Putnam County, Indiana - Chapter 1: Begixxing of Indiana History and Formation of Putnam County, 1910

Chapter 1: Begixxing of Indiana History and Formation of Putnam County

The treaty of Greenville, which was intended to "'put an end to a destructive war, settle all controversies and to restore harmony and friendly intercourse between the United States and Indian tribes," may, strictly speaking, be considered the beginning of Indiana history. It was e.xecuted at Greenville. Ohio, August 3, 1795, the contracting parties being Gen. Anthony Wayne on the part of the United States and ninety "sachems and war chiefs" representing the Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawatomie, Miami, Eel River, Wea, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia tribes of Indians. By virtue of this primitive and solemn compact the United States relinquished to the Indians all title to the lands now included within the limits of the state of Indiana with the following exceptions :

"First - The tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres near the rapids of the Ohio which has been assigned to General Clark for the use of himself and his warriors. Second - The post of Vincennes on the river Wabash and the lands adjacent of which the Indian title has been e.xtinguished. Third - One piece six miles square at or near the confluence of the rivers St. Mary and St. Joseph where Fort Wayne stands or near it. Fourth - One piece two miles square on the Wabash river at the end of the portage from the Miami of the lake and about eight miles westward from Fort Wayne. Fifth^One piece si.x miles square at the Ouiatenon or old Wea towns on the Wabash river."

It may not be without interest to note that the consideration or inducement offered the Indians to sign the treaty was an agreement on the part of the United States to make "every year forever"' to each of the first seven named tribes a payment, "in useful goods suited to the circumstances of the Indians." of the value of one thousand dollars and half that sum to each of the remaining five.

But notwithstanding the solemn covenants, the rosy promises and the liberal allotment of useful goods "every year forever." set forth in this (2)

X8 Weik S History Of

Stately worded compact, it was not foreordained that the rich and promising lands included within the boundaries of the Indiana Territory should long remain the undisturbed possession of the red man. The appetite of his white brother for more territory was not to be so easily appeased. In 1801 William Henry Harrison became the governor of Indiana and, being invested by the government at Washington with the power to negotiate treaties with the Indians, entered on a policy which clearly foreshadowed the early e.xtension of the white man's dominion in eveiy direction. The new governor was a man of wide resources; able and adroit, his methods in dealing with the Indians being both pacific and hannonious, he was eminently successful in every undertaking. Gradually the red man was induced to part with his holdings. Within three years Harrison had concluded eight treaties by means of which the white man came into possession of almost fifty thousand square miles of new territory. Before the close of the year 1805 the Indians had relinquished their title to the lands which bordered the Ohio from the mouth of the Wabash to the mouth of the Miami. Inch by inch the white man was forcing his way.

At Fort Wayne on September 30, 1809, Harrison concluded a treaty with the Delaware, Pottawatomie, Miami and Eel River tribes by virtue of which the United States for a "consideration of a permanent annuity of five hundred dollars each to the Delawares, Pottawatomies and Miamis and two hundred and fifty dollars to the Eel River tribe, purchased from the Indians a section of territory lying on the southwest side of a line beginning at the mouth of Raccoon creek on the Wabash river and extending in a southeasterly direction to a point near the present city of Seymour in Jackson county, the whole comprising an area of almost three million acres.

Here for the first time we come upon the soil of what is now Putnam county. The line established by the Fort Wayne treaty, and now known as the Indian boundary line, cuts off a small segment in the southwest corner of the county comprising an area of about twenty square miles. Above that line the country, as represented in the maps of that day, was an "unexplored region" and, later, was designated as the "New Purchase."

After the admission of Indiana to the Union. Jonathan Jennings, the newlv chosen governor, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, acting as commissioners of the United States, negotiated a treaty with the Miami Indians at St. Mary's, Ohio. It was signed October 6, 1818. and provided for the relinquishment to the United States, with a few minor reservations, of the Indian title to all the territory south and east of the Wabash. Treaties were also at the same time, concluded with the Wea. Pottawatomie and Delaware tribes.

