Hamilton County, Indiana - Chapter 5, 1901

Chapter 5

About tlie year 1825 Erancis B. Cogswell came to X()b]es\ille. He was a tanner by trade. He built a cabin on the corner of Sixth and Logan Streets. This ca])in was on the east side of Sixth Street. On the west side of the street, opposite this cabin, the lot extended to the river bank. On this last named lot Cogswell established a tanyard. A wooden wheel was made to turn in a circle. A sweep was attached to this wheel to which a horse was hitched to turn the wheel. A floor was laid in the circle. Upon this floor tanbark well cured was laid, then the wheel was started over the bark and kept going until the bark was sufficiently pulverized to use in the vats prepared for that purpose. This wheel was used for some time, but was discontinued and a cast mill used in its stead. The process of tanning has heretofore been stated except that the vat has not been described. This vat was constructed as follows: A hole was dug in the ground about three and a half feet deep, six feet long and four feet wide, with square ends. Then a bottom was laid of two-inch oak planks, closely fit, then the vat was sided up in the same manner and with the same material. One of these vats was called llic linu- \at. Fn this \at tlie hair was hjoscncd b\- iIk- use of lime. The lime was then all worked out of the hide by scouring- in clear water. Water was then placed in the xats where the hides were to be tanned, then one-half of the hide was laid in the vat and covered with the oTound l^ark, and so on until the vat was full.

This tankard was one of the most useful industries of the time. Here all the hides from animals that had died and had been killed were converted into leather ; here the pioneer secured the leather to make shoes for his family; here the settler found collars for his horses, and leather out of which bridles and harness of all kinds could be made. Cogswell sold this tanyard to Pleasant Williams.

In the }ear of 1826 the great emigration of squirrels occurred. The squirrels passed through this county from west to east. The number could not be estimated. The time occui)ied in ]>assing" was about two weeks. The}- destroyed all the corn in the fields they jiassed over. They could not be turned in their course, but ke])t straight on in the route taken. When they came to White River tliey entered the water at once and swam across. Hundreds of them were shot. Others were killed with clubs and stones. It was never known from whence they came nor where they went.

About this time James Casler started a distillery two nn'les below Nobles\iIle. Pure whiskv was sold there at twenty cents per gallon or ten cents per quart. The sporting- part of the comnumity gathered at this still house on Saturday of eaeh week. Turkeys, deer hams, deer and 'coon skins were usually brought there and sold to men who attended shooting matches. Tickets were sold at a certain price for each shot until the price of the turkey was made up. then the best shot won the turkey. The shots were at a mark usually forty yards distant. The day was usually passed in shooting, drinking, foot racing, wrestling and a fist fight. This distillery was the nearest one to Noblesville.

In the year 1829 Robert L. Hannaman taught the first school in Noblesville. This school was in a cabin located on the southwest corner of Eighth Street and Alai)le Avenue. The lot is now owned by Airs. James Ha\erstick. This was a subscription school. The childre 1 attending this school were small, ranging from nine to twelve years. It was the fall season of the year. This teacher ojiened tlie first drug store in Noblesville. William Davis procured the first license to sell intoxicnting liquors in Nobles\ille.

In 1830 the population of Hamilton County was 1.705. The nearest house to Noblesville on a direct line west was fifteen miles; in a northwest direction al)out twenty miles. The settlements up to this time had Ijeen made on both sides of White River, Fall Creek and Stony Creek, but few had ventured far into the forests. The first cabin built west of Noblesville on what is now called the Noblesville & Eagletown Road, was built by Clancl W all. falher-in-law to George Bowman. 1 stayed all niL;lit in his cabin in February, 1832. Tlie cabin was eighteen feet square. Eleven persons staved tlierc that night. The cooking, eating and sleeping were all done in the same room.

.\t the time the Foster mill was built on Stony Creek, an account of which has been given, there was ro wheat in the county to grind, and no provision was made by lu^ster to bolt Hour made from wdieat. Foster sold this mill to a man named Betts. Betts attached a bolting chest to the machinery and thereafter ground wheat. The bolt was turned ]:)y hand. There was but little wheat raised while Betts owned the mill. There were no fanning mills in the county, and the thrashing and cleaning of wheat was a hard job. Prior to the year 1830 there were but few barns in the county, and they did not all have threshing i^oors. A large majority of the farmers having wheat, cleared ofif all the w^eeds and soft earth from a piece of ground, in a circle large enough for a thrashing floor. The wheat, when ready to thresh, was placed in a row on the outside of the cleared place, leaving room in the center for a man to direct the threshing. Sometimes the wheat would be pounded from the head with a flail ; sometimes a boy would be placed on a horse and a second horse would be gi\en him to lead, and by riding over the grain, a man standing in the middle to keep the straws turned, the wheat would be threshed. The next thing to be done was to clean the wheat. Some men selected a wdndy day for this work. Standing on a bench with a measure of some kind filled with grain, a man would pour out the contents of the vessel in such a way that the wind would blow the chaff and dirt away, while the wheat would drop to the ground.

