LaPorte County, Indiana - Chapter 18: Trades, Etc, 1904

In LaPorte county the conversion of raw ma¬ terial into forms suitable for the use of mankind was undertaken at once upon the arrival of the earliest permanent white settlers, who, with few took but an ax, hastily constructed a rude cabin of logs and fashioned a few primitive articles for domestic use, such as tables, benches, beds, and other furnishings of immediate necessity. Machine processes of manufacture were intro¬ duced into the territory now delimited as LaPorte county in 1832, from which time industrial en¬ terprises multiplied rapidly along the streams, in the woods, and at the growing centers of popu¬ lation until the present gratifying showing of shops and factories was attained, but there was a considerable period of time during which the pioneers made for themselves at their own homes a large portion of the articles required in their domestic and agricultural life.

Planted in the depths of a great wilderness, remote from mills and often unattended by crafts¬ men, the men and women who laid here the foun¬ dations of civilized society were of necessity their own artisans to a very large extent and every home was a factory. Many a farmer or farmer's s'**, becoming skilled in some particular trade, was enabled thereby to add substantially to the family revenue.

the issue of paramount importance to the hardy pioneers, and in the division of labor this industry was left to the women. Every cabin was flanked by its patch of flax, and the planter who did not possess a few sheep had to trade with his neigh¬ bor for wool. From these raw materials the old-fashioned housewife was expected to pro¬ duce clothing for the family and linen for bed and table. The full grown flax was pulled up and spread out on the ground to rot in the rain and dew, after which it was thoroughly broken, by the older boys, if there weic any, with the vigorous use of the flax-brake, then jjut through a softening process called "skutching" and a separating operation known as "hacking," which left ready for the spinstress two fabrics; tow and thread fiber. By the use of the little spinning wheel, proficiency in the handling of which was for the girls a test of advancing womanhood, the fiber, or lint, was made into a fine strong thread called warp and the tow into a coarser thread used as filling. These were woven together on a handloom and from the tow-linen produced was made the summer wear for the family, the females usually preferring to color theirs with homemade dyestuff to suit the taste, while the less pre¬ tentious menfolks were satisfied to take it as it Came from the loom. When the wool was brought in, the good mother and her daughters shaped it into convenient rolls by the aid of a pair of handcards provided for that purpose and spun on the big wheel into yarn filling (sometimes used for knitting stockings, mittens and comforters), which, when woven with the linen warp, made the "linsey-woolsey" of the good old days, or, if woven with a cotton warp, resulted in the fabric known as "jeans". The former suitably dyed, was in general use as a strong, warm and hand¬ some texture for feminine apparel, and the latter, colored with butternut juice, was tailored by the women for the men's wear.

For footwear the wandering cobbler who trav¬ eled from house to house with his tools was relied upon to fashion boots and shoes from the hometanned hides, or moccasins were procured from the Indians. Occasionally the shoemaker would not get around until after snowfall and many a venerable grandsire can tell of going farefooted to his chores with snow on the ground. A well prepared coon skin made a very warm and equally unsightly cap, and properly selected rye straws were woven by the women into bonnets for them¬ selves and hats for their masters. The wo¬ men also fashioned for themselves curiously wrought ' sunbonnets of brightly colored goods shaped over pasteboard strips with fluted and . ruffled capes falling behind over the shoulders. The manufacture of quilts gave op¬ portunities for social gatherings when there were neighbors close enough to get back home before chore time, and the quilting ranked along with the huskings, logrollings and houseraisings and washing bees among the primitive society func¬ tions of pioneer days. The industries of the homestead did not include the preservation of fruits and vegetables, save to a small extent by drying, but meats were preserved in various ways; lye-hominy was a regular institution, and some other food articles were occasionally laid by for winter, thus forming the beginnings of' the packing and canning industries of later times.

Prior to the advent of cabinet-makers the settlers perforce included that trade among their accomplishments and made their own beds, tables, cupboads and chairs. For bedsteads an oak butt about eight feet long and of sufficient diameter was split into rails and posts, a shorter log was split up for slats, and the pieces selected were dressed down with the drawknife and fitted to¬ gether with the ax. Two rails were used for each side and three for each end, the rounded ends of the slats were driven into auger holes in the rails, and the four high corner posts were tied together at the top with strong cords from which curtains might be suspended if desired. In the more fortunate homes a feather bed surmounted a "straw tick," and with plenty of "kiver" such a lodgment was comfortable on the coldest winter night. With equal skill a table was constructed by pinning two thin oak clapboards, smoothed with a sharp ax on the upper side, to cross pieces set on four strong legs, the surface of the table being about four, feet by six.

