Newsletter of the Historical Society of Ogden Dunes, Indiana,
Inc. Volume 4 Number 9
October 1996
[This is much of the second half of this issue, all I happened to have in electronic form so far.]
LOOKING BACK
Peter Youngman, our Historian, has come up with some bits of local history for your edification. Chesterton Tribune, Thursday, 15 October,
1925
UNEARTH SPHERICAL STONE ON JOHN HARBRECHT FARM
While at work on the new highway leading from Porter to the Dunes highway,
Leonard Anderson found a peculiar shaped stone three feet under ground
on the John Harbrecht farm, in Westchester township. The stone is very
nearly round and weighs 24 pounds and four ounces. It was at one time used
by the Indians to grind their corn into meal. It is possible that the vessel
that should go with it may be found in the vicinity where this find was
made. The stone shows that much work and patience was used by the person
who carved it out from the virgin rock, and the wonder is what kind of
tool was used in the making. The stone is now on exhibition in The Tribune
office. The region where it was found was formerly the home of Indian tribes
who ranged the country from Petoskey to Terre Haute. The last of these
Indians left the Baillytown country in the late sixties.
Chesterton Tribune, Thursday, 29 October,
1925
UNCOVER OLD INDIAN BURYING GROUND
Road makers, who are doing the grading for the new road [Waverly Road] running north from
Porter to the Dunes Highway, ran into an Indian burying ground Friday.
They were working on a stretch about twenty-five feet south of the Dunes
Highway and just east of the Seneca Bigelow home in a sand hill when the
scraper unearthed a skeleton. Trustee Pearson was notified and asked for
instructions. He gave orders to box the skeleton and await further orders.
A short time afterward, the scraper unearthed another skeleton. Then another
and another, until the remains of four skeletons were brought to light.
All were in a sitting position, Indian fashion. It is believed that the
remains of Indians have been unearthed, and that an Indian burying ground
had been found. The workers have penetrated the sand hill only a short
distance and it is not known what will be found before the grade through
has been made. The remains have been boxed and buried. The locality, where
the bones have been buried, is to be kept secret, as it is feared that
relic hunters might dig them up again.
Two weeks ago the graders found a stone used by the Indians to grind
their corn. Work has been partially done on the road from the Harbrecht
farm north to the Dunes Highway. All the country from the Calumet river
north is rich with relics of the Indian habitation, and before the work
is finished it is expected that some great discoveries will be made. The
territory known as the Baillytown district was the home of Indians from
time immemorial until the late sixties, when the last of this aboriginal
race departed for the west forever. The sand hills are full of relics and
the fields to the south of them are the resting places of countless utensils
used by the Indians. In times past many arrows have been found in this
section. In the sand hills along the lake several skeletons were uncovered
by the winds and brought to view. Deer heads have also been found in times
past. A regular museum could have been made had all the relics found there
in the past been collected and preserved. Now that the territory is being
developed the scraper and the shovel will bring many strange things to
light bearing on the history of the peoples who lived here before the white
man came.
Plans for re-electrification of the Chicago, South Shore & South
Bend railroad are announced.
Announcement was made that contracts have been awarded for new electrical
equipment to be installed in eight sub-stations which will be built along
the line of the railroad. This new equipment will include some new features
which never before have been used by an electrically operated railroad
in this country.
Construction of the sub-stations will begin soon. The re-electrification
program will be completed by July 1st of next year.
One of the new features of the proposed installation is a carrier current
type of centralized supervisory control which will be an entirely new practice
in the operation of electrified railroads. This new invention has been
tested at the General Electric company's research laboratories at Schenectady,
N. Y., and the South Shore line will be the first electrified railroad
in the country to put it into practical operation.
Under this new system the supply of electrical energy for the entire
railroad will be controlled from a central office by a single wire, thus
simplifying operation to a great degree.
Six of the new sub-stations will be automatically operated, and two
will be of the manual type. The equipment for four of the sub-stations
will be of the rotary converter type and the balance of the mercury arc
rectifier type. This latter installation will be the first of its kind
to be used on an electrified railroad in this country.
The new sub-stations will be located at Columbia avenue, Hammond; Gary;
Ogden Dunes; Tremont; Michigan City; Tea Lake; New Carlisle and South Bend.
The buildings will be constructed of brick and will be of ornamental
architecture. Capacity of five of the sub-stations will be 1,500 kilowatts.
The others will be 750 kilowatts, but the equipment will permit increasing
their capacity to 1,500 kilowatts.
Electrification of the railroad is part of the rehabilitation program
which has been started since Samuel Insull and associates took over the
management of the railroad in July.
Fate in the guise of a level stretch of duneland's famous sands extending
along the left side of the Dunes Highway, about three miles east of Tremont
was responsible for the escape uninjured of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Milgram,
752 Lincoln, and their two children, when the Studebaker sedan in which
they were riding turned completely over.
Not one of the occupants of the car was even bruised and the soft sand
in which the car turned turtle proved such an efficient shock absorber
that even the glass windows in the car remained intact.
