Lake County, Indiana - The whole text, 1884 (part 3 of 8)

Until 1850 the principal stores were those already named kept by the Robinsons, H. S. Pelton, J. S. Holton for Carter & Carter, and J. AY. Dinwiddle, on the west side of the square, and by AYilliam Alton on the northeast corner. Strait & Holton bought out Alton in the spring of 1853. Joseph P. Smith, the captain of the military company organized about 1841, who led a company to Mexico and returned at the close of that war, who had been school examiner and recorder and county clerk, succeeded J. S. Holton in the firm, and not long after bought out Strait, probably in 1855. He was a correct and for several years a prosperous business man. Partners were admitted, and the firm became Harding, Smith, & Co. The steam mill west of the Rockwell House, built by Lewis and Dwyer, sold to A. H. Merton, and by him to Harding and Laws, came from them into the possession of this company. It proved a bad investment. The firm dissolved about 1858. Captain Smith invested largely in a patent stove sold by Tripp, of Chicao-o. He and others found the investments in that line a failure.

Judge Turner bought the west side store from J. W. Dinwiddle in March, 1850. He received James Bissel as partner in 1851, and in 1853 was formed the firm of Turner & Cramer. They carried on, for those days, a large business for the next few years.

J. S. Holton retiring from the northeast corner, opened a store on the southwest corner of the square in 1854. He sold in 1855 to A. H. Merton to whom Turner & Cramer sold their stock of croods in 1857.

In June, 1855, Luther and Holton bought the Townley school house, removed it to the south side of the square and opened a new store. This building is the one next west of the brick block. Luther and Farley succeeded Luther and Holton.

J. G. Hoffman commenced business May 10, 1852, on the east side where was a few years ago the grocery store of W. R. Marston. He sold to G. A. Woodbridge in the spring of 1855. Commenced business again in the fall of 1856. In 1857 he bought out Luther and Farley and removed to the south side. He closed business in 1864 and was succeeded by Fred. J. Hoffman.

Nichols & Nichols built the store once occupied by O. G. Wheeler about 1855, and commenced business. Closed in 1858. The building is now taken down.

Returning to the east side of the square, in the brick building erected by Clinton Jackson, Levi Tarr opened a drug store about 1854. He soon disposed of the drugs to Lewis & Dwyer for sheep. Dr. A. J. Pratt, then a young practitioner, settling in 1854 and having an office in the building, bought a quarter interest. Dwyer went out. Lewis & Pratt carried on the business. In 1857 Lewis sold his interest to R. B. Young, who, about two years later, bought the remaining interest of Dr. Pratt, and removed the stock to his own building a few doors north. He continued in business until after 1865.

In the same brick building, made vacant by the removal of the drug store, W. G. McGlashon placed a stock of goods in 1859. Removed to the south side, afterward to the store north of the Hack House, when M. L. Barber became a partner; removing to the south side they dissolved about 1867.

William Krimbill commenced business in 1863, and is now located in his own store in the new brick block. He has built up a large trade, and is one of the leading dry goods merchants of the county.

The goods to supply these different houses were brought from Lake and Hobart and Ross, and the produce exchanged was shipped from these points. In the spring and fall, when rains were frequent and the wheeling heavy, the merchants learned the disadvantages of being " inland."

Notwithstanding the disadvantages and the slow growth for fifteen years, new buildings were erected and improvements made. Z. P. Farley, in 1851 built the Hack House. In 1856 the Baptist church building was completed. In 1858 the brick dwelling houses of Z. P. Farley, J. G. Hoffman, and J. Wheeler, and the three-story building containing the Register office, were erected. The county offices and the brick school house were built in 1859, and in 1860 the present Methodist Episcopal church structure. In the steeple of this large and commodious house, where the crowds so often congregate, was placed a bell, and no longer could it be said, " The sound of the church going bell " this prairie and ^rove never heard. As on Sabbath mornings and eVenings its inviting sounds are heard, when the solemn toll announces that the slow-paced burial train is moving to the resting place of the dead, and when as sometimes in the still hours of night iis rapid sounds startle the slumberers with the alarm of fire, the inhabitants are able to feel that they are abreast with all the towns of Christendom in the possession of a many voiced bell, the bell that in all Christian lands tells of joy and sorrow, tells of hope and fear, calls to praise and prayer.

Schools also advanced during these yeai;^. Sylvester Lamb, an ambitious young man, was one of the advancing teachers. His school celebrated one May Day, but the cold wind kept back the flowers, and the Crown Point girls in white dresses were not very comfortable.

R. F. Patrick taught some two or three years, probably during 1856 and 1857. He built the house afterward owned by S. D. Clark, on South street. His select school was held in the Methodist church.

Miss Mary E. Parsons, a graduate of the Mt. Holyoke Seminary, taught a select school for girls from 1856 till her death in November, 1860, with one summer's absence in visiting Iowa.

In September, 1861, W. W. Cheshire and wife became resident teachers in Crown Point, teaching in the public school during the winter months, and having a private school in the summer. They continued to teach until 1867.

After churches and schools would come very naturally the printing press and newspapers, and along the line of progress in these years came the establishment of a weekly newspaper.

The publication of a little sheet, called The Lake County Herald, was commenced by Rodney Dunning about 1856. It continued a few months. The press and materials were sold to J. S. Holton. He in 1857 sold to John Wheeler and Zerah F. Summers, who commenced the publication called The Crown Point Register. This paper passing through the hands of Harper & Beattie, and Samuel E. Ball, came in October, 1869, into the ownership of Frank S. Bedell. The Register proper dates from 1857, established as a weekly, political newspaper by J. Wheeler and Z. F. Summers. In 1860 a Democratic paper called The Jeffersonian was also started, but its life was short. Democracy, socalled, did not flourish in Lake county during the opening years of the Great Civil War.

During those years Crown Point was thoroughly alive with military ardor and patriotic zeal. Her citizens were fully represented in camp and guard duty and on the battle fields.

Intensely as the hearts of the citizens of Crown Point were enlisted in the Great Contest, those remaining at home still sought additional culture, and in 1863 was organized at the brick school house the Crown Point Literary Society. Among its active members were especially the three patriotic pastors of the town, J. B. Newhouse, J. L. Lower, and T. H. Ball. The two first named were teachers of vocal music and good performers on the guitar, each possessing an instrument. Never have three pastors in Crown Point labored so unitedly and zealously for literary culture as the three above mentioned. Those were the palmy days for. ministerial literary exercises. J. B. Newhouse left in

The Cincinnati Air Line, the Great Eastern, now the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburg, or the Pan Handle, found Crown Point on its way to Chicago in 1865, and the town was no longer inland; iron rails and telegraphic wires connected it with all the outside world. An engine with a construction train reached Crown Point in December, 1864. In the spring of 1865 the passenger and freight trains went through to Chicago. Immediately a new growth commenced.

Parts of the early claim of J. W. Holton on section five, having been farming lands for many years, were purchased by Joseph E. Young, Major E. Griffin, and Judge D. Turner, and laid out in city blocks and town lots. These formed Railroad Addition to the town of Crown Point. A depot building was speedily erected. The Holton barn was transformed by M. L. Barber into a grain warehouse; another was built by Z. F. Summers, and dwelling houses and business rooms were rapidly increased. Block No. 1 came into possession of the Crown Point Institute Educational Company, organized May 31, 1865, and the " Institute " building was ready for use by the close of the year. The following business houses belong to the railroad growth:

Two lumber yards were opened at the depot soon after the completion of the road, one by J. E. Fraas, the other by J. Schell. These came after a time, the latter in 1875, into the hands of F. H. Saylor. A sash, door, and blind factory was also soon established by G. L. Voice. This line of work is now carried on by the Gosch Brothers.

Hay presses and barns have been erected by J. G. Hoffman, A. H. Merton, and B. F. Jones; and a green house was built by A. L. Thompson, in 1874; a second by A. Fhelps, in 1874, and a third by Miss Millikan and Mrs. Ingersoll, in 1883.

New Churches

Three churches had hitherto supplied the religious wants of the citizens. New ones were added in the following order: 4th, Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Catholic, 1867; 5th, Trinity Church, Lutheran, 1869; 6th, German Methodist Episcopal, 1874; 7th, German Evangelical, 1874; 8th, North Street Church, opened for public worship July 11, 1875; 9th, Free Methodist, 1882.

New Schools

1. The Crown Point Institute, opened in September, 1865, closed in the spring of 1871. Its place was supplied in part by The Lake County Gymnasium and Normal School, opened in one department in 1872 and fully in 1874.

The little hamlet contained in the year 1838 one piano, whose ivory keys were struck by the well-trained fingers of Miss Eliza Eddy. Mr. Townley's school had furnished a teacher of instrumental music. Miss Bloomfield, who as Mrs. A. Foster became the first music teacher of the Institute, succeeded by Prof. Julius, Mrs.

N. C. Cornell, and Miss L. Weston. Miss Knight also gave musical instruction; and private lessons have been given by Miss Helen G. Bedell, Miss Sophia Pratt, and Miss Flora McDonald; also by Prof. Julius and Mrs. Cornell; and in still later years by some others. As a result there are now quite a large number of pianos and organs, some guitars, and several other instruments in the town, a glee club, a brass band, the Crown Point Singverein, and many amateur performers.

