Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1905 — A SURE SALE THIS TIME. [ARTICLE]

A SURE SALE THIS TIME.

THE IBOQIJDIS DITCH IS SOLD RIGHT (ID SOLO WELL The Prices Nearly All Way Under The Estimates And Aggregate Fully $3,000 Less Than The August Sale. A big crowd of bidders and interested property owners assembled in the east court room Friday afternoon, to participate in or witness the sale of one of the greatest and most expensive ditching enterprises ever carried to a successful termination in northwest Indiana. Namely the Iroquois River ditch, an enterprise w’hich the viewers, estimatod would cost some $150,006. The sale' was conducted by Myrt B. Price as Engineer, and Attorney W. H. Parkinson as auctioneer, with S. C. Irwin assisting the engineer in keeping the minutes, and County Attorney Marshall advising the auctioneer. The sale was conducted in a plain straight-forward way which the law seems to contemplate, namely offering each allotment first by number, which was of course a mere formality but ordered by the law, and then selling each working section by itself.

The entire rock work with the dirt above and between was sold first. There are 58,000 cubic yards of this rock, and 25,365 cubic yards of this dirt. The viewers estimated the rock at sl.lO per cubic yard and this dirt at 25 cents. At thebeginning of the sale it was stated that the successful bidder must waive all ownership in the rock after it was taken out, the same being reserved as the property of the improvement. To start this bid Judge Thompson offered to take it at the viewers’ estimates. The next bidder was Stewart & Brother a cent lower on each. The bidding went very slow for a time, and it began to look as though the outside bidder.* had formed a combination and divided the work. However it such was the case the combination was soon smashed by the commend ible aclion of home bidders. Granville Moody began to bid and the pi ices began to come down rapidly C. 11. Sternberg & Sons then began to bid, and very soon it was he and the Stewards for it. They worked down gradually, often a tenth of a cent at a time until Sternberg bid 80 cents for the rock and 114 cent for the din above the rock, and Steward said “let him have it,” and the' auc tioneer knocked it off to Sternberg. The rock is sold for 20 cents a a yard under the estimate and 71 cents less than at the attempted sale in August. The dirt at 13. cents less than the estimate, and 2 cents more than in August The total contract price of this section, including dirt and rock, is $19,317. This is $14,054 less than the viewers estimate and $3,597 less than tinsame work sold for to Stewart & . Son, in August. The work is to begin within two months and be finished in 12 mouths barring unavoidable delays from bad weather. The stde of the dredge work then followed. The first section sold was the main ditch from the upper end of the rock section to the Davisson Lateral. Sternberg & Sons were again the successful bidders, at 6.24 cents per cubic yard. Tae next lowest bids was by Stewar 1 & I r ther at even 61. The cubic yards are approximately 535,000 which would make tl e contract price $33,384. Before, this same work was bid off at even

main ditch from the Davisson Lateral to the Monon railroad bridge, near Parr. It was bid off by Mr. Hathaway of Winamac, for Sternberg & Sons, at 5.36 cents per cubic yard. The next lowest bid was A. V. Farmer at 5.361. There are approximately 150,000 yards in this section, and the contract price is SB,OIO. Before this was sold at 6 cents, the saving being $960. The next section sold was the main ditch from the railroad to its upper end at stake 0. It was bought by A. V. Farmer, at 5.99 cents per cubic yard. This work was bid off before at even 6 cents. The saving is only about sls. The Pinkamink Lateral,of 31,325 Cubic yards, was sold to the Sternbergs, the only bidders, at 8.95. cents. This is 2.25. cents more than before, making a loss this time of $704. ( The Gifford Lateral, 39,239 yards was sold to Sternberg, at 9 cents. Previous price 7.70. Loss on this $902. | The Davisson Lateral was sold to Stephen T. Comer, of Union, at 625 cents per cubic yard. Next lowest bidder, A. V. Farmer, at I 6.49 cents. Cubic yards in lateral 74,650. The former price was 8.15 cents. Saving on this lateral sl,418. Other small lateralsand branches were’bid off by D. H. Yeoman, S. | P. Thompson H. B. Kurrie, and ( Sherman Thornton. The prices j were practically the same as sold for before. The total of all the savings mentioned above is $5,990. The total of all the losses is $2,890. This gives a net saving over the former attempted sale of $3,100. But the figures are are somewhat hastily prepared and may vary a little either way, from the official figures. The firm of C. H. Sternberg and Sons, who have the great bulk of the work,are welland widely known in this region and have been carrying numerous similar contracts for many years. Until the present year they lived at Winamac, but lately have moved to South Bend as a more central point. The nearest extensive contract they have c irried out here is the Kent or Curtis Creek ditch, which they carried through with great expedition and to the complete satisfaction of the property owners. The next largest contractor A. V. Farmer, lives at Royal Center. He is now completing the Garrison ditch,l in this country, ami he also has evidently given perfect satisfaction in his work. All these contracts amount to about $123,000, or some $26,000 less than the viewers' estimate. The possession of the excavated rock is still to be disposed of, and will probably be left to the county commissioners. if it can be brought about in any way, it would eem that Rensselaer and Marion township would be the proper parties to acquire this rock ownership. The contracts are being signed up and bonds given in good shape, md at last it looks like the big ditch was finally on the way to sure and early construction.