The treaties of Fort Wayne and St. Mary's, therefore, took from the Indian his title to the lands now included within the limits of Putnam county and in due time he quietly "folded his tent" and silently withdrew from the magnificent forests and inviting soil of central Indiana. The tribes represented in the treaties named and whose dominion extended, really, from the Scioto to the mouth of the Wabash and from the Ohio to Lake" Michigan mustered at least eight thousand warriors. In the earlier struggles for possession of the country between the French and English these Indians had favored the latter, but, though not lacking in bravery, they were not warlike or aggressive. Being more or less inclined to deal peaceably with the white man, they listened readily to the latter's blandishing overtures, faithfully believed his alluring promises and, in time, having bartered away their lands, were gradually transported to reservations set apart for them in the boundless and undeveloped regions beyond the Mississippi.

The treaty of Fort Wayne had brought to the new territory an influx of hardy pioneers in quest of the lands which the United States, with a view to encouraging the country's settlement, was offering on such liberal and' acceptable temis. The land office was located at V'incennes, but as, until 1818, the lands offered for sale there lay south of the Indian boundary, which line traversed Putnam county at an angle in the extreme southwest corner, the entries in the little section thus cut off were necessarily limited both in size and number. The treaty of St. Mary's, however, released the rest of the territory south and east of the Wabash so that after 1820 entries of land in Putnam county were made at Terre Haute where the new land office was located.

In her early territorial days Indiana seems to have had but one county in that part of her domain in which the white man had thus far made any settlement, and that was called the county of Knox. From the best sources of information now obtainable the northern boundary of Knox county at that time seems to have been the present north line of the following counties : Parke, Putnam, Monroe, Jackson, Jennings, Fayette and Union. Later it was reduced by the formation of Clark and Dearborn counties, and this process of reduction continued until about forty counties were formed out of the original area. The region north of Knox, and for many years known as the "New Purchase," consisted originally of two counties, Wabash and Delaware, which were formed January 22, 1820. They were likewise reduced in area until the result of the gradual subdivisions was twenty-seven of our present counties in the northern and central parts of the state.

Indiana was admitted to the Union April 19, 181 6. Before the close of that year Knox county had been reduced by the cutting off, from its original limits, of the counties of Daviess and Sullivan - the one being formed on December 24th and the other December 30th. Within two years these counties were also found to be too large and the process of gradual reduction continued. Vigo county, on January 21, 181 8, was formed out of territory cut off from Sulhvan county; and Owen, on December 21st in the same year, from territory out of both Sullivan and Daviess counties. Finally, and before the close of the year 182 1, both Vigo and Owen were lessened in area by the formation of our own beloved county of Putnam.

Who actually recommended or first suggested the name of our county we shall probably never know, but, whoever he may have been, no name could have been chosen more illustrious, more honorable, more worthy to be commemorated. Israel Putnam needs no monument to perpetuate his virtues. He is enshrined in the heart of every true and thoughtful American. His name and memory are redolent of deeds of self-sacrifice and the most exalted patriotism. No scene in history is more vivid or capable of arousing the inspiration of the youth of our land than the picture of the brave and determined Connecticut farmer who, on that memorable April day in 1775, left his plow in the furrow, gathered up his flint-lock and powder-horn and straightway set out to join the Minute Men of Lexington and Concord.

The first official step looking to the creation or formation of the county was an act of the Legislature which was approved December 21, 1821. The manuscript of the original act, musty and discolored with age and bearing the neat and immaculate signature of Jonathan Jennings, the governor, still reposes in the archives of the county in the court house. As published it may be found on page 65 of the printed "Laws of the Sixth Session." It reads as follows :

"Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Indiana. That from and after the first Monday of April next, all that part of the counties of Vigo and Owen, and of the county north of Owen, contained in the following bounds, shall form and constitute a separate county, to-wit: Beginning in the center of range 7 west, on the line dividing townships 10 and II north, thence east fifteen miles to the line dividing ranges 4 and 5 west, thence north twelve miles, to the line dividing townships

12 and 13 north, thence east three miles, thence north twelve miles to the line dividing townships 14 and 15, thence west fifteen miles to the line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west, thence south six miles, thence west three miles, thence south eighteen miles to the beginning.