In June, 1868, the town was incorporated, having for officers three trustees and a marshal. Sidewalks now began to be constructed by town authority; a voluntary association had furnished funds for building in 1865 walks to the three churches. The corporation sidewalks have formed an era of marked improvement in town life. A fire engine was procured in 1872 and a fire company organized.

In 1873 the first half of a brick block was erected by J. H. Abrams, W. W. Cheshire, William Krimbill, and J. H. Prier, at a cost of about twenty-two thousand dollars. It contained four store rooms, a large audience room known as Cheshire Hall, a Masonic and an Odd Fellows' Hall. These last two halls are neatly furnished, the Masonic Hall especially, ranking among the finest in the State. The three halls and the National Bank placed the inhabitants of the late inland town very near to city life.

For a notice of Cheshire Hall see the following paper. Here may fittingly be inserted the names of the various additions which have been made to the town of Crown Point, given in the order in which they are recorded in the abstract office of Amos Allman and Son,

The brick block, or half block, built in 1873 was, in the center, two stories high, and on each side, where are now the two halls, three stories high. The following two story brick buildings have since been erected on the east side of Main street, for store rooms, halls, and offices, with basements; in 1876 by Peter Geisen and Reuben Fancher, one 25 and the other 22^ feet front, with a depth of 81 feet, the former, owned by P. Geisen, at a cost of $5000; in 1878 by W. N. Hartupee, H. C. Griesel, and J. D. Clark, each 24 feet front and 90 in depth, costing nearly $5000 each; in 1881 by John Griesel, Conrad Hoereth, and the Crown Point Bank, the first 24 feet by 80, costing $5100, the other two 36 feet by 60; in 1882 by J. H. Abrams, 22 feet front by 70 deep; and in 1883 by Warren Cole, 27 feet front by 90 in depth, with a very securely built vault communicating with the jewelry room, the whole costing $7000; making thus ten new store rooms, two halls, and a number of offices and basement rooms. In 1878 and 1879 was built the new brick court-house; and in 1882 the brick jail. The removal of the frame court-house, which has been remodeled and transformed into Hoffman's Opera House, and of the frame jail and the old brick offices has changed very much the appearance of the public square, in the center of which is now the court-house, on the north and east side broad walks, and on each side a public street. Bordering on these streets is a row of solid oak posts, twelve feet apart, supporting on three sides a strong chain, which forms a convenient and secure cable to which horses can be tied.

The present business of the town may be briefly stated thus: Commencing on Court Street, opposite the north-west corner of the square and proceeding southward, we have, a black-smith's shop, S. B. Coneway's, Paul Raasch's flour and feed store, the Rockwell House, kept by O. Furman, and a basement saloon by E. A. Mee; Dr. Pettibone's office; and, south of the old school-house, Dubois' black-smith shop; and the printing office of J. Lehman, Editor of the Freie Presse, near the school house; on the south side of the square, John Meyer, agricultural implements; Jacob Houk, boots and shoes, and C. Weis, hardware and practical tinner; meat market, F. Simons; shoe-shop, C. S. Coneway; harnessshop, J. H. Minas; cigars and tobacco, Eder Bro's; groceries and provisions, J. M. Hack; Keller Bro's, dry goods and clothing, (commenced business in Crown Point, June, 1880, one of the group of four business houses, the main house at North Judson, in Starke county, doing a large business, the other two situated at Winamac and Lowell;) William Krimbill, dry-goods & clothing; H. P. Swartz, drug-store; second story of this half-block, the armory of the Crown Point military company; the Star office, Wheeler & Rowins, Printers and Editors; Mrs. Allman's millinery rooms; Dr. N. D. Edmonds, dentist. On Main street, Herman Baake, shoemaker, (commenced here in September, 1882, came from Berlin, Prussia, in 1881, an excellent workman;) Henry Sasse, Jun., agricultural implements; Wells & Judson, livery stable; Hack House, Mrs. A. Hack; J. Horst, hardware, (commenced business May, 1882;) Miller's saloon and boarding house and feed-barn; Reeder's saloon boardinghouse and barn with stalls for some twenty-four horses, on Joliet street; and " The Fair," M. J. Kramer; on East street the black-smith's shop and wagon and carriage manufactory of Joseph Hack, a successor of Major Farwell, who established the shop in 1841. Returning again to Main street, we have, a tailor's shop, Joseph Horn; a basement restaurant kept by Miss Nellie Taylor and brother under the drug store; on the east side of the square, John Schlemmer, dry-goods and clothing; O. G. Wheeler, hardware and a basement tin shop, in the brick store built by W. N. Hartupee; H. C. Griesel, furniture store and undertaker; basement, G. Volk, barber; E. Church & Son, groceries, (store room of

Clark and Pinney;) harness store and shop by Conrad Hoereth; Rockwell Bro's, groceries; Wm. Hack, hardware; bakery, Fry & Wilson, (in a frame building on the site of the original brick bakery which came down in 188B;) " Wm. J. Young, Clothier;" " W. Cole, .Watches and Jewelry;" Joe Atkin, barber in basement; saloon, kept by E. Laws; meat market by Daniel Krinbill, and later in the year sold to Scoates and Hayes, the present proprietors; and on the west side of Main street we have the Register office, John Millikan, Editor and Proprietor, and the hall of James H. Ball, occupied by the Public School Cadets as an armory, containing also a circulating library. Further northward, passing the law office of Griffin & Griffin, we find Mrs. Pierson, dressmaker, and the law office of Wood & Wood, and, on the corner of North street, the black-smith's shop of E. Caswell, and then the shops and saloon of Charles Shroeder. Returning to the west side of Main street near the square and passing northward, the business houses are: Ladies furnishing store Mrs. Jerome Dinwiddle, business comcommenced July 7, 1884; drug-store by W. A. Scheddell, opened November 23, 1881; (on the second floor, in the office of Clark, Turner, and McMahan, is kept the McClure library;) grocery and provision store by George Krinbill, opened in December, 1884; (on the second floor the News office, lately opened by T. Cleveland and Charles Cleveland;) C. Dubois, cigars and tobacco; and Fred. Imhoff, barber; Young's saloon; groceries by L. Dresser, opened October, 1880; dry-goods store by Otto Schultz; furniture store, Peter Geisen, who is also undertaker; agriculturalimplements, Fessenden & Seberger, who also deal in sewing machines and hardware; a shoe-store and shop by F. Gutlschow; flour and feed store by Laws and Son; Hayward's art-gallery; and near North street, the shoe-shop and oil-store of James Cooper. Near the Pan Handle depot, there are the stores of D. N. Longnecker, groceries and provisions, of Amos Edgerton, groceries and dry goods, of M. Foster, hardware and agricultural implements, the harness shop of Lewis Edgerton, and meat market of H. Frederick; also Buderbach's saloon, the black-smith and wagon shop of H. Nassau; the Indiana House and saloon; Frank Hilbrich's saloon; the Crown Point House livery and feed stables; the black-smith, wagon, and carriage shops and the agricultural-implement store of Jacob Weis. Also - the iron foundry of R. McAllister; and, near the Atlantic depot, the depot saloon and boarding house. Also the hay press and barn of Alfred Coffin, the hay and grain barn and ware-house of Beranger Brown; the seed and grain store of William Aulwurm; the ware-houses and hay press of B. F. Jones, and the lumber yard, planing mill, sash and door factory of the Gosch Brothers. It appears from the foregoing list that while Crown Point is not Chicago, nor even claiming to have become a city, it has attained a fair growth, and without manufacturing interests it has as a rail-road county seat suffisufficient business facilities for a healthful, slow-growing town. Its two rail-roads furnish sufficient competition to bring passenger commutation rates to Chicago, fortyone miles on one road and thirty-six on the other, down to fifty-four cents a trip; giving also direct communication to Boston, New York, Jacksonville, and New Orleans. It has already become the home of many retired farmers who find here a healthful town, away from the bustle and the danger of " strikes " and the other attendants of a large manufacturing center, in which to spend the afternoon and evening of their days, giving to their families the advantages of the growing schools and many churches and the cultivated society of the county seat. Of course the county officers with their families reside here, nearly all the lawyers of the county, a number of good physicians, many retired business men, several editors and journalists; and here is the home of our present state senator, J. W. Youche; of our circuit judge, E. C Field; of the present member of Congress of this tenth, district, Thomas J. Wood; and of the presidential elector of the district for 1884, J. Kopelke. Here also reside of former representatives, Elihu Griffin, Bartlett Woods, David K. Pettibone, Martin Wood, T. S. Fancher, Dr. H. Pettibone; and a former probate judge, representative, state senator, and United States Assessor, Judge David Turner. Several former county officers also reside here, among whom may be named as men of means and influence, Amos Allman, James H. Luther, John Krost, Janna S. Holton, J. C. Sauerman, Wm. Krimbill, John Donch, and John Brown. There are yet others of our many intelligent and worthy citizens, some who have and some who have not held office, whom I would be glad to find an excuse to name. Having a healthful and beautiful location, sufficiently near to Chicago, with some fine springs near by that may yet prove to have good medicinal qualities, with a rich grazing and farming region not far away, the day is quite sure to come when many a Chicago business man will have a beautiful home, and many a factory laborer will have his pleasant cottage, within the ample limits of the Crown Point of the future.

