Wayne County, Indiana - Chapter 24: Agriculture and Allied Interests, 1912

Chapter 24: Agriculture and Allied Interests

The history of agriculture in Wayne county would be preeminently, and almost exclusively, a history of the county itself, for Wayne county is the greatest agricultural county in Indiana, and ranks among the leading ones in the United States. _

When the tide of emigration turned to Indiana, in the early years of the last century, Wayne county was practically a wilderness, heavily timbered, and offered to the pioneer settler, who desired to produce crops, the hardest kind of hard work in felling the forests and clearing up the lands for agricultural production. We are not able to present the statistics of present day production in Wayne county, as at the time of this writing the census reports of 1910 relating to agriculture have not as yet been compiled and published. But the earliest figures at hand go back to 1826, when 9,375 acres of first, 72,979 acres of second, and 99,- ooo acres of third rate land appeared on the assessment roll. There were in the county at that time 2,431 horses, twenty-four stallions, and 248 oxen. These modest figures may be compared with present-day conditions, and the fact is interesting that at that time Wayne county surpassed any other county in the State in wealth, population, and enterprise; and now, eighty-five years later, it still ranks first in agriculture. In 1870 there were 1,989 farms of all sizes; 564 of these were over 100 acres in size and less than 500, while there were but six over 500 acres and less than 1,000, the remainder being less than 100 acres each. In 1880 there were 2,572 farms of all sizes, the increase in that decade being 583, a little more than twenty-five per cent. As was natural in the settling of a fertile region of this character, the number

It is interesting to note from statistics of production the growth of the county from the pioneer state to the state of intensive agriculture. When a country is first settled up the large areas of land induce the production of wheat and other cereals, and also the keeping of large numbers of sheep, which can thrive on the pastures of the wild lands which exist in the early history of a county. But as settlement proceeds and intensive agriculture develops, we see a gradual decline of the cereal and sheep crops, and an increase in crops that require more brains and give better value for the skill employed than the primitive agricultural occupations. In 1826, as before stated, there were 248 working oxen in Wayne county. This number was greatly increased during a few succeeding decades, and then the number gradually became less until to-day it would probably be difficult 'to find a pair of working oxen in the county for exhibition purposes. Milch cows, however, have steadily increased in number, and the large increase in dairying during the last decade has made this a leading industry at the present time. The rise and decline of the sheep industry in Wayne county, as sheep pasture flourished and then passed away, and the rise and decline of the growth of wheat, which is a sure indication of the gradual settlement of a new country, are interesting facts in the agricultural history of the county. :

Just as the production of the above crops, which are preeminently those of a pioneer country, decreased, so the crops that require skill and care in the management increased, and also with them, those cereals that are used exclusively as food for live stock. Each decade has shown a gradual-increase in the production of corn and oats, while the production of wool in the meantime has decreased.

No branch of agriculture requires more skill and intelligence than the production of milk and the manufacture of butter, and in this industry Wayne county occupies a leading place.

The increase in the production of agricultural wealth was accomplished to a great extent by labor-saving tools, and a large amount of money has been paid by the farmers annually for implements to further their productions. Horses on the farms have greatly increased in number.

sweet potatoes have both been prominent in the list, an increase being shown in nearly every decade. Corn, oats, -wheat, barley, buckwheat, rye, horses, mules, cows, sheep, hogs, wool, butter, cheese, milk, and fruits of all kinds are produced in abundance, and we think it can truthfully be said that Wayne county stands at the head of the list of counties in the State for the production of agricultural wealth. And the statement may be added that the agricultural population of the county comprises the most intelligent in the State; for, in spite of good land and improved farm méthods, all now realize that brains form a greater factor in agricultural operations than any other item; and Wayne county leads because of the superior intelligence of its farming community.

The cities and villages of Wayne county are engaged in the very laudable effort of endeavoring to attract to their respective municipalities various manufacturing concerns, and the county properly boasts of its factories; but the annual product of the cackling old hen on the farms in Wayne county exceeds in value the entire product of any factory in the county, and the old hen never closes down her industrial plant nor runs short hours on account of industrial depression. She is everlastingly at it, year after year, without intermission. The great farm factory of Wayne county is annually producing millions of dollars' worth of finished product, and at the same time the farmers are not following out a course of farming that depletes the soil. Practically all of the great cereal productions are fed upon the farm. In the future, every year will see this great farm factory gradually increasing its production. Whether the times are good or poor the factory is run for the full output, and the effect of this large production of wealth by the agricultural interests means great and continued prosperity to the cities and villages of Wayne county.

