LaPorte County, Indiana - Chapter 17: Products, 1904

When LaPorte county was first settled there was a strip of timber from ten to fifteen miles wide along the northern border. As before re¬ marked, a large part of it was white pine; but there were also oak, ash, sugar maple, soft maple, elm, walnut and many other kinds. All this formed a source of wealth too little regarded, and hence much of it was wasted. A large part of it, however, was cut off for lumber ; some was shipped away but a large quantity was required for building purposes at home. After the harbor was opened at Michigan City, lumber was im¬ ported rather than exported, and several large firms engaged in the business. The white pine was gone before the fifties, and even the hard wood was rapidly cut off, so that only a few shingle and stave factories remained. In the forties we find dealers advertising for poplar, butternut, cherry, pine and other lumber. J. Whittem in LaPorte was one of these. He had a sawmill and from time to time was compelled to advertise for bills of lumber wliich he had to fill. Lumber dealers who came here in the fifties found the native lumber used less and less for building purposes of any magnitude, and hence after the railroads came large quantities of lumber were shipped into the county by rail as well as by water. Lumber, however, was one of the early products of the county, and even now there are a few sawmills in operation. But lumber production to any great extent is a thing of the past, the sawmills have mostly disappeared or exist only in ruins, and many landowners, seeing the mistake of former wastefulness, are planting trees instead of cutting them off.

One very useful product of the county is huckleberries. In an early day these grew plenti-. fully in different parts of the county, especially on the sandy knolls north of the ridge. In Mich¬ igan township large quantities were gathered. The first marketable berries were picked in July, and an abundant daily crop was produced for about six weeks. In one day, Tuesday, July 21, 1863, three dealers in Michigan City took in two hundred and fifty baskets of the pleasant fruit. One firm received an order for fifty bushels a day till further notice. Great quantities were pur¬ chased and shipped to Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The picking of the berries gave em¬ ployment to scores of the German population.

who reaped a large revenue from the brief season when this fruk was in the ascendancy. At that time the pickers received seven cents a quart for them. In the seventies the shipments in the height of the season reached nearly three hun¬ dred bushels per day, bringing an income of $10,- 000 per year. Cutting off the timber and drain¬ ing the lowlands, and the consequent changes of climate and moisture, have interfered with the growth of huckleberries, but even now in differ¬ ent parts of the county many bushels are gathered annually, so that some farmers declare that they make more money out of their berry patch than out of their farms. The industry, however, is nothing compared with what it was in the sev¬ enties.

Another product mostly of the past is that of cranberries which grew wild on the marsh lands. When the season was not too dry the wild vines yielded good crops. When the marsh was drained and the natural growth of bushes and weeds de¬ stroyed and the vines were planted there and overflowed by water during the winter, there was a much greater yield and the berries were larger and better flavored. In the seventies, about two miles west of Michigan City, there was a marsh of sixty acres of planted or cultivated vines, which yielded annually from one hundred to two hundred bushels of berries to the acre. This shows that where the conditions are favor¬ able for the raising of this berry, it is a profit¬ able industry. Formerly large quantities of cran¬ berries were shipped from the county, but many places which once were overflowed with water during the winter, and where cranberries grew in abundance are now dry and there are but few persons in the county who engage in the culture of the cranberry.

Still another product of the county abundant in the past, but now comparatively scarce, is that of fish. There was a time when fishing was a great industry at Michigan City. This was in the sixties and seventies. Even in the forties it was no uncommon thing to see advertisements in the Michigan City papers like the following: 'Tor sale, fifty barrels of white fish and twenty half barrels of the same. Hitchcock & Co/' In catching them, both trap nets and gill nets were used. The supply consisted of white fish, Mack¬ inaw trout, sturgeon and muskalonge, with white fish predominating. In the spring and fall large quantities of trout were caught in gill nets. Old fishermen state that they have brought up as many as fourteen thousand pounds of fish in one net in a single day, consisting largely of white fish. On some days as many as forty tons of white fish were caught. Taking all the fisheries together, it was no uncommon thing for one hun¬ dred thousand pounds of fish to be caught in a day. The fish were shipped by rail to Indianapolis* Louisville, and other places. Cars were side¬ tracked at convenient places and the fish were hauled to them in wagons, and sometimes a team was whipped along the street at a rapid pace to get a load of fish on board after the train was made up and was ready to start. The sturgeon were often so abundant that no market could be found for them and holes were dug and whole loads of them buried in the ground. The Heise brothers (Henry and Frank) and Messrs. Fair¬ childs, Lutz, Peo, the Wilson brothers, and the Kimball brothers were all engaged in the fisheries and some of them are yet. Peter Johnson, a Ger¬ man, who located in Michigan City in 1856* owned in 1880 a steam tug and a large sail boat and employed eight men and caught a thousand pounds of fish daily. Lyman Blair also was an extensive fisherman. His pack of white fish often exceeded $40,000 a year. The late Frederick C. Drews, the second member of the firm which has the contract for the government work in Michi¬ gan City, and who on December 7, 1903, met his death by being run down by an Illinois Central express train at 39th street, in Chicago, was once engaged in the fishing business off the ports of Michigan City and Chicago. When the weather conditions were unfavorable for going to Chicago he would run into this port and ship his fish from Michigan City. Some of the fishermen amassed wealth at the business, but they continued their occupation too long after the supply began to fail, and so became losers. Charles H. Balow now fishes from the tug Hoffnung, August Mentz and Henry Gabbert fish from a gasoline launch* and Frank Kimball fishes from a skiff or trapnet boat. But the annual catch is a mere nothings compared with that of former years. It is said that the catch of whitefish now does not amount to two thousand pounds in a year. Compara¬ tively few fish are now in the waters near Michi¬ gan City. Different causes are assigned for their scarcity; some say that the sewerage from the northern prison and from the city has driven them away, others that the supply is simply ex¬ hausted ; but whatever the cause, it is certain that this industry no longer exists in its former pro¬ portions, but has dwindled until only a few in¬ dividuals are engaged in it, with but compara¬ tively small returns.