"Sec. 2. The said new county shall be known and designated by the name of Putnam, and shall enjoy all the rights and privileges and jurisdictions which to separate and independent counties do or may properly appertain or belong.

"Sec. 3. John Bartholomew, of Owen county, Aaron Redus, of Washington county, Jonathan Wells, of Sullivan county, John Allen, of Daviess county, and Peter Allen, of Vigo county, are hereby appointed commissioners agreeably to the act entitled, 'An act for the fixing of the seats of justice in all new counties hereinafter to be laid off.' The commissioners above named shall convene at the house of James Athey, in the said county of Putnam, on the first Monday in May next and shall immediately proceed to discharge the duties assigned to them by law. It is hereby made the duty of the sheriff of Owen county, to notify the said commissioners, either in person or by written notification, of their appointment on or before the fifteenth of April next, and the said sheriff of Owen county shall receive from the said county of Putnam so much as the county commissioners shall deem just and reasonable, who are hereby authorized to allow the same out of any monies in the county treasury, in the same manner other allowances are paid.

"Sec. 4. That the circuit court of the county of Putnam shall meet and be holden at the house of James Athey, in the said county of Putnam, until suitable accommodations can be had at the seat of justice and so soon as the courts of said county are satisfied that suitable accommodations can be had at the county seat, they shall adjourn their courts thereto, after which time the courts of the county of Putnam shall be holden at the county seat of Putnam county established as the law directs. Provided, however, that the circuit court shall have authority to remove the court from the house of Tames Athey to any other place, previous to the completion of the public buildings, should the said court deem it expedient.

"Sec. 5. That the agent who shall be appointed to superintend the sales of lots at the county seat of the county of Putnam shall reserve ten per centum out of the proceeds thereof, and also ten per centum out of the proceeds of all donations made to the county, and pay the same over to such person or persons as may be appointed by law to receive the same, for the use of a county library for the said county of Putnam, w'hich he shall pay over at such time or times and place as may be directed by law.

"Sec. 6. The board of county commissioners of the said county of Putnam shall within twelve months after the permanent seat of justice shall have been selected proceed to erect the necessary public buildings thereon.

"Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, that such parts of the county of Putnam as previous to the passage of this act belonged to the counties of Vigo and Owen, shall be considered as attached respectively to the counties from which they were taken, for the purpose of electing a representative and senator to the General Assembly of the state.

"Sec. 8. That the powers, privileges and authorities that are granted to the qualified voters of the county of Dtibois and others named in the act entitled, 'An act incorporating a county library in the counties therein named, approved January the twenty-eighth, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen,' to organize, conduct and support a county library, are hereby granted to the qualified voters of the county of Putnam and the same power and authority therein granted to, and the same duties therein required of, the several officers and the person or persons elected by the qualified voters of Dubois county and other counties in the said act named, for carrying into effect the provisions of the act entitled, 'An act to incorporate a county library in the county of Ehabois, and other counties therein named,' according to the true intent and meaning thereof, are hereby extended to and required of the officers and other persons elected by the qualified voters of the county of Putnam.

Within a year following the formation of the county, as specified above, it became necessary to re-arrange its boundary lines. One portion of the new county was to be restored to Vigo and another to Owen county. The original act fixing the boundary lines was therefore repealed and a new one, which may be found on page five of the published "Laws of the Seventh Session." was approved and went into effect December 21, 1822. As passed it reads as follows :

"Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Indiana, That the following boundaries, to-wit : Beginning in the center of town 12 north, on the range line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west, thence east twenty-four miles, to the line dividing ranges 2 and 3, thence north with said line, twenty-seven miles to the line dividing townships 16 and 17, thence west with said line twenty- four miles, to the line dividing ranges 6 and 7, thence south twenty-seven miles, to the place of beginning, shall constitute and form the boundaries of the county of Putnam; and that the first section of the act to which this is an amendment be and the same is hereby repealed.

