Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1873 — The Rensselaer and Francesville Section. [ARTICLE]

The Rensselaer and Francesville Section.

All our exchanges, both eit_v and rural, of.(Jus Stale and Illinois, moutioVi'tho snow storm ‘MVoni■ thenortheast,” which prevailed last. Thursday, aYoue of unusual erMr. Slate Representative Hatch, '{whom, by the way, we 'frequently •bear complimented as one y»f tinfaithful members «»f the flouyts), has one ib a i ikn-imf - s tend ry. mmd- tUv-ers-iuH irsFug, State chn-n----men is. Prom a recent rejoivt: oi IDii. .Tames 1:1. Ryun, late Treasurer el State', wo'find that Jasper. con-uty paid into the r.p'hj»i.l .fuliit-c-f.lm'H ana in.,lt-71, f. ;,7lio;3B,':;nd dr, w t nt $G,'080.08;. in 1872 she n i l in 8?5,G05.08, and drew « at viE-i tu 54The Local Lnisr, of 1-baiicoA-lik 1 , wears the-belt.,so far as newsi-.u-er-<tonr rrr TTmalrvyestern InTiianh is eelu£ 11,ed.— K. l.laiQii (t'.e. Yes, they say the extra strain attending the production of that ten-cent Now Years? address eaitsed - a rupture and 4'..-. irniumh-:ts war;l. a belt ever since.

This county inis no poor farm and but few paimers.--Stark County Ledger. There is a mistake out somewhere, Brother Mu: -i itaati, for we have often...".b. > n told tin-re .were hundred* of poor farms in '‘little btnrke,” in fact hut few of guy other qua lily. The franki-tig- privilege has been abolished —-that is, a bill to rfbiiF.Mi it has parsed bo Hi Ilom-ca of Congress, and only await* ike President's signature to bee- : me a law —and row members of Congress are talking about Irfereasrirg their pay per ..inmin to defray expenses of stationery nirl-poslage. It is said that all post. offices -haying a daily mail are to he supplied wit h weather reports issued from the United States Signal. Service Depr OUebU Sul tab le frames are to he fun'.ished as part of the fixtures of the post office's., tend post masters will be required to display the reports publicly in their offices for the benefit of ail clashes who desire meteoric probabilities.

Governor llonili'teks'lias appotfiTC<3 W. \Y. C'oniK-!', of Noblesville, Adjutant General ol Indiana." Biti ■where is the use of ::n Adjutant General for a State not threatened with an “interposition of Federal muhorify,” or “the menace of national arms/ Or, fer that matter, why maintain an Aunniev-Genena?' * (i *■ >' 11 y nut abolish these merely ornamental appendages to the .Guv-, eruoi’s staff? The advocates of Women's Stiff-* rage in Indiana should .engrave the tianra of S-eiiTuneiluheaX StJXvviiT--gains npoii the iahh tsof their hearts, write it: it] on -their pin lingeries, tattoo it upon tl c’.r IVye-h.-mls and tench it to their children and their children’s children, that' he may always remembered'upon the face of the earth. Mr." Dwigpitfs Tras been .their earnest, entlnrsiastie champion from the -tart —a ITo>-s----ier C!,< vaiier Bayard, ■ . 'is y<' V-, sans reproach*' —lie has done with his whole undivided energies all that it was possible for Idm t<jJ*do for that cause. Dut at the present time female suffrage hot find a lodgement in Indiana, first, because, a large majority do not want it, and second, because those who do want to exercise the privilege, of voting are divided in their counsels and quarrel among themselves.