An elderly gentleman, driving a Ford, attempted to cross Dunes Highway
Sunday morning. A truck coming toward Gary threatened to crash into the
Ford and Mrs. Milgram, who was driving the Gary car eastward, swerved her
car to avoid what seemed like a certain triple-collision.
A rear tire of the Milgram car blew out as the car swerved and it was
thrown to the left side of the road, facing back toward Gary and on its
side.
After the Milgram family had been removed from the car a wrecker was
called and soon had it right side up. A new tire was all that was needed
to put the car in running condition and the Milgrams continued their journey
to Michigan City.
Chesterton Tribune, Saturday, 29 October,
1898
Lake Michigan presented an awful picture of grandeur last Wednesday,
and the sight was one worth traveling far to witness. Only once in a lifetime
did the angry waves, dash on the shore as far as they did Oct. 26, and
that was on May 19th, 1894. Both times the waters of the lake climbed over
the hill on which the fishing shanty stands, and dropped into the creek.
The high winds from the north had lashed the waters of the lake steadily
for 24 hours, and the south shore was where the effect could be seen best.
From away off where the sky meets the waters, one could see a huge black
something dash up out of the lake, and then go down. Nearer and nearer
it would come, and with its thousands of mates make a roar like the falling
of Niagara or the bombardment of a city. On, on, leaping higher and higher
comes the wave until it strikes the sand bar. Then the sight is grand.
High up into the air the mighty wave seems to stop, while over its crest,
in graceful waves falls a solid body of water, followed by the white caps.
Just as the waters are churned into snowy whiteness, another wave of even
huger proportions dashes on to the bar, and seemingly overwhelms its dying
predecessor, and then rushes onward, shoreward, climbing just as far up
the sand hill as its fury permits, and then falls back seemingly exhausted
and defeated. The sky was clouded with gulls and ducks and other water
fowl which had been driven from the bosom of the lake, their home of safety,
and while the gulls would not settle down and light on terra firma as ducks
would, still they kept very close to shore. For a time, standing on a hill
on the beach, one could see a thousand Niagara's storming the shore.
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Valparaiso Porter County Vidette, Thursday,
12 October, 1871
THE great fires of the last week have so filled
the public mind that nothing else has been thought of.
THE railroad bridge at Plymouth took fire last
Monday night, and was only saved by the most strenuous exertions of the
volunteer watchmen who were patrolling the streets of Plymouth to save
the town from fire.
THE woods about Flint Lake, and through to the
neighborhood of Prattville, have been on fire a good deal of the time during
the last week. A great deal of damage has been done to the timber.
OVER 1,000 cords of wood were burned on the line
of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad just beyond Bourbon,
last Thursday night. So fierce were the flames that trains were delayed
about eight hours before they could pass the scene of the conflagration.
THE greatest excitement prevailed here all day
Monday and all Monday night, caused by the fires that were raging in Chicago
and elsewhere. Citizens resolved themselves into a Vigilance Committee,
and visited houses and offices, to oversee the fires. It was wisely considered
that an "Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,"
and knowing that under the pressure of the Chicago calamity, the Insurance
Companies were probably swamped, they felt that our only security consisted
in the vigilance of the people. The rain Tuesday night allayed the anxiety,
in a measure, but the caution developed by the occasion ought to grow into
confirmed habits of prudence with regard to fire.
IN all parts of the country fires were raging
last Saturday, Sabbath and Monday, doing considerable damage, principally
to wood and hay. In Essex Township nearly 200 tons of hay was burned, and
the dwelling of Oliver Bailey was threatened, but by the heroic efforts
of two of the neighbor women it was saved. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey were absent
at the time, and only two small boys at home.
South of Hebron the whole country was said to be in flames, and the
people of Hebron were much alarmed for the safety of their town, but they
turned out manfully, and fought the flames successfully.
Valparaiso Porter County Vidette, Thursday,
19 October, 1871
THE mill and dwelling house known as Cassello,
on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, burned last Sunday.
The great fire at Chicago has so taken up the attention of the people that
the innumerable smaller fires throughout the country are almost unnoticed.
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The Hour Glass Newsletter
George Svihla, Editor
762-5184
Historical Society Officers
Naomi Svihla, President
Donald Kurtz, Vice President & Treasurer
Jane Sutton, Secretary
George Svihla, Curator
Peter Youngman, Historian
Board of Directors
Margaret Benninger
Evelyn Childs
Susan Clouser
Constance Richter
Norbert Scheff
John Skafish
George Svihla
Thomas Tittle
Peter Youngman
Memberships:
Individual
$10
Family
$15
Sponsor
$50
Patron
$100
Organization/Business
$100
Life
$500
Historical Society of Ogden Dunes, Inc.
115 Hillcrest Road - 101
Ogden Dunes, IN 46368-1001
PROGRAM October 19, 1996 2 P.M.
ROCKS: of the FRIENDSHIP FIREPLACE
by Jeanette Segal
The
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