"Sec. 2. That all that part of the present county of Putnam contained within the following boundary, to-wit : Beginning in the center of town 12 north, on the line dividing ranges 6 and 7 west, thence east twelve miles to the line dividing ranges 4 and 5. thence south nine miles to the line dividing towns 10 and 11, thence west twelve miles with said line, to the line dividing ranges 6 and 7, thence north nine miles, to the place of beginning, shall be attached to, constitute, and form a part of the county of Owen, and that all that part of the county of Vigo which was attached to the county of Putnam by the act to which this is an amendment, and which is not included within the boundaries of said Putnam county as designated by this act, be and the same is hereby attached to and shall hereafter constitute and form a part of the said county of Vigo.

"Sec. 3. That all suits, pleas, plaints, actions and proceedings, which may have been commenced, instituted and pending within the said countv of Putnam previous to the taking effect of this act. shall be prosecuted and carried on to final effect in the sam.e manner as if this act had not been passed. And the state and county tax which may be due in that part of the county of Putnam by this act attached to the counties of Owen and Vigo, shall be collected and paid in the same manner and by the same officers as if this act had not been passed.

It will be observed on reading the original act for the formation of Putnam county that five commissioners were designated to "fix the seat of justice" in the new county and that they were to convene for that purpose at the house of James Athey on the first Monday in May following the passage of the act. The home of Athey was a log cabin, - probably the first one erected in the county, - which stood on the land lying at the confluence of Walnut, Deer and Mill creeks and commonly known as the Forks of Eel.

For some reason the commissioners failed to perform their duty and, although the first court was in due time held in Athey's house, no steps were taken to select a permanent seat of government. Why the matter was left undone the records fail to disclose. Certain it is that on January 7, 1823, the Legislature passed another law designating five new commissioners to "locate the seat of justice in the county of Putnam." The new act, reciting the failure of the first commissioners to perform their duty, directs the commissioners last appointed to meet at the home of John Butcher on the second Monday in April, 1823, and "proceed to discharge the duties assigned to them by law." The act as passed reads as follows :

"Whereas, it has been represented to this General Assembly, that the commissioners heretofore appointed to locate the seat of justice in the county Putnam, pursuant to the provisions of the act entitled. '.\n act for the formation of a new county out of Owen and Vigo counties, and north of Owen,' approved December 31, 1821, failed to perform the duty assigned them by said act, for remedy whereof:

"Be it enacted bv the General Assembly of the state. of Indiana, That Jacob Bell of the county of Parke, Abraham Buskirk and Daniel Anderson, of the county of Monroe, Jacob Cutler, of the county of Morgan, and James Wasson. of the county of Sullivan, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners, agreeable to the act, entitled 'An act for the fixing of the seats of justice in all new counties hereafter to be laid off.' The commissioners above named shall convene at the house of John Butcher, in the said county of Putnam, on the second ^Monday in April next, and shall immediately, or as soon thereafter as may be convenient, proceed to discharge the duties assigned them by law: and it is hereby made the duty of the sheriff of the said county of Putnam, to notify the said commissioners of their appointment, either in person or bv written notification, on or before the fifteentli day of March next, and the said sheriff shall receive from the said county of Putnam so much as the county commissioners of said county shall deem just and reasonable, who are hereby authorized to allow the same, out of any monies in the county treasury, to be paid in the same manner other allowances are paid. The said commissioners, and all other proceedings had under this act, shall be regulated and governed, in all respects not provided for by this act, pursuant to the provisions of the acts referred to in this act. "This act to take effect from its passage.

The home of John Butcher was a log cabin on an eminence overlooking Big Walnut creek a short distance northwest of Greencastle. Just why the newly appointed commissioners were directed to meet there rather than at the Forks of Eel, where the settlement of the county began, it is difficult to understand, unless it was the result of an effort of the settlers in and around Greencastle to impress the commissioners with the desirability and advantage of locating the new "seat of justice" in the center of the county.