Pomeroy's Democrat is a neatly printed, six col until quarto weekly edited and published: by- 3? ark 31. Fomcia y, New York city, at $2.50 .a ye ar,' ' The Memocrat Is a vig-orons, slangy, sensational paper—“redhot”— and profiessed 1 y “I)eniocra lie at all times and under all circumstances,” In tlic old' fashioned, anti conservative, style. No “new departure,” and no “Liberal I'epubiieanism”in the Dmochrt.- "'lts-con-tents are vituperative editorials and editorial trbnservations up is men aii<3 things, riicy, or “fast,” correspond-' ence, Masonic intelligence, home and foreign news, market reports, stories, poetry and many advertisements of question able and disreputable character. Others might have a different opinion of it, but we eke not think its influence on the m**v- , als or polities of those who read it is of an elevating or^purifying tendency. Mr. Pomeroy is a ideas'o # * Trig, facinatin'g writer when liej Wishes to be, but. he does not seem-i to wish to be pleasant very often . or very long st ft fime. Every sub-'' eyriber to the Democrat will have l choice of three £5 chrorrmH, atnl a : chance in a $5,000 distribution of ( .money aml valuable present#.

Alf.ll. S. Hinton, of Indianapolis, whom the Legislature* recently elected one of the Canal Commissioners, is a negro. - * ITotCTsT fKaf for a State which elects a Demoera tie Governin'? • The Monliotdw • VofistiCuliifHiiHst fa vs a meeting will he held at Indi’aiiap.'.k.s', 5 ih.-'ith day id February for l!,ie purpose considering the ] oss'iliility of extending the hue of the proposed Indianapolis Delphi cfc Chicago Railroad to the Ohio ri.vA meeting called in Rochester last Satin-day week, to perfect arrangements to yhjoiii the Treasurer of Fulton cwiiu'.fy fnim coilecring ■ the tax voted and levied in aid of the Continental railroad, adjourned sine uii without accomplishing anythin..'.

■ We 1 i it¥e .re oe-i vo*LMo*si'iu-Bri ggs & Rro s Illustrated (j'oulerbj tor IST:V. It is a superb publication, "proi'u.st-1 y iflu s tr:ifed wit 1 1 gorge o l is plates am! elegant' cuts of flowers and vegetables. The catalogue of rsTrefe,Tfadb'sy;pkaTits:y mental shrubs embraces ’ f.he Ifpopujar varieties and includes many ; rare and beuntilul novelties. The j directions given in it for-pro] aring ; the soil, laying out grounds and cull Rating flowers and vegetables ore full, practical and explicit. Of : ilit* nia l l y t. :ttol og 1 1es wo have st:e ll this is leader in point c os beauty. — Having dealt with Messrs. Briggs & Bio.' each of the past three seasons we. do not lie-hate to rteom--1 meed llu'-in to the patronage of .pur f~Ueigbbpi’n. *1 itw seeds procured of ithetii, both vegotal.de anil Hower. I wliei'C- always ol' the best quality : and proved true to description in ] every instance. The collection ui animal il nvi rs .displayed at the ! Jaspe r County Fair last fall by Mrs. |IL R. James an dAvl ii eh-was award j UL theqiimmunTt as the bes* t -,jil ee | tlm> on. jvxhpbitioii,' S() t ] l( basket of ton’,a lues w liicli \vai ; awarded the premium, were groavr fi’imt seeds. procured yiT Messrs . Briggs & Bro., Roeliestef, X Y., ti } whom send your address ami twenty -five . emUs and receive, t licit ! (liiarterlyvbefore jmroliasing y oui ! seeds ibipspriiig ]»lanting.

| Don't visit the schools too much! Probably three-fourth* of the Selfstyled “advanced and progressive j educatin'.-” of Oair rural districts ; will hold' up their hands, gape and | stare, **horrified tit this heterodox, I'p.ird wliat they will be pleased to ; term,arid fogy idea; but the adviop I is worth considering, nevertheless. /Pro lessor Drown, iti his remarks, urged upon parents, and 'guar-. dians 'the duty of frequently i visiting their schools and closely ! watching the progress of their children, and wards. "What one here.,” Lbe asked,-' ‘ 1 mvang a span of mules' j \\ intering ill the country on a farm, ! Would' not go out occasionally to see i how they were being cared for'/” 31 any thought a good point bad been made, and a buzz of apprhba* : tion was attilible in the audience; but the "illustration is not good, for-/ the cases are not parallel. Let those mules be brought Imm ere wry ; evening at four o'clock and left j until eight o’clock next morning and there would be little need of Visits ! to their feeding place in Order to find out whether or not they were being'properly cared for. Neither ; is it necessary to visit the school, room-to learn if the children are j being properly instructed. It is

