History of Lake, Porter, and LaPorte, 1927County history published by the Historians' Association . . . .
Source Citation:
Cannon, Thomas H., H. H. Loring, and Charles J. Robb. 1927.
History of
the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana, Embracing the Counties of Lake,
Porter and LaPorte: An Historical Account of Its People and Its Progress
from the Earliest Times to the Present.
Volume I. Indianapolis, Indiana: Historians' Association. 840 p.
HISTORY OF THE LAKE AND CALUMET REGION OF INDIANA
CHAPTER XIII.
AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF THE LAKE REGION -- COUNTY AGENTS -- AGRICULTURAL
EXTENSION SERVICE OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY -- REPORTS OF COUNTY AGENTS --
LIVESTOCK IN THE LAKE REGION -- DAIRY PRODUCTS.
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Agriculture in the Lake region is largely a system of mixed farming which keeps the work well distributed the year round. The leading farming productions named in the order of their value are cereals, hay and forage, beef cattle, dairy products, vegetables and poultry. Corn, hay and oats are by far the dominant crops. Trucking is a specialized industry in a few sections and particularly in Lake County close to the industrial section. The growing season is about 171 days in length. The soil material extends to great depth, in some places several hundred feet, and consists of deposits laid down in the glacial period. Part of it is of ice-laid origin having been formed under or in front of the great ice sheet and left in a relatively unmodified form after the ice melted away. The remainder is water-laid, having been deposited in glacial lake beds or stream channels which have disappeared.
As the glacier moved down from the north it plowed up soil and bedrock of various kinds and pulverized them into particles ranging from the finest clays to gravel, stones and boulders which were transported by the ice. The material pushed ahead of it was finally deposited in long irregular lines of hills and formed terminal moraines while the material under the ice sheet formed flatter areas called ground moraines. T. M. Bushnell, of the United States Department of Agriculture, in his report on the soil survey of Lake County, says that most of the ice-laid material consisted of silt and clay with stones and boulders distributed over the surface and through the soil, the rocks consisting chiefly of granite, gneiss, fine-grained sandstone and similar formations, with little limestone.
The farms of the first settlers were self-sustaining, as the small fields of corn furnished home grown meal; fish and game supplied meat, and flax was a source of home spun clothing. Sheep was soon brought in to yield wool and replace flax and also add to the meat supply. The establishment of grist mills encouraged the growth of wheat. Settlement was most rapid through the better agricultural land of the moraines while the marsh lands and sandy waste of the North and the Kankakee basin were
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settled last. Large herds of cattle were grazed and thousands of acres of marsh hay were cut in the Kankakee River.
The building of the railroads brought all the best arable land under cultivation and the invention of improved machinery, such as binders, drills and corn planters stimulated corn production. Dairying and the raising of live stock became growing industries in the early 90’s. Notwithstanding the apparent development of special farm industries, corn growing continued to be of great importance, and the acreage devoted to it is maintained at a high point. The crop brings a large cash income; the grain is used to feed horses and fatten hogs and cattle; the fodder is used for wintering a large number of animals; corn silage is the basis of the dairy ration, and is also fed to fatten stock and the shredded fodder is used for bedding and feeding. Silos are common throughout the counties in the Lake region and for years Lake County led the state in number of silos. Oats are commonly grown in alternation with corn as feed for horses and cows or for sale, and an increased number of acres is devoted to its cultivation since 1910. The straw is used for roughage or bedding or for sale.
Wheat is a crop of uncertain yields and the acreage fluctuates widely from year to year, depending on the success of the previous season. Favorable soil conditions result in a very much larger acreage to wheat in LaPorte and Porter counties than in Lake County, although for the past fifteen years Lake County has increased its acreage 300 per cent. Many vegetables are grown in all three counties both for home use and for sale, but most of the market crop comes from the trucking district. The nearby cash market is an inducement for the growth of vegetables and compensates for the disadvantage of coming into the market late by comparison with the southern growers of truck.
