Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1874 — AN IMPORTANT LOCAL ENTERPRISE. [ARTICLE]

AN IMPORTANT LOCAL ENTERPRISE.

Jasper Packard, M. C., has writ ten to political friends in Rensselaer that he is convinced the voters of this district desire to have another person to represent them in Congress, therefore he will not he a candidate for re-election. Center township Grange number 67, of Lake county, at a recent meeting resolved “That the most profitable method of manufacturing butter and cheese, is by establishing a butter and cheese factory on the co-operative plan;” and “That the preservation, cultivation and raising of fofett trees is not only profitable, but it is a positive neccsity to the agricultural interests of the West, and that such preservation and cultivation should be encouraged by proper legislative enactments.” The members of that Garnge are sound on the tree proposition, surely. A small monthly publication has been commenced at Francesville, Indiana,by R. Leon Mattingly. It is called the Home The first number was issued on the first day of April, 1874, and the copy Sent to us did not speak well for its compositors, pressman or proofreader. We wish the proprietor success, but question the need -ofsuch a publication in a town the sizeofFrancesville. Mr.Mattingly’s enterprise is admirable, but his judgment in this venture is akin to that of the bull which attempted to throw an approaching locomotive off from a railroad track. On Monday the United States Senate passed a bill touching upon the great financial question, the chief features ot which are limiting the volume of United States notes at $400,000,000, and providing for an additional bank circulation of $46,000,000. The House of Representatives probably took up the Senate bill yesterday and passed it as a modification of a similar one adopted by them two weeks since, and as soon as the President approves it which he is certain to do it will be a law. Nobody will deny that this action responds to the demands of a large majority of the country, and for a season business of all kinds will be stimulated thus making times easier and people happier. But it may be prudent to consider whether the relief afforded by inflation of currency' andcorrsequen L increase of the - -national debt is likely te-reeukin any permanent prosperity. At best will it do more than to postpone the day of settlement? Will the crisis when it finally comes, and come it will some day, be any pleasanter to meet by being delayed? Which is the soundest policy, to pay a debt at maturity or renew it and borrow money to pay interest until the liability is doubled before it is canceled ? Let people continue to practice the economy they have adopted since the panic last fall, as far as practicable, paying as they go for what they eat and wear, and settling up all former contracts as rapidly as possible; then be careful that newjobligations are fully warrantedby the average condition of their business. Thus will they profit by past lessons, 1 e able to make the. most of prosperous times, and will always be prepared to meet and weather financial storms however sudden or furious they may be.

“The Jasper County Ditching Association” is the name of a company in Jasper qpunty, Indiana, or- - ganized for the purpose of draining and reclaiming a vast tract of wet overflowed lands situated on the head waters of the Iroquois river.— The organization was effected on the 9th day of February, 1874, by Messrs. David Nowels, David H. i Yeoman, Thomas Boroughs, Brunson Harrington, William Cooper, John E. Comer, Malachi Comer, Benjamin Martin, Charles Burns, and Dr. Thomas Antrim, .residents of Jasper county, and Robert Ham ! ilton, of Franklin, Johnson county,' corporate members. All .these gentlemen own lands to be directly | benefited by the contemplated work ' of the association. Since its organization, a number of other gentlemen who are equally interested have signified their intention to' become members thereof, and will sign the petition of the Association asking the board of county com-i missioners to appoint appraisers to assess benefits and damages, : which petition will be prsented at v the next meeting of the commission- ( , crs. Tbe officers of this corpora- I lion are David Nowels, president, <

