Van Reed Farmstead

The early lines of travel were along the Indian trails. These were clearly defined paths, about eighteen inches wide, and worn into the sod of the prairie, sometimes to the depth of eight or ten inches. Some trace of these trails are to be found yet in the county. One of these led down from Lake Michigan across the Kankakee, near the Baum bridge, and took nearly a direct course to the Indian village in Newton Township. Another connected this village with the one in the eastern part of the county, crossing the Iroquois west of the county seat, and re-crossing it some distance east. From the latter point the trail extended to the Monon River, and on to the Wabash. Another crossed the county through the " Forks settlement," toward La Porte. These were the principal ones, and were the principal guides between certain points until roads were established. Blazed and staked roads pioneered the way for those that were regularly laid out. The old " horse-head road " was, perhaps, the connecting link between the two classes of roads. This was in the eastern part of the county, and took its name from a horse skull which was placed upon a large bowlder, which was a conspicuous land-mark on this route. The first legally established road was the State road leading from Williamsport, on the Wabash River, and the head of .early navigation to Winamac, important at an early day, as the location of the land office. This road extended from the first-named place by the most available and direct route to the Falls of the Iroquois ; thence to the now extinct village of Saltillo, crossing the Iroquois again, at the old ford above the farm of John Groom, and crossing the Pinkamink on the old bridge at Saltillo, and thence by way of White Post, to Winamac. The Saltillo bridge was the first structure of its kind built in the county, the old grade which was built at either end still remaining to mark its site. The Indian trail road which led from Rensselear northward to the Kankakee River, was probably the second road. This crossed at Eaton's Ferry, or where the Baum bridge now is. Congress early granted a " three per cent fund" for the building of roads and bridges, and in 1835 Thomas Randle was appointed agent for the disbursement of this fund. Porter County was very much interested in having a bridge put across the river at this point ; this Randle refused to aid. He was accordingly displaced. Joseph Schipp moved over the river from Porter, and was appointed agent of this fund. Under the new agent, the bridge, three-quarters of a mile lona;, was started in December, 1837, and §!2,300 expended in getting the log piers built, and the stringers placed. It never got beyond this point, however, as that winter it took fire and was burned. A good, substantial bridge, "'21 feet long, now spans the river at this point, to the southern end of which, this county has made a long and expensive grade. The " Dunn bridge " crosses the river further east in Kankakee Township, but the low character of the ground on the north side of the river renders it less desirable as a route of travel than the other. The meanderings of the river make the cost of bridges an important item in the expenses of the county, but the various road-crossings are pretty well supplied with substantial wooden structures, while in the central and southern parts four durable iron bridges afford a safe and sightly passage over the Irotiuois and other streams. But with all that could be profitably done for the highways of the county, the prosperity of the community settled here languished for the advantages of a railroad. When the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago made its way along its eastern border, the county had greater facilities, but its people had still a tedious journey over roads that were impassable to loaded teams during a large share of the time, and the contrast between the more favored territory and Jasper intensified the already considerable anxiety felt for better facilities for communication with the rest of the world.

Passage source: Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton, Indiana : Historical and Biographical, published 1883.

Saltillo, Davidsonville. - The settlement in what is now Gillam Township was the earliest one in Jasper County, and while of marked importance during the first years after the county was formed, it did not maintain its early prestige after the organization of the county. Until that period, however, it was the point for voting, and Donahue held the ofiBce of Justice of the Peace for several years, which made it the seat of justice for the time. The families of John Gillam and Joseph McJimsey came about 1836, and others soon after. The State road from Williamsport to Winamac went through this settlement, which gave a shght impetus toward the growth of a village. The weekly mail, which was carried through the village, gave color to its " manifest destiny," and Saltillo came into being. It was a spontaneous growth, but never became a matter of record. A house or two and a post office were all that gave importance to the location, the site of which is now only marked by the old bridge grade, nearly two hundred yards south of where the Rensselaer & FrancesviUe road now crosses the Pinkamink.

Passage source: Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton, Indiana : Historical and Biographical, published 1883.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Pine Township - 73,342 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.