vei*y doubtful if schools are benefited much by visiting, while it is certain that some are injured there, bv. The school room should be as quiet as possible in order that the pupils’ minds may be concentrated up hi tin ir.lessons. The advent of parents or strangers into the school room must necessarily be an Tiitrusioti, ihtejt'rupting, disturbing and distracting study and thought’, and doing more harm to tht 1 pupils than ■ can possibly be counteracted by the eneoufagemei.t of their presence or .good counsel of v their 'speeches. It is faintly possible that an occasional visit to the #.ehoohr by school officer's may be made ad- i vantageous by suggesting to them improvements in tlie system of, teaching or mode of management which are susceptible of general, application; but the advent of the ; ordinary ‘‘school house loafer, who -_ - ! i.- too lazv to keep up' fires at home, j and so ignorant that lie does not j know the difference between a con- j sonant and a eoptinent, Ya squirt ■ tobacco spittle on the floor and j stove and to study up criticisms ; submit 'matters that he can’t under-! stand, is ; «an event not.to be desired Toy either teacher Or pupils. Such i visits are nuisances p liick ongjit to'j be prohibited by law. .

Ia the issue of the Union of April Gtli, 1871, we-urged upon, the ofli-.j eers of the Central Construction! Company the propriety of p'utting. ip running condition, at an early day, a section of the Continental railroad from Francesville qn the Louisville, New Albany &, Chicago ! road, so Rensselaer, the county seat j of Jasper county, a distance of fifteen miles. The gist of that article ! was:, first, that by sir doing an item j of local aid of some value would be ; secured; and, second,that this sec-I tibn would pay lor operating. It' is our present purpose to reiterate I thocas stajeijieiits and enlarge upon tliein-to some extent. •’ ■ ' The people of J asj«er county have given this- magnificent project a i hearty support from its inception ; and are still its warm friends. They . voted upon themselves, and—our j Gomtnissioners have levied, a tax j of about two per cent, of the ap- j praised value of the propertydn the.; county, to aid in the construction I of this. road. This tax is nearly all ! e.nlb-eiT-dTmdin the county treasdry ready to be paid over to the 'Construction Company, it it shall have ' performed its part of the contract -by the first day of June, 1873. in i addition to this, the right of way rlras been secured, and the gracing ;is nearly all completed, ready to : receive'ties and. ij;on between the two abo',e named. Incase this preposition' should he looked , 'upon with favor by the Construction Company, and they would give a reasonable assurance that they would put the cars to running over this section 'bythe time above siitiedjinany are of the opR-^ ! :,n il,l,li, ' !on:il aI!U,UI '.; of local aid : equal t-o could be l aiscti .aoiig tlie people nninedi- . J, ‘ .y henefitted. Should the Com* ! panv faTFto build this part of' the road by the first of June it will foft feit iUf id gh t tool a im-tbeta x levied and eelleetedfor its benefit, which ■ < * !-.aittt»irijts- to.830:000. and it is very I d jubtfui if we could ever agaifi raise so much money for the same purpose. - : The following hastily gathered j statistics will show whether the business-done liere will pay the expense of running this short line: j Coal-anmially,eon timed 20.0 tons-. Lumber importations 10.0,000 feet ; and if Hie road is in running order : from here to Francesville by the | first of June, with a prospect of ; completing to Fort Wayne by winter, this quantity would be doubled ' or tripled the first season. Four dry-goods stores pay 5G25 : each, for freights annually, or an I. aggregate 0f..82,50U. Five groceries pay out §4OO each, ; or One hardware store 8300. Two drug stores 8000 each, or 8000. ; Throe Blacksmith shops SSOO j each, or 81,500. ! . Other freights 82,000. Twenty five car loads of farm 1 machinery are annually brought here. .