Among the products mostly of the past we find also that of sugar. Many houses of the early settlers were built in the woods and sugar was made from the maple trees surrounding them and even the prairie farmers had their sugar camps in the groves. The pioneers found this a welcome product, but for which many of them would have been entirely without sugar. During the Civil war a very great quantity 'of maple sugar was made in the county ; the people one and all urged and practiced this in view of the advanced prices of other sugars. They thought that too much pains could not be given to it. In the winter great preparations were made and when the weather became favorable all who owned "sugar bushes" were busily engaged. In the spring of 1862 more sugar was made in the county than ever before. The writer cannot find that maple sugar in any great quantities was ever shipped out of the county, though doubtless some was; but it was of great use to the settlers, supplying a necessary element of food and giving variety to an otherwise monotonous diet.

And not only maple sugar and syrup but sor¬ ghum syrup was made. In the spring of 1857 Hon. Schuyler Colfax sent to Mr. J. Sutherland, from the patent office in Washington, a small package of sorghum seed. Mr. Sutherland drilled it in rows three feet ten inches apart, and planted a sixteenth of an acre. From the cane he made twenty-four gallons of molasses. Afterward for some years Mr. Sutherland, who was an officer of the La Porte Savings Bank and president of the State Agricultural Society, attended every state fair at Indianapolis and observed no im¬ provement in the making of sorghum syrup. It had a strong, pecular taste and the general opin¬ ion was that unless some means of removing this and refining the syrup could be found, it would not come into general use. In 1861 when prices, that of sugar included, went up on account of the war, men began to cast about with renewed earnestness for some way of refining sorghum syrup. In this Mr. Aaron H. Miller of this county, was probably the most successful. He ran the syrup through bone charcoal which ex¬ tracted all the vegetable matter and the peculiar greenish taste, and left an article the taste of which satisfied the most fastidious. One difficulty was that the charcoal must be burned over; but this was not expensive, adding only about ten cents a gallon, and it was practicable. Many citizens at once began bringing their syrup to Mr. Miller to get it refined. He not only invented the -refinery, but a rotary sugar evaporator, and wherever it was introduced and its practical workings observed it was pronounced superior to every other, and took the precedence even in Illinois where Cook's evaporator was invented and where its proprietors lived. The price of each evaporator was $50. These inventions were important, as sorghum was cultivated extensively during the high price of sugar. No man did as much to bring it into general use as Mr. Miller by these inventions. For several years he devot¬ ed his entire time, energy, means and attention to making this improvement. In 1861 enough syrup was raised to supply the population. Mr. Luther Rhodes also made a very fine article, though on a smaller scale. But local conditions did not favor the production of the cane and its cultiva¬ tion was abandoned.

On Tuesday, April 15, 1862, at 1 o'clock p. m., a meeting was held in the court house for the purpose of forming a joint stock company and erecting buildings and making other neces¬ sary arrangements to refine syrup and sugar from sorghum or Chinese sugar cane. Farmers and others were invited to attend and come prepared to inform the meeting as to how much sorghum each one would plant and cultivate that year in the county. If sufficient encouragement was given a refinery was to be built. The meeting was called by A. H. Miller, N. Gleason, R. Munday and others. The meeting adjourned to Saturday April 26, and spent itself mostly in discussion. The following December the matter was taken up again and some actual steps were taken to build a refinery in LaPorte. Negotations were entered into with Mr. R. W. Bender, a practical refiner, for a number of years connected with Belcher's sugar houses in Chicago, who consented to come to LaPorte provided certain aid were ex- tended to him, and a certain amount of cane were raised in the-county. By A. H. Miller, R. Munday, S. Harvey, B. M. Newkirk, and others, a meeting was called to be held at the court house on Saturday, December 28, but it seems that the people adopted the plan of sending their syrup to Mr. Bender's refinery in Chicago to be refined at a cost of ten cents per gallon, and of course freight charges.

There was a time when the subject of hemp culture was agitated in the county. In 1848 Mr. S. MacDonald wrote to the Hon. C. W. Caticart, who sent from Washington copious information and directions on hemp culture, published by David Myerle, who was considered an expert on the subject. Much interest was awakened, but the citizens did not enter into the culture of hemp to any great extent.