The Wayne County Agricultural Society was organized in 1850, and conducted a Fair at Richmond on land owned by Jonathan Roberts. At the next session of the State legislature D. P. Holloway prepared and introduced a bill providing for the organization of a State Board of Agriculture. The bill became a law and the State Board arranged for the State fair. D. P. Holloway was the first president of the county society. The first fair was attended and addressed by Governor Wright. These fairs were continued annually for a number of years. In 1870 there was organized the Cambridge City District Agricultural Society, with a capital

In the early settlement of the Miami valley in Ohio, early in the Nineteenth century, Silas Wharton, of New Jersey, started a nursery near Waynesville, Warren county, Ohio. A little later Andrew Hampton began a nursery about six miles north of Richmond. This was about 1830. Silas Wharton breught scions of the best varieties of fruits from New Jersey, which at that time possessed as good a collection of fruits of many kinds as any State in the Union. From this source of supply, Wayne county started out with as fine a collection of fruits as could be found in the country. Soon after Andrew Hampton's venture in the northetn part of the county, Cornelius Ratliff established a nursery about one mile north of Richmond. From these early nurseries the entire county was faitly well supplied with an excellent collection of fruits. There are now on the highlands, between the White Water and Green's Fork streams, and between Green's Fork and Noland's Fork, orchards of apple and pear trees about eighty or ninety years old that are still producing crops of excellent fruit.

It is an interesting fact that nearly all the earlier nurserymen were members of the Society of Friends. Among these were Andrew Hampton, Cornelius Ratliff, Isaac Votaw, Kinley, John Osborn, Gardner and John Mendenhall, Moses Hough, E. Y. Teas, and Thomas B. Morris. Among those not Friends were John J. Conley, John J. Hutton, David Railsback, and Hiram Sulser,

Because of the interest thus early manifested it is not strange that Wayne county early had a horticultural society. There is evidence that the society was organized as early as 1855, and we have records showing an organization in existence in 1858. About three years after this time the State society was formed. Among the first members of the Wayne county society were J. H. Hutton, John J. Conley, John Lynch, David Railsback, Gardner Mendenhall, Daniel L. Downing, Hiram Sulser, John Reed, Lewis Jones, Irvin Reed, John A. Mendenhall, Edward Y. Teas, Benjamin Strattan, George W. Barnes, A. N. Newton, John P. Lancaster, William R. Smith, Walter G. Stevens, C. S. Mendenhall, O. J. Hyde, .T. J. Ferguson, J. C. Ratliff, W. L. Taylor, Sylvester Johnson, Roland T. Reed, J. M. Hutton, Isaac Votaw, Lewis D. Stubbs, Cornelius Ratliff, E. T, Bash, J. P. Siddall, George W. Iliff, Robert Murphy, Phineas Lamb, Isaac L. Thomas, Timothy Harrison, W. S. Reid, I, P. Evans, John Valentine, Jacob Thomas, Benjamin Hill, S. S. Boyd, D. P. Holloway, R. S. Mitchell, J. M. Bulla, and J. D. Hamp- ton. The object of the society was mutual improvement and an education of the people along horticultural lines. Many practical questions were discussed. The society is still in existence.

Among the earliest florists in the county was Edward Y. Teas, who had a greenhouse at Chester. In 1864 he came to Richmond and purchased the business of John J. Conley. Under his direction E. G. Hill received his education in floriculture. Other early florists were Benjamin Strattan, John R. Mendenhall, John J. Hutton, and L. B. Case. Edward Y. Teas is still in business at Centerville. The Richmond florists have a world-wide reputation. Among the leading firms are the E. G. Hill Company, George R. Gause & Company, Fred H. Lemon & Company, the Charles Knopf Floral Company, and the Charles Rouch Company.