(The following paper was prepared for the literary exercises of Wednesday evening, September 3d, and was then read, as mentioned on page 43, which fact will account for the construction of the opening sentence. For readers who may not know the family relationship of the county the editor will take the liberty to say here, that Mrs. Wheeler is the wife of J. J. Wheeler, one of the editors of the Lake County Star, a daughter of Janna S. Holton, and a granddaughter of Solox Robixsox, the first settler in Crown Point.)

Cheshire Hall By Mks. Belle Wheeler

When requested by Mr. Ball lo take part in these exercises, and our subject was assigned us, we felt that it was quite a serious undertaking for a novice in such matters, and hesitated to attempt what might be the beginning of a brilliant literary career; but as he assured us it was our duty we will try to make it our pleasure as well, doino- the best we can with the facts and figfures at our command.

When in the year 1873 the building was erected which contained the large room fitted up with every convenience, as we thought, for the holding of lectures, concerts, dramas, and the like, the town had reason to feel proud of having a town-hall, which, after proper dedicatory exercises, received the name of its owner and builder, Mr. W. W. Cheshire, who came here from the South during the war to take charge of our public schools, and who has since remained a citizen, being now absent in government service. The county was also greatly benefitted, for here the institutes, the political speeches, and all forms of public meetings were held. And this Society of Pioneers held several meetings under its roof if we mistake not. It has been the scene of many happy gatherings, and its audiences have listened to some of the finest lecturers of these times, the most notable of v/hich were those given under the auspices of the Lecture Club, of which Mrs. J. AY. Youche was secretary, and from whose books we glean the following: There were given lectures by Prof. Swing, Rev. Dr. Thomas, Will Carleton, Pheobe Cousins, Fanny Mc- Cartney, Rev. Mercer, Gen. Kilpatrick, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Brook Herford, Benj. F. Taylor, Mrs. Dunn, a series of five lectures by .Tames K. Applebee, reading by Laura E. Dainty, entertainments by the Hutchinson family, and others. After the walls of this hall have echoed the talented voices of such a long list of lecturers of world-- wide fame, it can never be utterly buried in oblivion. From its platform we have also often heard our own home talent, Rev. Mr. Ball, Judge Field, and many others. Mr. and Mrs. Cheshire were both active and willing workers in this society who with the rest of the members deserve and receive the thanks of the literary public.

"VYe regret that our first pride, Cheshire Hall, is a thing of the past, though we think it devoted to very good use, being the " abode of journalism," we would have been glad could its doors have been kept open to the Lake county public, as long as time would let its portals stand, and the name of its projector be kept green in the memories of the coming generations.

By Edwin W. Dinwiddie

The peculiar position and varied nature of the soil of Lake county probably render it the natural home of more species of animal life than any other region of similar extent in the United States. Lake Michigan, the Kankakee and Calumet rivers and marshes, numerous small streams and lakes, swamps, prairies, groves, loam, clay, and sand hills, make a variety of soil and condition suited to the wants of hundreds of species of temperate zone animal life.

In the scientific classification of the Animal Kingdom the first three great divisions Vertebrates, Articulates and Mollusks are abundantly represented. Of the Vertebrates all the classes - Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes - are represented. In the class of Mammals the first two orders, Carnivora and Herbivora, are represented. In the class of Birds all four orders. Perching Birds (Insessores). Climbers (Scansores), Waders (Grallatores), and Swimmers (Natatores), are represented. In the class of Reptiles the last four orders, Lizards, Snakes, Turtles, and Frogs, are represented; and in the class of Fishes three orders, Placoids, Ctenoids, and Cycloids, and perhaps also the Ganoids, "are represented. The three classes in the Department of Articulates, Insects, Crustaceans, and Worms, are all represented. In the class of Insects the three orders, Suctoria, Manducata, and Aptera; in the class of Crustaceans one order, Malacostraca; and in the class of Worms two orders (first and third) are represented (Tubulibranchiateg and Abranchiates). In the Department of Mollusks two classes, Gasteropods and

Acephals, are represented; the Gasteropods by two orders, Pulmonates and Branchifers, and the Acephals by one order, Lamellibranchiates. In addition to these classified species there are many kinds of microscopic Animalcula or Infusoria.

Civilization and Wild-Animal Life are generally antagonistic; therefore, it is not strange that many species are steadily diminishing in numbers, while several species have already entirely disappeared. It is supposed that Lake county was once the home of the Buffalo, but since white men visited these prairies none have been seen here. Elk horns have been found here, and the inference is easily drawn that Elk once inhabited our county. Deer, once numerous, are still occasionally seen and more rarely shot on the islands of the Kankakee marsh. Beaver have undoubtedly once dwelt in what is now Lake county, but they disappeared before the advent of the white man. Some few Opossums have been killed in Lake county, but they were probably stragglers from counties farther south. Musk-rats and Mink are very abundant, as is attested by the fact of at least $7,000.00 worth of fur beingf taken on the Kankakee marsh the past season. Add to this probably 81,000.00 worth taken in other parts of the cou«ty, and the value of our furbearing animals can be readily seen. Raccoon are numerous on some of the ridges in the swamp, and are readily caught by the help of dog and axe. Four species of squirrels are numerous in the timber; and grey Ground Squirrels and striped Gophers are found on the prairies and grass lands. Chipmunks, Ground-hogs or Wood-chucks, and Moles are occasionally found. Rabbits are, in places, very numerous, and destructive to young orchards and shrubbery. Badgers and Hedgehogs have never been very numerous and are ahnost extinct here. On many of the islands in the marsh and in some more frequented places is found the most disagreeable of all the fur-bearing animals. This is the Striated Weasel or Skunk, often, though improperly, called a Polecat. Notwithstandino- its disao-reeable odor it is often hunted for its valuable fur, and quite an income is derived from this not very pleasant employment. The Common Weasel is sometimes found, but never numerous. Otter are still to be seen along the Kankakee. In the early settlement of the county Prairie Wolves were very numerous and bold. They were mostly the common brownish wolf, but there were a few nearly black. Large grey timber Wolves inhabited the south part of Eagle Creek township, and have been known to come around the farm houses and both play and fight with the dogs. Foxes are still numerous and sometimes troublesome. Fox hunts are indulged in, and if well conducted are usually successful. In 1837 or 1838 a Wild-cat was killed at the head of Cedar Lake. From 1855 to 1867 two were often seen and heard in Pleasant Grove and vicinity, and in the latter year one was killed at Bostwick Prairie. Though persons out at night since then have reported seeing a Lynx no well authenticated instance of it is known. Bats are numerous in dark woods and old buildings, but are never troublesome. Three species of Mice are found here, the common domestic mouse, which follows civilization, the field mouse, and a whitethroated and sometimes white-footed timber mouse. Common brown Norway Rats are numerous and destructive around barns, and sometimes in the grain fields.

The most majestic as well as the most rare of the birds of Lake county is the White Swan. But as no ^reat number has been seen here, and, so far as known, no nest found, strictly speaking, they, like several other species of migratory birds, can hardly be said to belong to the Fauna of Lake county. Lake gulls are often seen. Wild Geese and Brants are found in great numbers in the spring and fall, but nest here only to a very limited extent. Wild Goose eggs are often found, and, hatched by our domestic fowls, become easily domesticated. But, though tliousands of ducks are hatched in our marshes and grassy ponds, it is impossible to domesticate them. They will either run away at the first opportunity or if kept confined will soon die. The principal varieties found here are the Mallard, Blue Wing Teal, Widgeon, Wood-duck, Spoon-bill, and Spike-tail. The Ducks are found in such numbers that club houses are built for the convenience of hunters from other places in the hunting season. About three hundred and twenty men, making a business of hunting on the Kankakee marsh, bag an average of two hundred ducks each. This would give 64,000. That this is not by any means an over-estimate is easily believed when it is known that two men have killed and bagged 280 ducks in a single day, and one man has killed 2,300 in a single season. To these 64,000 add the number killed on the Calumet, about the same, and the vast number killed on all our interior waters and by non-professional hunters, and, the number would not fall short of 250,000 ducks killed within the boundaries of Lake county in a single season. The Northern Diver or Loon is sometimes seen. Mud Hens and Rice or Reed Birds are quite numerous. Though Cranes are classed among the " Waders," our white and bluish Sand-hill Cranes rarely if ever wade, but are often seen in flocks of from five up to two or three hundred feeding on the grass or stubble fields. They are hard to get at on account of their habit of always keeping sentinels on the watch for danger. There are also white and bluish Water Cranes. These are nearly always solitary, or not more than two together, and are only found in low wet places. Another solitary bird is the common Thunder- Pumper, which also belongs to the Heron tribe. Jacksnipe, Sand-snipe, and Plover, are quite common. Rail and Woodcock complete the list of wading birds.