The existence of great natural pastures and meadows in the early days gave an impetus to stock raising, which, together with the needs of draft animals in the cities, created a steady demand for cultivated hays when the marshes were reclaimed. Farms in the Lake region are well equipped and improved machinery, including binders, mowers, drills, corn planters, cultivators, hay forks, manure spreaders, threshing and plowing implements and ensilage cutters are in common use. The farm buildings are excellent and the farm dwellings are of a high standard. Many dairy farms are models of convenience and sanitation.
While the crop yield in the counties of Lake, Porter and LaPorte does not compare favorably with some agricultural sections throughout the state yet when all the principal crops are considered it is well up to the average of most of the counties and materially exceeds many of them. For the past ten years the average production of corn per acre in Indiana has been 36.1 bushels per acre, winter wheat, 15.4 bushels, oats 32.8 bush-
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els, rye 13.9 bushels and tame hay 1.31 tons per acre. In 1925 the yield of corn per acre and the total production of grain in Indiana was the largest in twenty-five years and the average production of corn throughout the state was 43.5 bushels per acre. Union County, with an average of 62.2 bushels per acre, had the highest yield of all the counties in the state, while Greene County, with 21.7 bushels per acre, had the lowest.
The Northwestern district of Indiana, consisting of the counties of Benton, Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, Porter, Pulaski, Starke and White, had an average yield of 38 bushels per acre. Pulaski with 40.5 bushels being the highest, and Starke with 29.6 being the lowest. Lake County with 37.5 bushels and LaPorte County, with 39.5 bushels per acre, were well up to the average in the Northwestern district and not far below the average state’s yield. Porter County, with 32.6 bushels per acre, was well below the average in the state, although it was far above many of the counties. In the production of oats, Union County again was the leading county with 45 bushels per acre, while Starke was the lowest with 14 bushels per acre. The average yield of oats throughout the state per acre was 28 bushels, and in the Northwestern district of Indiana the average yield was 23.1 bushels.
Porter County had 26 bushels per acre and LaPorte County 28 bushels per acre while Lake County had the highest yield in the Northwestern district of 37 bushels per acre and only exceeded by three counties in the state. The average yield of wheat per acre in 1925 was slightly below the average. Drouth and frost were the damaging factors. The latter came when many fields were in full blossom and it is considered the cause of not many well-filled heads although the method of the damage is debated. Rye was affected in the season in much the same way as winter wheat. In the production of wheat Lake County, with 20 bushels per acre, had the distinction with Howard, Greene and Vanderburgh counties of having the highest production per acre in the state, while Jay County with 8 bushels per acre was lowest. The average yield of wheat per acre in Indiana in 1925 was 14.5 bushels and in the Northwestern district 15.7 bushels per acre. Porter County’s record of 17 bushels per acre was well above the average for the Northwestern district and the state, while LaPorte County’s production of 14 bushels per acre was about the average for the state.
The total acres devoted to rye in Indiana is not very great in any one year although the acreage in 1925 greatly exceeded that of 1924. Union County, which was first in the production of corn and wheat per acre, also leads in the production of rye with 16.8 bushels per acre closely followed by Tipton County with 16.7 bushels and Wayne County with 16.6 bushels. The acreage devoted to rye in Wayne County far exceeded the other two counties and therefore it may be credited with the best produc-
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tion per acre. Spencer County, with 7.7 bushels per acre was the lowest in the state. The average yield per acre throughout the state in 1925 was 11.4 bushels per acre and in Northwestern district the average production was 10.1 bushels per acre. Lake County which devoted only a very small acreage to rye had a yield of 12.9 bushels per acre, Porter County 10.6 per acre and LaPorte County which had one of the largest acreages in the state in rye had a yield of 8 bushels per acre which was slightly less than that of the counties where large acreages were given over to rye.
