Syracuse-Wawasee Journal, Volume 49, Number 25, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 12 April 1956 — Page 8

Editorial Page

-Thursday 12 April 1956

Page 8

Published each Thursday by the Wawasee Publishing Co. Entered as second class matter at the post office at Syracuse, Indiana. Subscriptions $2.50 per year by mail. W. W. Pauli Publisher Margaret Freeman News Editor Don Woelfer _ - _ _ Mechanical Supt. The Syracuse-Wawasee Journal is a Republican newspaper, owned and produced by residents of the SyracuseWjwanee community in its own modert> printing plant. Display Advertising rate, 70 cents per column inch. Telephone 191. Table of Comments • * * By “Curly” Queue MINSTROSITIES From all we hear (and we hear a great deal) last week’s third annual “Minstrosities” was an unqualified success. Hats off to the Lions! They have an ambitious and varied program to provide for community betterment, and they work mighty hard at it. They are deserving of support in all their endeavors. • THE CORPS The full value of the Legion .Drum & Bugle Corps as ambassador of good will was emphasized at last night’s Chamber of Commerce meeting. Under the able leadership of Millard Hire, this outfit, by enthusiastic devotion to duty and constant practice, captured the State Class B Championship last year. Perhaps no other organization does so much to spread the name of Syracuse throughout the land. Why not hold a drum corps competition as part of the Jubilee program? • TWO GOOD MEN Both Democrats and Republicans will have a chance at the coming primary elections, to vote for representation at Indianapolis by a man from the northern end of the county. Publisher Arch Baumgartner of Milford would make an excellent representative. Noble Blocker, Syracuse banker, is facing a tough primary fight with Floyd Stevens of Claypool, senatorial incumbent. If he wins in the finals, Syracuse would stand to benefit from having a seasoned and able public servant in the role of joint senator. • PARKING The «current Chamber of Commerce newsletter contains a request to local business people to refrain from parking on downtown Streets in order to give the visiting customer a chance. Once more, we add our verse to the refrain. One of the best and most positive contributions the local business man can make to the growth and prosperity of his town is to guarantee one parking spot for the use of visitors —the one he himself could use if he didn’t give a darn. There are those who don’t. We hope their number is decreasing. Offstreet parking in Syracuse is, for some strange reason, provided free of charge. Use it. BEST MEiHUMy The Western World, of Bandon, Oregon, points out: “After all the revolutionary changes which have taken place in the advertising world in the last ten years, the newspaper — it is now proven — remains the best medium of advertising.” The proof is found in the lineage figures. As the World adds: “In spite of all the competition from new media, newspaper advertising continues to grow and the public continues to express its confidence in newspapers to an amazing degree.”' The newspaper — large or small, daily or weekly — is an established American institution. Nothing has changed that — and nothing will as long as we remain a free nation.