David IL Yeoman, clerk, and Thus. Boroughs, trearsurer. There is also a board of five directors,' consisting of the president, clerk, treasurer, and Messrs. John Ej Comer and Brunson Harrington. This Association was organized under a law of Indiana, passed at the last session of the legislature, and approved March 10th, 1873. Occupying, as it does, ten pages of the published acts of the special 'session of 1872-3, its extreme length forbids reproduction in these columns. Those who desireto refer to the law will find it on pages 165 to 175. Its provisions seem to be very plain and easily understood.— The framers of the law appear t© have drafted it for the sole purpose of granting the necessary power to companies to drain lands that need such improvement, and at the same time guard against the formation of rings, like the Kankatcee Valley Draining company, whose object might be wholesale robbery. The territory in which this Association will operate is situated on the headwaters of the Iroquois river, as was before stated, in the civil townships of Union and Keener, and reaching to a limited extent into Wheatfield, Newton and Marion. It includes a portion of Congressional townships 29 and 30, all of 31 and 32 in range 7, and a -portion of3o-and 31 in range 6. — Until .after surveys are completed the extent of territory affected can only be approximately estimated; but it will not fall short of 75,000 acres and may cover 90,000 acres of land. A large portion of this tract, say 2a,000 to 30,000 acres, is constantly .submerged, excej>'t for a few months in the dryest seasons, and has always been so from time immemorial. In its present condition it produces nothing whatever for the benefit of man, while pestilential exhibitions arise from the mass of rank aquatic vegetation which decomposes and festers upon its bosom under the sun’s hot rays in June, July, August and September, to poison the air and scatter malaria for miles in every direction. The only use of this immense scope of territory now, is to furnish a reservoir for the water, 4 - <■ that propels a small grist mill from four to six months in the year; and so precarious has this supply been for several seasons, that the owner of the mill found it necessary to i introduce steam power in order to keep it running. It is the plan of the Association to commence their operations at a point —near —where the Iroquois crosses the line between ranges C and 7, and cut a ditch twenty feet wide, five feet deep, and about six miles long, generally following the presen t channel of the stream. On the south side ofthemain conduit, and emptying into it, they propose To bpehTlfree orfour lateral ditches which will be six to eight feet wide, four feet deep, and from three to four miles long. On the north side wi.ll be four or five similar ditches of the same width and depth, and from three to six miles in length. These laterals are to extend back into vast marshes, following up through their lowest parts, and will avoid all high points. The marshes they are to drain cover an extenisve territory, which is .of small value*'at the present time,’ producing little else than coarse grasses, reeds, [rushes and other water plants. It is now under! water eight to ten months of the year, and can never be drained until the obstructions are removed from the river to which these marshes are feeders, and its channel is lowered to give more fall for the passag«*of water from and through them. The soil o( this region is principally black muck,-the result of decomposed vegetation, with here and there patches of peat, all rest- : ing upon a subsoil of stiff, tenacious ! clay, sand, or sandy clay through which are traces of bosr iron ore more- or less strong. It is not! thought, however, that this mineral exists in paying quantities anywhere -HwtnerTerritbry over which the Association has jurisdiction.—! Much of the land may be called ! worthless in its present situation, > without drainage, and, except for what timber is on the higher patches; none of it is ■worth more than 1 $1,25 to $5 an acre. Sufficiently! drain it, and there is no reason why i a large portion could not 4>e made ; to produce twenty-five to fifty bushels of corn, thirty to sixty bushels of oats, or from two to four tons of hay on the while ] for pasture sor t neat cattle it would be unsurpassed,in the Slate. Then it would readily command $6 to|lo an acre, and bcAagerly sought for by men desiring stock farms. The country that now docs not main-

tain twenty families is susceptible ' of being made to support hundreds. ' Ten days or so since, a partial ■ survey was made of a portion of the Iroquois river in the jurisdiction of the Association. Their engineer, Mr. John Miller, commenced where the stream crosses the-line dividing ranges 6 and 7, proceeded north and westerly a ! mile and a half, thence bearing i south and west four or five miles to ; ‘a point within about a mile of the ! line separating Newton and Jasper counties. Six and one-half feet fall was found in the first mile; then he encountered *an obstruction across the river—-Mr. Alter’s mill-dam—something more than ten feet high, which raises the water behind it about nine and a half feet at this season of the year.— Above this point, estimating by the water-level, there is an average fall of about four inches per mile to the westernmost limit. of the work. This makes-a total fall'of Seventeen and one-half to eighteen and one-third feet in a distance of five and a half to six miles, following the windings of the channel. When completed, the cost of this work will not fall much short of $50,000. If six miles long, twenty ! feet wide and five feet deep, the main ditch will contain cubic yards, which, at 18 cents, will amount to $21,120. Four lateral .ditches on the south side, averaging seven feet wide, four feet deep and three and a half miles long will contain 76,287 cubic yards, which, at 12j cents, will amount to upwards of $9,500. Five laterals on the north side, same depth and width, averaging four and a half miles in length, will contain 123200 cubic yards, at ,12| cents, costing $15,400 more. Altogether making upwards of $46,000. Then add expense of surveying, mapping and incidentals, and the total will foot up close to $50,000. This would be an average of sixty to seventy cents an acre; though some lands will be appraised much more and others much less. It is said the Association has been successfull in negotiating a loan, which, in addition to funds furnished by indiviidual members, will be sutficent to meet all expenses attending the‘preliminary work. This is by far the most extensive private enterprise ever projected in Jasper county; and, if successful, it can not fail to produce important and lasting results that will be beneficial not only to those who originated it, but also to the whole county. So far Its knowiT there is bnt little- opposition to this work, and that little centers in Mr. Alter, whose milldanr will be condemned and taken out, in case the programme is followed. All who own lands affected in any way, so far as they have been heard from, are friendly to the Association and have confidence in those who undertake to manage the work.