Early Surveys And First Land Entries

Between 1805 and 1820 the territory included within the limits of Putnam county had been surveyed and divided into sections, townships and ranges by the surveyors employed by the United States. An examination of the records of the general land office at Washington shows that the land in Washington township south of the Indian boundary line was surveyed and the proper boundaries marked by John McDonald, the government surveyor, in 1814; the western part of Cloverdale by A. Holmes in 1815; Jefferson, east Cloverdale and Mill Creek by John Milroy in 1819; Marion. Floyd, Jackson and Franklin by Allen Wright in 1819 and the remaining townships in 1819 and 1820 by John Collett. The records of the general land office further show that "entries in Putnam county were made in Vincennes to 1820, in Terre Haute from September 24, 1820, to 1823, after which they were made in Crawfordsville until April 7. 1853."

1818, John M. Coleman secured the title to the first piece of land that ever became the property of a white man in Putnam county. It was the west half of the northwest quarter of section 10, township 12, range 5 west, and was entered by Mr. Coleman at the Vincennes office. It adjoined the land entered about the same time by James Athey, in whose house the first court was held and in which the commissioners, designated in the bill admitting the county, were directed to meet and failed to do so. Both farms lie near the Forks of Eel in what is now Washington township. The first tract entered above the Indian boundary line and within the limits of what was then known as "Harrison's Purchase"' was the west half of the northwest quarter of section 18, township 16, range 5 west, and belonged to Felix Clodfelter. It lies in Russell township and was entered at the Terre Haute office, October 12, 1820. Entries were now being rapidly made and the quest for land continued unabated for several years so that by 1840 all the most desirable territory had practically been taken up. The last certificate of entry of government land in the county was issued at the Indianapolis office October 10, 1854. The purchaser was Solon Turman and the entry included a small tract in what is now Cloverdale township, being described as a part of section 7, township 12 north, range 4 west.

Putnam county contains an area of four hundred and eighty-six square miles, or three hundred eleven thousand and forty acres, and is bounded on the north by Montgomery, on the east by Hendricks and Morgan, on the south by Owen and Clay, and on the west by Clay and Parke counties. The surface of the land in the northeastern parts is level and in some cases slightly undulating, but in the center and southwest it is somewhat rolling and, in the neighborhood of the streams, more precipitous and hilly. From a table of altitudes furnished by the principal railroads traversing the county it is shown that the highest point between the Ohio river at New Albany and Michigan City on the Monon railroad is one mile north of Bainbridge, being nine hundred and fifty-five feet above the sea level, and on the Vandalia railroad near the east line of the county the altitude reached is eight hundred and ninety-seven, being but nine feet lower than at Clayton, the highest point on the road between the Wabash river and Indianapolis.

"The entire surface of the county," writes one of the earlier historians, "was originally covered with a dense forest of valuable timber. The beauty of these woods could scarcely be surpassed in the worid. The trees were tall, straight and symmetrical and were of great variety. Here grew side by side the majestic poplar, walnut and oak, the sturdy sugar maple and the beech, in company with the tall, lithe hickory. The different kinds were not evenly dispersed over the ground, nor yet scattered at random. In one locality one kind prevailed, whilst in other localities other kinds were more numerous. The ridges and the dry limestone land generally produced the sugar maple, interspersed with clumps of poplar and black walnut. The cold, wet lands were covered with the beech, hickory and red oak, while the bluffs along the margins of the creeks were crowned with the huge trunks and spreading tops of the white oak. Besides those named, there was a great variety of other kinds of timber less valuable for purposes of manufacture and commerce, but enhancing the grandeur of the solitude that reigned in the midst of their shades. The place of fruit trees was supplied by the wild plum and the black haw, with an occasional wild crab and persimmon. Some of these ancient monarchs of the woods, maple, poplar and oak - guardians of a thousand years - may still be seen around the rim of the farm lands, like sentries of the ages as they fly.

"The water-shed of the county is to the southwest. It is traversed by Walnut fork of Eel river, from northeast to southwest, which has for its principal tributaries, on the west Little Walnut, on the east Warford's branch and Deer creek. The northwest portion of the county is drained by Raccoon creek, while the southeast portion finds its drainage in Mill creek. The county is thus divided into three geographical sections, but they are so similar in their general features that it is unnecessary to treat of them separately. Each of these streams draws supplies from almost innumerable smaller streams, which form a complete net-work of branches throughout the extent of the county, furnishing to it a complete system of drainage for almost every part.

