Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900A regional history written by Timothy H. Ball . . . .
Source Citation:
Ball, Timothy H. 1900.
Northwestern
Indiana from 1800 to 1900 or A View of Our Region Through the Nineteenth Century.
Chicago, Illinois: Donohue and Henneberry. 570 p.
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE KANKAKEE REGION.
A paper on the Kankakee River, its marsh lands and islands,
was prepared by Mr. John Brown, then Auditor of Lake County for the
semi-centennial celebration of 1884. As not many are better acquainted with that
region than is he, and not many have a larger interest in it than he has, no
better service can be done for the Kankakee history up to 1884 than to reprint
that paper here. It is taken from "Lake County,
1884." Pages 185, 186, 187.
The source of the Kankakee River is in St. Joseph County, this State, and
from its source to where it crosses the State line
at the southwest corner of our county, is about seventy-five miles. It is a slow
sluggish stream with a fall of from one to one and
one half feet to the mile in this State. It being very crooked and the land on
either side being low and marshy, the water moves on very slowly, and these low
lands, forming what is familiarly known as the Kankakee Marsh, are for quite a
period of time each year covered with from one to
three feet of water. About six sections of this marsh land in the southeast
corner of our county are covered with timber, composed mostly of ash and elm
with some sycamore and gum trees. The balance of these wet lands, running west
to the State line, is open marsh, covered with a luxuriant growth of wild
grasses, wild rice and flags. It is the home of the water fowl and musk-rat, and
a paradise for hunters. The number of acres of this wet land in Kankakee valley
in Lake County is about sixty
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thousand, and in the seven counties through which the Kankakee river flows in
this State is about six hundred thousand. Various projects have been proposed
for draining this vast body of rich land, but up to this time but little has
been accomplished. Messrs. Cass and Singleton now have two large steam dredges
at work in this county on these lands, and it is expected that much good will
result from their work. It is only a question of
time when these lands will all be drained, as the Kankakee valley has a main
elevation of ninety feet above Lake Michigan and one hundred and sixty feet
above the waters of the Wabash River, and lying as they do at the very doors of
Chicago, the greatest stock and grain market in the world, it would be strange
if they long remain in their present almost worthless condition. Some portions
of these lands are high dry ground, like an island in the ocean, and as they
are. often entirely surrounded with water they are called islands. The most
prominent of these in Lake county are Beach Ridge, Red Oak, Warner, Fuller,
Ridge, Brownell, Lalley, Curve, Skunk, Long White Oak, Round White Oak, South
Island, Wheeler Island, and many smaller ones. These islands have all once been
covered with a heavy growth of timber; but the farmers living on the prairies
north of the marsh have stripped most of them of all that is desirable. This
hauling timber from these islands and
from the ash swamp further east, a few years ago
was the farmers' winter harvest, and was called swamping. I think the lives of
many of the early settlers were shortened by exposure and overwork in some of
our bitter cold winters on these marshes. Cheap lumber and barbed wire now
almost entirely take the place of the swamp timber for fencing, etc., and but
little swamping has been done for a number of years. Many of the islands where
the timber has been cut off are now excellent grazing land and nearly all of the
larger islands have one or more families living on them who keep stock, and some
good farms are already under cultivation. Many old landmarks go to show that
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these lands bordering on the Kankakee River were, before the white man came, the
favorite stamping grounds of the Indians. Many of the islands have their mounds
and burying grounds, and on some of them are plats of ground which still hold
the name of the Indians' gardens. I have never seen larger or finer grapes grown
anywhere than some which I have gathered on these islands and which were planted
by the Indians. On Curve Island on the west half of the northeast quarter,
section 21, township 32, range 8, is the old Indian Battle Ground (so called).
The entrenchments or breastworks cover a space of
from three to four acres and are almost a perfect
circle, with many deep holes inside the same. All this can be plainly seen
to-day; but when it was made or who did the work the oldest settler has not even
a tradition.
In a high sand mound a few rods southwest from the
Battle Ground can be found by digging a few feet down plenty of human bones, old
pottery, clam shells, flints, etc. Could these old mounds and relics of the past
speak, they would no doubt tell a story well worth hearing. Fifty years
from now, when the citizens of Lake County meet to
celebrate our county centennial, these old land marks will be all obliterated,
and the Red Man who once was the only human here will be forgotten except in
history. And we too, who meet here to-day to celebrate this our semi-centennial,
will then have left the shores touched by that mysterious sea that never yet has
borne on any wave the image of a returning sail.
NAVIGATION OF
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900
FRONT MATTER AND DEDICATION
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
- GENERAL OUTLINES
CHAPTER 2
- THE INDIANS
CHAPTER 3
- THE EARLY SETTLERS
CHAPTER 4
- WHAT THE EARLY SETTLERS FOUND
CHAPTER 5
- PIONEER LIFE
CHAPTER 6
- COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 7
- OUR LAKES AND STREAMS
CHAPTER 8
- LAKE MICHIGAN WATER SHED
CHAPTER 9
- TOWNSHIP AND STATISTICS
CHAPTER
10 - RAILROAD LIFE
CHAPTER
11 - POLITICAL HISTORY
CHAPTER
12 - THE WAR RECORD
CHAPTER
13 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER
14 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER
15 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER
16 - SUNDAY SCHOOLS
CHAPTER
17 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF NEWTON AND JASPER
CHAPTER
18 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF WHITE, PULASKI AND STARKE
CHAPTER
19 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LAKE
CHAPTER
20 - VILLAGES AND TOWNS OF PORTER
CHAPTER
21 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LA PORTE
CHAPTER
22 - EARLY TRAVELS
CHAPTER
23 - PUBLIC SCHOOLS
CHAPTER
24 - PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
CHAPTER
25 - LIBRARIES
CHAPTER
26 - OTHER INDUSTRIES
CHAPTER
27 - SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER
28 - THE KANKAKEE REGION
CHAPTER
29 - DRAINING MARSHES
CHAPTER
30 - ANIMALS AND PLANTS
CHAPTER
31 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER
32 - COURT HOUSES
CHAPTER
33 - ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS
CHAPTER
34 - BIRTH PLACES OF PIONEERS
CHAPTER
35 - McCARTY
CHAPTER
36 - ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE
CHAPTER
37 - ALTITUDES
CHAPTER
38 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER
39 - SOME STATISTICS
CHAPTER
40 - WEATHER RECORD
CONCLUSION
Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, April 2012