Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1914 — Big Ditches Work Wonders in Country About Monon. [ARTICLE]

Big Ditches Work Wonders in Country About Monon.

Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Rabcbck, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Honan, took a delightful automoI bile trip Wednesday of 60 miles, goi ing from Rensselaer to Lee, Monon, Reynolds, Wolcott, Remington and , thence back home. The stone road , from Rensselaer to Monon is but little known to Rensselaer autoists. A part of the road east of Pleasant ' Ridge is quite rough at present owing to there being so many loose stone in the road, but from Lee on south and into Monor. the road is i better than anything we have in i Jasper county. I To one who has known this section of country for a number of | years, the improvements made of late in' the way of drainage, new i buildings and farm improvements, is ' something wonderful. Out on the former Thompson ranch, east of Pleasant Ridge, Jack Lawler is spending a great deal of money tiling, fencing, etc. A very large new barn has been put up at Pleasant Ridge, and his two brick or tile silos east of the Ridge, perhaps a couple of miles, are said to be the largest in the state, each having a capacity of some 500 tons. All the way into Monon a great change is noted in the farm lands along the route, and there are now many very nicely improved farms in that section. Between Monon and Reynolds one also notes a great change in the country. All of that section used to be quite wet and consequently not very productive. The big ditches put through there in recent years have furnished an outlet, much tiling has been done and the country is improving very rapidly. The same is true of the country on west of Reynolds, and in about Seafleld, which used to be a by-word all along the state line division of | the! Panhandle road, there are now fine productive farms and the country looks very prosperous. The roads were fine ail the way from Lee around to Remington, and except for the loose stone above referred to on the road east of Pleasant Ridge, the Range Line road from Remington to Rensselaer was in the worst condition of any part of the route traversed. In fact, the latter -oad has been in the worst condition all spring that we have ever seen it since it was improved.