CHAPTER LXXV.

IT

CONCLUSION OF COUNTY SKETCHES.

T was our original intention to make the sketches of the counties merely descriptive, except those in which are located the oldest landmarks of pioneer life, as with Allen, Tippecanoe, Vigo, Knox, Clarke, and other counties. The following are descriptive sketches of the counties not mentioned in the preceding chapters:

ADAMS COUNTY.

THIS County was named in honor of President Adams. The surface is level, being beautifully undulating in some quarters. There are no barren lands, and but little wet prairie. There is a considerable portion of bottom lands, but the greater portion of the county is upland, heavily timbered. In some of the wet prairies of this county we find the water-shed from which the waters run both toward the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. In these swampy sections are definable traces of beaver dams. The soil is mixed clay and marl, and is said to improve with continued cultivation. Timber was originally in abundance, consisting of oak, hickory, buckeye, ash, beech, elm, lynn, walnut, sycamore, poplar, and cottonwood. The principal water courses are the Wabash and St. Mary's rivers. In this county they are about equal in size, their average breadth being about one hundred and fifty feet. The St. Mary's was formerly navigated by flat boats, but is now obstructed with mill dams.

This county has made good progress in agriculture, commerce and education. Decatur is the county seat, and is but

twenty-one miles from Fort Wayne. It is a flourishing city, with excellent incorporated schools, substantial buildings, wel kept streets, and thriving commercial interests, with good railroad facilities.

BLACKFORD COUNTY.

BLACKFORD County was named in honor of Judge Blackford, one of the pioneer judges of Indiana. The surface of this county differs but slightly from that of Adams. It is quite level, and in some places gently undulating. The soil is good and well adapted to the cultivation of wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, etc. The exports consist of wheat, cattle, horses, and hogs. The soil is well watered by the Salamonie and Lick creeks, the former a splendid manufacturing stream. With the exception of the wet prairies, the surface was principally all upland, heavily timbered with oak, ash, beech, poplar, sugar tree, walnut, hickory, cherry, etc. The first settlement in the county was made in 1835, by Mr. John Blount. In 1837, a colony of emigrants from Vermont settled in the county, and laid off the town of Montpelier, named in honor of the capital of their native State.

Hartford City is the county seat of Blackford county, and is one of the most enterprising towns of northeastern Indiana. It has ample railroad facilities, bringing it in direct communication with Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Toledo, and all the great commercial centers of the northwest. This place affords a splendid opportunity for the investment of capital and skilled labor. Generally speaking, the county has made good progress in agricultural pursuits, in commerce, and education. The schools are excellent. Land is cheap and productive, and there are many inducements for new settlers to locate in Blackford county.

Montpelier, another incorporated town in this county, is, if possible, still more enterprising than Hartford City. While second to the latter in population, it is fully up in commercial industry, and is destined to be the leading commercial and manufacturing mart of the county.

BENTON COUNTY.

THIS County was named in honor of Thomas H. Benton, a Missouri senator. The surface of the county may be described by saying, that it is one grand continuous prairie, being an extention of the grand Illinois prairie. The soil is exceedingly fertile. Many parts were originally very wet, but a system of drainage has been adopted which will ultimately result in bringing nearly all the surface into cultivation. Pine creek is the only stream worthy of mention. It runs southerly, and empties its waters into the Wabash river. The northern portion of the county is watered by tributaries of the Iroquois river. Stock raising is one of the principal industries of the county. The county is excellently adapted to grazing, and some of the finest droves of cattle produced in the west are annually shipped from this county to the eastern markets.

Oxford, formerly the county seat, is situated in the southeastern part of the county, and on a high prominence overlooking the surrounding country. Although not a very large town, it is rapidly developing, and will soon become an important commercial centre. Its schools are well provided with suitable buildings and efficient teachers, and are in a state of prosperity. The schools of the county, for the most part, are equal to the average. Oxford has good railroad outlets, being situated on the LaFayette, Muncie and Bloomington railroad, and is within two miles of the junction of this road with the C. L. & C. railroad, for Chicago and Cincinnati.