The most destructive of the dry-land birds as well as the most numerous are the common crow-black-birds which are found every summer and fall in immense flocks doing great damage to all kinds of grain. They are nearly always accompanied in nearly equal numbers by the Red-wing Troopials or Blackbirds, regarded by most persons as the young birds of the first variety, but really an entirely different species. There may sometimes be seen in largfe flocks of blackbirds a few with white heads or a red head and white wings or variously marked, but whether a distinct species or an accidental variation, the writer has been unable to determine. Wild Pigeons sometimes, though rarely, come in large flocks, but usually in very moderate numbers. Meadow-larks, Mourning-doves, Robins, Blue-jays, Cat-birds, Wrens, Thrushes, Mocking-birds, English Sparrows, two species of Martins, three of Swallows, four varieties of Wood-peckers, and several varieties of wild Canaries, are all found in considerable numbers. Snow-birds are plenty in the winter season. Humming-birds of two varieties are sometimes, though seldom seen, but never captured. The Kill-dee and the Whip-poor-will may often be heard in the twilight, giving the call from which they receive their names. Crows, four species of Owls and two of Hawks, are natives here. Buzzards are numerous but not native. Eagles of two kinds, once often seen, are now quite rare. The Wild Turkey once found in considerable flocks is now hard to find, only occasionally revisitingf its old haunts. Grouse or Prairie Chickens are still present in quite large numbers, but are rapidly diminishing as their nesting places are being broken up for cultivation. The last few winters have been severe on Quails, so that they are scarcer than they formerly were. Pheasants are found in the large groves, but never very abundant.

The third great class, in the department of Vertebrates, - Reptiles - is, perhaps fortunately, not represented by many species. Four varieties of Lizards, all harrnless, are known to exist here; but owing to their modest habits of living in dark cellars and out of the way places they are not often seen. Only two varieties of turtles are found, the common Mud Turtle and a larger Snapping Turtle. Three kinds of Frogs are found, the small green frog very abundant. Between three and four hundred green frogs were taken from three postholes which had been left uncovered for a few days. Common Toads and Tree-toads are numerous, and of great service in reducing the numbers of troublesome insects. Toads, with the exception of the eyes, are not beautiful creatures, and from their loathsomeness are, by many, erroneously regarded as poisonous, and are treated

Rattlesnakes, once very abundant, are happily fast disappearing. Black-snakes, Bull-snakes or Watersnakes are not often found. On the contrary, the harmless little green and striped snakes seem to increase in numbers as the others disappear. The writer wishes here to protest against the indiscriminate slaughter, by the thoughtless, of everything that bears the obnoxious name of " Snake." The food of these . harmless striped snakes consists of mice, frogs, and insects; and surely we need all the help we get from them and toads to battle with the multitudes of insect life. Spare the friends whose only faults are in their names and forms.

A naturalist mentions the curious fact of a irog- beinof heard to " cry" after being swallowed by a snake. The writer once rescued a frog from two snakes which had each swallowed half until their lips met. They fought for at least twenty minutes, by wrapping their tails around grass and weeds and pulling until the improvised anchors would give way. When rescued the frog never " cried " but struck for water.

Another time the writer noticed a large swelling or protuberance in the body of a snake, and, in boyish curiosity, cut the animal in half. His curiosity was satisfied when a large frog crawled out and, without shedding a tear, hopped nimbly away.

In variety of fish Lake county is fortunate, having some fourteen species; among which the Sturgeon, White-fish, Pike, Pickerel, Perch, Black and Speckled Bass, Sun-fish and River-salmon are the best. Cat-fish, Dog-fish, Gar-fish and Minnows are also found. The fish have been seineci for so much that the quantity has

The department of Articulates comprises such a multitude of Insects that not much more than the merest mention is possible here. There is a very great number of varieties of Moths and Butterflies, many of them very brilliant and beautifiil. Four species of Gnats, four of Mosquitoes and ten of Flies, are a little bothersome, while Honey-bees, Sweat-bees, Bumble-bees, Yellow-jackets, Wasps and Hornets, while they cannot write their names, often contrive to "make their mark." Locusts occasionally appear and Katy-dids annually sing in the trees. There are fifteen or twenty species of Beetles of which the Colorado Potato Bug is the best' known. Grasshoppers are numerous and lively. Curculio do great damage to fruit. There are at least five species of Ants and two of Crickets well known. Fire-flies are numerous, and at least five species of Spiders. One species of Fleas and one of Bed-bugs are all that is necessary. There are unnumbered hosts of small Bugs and Insects, and a great variety of Worms, many of which however are only embryo insects. The only Crustacean is the fresh water Craw-fish. In the Department of Mollusks there are only four known species here. Three species of Snails and fresh -water Clams.

Such is the Fauna of Lake county, comprising several thousand species of animals, any order of which is worthy of more space than can be given in this article.

Note. - To the above notice of our varied and abundant wild-animal life I will take the liberty to add that along the Cady Marsh, north of Ross, Bobolinks a^e often seen in considerable numbers. T. H. B.

The peculiarities of soil and surface here, the sand, clay, deep prairie soil, and almost bottomless muck, the highland and the lowland, - the same peculiarities that give such abundant animal life - make our native vegetation rich and varied. The usefulness and the beauty of the vegetable kingdom all recognize; nor can it be shown that flowers, well classed among the most beautiful things in nature, emblems of innocence and of beauty and of frailty, are not as attractive now as in the earliest days of the human race. The roses and lilies of Eden may have been no fairer and no more fragrant than are some roses and some lilies now. Science, in classifying plants, may teach us also their uses, but cannot rob them of their beauty. It has been well said that " No science more effectually combines pleasure with improvement than Botany:" and also that "This extensive department of Natural History justly claims a large share of the attention of every individual." Yet the majority of people who live in the country, and are in daily contact with the vegetable world, look upon plants more with an eye to their usefulness for man and beast than to learn their scientific names, or to be able to analyze and classify them.

A brief outline of the "natural" system of classification is the following: Two grand divisions are first made in the vegetable kingdom. Some are called Flowering and some Flowerless Plants; or Phaenogamia and Cryptogamia. The former are divided into Exogens and Endogens; the exogens growing by external accretions and being dicotyledonous, the endogens growing by internal accretions and being monocotyledonous. Of the exogens are two classes, Angiosperms and Gymnosperms; and of the endogens are two classes, Aglumaceae and Glumaceae. Of the flowerless plants are also two classes, Acrogens and Thallogens. The Natural System gives thus in all six classes. For five of these classes the botanist, AVood, gives one hundred and sixty-six orders, the last class, the Thallogens, composed of plants having no regular stems, roots, leaves, nor flowers, not being divided into orders. These orders or families of plants are then divided into genera and these again into species. Individual plants of the same kind make up the species. Some claim that in the whole vegetable kingdom there are as many as a hundred thousand species.

In taking now a brief survey of our native flora some description will be given, for the general reader, of five great varieties of growth here, as determined by the soil and surface, naming some of the leading plants of each variety; the scientific names will then be given of quite a large number of our plants with the common or English names attached.

1. We will commence our survey at the north part of the county, on the sand ridges and marshes between Lake Michigan and the Little Calumet. Here grew the white pine and red cedar; also different species of oak. Here also grew in abundance huckleberries, cranberries, and wintergreen berries. From Tolleston alone, two miles and a half from Lake Michigan and about the same distance from the Little Calumet, there have been shipped in a single season one thousand bushels of huckleberries. Sassafras is native here; and of shrubs and bushes of various kinds there are probably twenty or thirty species. Many portions of this narrow region, cut up though it now is with railroads, are almost as wild and inaccessible as Southern swamps and jungles; and a large knife or sharp axe is needed to enable one to pass in a straight line through the thick, tangled, almost impenetrable growth of shrubs and running vines, that will in many places obstruct one's progress.

2. Passing now south of the Little Calumet let us notice the growth of the clay land. This soil gives support to trees, yet not, except in some favored localities, to a dense forest growth. The name, " openings," has been applied, sometimes even the name "barrens;" but to our woodlands the latter name is hardly appropriate. The growth here is largely oak, of several species, and hickory of two species, Carya alba or shagbark, and Carya glabra or pig-nut. Also, in the edge of the woodlands, a dense growth of hazel bushes; and, in some localities, crab-apples, plum trees, slippery elm, ash, sassafras, huckleberries, wild currants, goose berries, black-berries, strawberries, hawthorn, white thorn, iron-wood, poplar or quaking aspen; and, as stragglers perhaps, red cedars, black-walnuts, and hard or rock-maple. This woodland region extended originally south to Turkey Creek, along the eastern part of the county to Eagle Creek Prairie, and over sections 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, in township 35, range 9; over sections 7, 18, 19, 30, and most of 31, in township 34, range 8; over 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 8, 9, 20, 21, 29, 32, 24, and parts of 23, 26, 35, in township 34, range 9; over most of 6, 7, parts of 18, 19, in township 33, range 8; and over 6, 7, 18, most of 19, parts of 1, 12, 13, 23, 24, 25,

26, in township 33, rans^e 9. Besides these strips or belts of continuous woodland, there were the four oroves. School, South East, Plum, and Orchard, with other smaller ones. Pleasant Grove was a part of the continuous woodland. In all of this portion of the county the claj soil or sub-soil is quite near the surface. But these 2;-roves and this woodland abound in spring time with flowering plants, so that the ground is sometimes almost literally covered with blossoms. Among these are anemones, spring beauties, butter-cups, sanguinaria or blood-root, several species of blue violets, dog-tooth violets, Indian puccoon, lady-slippers, and very many species whose names will by and by be given.

