Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1876 — NARROW-GAUGE RAILROAD. [ARTICLE]

NARROW-GAUGE RAILROAD.

We learn that the subject of a harrow gauge railway, from thia place to Valpa- . miso through Rensselaer, is being agitated by the citizens of the latter town. We woald much ra'tlier advocate the building -X-i’-a good/'solid gravel road between this .place and the county seat. True it is that the facilities for travel between the two places should be increased In some manner. At the least calculation it would cost STB,WO to build a narrow gauge railroad -from here to Rensselaer, while oue-foilrth ®f that aum would build a good gravel road.— Remington Record. While it Is always good policy to be ” et»i of ■ every enterprise before rt» is undertak•<en, it Is none the less true that the ■cheapest articles are not always the beat, the most economical, or the most ■useful. A cotton pocket handkerchief •does not cost very much money and render certain conditions would, no i doubt, serve a very useful purpose; •but ho ordinary person would spread >it on his bed on a cold winter’s night .and expect tn derive as much comfort iae If ft was ft heavy flannel blanket that would cost several times more, Leaving out of the discussion the 4>otent fact that material to construct «ravel road would have to be proWNd from g Jong diatanoe. ftt greater -expense perhaps than our neighbor of -thd’-Beeord imagines, we would urge ■ that, although it would be a vast imoirovenient over the present highway, MTfl JienMngtun, and Benselaer, and ft large porilbu of the.inhabitants of our county woaid derive fewer advuHtiige* and permanent benefits than would accrue U> them from the little .'..'HMM* costly Jinprovement. By the iiMMina ofn Harrow gauge connection Remington would'be iilaced In ahorter and more direct - i <ftHUmuni«ation WitlrChisago; an adilhMtafle Which her business men and 'Whddcal Wjth them would hot be Y-'jnndri han no joot-Bommunhsadon with Michigan /'real lumber depot of Ipdianu, tho-lgb she h:is long .lesiwl one; ; jUMI bMiUbm «d Mria Wiro* ffwog® gnftd from IWlnglon to Valparaiso ~M to ,11 h.torm north ward __

Tstations tn Jasper county from three to JW ffoMwa totaaper per thousand /Mt than now; the lumber yards on the Louisville, New Albany A Chicago road are cited in support of this statement. Rehsseiaer people now buy lumber at Francesville for enough less money than the same grades are sold for In Remington to pay for the cost of Ito team freightage to this place. The route of the proposed enterprise lies directly through the midst of a vast deposit of iron ore in the northern part of Jasper county. Hon. John Collett, Assistant State Geologist, visited these ore-fields lu 1872, and in his report published on pages 200 and 297 of the Geological Survey qf Indiana of that year, makes the following statement with regard to them: Bog ores of iron are abundant In the northern part of the county. The area of deposit, after careful examination bv Mr. 8. P. Thompson, being estimated as follows: Township 80 north, range 7. 700 acres. Township 80 north, range 6, 500 acres. Township 80 north, range 5, 500 acres. Township 81 north, range 0, 1500 acres. Township 81 north, range 7, 500 acres. Township 32 north, range 5, 1000 acres. Township 82 north, range 6, 500 acres. Township 32 north, range 7, 500 acres. Many other beds of smaller area are known to exist. * * * * The beds are generally from one to two and a half feet below the surface of the ground, and from five io six inches thick, with a reported thickness, in some places, of t wo and a half feet. In 1870 Mr. L. D; Gtazebrook dug and shipped from San Pierre station, on the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago road, 500 tons of ore, part being from Jasper county and part from Starke county. Other parties dug and shipped from the same point from 300. to 500 tuns. The price obtained was sß"BSf"Wsdeliveredaboard the cars, which paid well for digging, and less than three miles hauling to the railroad. The ore was taken to the Planet ftirnace, in Clay county, but on account of the high rates of freight $8 per ton, as 1 am informed,) imposed >y the railroad, the business was abandoned. The ore is pure, and makes, by admixture with the rich ores of Lake Superior, a very desirable quality of metal; and with reasonable freights, large quantities of the ere would be in demand. Extend the narrow gauge, cheaply operated railroad south of Remington, into the coal-fields of Warren, Fountain, Parke and Clay counties and the pure iron ore of Jasper county, the rich iron ore of Lake Superior, and the smelting coals of Indiana are brought together by means of cheap transportation. Let capital then erect reducing furnaces, iron foundrys, and machinery manufacturing establishments in the midst of the ore-fields of Jasper county, bringing their build* ing lumber and Lake Superior ore from the north, and their coal from the south, and an era of prosperity would be inaugurated for Jasper county far excelling anything in her past history, giving returns a thousand fold in excess of the expense to her inhabitants, and which should enlist the cordial co-operation of every far-seeing and public-spirited citizen.