Fowler, the present county seat, was first laid out in February, 1872, by Moses Fowler and Adams Earl, Esqrs., of La Fayette. Originally covering a plat one-half mile square, it has since been increased to one mile square. It is situated exactly in the centre of the county, and on the Cincinnati, LaFayette and Chicago railroad, or what is popularly called the "Kankakee Route." The county seat was removed from Oxford and located here in 1874, after a bitter legal litigation with the former place.

The first court was held in December, 1874, in the new and elegant court house, mainly built by private means and enter

prise. The town is improving rapidly, and already possesses a number of prominent business firms, a bank doing a thriv ing business, a fine hotel, a newspaper office, a large and commodious graded school building, and two church edifices.

Earl Park, located northwest of Fowler, on the same road, is another fast growing town. This town was laid out by Adams Earl and A. D. Raub, Esqrs., and bids fair to take rank with the foremost towns of this section of the State. The streets are beautifully laid out and graded; they are eighty feet wide, and have a row of fine shade trees bordering on each side and through the centre, a feature rarely met with in the west, and which will ultimately render these streets beautiful and pleasant beyond description.

BROWN COUNTY.

BROWN County was named in honor of General Jacob Brown, one of the heroes of the war of 1812. The surface is generally hilly, but the hills are interspersed with many bottoms, constituting about one-third of the whole surface. Originally the hills were covered with an abundance of excellent timber, consisting of white ash, chestnut, oak, and hickory. In the bottoms it was walnut, poplar, sugar tree, hackberry, cherry, buckeye, elm, etc. Corn is the staple production in the bottoms, while wheat, oats, grass, etc., grow well on the hills.

Nashville, the county seat, is a small town, but contains in and around it the elements of prosperity. Within the last few years its schools have been placed on a sound footing, and are now a credit to the place. Its commercial interests are growing rapidly. The county is, in one sense, a wealthy one. The farmers are rapidly gaining an independence, improving their farms, houses, etc. The county schools are rapidly improving.

CRAWFORD COUNTY.

THIS County was named in memory of the unfortunate Colonel William Crawford, the land agent of General Washington in the West, who was captured by the hostile Indians and burnt at Sandusky, in 1782. The surface of this county is

very uneven and broken. Blue river is the only stream of importance. Along this river the soil is excellent, but in the interior it is not so good. Oak and poplar timber is found in great abundance. The principal agricultural productions are the same as those of the other counties. Coal and iron ore abound in the western part of the county. Blue river affords many fine mill sites, most of which are improved; but the chief object of attraction in the county is the celebrated Wyandotte cave. It has been explored for over nineteen miles. Its greatest height is two hundred and forty-five feet, and greatest width three hundred feet. It is located on the border of Harrison and Crawford counties, or near the border of the former, in Jennings township, in the latter county.

Leavenworth, the county seat, is on the Ohio river. Its growth has been substantial rather than rapid. It has good schools, and its public improvements are increasing in value and usefulness.

DAVIESS COUNTY.

THIS County bears the name of Colonel Daviess, who fell in the battle of Tippecanoe. The soil of the county is varied, but rich, and well adapted to the growth of articles usually cultivated in the West. The White river bottoms have a rich, black loam, in some places slightly sandy, which produces magnificent crops of corn and other grain. These bottoms were originally heavily timbered, and along the west fork, are from one to two miles wide; on the east fork, about half that width. The northeastern portion of the county is rolling, and heavily timbered; the northwestern portion is level and interspersed with prairies and skirts of timber; the centre is level barrens; the south and east, rolling, with formerly heavy timber. Formerly, this county presented some magnificent forests of walnut and beach, and other timber.

Washington is the county seat of Daviess county. It is a small town, but full of life and thrift, surrounded by a rich and fertile district, with good railroad facilities; in the near future it cannot fail to grow and prosper. It has good incor