crowded with passengers, the train started. One accident occurred to mar the occasion. Calvin Dome, one of the boys of the village, was seated on the top of the box car and by a sudden stopping of the train, he was thrown under the wheels. The injured boy was taken on to White Pigeon and brought back to Elkhart with the excursionists. Dr. Chamberlain of Elkhart and Dr. Elliott of White Pigeon attended the injured boy, but he could not survive the shock of his injuries and died the following day. Silas Baldwin was the first local railroad agent in the village."

Wilber L. Stonex, prominent as a lawyer and county attorney, whose mother was the daughter of Thomas Thomas, the first clerk of Elkhart County and well known in its early public affairs, has long taken a deep interest in the historical matters of the region. He has ser\-ed as president of the Elkhart County Historical Society and has been practically identified with the construction of both steam and electric lines which have served this section of the state. He is therefore qualified to speak with some authority about the railroads which have a bearing on this narrative. For several years he collected information on that subject, much of which was put forth in a paper read before the Historical Society in 1899. A condensation of Air. Stonex' article yields the facts which follow.

The progressive spirits of the county soon realized that if the town advanced it must secure other means of transportation than the ox team and the ark, and the village had not passed its first decade before attempts, that proved futile, were made to connect the town with its neighbors by the means of strap rails. With this end in view the Bufifalo and Mississippi Railroad Company was organized to run from Toledo to Chicago, passing through Goshen and connecting all of the county seat towns between the two points. The incorporators included William L. Latta, James R. McCord, James H. Barns, Joseph H. Defrees, Johnson Latta, and E. W. H. Ellis of Goshen. On February 21, 1837, the directors of this company met at South Bend for the purpose of making an endeavor to procure funds with which to build the proposed road. In this they failed but the organization was kept alive for many years. Among the directors were Judge Osborne of LaPorte, Judge Stanfield and Schuyler Colfax of South Bend, John Davenport and Joseph Defrees of Elkhart, James H. Barns, E. W. H. Ellis, Milton Mercer and Dr. M. M. Latta, of Goshen.

In 1849 a rival company appeared in the field. It was known as' the Southern Michigan Railroad Company. It ran through the southern tier of counties in Michigan and proposed to dip into Indiana on the way to Chicago. Steps were at once-taken to block the charter and Joseph H. Defrees and Michael Daugherty were elected to the Legislature from Elkhart County for the purpose of preventing legislation on this charter. In 1850 J. H. Defrees was elected senator and Milton Mercer representative to continue the contest. It failed in the end, as the corporation was able to enlist the support of the citizens of Elkhart, South Bend and LaPorte and secured a charter. The citizens of Goshen were, however, rewarded by the new company absorbing the old charter of the Bufifalo and Mississippi road and agreeing to run a spur from Elkhart to Goshen. The citizens purchased and donated to the corporation the tract of land now occupied by its successor, the Lake Shore Company, and erected a roundhouse for the use of the railroad.

In the fall of 1851 the road reached Elkhart from the east, and during 1852 the spur was buih to Goshen. The coming of the first train was a great event in the life of the village, the citizens turned out en masse, bonfires were lighted and a general celebration occurred. The roundhouse was abandoned in 1870. To show that the village was benefited by the advent of the railroad the increase in population is noted. In 1850 the town had 780 inhabitants and 1870, 2,053. This spur led to the extension of the Air Line through to Toledo.

After the war Captain Wells, an old railroad man, and Joseph H. Defrees organized a new railroad company for the purpose of pushing a railroad north and south through Goshen. It was known as the Goshen, Warsaw and Wabash Railroad and was put in operation in 1870. The line, as originally planned, would have run through Middlebury to White Pigeon, skirting the southern part of the county and crossing the Baltimore and Ohio and the Wabash railroads. This line is now a part of the Big Four system and runs from Benton Harbor, Michigan, to Indianapolis. It was originally known as the Cincinnati, Wabash & Michigan and was built through the southern part of the county via Goshen and New Paris in 1870. The Wabash road, running east and west, was completed in the winter of 1892-93.