3.' From the woodland region let us pass now to the wild and beautiful prairie. Here the soil is deeper, generally more productive for farming, often a black mold, containing more or less of silex and of vegetable matter. Out of this soil grew the true prairie grass, the rosinweed or polar plant, and the prairie burdock or dock. Of this characteristic polar plant, Silphium laciniatum, the botanist Wood well says, " producing columns of smoke in the burning prairies by its copious resin." There are those yet living in Lake county who in childhood witnessed the great fires that swept in upon us from the Grand Prairie of Illinois, who can say with one of Ossian's heroes, " The columns of smoke pleased well mine eyes." This plant grew from five to seven feet high. The burdock, or prairie dock we called it here, Silphium terebinthinacium, exuded resin but not so abundantly, had broad leaves, from seven to twelve inches and from one, Wood says, to two feet in length. These plants have nearly perished from our prairie re- g-ion now. No children chew purer or nicer g-iim than the pioneer children of the prairies gathered there in abundance from the polar plant. It cost no peiniies. It could be had fresh every day in midsiimnier. And then, in June, July and August, and until the frosts came, the other plants of the prairie, of some forty or fifty species at least, were in bloom, adding their own beauty to the green and luxuriant verdure. Among these flowering plants, abundant and beautiful, grew in immense beds, the lychnidia or Phlox, probably of two or three species, also a tall plant with a red flower, once called, from the tuber from which it grew, potato plant. There was also the beautiful meadow lily; and there were others, bright and beautiful, the colors very rich, peculiar to the moist or lowland of the prairie, found in the edges of the marshes. On Tuesday, October 14th, of this year, on a little portion of Lake Prairie Cemetery, where is still the original prairie sod, the writer of this picked specimens of twenty-five different species of the original prairie plants; and there were among these none of those very bright, richly colored blossoms of the lower prairie growth. One close observer of nature, who is accustomed to the wild haunts here, says, that the number of prairie plants is two or three hundred. One characteristic of the leaves of many of these larger plants is a peculiar roughness; and several of these plants are resinous.

The true upland, prairie grass has been thus far recognized. The grass growth of the wdiole county may here be noticed. Probably from fifty to a hundred species were native here. Some varieties made poor, but many kinds made excellent hay. Some varieties grew about one foot high, some w'ere tw^o and three, some five and six feet in height. Some of the woodland grass was only a- few inches in height. Some species had a small, almost wiry blade, some a broad blade, some varieties had a reed like stem with blades like the blades of maize. The stem of one va^rietv was three-sided. Wild pea vines growing with some of the grass aided in making excellent winter provender. With some also grew wild parsnip. Wild onions and wild parsnips were in some parts abundant.

4. The soil, or the muck, the mud, and the sand, (sometimes with clay lying not far from the surface, sometimes practically, as some of the rail-roads find it, bottomless,) which is usually covered with water, as found in our small marshes, in our lakes, and in the Calumet and Kankakee rivers, produces a number of true aquatic plants. These, the grasses growing in damp and wet soils having been referred to, are now to be noticed. Of these the water lily, Nymphasa odorata, may well stand first. Wood says of it, " One of the loveliest of flowers, possessing beauty, delicacy, and fragrance in the highest degree." This beautifa4 flower is abundant in its season in our waters. Well has it been called " The Greek Nymph or Naiad of the waters." The yellow pond lily comes next, Nuphar advena, not so choice a flower as the former, sometimes called frog lily; the plant being sometimes called among us spatter-dock. The third of these is probably a water shield or target, Brasenia peltata. The cat-tail, Tpyha latifolia, may next be named as very abundant, called also reed mace. There are many rushes and sedges. These used to form nice nesting places for the marsh black-birds and the bobolinks. Conspicuous among these water plants in ihe early summer is the blue flag, Iris versicolor. Along the Kankakee and in the various bayous grow water needles in abundance. Another of these river plants is called Indian hemp. The cranberry, Oxycoccus, is a native in many of the marshes, and with it is often found a luxuriant water moss. Still other, and various aquatic plants form a great abundance of vegetation in the water and above its surface. The channels of the rivers are usually more free from vegetation, and the central parts of the large marshes and of the lakes are "open water;"' but along the margins the growth is dense, varied, and luxuriant. So dense and luxuriant is the growth on the Kankakee marsh land, that when the marsh becomes dry in the autumn time it is dangerous for an inexperienced footman to venture into that tall spring and summer growth. He is likely to become lost as though in a tangled wilderness. And when, late in the autumn, fires sweep over this marsh land, the scene is magnificent.

5. The last division of our vegetation to be noticed is the timber growth in the Kankakee marsh region. A part of this region is swamp. In this grow ash, elm, sycamore, birch, willow, maple, and cotton-wood, with a thick growth of underbrush, or puckerbrush. Through this latter growth neither man nor dog can travel rapidly. On the islands here, which are generally sandy, grow red oak, black oak, jack oak, hickory, sycamore, maple, pepperidge or gum-tree, (Nyssa multiflora,) beech, and black- walnut. Also some elm.

kakee, whose sister, Henrietta Ball, of Cedar Lake, analyzed specimens of two hundred and eighteen species. Leaving out from that list some that were cultivated or not native in this county, and then adding fifty from her own knowledge of our plants, this list was made up. So that it comes to us from the two daug-hters of Mrs. J. A. H. Ball, who were born at Cedar Lake, and one of whom, Henrietta Ball, died there in January, 1863, when twenty-one years of age. Mrs. Ball, the mother, was herself an excellent botanist, having shared the instructions given by Dr. Sumner, the botanical lecturer and author, in the city of Hartford sixty years ago, and who as a young mother, in 1838, 1839, and 1840, analyzed with the delight of a naturalist the beautiful woodland and prairie flowers that then grew around Cedar Lake, and who taught the same delightful art to her three daughters and to some of her sons. Her last botanical teachinowas in 1880, in the summer of which year she gave instructions in her home at Crown Point to three of her grandchildren. She was then nearly seventy-six years of ao-e, havinof still the freshness of interest and the enthusiasm of youth, in this, one of her favorite branches of scientific pursuit. She died at Crown Point in October, 1880, having completed her seventy-six years of life. The writer of this is glad that her knowledge, although she is not now living, can, through her children, add value to these pages.

In this list, " Of the grasses and mosses and ferns and sedges and golden rods and asters" the various species are not given. Neither does the list claim to be exhaustive. But it will give some idea of the variety and richness of our native flora.

English Names

It thus appears that we liave two hundred and thirtynine different species of plants that have been analyzed, with many species of aster, of s^olden rod, of sunflowers, of js^rasses; and yet many other plants the species of which has not been determined.

Okchard Grove

Situated directly south of the eastern part of Crown Point and nine and a quarter miles from North Street, twenty and a half miles due south from Tolleston, is Orchard Grove, two miles east from the ran^-e line between ranges eight and nine, and one mile east of the central north and south line of the county. It extends to the low-land of the Kankakee marsh, and is west of Plum Grove one mile and a half, and one quarter south. It is three miles west of the north and south line that passes through South East Grove, and three miles south of the southern limit of that grove. The eastern part of it is directly south of the western part of School Grove, and the distance between these two o-roves is seven miles. It is not so broken as School Grove, nor as high ground as South East Grove, and in size is larger than Plum Grove, covering perhaps a half mile of surface.

Orchard Grove produces, in favorable seasons, a large supply of hickory nuts. A fev/ years ago tv,'o persons gathered sixteen bushels from the trees in that part of the grove now owned by J. P. Spalding, This year ten bushels were gathered from the same trees, and in all the o-rove about liftv bushels were g-athered. The yield was quite large this year, and many remained on the o-round when the snow came.

The present inhabitants of the neighborhood called by this name are the families of Mrs. John Clement, Niles Clement, Alonzo Dickinson, W. A. Davis, Richard Hill, John McNay, Barton Dickinson, Wilson Wiley, Lester Wallace, Clinton Hill, J. M. Kenney, J. C. Kenney, Samuel Miller, J. M. Craft, O. DeWitt, F. Eberts, Joshua Spalding, Tho*nas Craft, Conrad Eberts, Conrad Bower, Hervey Kinney, Mrs. Hannah Kinney, and Mrs, De Forest Warner.

A fine stream of water runs on the west side of Orchard Grove into the lowland of the Kankakee. It is called Spring Run, or Spring Run Branch, starting from some quite bold springs in the Clark neighborhood, re- ceivino- additions from other little streams, that flow down that southern prairie slope, one of these coming from the lands of Mrs. Mary E. Nichols, and its waters are supjjosed to reach the Kankakee and the Illinois, and so, finally, to reach the Gulf along the channel of the Father of Waters.

Other Groves

In this same part of the county are five other smalj groves that have borne no particular names. These may be called the Hamilton Grove, south of Plum Grove, on the Kennev place; Mrs. Dinwiddle's Grove, just east of her home, covering some fifteen or twenty acres, containing a great many thrifty hickory trees, which, like the trees in Orchard Grove, yielded this year an abundance of nuts, this grove forming an excellent shelter from the west and break-wind for the residence of Isaac Bryant, thus making his a choice building spot; the small grove of Oscar Dinwiddle; the Nichols Grove, just east of Mrs. McCann's, and extending also northward including some of the land of S. Hogan, some of the edges of this grove abounding in luxuriant hazel brush; and the Kenney Grove, small and beautiful, north-west of G. W. Handley's. The soil in all these little groves is quite deep and rich, and the growth, of course, is thrifty and luxuriant.

From what is here called the Nichols Grove, because largely on the land of M. Nichols, a private lane extends southward, with a fence on one side and black-walnut trees and then a fence on the other side, on the lands of

Mrs. Dinwiddie, which shady avenue forms a delightful walk in tlie summer time. This shaded, retired, sloping way has been enjoyed by the writer on many a bright morning in the past years. The view southward is delightful, extending to the blue groves on islands of the Kankakee.

