Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1900 — As A Press Correspondent Sees It. [ARTICLE]

As A Press Correspondent Sees It.

The Finest Court House, and Best Soil . In The State. The following article from a traveling representative of the of the Indianapolis Press appeared in that paper Friday evening. Rensselaer Ind„ Jan 26. Though the farmers of Jasper County have not entirely ceased to find fault with the erection of the new Court House, the people of Rensselaer have universally laid aside their prejudices, forgotten as best they can the tax rate,-and are finding in the structure a great source of city pride. It has been an incentive for renewed effort in making the city conform to its splendor. The cornerstone for the new structure was laid November 12, 1896. Light buff Bedford stone was used, and, from foundation to the alleged S4OO flag-staff, which caused so much trouble, only the best material was used in its construction. Plate glass, Venetian blinds, marbel pillars, wainscoting Jand railing, mosaic tile floor, bross scroll work and the latest iron office furnishings, makes the structure a dream of perfection, both as a 'decoration to the city and a convenience for the officeholders. There not a more complete nor a prettier Court House in Indiana.

The wonderful crops of the past several years and the better conditions which are everywhere manifested have done much to modify the protests against the erection of the building. Though the taxes were boosted to a notch enjoyed by but few communities in the State, the farmers now have money to pay them, and the delinquent list this year is the smallest in years. The corn, oats and hay crops of the past year were phenomenal. The corn crop amounted to 2,389,650 bushels, placing the county in the first list. In oats Jasper produced 1,391,907 bushels, taking sixth place. The farmers have found that most of the northern section which is now being reclaimed from the Kankakee is the best sugar-beet land in the country, and the erection of the big sugar-beet plant at North Judson this summer will draw on that section for supply. The work of reclaiming the Kankakee swamps, which extend across the northern boundary, is being carried’on much faster than the people of Indiana suspect, and over sections which five years ago were under water now spread eome of qf) the finest fields in Indiana. The soil has no equal in producLike the Nile Valley, its life is the sediment of the river placed there not annually, but in suchjdepth that its fertility is insured for ages. Great interest iB being taken all through that section in the proposed straightening of the Kankakee. From its source to the state line itjwinds inland out over 240 miles. By cutting a deep and straightjchannel, it will make its course but ninety miles, and will will drain whole section of northern Indiana.

An oil fever has broken out in this section of Indiana, and Rens-selaer-has been made an objective point for investigators. The finding of oil in cups in the living rook taken from the river bed at this point has caused mneb speculation, and the source of supply and the stratas, to the depth of 1,000 feet, will be 'Tfivestigated. It is thought Jasper County yill furnish some very profitable' operating fields. The finds made northeast and east of this point indicate that the trend of the>oil-pro-ducing stratas is in this direction,