Noble County, with 1.68 tons per acre, led the state in the production of tame hay in 1925 while Benton County, with .55 tons per acre, was lowest in production in the state. The average production of tame hay in the state was 1.01 tons per acre, and in the Northwestern district .73 tons per acre. All of the counties of the Northwestern district suffered severely from the drouth in May and June which caused a great reduction in the hay crop throughout the state, and in many sections the poor prospect for seed led to the abandonment of much standing hay. The hay acreage has been increasing in nearly all the counties although the yields have been low and this increased acreage has made up the loss in the low yields per acre which with a decreasing number of animals has prevented a distressing situation. Lake County had .66 tons per acre, LaPorte County .78 tons and Porter County .76 tons per acre, which was a reduction of nearly 50 per cent as compared with the previous year.
The total acreage in Lake County devoted to corn in 1925 was 50,500, in LaPorte County 37,300, and in Porter County 20,300. In rye, Lake County had only 700 acres, LaPorte County 5,900 acres, and Porter County 3,100 acres. In oats, Lake County had 39,800 acres, LaPorte County 41,500 and Porter County 35,100. Lake County had 13,600 acres in wheat, LaPorte County 37,300 acres, and Porter County 20,300 acres. Lake County had 33,600 in tame hay, LaPorte County 31,900, and Porter County 29,100 acres. The acreage of oats was increased over the previous years—the need of early grain feed being one cause and a reduction in wheat acreage which was devoted to rye being another. The total number of farms in LaPorte County is 2,012, in Porter County 1,500, and in Lake County 1,800.
COUNTY AGENTS.
In relating the work of the County Agricultural Agent the publishers are indebted to an article by William A. Lloyd, in charge, western states, office of Cooperative Extension Work and issued by the United States Department of Agriculture from which much of the information which follows is obtained.
The establishment of county agents may be said to have its origin in a circular issued by the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Depart-
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ment of Agriculture, January 30, 1903, and signed by S. A. Knapp. It was the first public announcement of a plan to control or fight the advance of the boll weevil in the south. In this circular Mr. Knapp says: “The only practical and rational plan for general relief to be adapted is cooperation. First: Arrange to personally meet the farmers and enroll as many as possible in a general cooperative demonstration in which each farmer agrees to cultivate ten or twenty acres of cotton under instructions given by the United States Department of Agriculture which have proved to be a success. If the progressive farmers of the state will unite in this cooperative movement, it will influence many hundreds to line up in favor of better methods who might otherwise attempt to make a crop upon the old plan and bring disaster to themselves and others.”
For many years prior to 1914 there had been agitation for some form of permanent national legislation providing for vocational education for farm people and the plans varied from proposals for national support of agricultural high schools to government supported demonstration farms. Many persons held to the idea that like the experiment, the demonstration must be under “controlled conditions,” that it must be carried out under safeguards to assure its success but they failed to appreciate that it was not the perfection of the demonstration that was desired as much as the willingness of the farmers to accept the lesson illustrated, that the “imperfect demonstration” conducted by a farmer on his own farm had greater teaching value than the perfect demonstrations made on a state or government supported farm.
The establishment of this principle was the outstanding contribution to agricultural education worked out in the southern states during the years 1903 to 1914, and the success of this cooperative farm demonstration work influenced Congress to base the Smith-Lever Act on this sound principle. When presenting the bill to Congress, Congressman A. F. Lever said: “The fundamental idea of the system of demonstration or itinerant teaching presupposes the personal contact of the teacher with the person being taught, the participation of the pupil in the actual demonstration of the lesson being taught, and the success of the method proposed.” The theory of the Smith-Lever Act is to extend this system of itinerant teaching, the state always to measure the relative importance of the different lines of activity to be pursued and to determine upon the most important to the entire country, by providing for at least one trained demonstrator, or itinerant teacher, for each agricultural county who in the very nature of things, must give leadership and direction along the lines of rural activity, social, economic, and financial. This teacher, or agent, will become the instrumentality through which the colleges, stations, and department of agriculture will speak to those for whom they
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were organized to serve, with respect to all lines of work engaged in by them.