Extracts from the paper which throw light upon the foregoing statement of bare facts: "The question which was of the most vital importance to the early settlers of Indiana was the question of transportation. The slow and expensive modes of travel made the development of the resources of the state almost impossible. How fully this was realized can be seen in reading the messages which from time to time the governors submitted to the Legislatures.

"From many special references to the subject I select only a few. In 1815 Governor Posey recommended their careful attention to the improvement of the state roads and highways. In 1818 Governor Jennings urged the adoption of measures for the construction of highways and canals and the improvement of the navigation of the rivers of the state. In 1826 Governor Ray declared the construction of roads and canals necessary to place the state of Indiana on an equal financial footing with the older states. And again, in 1829, he said: 'This subject can never grow irksome, since it must be the source of the blessings of civihzed life. To secure its benefits is a duty enjoined upon the legislature by the obligations of the social compact.' "

Up to this time no other means were considered than roads, canals and navigable rivers. But in 1834 railroads were being built and Governor Noble, in speaking of these public improvements undertaken by the state, said : "No work should be commenced but such as would be of acknowledged public utility, and when completed would form a branch of some general system." And he called favorable attention in the same message to the Lawrenceburg & Indianapolis Railroad, for which a charter had already been granted. Along the lines thus proposed the state steadily pushed, and the construction by it of state roads, river improvements, canals and railroads was undertaken on a vast scale. This was forced upon the state by the rivalry of the various parts of the state, each of which demanded its own recognition and none of which was willing to wait. The result was that very soon the state became so heavily involved in debt that its credit failed, and by the year 1839 all work was practically suspended.

But as early as 1836 the state was so heavily burdened with the work already begun that no new lines were projected by it. But the vast system already laid out included all parts of the state and none was neglected. Elkhart County received its proper recognition in the construction of state roads, and a canal was ]5romised it. The latter was to run through the county seat, and was located through Goshen where Rock Run now flows, and would ha\e received its water supply from the reservoir at Rome City. But with the advent of railroads the canal projects were promptly abandoned. And when it became apparent that the state would not be able to construct them the people promptly turned to individual enterprise.

"At this day we are amazed at the exhibition of courage and confidence which this involved. In our own time even, with the vast accumulation of wealth in the hands of individuals which is available for profitable investment, the construction of a railroad is an undertaking which no community or individual would seriously consider. What then must have been the faith and courage of our people of that early day of comparative poverty that they could undertake that which we would not? But our wonder is greater when we consider that the cost of such enterprises was then vastlygreater than the same would cost now. The estimated cost of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad was not less than twenty-five thousand dollars a mile. And the state actually expended $1,493,013 on that road with the result of only twenty-eight miles in operation and twenty-seven miles more nearly but not quite graded. A very much larger sum than would be required now to produce the same result."

With infinite courage, charter after charter was sought from and granted by the Legislature, for at that time there was no general law for the incorporation of such companies. One of the best conceived and most feasible of these projected roads was that which the Buffalo & Mississippi Railroad Company was organized to build. It was to extend from Toledo to Chicago, passing through Indiana so as to connect all of the county seats of the northern tier of counties. This much of its purpose was covered by its charter, and its possibilities were clearly indicated in its name. On the 21st of February, 1837, the directors, William L. Latta and James R. McCord of Goshen; Robert Stewart, of Michigan City, and John Brown, Aaron Staunton, of LaPorte, met at South Bend and began active work to secure the construction of the road. To obtain the necessary funds they ordered that stock subscription books be opened for popular subscriptions on the second Tuesday of March, following, at designated places in Michigan City, LaPorte, South Bertd, Elkhart, Goshen, Lima and Steuben. It was evidently the hope of the patriotic projectors of this road that stock enough would be taken to provide the money for constructing the road, or at least for making a good beginning. But the result was disappointing, and nothing of importance came of this effort. Nevertheless the fact remained that without such a road the country it was intended to traverse would never be developed, and its future prosperity depended upon it. With so large an issue at stake ultimate success was certain. Impressed with this certainty a few of this little band determined to keep alive their organization, and as their ranks were depleted new men took their places, and year after year they met, elected officers and bided their time. Among these men were Judge Osborne of LaPorte, Judge Stanfield and Schuyler Colfax of South