HISTORY of SYRACUSE By Ronald Sharp

Chapter V Cont’d The Mill and Community .The first mill in Syracuse—a flour mill—played an important part in the development of the infant community. A mill in that period was the center of the commerical life of any rural American community as farm families were, to a great extent, self-sustaining except for the convenience of the mill to grind their wheat, com, etc. The less of the first Crosson and Ward mill as told later in this chapter, caused real cial distress for the little community. In fact, it set back the progress of the town almost ten years—at a time when many small communites over the Hoosierland were being founded and settled. All the. local historians agree that this mill was located at Crosson Park, but from there on there is little agreement as to who owned it, when was it constructed, what made the mill disappear, and how long it was in operation. Who Owned Mill First, who owned the mill? Was Crosson the sole owner? ? legal transaction in 1839 based on claims against the mill own ers implicated Waroj as we'J a Crosson, so Ward must- ha’ e •: a little interest in it. Furthermore a Crosson and Ward mil is recorded as a point of direc tion in the Newburg Plat ce scription of 1836. When was the mill constructed? As indicated above it must have been before 1836. One his tory states that the mill wa: built in 1833 and was washed away four years later. But a letter from Leonard Brown, an eyewitness to the destruction of the mill, placed the date at 1840 or ’4l. (Miles used this date). Interrelated with the questior of when the mill was built are the puzzles of when and why r disappeared. There are conflict ing reports. By all indications the mill was built in 1833. com pleted in the winter of 1836, ah destroyed by high waters due to poor structure in 1837. Mill Washes Away The new mill, not able tc withstand the pressure of on rushing waters, must have beer, put together hastily with crude logs. Possibly the owners were more interested in getting the mill into operation than in taking the time and effort to assure a sound structure. In 1837 heavy rains in the spring brought high waters washing away the dam. With the dam went the mill. Some ac counts credit the destruction o the mill to quicksand claiming that it was built on a quicksanc base. But how could quicksand be tc blame? Miles in his writings ir 1909 said that he “could still see the millstones below the logs where the old mill had stood.’ Quicksand would have obliter ated all trace of the mill. One of the millstones was found by the late Charles (Beanie) Howard in 1930 in the old J. H. Bowser barn next to the Pickwick theatre. Howard took the stone from the foundation and moved it to his home located back of the Si Hire cottage on the north side of Syracuse Lake. History Says 1837 J. F. Everhart published a history in 1879 which stated that the mill washed away in 1837. The same history states that the mill was constructed in 1833. This history would have been published just 42 years after the event. Leonard Brown in a letter to Miles in 1909 stated that he saw the mill being swept away, seeing in memory all the citizens of the town carrying trees and dirt to stop the break in the dam. Brown, dating the disaster in the spring of early summer of 1840 or 41, said that he was three years old at the time. Brown’s account of the mill washing away would have been 69 years old. Brown couldn’t have remember much when he was three years old, but he could

Let's Pray It's a Mirage Jr/ WWowx > //A - Z__ '***'"

have recalled what was told to him in later years. This is possibly why Brown believed that the mill sank in 1840 or ’4l instead of 1837. Further proof of the mill being built in 1833 to 1837 period is provided by Brown. He wrote to Miles in 1909 that his father’s ledger had charges to Crosson dated in August and October of 1836 for work done on the Mill. Furthermore the mill was a going conero in 1836-37 as indicated by the Newburg plat records. Final proof that the mill was destroyed in 1837 -comes in documents at the courthouse in Warsaw pointing to financial iifficulities for Crosson in the 1838-1839 period. Second Mill The second flour mill at the ite of the present water powerhouse on the race was completec. .n 1840. In a lawsuit in 184! Crosson and Ward ask for more time to pay a note, they owed. The judge granted them six months. If the old mill had been washed out in 1840, how would the new one have been completed so quickly? And why would any court grant a defendant more time on a legal proceeding unless they had a chance to get a mill in operation to pay off a note or mortgage? Mile’s account stated that the mill wasn’t in operation very long before it was washed away and that the settlers had to iound the grain on rocks to get Hour. In the 1840’s the roads would lave been improved some over he 1837 date. If the mill would iave washed away in 1840, it ;eems that it would have been oossible to haul tne grain over he roads to another mill and get it ground. However, in 1837 there wouldn’t have been another mill nearby and the roads were probably more difficult to get over. So, nrobably the people did suffer from lack of a mill. Syracuse had been plotted. Early settlers had come to the community. Crosson and Ward had their chance. They had stopped the growth of Newburg, a rival community in the Syracuse area. Extended Finances There is little doubt that Crosson had overextended his finances in 1833 to 1837. He still owed the state of Indiana SSOO for 80 acres purchased in 1835. The loss of -the mill was the loss of a dream to make a fortune. What Crosson must have thought that night after seeing the mill go down Turkey Creek probably would have been interesting. And what of Ward? How much did this cost him? All this tragedy probably contributed heavily to the early death of Crosson in April, 1844. Mr. and Mrs. Duane Bauer and son, Michael, were Sunday guests of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Bauer. Their son Carl Jay, who spent a week here returned home with them.