The Reksbeukb Ukiox mentions as a creditable act of Hon. Mr. Haymond, congressman from this 10th district, that he voted with republicans.- Valparaiso Vidette. This statement Is not as fair as we have learned to expect from Judge Talcott. Mr. Haymond was commended for voting with the republican members of congress bn the amnesty question. Had he done otherwise he would have stultified bis record as a soldier, and impeached his judgment if loyalty. The question was not one of party, nor an issue between democracy and republicanism ; but it was a sqtfare effort upon the part of treason and rebellion to compel the nation, through the elected representatives of the people, to admit that civil war is merely a venial offense at most —a sort of high-toned, genteel pas-

time to be indulged in by gentlemen of leisure at will, without incurring punishment or any one’s serious displeasure—aud not the horrid, barbarous crime it is agaiust civilization, humanity, aud God. Dr. Haymond voted on this issue, not as a republican or democrat, nor in any narrow partisan sense whatever, but he voted as a loyal man, a patriotic citizen, a true statesman and a Christian gentleman, faithfully reflecting the views of an intelligent constituency. In this instance his Judgment was supein his last annual message recommended the passage of an amnesty bill of sweeping provisions. __

As a matter of justice to a political opponent and a much-abused man we desire to state, from personal knowledge, that the story recently circulated, to the effect that Dr. Hambleton, clerk of the ways and means comniittce,numed one of his children after'John Wilkes Booth, is untrue. The child was named in honor of his uncle, John Wilkes Hambleton, and some of the friends of the family were accustomed, in a perhaps questionable, spirit of badinage, to call him Wilkes Booth. This should put at rest the story that he was christened with the name of the assassin l of the martyr Lincoln.— Washington, D. C-, Republican. It would be expecting too much, we presume, of the Inter-Ocean, Indianapolis Journal, and the small fry papers of that kidney, to look lit their columusforu statement of this character. Where the sanguinary under garment Is eliminated from politics they have no interest—indeed, it is probable that if they could not have an occasional sniff of blood, they would even wish they were dead.

This paper having received the practical endorsement of both the Independent and the republican parties' of Jasper county. In their recent mass conventions, its proprietors are euWt)raged Ur ootid pate for it a career of usefudufißM, popularity, and prosperity fiir In exetfe* of anything hitherto enjoyed by tile press of Rensselaer. *We recollect of but a single instance that may he considered parallel to the action of our friends.' It was the case of on eccentric perspn named Twining, known ill thiiiWgi&ii dTboUhtry nA ”the Itee man*” who claimed to be a member, of good standing ip two chtirobes of diflbrent creeds, at n fur* mcr place of residence.

Bheriff Nicely of Tippecanoe county hac written to the chcriff of Ja*per county that he will lodge no more prisoners in hie jail for Jacper county, because Mid county is too infernal glow about paying.— Delphi Times. > 1 ' ... Since then Sheriff Nlsely has apologised liHe a gentleman for being too impetuous, and signified his willingness to provide accommodations for the entire population of Jasper county. And now peace, comity, and friendship prevail once more between the shrievalty departments of the Iroquois and the Wabash. Several articles in typo have been left out of our paper this week for lack of space. Notably among them is a column and a half of Mr. Clifton’s interesting “Reminiscenses of Jasper County.” We have been compelled to leave over for next week more than four columns set for this number, on account of the encroachment of advertisements. Says the Valparaiso Messenger: M, L. Spitler, clerk of the Jasper circuit court, is certainly an honest man. -Mr. Binnanton has just received a postal money-order of 66 cents, for fees due him. That is characteristic of our honored fellow citizen. ‘ It is said that the Remington Record man made Mark Twain’s sacrilegious mistake, and shad tears osar (he ioe house at Mount Vernon.— Fowler Herald. How is that. Henry Purcupile? On the third page of this paper is published-Hon, Newton -Booth afcfo argument in favor of the 3.60 interconvertible bond proposition.