Bend. John Davenport and Joseph H. Defrees of Elkhart, James H. Bams, E. W. H. Ellis, Milton Mercer and Dr. M. M. Latta of Goshen. The counties east of Elkhart do not seem to have shared in this hope and work.

In every possible way the friends of the Buffalo & Mississippi endeavored to get their proposed line under construction. In 1846 they even appealed for aid to the General Government through the State Legislature, advancing the argument, among other considerations, that "The cornpletion of the road would afford the General Government many facilities in time of war with Great Britain (which even now seems not improbable) for the transportation of arms, ammunitions of war, troops and everj'thing necessary for their comfort and convenience, together with the speedy and expeditious dispatches so essential to the safety and effective prosecution of the object of organized armies in a free and independent government like ours."

Even this eloquent and patriotic appeal of the State of Indiana in its behalf failed to procure public aid. But about this time a rival company with better financial backing appeared and began the construction of a railroad from Toledo to Chicago through the southern tier of the counties in Michigan. Here was a great danger impending, for if this company, the Southern Michigan Railroad Company, succeeded in the constrtiction of its parallel line connecting its same terminals it would make it impossible for the projectors of the Buffalo & Mississippi Company ever to secure, in the face of such competition, the money required for the construction of their road. Affairs having taken this critical turn, the gallant little band of patriots determined to compel their rival to build their road. This was to be brought about by preventing the granting to it of a charter for the construction of this part of its line which must come into the state at the southern bend of Lake ^Michigan except upon that condition. To secure this the county was induced to elect able men to the Legislature pledged to labor for this result. In 1849 Joseph H. Defrees and ilichael C. Daugherty were elected from Goshen for that special purpose, and in 1850 Mr. Defrees was elected senator and Milton Mercer a representati\-e to continue the contest. But the projectors of the rival company, by coming into this state at the northern part of the county and making Elkhart, South Bend and LaPorte points on their line, were able to secure strong local cooperation, and, in spite of the opposition to Goshen, secured, under the name of Northern Indiana Railroad Company, the needed charter. But the new company caused it to be given out that the charter secured by it was in some respects unsatisfactory, and negotiations were begtm for the transfer to it of the charter and franchises of the Buffalo & ^Mississippi Company. The result was an agreement by which, in consideration of such transfer, the company agreed to extend a spur from Elkhart to Goshen and nm at least one train a day between the towns.

Besides this it was also agreed that if the citizens of Goshen would purchase and donate to it the tract of land now owned by its successor, the Lake Shore & Alichigan Southern Railroad Company, on the east side of Goshen, it would erect and maintain a round house there. The land was donated and the round house erected. In the fall of 1 85 1 the railroad was built into Elkhart, and the year following saw it extended into Goshen as agreed. We, at this day, can scarcely realize the magnitude of this e\ent and the wild enthusiasm of the people over it. The coming of the first train was celebrated by public meetings and bonfires, and the men to whose perseverance it was due were the heroes of the day.

The securing of the round house at Goshen was considered a very important thing, but when the company located its shops in Elkhart the round house was abandoned. This was in 1870. Because of the careless phraseology of the deed to the company, which failed to make the maintenance of the round house a condition of the title, Goshen lost both the round house and the land. But these were mere incidents. The railroad was the great prize and secured for Goshen all that its projectors hoped for. In 1850 its population was but 7S0. in i860 it had increased to 2.053, -i^d its future was assured.