Early Flouring Mills

The great length of time since the first mills were built in this part of the country, and the absence of data by which the time could be fixed, renders it difficult to determine with any degree of certainty the particular time that these mills were put into operation. This is the case in regard to who built the first mill. Young, in his "History of Wayne County," says: "The first mill built in the county was by Charles Hunt, in 1807, on Elkhorn - a mile above its mouth." The Inter-State Publishing Company in its "History of Wayne County," says: "Jesse Clark, who came from North Carolina, built the first flouring mill in the county, two miles north of Richmond." Other evidences go to show that Jeremiah Cox built his mill on the site of the present Starr Piano works in the fall of 1807. It is this mill that we propose now to consider. The building, if such it might be called, was erected by firmly planting in the ground heavy poles with forks at the upper ends, in which other poles were laid to support the roof, which was of split clapboards. "This," says "Jerry" Cox, "sheltered the hopper and the meal trough pretty well when the wind didn't blow." He who brought his corn and wheat to this mill had to turn the bolt by hand, while the miller fed in the ground wheat or corn as it came from the burrs. These burrs were two and one-half feet in diameter and would grind at the rate of two bushels an hour. This was at a time when the "Indians and wolves were thick." The former would occasionally come to the mill and exchange some trinket for a little corn meal, or try to buy or beg some. The wolves frequently played havoc with the farmers' flocks. "Jerry" Cox run his mill till 1833, when he sold it to Joseph P. Plummer, the father of Dr. John T. Plummer, who, in 1835, sold it to Dr. James R. Mendenhall. It changed hands frequently till 1847, when Basil Brightwell became the owner and put up ani entirely new mill, converting the old one into an oil mill. This old building, it is said, stood immediately on the bank of the river, was nearly square, tall, and had the proverbial hip-roof. It was believed by a great many people to be haunted. It was further said and believed that the imprint of bloody hands and feet could be seen at a certatin time of the day, on the under side of the roof, from a certain place in the dark old garret.

Basil Brightwell also put in a new dam near where the present one is located. It was a very expensive and complete structure. The abutments and parapet walls were of hamimer-dressed stone, and was said to have cost him $3,000. It was carried away, so history says, by the January flood of 1848. The old brush dam, just above it, remained almost uninjured, so that it was but a short time till the mill was running again. The banks of the river were so steep and rugged up and down the stream that it was difficult to get into the valley or out of it with a vehicle. The road leading to the mill from the east side commenced at the foot of South A street, near where the jail stands, and angled along the side of the hill for a considerable distance to the bottom, and was so narrow that there was but one place wide enough for wagons to pass, and that was about midway of the slope. If teams met above or below that point there was trouble. A financial crash finally overtook Basil Brightwell, and his life terminated very sadly. The mill was sold at a sheriff's sale and, after passing through different hands, was bought by Jackson, Swain & Dunn, who converted it into a woolen mill.

Before Richmond had an existence, and while Indiana was yet a Territory, when Indians and wild beasts inhabited the surrounding country, Charles Moffitt emigrated from North Carolina and located here in the year 1811. Four years later he built a mill, which was located just outside the city limits, on the New Paris and Middleboro pike, on the east fork of Whitewater. The Inter-State Publishing Company's "History of Wayne County" says of this mill: "It is one of the oldest mill sites in the state, a land mark of olden tithes, well known to the pioneers who came from far and fear to secure its services in turning their corn into meal and their wheat into flour - 'Moffitt's Mill,' for it was known as such as far west as Indianapolis, and as far north as Fort Wayne." The first building erected by Charles Moffitt for a mill was similar to the one built by Jerry Cox - a temporary structure. Subsequent additions and improvements were added, as means were afforded and business seemed to increase, until a large four-story building had to take the place of the temporary ones. The timbers of this were solid hewn oak logs, which did service for more than seventy years. This was the only mill in this part of the country that was run by an undershot wheel ; the difference between this and the overshot is that in the latter the water strikes the wheel from above, while the former _Feceives its power from under the wheel. The water, flowing rapidly down an incline, strikes the float boards of the wheel with such momentum as to give motion and power to the machinery, its movement being in the opposite direction from the overshot. Owing to the great waste of water and other objections, this wheel was soon superseded by "the old stand-by," the overshot.. This mill had two run of burrs beside a corn mill and for many years did a large amount of business - more than was done by any other mill in this locality. The flour was hauled to Cincinnati on wagons to market; the bran frequently accumulated to such an extent that it was piled up outside of the mill to get it out of the way.

The first dam that was built was a brush dam, which, after a few years, was replaced by a frame dam. This stood the floods and freshets when every other dam on the three streams heretofore spoken of was swept away. After standing for half a century it was replaced by a new one, in 1873. This mill, like the others here mentioned, had many changes in its ownership. Charles Moffitt, after running it for many years, sold it to his son, Hugh. Benjamin Fulghum next bought a half interest in it. The next firm was Kenworthy & Fulghum, then Kenworthy & Son. Ezra Hill and Henry Wetherald bought out the Kenworthys; Ezra Hill in turn bought out his partner, then Hill & Stafford were the owners till 1879, when F. H. Stafford became its owner. It was destroyed by fire in 1883, but soon a substantial brick building was erected on the site of the old one, at a cost of $6,000, and was furnished with the latest and most approved machinery. The expense of the new dam, above alluded to, the cost of the new building with its expensive outfit, and the financial depression which followed, proved too great a load for Freeling Stafford to carry. He failed in 1884. In 1890, D. W. Marmon, a grandson of Charles Moffitt, bought the property, took out all the machinery for making flour and replaced it with a full roller system for making corn meal and its different preparations for food, such as pearl meal, cream meal, cerolene, etc. Whole wheat flour was also a specialty. It is said that sixty-six car loads of meal of 750 bushels each were shipped to Liverpool

