Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1899 — The Talk of a New County. [ARTICLE]

The Talk of a New County.

A special from- Laporate gives the following startling news: It is said that if the Kankakee drainage bill passes the legislature a new county will be established in northern Indiana. The ing of the river proposed by what is known as the Knotts bill will reclaim about 720,000 acres of submerged land in Laporte, Porter, Lake, St. Joseph, Starke, Marshall, Jasper and Newton counties and will open for settlement the garden spot of northern Indiana. The promoters of the legislation say that the passage of the bill will insure the settlement of a number of prosperous colonies in the Kankakee region.—Valparaiso Messenger. The trouble with this new bounty scheme, if there is one, is that provision of the constitution which prohibits any county now existing being reduced below 400 square miles in area. Under this provision nothing can be taken from Newton or Starke counties and only 10 square miles from Porter. Lake could spare 100 square miles, Jasper 170 and La ' Porte 140; but these different pieces of excess territory do not lie contiguous to each other and could not be formed into a county which would be at all acceptable to its inhabitants.