The compulsory construction of the road from Elkhart to Goshen led to its extension east to Toledo, and Goshen thus became a point on the main line, and Elkhart, favorably located at the junction of the two branches, became the natural location for the

Fortunately for Goshen the new company had no special use for the men who had so successfully struggled to secure its road. If it had honored them by making them directors in the new company they might have been satisfied to rest with the honor. F)Ut there is a peculiar fascination in railroad work, and the first success of these gentlemen only stimulated them to new efforts in the same line. Accordingly when Captain Wells, after having built a railroad from Kalamazoo to \\'hite Pigeon and sold it to the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company, came to Goshen to secure the co-operation of its citizens in the construction of a road from White Pigeon to Wabash, through Goshen, he at once availed himself of the assistance of J. H. Defrees, who became one of the directors and most active workers in the new company, first known as the Goshen, Warsaw, Wabash Railroad Company. This road was speedily constructed from Goshen to Warsaw, and was put in operation in 1870. If completed as originally intended it would have passed through Middlebury and connected at White Pigeon with the road running thence to Kalamazoo. To secure this, ]\Iiddlebury voted liberal aid. and it was paid into the county treasury for the company, but the road was not built and the money was returned. The failure to construct this line was a most serious detriment to Goshen, as it would have placed Goshen midway on an important line extending from Grand Rapids to Indianapolis. Its construction was prevented by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Company which refused to agree to buy it if constructed, as 'Mr. Wells had been led to believe it would do, and the result was that it broke ;\Ir. Wells financially, and for a time Goshen was its northern terminus. In 1872 the extension of the road to Niles was promised, if cities along the line would aid it and this having been done the extension was quickly made.

East, began to survey its line. The citizens of Goshen promptly endeavored to secure the location of the road through their city, and money was raised to pay the expenses of a preliminary sun^ey of such a line. Mr. Stonex' first practical railroad work consisted in circulating a subscription paper for that purpose. \MiiIe Goshen failed in this, the county secured the road and Xappanee has grown from nothing to be a thriving town as the result.

About the same time the Chicago & Canada Southern Railroad was projected, and its route was located through the county by way of ]Millersburg, Benton, New Paris and Wakarusa. Goshen again endeavored to secure it, but the location of the city is too elevated to enable' a line to be built at low cost on a low grade through it, and the Canadian Southern was projected as a freight line to be built with a grade so low that it would be impossible to draw trains of lOO loaded cars along it with a single locomotive. This condition barred Goshen out and the line was located, the right of way bought, and a considerable part of the road bed graded when work was stopped. It was understood that this was done in the interest of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company to prevent its formidable competition.

It now seemed certain that no more railroad building would be done through Goshen unless brought about by the city itself. The only feasible project seemed to be for the construction of a line running through the county from the northeast to the southwest, and a company was promptly organized to construct such a line. The name of the company was Michigan, Indiana & Southwestern Railroad Company. Its proposed terminals were Jackson, Michigan and Danville, Illinois. Milton Mercer was one of the most active of its promoters. After some changes this company became the Canada and St. Louis Railroad Company, of which the first directors included Milton ]\Iercer, E. D. Chipman and W. L. Stonex, of Goshen, and Jonathan S. Mather, of Middlebury. In August, 1888, the control of this company passed into the hands of J. J. Burns and associates. Goshen and Middlebury voted aid, and the road was completed from Goshen to Battle Creek, Michigan, and put in operation by January, 1889. The company about that time became financially embarrassed, soon after failed, and passed to the control of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.

it by way of Plymouth and extend it as intended from Battle Creek to Bay City. This having occurred, an attempt was made to sell the road, as built, to the Cincinnati, Wabash and Michigan Railroad Company, and every detail of this had been agreed upon, li one day longer had been allowed to pass this would have occurred, but by an unexpected and unforeseen move the road went into other hands and at last became the Goshen & Michigan branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company (now the New York Central).