In 1842 some efforts were made in the direc¬ tion of silk culture. It was argued that this re¬ quired no very great skill, which was a fact. It was found that the mulberry could be cultivated "as easily as currant bushes/' that no more science was required in raising the worms "than in rais¬ ing a litter of pigs/' and that, while more skill and better machinery than the common house reel were required in reeling the cocoons, any intelligent housewife could reel a very good silk thread for home use. Beyond this the culture of silk would not be profitable, though it was aruged that it would become profitable if the United States government would properly protect the in¬ dustry. At one time in Clinton township the culture of mulberry trees and the raising of silk¬ worms received considerable attention. In Sep-* tember, 1846, the commissioner's court .ordered that Peter Doolittle of Clinton township, be al¬ lowed the sum of $2.25 as a bounty on fifteen pounds of silk cocoons, as per the certificate of William Moorman, a justice of the peace of La- Porte county.

Bog iron ore was once a product of the coun¬ ty. This is, or was, plentiful in certain marshy places along the Kankakee river, and about Mich¬ igan City. In 1847 preparations were made and during the following year a blast furnace was erected in LaPorte for the purpose of smelting the ore. C. W. Pomeroy was the leader of the enterprise. This furnace stood about on the pres¬ ent site of the King & Fildes woolen mill, and some of the slag may be found to-day in Clear lake, where it used to be dumped from the furn¬ ace. The furnace, however, was in operation but a comparatively short time. Much wood and charcoal were required, the cost of transporting these and the raw material was great, and hence the cost of smelting was too expensive. It was impossible to compete with other furnaces. Bet¬ ter facilities and new and improved methods of mining and smelting elsewhere rendered the smelting of bog iron impracticable. The old smelting furnace was consumed by fire on Mon¬ day afternoon, April 7, 1862.

One of the leading natural products of the county is ice. The production of and trade in this article are enormous. The father of this in¬ dustry in this county was John Hilt, who came to LaPorte from Carroll county, Ohio, in the early fifties. The packing of ice for summer use was his first business venture. At that time the use of ice was not general as now, but confined to a comparatively few families who could afford luxuries. Mr. Hilt by diligent canvassing se¬ cured a sufficient number of customers to con¬ sume his very limited stock, and delivered ice to them daily during the summer season. In May, 1857, we find him advertising that the warm weather will soon be here and he has stored three hundred cords of ice which he proposes to dis¬ tribute through the city for 37^ cents per hun¬ dred pounds; or, if a less quantity is taken, for one-half cent per pound. But the business stead¬ ily grew and in 1864, Mr. Hilt found himself financially able to go to California, and thence to Moline, Illinois. In 1871 he returned to LaPorte and became associated with Volney T. Malott, Esq., of Indianapolis, general manager of the Indianapolis, Peru and Chicago Railroad, for the packing of ice and shipping it to southern mark¬ ets. Extensive ice houses were built on the shore of Clear lake, and immense stocks of ice were stored for the summer trade. In a few years the business developed into one of the largest indus¬ tries of the kind in the world. The company soon had twenty-six ice houses, and stored an¬ nually over fifty thousand tons, the whole of which was shipped away.

scarcely understood or appreciated even by the people of LaPorte. It furnished employment to a large number of men both summer and winter and was a special advantage in that it furnished work for a large number of laborers at a Season when most other kinds of labor were scarce. During the storing season the firm of Mark S. Thompson & Company, who shipped exclusively to the Chicago market, employed about two hun¬ dred and fifty men, and kept twelve teams at work cutting and scraping the ice. This com¬ pany stored seventy thousand tons during the winter of 1876-7, and one thousand three hundred and sixty-seven carloads were shipped to Chi¬ cago, a portion of which was stored there. In April they had fifty thousand tons in their ice houses near LaPorte; and were shipping it away at the rate of ten carloads a week. During the summer they shipped from twenty-five to thirty carloads a day, and gave employment to about thirty men. They handled their ice almost ex¬ clusively by machinery, using the best and latest improvements of that time. Much of the ma¬ chinery which they used was of their own inven¬ tion, and many ice dealers throughout the coun¬ try were indebted to this enterprising firm for improved methods of handling the crystal blocks to the best advantage. They used a twenty-five, horsepower engine and a double elevator at their Clear lake houses, and at their Stone lake houses they used a sixty-five horsepower engine with three double elevators. They shipped direct from their houses to the cars and did all thir loading with machinery invented by themselves. They marketed nearly all their ice during the season.

The Northern Lake Ice Company of Louis¬ ville, put up about ten thousand tons. Their houses were located on the west bank of Clear lake. They used first class improved machinery throughout and shipped entirely to southern markets.