These homely processes constituted the be¬ ginnings of industrial activity in LaPorte county, as elsewhere, and continued necessarily until the mills came into existence and mechanics appeared and roads were opened to trade centers; indeed they could be observed more or less for many years in the remoter districts, and puncheon floors and split slab benches were used in schools after they had disappeared from the homes. In use in a log cabin in Galena township as late as 1890 there was an old bed made by inserting a rail and foot board, supported at the outer comer by a hewn post, in the log walls, which thus formed the head and inner side of the bed, and using cords instead of slats to sustain the mattress. The same cabin contained a corner cupboard con¬ structed by resting split boards on wooden pins driven into the log walls.

The earliest recorded instance of commercial manufacturing in LaPorte county is found in the once hopeful little settlement at Hudson lake, where, in 1829, Asa M. Warren established a blacksmith shop and made tomahawks and other implements for the Indians. He became a man of consequence. He was the third white man to enter land in the county, Eber Woolman and John Egbert having preceded him by one day, and his entry, made November 4, 1830, was a part of section 4, township 37, range 4, owned by him yet when he died, with other land adjoining, which he purchased of the original Indian owners. In July, 1832, he was drawn on the first petit jury in the county and in* that year he voted three times, at the first election for county officers April 9; at the first township election, August 6 ; at the first presidential election held in the county, November 7, on which occasion he served as judge. He was elected township trustee and county commissioner, acted as presi¬ dent of the county bo^rd one year, and was an unsuccessful candidate for county recorder in 1855, being defeated by Anderson Hupp, Demo¬ crat. Mr. Warren was born in New Jersey in 1804, moved with his parents to Warren county, Ohio, in 1822, was married there to Mary Lucas in 1828, came west in the same year and spent some time in St. Joseph county and at Niles, Michigan, and traveled down the old Sac trail to the mission at Hudson lake in the autumn of 1829. There he located the land he wanted in adjoining sections, 4 and 33, and set about dig¬ ging a well on the latter, but failing to reach water he changed his building site to the lake shore on the other section and built his cabin and set up his forge. Later he built a house at the point he originally selected and there, March 26, 1885, he died, full of years and honor, leaving as his widow a second wife (who was Mary Frances), and eleven children who had called him father. The date of his location on the lake is proved by his old account books, preserved by him until his death, containing entries of charges for blacksmithing running back to the date given. Xone of his family is left in LaPorte county at the time this is written.

Even to name the hundreds who have prac¬ ticed the different handicrafts in the county dur¬ ing the three-fourths of a century that have elapsed since Warren set up his forge and com¬ menced the manufacture of improved tomahawks for the Indians is manifestly impracticable. No greater task will be attempted than to mention the more conspicuous pioneers in each township, taking each of the important trades separately.

John D. Ross and a man named Jewett were the first blacksmiths in the county after Warren, and they located their forge near his at Lakeport in the summer of 1833. Alexander Cassiday opened his shop there in 1836. Matthew Mayes, horn in 1812 in Pennsylvania, located a farm in Galena township in June, 1834, and opened a blacksmith shop at the crossroads long known as Mayes Comers which was the first forge in the north part of the county and the second outside of Lakeport, one having been set up at LaPorte during the previous winter by some person now unknown. Benjamin Brewer ran a shop in Galena township from 1836 to 1876, by which time he was eighty years old and ready to retire from active labor. Alonzo Merrill, who died January 6, 1904, in the Soldiers' Home at Marion, Indiana, was at the forge in the same township many years, commencing in 1850. William Harris was the earliest disciple of Vulcan to locate in Scipio township, his shop at Door Village dating from 1834, and he was followed the next year by an indefinite "Mr. Cobb." Door Village was a busy and promising place in those days and several smithies were established there - John and William Reed in 1837, Roswell N. Bennett in 1838 (his shop stood where the Methodist parsonage now stands and fifteen years later he* moved to Union Mills where he died in 1868) Dyer Smith and Bigsbee & Company in 1839,. Chester Heald in 1840, John Parkinson in 1849*. Leland Lockwood in 1855, Thomas Doyle in- 1869. Springfield township's first blacksmith was Abner Ross, who started at Springville in 1834 and in the following year married Esther Rose, which was the first marriage in the town¬ ship. Joseph W. Field, four years a soldier, ran a shop in the same locality several years after the war. James H. Davis began blacksmithing somewhere in the county in 1834 and later moved to Lincoln township, where he had a shop on his farm. A man named Farmer arrived in Union township in 1835 and opened the first smithy in that township at Kingsbury. He died during the "sickly season" in 1838. . Robert Mecum and Charles H. Ingram followed him in the business and shops were established at Catlin's Corners, Chautauqua Corners and Big Island in the same township. Byron was regarded as a very prom¬ ising place in 1836, and that year W. F. Talbot erected the first frame house there and occupied it as a residence and blacksmith shop, this being the first shop in Kankakee township. In Wills township the first forge was set up by John Hampton at the village of Independence in 1836, but was continued only about a year. Puddletown, in the same township, sprang into promi¬ nence twenty years later, and Manford Waters and F. D. Dugan started a blacksmith shop there and ran it three years. Clinton township came next, in 1837, and a Frenchman, called "Bushee" by his neighbors, was the first blacksmith there.