But Goshen had secured another road, and was connected with Middlebury by it. After having seen the last enterprise well under way the indefatigable Mercer proceeded to organize a company to construct a road between Toledo and Chicago. It was organized as the Toledo & Chicago Air Line Railway Company, and was a Goshen organization. Mr. Mercer was its first president and ]\Ir. Stonex was its first secretary. This project was favorably considered by the public, and it soon received recognition, with the result that it was taken hold of by a party of eastern capitalists who secured control of it and undertook to construct the line. The Lake Shore Company at once antagonized it for the reason that, if constructed, the road would pass between the two branches of the company, and being considerably shorter between the same terminals would very materially injure its line. Without going into details, it is sufficient to know that the opposition of that road prevented the enterprise from being realized. But before the end came Goshen had voted over $60,000 to aid toward the constmction of the road on condition that its shops should be located here, and other towns and townships voted about the same amount.

Notwithstanding the defeat of this enterprise the exploiting of it gave publicity to the value of such a line and the willingness of the people to aid in constructing it. \'ery soon after this the Wabash Railway Company put engineers in the field and surveyed a line for its system which would give it a short line from Detroit to Chicago, and they followed substantially the line of survey of the Canada Southern Company. The Wabash Company selected this for the very reason which had induced the fonner company to adopt it, its remarkably low grade. When the line was being surveyed the citizens of Goshen had a public meeting and appointed a committee to try to induce the company to abandon the proposed Hne and come nearer Goshen. This the company endeavored to do, but finally abandoned the attempt.

While this was interesting the citizens of Goshen, H. E. Bucklen was quietly engaged in the construction of a railroad from Elkhart to South Bend. This was done in the name of the Elkhart & Western Railway Company. When completed it was bought by the Lake Shore Company. The Elkhart & Western Road, while not of great length, became and continues to be a very important line for the City of Elkhart.

\\'hile the building of these railroads seemed to be the great enterprises, in comparison with which all others were almost insignificant, there had been quietly undertaken and carried forward another work which in time developed into a very great and important one. In 1886 there was organized in Elkhart a company, under the name of the Citizens' Street Railway Company, for the purpose of constructing a horse car line for the city. Its members were Elkhart citizens, and they hurried the work forward to a successful accomplishment. After five years, in 1891, the company decided to abandon horse power and substitute electricity. This was of doubtful wisdom, as the use of that power was so new that it required costly experimenting. When it was put in operation as an electric line, according to the information obtainable, there was but one other such line in the United States. After a succession of heavy losses the operation of the road was suspended, and in the winter of 1892 a receiver was appointed for it. The road was sold to private parties at the receiver's sale in February, 1894.

In February, 1893, J- J. Burns and others organized a company known as the Indiana Electric Railway Company, by Goshen citizens, chiefly to build an electric railway in Goshen. After building about a mile and a half of track this company also failed and

In May, 1894, J. J. Burns and others organized a company also known as the Indiana Electric Railway Company for the purpose of buying the roads above referred to, of completing them and consolidating them into a single system. The new company bought the lines, soon had the Elkhart road in operation, and not long after the Goshen line was opened, the first car on the latter line being run on the Fourth of July, 1896. From time to time during the next two years gradual extensions of these lines were made. In September, 1898, the owners of the South Bend & Mishawaka Street Railway lines, Arthur Kennedy and Frances J. Torrence, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bought the stock of the Indiana Electric Railway Company and took possession of the property early in October. This long delayed construction of the line required to connect the two cities was pushed rapidly forward, and on the 21st of December, 1898, the first car was run from Elkhart to Goshen.