Silk Culture In Richmond

Seventy years ago no town in the State, and but few anywhere, could boast of more manufactories in proportion to its population than the little town of Richmond. The three streams of Whitewater coming together here were utilized as a motive power to their fullest extent - in fact, the tail race of one mill or factory discharged its water into the dam of another in the vicinity of the town. Business men stood ready to engage in any enterprise and especially that of manufacturing something which promised success. An Englishman, residing here at the time, by the name of Fox, who seemed to be acquainted with the business, suggested the manufacture of silk. His proposition met with favor, so much so that Isaac E. Jones, Warner M. Leeds, and Charles W. Starr formed a company, furnished the money, and the business was commenced, and the first step in silk culture in Richmond was taken. Machinery for reeling, spinning and weaving silk was ordered from the East and set up in a building erected by Charles W. Starr, located above the paper-mill bridge on the bank of the river. Interest in the new enterprise increased from day to day. Orders were sent to Newport, Ky., for silk worm eggs - that being the nearest point where they could be obtained. Men and women, old and young, seemed anxious to engage in the new business, and ordered eggs in various quantities at the rate of twenty cents per hundred. The work connected with the business in regard to the management of the worms, their diseases and enemies, was largely studied and willingly imparted, and everything seemed to be moving forward with a fine prospect for an extensive business. On the return of warm weather the eggs hatched, especially those that had been kept in a room warmed by artificial heat, before the mulberry leaves, their natural food, were large enough to gather, consequently thousands of worms died from starvation. Those who were more fortunate in the management and care of their worms found that rats, mice and ants were enemies that required constant watchfulness and care, but the most serious loss was from disease, which attacked the worms when nearly grown and 'seemed to be contagious. Cold drafts of air and thunderstorms caused many of the worms to leave

The disappointments and failures connected with the first year's experience were indeed discouraging. Not enough silk was manufactured to keep the machinery bright. At first the worms were fed on the leaves of our common mulberry. Boys were paid twelve and one-half cents a sack for gathering and bringing in the leaves. Then came the Morris Multicaulis, the very name of which was the keynote to success in silk culture. Its introduction caused great excitement among the citizens of Richmond. A small tree was valued, not by its size, but by the number of buds it contained. A scion could be cut from a tree and easily rooted by placing it in wet soil or damp sand. These buds were sold for four cents apiece. The demand for this mulberry and its propagation was so rapid that the following year after its introduction at least three acres in Happy Hollow and eight acres on Jonathan Roberts' farm were devoted to raising and cultivating the young trees. Yards and gardens also had their share of those highly prized trees. Like the outlot speculation in some of our cities, a depression followed these extravagant prices and proved disastrous to the future prospect of speculation in the Morris Multicaulis.

After two years of disappointment and costly experience, a determined effort was made to put new life into the business and make it a success. A large cocoonery was built in Happy Hollow and another larger one on the corner where Smith's coffin works were later located. This was in 1844, and the crop of cocoons was better that year than in the two preceding ones. .Morgan Jones was employed as foreman in the factory and the business bid fair to become a permanent one. Goods were manufactured - such as thread, twist, pocket and neck handkerchiefs, vestings and dress goods. So high an estimate was held on some of these goods that they went into market, or rather in trade, the same as money. Many of them were beautiful. Henry Clay, while visiting Richmond at one time, was presented with a finely wrought white handkerchief by a daughter of Isaac E. Jones, which was to indicate to him the skill and enterprise of the people of Richmond. It is said that Nathan Morgan bought a pocket handkerchief for $1.50 of James E. Reeves while he was a merchant here, and, placing the opposite corners together, cut itso as to make two of equal size and sold one of them for what he gave for the handkerchief. The time for the worms to develop and spin their cocoons being so short - from six weeks to two months - and the limited number engaged in the business of furnishing the raw material, the factory stood idle the greater part of the year, and as the machinery was light and required but little power to run it, the company decided to move it into the second story of the present building on the northwest corner of Twelfth and Main streets, where it was operated by the old gentleman and his two sons, who were designated as the gray, black and red Foxes, according to the color of their hair. The following year, 1845, the company found the enterprise an unprofitable one, sold the machinery to Isaac E. Jones, who moved it to Newport, Ky., and the manufacture of silk in Richmond was at an end.