his shop at Bigelow's Mills being in operation about ten years. In 1852 Frank Howell estab¬ lished a shop at the same place and in 1858 David Carpenter took up the business at Haskell . station. In New Durham William B. Webber appears to have been the pioneer blacksmith, lo¬ cating at the village of New Durham in 1838 in connection with the Medaris wagon shop which he bought out in 1850, buying also the black¬ smith shop of his rival, Amos Perrin, who had succeeded Daniel Pangbom in a shop opened the preceding year. William Pathe and Michael Burgher owned the place in 1876, and now it is but a memory. Squat ham, the great rival of New Durham, had a smithy also, established by Henry Herrokl in 1838 or 9. Otis had no black¬ smith shop until Solomon Colby came in 1858, and Holmesville was not supplied until well along in the seventies, but Jesse McCord and Francis M. Howell each began the business at Westville in 1850, the latter continuing until old age over¬ came him forty years later. John Decker did the first blacksmithmg in Noble township, com¬ mencing in 1838 at the long-forgotten village of Belmont and continuing there five years. Ros¬ well N. Bennett, called Nelson by his familiars, who was the second blacksmith in Scipio town¬ ship, was also the second in Noble and the first at Union Mills, where he located in 1840. He died in 1868, his son bearing the same name succeeding to the business and continuing it until 1880, when he engaged in the hardware trade with Nathan D. McCormick. In 1884 he entered the profession of law. He served as county com¬ missioner, 1890-1894, and died in 1904- In 1847 W. H. Worden, who had been running a shop two years at Door Village, moved to Union Mills and continued the business. His son Hiram N. joined with him when old enough and is still at the forge in the same place, the father having died some years ago. Kamtable & Wheaton started a wagon and blacksmith shop at Union Mills in 1850, in 1869 W. F. Williams was in the business, and now John Bohm occupies his stand. Cool Spring, being a township of many mills, much timber and fine farms, has had many black¬ smiths, Collins & Bosly, at Beatty's Corners in 1842 being the earliest mentioned and Calvin G. Jenks, located at Waterford in 1879, being the latest. No records of the first establishments in

Soon after Henly Clybum and his party halted near the present site of Westville in March, 1829, to found a new home, they were joined by Samuel Johnson and William Eahart, who had come from their home in Berrien county, Michi¬ gan. These men were not carpenters, but knew how to frame a log cabin with the ax and raise it by the application of much muscle. The first man who plied the carpenter's trade in the coatnty was Thompson W. Francis, who was bora near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1815 and died at Michi¬ gan City, April 17, 1880k Eearly in 1832 he came from Cincinnati to Michigan City and then al¬ most immediately went to LaPorte to settle down as a carpenter. At the close of the season, how¬ ever, he went to St. Joseph, Michigan, for the winter, and then located in Michigan City, where he passed his entire aduh life as a carpenter, architect, contractor and builder. He built the first hotel, school and church hi that city, in 1834, and was engaged on many of the old-time ' structures. His son Harry EL Francis was the ' founder of the Michigan City Dispatch. Asa Harper came from Rush county, Indiana, to La¬ Porte in the summer of 1832 and worked as a carpenter four years. He then changed to Michi¬ gan City and was a cabinet-maker and ship¬ builder until he retired to a farm near Waterford. Charles W. Cathcart and his younger brother Henry N. arrived in LaPorte, May 13, 1833, and worked as carpenters. They built the fifth frame building in the town, and several others, the second in New Durham township, the Stanton Mill in Cool Spring township, and did much other construction work. Their history has been given elsewhere. Ziba Bailey, born in the state of New York in 1807, was a carpenter in LaPorte between 1836 and 1842, then settled on a farm in Pleasant township, where he died at a great age. John Logan, now living in LaPorte, was a carpenter fifty years ago. William Adair, a na¬ tive of Ireland, came to the county in 1852, and to Michigan City in 1856, and worked as a carpen¬ ter until old age forbade further labor. Orville Tryon, a Vermonter, settled in Michigan City in 1836 and saw the first vessel enter the harbor. He became a ship carpenter and spent his latter years on a Noble township farm. Jacob R. Hall was the first carpenter in Scipio township and built many cabins for settlers. He was a Vir¬ ginian and came to this county in 1833, having been a ship carpenter. He built a part of the Michigan road and was for some years in public life, dying in 1875. George W. Reynolds, carpen¬ ter and millwright, born in New York in 1814, came to Scipio township May 4, 1835, and built many of the early mills and houses in the county. He was a justice of the peace thirty years. His relative, Daniel Shaw, of Kingsbury, bom in> New York in 1814, was a carpenter in Union andf Noble townships and in LaPorte, commendhg in 1837, and was a justice of the peace almost continuously after 1840. He became th* oldest justice in Indiana in age and length of service. James V. Hopkins was a carpenter ha Springfield township in 1835 and afterward^ In Michigan City. James M. Ray, born in OWb in 1806, built many houses in the county, mm ttg them the first at Westville, built for Herify Clybum. He was a very prominent figure ift county affairs for many years. Allen Oftffirtrfngs, of Union Mills, commenced carpa* efa# m 1838 and was long active in local MiefcKi. Nelson J. Titus, pro¬ prietor of thtAfaf dtWellsboro, began his career as a carpeafer hi Stable township in 1857. Seth P. Whitoey^bigburing in 1847, was a carpenter, cooper, xtMtr farmer in Hudson township. One of Galena township's early carpenters was Simeon Francis, who came there in 1835. A. J. Wesfervrft, bom in New York in 1808 and a resident of this county from 1838 until his death aboot twenty years ago, was a carpenter and builder sixteen years. He was county appraiser five years. Dan Learning was the first carpenter at Wanatah and built the house in which he re¬ sides, it being the second house on the west side of Hog creek at that place. Truman Barnes, in Galena township, was a carpenter and cabinet¬ maker and had a shop in section 15, where he made black walnut coffins. He was the first un¬ dertaker in that community and made the first hearse for the township. It was rather a rude affair, drawn by one horse, and was in use thirty years ago.