The largest consolidation of electric lines giving access to Elkhart County is represented by the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana Railway Company. It operates a well-equipped system connecting Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan, the company being incorporated in 1907 with a capital of ^7. 500,000. The system embraces lines from Goshen to South Bend and thence to Michigan City, via Elkhart, ilishawaka and Laporte. As intimated, its nucleus was the street railway company organized at South Bend in 1873. In that city, the horse was displaced by electricity in 1882, by the installation of an overhead trolley system, which was not considered a notable success. Then followed the building of the line to ]\Iishawaka, by the South Bend & Mishawaka Railroad Company and its consolidation with the local electric line, and still later the extension of the line from Mishawaka to Elkhart and Goshen. The line was next built by the Northern Indiana Company, to Laporte and Michigan City, and encouragement was given the company that contemplated constructing a road to Niles and St. Joseph, Michigan. In igo6 the Northern Indiana sold the bulk of its holdings to the Murdock syndicate, which in 1907 was incorporated, as noted, under the name of the Chicago, South Bend

& Xorthern Indiana Railway Company. Aluch freight, as well as many passengers, is carried over the lines of its system, and within comparatively late years large buildings have been erected at Elkhart and South Bend for the convenience of shippers.

The Winona Interurban Railway is the electric link connecting Elkhart County with the country to the south. It extends from Goshen to Peru, Indiana, a distance of sixty-nine miles. The enterprise originated in 1903, and in the following year Elkhart Township voted $30,000 for the construction of the road which was to pass through W'aterford, New Paris, Milford and Leesburg, to \\'arsaw. The work of construction was begun in 1905, when the Winona Interurban Railway Company was incorporated, and, as noted, the line was afterward extended to Peru, where connections are made with the Indiana Union Traction Company's lines to Indianapolis and other points south. At Warsaw, connections are made with cars running frequently to Winona Lake, around which are the beautiful grounds of the Chautauqua Assembly and Schools Association, covered with handsome hotels, channing cottages and all modern facilities provided for rest, study, recreation and reflection. The Winona line also provides means for handling freight, as well as passengers.

Elkhart is on the main line of the New York Central Railroad, and is the terminus of four of its divisions, and has become one of the most important railroad centers of that system. Its great switch yards, repair shops and round houses are located about a mile west of the city depot and give permanent employment to over 1,000 men. Besides the round houses and locomotive shops, the industrial improvements at that point include foundries, rail shops, carpenter shops and a great coal dock. It is estimated that more than half of the employees reside within the city proper. Elkhart is 100 miles east of Chicago and much of the great business at the Lake Shore freight yards consists of making into trains the cars which come in from the East consigned to points west of the great lake metrop-

Broadly speaking, the transportation facilities of Elkhart County are now controlled by the railroad systems known as the New York Central, the Big Four and The Wabash, and the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana Railway Company and the Winona Interurban Railway Company, the development of which has already been described.

The New York Central accommodates fully one-half of the county, although its trunk line which runs diagonally through that territory from southeast to northwest, or vice versa, is paralleled between Elkhart and Goshen by the Big Four road. JNIillersburg, in the southeastern part of the county, is also on the main line of the New York Central, which throws out spurs on the northeast to ]\Iiddlebury, Bristol and Mstula. Directly to the south of Goshen are the stations of Waterford and New Paris, on the Big Four. The Wabash, which cuts across the southern part of the county, runs through or near Millersburg, Benton, New Paris, Foraker and Wakarusa, while the Baltimore & Ohio, which clips off the extreme southwest corner, divides Nappanee and has virtually made it what it is.

Reference was made at the commencement of this chapter to the strength of the good roads movement in Elkhart County. This statement is especially true for the period covering the past five years, during which the northern, southern and central townships have been most active in the work ; the eastern sections of the county have been in the rear of the procession.

As to mentioning names, no citizen will probably take exception to the giving of special credit to County Commissioners \\'. ^^^ Showalter, Edward Greiner and Edward C. Fischer; Ethan Arnold, A. H. Beardsley, B. D. Houseworth and H. D. Merkel, of Elkhart ; Benjamin F. and Anthony Deahl, Charles Gorham. Haines Egbert,