Our Wealth By Rev. H. Wason

Our local situation gives us a pre-eminence. We stand as the door to Chicago for access to all the x'Vtlantic cities. This places us, for railroad facilities, at the head of all the counties in our state, and also of most counties in our land. Of the ninety-two counties in Indiana, only four approach us in miles of road-bed, viz: Allen, Marion, La Porte, and Porter. While we have two hundred and twelve miles of road in daily use, there are four counties in our state not yet touched by a railroad, viz: Brown, Ohio, Perry, and Switzerland. There are also eleven others that are only intersected by one road. The three best roads in our state, and great thoroughfares in the nation, pass through Lake county, and are assessed for taxation at twenty thousand dollars for each mile of road-bed, viz: Michigan Central, Michigan Southern, and the Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne, The Joliet cut off, Grand Trunk, and Baltimore and Ohio are assessed at ten thousand dollars per mile, only a little below the three second best roads in the State. The railroad property in our county is assessed at nearly three millions of dollars, and pays thirty-four and one half per cent, of the money that goes into our county treasury, and no delinquent list. To give a better idea of the rank we hold as a railroad countv, let us state some facts. We are a little above the averao-e of the ninetytwo counties in territory, but we have one tw^enty-fifth of the railroad miles iml»edded on our soil, and more than one eighteenth part of all the railroad property in our state is tributary to our county treasury. Another peculiarity is, that one or more of our eleven railroads intersects each township in our county, so that but few families are more than five miles from some railroad station. We have no city as a railroad center, though one (Hammond,) has jvist sprung into life, accommodated by four roads. Some of our roads are among the oldest in the state. The Michigan Central found its way through our county into Chicago in 1850. The last road to make a home with us, (the I. I. I.) came quietly creeping up the Kankakee marsh in 1888. Many of our roads have received material aid from the citizens of the county, and I trust all have their good. will. There should be no conflict between the two. The one is dependent on the other to a certain extent. Railroads would be worthless without patronage, but it w^ould be a dire calamity to be throw^n back fifty years, and be dependent on the old mode of travel and transportation. Companies Ijuild railroads for profit, but many fortunes are sunk in their construction, and very many roads go into the hands of receivers. Yet all persons use them more or less for convenience and economy. For statistical purposes, I append the report of the state Board of Equalization on Railroads for 1881.

By T. H. Ball

The Calumet reofioii of the county of Lake is formed by a little, winding-, sluggish, grassy stream of clear, pure 'water, which rises in Porter county, and flows, mainly westward, across the county of Lake into Illinois; and then, turning ba.ck from the large Blue Island bluff in Cook county, flows again mainly eastward, nearly across Lake county. The strip of sand ridges, low narrow valleys, and of marshes, between the two channels, is from two to three miles wide. That strip of land is, from east to west, sixteen miles in length, and varies but little anywhere from being- three miles in breadth. Following the natural windings of the stream the whole river course in the county is, in round numl)ers, fifty miles. The area of the space between the two currents is nearly fifty square miles. To this area there is properly to be added twelve square miles between the river and Lake ^lichigan, and as much as eight square miles south of the lower channel, making, in all, an area of seventy square miles included in the term Calumet Region. The mouth of this stream on the shore of Lake Michigan is two miles from the spot where it enters the county, and from that spot to this mouth, by the channel of the river, around by Blue Island, must be seventy-five or eighty miles. It is not common to find a river, large or small, that having made some twentythree miles of westing, three of southing, and then seven of northing, doubling upon itself, flows back, making twenty-one miles of easting. It was said that the water of this stream is clear and pure. It is thus in its natural condition, inviting the lone loiterer aloncr its margin, in summer time, to take a refreshing bath in its gently flowing, reedy, limpid waters; but a large slaughter house and some factories have largely injured, of late years, the purity of the water, of the upper channel. But with these, and the immense ice houses along this river which seven great lines of railroad cross, this paper has nothing to do. Its subject is the Indian and trapper history of this peculiar region. About six hundred feet above the sea level, the comparatively low, flat land through which this river flows, the many marshes, large and small, the grass roots, pond lily roots, and other herbage in the waters, have made this regioTi, through all its known history, a thriving home for small fur-bearing animals. It has also been a favorite resort for wild water fowl. In low water, in the summer, children can ford the southern channel in many places; but in spring, or in the winter time, when the melting snow and heavy rain falls fill to the brim the low banks, (-where there are any,) the overflow covers a large amount of surface, justifying then the expression of the early geographers that " the country around the extreme south bay of Lake Michigan has the appearance of the sea marshes of Louisiana." The earliest knowledge concerning the Indian tribes of all this region, now Indiana and Illinois, comes to us from the French explorers of tw^o hundred years ago. Detroit is said to have been settled by the French as early as 1683, and it soon t)ecame a center for the American fur trade, a great fur market it has ever since continued to be. Through all of this region fur traders passed, furnishing the Indians with manufactured articles and buying up their fur. Indian authority is said to state, that, about one hundred years aofo traders had a fur station on Deep River near the place where was afterwards our first county-seat called Liverpool. No minute particulars seem to be now accessible in regard to our earlier Indians along the Calumet. Such particulars there may be where this wjriter has not looked. In 1825 Che-cheebincr-way, or Blinking' Ejes, having the English name of Alexander Robinson, became their principal chief. He was in the employ or service of John Jacob Astor, and saw to the transportation of corn around the head of Lake Michigan as well as to the purchase of fur. This corn, raised by the Pottawatomies, was carried " in bark woven sacks on the backs of yjonies." In x\ugust of 1812, not yet their principal chief, this enterprising man, with Indian, French, and English blood in his veins, was making a canoe voyage to Fort Dearborn around the bend of the lake, was warned from the shore of the danger he would incur by continuing his voyage, and he landed at the mouth of the Calumet. He lived the next winter as a hunter somewhere on the Calumet. He afterwards married in the Calumet reofion: but whether in our portion of it or in what is now Cook county, Illinois, has not been ascertained. These facts and incidents will give us a glimpse into the Indian life of those years. We can see the wigwams on the sand ridges and along the river and lake shore, among the pines and cedars and oak trees, then abundant there, and the squaws and the children carrying on the simple wigwam life, dressing the deer skins, attending to the fur, preparing the corn and game for the simple meals, while the men are trapping, or hunting, or fishing. The writer of this article had an opportunity to visit the Indian wigwams on the shore of Lake Michigan in the summer and fall of 1837, to see the squaws at their work, the children at their play, the fires in the centers of their frail structures, and the hunters as they had returned from a successful chase. He saw their roasted venison and had an opportunity to partake of it. He saw their large birch-bark canoes and the Indian boys of his own age spearing fish. He often saw parties of Indian men and squaws, with the pappooses in their blankets behind their mothers, riding on their ponies one after the other in true Indian file; and he saw some of them in the attitude of mourners beside some cfraves at a little Indian burial ground. Something therefore of the reality of peaceful Indian life not far from the banks of the Calumet he has seen. A similar life, with some quarrels and strife, some scenes, perhaps, of war and of bloodshed, we may suppose the Red Men to have passed for the last two hundred years. For them the Calumet region must have been peculiarly attractive as furnishing so many musk-rat and mink for fur, so many fish and water fowls for food. The opening of a channel from the Calumet between the present AYolf and Calumet lakes, by pushing their canoes through a soft and muddy region is attributed to the trapper Indians who were here nearly a hundred years ago. This gave them a new and shorter outlet to the great lake. Of the number of Pottawatomies who claimed their special home along our fifty miles of river channel no accurate estimate can now be made. The probability is that there were only a few hundred. The ' large body of this tribe, then numbering some five thousand, met in Chicago in 1836, received presents from our Government, and led by their chief, Chee-chee-bing-way, left this attractive region for their western reservation. Their chief returned and died some twelve years ago at his home on the Des Plain es River, supposed then to be more tlian a hundred years of age.