The Talmage Lake Ice Company had their houses on the south bank of Clear lake, at the foot of Detroit street. Their houses had a storage capacity of seventeen thousand tons and were all well filled. They had first-class facilities for handling ice, using steam power and loading directly into cars. They shipped wholly to Louis¬ ville.

houses on Fish Trap lake and on the extreme north bank of Clear lake. They shipped entirely to southern markets, Indianapolis being their chief place for selling. They shipped more or less during the entire season. Their business was incorporated in 1883 as the John Hilt Lake Ice Company, and it continued to grow. The very cost of cutting and packing the product formed by natural process out of the pure water of the lake, was immense, and put a large amount of money in circulation. The facilities for ship¬ ping enjoyed by the company permitted the dis¬ tribution of enormous dividends,- and profits equal to the capital were speedily divided. It was a fortunate enterprise, inaugurated at the proper time, and managed with business ability in the interest of the stockholders.

At one time John Huttenlocker had an ice house on the east side of Clear lake, and J. H. Robertson one on the north side. Cromie and Harris of Lafayette built ice houses, and later on took the name of the Northern Lake Ice Com¬ pany of Louisville, Kentucky. These, however, have given way to the two great concerns which now monopolize the trade ; namely, the John Hilt Lake Ice Company, and the Knickerbocker Ice Company. The first houses of the Knickerbocker Company were built by Mark S. Thompson & Company, of Chicago. This afterward became the Washington Ice Company, and finally was consolidated with the Knickerbocker. The Metropolitan Ice Company, which built houses on the south shore of Clear lake, was also con¬ solidated with the Knickerbocker, and its houses torn down.

The Hilt company have three immense houses containing respectively five, six, and eight rooms. They store between fifty thousand and sixty thousand tons annually. Of this, LaPorte re¬ quires from seven to eight thousand tons; the remainder goes to the wholesale trade ; sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another, according as orders may be obtained and contracts made. There is seldom a market for the whole of it. During 1903 the most of it was shipped to Mich¬ igan for use in the fruit business. The Knicker¬ bocker Ice Company have two houses and store annually from seventy to eighty thousand tons, all of which goes to Chicago. On the shores of Fish lake, in Lincoln township, Swift & Company of Chicago have three large houses, and store from one hundred thousand to one hundred and twenty-five thousand tons for the Chicago trade. There also are Haddon's ice houses on the shore of Clear lake west of Westville. Michigan City also has one ice house at the harbor, owned by George Switzer, and one on Roeske's pond owned by Judson Alexander, both for local trade. They both together store probably about ten thousand tons annually. In addition to these a plant has been established recently in Michigan City for the manufacture of artificial ice.

It should be borne in mind that handling such immense quantities of ice, where so much capital is involved, requires great wisdom and experience. One-third of the whole stock must be allowed for waste, and if the shipping is slow one-third will not cover the waste. When the stock is kept over a year, the loss is from four to six feet on the surface. If it is kept over until the third year it must be handled very carefully, which adds to the expense ; for it has become practically a solid block of ice. It may pay to keep ice over if the following year nature does not provide a good stock and ice is scarce and the price high, but who can know? there is much of speculation in it. And yet it is estimated by one who is thoroughly trained in the business that, taking into consideration everything - the expense of cutting, storing, shipping, transportation and dis¬ tribution the ice industry of this county puts into circulation about $1,000,000 annually.

In addition to their ice business, Swift & Company, of Chicago, recently have started an¬ other industry. They are taking muck from Fish lake, transporting it to Chicago, mixing blood, lime, etc., with it, and thus manufacturing what is said to be an excellent fertilizer ; to what pro¬ portion this industry may grow, it is difficult to tell.

Of late years another industry has grown up at Michigan City. The sand which has been washed up from Lake Michigan and piled moun¬ tains high, has been found useful in polishing plate glass, and also in stove and range factories. The Lake Erie and Western Railroad ships over three thousand carloads of this sand annually to the south, the Monon ships about the same quan¬ tity in the same direction, and the Michigan Cen¬ tral ships over two thousand, five hundred car¬ loads east to Detroit and other places. Here is a total of over eight thousand, five hundred car¬ loads of sand annually. The raw material costs nothing, and so brings no income to the county ; but the business requires labor in loading and transportation, and hence is a benefit ; and while there is practically an inexhaustible amount of sand, yet under this steady demand some of the sand dunes on our lake shore are diminishing very noticeably. Hoosier Slide is not nearly as high and large as it used to be.

All this, to say nothing of the fact that about three miles north of LaPorte there is a vein of clay which is well adapted to the making of bricks, which has given rise to quite an industry in that line. But as this chapter treats of natural and not of manufactured products, brickmaking properly belongs under another head, where it will be suitably mentioned.

In February, 1886, coal was found in the county. Probably this was not the only instance. H. L. Holloway, in Kankakee township, in dig¬ ging a well sixty feet deep, found large quantities of soft coal. Joseph Stanton, while plowing in a field about forty rods away, found quantities of the same material. Copper has also been found in the same locality. Great expectations were raised, but the discovery came to naught. By whatever means coal or copper was deposited in that locality, it is not likely that either will be found in any paying quantity at sixty feet, in a glacial drift, of nearly twice that depth.