settled and he could find a central location where¬ in to establish his shop. Probably there were shoemakers at LaPorte and Michigan City in 1834, but they afe not remembered and the first in the county, as shown by the authorities, was Mr. Bronson at Door Village in 1836. He re¬ mained about two years and was succeeded by Albert Currier, a brother-in-law of George TowCr, the local tailor at the same period. In 10$ Mr. Harrison also opened a shoe shop there Uhd the next year J. B. Higgins took up the busi¬ ness and carried it on fifteen years. In 1849 Nathan Thurber became the cobbler at Door Vil¬ lage and in 187b Claus Peterson opened a shop connected with a small store. D. K. Brickett, the postmaster, began making boots and shoes at Springvilk m 1837, and continued up to 1853. In 1838 Alpheus Thurber, brother of Nathan, opened a shop in the same village of Springville and Was in the business about five years. John S^Moening ventured into the business there in 1068 and remained about ten years. Mr. Spar¬ row was the pioneer shoemaker at Independence, in 1837, and twenty years later L. C. Van Dusen opened a shop at Puddletown, in the same town¬ ship, which he continued until 1874, after which he kept a store in the same place until 1880. Mr. Van Dusen enlisted in the army as a saddler in 1863 and after six weeks was sent home on ac¬ count of ill health and told to await further orders; but his orders never came and he was never discharged, and forty years' pay is still due. Hudson's first shoemaker was Richard Smith, who began in 1838 and was followed in 1845 by Wm. Ferguson, and he in 1869 by Ed. Perry. Elisha Taylor started the making of shoes at Union Mills in 1841, and Morton & Booth engaged in it quite extensively in 1854, selling out in 1869 to Joseph Bailey. Richard Smith, 1843 to 1855 at New Durham, was ap¬ parently the pioneer cobbler in that townships Joseph H. Irwin and Herman Schultz were in the business at Westville a quarter of a centurj ago and Welcome Jerome, who was there then, is still in the trade. Addison J. Phillips, 1842 to 1844; John P. Mills, 1842 to 1857; William J. Smith, 1852 to 1862, and Mathias Kreidler, 1854 to 1856, were among the early shoemakers in La¬ Porte, and John Ordung is the oldest now en¬ gaged there in the business, having a record of thirty years. George E. P. Dodge & Company had a prison labor contract and manufactured boots and shoes a few years in the eighties at Michigan City, and the convicts at the prison now make their own shoes. The Dodge factory was the only establishment the county has ever had producing boots and shoes for the trade. At one time Mr. C. T. Dibble, who has just cele¬ brated his eightieth birth day, manufatured boots and shoes in Michigan City.

Not many of the early tailors are now re¬ membered. Robert Stanfield at Lakeport in 1837, Thomas Wood at the same place in 1839, William Costello at Independence in 1837, George Tower at Door Village in 1838, David Christman who sold out to James Flood and William Johnson at New Durham in 1839, Winters & Rogers at Union Mills in 1843 and Isaac Johnson, their successor, in 1848, Joseph Eddy in Cool Spring township, and Thomas Holman in Springfield, comprise the list of pioneer tailors who are now known.