By 1912 the principle of the cooperative farm demonstration had established itself in the south and a report of its success had spread beyond the cotton territory. Educators in other states who were interested in extension education visited the cotton states and were convinced, with a result that when the Smith-Lever Act was passed in May, 1914, County Agricultural Agent work had become successfully established in many northern states as well as in the south. But few persons even among county agricultural agents have any conception of the changes which have been wrought in the past ten years in the nature of the county agent work.
In 1914 outside of the southern states only 210 county agents were at work in the northern and western states. Seven states had no county agricultural agents and only two had a full quota. The average annual salary was less than $1,200 and out of this amount the agent had to pay his own expenses. He traveled about living with the farmers when night overtook him and carried with him improved seed and demonstration equipment. He was truly an itinerant teacher. By the standard of today his work seems crude and ineffective and like the pioneer farmer he met conditions as he found them and under those conditions and handicaps he did a great work and did it well. In 1924, 2,084 counties had agents in the country as compared with 938 in 1914. In 1924, as stated in the circular issued by the United States Agricultural Department, all the states had county agricultural agents and five of them had a full quota. The average salary was $2,700 and $1,200 additional was provided for expenses.
In the average county, the agricultural agent is an agricultural college graduate with practical farm experience and devotes the entire year to the service. He has an office with adequate files and office conveniences. He maintains regular office days to accommodate the increasing number of persons who come to him for advice. Sixty per cent of his time is usually spent in the field and 40 per cent in the office. He has an advisory council or group of farmers with whom he develops a program and through whom he arranges his demonstration. Travelling by automobile he is able to cover large territory and see more people. He works less with the individual and more with groups. While he is still an itinerant teacher he may be properly styled an efficiency agricultural engineer. He is less a personal apostle with a message and more the representative of the state college of agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture. He is less an opportunist and more an analyst, who helps the farmer determine what is best, demonstrates better practices, and advertises the result.
While the above description may not apply to every agent it is typical of the wonderful change which has taken place in the planning and culti-
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vation of the agents and the character of their work. Any attempt to measure the influence of county agricultural agent work is futile. Permanent benefits in agriculture can not be measured in terms of increased yield per acre, quantity of production, better livestock, or improved practices, even if accurate statistical data were available. A variety of influences have been at work. Extension work is only one of many influences affecting farm practice and farm management. The intimate relation of price to both quality and quantity production is of utmost importance. The influence of the farm press and farmers’ organizations is exceedingly important. The weather, outbreaks of crop pests, and livestock plagues are interfering factors. All these and other matters would make conclusions based on statistics unreliable if obtainable. Extension work has been an experiment without guides or precedents which has had to blaze a new trail. Extension work can not be measured in terms of number of demonstrations held, persons attending, farm visits made, office calls, field meetings, and the like. These are measures of effort all tending to improved methods of production and management with a uniform result of great general good to the farming industry.
We have only space to enumerate a few of the great advantages which have accrued to the farm industry through the work of the county agricultural agents throughout the country. It saved the cotton industry in the Southern States and brought to agriculture in that region a measure of stabilization and diversification. It has brought new crops and new live stock enterprise to various regions of the country adapted to them. It has aided in mitigating the loss due to live stock and plant diseases and to insects and rodent pests. It has helped to conserve soil utility and provide soil wasting. It has brought about a standardization of breeds of livestock and varieties of crops. It has in a thousand ways modified farm practices to the individual benefit of the farmer and has aided many in solving marketing problems and in bettering his economic condition. During the World War it was an effective teacher in organizing all our farmers to make their best and largest contribution to the cause of human liberty.
Important as are these accomplishments it has done something else.