In the fall and winter of 1903-4, Peter Hack, a well known and respected citizen of Springfield township, determined to bore for oil. He had found indications on his farm of the presence of the valuable product. He sank a well to the depth of two hundred and seventy feet, when the drill struck hard rock. This well was abandoned and another sunk some distance away, in the hope of avoiding the rock ; but the second well struck it at about the same depth. The drills in use could not penetrate the rock, and at last accounts Mr. Hack had sent to Chicago for others. Such efforts are far from in vain, however, they may result ; but, while we should not be too sure, yet by a reference to Chapter I, it will be seen that the strong probability is that neither gas nor oil will be found in any paying quantities in LaPorte county.

Another product of LaPorte county is marl, or merle as some call it, which exists in paying deposits ; though as yet no factory has been erect¬ ed for utilizing it. Marl is namely carbonate of lime, of shapeless or irregular form. Other ele¬ ments may be combined with it chemically, and other substances may be mixed with it mechan¬ ically, but in proportion as this is the case the article is not pure. In the wet or damp state in which it exists in lakes or marshes, its color varies from a milky white to a dark brown, according as more or less of muck or other substances are mixed with it. On being exposed to the air, wet marl, which was at first white, turns to a blueish color on account of some chemical change. On drying, it becomes lighter in color, varying from slate to a light drab. The purest forms when dry are are white or cream colored. The grains or particles vary from granules to a fine powder and cohere very loosely. They effervesce and disappear in acid, leaving only small particles of insoluble organic material. Marl may and often does contain remains of shells, fishes, etc., but these are not necessarily any part of the marl itself. They sustain the same relation to the marl that fossils do to rocks. In other words, if the marl should become hardened into rock, the shells and fishes imbedded in it would be its fossils.

Marl is found only in existing or extinct lakes. When taken out of the water, it is of about the consistency of soft butter, though in many places it has not settled even to this con¬ sistency, but though appearing solid on the lake bottom, it is in reality very loose and easily stirred up, but as quickly settles again. When taken out of marshes or extinct lakes it is more solid and may be cut out and handled in blocks but with difficulty, as it sticks to the shovel. These blocks tend to settle down as dough would do, but not to become flat. Thus the consistency of marl varies from the undeposited loose material to that which may be handled in blocks.

Marl is used for several purposes, first as an ingredient in making Portland cement. A fac¬ tor)* with a capacity of making five hundred bar¬ rels daily, costs about $350,000, and to make this pay, there should be enough marl near by to last thirty years. A deposit of marl ten feet thick and one hundred and sixty acres in area, would

Marl is used also as a fertilizer of soils. When a soil has only x>ne-half to one per cent, of the lime content, marl may be useful; when it has only one-quarter to one-half per cent, marl is certainly useful ; when it has less than one-quarter of one per cent, marl or some other liming is absolutely necessary. Most Indiana soils are clay loomy, or prairie soils and contain a sufficient quantity of lime ; but the light sandy soils of the north are benefited by marl, and so, often, are mucky soils ; for though these contain a requisite quanity of lime, it is not in the proper compound but is inert, and the effect of lime on such "sour" soils it to set up fermentation and promote de¬ composition and set inert elements free and make them productive. But marls contain little plant food and used alone are often a mere stimulant. The old saying holds good, "lime without manure makes the father rich and the son poor." Hence the value of marls in not sufficient to justify shipping them over long distance; they can be used with profit only in the vicinity where they are found. They are most useful in raising clover, peas, beans, grass, potatoes, corn and root crops, and for these crops the lighter soils of the north are especially adapted, and fortunately the marl deposits are near these.

Marl is used as a means of improving the mechanical condition of soils. Many clay soils when wet with rain do not allow the water to pass through with sufficient rapidity, they become water-logged and the air cannot penetrate them, they cake in dry weather, are difficult to till and the roots of the plants cannot come up through them. One of the best remedies for this is marl, which in time will also cement the particles of sandy soil together, causing the better retention of heat and moisture. Many of the beneficial effects of this lime deposit upon the mechanical condition of the soil are so minute that they can be observed only under a most powerful micro¬ scope, but they are exceedingly interesting and instructive.

Marl is used as a mineral food for poultry, supplying the necessary lime for the formation of egg shells, which the ordinary foods do not supply. No form of lime is more convenient, as it is in a state of fine division and easily assimilated. Farmers in the vicinity of marl de¬ posits have hauled up a load two or three time.s a year and put it where the fowls had free access to it, and they report that the chickens lay much better during the winter season.

Another use of marl is as a polishing powder for the scouring of silver, brass and other metallic articles. For this a powder is required, which is in a free state of division, of light weight and free from grit and other impurities, the very description of much of our marl; or at least it caq be made so by grinding it when dry.

Marl has often been used as a material for the manufacture of ordinary quick lime for building purposes. In an early day, when lime was scarce, marl was the substitute. Large quantities of lime were made from it in St. Joseph county, much of which doubtless found its way into LaPorte county and was used here.

Marl may be used also in the place of lime¬ stone, in the manufacture of beet sugar. During the process of making sugar, lime is added to the juice of the beets, then carbonic acid gas is forced into the liquid, which, when released, precipitates the excess of lime, carrying down with it many of the impurities. It is the opinion of experts that marl can be used for this. From these seven uses, some of them exceedingly lucrative, it will be seen that marl is a very valuable deposit.