LIVE AND LET LIVE If everyone who drives a car could lie a month in bed, With broken bones and stitch-ed-up wounds, or fractures of the head, And there endure the agonies that many people do, z They’d never need preach safety any more to me or you. If everyone could stand beside the bed of some close friend, And hear the doctor say, “No Hope,” before that fatal end, And see him there unconscious, never knowing what took place, The laws and rules of traffic I am sure we’d soon embrace, If everyone could meet the wife and children left behind, And step into the darkened home where once the sunlight shined, And look upon the “Vacant Chair” where Daddy used to sit, I’m sure each reckless driver would be forced to think a bit. If everyone who takes the wheel would say a prayer, And keep in mind those in the car depending on his care, And make a vow, and pledge himself to never take a chance, The great crusade for safety then would suddenly advance. CLUB CALENDAR... Lions Club—lst and 3rd Wednesdays, 6:30 P. M. Chamber of Commerce—2nd Wednesday of the month. Rotary Club—Monday nights at 6:30. Royal Arch Masons—lst and 3rd Mondays at 7:30 p. m. Business and Professional Women’s Club, 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7:00 P. M. Dinner meeting. Heredity is an omnibus in which all our ancestors ride, and then one of them puts his head out and embarrasses us. Olvler Wendell Homes.

The Journal's Platform for Syracuse "■ Clean up all debris, clean and renovate the town. Provide garbage and trash collection for stores. O Enforce parking regulations, all other town ordinances, and-repeal ordinances not enforceable. O Annex territory to the north, east and south, provide ** complete sewage and water systems for the entire town. /g Petition for the status of a fifth class city. g Petition for the establishment of city mail delivery. Establish a city planipQjqg mission. W Provide a modern city hall, fire station, and youth center. • Study the need for public recreational facilities on both lakes. O Petition for widening U. S. 13 to 60 feet, clear through ® the town. Widen Main Street. Provide architectural service to make available a single, Integrated design for all store fronts within a block of Main and Huntington. Make Syracuse the most beautiful town in Indiana and the pleasantest place to live.

Capitol Report... By Charles Halleck It has been almost a year since President Eisenhower sent to Congress recommendations of the Secretary of Agriculture for attacking the problems of low income farm families. It has been more than three months since the President called on the Congress, once more, to meet these recommendations with legislation and appropriations. At the same time, the President, on January 9 of this year, sent to the Congress a comprehensive new farm program designed to firm up the one major soft spot in the national economy—agriculture. There can be no question about the attitude of this Republican Administration regarding the plight of many farm families. It has been an attitude of deep concern, backed by sound proposals for action in the Congress. In his message of January 9, the President emphasized the urgent nature of the problem in no uncertain terms. “Remedies,” he warned the Congress, “are needed now, and it is up to the Administration and the Congress to provide them swiftly. “As we seek to go forward,” he cautioned, “we must not go back to the old programs that have failed utterly to protect farm families.” In spelling out his nine-point program, President Eisenhower said, pointedly, “I urge the Congress to pass this program with maximum speed, for delay can only aggravate and multiply the difficulties already sorely harassing millions of our rural people.” At the end of his message, the President, once again, underscored the pressing necessity for a program to tackle our farm problems in these words: “Again I urge upon the Congress the need for swift legislative action on these recommendations, in the interest of our farm people, in the interest of every American citizen.” The manner in which the Democrat-controlled Congress has treated these repeated appeals by the President is a matter of record. This week, nearly a year after the President’s first proposals were sent to the Congress and more than three months after his urgent message for action, the Congress is moving toward final consideration of farm legislation. It is not the program recommended by President Eisenhower. Instead, the measure, substituted for a House bill passed last year, represents efforts on the part of the Senate to write its own farm program on the Senate floor, after an inexcusably long debate. The result of these efforts, branded an unworkable hodge-podge by virtually everyone who took the trouble to wade through provisions of the bill, was then sentto a conference to top House and Senate members of the Committees -on Agriculture for a complete overhaul. This has meant further delay, (Continued on Page 9)