"The surface of the county in the eastern portion is level or gently undulating, affording vast fields for tillage and for meadows. The flat lands on the divide between the headwaters of Walnut and those of the tributaries of Sugar creek, lying principally within Boone county, extend into the extreme northeast corner of Putnam, sometimes requiring artificial drainage to render the land productive. The northern and northwestern portions of the county are rolling, affording some of the finest pasturage to be found even in that remarkable belt of pasture lands lying along the fortieth parallel of north latitude. The hills along Little Walnut, Walnut and lower Deer creek at times rise into lofty cliffs, while the valleys along these streams and at the mouths of their tributaries furnish as fine fields for grain as those of the best river bottoms."

But, notwithstanding her stately forests and her rich and promising farm lands, a great part of the wealth of the county lies beneath the soil. The early settlers were too busy clearing the forests to delve into the earth and it is only within recent years, since the men of science have begun their investigations, that we have come to realize the value of the stone and minerals stored in such colossal proportions beneath our feet. A history of the county would be decidedly incomplete which fails to note or enumerate this important item of our natural resources. The liberty will be taken, therefore, to quote freely from what a very eminent scientific authority, the late Prof. John Collett, chief of the bureau of statistics and geology of Indiana, has to say of our county in this regard. In a report made to the governor in 1880, referring to the "Geology of Putnam County," he says:

"The surface of the county is agreeably diversified, combining in a high degree the useful and agreeable, as rocky scenery, with romantic views of plain and woodland, rich in interest to the economist, all uniting to tell a long story, recorded on rock and plain, of the earth's past, laden with promises of the future. Soils and surface deposits are formed by the disintegration and destruction of rocks. If derived from local rocks or a single bed they are generally thin or obdurate, and the character of the productions - even of a people - may be declared from their geological deposits. On the other hand, a region having a soil derived from the greatest number of strata is, as a rule, productive and desirable. The soils of Putnam county, although principally composed of the local rocks which give character to the different parts, are also enriched by materials imported from the paleozoic strata and thoroughly crushed, mingled and incorporated by the mighty forces of the glacial age; the soil, therefore, is superior or equal to the best.

"The alluvial deposits or creek and river bottoms which belt the water courses are due to causes now in action. This material is derived from the adjoining banks, enriched by the wear of rolling pebbles and grinding sand and is cast out by overflows upon the flood plains of the streams. Rich in mineral plant food, it always contains a large amount of soluble organic matter, constituting a valuable and productive farm or garden land. Each bottom field is a gold mine, for its productions will bring gold or its equivalent with less labor than ordinary pursuits or mines.

"These deposits are characteristic of an epoch which occurred subsequent to the glacial. The arctic coldness had subsided. A great body or sea of fresh water covered most of the southern half of the state with gulfs, 1)33^5 and lagoon arms which reached north in the line of the ice thrusts. A warm, almost tropical climate prevailed, giving life and sustenance to the monster animals now extinct, including the American elephant, whose remains have been found at several stations in the county. This deposit, an almost impalpable sand and clay, was slowly formed at the bottom of a quiet, waveless lake, filling up the lowest inequalities in the surface, for the lake water did not cover the high lands. Good examples are seen in the level plain adjoining Mill creek, in the southeast parts and in the railway cuts at and west of Oakalla station. Loess loams produce sweet fruits, and being free from pebbles are well suited for the manufacture of bricks.

"To the strange phenomena of the glacial epoch we are indebted largely for results which make this soil and surface configuration so desirable - a more than "Xew Kentucky." A grand river of ice, with its sources among the snowy heights of distant mountains, laden with materials which border the St. Lawrence and lakes Ontario and Erie, pushed its ice foot beyond the western shore of Lake Erie and sent volumes of water through deep-cut sluiceways across the state from north eighty degrees east to the opposite course west, bringing with it, as indications of its origin, nuggets of Champlain iron ore and 'biscuit stones' of Medina sandstone, etc. Evidences of this violent water flow are seen in the ancient bed one hundred and nine feet below the present channel of Eel river in Clay county. In Putnam county the same developments are met in sinking wells near the southern boundary. At the fork of Croy's creek, four miles west of Reelsville, A. O. Hough put down a bore for coal about 1865, finding the bottom rock one hundred and twenty feet below the present water bed. It seems possible that the ancient Walnut creek flowed south eighty degrees west or nearly west by Otter creek from Oakalla to the Wabash in a channel now deeply hid but which future developments may discover.