It has lifted the farmer out of his isolation and brought him into working relation with his fellow farmers and his agricultural institution—the state college of agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture without disturbing his individualism which is his tower of strength. It has left him still independent, self-reliant, but more tolerant and with more community consciousness. Through common counsel and mutual helpfulness among fellow farmers in connection with the simple problems of his workaday life, it has developed cooperativeness of spirit which is fundamental to the more complex, more difficult association in business.
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It is placing at the farmers’ disposal a better organization of facts by means of which he is doing more accurate thinking, reaching safer conclusions, and living a more satisfactory life. It is not paternalism or philanthropy but organized self-help.
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY.
Indiana has not been idle in Agricultural Extension service which centers in Purdue University and is a state wide cooperative educational enterprise in charge of G. I. Christie, Director, with T. A. Coleman, Assistant Director. While Purdue University is charged with the responsibility of Agricultural Extension work, provision is made for cooperation with other agencies and forces. The 14th annual report of the Department of Agricultural Extension shows the great encouragement, aid and influence extended to the farm industry covering most every sphere of activity in which beneficial results could be expected to accrue.
Through the county councils appropriations are made for county agent work, farmers’ institutes, county fairs and other agricultural institutions. The township and city schools provide for vocational teachers of agriculture and home economics who give leadership in boys’ and girls’ club work. The state and county farm bureau organizations have appropriated funds for many extension projects and have taken an active part in formulating and carrying out the programs. The Indiana Millers’ and Indiana Grain Dealers’ Association have participated in campaigns for more and better wheat and the use of Indiana flour. The State Corn Growers’ Association, Live Stock Breeders’ Association, Horticultural Society, Dairy Association, Poultry Association, Dairy Manufacturers’ Association, Beekeepers’ Association and other associations have joined with the departments of the University in financing and developing special projects, shows, and other lines of work. The banks of the state have given large financial support. More than twenty-five banks have provided for the purchase of more than 700 pigs, calves and sheep, valued at more than $55,000. The twelve short courses were held this past year in cooperation with chambers of commerce, county farm bureaus and other organizations which provided more than $6,000 to cover the local expense.
The state Y. M. C. A. and the State Board of Health assisted in the camps for leaders, boys’ and girls’ camps, and at the Round-up for boys and girls at Purdue. Luncheon clubs such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Optimists, Altrusa, and others have given generous financial and organization support to boys’ and girls’ clubs and other extension projects. The State Board of Agriculture has provided a special building on the State Fair Grounds for Purdue exhibits, funds for scholarships for boys and girls in Purdue, and has financed educational trips for winners in
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club work. The United States Department of Agriculture assisted with funds for the following projects: Boys’ and girls’ clubs, home demonstrations, farm management demonstrations, county agents, and barberry eradication work.
Hundreds of individuals have given financial assistance and have furnished local leadership which has meant much for the success of the projects. The railroads of the state have operated special trains, have furnished carloads of potatoes, and have provided premiums for exhibits. Limestone and fertilizer organizations have provided large amounts of material for demonstrations, and have made liberal cash contributions for premiums and contests. The Federation of Women’s Clubs has joined in many activities and has aided in the promotion of the home program. The press of the state has proved a powerful agency and has been a close and active cooperator. The editors and reporters of Indiana papers and journals have contributed in a large way to the success of the work. The county and community fair organizations have inaugurated educational features and have given valuable support.
This extensive, active, sympathetic cooperation of the many forces accounts for the large amount of work accomplished and the advanced position occupied by Indiana agriculture. It would take a volume to mention a small part of the work of the county agents and representatives of the agricultural service as many of the counties have local problems peculiar to the territory to solve. We quote from the last reports of the county agents of Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties as showing the character of some of their activities during the past year.
LAKE COUNTY — L. E. CUTLER.