White trappers succeeded the Indian trappers, with canoes and paddles and blankets and tents, with somewhat better outfits, on this same wniding river, engaging in the same exciting wild life of capturing the fur-bearing animals. For the last fifty years, in the fall and spring, some of this class of men have been along this river. The amount of fur taken can only be estimated. It can never ])e fully known. One trapper and his son caught this last fall some fifteen hundred muskrats and mink. The same trapper has taken in one trapping season, including fall, winter, and spring, about three thousand. From twenty thousand to forty thousand have been taken in a season in past years by the different trappers. The number of these animals living along a few miles of this river is surprising to those who have never investigated the habits and ways of wild animal life. It was estimated by those who had experience as trappers that in the fall of 1883 there were forty thousand rats on the lands claimed by the Tolleston Club Company. The number of rats and mink trapped and speared in the last fifty years along this fifty miles of river in our county, would be if actually known quite astounding. The annual value of the fur taken here, would be at a low estimate, five thousand dollars; and at this rate, for fifty years, the amount would be for Calumet fur alone two hundred and fifty thousand or one quarter of a million of dollars.. (The income fi'om the immense quantities of ice shipped from this river every year cannot here be estimated.) To leave for a few moments the Calumet, the intelligent citizen of Lake will remember that we have along our southern border, on some twenty miles or more of the Kankakee River and on fifty square miles of that noted marsh, a still richer fur producing region even than this which has just been noticed. And when it is recalled to mind that in early days, when the pioneer settlers came, Deep River and our three large creeks and the Lake of Cedars were all abounding in these fur-bearing animals, that not only musk-rat and mink, but many otter and some beaver used to be found here, and large numbers of raccoon, - the statement having come to some of those pioneers that three Indians caught here in one season thirteen - hundred raccoon which they sold for sixteen hundred and twenty-five dollars - and that our small marshes were then, as some even yet continue to be, the abodes of the musk-rat, - it will be evident that it would be difficult to find in all that then was called the West a richer furbearing region than was included in the present county of Lake. Venturing still to continue this digression it may be stated here that in the Kankakee trapping region of our county there are two rows of trapper grounds; the lower along the Kankakee River, the upper comprising wet marsh land that does not lie on the river. One of the trappers on this upper range, whose " claim " covers some two square miles, or twelve hundred acres, obtained from his grounds fifteen hundred and forty rats in one season. Taking the two lines of trapper camps across the county and the annual yield of Kankakee fur may be placed at thirty thovisand musk- rat skins, and several hundred mink skins. The muskrat skins sell at an average of fifteen dollars a hundred, making four thousand five hundred dollars received by these trappers each year for inusk-rat akme. Some eighteen years ago mink skins were sold for ten dollars apiece. Now they do not sell for more than one dollar apiece. Five thousand dollars annually is not a high estimate for the Kankakee fur of the county; and this for the fifty years n ow past would make another quarter million of dollars; which added to the value of the fur in the Calumet reg-ioii, - from which rep-ion this lono- digression was made, this flight to the Kankakee, in order to bring up this other tAvo hundred and fifty thousand dollars - this united sum of a round half million of dollars, makes a fair income as received by the trd,ppers, with but small outlay in capital for the annual outfits. We are now again in the Calumet region, and while we may not make the acquaintance of the individual trappers, who here spend several months each year, we see how 4i])undant are the furbearing animals, and how remunerative is the employment. Musk-rats, the trappers say, are quite prolific. One pair will have three litters in a year, averaging six in each litter. These would amount to eighteen. Then the three pair in the spring litter will each have ordinarily a full litter of six each. This will make eighteen more, or in all thirty-six as the increase from one pair in one year. One pair would thus produce, if left undisturbed by mink and trappers, more than thirteen thousand rats in three years. These animals, the trappers say, have houses of three kinds : breeding houses, feeding houses, and excrement houses. The first are comparatively large; the other two varieties are smaller.

It may l)e added here, as another digression from the assigned subject, that fowlers find this Calumet region attractive as being a great resort for water fowls. There have been shot here by a very few sportsmen three thousand ducks in a season. Two wagon loads of ducks have been sent away from one of the noted sportsmen's resorts on the river, each load containing six hundred ducks, the result of two days' shooting. Further figures have not been obtained; but these are sufficient to show the abundance of water fowl in that trapping region. The Grand Calumet being now navigable to Hammond, and likely to be made so as far as Clarke, this river channel will in the future bear the white sails of commerce where the mink paddled in the grassy brink; but the Little Calumet may yet continue for many years to invite the trappers as in former days.

This paper was placed in the hands of the Historical Secretary to be read at the celebration, September 8d and 4th; and is inserted here, in its place, with the other prepared papers, in its full form. T. H. B.

The Kankakee River, Its Peculiarities, Its Marsh Lands And Islands

At a former meeting of this Association it was recommended that for the purpose of securing a full review of our past fifty years history, different persons, who for a part or all of this time have been residents of the county, should write articles connected with its history. To my- self was assio-ned the subject: " The Kankakee River - Its Peculiarities - Its ]Marsh Lands and Islands - Swampincr." The source of the Kankakee River is in St. Joseph county, this State, and from its source to where it crosses the State line at the southwest corner of our county, is about seventy-five miles. It is a slow sluo-- gish stream with a fall of from one to one and one half feet to the mile in this State. It being very crooked and the land on either side being low and marshy, the water moves off very slowly, and these low lands, forming what is familiarly known as the Kaxkakee Mabsh, are for quite a period of time each year covered with from one to three feet of water. About six sections of this marsh land in the southeast corner of our county are covered with timber, composed mostly of ash and elm with some sycamore and gum trees. The balance of these v,-et lands, running west to the State line, is open marsh, covered with a luxuriant growth of wild grasses, wild rice and flags. It is the home of the water fowl and musk-rat, and a paradise for hunters. The number of acres of this wet land in the Kankakee valley in Lake county is about sixty thousand, and in the seven counties through vvhich the Kankakee river flows in this State is about six hundred thousand. Various projects have been proposed for draining this vast body of rich land, but up to this time l^ut little has been accomplished. Messrs. Cass and Sino-leton now have two laro-e steam dredges at work in this county on these lands, and it is expected that much good will result from their work. It is only a cpiestion of time when these lands will all be drained, as the Kankakee valley has a main elevation of ninety feet above Lake Michigan and one hundred and sixty feet above the waters of the Wabash river, and lying as they do at the very doors of Chicago, tlie greatest stock and grain market in the world, it would be strange if they long remain in their present almost worthless condition. Some portions of these lands are high dry ground, like an island in the ocean, and as they are often entirely surrounded with water they are called islands. The most prominent of these in Lake county are Beach Rido-e, Red Oak, Warner, Fuller, Rido-e, Brownell, Lalley, Curve, Skunk, Long White Oak, Round White Oak, South Island, Wheeler Island, and many smaller ones. These islands have all once been covered with a heavy growth of timber; but the farmers living on the prairies north of the marsh have stripped most of them of all that is desirable. This hauling timber from these islands and from the ash swamp further east, a few years ago was the farmers' winter harvest, and was called swamping. I think the lives of many of the early settlers were shortened by exposure and overwork in some of our bitter cold winters on these marshes. Cheap lumber and barbed wire now almost entirely take the place of the swamp timber for fencing, etc., and but little swamping has been done for a number of years. Many of the islands where the timber has been cut off are now excellent grazing land and nearly all of the larger islands have one or more families living on them who keep stock, and some good farms are already under cultivation. Many old land marks go to show that these lands bordering on the Kankakee river were, before the white man came, the favorite stamping g-rounds of the Indians. Many of the islands have their mounds and burying grounds, and on some of them are plats of jtrrouiid which still hold the name of the Indians' gardens. T have never seen larger or finer grapes grown anywhere than some which I have gathered on these islands and which were planted by the Indians. On Curve Island on the W. | of the N. E. 1 Section 21, T. 82, R. 8, is the old Indian Battle Ground (so called). The entrenchments or breastworks cover a space of from 3 to 4 acres and are almost a perfect circle, with many deep holes inside the same. All this can be plainly seen to-day; but when it was made or who did the work the oldest settler has not even a tradition.

In a high sand mound a few rods southwest from the Battle Ground can be found by digging a few feet down plenty of human bones, old pottery, clam shells, flints, etc. Ccnild these old mounds and relics of the past speak, they would no doubt tell a story well worth hearing. Fifty years from now, when the citizens of Lake county meet to celeljrate our county centennial, these old land marks will be all obliterated, and the Red Man who once was the only human here will be forgotten except in history. And we too, who meet here to-day to celebrate this our semi-centennial, will then have left the shores touched by that mysteriovis sea that never yet has borne on any wave the image of a returning sail.

Our Exports

I was requested to prepare a statistical table of the exports of Lake county, to be exhibited at the semicentennial meetinor of Old Settlers. I find the task a difficult one, and indeed impossible to arrive at aiiythiniT like accuracy. When we ta,ke into account that we have eleven railroads running through the county, with perhaps from thirty to forty stations from which produce is shipped, with other railroad stations near our borders both east and west, with the other modes of transportation, you will readily see the impracticability of arriving definitely at the amount of our exports. I have availed myself of the best and most reliable sources of information to obtain facts, and believe the following report approximates to actual exports, and is sufficient to show great prosperity in a county settled only fifty years. We are living in an eventful age of progress and improvemeut unparallelled in the world's history, and to live and act, aud act well and w^isely our part in such an age, is sublime. Truly we may say (financially), " The Lord hath done ofreat thing's for us, whereof we are glad."

Value

Gross weiglit of freight forwarded from Crown Point in ^877 21,144,796 pounds. An average year: Hay, 460 cars; grain, 320 cars; stock, 175 cars; various, 75 cars.

Methodist History By Mrs. S. G. Wood

The history of any country is not complete w^hen its discovery, settlement, natural resources, advance in agriculture, commerce and the arts, and sciences are all told. Man is a fourfold being; physical, mental, moral, and spiritual; and although his physical nature demands his first attention, to achieve the satisfaction of this, his mental faculties must be developed. Then, for the proper enjoyment of both physical and mental, his moral nature, which teaches the practice of virtue, comprising his duty to himself and his fellow men, must be cultivated. Not satisfied with these, his spiritual nature craves food to nourish it and beget a hope, that when these temperal things pass away, and all his obligations to man are redeemed, that vital spark that he feels can never be quenched may know an endless felicity.