Clayton Weaver, a prominent farmer who died recently at his home near Stillwell, was a mason in 1855 and worked on Shep Crumpacker's sawmill near Westville. John Ebert was a well known pioneer mason in Cool Spring township and lived to be quite old. George Seffens was the first regular plasterer in the county and plastered the first frame buildings erected in LaPorte, Michigan City and Door Village. He came to the county in 1833 and worked at his trade until i860, making his home at first on Rolling Prairie, and at the latter date he moved to a farm in Center township, where he died. He was born in England in 1815, and his father brought to this country the first machinery for the manufacture of woolens that ever left the shores of England, and established the first woolen mill in the United States.

James Ray, a Hudson township farmer who had learned the trade when young, had a small shop at his home and did gunsmithing for his neighbors, beginning about 1853. Gordon's gun¬ smith shop at Bigelow's Mills, established in 1854, served a wide region for a long time. Berridge's shop at Union Mills was opened in 1866. Samuel J. Fosdick, a practical gunmaker, opened a place in LaPorte in 1849 and was succeeded in 1881 by his son, Charles R. Fosdick, who had learned

Anson Harvey commenced the harness-mak¬ ing business at Union Mills in 1844 and two years later Archibald McAllister embarked in the same business at New Durham. No other ven¬ ture in this line is noted until 1864, when J. Jacob¬ son opened a shop at Bigelow's Mills. In 1874 Pope C. Weed and Henry Booth established a shop at Union Mills. In 1876 E. R. Fetzer was a harness-maker and policeman in LaPorte. Knuth & Company had a harness shop and grocery combined and W. Knuth was a saddler and harness-maker. William F. Mann, who was bom in New York in 1836 and was a surveyor in the government service three years, came to LaPorte in 1873 and established a harness factory near the north end of Indiana avenue. He died about 1882. Under his tutelage his son Frank C. Mann, a former treasurer of the county, learned something of the business and was pre¬ pared to take his present place as an owner, director and manager of the extensive business of the LaPorte Harness Company. Here also we must mention the John Lonn Sons Company of LaPorte, extensive manufacturers of har¬ nesses.-

In a region so abundantly supplied with tim¬ ber suited to his use it was natural that the cooper should come early to LaPorte county and drive a prosperous trade. Two shops were set up at Hudson in the year 1833, one by Samuel Elliott, the other by E. Sprague, and a few years, later Seth P. Whitney was a carpenter and cooper in the same township, continuing until about 1880. ,D. L. Jackson had a cooper shop on his farm near Waterford during forty years, be¬ ginning in 1837, and in the same neighborhood Eli Smith and N. W. Blackman emulated his example later. Mr. Smith was born on the At¬ lantic ocean and had quite an interesting life, one of the chief incidents in which he participated being the capture of the famous General Morgan. In 1840 a man who is remembered only as Mr. Clement opened a cooper shop at Union Mills and did well for several years. A. B. Wolfe was in the trade ten years, ending in 1865, at Beatty's Corners. At LaPorte there have been several small shops, one of which was fostered, if not owned, by Jacob Early, the flour miller and dis¬ tiller. J. C. Fisher, Charles A. Lindgren, B. Byberg and Henry P. Smith are named among the LaPorte coopers.

Robert Curran, an Irishman, born in 1822, was the earliest barrel maker in Michigan City of whom any record remains. He started a shop there in 1840 and ran it until the gold fever took him to California ten years later. Being success¬ ful at the mines he returned in 1868 and bought a farm at Waterford, where he died. The cooper¬ age operations of the late John H. Winterbotham at Michigan City far exceeded those of all others in the county combined and the firm of J. H. Winterbotham & Sons has long stood among the leading manufacturing institutions of northern Indiana. The founder of this house was bom in Connecticut in 1815, moved to Ohio fourteen years later with his parents, married Miss Mahala Rosecrans there, and commenced his manufac¬ turing career as a prison contractor at Columbus, Ohio. Later he contracted for prison labor at Fort Madison, Iowa, and located there, remaining thirteen years, a portion of which time he was president of a national bank. In July, 1866, he came to Michigan City and bought an interest in the prison contract held by Jones & Chapin, who had succeeded Hayward & DeWolfe, cooperage manufacturers, and he set about extending the business and adding largely to the number of convicts included in the lease for labor. He bought his partners out in 1869 and took in his sons, John R. and Joseph, with whom John G. Mott became associated later. A large prison labor lease at Joliet, Illinois, was subsequently taken by the firm and offices were opened in Chicago. Cooperage and carriage bodies consti¬ tuted their product. Mr. Winterbotham was elected state senator on the Greeley ticket in 1872 and took a very active interest in political affairs as well as in the progress of Michigan City. He was the donor of the handsome monument in that city erected to the memory of Indiana's Union soldiers. In many ways Michigan City has benefited by his public-spirited munificence. By 1842 much was done in LaPorte in the line of barrel making, especially pork barrels, thou¬ sands of which were shipped to the Chicago market.