It :s-estimated that from SOO to 1,000 barrels of salt are brought til during the year. There is shipped out from the country around us, the inhabitants j of which do most of their trading at Rensselaer, not Jess than 100 Toads of hav atid grain per day for 120 days in the year. These loads j will average 1,500 pounds each and : make an aggregate of 1,800,000 pounds or 900 tons. Each year from 125 to 140 car loads of cattle and from 00 to 75 -ear loads of horses, hogs and-sheep--1 are an nua Ily exported. Two daily mails are received here. 1 The mumber of travelers who j visit tins place and return by hack and private is from 2,500 to 3,000 5v year. Tne area- of country for which Rensslaer would be tlie nearest and best nfarket when the Continental is built cotains MSOO square miles and lias a present population ot 10000. This area includes all the' best portion of Jasper county, except a narrow strip along the southern border, and takes In a large portion of the choicest farming lands in Newton county. Nearly all of ibis | 600 square miles-of land is suscep.tibbe of cultiA’aton, and a crop can be grown on it by simply turning over the sod aud planting it. Perhaps one filth of this is now culti-vated-in corn, oats, wheat, potatoes, Are , the balance being in pasture and meadow, wil d and thine, much of the pasture Tying out to commons. Tile soil is very productive, j 59 -bushels of oats, 15 bushels of. wheat, and G 0 bushels’ of corn to the acre bej.f!g an average yield in ordinary seasons, while this past

year it has .not been itnfrequent to husk 75, 80 and oven 100 bushels of coin per acre. If a railroad was completed from Rensselaer to F’rance.svillc by the first day of next June, with a fair prospect of its being soon finished; to Fort Wayneq three steam grain j elevators would be built in this place and in operation hyUliristiiuts, we ar.e bold. Not to exceed onebalfthe present grain crop is sold and the balance would be held and shipped on the new road if there was aiiy j'easonabfe prospect of its --being completed at the time mentioned. Ami a much larger area, not less than 25 or 30 per cent, .more, would be jilanted in grain this coming spring than was ever before put out. If the company 'should conclude to build this section of the road in time .to save the tax raised for il, there would-be no trouble in making an ‘arrangement with the Louisville, New Albany.& Chicago road by which its track could he j used over whiele to lake this freight t-o-mnrket nort 1 1 or south. —Itrbmhb | iug this section it would not be necessary to put down the heaviest iron, but-a lighter grade might be laid temporarily wliieh co'-jj be used for side tracks the road was completed.

In ordei to give a faint outline °*. the nature of the resources of the but partially developed country which is naturally tributary *to . Rensselace, we append the foliowiug extracts from a report of a a logical reconnoissancc 1 pY John Collett, membp' „ .r ol the Indiana Sennte Iro--..i \ ernnllion county, pu IS j UH | j n (j, e “Geological Report of Indiana for 1872:” "The whole county is underlaid by beds of byuldervlrift, which vary in depth from twenty feet in the valley of the Iroquois river, to nearly two hundred feet at some of the higher fridges.' The. rocky exposures of this j county are wholly of the Devonian i and .Silurian ages. At Rensselaer, the j county seat, the Iroquois river flows 1 over a bed ol' limestone. Tjiis limes: stone is here elierty, and neither lit for burning into lime lior for building purposes. A sliort distance tielow town it is purer, and lias been burned tu lime to suppi v tlic local market. : T ‘■'iiiree m iles southeast of the town j is- .the -Phillips’ sand rock quarry. ! owned liy J. V. Vanltensseiaer. It is a coarse giat, containing a few pebbles, and is very similar to tho conglomerate sand rock, it lias been used for i building and oilier purposes at Rensselaer with good results. Reing-.in a j considerable degree lire, as well as ! weather proof, it is an important part j of t!ie mineral wealth of. die county. F ‘.'The Logansport. and Peoria Rail—- ! road passes from east lowest along tiie southern part of tlie county, and tile Continental Railway Company lias gradtd the bed of its road from Rensselaer to a connection with the Louisville and Chicago Railroad, on which they intend to layaueel rails as early .as the season will permit. • The latter road is"intended to be a great tiirough lino, fi uni New York-to Omaha, with a branch road from Rensselaer to Chicago, and is thought by those most interested, will prove to be of great advantage to the commercial interests of tlie county.*- ———— “A reliable bed of gravel, of about twenty-live acres in area, was noticed on tlie farm of Mr. Tliompson, on section 10, townsliip 2D, range 0, a few miles north of the town, aiid another hud of about two acres was seen on the opposite side of the creek. These, together.with the abundant limestone about tin- eoun’.y seat, -afford ample facilities for the construction of gravel roads. ' - ... < “Rog ores of iron are abundant in tlie liortiieni partof tlie county. The area of deposit, after careful examination, being estimated as follows: Range 5, township 30. 500 acres Range 5, township. 32.. 100!) acres Range (j, lownship 30 500 acres Range b", tow-nsl)ip 31...,... . . ,1500 acres Range G, township 32 o il) acres Range 1, towUslii j) 30 “00 acres Range 7, townsliip 31 500 acres Range 7, townsliip 32 500 aores