Many of the pioneers of I^ake county had left in their former homes, the sanctuary, for which " their souls longed nay even panted." But knowing that God is not confined to place, they confidently looked forward to the time, when the way would be opened, and the Herald of Salvation would lift up his voice, even in these western wilds. And they did not hope m vain, nor wait long; for in 1836, only two years after the first white man had planted his household tree here, a M. E. Missionary named Stephen Jones was sent by the presiding elder residing at South Bend to seek for sheep who might have wandered away that far. Finding his way into this county he preached in the cabin of Thomas Reed, two miles south of Crown Point, and at some other points. This county was then attached to the Northwestern Mission taking in a circuit of five hundred miles; and consequently it was impossible to reach the several appointments oftner than once in six weeks. After six months' labor the first M. E. class was organized at Pleasant Grove at the residence of E. W. Bryant. This society consisted of six members: E. W. Bryant and wife, John Kitchel and wife, and one Mendenhall and wife, with E.

W. Bryant as leader. Two of that society yet survive namely: E. W. Bryant, who has kindly furnished some of the facts for this sketch. (He now resides in Iowa to which place he removed in 1855, and where Mrs. Bryant died in 1858, in full assurance of faith.) Mrs. Kitchel, the other living witness of the formation of Methodism in Lake county also lives in Iowa, still trusting in the promise to those only, who are faithful to the end. In 1837 H. B. Beers came to the work, which in this year was confined to Lake and Porter counties, and was called the Deep River Mission. In 1888 Jacob Colclazier followed Rev. Beers. In this year the first quarterly meeting in the county was held in the dwelling house of William Payne, Bishop Roberts conducting the meeting. In 1888 Ephraim Cleveland and wife and A. Clark and wife came from York State, bringing with them letters from the church there, and cast in their lot with this class, adding much to its strength. Mr. Cleveland was a man of extraordinary christian character, but was cut off by death in his early manhood in 1845. This sudden blow was not only felt deeply by the church, but by all the community. This early church was not only sustained by the adult members of the families of the settlers but the children, as soon as they were old enough to understand their duty to God, crave themselves to him and to the church: and it was no uncommon thing to hear children as young as ten or twelve giving testimony to the saving power of God. About this time tlie Lafler family came to Pleasant. Grove and joined the little band of christians there, and soon a great revival commenced, until the class was divided under two leaders. The work also was prospering in different parts of the county. In the later part of this year Rev. Stago- took charge of the work, and under his ministry the M. E. church of Crown was organized, x'laron Wood l)eing presiding ehler. A. AVood, though an old veteran, is yet sounding the gospel trumpet. In 1839 Robert Hyde, being a local preacher and residing at Pleasant Grove, supplied this appointment and met with great success in his labors, and many were added to the church. After the year's work was done he continued his home with us, doing good work for many years as a local preacher, and by a life that ornamented his profession. He died in Chicago in 1883. From 1839 to 1843 Rev's. Green, AVheele^, Posy, Forbs, and D. Crumbacker, had successive charg-e of this work. After a few years Mr. Crumbacker located, and in 1848 became a citizen of Crown Point, where many can yet testify to his profitable labors as a minister and helper in the church. He removed to Washington city during the Rebellion, and was holding a clerkship there at the time of his death. To his labors may be attributed much of the success of early Methodism in Lake county. His grave may be seen in the Crown Point cemetery.

In 1843 Major Allman came from Michigan to Crown Point. He was a local preacher of more than ordinary ability, and being an Englishman by birth he entered into all his duties with all the fervor which characterizes his nationality, adding much to the strength of the church, preaching almost as often as many salaried ministers do now^; traveling over the entire county, with but the love of souls for a stimulus, and the blessing of the Lord in crowning his labors with success as a reward. He was instrumental in the organization of the first M. E.

Sun<lay-school in Crown Point. Thus he la]:»ored faithfully until 1856, when he returned to Michigan, where he ended this life in 1858. He came to his death as a shock of corn fully ripe for the harvest. In 184:3 the o'ood w^ork was fast spreading, and it was as when the Lord s]joke to Samuel in an audible voice, " the word of the Lord was precious"' and the spiritual, famishing souls flocked from far and near to hear it, and it was not as seed falling on a barren waste, or rocky ground, nor yet among the gay but poisonous flowers of pleasure. It f(jund a lodgment in tlie hearts of the honest, trutii seeking people, and a foundation worthy to build upon was laid. In this year the cabins of the settlers and the scattering school houses were found insufficient, in the southwestern part of the county, to accommodate those who sought meml)ership in the church. There was therefore a church building erecrted in lower West Creek, in the Hathaway neighborhood, Rev. Cozad having charge of the circuit at that time, all of Lake county being included in this work. In 1844, a church was built at Hickory Point, where was perhaps the largest class in the county, Rev. J. Early having charge of the circuit this year. This class from change of inhabitants, by removal and death of many of the ok? members of the church, was long since abandoned. L'ntil 1847 the Methodist as well as all other denominations in Crown Point had held their meetino-s in the old loo- court-house. These interchanges of services were harmoniously made, and all availed themselves of every service without regard to name. But at this time a felt need of a house of their own in which to worship, possessed the minds of this branch of the church; so with the liberal aid of the citizens, the first M. E. Church of Crown Point was built. Rev. Samuel Lamb was at this tinie preacher in charge of the cu'cuit. It was then that pioneer ministers as well as people, bravely endured hardship, and privation, that they might bequeath to their successors a better inheritance. From this date up to 1853 a succession of ministers. Rev's. Salisbury, H. B. Ball, Strite, Cary, L. More, and C. S. Burgner, followed, with an onward march of the church. During the years 1852 and 1858 the Pleasant Grove church was built near Sanger's corners, where a strong membership gathered, and a wide religious influence was exerted. The labors of the reo-ular workers were much aided by several local preachers who ever held themselves ready for service, some of whom have been already mentioned. Besides those there were G. W. Taylor, who located in Pleasant Grove in 1845 remaining until 1849, when he removed to Valparaiso, and in the same year died, and althoug cut off in the prime of life, with the prospect of many years of usefulness before him, he felt the assurance of scripture " Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them" to light up the gloom of the grave. Rev. Smith Tarr, a farmer in the south part of the county, also^a local preacher, for several years assisted in spreading the word of life, v;hile Rev. Thompson, of South East Grove, testified and held up the banner of the cross from 1845 to 1850. Then Father Barton, who lived at Centerville, well remembered and loved by many yet, not only preached by word, but by a life worthy the name of the Master he proclaimed. He died at his post in 1871, testifying to the grace of God which is able to give victory over death. All these bore their part in laying the foundation of Methodism in Lake county, and diffusing the knowledge of Christ. In these early days distance was no hinderance. Ten or even twenty miles was easily traveled on extra occasions, such as quarterly meetings, so zealous were the members of this church in the cause they loved. i\nd often when they thus met t )gether the usual places of worship were too small to accommodate the people. So they remembered that " The groves were God's first temples;"" their songs of praise and words of prayer and exhortation stirred the calm of nature, while hearts were also moved to obedience and this work grew, so that in 1853 the county was divided into two circuits, and R. B. Young was put in charge of the Crown Point circuit, and Rev. D. Dunham of the Lowell circuit; which comprised Pleasant Grove, Orchard Grove, Plum Grove, Cedar Lake, West Creek, and some other irregular appointments; while Crown Point circuit took in Centerville, Deer Creek, and Prairie View, with other occasional preaching places. After R. B. Young had served as regular pastor of the Crown Point work for one year he located and became a citizen of this place, but not to rest from his labors in the church. While through the week he attended to his daily avocations, on the Sabbath his place was never vacant in the church, if not in the pulpit, which he was often called to fill both at home and elsewhere in the county. Thus he lived until 1880, when he passed from the church militant to the church triumphant. From 1853 to 1855 the Rev. D. Dunham had charge of the Lowell circuit. In 1854 D. Crawford, and in 1855, F. Cox, then quite a young man, was sent to Crown Point; then Rev's. Heath, Brown, and J. W. Green, each (except the last) for one year filled the

Crown Point appointment; while C B. Mock, McDaniels, W. J. Forbes, A. Haze, and J. H. Cissel, successive!}' labored on the Lowell work; and although the nuinl)er of appointments was not increased the membersliip gradually increased and the church was made stronger.

In 1860 Crown Point was made a station, to which J. W. Green was returned, whose two years of labor were crovv'ned with success, being years of great revival, })y which many were added to the church, all l)uilt up and strengthened in the Lord. In the year 1860 the present church was built in Crown Point, and so great was the religious interest manifest that even its spacious walls were often found insufficient to contain the people who flocked to hear the pure simple words of truth which fell from the lips of that earnest man of God. We are glad to know that Bro. Green is yet spared to call sinners to repentance. He has for several years been a P. E. in the Indiana Conference. In 1861 Rev's. Morris and Robinson, each after laboring a few months, retired on account of failing health, and died shortly afterward, leaving the year to be filled out by R. B. Young: after which until 1872 the Crown Point station was filled by J. H. Claypool, H. C. Fraley, J. W. Newhouse, B. H. Bradberry, S. P. Colvin, T. C. Stringer, and M. M. Stoltz; while the I^owell circuit was supplied by W. W. Jones and Brook, J. H. Clayp(^ol, Unsvvorth, W. T. Jones, D. Winegar, Rev. Vicars, E. W. Lawhon, J. J. Hines, R. B. Young, aiul J. Harrison; each of these leaving their impress on the church and carrying the work onward in a greater or less degree.

Historicai. Papers

and all concentrated in this new one in Lowell. Also on this circuit a new church building' was put up on West Creek, on the site of the old one in 1869.