tanner and currier and just of age, came from Vigo county and set lip a tannery on Hudson lake, in which business he continued three years, and then, having married a daughter of John E. Wills, he followed the advice of his father-inlaw and became a farmer. About twenty years later he bought the farm where he died, in Cass township. He was a lieutenant in Garret Bias's militia company, elsewhere mentioned, and in 1853 he was sworn as captain of Company E, First Regiment, Ninth Military district of Indiana, to serve six years. He was deputy sheriff, constable and township trustee, and the father of thirteen, four of whom lived to be grown. There is nothing to show what became of this pioneer tannery when Mr. Willson changed his occupation. Joseph C. Orr was the second tanner in the county and his place of business was in Michigan City, where he also ran a hotel in a log cabin. He started both ventures in 1834. Afterward he moved to New Cincinnati, Wisconsin, where he died. Then, in 1835, Aaron Conklin, an arrival of the preced¬ ing year, set up in the trade at Springville, selling out four years later to Leslie Rose, with whom in 1841 he formed a partnership to buy the store of Russell & Torrey. Rose sold the tannery to Ira C. Nye, father of Lieutenant Governor Mortimer Nye, who conducted it profitably many years. In the early days Joshua L. Wilson had a tannery near the pond that stood then at the west end of State street in LaPorte. In 1854 Christian Hauser bought the business, gave it the name of the Old Line tannery and continued it about thirty years. Gustavus A. Lell, later a farmer in Cool Spring township, was an assistant in the business a part of that time. Debre Brothers and Abbott, Bour & Company were the Michigan City tanners of the later days.

There is some evidence that brick was manu¬ factured in LaPorte county as early as in 1832. Levi J. Benedict, who came to the county in 1829, the year he entered his teens, kept several interesting relics while he lived, among them being a piece of brick which he maintained was burnt in 1832 in the first kiln in the county. The location of that kiln and the name of its pro¬ prietor are unknown. The earliest brickmaking in the county of which any definite mention is made was by James V. Hopkins, a carpenter who t&me to Springville in Springfield township, in 1835 from Ohio and nude 6ome brick for the purpose of building a tavern at that place. He sold out to Ingraham Gould, and after spending a little time at LaPorte and in Porter county lo¬ cated at Michigan City, ultimately buying the farm where he died, not far from the place of his proposed brick tavetn. In 1833 contracts were let for the erection of a brick court house in La¬ Porte and for a log jail to be set on a foundation of hard burnt brick, and it has been said purely on conjecture, that the brick sO used was brought by schooner from some distant point to Michigan City and thence hauled overland by wagon. But in view of the presence of suitable clay close at hand and of the ease with which brick could be made, it is more reasonable to suppose that Simon G. Bunce, the coUrt-house contractor, made his own brick, or had it made, not far from LaPorte. The specifications of the court-house viewed in connection with the contract price, $3,970, almost preclude the theory that the brick could have been transported by water and wagon any considerable distance, and Mr. Benedict's statement proves that local kilns were burned at about that time. It is also a fact that brick chimneys were built in LaPorte and vicinity while the public buildings were under construction, and the Methodists built a brick church in the city in 1836, the first house of worship in the place, indicating that brick was reasonably cheap and therefore homemade. The names of the early brickmakers have not been preserved, but the Hoover brothers, Isaac and John D., began the business about 1856 and the family is still con¬ ducting it on an extensive scale in Center town¬ ship, where it originated. Later Conden Brothers & Company (C. J. F., C. B. and A. R. Conden, the last a lieutenant in the United States navy, and J. S. Hopper, head of the lumber firm of J .S. Hopper & Son) established the large yards and kilns now owned by Roeske Brothers, about three miles east Of Michigan City, being the most extensive brick industry in the county. For many years M. R. Forney carried on the brick business and burnt extensive kilns on his farm on the northwest part of section 23 in Center township, north of LaPorte, but a few years ago he gave up the business. A patent process for producing sand brick is now in use by tfie American Pressed

Brick Company in Michigan City, who are turn¬ ing out a fine article. The brick is of a grayish white, not having the yellowish tint of the Mil¬ waukee brick, more resembling stone, and pre¬ sents an elegant appearance. The new and ex¬ tensive Cable Piano Factory of LaPorte and the new Catholic hospital of Michigan City are built of this brick. Tne sand dunes of Michigan City furnish abundant material and if much building is done with this brick, as seems likely, LaPorte county will put on an appearance as unique and beautiful as Milwaukee. The American Pressed Brick Company began business in 1903, and is a desirable and useful acquisition to Michigan City and the county.