Another way was for two men to take hold of a sheet, one at each end. Then the sheet was shaken in such a manner that a wind was created. Immediately above the draft stood a man with wheat in a sack or vessel, pouring it out so that the chaff and dirt would be blown away and the wheat cleaned. Then the grain was ready for the mill.

There w^as na market for wheat then, and but little was raised. Betts died and the mill was sold to one Hare. The old log mill was torn down and a large mill built lower down the stream. This mill ground both wheat and corn. A saw mill was added, wdiich did considerable business.

repairing-. .'ukI il licH-ame necessary to build a boat. 'J'bis l)()at was taken u]) the river to any jioint where brnsli and earth could be procured. It was then loaded and ])oled down to the dam and unloaded. In the course of time it became necessary to maintain a crew of boatmen to man this boat. They were a jolly lot, but some of them contracted rheumatism and other diseases from which they never recovered. Fallis operated this mill but a short time. It then passed to the hands of \V. \\'. Conner, only heir to the vast estate of John Conner. It did W. W. Conner but Jittle good. He died a poor man.

After Foster sold his mill on Stony Creek he built a mill on White River in Noblesville Township, at the ])oint where Clare is situated. This mill supplied the wants of settlers for a great distance in each direction. A saw mill was added to the grist mill. In addition to the sawing done for the neighborhood, thousands of feet of lumber were sawed and sent to Indianapolis. Rafts were built out of the lumber and when the water was at the proper stage the lumber was floatd down to the city. This lumber trade with Indianapolis was kept u]) for a long time and Ijrought to the mill owner good pay.

In tlie pioneer days those who were residing upon lands entered b}- them, and which lands had been partially improved, did not rely largely on crops raised for anvthing more than food for their stock and bread for their families. The ground from which timber had been removed was covered with stumps, which nothing but time would remove. The process of clearing land was slo\v and the farming was difificult. Wheat, then as now, was sown in the fall seas'on. In the spring the cleared patches were prepared and planted in corn. The corn was thereafter cultivated according to the custom of the times. Then came the wheat harvest. The im- ])lcments used in taking care of the wheat was a reaphook. a wheat cradle and a hand rake. The men using the cradle cut the standing wheat, getting as ne.ar as ]:)ossible to the stumps ; then the reap-hook was used in cutting the down grain and around the stumps; then the grain cut with the cradle was raked up into bundles with a hand rake, then bound and shocked, then put into barns or stacks; next came the hay harvest. The process was as follows: The farmer repaired to his meadow with a mowing scythe thrown over his shoulder. With this implement he cut the grass. A good hand would cut about one acre per day. The rule was for about two men to join in the work. They would cut grass until noon, then with their wooden forks they would scatter the hay so that it would in a short time be dry. Then with hand rakes the hay was put in rows called winrows. Then late in the evening the hay was put in stack.

Trimitive History Op

machines threshed the wheat from the straw, hut did not separate it from the chaff. This was done l)y running the wheat and cliaff through windmills, which were introduced about that time. One mill was generally sufficient for the neighborhood in which it was sold. From about the year 1830 to the year 1841 or 1842 corn sold at about eighteen cents per bushel, wheat from thirtyseven and a half cents to forty cents. There were some improvements in price from that time to 1850. From 1S50 to about 1855 corn as a rule sold for about twentyfive cents per bushel and wheat fifty to sixty cents. In about the years 1856 and 1857 and 1858 wheat advanced to $1.00 per bushel and corn from twenty-five to fifty cents, owing to the demand. Some time in the early fifties great improvements were made in farm implements. The roots and stumps had been gradually decaying and were easily put out of the way, so that the farmers began to give more attention to their farms and the result was that farming began to pay. From that time forward improvements in this line were rapid. Domestic improvements were not so rapid and not so general ; yet conditions were greatly improved. The carding machine, the spinning jack and the patent loom took the place of the old hand cards, ithe spinning wheel and hand loom ; the sewing machine dispensed with a vast amount of sewing formerly done by hand. The cooking stoves took the place of the old crane and pot hooks that formerly hung in the old fireplace, and also dispensed with the dinner pot and johnny cake boards.