“Many other .beds of smaller area are known to exist. These ores are collected in a soluble state by the waters of sloughs and ponds, in the center or lower part of which they are found in coin pa rati vely pure layers, deposited as the waters are evaporated in dry seasons. The beds are generally from one to two and a half feet below tlie surface of tlie ground, and from live to six inches thick, (with a reported thickness, in some places, of two and two and a half feet). In 1870 Mr. L. Glazebrook dug and shipped from San Pierre station, on the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago It. R. 500 tons of ore, part being from Jasper county and part from Starke county. Other parties dug and shipped from the same point fro ret 300 to 800 tons.— Tlie price obtained was $3 per toy delivered aboard the cars, which paid well for digging, and less than three miles hauling to tlie railroad. The ore was taken to the Planet Furnace in Clay county, but on account of the high rates of freight (83 per ton, as I am informed), imposed by the railroad tlie business was abandoned. Tlie ore is pure, bud makes, by admixture with tlie rich ores of Lake Superior, a very desi ra b 1 e *quality of metal; and Tv itli reasonable freights, large quantities of the ore would be in demand. •>* * « * * Jasper county contains a large body of highly productive lands. The principal products are corn, oats, lia v, grass and wheat. Herds of cattle and hogs are pastured and fed for market. In the northern parTof the county there are large bodies of wild land; oak openings, sand ridges, and Tow meadows alternating. This soil is not of tlie best; but, subdued and improved by German and Swedish emigrants, it yields tnis hardy and frugal people satisfactory returns.— ! These’lands may be bought in quail-j titv at f-rorn S 3 to $5 per acre. "The area of the bog ores of iron is large and the quality good. Means of ; transportation "is all that is required to ■ develop a large income from tliis now profitless treasure. “The sand rock near the county | seat is of excellent quality ; equal to any in the State for foundations of buildings and other firttvy masonry. The whole county is underlaid with limestone of the upper Silurian age, known to bo several hundred feet

thick* and .it-is believed that future demand will justify shafting for this Valuable stone for building purposes. The surfaee outcrops furnish abundtttfetftinftTfire “A uuni.ber.6f mineral springs near Rensselaer were visited, the waters of which experience has determined to be highly medicinal. Among them are Sofire white sulphur sprihgs, wliTch are worthy Of. attention. Half a mile south of tiie county seat, a well that was bored to the depth of 8(H) feet dischurges a hirge volume pf su lp 1 1 uretted water. r J'his well is supplied from a crevice about 180 feet below tiie surface. Another well in the court house’ yard, that was bored with a diamond drill, ant) feet deep, furnishes a supply of water near'the surfaee, Tiie ‘core’ brought up by the drill furnishes an interesting view'd! the rock Bffow.”