Without alluding to the ertormous business that has been done in cutting and shipping ice at the LaPorte lakes, some space must be given to the new plant of the Michigan City Ice and Cold Storage Company, commenced in the latter part of 1903 and put in operation in February, 1904. This is said to be the largest and completest plant of the kind in Indiana. Airtight cans containing filtered and distilled water are im¬ mersed in salt brine from which the heat is ex¬ tracted by the circulation through it of com¬ pressed ammonia in iron pipes, and 400-pound blocks of pure ice are thus produced. Dr. J. B. Rogers is president of the company, William C. Schultz and Dr. F. R. Warren are vice presidents, H. W. Gielow secretary and treasurer, and Clar¬ ence Monahan superintendent and general man¬ ager. Dr. H. W. Wilson, William Miller, Will¬ iam E. Gielow and August W. Harbart, complete the directorate. Daniel W. Brown, of Indian¬ apolis, a former sheriff of LaPorte county, organ¬ ized the company but dropped out before the plant was completed.

It would seem that Jacob Early, merchant, miller, distiller, lumberman, cooper, etc., was also the first person in the county to engage in pick¬ ling cucumbers, for the inventory of his estate made after his death in 1873 contained an item of 75 barrels of pickels in brine. The first pickle salting establishment in -the county, however, and also the first in the state, consisted of fifteen tanks in an unused railroad shop in LaPorte, fitted up as an experiment by F. & J. Heinz, of Pittsburg in the season of 1880. From this beginning has grown a mammoth business now operated by the

H. J. Heinz Company. This company has fifteen large salting stations in the state, of which that at LaPorte is the largest and most complete, and other houses have adopted its system. The La¬ Porte branch factory as it now stands was built in 1892 and is equipped to receive the salted stock from the other Indiana stations and convert it into sweet and sour pickles ready for consump¬ tion. Oscar A. Burroughs, a native of Evanston, Illinois, has been the local manager from the be¬ ginning and now has charge of the entire Indiana business. At LaPorte 150 hands are employed in the season, and an enormous quantity of pickles is used, creating a useful industry for the sur¬ rounding formers.

The spot where Joseph Pagin built his cabin near the shore of Clear lake, north of the court¬ house, in 1831, and where the first county court was held, was occupied many years by a brewery, which burned down prior to 1874. Mathias Kreidler ran it half a century ago, beginning in 1854, when he came to this country from Ger¬ many. The old Pisant brewery, owned for a time by Clement Dick in the eighties, is now the great and prosperous Crystal Spring brewery of Guenther Brothers (John J. and C. F. Guenther), who have found it necessary to make several en¬ largements in the plant during their proprietor¬ ship and are making another substantial addition the present season. The Michigan City brewery, established by Philip Zorn more than a quarter of a century ago and now incorporated as the Ph. Zom Brewing Company, is an enormous estab¬ lishment enjoying a wide trade. Mr. Zorn's success in the business has enabled him to be¬ come identified with a number of prosperous local enterprises.

In the early forties Philip Hart, who came to the county in October, 1835, set up a pottery at his home on the bank of Clear lake, where the Metropolitan ice house stood until recently. At that time the only other house on the lake was the Harris log cabin at the east end. Mr. Hart made red glazed dishes for the early settlers, with whom the white ware was a scarce article, and his craft was a great convenience to them. There was a fine oak grove in front of his place, which, with the interest his skillful work attracted, made it a popular place of resort on summer days. He used a number of upright spindles in turning the clay into the required shapes, and then dried the plastic substance out and put it into a kiln to be baked and glazed. For many years broken frag¬ ments of imperfect crockery could be found at that spot. He used the common bride clay of the vicinity, and people wondered how he could pro¬ duce such excellent ware. After a few years he abandoned the business and confined himself to farming until his death, which occurred when he was very old. Samuel Rowe, on Hudson lake, preceded Mr. Hart, undertaking the same busi¬ ness in 1836, but the collapse of Lakeport's boom a year or so later drove him out of the business. Another hopeful but unsuccessful venture was the ashery erected in 1843 by Logan A. Wakefield on the farm of A. G. Webster, in Noble township. He made pearl ash and potash and failed in 1846. The manufacture of charcoal engaged the at¬ tention of a number of farmers having land to clear at different times, but the industry never assumed importance in the county. The latest venture of the sort was made by Peter Hack, as late as 1890, on his farm in Springfield township, where he is at present exploring very thoroughly for subterranean oil or gas.

