VOL. XXX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., APRIL 6, 1895.
NO. 14.
Resources of*
HOWARD   COUNTY,   INDIANA.
This oounty was organized in 1844, but
down to 1847 it was called Rlohvllle county
and was then chaDged to Howard. It has
295K square miles, making all areas, including water, 189,120 acres, 184,989 58 aores
being |arable land. The lands and Improvements outside ofthe cities and towns
are valued for taxation at 16.354,635. The
surface is quite level, broken only with
low banks of Wild Cat oreek and its tributaries. At the time of its settlement a
large part of the county was reckoned
worthless as being too wet and spongy for
cultivation. These were chiefly the black
muck soils which have since reclamation
and drainage proven very
productive, and now the
most valuable, because so
rich and fertile. The drainage system began with
open ditches leading to
the lower levels of the
streams for outlets. After
a few years this was followed in a few sections by
tile drainage. Experience
soon showed the wisdom
of this under drainage also
S3' for~yeafs i?~was fur-
sued with great vigor and
large expenditure. There
are now 495,500 rods of
drain tile in the oounty.
It was soon seen that production was now more
than doubled. In a few
years after the drainage
began the mucky swamps
began to disappear acd
upon these soils great
crops of corn and wheat .
were grown and mealows,	
clover and pasture grosses appeared.
When the water levels were lowered and
the wet lands had di.appealed and one
great crop followed another upon lands
where nothing but swamp grass before
would grow a dry season came and the
fear was expressed that the lands would
not stand drouth and produce. Certainly
they would not produce while swamps.
To the average farmer the moisture in
the atmosphere had not been considered
a factor In production in dry seasons.
the surface where it was cooler. And so
this object lesson made tile drainage more
popular. It was seen that the moisture of
the atmosphere through the tiles and percolations to them from the surface would
reach the roots of growing plants and
make tile drained lands more productive
in dry season than those not so drained.
TIMBER AND STONE.
The county once abounded in dense
timber forests and had great quantities of
valuable timber. Poplar, walnut, oak,
ash and other varieties grew in all parts of
the county. The timber has been a large
source of wealth, but the greater part of it
THE CITY OF KOKOMO.
As a result ot this great find the city of
Kokomo has rapidly grown to one of the
most important manufacturing and business cities of the State, doubling her population in 10 years and increasing her capital in manufacturing in the same period
from 1275,000 to about f2,000,000, and with
an annual output of over $2,000,000 of
manufactures. Bath the growth in population and industry have been marvelous
and due to the natural gas rind of a few
years ago. Indeed, this great transformation has all come in about seven years.
To this is dee also an excellent home
market for the products of the field and
garden which has benefited agriculture,
making two consumers where there was
only one before. And so in this agricul
ture and the manufacturing industry have
fce.ome mutually beneficial to each other
A fiald which had been well tile drained
into one of these open ditches for five or
six years was in corn. The last rain had
been on the 12th day of Jane. Now it
was August 19th and the blades of the
oorn rolled up badly during the hot days.
The ground seemed to be aa dry as dust.
Daring one of these dry August days
clouds appeared, the barometer was low,
the air seemed moist and a farmer ob-
Berved late in the afternoon streams of
water as large as a rye straw running from
his tiles into the open ditch, as shown in
the cut. It was the moisture of the warm
air condensed in the tiles four feet below
HOWARD COUNTY—Explanations.
The figures 839 at Kokomo are feet above sea level.
This represents the underlying Niagara Water Limestone
in the eastern part of the county.
rEEE Limestone and shale in western part of the county.
(<^j Shows the Natural Gas areas.
gj*; The barrel indicates Oil areas.
= Natural Gas pipe lines.
(~~\ Developed Limestone quarries at Kokomo.
Within the dotted lines I. gas, and within the dash
lines ----- • is the oil areas.
The towns, townships, streams, railways and the other features
are self explanatory.
has been removed. Including the forests
and timber pastures, there are still above
40,000 acres in timber yet. Except in a
few places where there are small lots, the
timber is comparatively small.
There are excellent quarries of limestone. The general surface is stone drift
underlaid with Devonian age formation.
Here and there is gocd gravel and there
are about 58 miles of good gravel roads.
NATURALGAS AND OIL.