In Indiana marl is found only in the glacial drift, and in workable deposits only in the three northern tiers of counties. This is a significant fact which gives us a clue to its origin and forma¬ tion. When the great glaciers, for thousands and thousands of years, slowly plowed their way down from the vicinity of Hudson Bay, as de¬ scribed in the first chapter, they ground up much of the limestone which lay in their way, and took it along with them. When they melted, it was deposited and there in the earth it has been ever since. Vast deposits of this afe in the hills and higher grounds surrounding our lakes. Carbonic acid will hold this lime in solution. Now rain water, absorbing a part of the gaseous carbon di-oxide of the air, as it does on its way to the earth, is a very weak form of carbonic acid. This soaks into the earth and wherever it comes in contact with limestone it dissolves and holds in solution a certain quantity of the carbonate of lime, forming bi-carbonate of lime. This is what makes the hard water or limewater which we get from our wells. In many instances these under¬ ground veins of water break forth in springs and feed our lakes from below. When we put the water into our tea kettles and boil it, the heat sets free the carbon, and precipitates the lime, which forms a coating very much like marl on the bottom and sides of the kettle. Now each lake is a big tea kettle ; that is to say, the water in the lake is much warmer than that which flows into it through the springs, and the consequence is that much of the carbon is set free, and the lime is precipitated forming marl which settles, is afterwards often covered with muck, and after being ages under pressure becomes hard. Hence it is that the larger deposits of marl are always found near these springs and not on the line* of the surface streams which flow into or out of the lake. There are certain plants also which grow under water and absorb the carbon from the water and build it up into their own tissue and allow the lime to be deposited on their branches and else¬ where. Hence it is that marl is found on these aquatic plants. What has been written may give a general idea of the nature, uses, origin and formation of marl.

Marl exists in many places in LaPorte county. It exists in Galena and in several other townships. It is very apt to exist where there are extinct lakes, as there are scattered over the county. In Clear lake no marl has been found. The same is true of the northern arm of Pine lake, but in the southern arm there is marl, though of inferior quality and not sufficient in quantity to pay for working. In Stone lake there is very little marl and even that is under eleven feet or more of muck. Fishtrap lake has only muck, and the same is true of Horseshoe lake. Both are now mere muck beds. But marl underlies the whole of DuChermin or Hudson lake, being thickest at the west end, varying in quality and constituting a fair workable deposit. In Fish lake, in Lincoln township, there is marl of excellent quality and in workable quantities. Until recently this was thought to be the nearest workable marl deposit to Chicago, it lies near two good railroads - the Grand Trunk and the Wabash, and its location is excellent. And recently, Still nearer Chicago, marl has been discovered in Dewey township.

near English lake, on the low prairie lands which have been redeemed by the drainage of the La- Crosse Land Company. It is of great depth and has been pronounced by experts to be of excellent quality. It is found in what is evidently an old lake bed of immense extent. It is probable that after a time the enterprising gentlemen who are improving that region will build a cement factory ; and with a factory there, and another at Fish lake and still another at Hudson lake, worth in the aggregate $1,000,000, which is a moderate estimate, one can see what it would do for the county. The three factories should turn out at least fifteen hundred barrels of cement per day. The process is a continuous one, with no stops for Sundays or holidays. Here then is a prospect of over five hundred thousand barrels a year which, with cement varying from $1.30 to $1.50 per barrel at the factory, would bring to the county a business worth at least $650,000 per year. To the above should be added the fact that the very quality of clay required in making Portland cement exists within convenient distance of the two southern marl deposits. Across the Kan¬ kakee in Marshall county there is a great abund¬ ance of it

Marl has also been found on the farm of Charles Bosserman, near Oakwood, in the south¬ ern part of Springfield township ; it is pronounced to be of good quality, but it has not yet been as-, certained whether it exists in payable quantities. If so, it will be the nearest workable marl bed to Chicago.

But the main products of this county are those which arise from farming and stock-raising - wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, and other grains, the root crops, butter, eggs, milk, cheese, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry.

By 1835 the county was producing rich har¬ vests. On July 29th of that year Mr. J. S. Castle, of Michigan City, wrote, of a ride which he had just taken beyond LaPorte, "On the 'prairie the harvest is beginning, and the farmer has a most cheering prospect - two weeks will save the whole of the wheat, and no living man need wish for a finer crop. The com, too, is putting forth its strength and its beauty, and the oats surpass even the farmer's hopes." rich and enterprising Whig state, we were much gratified with the thrifty appearance of the farms and smiling prospects of a golden harvest. When the stranger leaves the suburbs of Michigan City for a few miles, he enters on a rich and beautiful prairie whose spacious and well filled houses and granaries and waving crops at once convert his wonder into admiration."

In September, 1838, the Buffalonian said that the farmers of LaPorte county had produced two hundred thousand surplus bushels of wheat that season, and that four hundred barrels of flour had already passed Buffalo from this county. And at that very time there were in the county one hundred surplus bushels of potatoes, and fully as many of oats. And the LaPorte County Whig of that year, says, "Wheat is now selling at 87 cents per bushel in this county, and our farmers have 300,000 bushels to dispose of." Then the country between Otis andWestville was all woods. Later, when it was cleared, one firm alone McLane & Wells, of Union Mills, shipped away two hun¬ dred thousand bushels of grain in one year. For many years there have been shipping points in all parts of the county.