At the county fair held at LaPorte in the fall of 1847 one of the first premiums fell to W. W. Clark in recognition of the merits of a stove manufactured by him in that city. . It was thereupon christened the Premium stove and was advertised as being useful for cooking and heat¬ ing, but the enterprise soon dropped out of sight. More fortunate was John E. Flucard, who main¬ tained a fence factory at the corner of Clay and Clayton streets in LaPorte nearly twenty years, commencing in 1863. He came to this city as a carpenter and contractor in 1852, enlisted in the army at the first call for troops in 1861 and re¬ turned in 1863 to embark in the business of manu¬ facturing plain and ornamental wire fences. He enjoyed a wide trade throughout the county and had a dozen men employed in the shop.

The vast mound of pure sand that guards the harbor entrance at Michigan City and is known as Hoosier Slide has always been looked upon as the possible basis of glass works on a large scale, but no effort to establish the industry there has as yet been successful. On one occasion, in 1883, a

The business of manufacturing scenic back¬ grounds for photographers originated in LaPorte and John W. Bryant was its father. Mr. Bryant opened a photograph gallery in LaPorte in 1868. About ten years later he began making photo¬ graphic accessories for the trade, using the old building at Tyler street and the Lake Shore rail¬ road for the purpose, and soon created a large de¬ mand for the scenic backgrounds devised by him and now in use in every studio in the country. Hiram P. Barnes, a scenic painter long em¬ ployed by Mr. Bryant, organized the firm of Wear & Barnes a few years ago and bought the Bryant business, which they have since con¬ ducted successfully. Mr. Barnes is making large shipments of backgrounds even as far as Tokio in Japan, where his goods are commanding a high price notwithstanding the war between Japan and Russia. Lay & Carter took up the same line of business in the early part of 1904. Harry N. Calkin was engaged in it in the eighties.

J. B. Silliman opened a pump factory at the corner of Main and J streets, LaPorte, in 1865, making the then popular Silliman wooden pump, and carried on the business more than a score of years.

The Smith Fire Extinguisher Company {1886), the Munson Company (1899), the Wal¬ ton, Schnewind and Page cigar factories, the Schultz & Bosserman gate factory (1884), the Backhaus & Droege vinegar works (1880), all in LaPorte ; the Fethke and Marsh cigar factories, the fine machine shop of Roman Eichstaedt, the Eureka Wall Protector Manufacturing Company (1884), in Michigan City, should be remembered.

The LaPorte broom factory, established in 1867 by N. W. Fraser & Brother on Jefferson street near the old Merrill house in LaPorte, had a prosperous career and employed twenty hands, producing 160,000 brooms in one year. It lasted about a decade. When it ceased operations at the <ieath of the head of the firm several of the em¬ ployes set up small shops of their own, Joseph E. Allis, David Griffin, Walter Johnston, John P.

Metiver and Edward Witt probably being of this number. The Weise broom factory on Main street, a busy and successful establishment, grew out of the Edward Witt shop. November 17, 1903, the LaPorte Argus-Bulletin announced that a corporation had been formed by Edward C. How, Jacob Ackerman and Charles F. Lefmann to manufacture a sweeper invented by J. M. Barager, of Cleveland, Ohio, who would act as superintendent of the company. The LaPorte Sweeper Company, it was said, would secure a building, install machinery and employ a force of men within a short time.

In January, 1904, a stock company was in¬ corporated for the manufacture and sale of Re- New-U food, an invention of David H. Reeder, Ph. D., M. D., of LaPorte, founder of the Home Health Culb and author of the Club Books and Lectures, editor of the health department of the Inter-\0 cean Sanitary Home and other health journals. The company is known as the Dr. Reeder Food Company, LaPorte, Indiana. Dr. Reeder is president, E. Julius Lonn vice-presi¬ dent, Edward Horr treasurer, J. William Lonn secretary, George D. Lay director, and Julius C. Travis attorney. The product of the company is meeting with a wide sale, giving excellent satis¬ faction and the business is increasing rapidly.

We here take our leave of the trades and of some concerns which cannot well be classed under the heads of mills and factories. Not all of the trades have been mentioned; the dress maker's and milliner's and other trades and useful occu¬ pations of women have been omitted not from chioce, but simply because the subject matter grew on our hands and we could not mention everything. Among the dress makers should be mentioned Mrs. E. A. C. Woodworth, No. 917 Main street, LaPorte, who in the recent dress makers association in Chicago, took the first prize for the most artistic tea gown. But sufficient mention has been made in this chapter to give a good idea of the trades and minor industries of LaPorte county; and in these respects, as in others, it is in no way inferior to other counties of its class.