On March 1st the old Cow-Testing Association was reorganized and one new association organized. At present forty-seven members have 794 cows under test. Some of the members save enough during the first month or two of their testing to pay for their year’s testing. Savings have been and are being made through the sale of boarder cows and better feeding. We are reasonably safe in assuming that the average dairyman is saving about $25 a month when he takes advantage of the information gained through cow testing association work. At this rate the two present associations are worth about $14,000 a year to our local dairymen.
For the first time since 1909, thirty-four men and women from Lake County went on a Purdue tour this year. They visited the dairy, animal husbandry and poultry departments the first day and the experiment fields near Lafayette the next morning. Everyone seemed to have found the trip both interesting and instructive. Over 3000 tons of limestone were used during 1925. Twenty-one thousand and fifty tons were ordered
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from companies that had samples and prices in the county agent’s office. Figuring the net return of $4.50 for each ton of limestone used in the county, local limestone users are about $13,000 better off than they were in 1924. One spray ring with eight members was organized in the Sheridan neighborhood and gave excellent returns on the investment. Men in other neighborhoods sprayed their own orchards and were equally well pleased with their results.
Twelve hog raisers enrolled for the Hoosier Ton Litter project, six nominated litters and three produced ton litters in 180 days. J. H. Hayhurst of Lowell made a state record with a litter of seven Durocs that weighed 2097 pounds when six months old. Fourteen farmers attended the annual field day meeting at the Wanatah experiment field. A. A. Hansen of Purdue was present at three well attended weed meetings to discuss the eradication of Canada thistle and other noxious weeds. The interest among poultrymen has increased. Forty people are keeping monthly egg records and fourteen are keeping yearly records on their flocks. About sixty poultrymen were well pleased with a two-day poultry school held during December. Representative farm women attended five county meetings to receive information from Purdue specialists in home economics.
Forty local meetings were held at which fourteen demonstrations were given and there was an attendance of about 1000. One hundred and thirty-five boys and girls were enrolled in junior agriculture clubs, forty-nine boys in corn and potato clubs and eighty-six girls in sewing clubs; twenty-three had sewing club exhibits at the county fair this fall. These records show that 8594 miles were travelled on official business, 134 meetings were held or attended with an attendance of about 7550 and there were 1808 office calls, 1347 telephone calls and 1260 individual letters written.
LAPORTE COUNTY — O. W. MANSFIELD.
Boys’ and girls’ club work is the major activity on the agricultural extension program for LaPorte County. Exhibits have been made by 166 club members and forty-three boys were engaged in a livestock judging contest at the county fair. Approximately 450 boys and girls are enrolled in potato, canning, sewing, lamb, pig, livestock-judging, and health clubs for 1925, and the club work is considered the best feature of the fair. A campaign for growing legumes is continually in progress with special emphasis on growing alfalfa, sweet clover and soy beans. A Cow-Testing Association with twenty-seven herd owners started operating in March with a total of 460 cows on test. Ninety-nine meetings have been held during the past year in developing and carrying out the agricultural program, with a total attendance of 6,262 people.
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PORTER COUNTY — A. Z. AREHART.
The area plan of testing for tuberculosis is in progress in the county and it is expected that the county will be soon accredited. The club work includes projects in sewing, canning, baking, potato club, pig feeding, poultry, corn, colt, calf and lamb clubs. A county club leader for girls has been employed and a club camp will be carried on in the interest of club work. Twelve hundred fifty bushels of certified seed potatoes were used by the farmers during the past year and local dealers are now handling these in preference to common stock. Assistance was given in locating 1,000 bushels of seed corn. Thirty limestone demonstrations have been started in the county.
A County Speakers and Entertainment Bureau has been established by the Farm Bureau and is proving to be very successful. The nutrition project has reached approximately 350 farm women. Alfalfa and soy bean demonstrations are being carried on in many parts of the county. In order to assist in carrying out the poultry project a county poultry association has been organized. Projects in dairying have been carried on, with especial emphasis on the campaign for pure-bred sires.