That year also Thomas D. Lemon, Esq., ex¬ hibited a pumpkin raised in his garden in the village of LaPorte, which measured seven and one-half feet in circumference.

Not every year produced abundant harvests. There were occasional failures then as now. For instance, in 1848 the weather was highly favor¬ able for the ripening of corn which was a heavy crop, but the wheat crop was mostly a failure from injury by the fly the previous fall, and hence the farmers planted nearly double the usual area of ground with corn. Potatoes also came in well, "thumping big ones, and a great many in a hill." The summer of 1849 was a very wet season, in consequence of which much of the wheat was affected by rust or mildew; its growth was checked before maturity, and the berry was some¬ what shrunken; but it produced good flour and brought from eighty to ninety-eight cents per bushel, and some of it as high as a dollar, in Michigan City. Farming had its vicissitudes then as now. Occasionally for a year or series of years a certain crop would fail, wholly or in part, but in the main farming in LaPorte county has been very successful.

Large quantities of hay are raised in the county, much of which is pressed and shipped away. In 1891 ten thousand one hundred and twenty-seven tons of hay were reported. In 1892 the returns were eighteen thousand six hundred and ninety-two tons, and three thousand four hundred and sixty-nine tons of clover. There is considerable buckwheat, some barley, also some broomcorn and flax, but not much account has been made of raising tobacco. Many of the farmers, especially in the southern part of the county, ship their milk to Chicago on the early morning trains. The county stands almost at the head of the ninety-two counties of the state in the production of butter, both as to quantity and quality.

Alvin Buck, who came from Worthington, Massachusetts, to this county in 1838 and was a noted farmer, made a superior quality of cheese at his home, Clay Hill farm, northwest of La- Porte. His house burned down in 1871 and was replaced by the present brick residence. W. A. Banks, present postmaster of LaPorte, who came to the county in 1845 from his birthplace in New York and located in Scipio township, made butter on a large scale at his home for some years. Several creameries have been established in various parts of the county in late years, and three are now in successful operation: At Westville, conducted by Herman Krissel ; at Union Mills, by D. H. Wakeman, and that of Schlosser Brothers, of Plymouth, located at Hanna and managed by J. H. Jordan. In the latter part of 1899 the LaPorte papers advocated the establish¬ ment of a creamery in that city, and one was built a little later, but it did not prove success¬ ful and was wound up through a receivership in

The subject of sugar-beet culture has been agitated, especially in some of the farmer's in¬ stitutes, and beets have been raised in the county and shipped to a sugar factory in Michigan. As yet little progress has been made in this industry, but as a result of drainage in Starke county sugar-beet culture is taking the attention largely of the owners of the low lands; and one is at a loss to see why it should not be so in the low lands of LaPorte county. For the raising of beets these lands are said to be excellent.

giving their time and attention more and more to fruit culture. In Galena and Hudson townships many are raising peaches, and the fruit is -said to do well.

Mr. I. S. Jessup was the first nursery man in the county, establishing a nursery of fruit trees near LaPorte in the early forties, and supplying not only LaPorte but neighboring counties, and even a part of Michigan. Fruit trees were a necessity, and Mr. Jessup supplied the demand. On October 10, 1846, he writes to a cousin in Ohio, James Jessup, Esq., to get him some pear seeds and bring them on his return to LaPorte. He says, "If you cannot get them for less, pay $5.00 per pint rather than not get them." He directs this cousin to get him a peck of apple seeds from some cider mill, and explains how to do it. He tells him that if he comes home by way of Indianapolis he must go to a certain nursery and get five hundred grafts each of ten different varieties of apple trees, and* a large bunch of cuttings of Catawba grape. And so Mr. Jessup gave his orders. His heart was evidently in his business, and to him the county is indebted for its early supply of fruit trees. Many will remember his "Lake View Nurseries," well stocked with many varieties of trees and shrubs.

Rising now to the animal creation, we find that dressed poultry is no inconsiderable item, which is shipped to Chicago. And as to pork, both LaPorte and Michigan City were once packing centers. In 1842 a large business was done in this line in LaPorte, not so large, how¬ ever, as on the previous year. The falling off was caused by a fall in the price of the article. The principal buyers in LaPorte were Wheeler and Traver. Notwithstanding the lull in the trade, these gentlemen in January of that year had packed several thousand barrels, and were still averaging about two hundred barrels per day.

In the- late forties, about 1847-50, Mr. Will¬ iam Clement had a slaughter house on Muckshaw lake, not far from the present city water works. In winter thousands of hogs were butchered and dressed there, often as many as two hundred in one day, which was then con¬ sidered a big clay's work. Corn was cheap, the hogs were large, and as the meat was cheap the offals, pluck, heads, bristles, and everything per- tabling to the animal were saved and turned to account. The lard and meat were barreled and taken by wagon to Michigan City and shipped to New York city, where they were exchanged for dry goods for Mr. Clement's store, which stood where Oberreich and Arnold's store now is. In this work Mr. Clement was assisted by John Taylor, Peter Wilson, Joseph Witzal, and other farmers who lived south of the town. A butcher's sign in those days was a beef shank hooked on a post outside the shop.