"From causes now unknown the source of the ice river was afterwards changed to the northern center of the continent. This glacier moved south in two divisions, one excavating the basins of Lake Michigan and the other of Huron and St. Clair, the first crossing the state from north to south eight degrees to ten degrees east. The latter was very nearly due south. Combined, they are wider than the state of Indiana from east to west and. at a point of obstruction in Brown county, the ice was about four hundred feet deep. It bore upon its surface and in its icy bosom immense quantities of angular rocks, bowlders, gravel, sand and earth from northern regions, which, crushed and powdered, were mingled with the debris of local rocks planed away and ground up in the mill of nature. The result was that irregularities were cut down, ancient river channels and sluiceways of o'reat depth were filled up and the underlying rocks covered with a gray compact l)e<l of clay. sand, gravel and rock, termed the bowlder or glacial drift.

"Interesting specimens of glacial grooves, stride and planishing are seen in the 'Rock Cut' north of Maple Grove station, on the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago railroad, and on W. B. Williams' farm, section 28, township 13, range 4, two miles south of Putnamville. At the first locality the glacier, in its southward movement, filled the valley of the adjoining stream to the east, and was heaped against and ground down the sloping sides and banks of the valley. The planished surfaces, grooves and strice are distinct and perfect as of yesterday. At the second locality (Williams' farm) the ice flowing from the north was obstructed by a high hill of conglomerate sand rock, against which it steadily advanced with resistless force until it mounted the hill, leaving many planished surfaces, with scars and well preserved grooves on the summit.

"The coal measures are the most recent rocks exposed and comprise the southwestern parts of the county. Beginning at Portland Mills, they generally form the surface rock west of Little and Big Walnut creeks; south of Reelsville, they broaden to the east to near Cloverdale, and thence southwest by Doe creek to the southern boundary period.

"The conglomerate coal occurs at intervals all over the district. At a few stations it attains a thickness, in small pockets, of two or three feet, but such pockets or pools are limited in width to a few yards or rods. As a rule the seam is barren or only one or two inches thick and will not exceed an average of four inches. The product is at the same time sulphurous and inferior. In the vicinity of Morton a depression in the underlying rocks gives an eastern extension of the coal measure rocks, and many beautifully preserved 'ferns' and trunks of plants indicate the horizon of coal, the superimposed sand rock having been chiefly eroded. Other outcrops of coal occur north and northwest of Reelsville; generally thin and unworked. These coals are only opened for local use now and will not pay to work except by stripping; but, in the distant future, when coal may possibly become scarce or railway transportation exorbitant seams eighteen inches thick, and even less, will be worked as such seams are now sometimes worked in Europe.

"During the petroleum excitement (about 1865) a prospecting bore was put down in the east side of the village of Reelsville, commencing eighteen feet above lovv' water in Big Walnut creek. There resulted a strong flow of white sulphur water highly charged with sulphuretted hydrogen gas and containing chlorides of sodium calcium and magnesium, sulphites of the same bases with traces of bromide and iodine, etc. It had a pleasant saline, sulphurous taste and pungent odor and was found to have great, medicinal efficacy in cases of dyspepsia, rheumatism and ague. It was considered a specific in diseases of the liver and kidneys and, although the outlet was covered by the flood of 1875, 'ts 'magic cures' are still held in kind remembrance in this vicinity.

"Si.x miles .southwest of Qoverdale on the northeast quarter of section 12, town 12. range 5, is a very considerable outcrop of rich band and kidney iron ore in a wild, deep ravine. It was mined in i860 by the proprietor and some thirty tons sold to the Knightsville furnace. It was found to be an excellent ore to mix as a flux with the Missouri or Lake Superior ore. P.ut the expense of mining and hauling was fully equal to the market value and the enterprise was abandoned.