LIVE STOCK.
In the past five years there has been a shrinkage in live stock in Indiana, only mules and milk cows having substantially maintained their numbers. In the past year, all classes of live stock have decreased by comparison with the previous year, excepting cattle, and even in the cattle class, there was a pronounced decrease in the number of dairy cows and heifers intended for milking, which, however, was offset by a substantial increase in the number of beef cattle.
The decrease in young stock in the past five years amounted to 198,000 head, of which 63,000 are horses and mules, although there was an increase in mature mules. There has been a decrease of 209,000 head of mature animals in the past five years, of which decrease, 160,000 were horses. While there were a number of factors which may account in part for this pronounced decrease in the number of horses, perhaps the outstanding one was the increase in the number of tractors on farms, which was 23,572 in 1925 as compared with 9,233 in 1923.
While there has been a decrease of twenty-two per cent in the number of horses since 1920 and sixteen per cent in cattle, there has been an increase of seventeen per cent in the acreage for hay which, making due allowance for a greater decrease in production per acre, would indicate an ample crop for all the present hay eating animals. In this connection it is notable that the production of milk per cow has risen steadily the
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past five years, which is in accord with the changed hay conditions. The number of hogs has materially decreased throughout the state since 1920 although the material decrease in the past two years has been due to the short corn crop of 1924 which resulted in high prices for feed.
While the 1926 figures are not available for the three counties the corn crop in 1925 and with favorable prices, should mean a large increase in the number of hogs for this year. The counties of the Lake Region have been noted for their milk production, which has been only exceeded by a few counties, and notwithstanding the great decrease in the hay crop per acre throughout the state in 1925, and which was felt materially in northwestern Indiana, the number of milk cows was well maintained by comparison with previous years, Lake County showing the only noticeable reduction although it led the three counties in 1924.
The output of milk in Lake County in 1925 was 35,397,400 pounds or an
approximate butter fat production of 1,415,000 pounds. LaPorte County was
the leader in the three counties in the output of milk in 1925 which was
47,214,610 pounds or an approximate butter fat production of 1,888,000
pounds. Porter County showed a milk output of 38,537,810 pounds or an
approximate butter fat production of 1,540,000 pounds. The following table
shows the number of live stock assessed on farms in Lake, Porter and LaPorte
counties in 1923, 1924 and 1925 which are the latest official figures
obtainable.
NAVIGATION OF
HISTORY OF THE LAKE AND CALUMET REGION OF INDIANA
FOREWARD
AN APPRECIATION
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I - Geology and Topography
CHAPTER II - The Mound Builders
CHAPTER III - Days of Indian Occupancy
CHAPTER IV - Early Explorations
CHAPTER V - Border Warfare
CHAPTER VI - Lake and Calumet Region Becomes Part of United States
CHAPTER VII - After Wayne and Greenville - Tecumseh and the Prophet
CHAPTER VIII - Indian Peace
CHAPTER IX - Early Settlements and Pioneers - County Organization
CHAPTER X - Townships - Towns - Villages
CHAPTER XI - Pioneer Life
CHAPTER XII - The Lake Michigan Marshes
CHAPTER XIII - Agriculture and Livestock
CHAPTER XIV - Military Annals
CHAPTER XV - The Lake and Calumet Region in the World War
CHAPTER XVI - The Newspapers
CHAPTER XVII - The Medical Profession
CHAPTER XVIII - The Bench and Bar in the Lake and Calumet Region
CHAPTER XIX - Churches
CHAPTER XX - Schools
CHAPTER XXI - Libraries
CHAPTER XXII - Social Life
CHAPTER XXIII - The Dunes of Northwestern Indiana
CHAPTER XXIV - Banks and Banking
CHAPTER XXV - Transportation and Waterways
CHAPTER XXVI - Cities
CHAPTER XXVII - Industrial Development
CHAPTER XXVIII - Chambers of Commerce
Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, December 2022