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
507
CHAPTER XXXVII.
ALTITUDES.
The authorities
for the altitudes given below are various. Some of the altitudes, those in La
Porte County, are from Professor Cox, former State
Geologist of Indiana. Those in Porter County are
from Frank Leverett, from
Gannett, from Campbell's Survey of the
Kankakee Region, and from Henry Rankin, former
county surveyor of Porter. Those in Lake County are from
the same, substituting for Henry Rankin the name of George Fisher, county
surveyor of Lake County. These altitudes for Porter and Lake are taken
from "The Geology of Lake and Porter Counties" by
W. S. Blatchley. In La Porte, elevation above the sea level, 810 feet; at
Wanatah, 710; at La Crosse, 662;* and about two miles north of La Porte, said to
be the highest point in the county, 870 feet, or 270 above Lake Michigan. This
authority makes Lake Michigan 600 feet above the sea level, and a later
authority, 1896, makes it only 582 feet.
In Porter County about a mile northwest from
Valparaiso 840 feet; Flint Lake, 825; Valparaiso,
__________
* I was at La Crosse on Wednesday, August 16, 1899, and found there a party of
engineers taking altitudes along the Pan Handle line. They gave to me the
altitude in front of their station 674 feet. I think these figures were not
derived from a barometer. T. H. B.
508
north part, 820, court house 803; Hebron, 713; Kouts, 687; Kankakee River,
Baum's Bridge, 659; Dunn's Bridge, 663; (these both from
surface of the water in the river); Chesterton, 659; and, highest point
measured, some four miles north of Valparaiso and a mile east, 888 feet.
It looks a little unreasonable that Chesterton is no higher in its elevation
above sea level than the Kenkakee River at Baum's Bridge. And one authority
gives Gossett's Mill Pond, which is, or was, about six miles north and west
from Valparaiso, as only 620 feet. The writer,
here, will not vouch for the accuracy of these figures, and Mr. Rankin gives
Chesterton as 670 feet. The other figures, 659, are from
Mr. Frank Leverett of Iowa, who it seems, made some examination of our
Calumet Region.
In Lake County the following elevations have been given: In Crown Point, court
house yard, by G. Fisher, county surveyor, 714 feet, at Creston, by Mr. F.
Leverett, 740 feet, and Creston is on a prairie and the water on the road
from Crown Point to Creston, for most of the way,
runs southward. Also, from survey made, the county
surveyor, G. Fisher, has found that the point where the road, half a mile east
of Creston, crosses the township line three-quarters of a mile north, is
fourteen feet lower than the south end of the pavement in Crown Point. Surely no
one can stand in that road on that township line and look down upon Creston,
over the low land between, and reasonably suppose that Creston is on ground some
forty feet higher than the ground where he stands.
Mr. Leverett also gives Palmer 733 feet, and the watershed "near head waters of
Eagle Creek and Deep River," -- and their head waters are several miles apart,
509
-- 747 feet. Of twenty-seven elevations given in Lake County, except at Crown
Point, 714, Pan Handle station 695, Erie 702, and Fancher's Lake near Crown
Point 713 feet, no other, except as given by Mr. Leverett, comes near to 700
feet. He gives St. Johns 697, Lowell 690, Leroy 683, Palmer 733, and the
Kankakee River at the old mouth of Eagle Creek, which is many miles below Baum's
Bridge, 660 feet.
But another authority gives the old Gibson Station 600, Tolleston 607, Lake
Michigan 582, Whiting 606, and Lowell 636.
The authorities seem to differ quite a little in their observations or their
estimates.
There is surely room for doubt as to the accuracy of Mr. Leverett's figures, the
others being assumed as nearly correct. Some of these others are: Hammond 598;
Hessville 623; Griffith 636; Highland 617; Dyer 638; Ross 638, and Miller's 625.
These seven are all from Gannett's Dictionary of
Altitudes. From Campbell's survey are these:
Shelby 642; Kankakee River at Monon Railway Bridge, surface of water, 635.7,
and at State Line
624.3 feet; thus giving a fall from Baum's Bridge,
which is four ranges east, of 35 feet to the State line.
The highest point in Lake County, leaving Creston out till another authority
asserts it to be 740 feet, is probably on the Watershed line between Crown Point
and the Red Cedar Lake.
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