"The St. Louis beds of limestone foiTn the surface rocks in a well marked division from four to eight miles broad, extending from the extreme northwestern to the southwestern comers of the county, with denuded extensions in the valleys of the Chester and coal measure beds. These strata are known as the 'ca\'emous' or 'concretionary' limestones of the western states and are remarkable in the southern parts of this state for caverns, sunken valleys and subterranean rivers. South and east of Greencastle many funnelshaped sink-holes which receive and deliver the rainfall to hidden streams, indicate the probability of small caverns yet to be disco\ered here. The limestones vary much in quality. Some are pure carbonate ; others are silicious or aluminous and beds of shale, clay and argillite are interpolated.

"About a mile east of Cloverdale on descending from the limestone hills a level, flat clay district is found which extends east beyond Eel river and northeast towards Monrovia in Morgan county. This area has been deeply eroded during the glacial epoch, removing more than fifty feet of St. Louis limestone and along the eastern side of the county exposing rocks of the Keokuk and Knobstone groups. The excavation is now refilled with lacustral and fluviatile drift, indicating an a'oandoned river bed which once connected by Indian creek with White river valley.

"Putnamville, located on the National road, is famous for valuable quarries of paving curb and step stones. From it have been shipped large quantities of flags, bridge, dimension and rubble stone. The product has been in use. severely exposed to the extreme vicissitudes of our variable climate, including changes of sixty degrees of temperature in a single day, for over forty years. It has shown capacity to resist the action of frost, fire and ice. Samples, taken as a rule from the exposed parts of the quarry when tlrst opened in 1838-40, may be seen in piers, etc., of the bridges and culverts on the National road and in the locks of the canal, the steps of the mother and branch Banks of State at Indianapolis and also steps of the Terre Haxite House at Terre Haute and of the old university building at Greencastle.

Vveik S History Of

"Greencastle. the county seat, is situated on the high rolHng table land one mile east of Walnut fork of Eel river. Geologically, it rests upon the upper ledges of the St. Louis limestone. The conglomerate sand rock of the coal measures caps the summit of Forest Hill cemetery just south, as also the hills across Walnut just west of the city. Similar quarries are found at several points about town affording an abundant and cheap supply of stone which meets with the approval of the architects and builders of the

"Going north from Greencastle, many outcrops and quarries of St. Louis limestone are observable, presenting ledges of rock so similar to those already given that repetition is unnecessary. The surface outlook is characteristic of this limestone and is plane on the plateaus or gently undulating, moulded into long rolls and slopes by the action of air and moisture during ages of time. The soil is a calcareous loam and was originally clothed with a stately forest, composed of oak, poplar, ash, walnut, sugar, etc., trees, which indicate and characterize the soil that produces them. The sharp cuts of the creeks and brooks where rocky exposures are seen were exceptional scars on the face of nature so recent as to lack the healing and smoothing element of time.

"From an elevation high enough to include the whole county from east to west the autumnal foliage would present north-south lines of brilliant colors strongly marked and of magic splendor. At the time of my visit (October, 1880) the usual summer was followed by a warm, dry autumn, ripening the leaves of all the trees to full maturity before touched by frost. The eastern or Knobstone division of the county showed a background of the pale green of the beech, on which trembled as stars in the sky a neverendint^ medley of orange, straw, red. and other neutral tints of their companions, with occasional clumps of dogwood and maple to give vivacity to the modest scene. In the western or coal measure district, the background was the russet and brown of the oaks, flecked with strong blocks and lines of vivid colors. In the central or St. Louis division both the parts merged and mellowed, their contrasting colors uniting to crown every hill and deck everv valley with a foliage that has never, can never be painted or described : in which the scarlet, crimson and orange of the sugar and dogwood contrast in quivering life with gold, pink, green and russet of the elm, beech, oak, hickory, poplar and minor shrubs. It is not the display of a single tree or clump, but the whole woodland, united in a glorious blaze of untiring beauty. Soon the ground, too. is spread with a carpet of full ripened leaves which with everv breath of air is stirred into an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors, the whole forming an attraction which would justify a long journey to witness and enjoy."