Michigan City was in no way behind. Messrs. C. B. and Lyman Blair were engaged even up to and during the time of the Civil war in the beef and pork business. Lyman bought all the live and slaughtered hogs he could procure at living prices, and packed them in the winter for the summer shipment.

In the fall of 1861 Mr. Lyman Blair packed some fourteen hundred head of beef cattle and a much larger number of hogs. He killed at the rate of three hundred to five hundred hogs a day, a large portion of which was rendered into lard. He had an establishment which was per¬ fectly and conveniently arranged for the dispatch of business. The lard was rendered by steam in two large wooden vats holding ninety barrels each. Every portion of the dressed hog save the hams was put in. At that time Mr. Blair stated that a dollar's worth of lard could be realized from an ordinary hog's head. He had on hand about three thousand fine hogs and was buying all he could get either alive or dressed. In this business he was spending more money broad cast over the county than any other two or three men.

Up the lake beach after crossing over a high bluff one could ascend to an interesting point called Blair's Observatory, where he could obtain one of the finest imaginable views of the lake and the surrounding country.

And as to beef, up to November, 1861, Mr. Blair had slaughtered and packed fourteen hun¬ dred head of cattle, the net value of which was $35,000. He had also sent nine carloads of fine cattle to eastern markets in one week in Novem¬ ber, the smallest of which animals weighed fifteen hundred pounds. And Mr. Blair was only one of those who were engaged in the business. E. Folsom & Co., James McAdoo and others were similarly engaged. This may serve to give the rising generation an idea of the business of the county, and how it was done. Since then, of course, the main supply of cattle for eastern markets has come from the great plains of the west. But the old brick packing house at Michi¬ gan City was once a lively place.

In 1863 we find John Hilt advertising for army horses. In 1861 John F. Decker advertised that he Wished to purchase at once five hundred horses for use in the army. The war created a demand for horses all over the country. In 1876 there were no first-class draft horses in the county. The subject of importing stock from the old country had been agitated in the county ever since 1857. Even at that early date it was pointed out what other counties were doing in this line, especially Decatur county, and it was urged that LaPorte county follow suit. Nothing was done, however, to organize a company for that pur¬ pose, until 1876, when steps were taken to organ¬ ize the Door Prairie Live Stock Association for the importation especially of blooded stallions. This was a stock company; there were thirtyfour shares at $50 each, and the company had twenty-nine members. Messrs. Albert Hall, C. B. Simmons, and W. A. Banks, acting for the company, bought the first full-blooded Clydes¬ dale stallion ever brought into the county as owned by any of its citizens. Messrs. L. T. Harding and W. A. Banks bought another. The company thought that coach horses were needed, and so they bought two - one of three years, and one of two. Messrs. Banks and W. E. Crighton bought a Dalesman Cleveland Bay. Matters did not go quite right at the place where the horses were kept, and the company was dissatisfied, and so seven members bought up the stock and con¬ tinued the business. Messrs. L. T. Harding and W. A. Banks made the first two trips abroad. Time after time, generally every other year, some members of this company would go abroad and bring back blooded horses, until they had im¬ ported thirty-four, all stallions; if any mares were brought the members of the company bought them as individuals. To this company must be given the credit of improving the equine stock of the county, and also of the state, for they

The writer intended to make this chapter largely statistical, and had already prepared much of it in that form, but finally concluded to write in a more general manner, and refer the reader to the reports of the State Statistician, which should be in every well ordered library, and which may be obtained from the state capitol. There are reasons why certain reports seem unfavorable to the .county. For instances poor year, or much wet land planted with corn, will bring down the average yield per acre, and make a poor showing. Again, a year may be a poor one for one crop but a good one for another. The only fair way therefore is to average everything, and that too for a term of years, and compare it with the same average of other counties. But, to say nothing of the time and labor required for such a statisti¬ cal study, it would take-up so much space as to preclude utterly our mentioning anything of his¬ tory under the head of products. And then again, the writer is reminded that when a youthful stu¬ dent, about to enter into a debate, he applied to an experienced speaker for help, who said, "Young man, one of the easiest ways to lie is by statistics ; do not rely upon them but treat your subject on general principles."

Suffice it to say, then, that, all things con¬ sidered, as to wheat, corn, oats, and other grains, hay and clover, as to the larger and smaller fruits and vegetables, as to the raising of stock and the cut of wool, as to eggs, milk, butter and cheese, in a word as to the main products which belong to agriculture and horticulture, LaPorte county stands well up among the ninety-two counties of the state. The writer has gone far enough in the statistical study to know this.

But where will the county stand when her resources are fully developed, when for instance her tens of thousands of acres of rich prairie land, which hitherto have been under water a good part of each year, are drained and brought under cultivation? For the answer we refer to the eighth chapter.