This is one of the mo3t productive
natural gas counties. As early as 1870 a
well was bored near Kokomo, passing
through Devonian limestone, gray limestone, white salicious and blue mud stone
and clay shales to the depth of 825 feet
There was a small discharge of gas, and
petroleum oil appeared in the sand but it
was not utllizsd. About four miles southwest of Kokomo gas was found the same
year in drift clay at less than 100 feet ln
depth and here also was some traces ot
petrollum. Several chalybeate springs
were also noted on the same land, which
flowed freely through dry and wet seasons
alike and these discharged natural gas
also. About 15 years later strong natural
gas was discovered and soon it began to
be utillzsd, first for illuminating purposes
and then quickly as fuel for residences
and subsequently for manufacturing purposes.
as they always must go hand in hand for
the highest degree of development of both
THE  RAILWAYS.
Kokomo Is the railway center. Practically there are four railways centering and
crossing here, as the Pan Handle system
from Louisville to Chicago uses the track
of the Lake Erie & Western. This makes
100 miles of railway crossing "the county,
and affording th3 very best shipping facilities. These lines conneot lakes Michigan
and Erie with the Ohio river on the sonth,
and includes the Pan Handle, one ot the
great trunk lines to the eastern seaboard.
The valuation of these roads in the connty
including their other property, i« 51,122,570
AGRICULTURAL PBODUCTS.
Taking a year of high pre d action which
shows the capabilities of agriculture in the
county, prioes three years ago, a normal
year of industry, we find the following for
the staple productions:
Bn per
Acres,    acre
Wheat.  35.490        22
Corn  37,2-0        40
Oats  6,000        10
The minor productions, grown on
areas, in yield were in about the same proportion. The yield per aore in clover was
two tons, and that of timothy hay the
same, the acreage to these crops being ten
to fifteen thousand each annually.
THB UVE STOCK.
Blue grass grows to perfection and ln the
Tot»l
bushels.
781,780
1,491,6(0
SOl.OCO
Value*
I54S590
6S6,640
81.CC0
less
years of profitable cattle growing there
were a dczen herds of pure bred Shorthorn
cattle and several herds of Jersey and
othor breeds. About 10,000 aores were devoted to these pastures. The swine industry is also a leading one, for the county is
so productive in corn and wheat, the latter
now being fed largely to hog*. The following are the products in ihis line in recent years:
Horses and mules 7,81o
Oattle ot all breeds _. __ 13,650
Bheep ol all ages 6,140
Hogs of all breeds  19,200
ANNUAL SUMMARY IN VALUES.
Since the development of large manufacturing industries the demand for the or-
ohard, farm and garden products has
greatly increased, including that for small
fruitsaud vegetables Including live stock
and all these with the value of the more
staple productions, and other annual re-
8Durce3 of agrloulture, the
values of all, consumed at
home and shippei away,
amount to a little over $4,-
300,000 per year.
SOME HIGH LEVELS IN
AGRICULTURE.
Every section has Its Intent ire farm me'hods and
farmers and these show
the highest capabilities of
the soil and indicate what
the county may do when
thex'e is a demand for lt.
We refer as follows to a
f e w of these, which will Illustrate what we mean by
high levels in agriculture.
. i One of our reporters who
has teen a hard student of
agriculture, whose farm is
north   of Kokomo,  says
. he grows'from  28  to  40
bushels of wheat aud 55 to 80 bushels of
corn per acre. He drills in his wheat on
tile drained land from Sept. 10 to 25, and
cultivates his corn according to the level
system, after the gronnd is first stirred
deep.
Another in the northwest part of the
county grows 30 to 36 bushels of wheat and
60 to 90 bushels of corn per acre. His
methods are very similar to those of the
first named.
In the south eastern part ot the county
another farmer writes us that his yield of
wheat has several times been 40 bushels,
and corn 90 per acre. Prom various parts
of the county we have reports from farmers which range along with these in the
staple productions, aud in methods of culture. It will be seen that these are nearly
or quite double the average yields given
for the whole oounty, and stand as good
illustrations of what the soil is capable
when under the highest order of  culture.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.
Kokomo is the chief center of this industry, though there are prosperous establishments not so extensive elsewhere in
the oounty. Seven years have wrought
wonderful changes in this line. Take the
following figures for the periods named as
a comparison showing the growth in ten
years:
1835 189.
-dumber ol estsbli&hments „„..      121 ,210
Capital Invested  IIIO.CXO $2501,810
Value ol annual products 710 OCO 2.910.CO0
Annual wages paid. 135,400 1,240,000
Number ol persons emp'oyed.       670 4,510
It will be noticed by the figures given,
showing the productions of the farm and
factory, how well the interdependent industries of the county are balanced. The
history of the world has shown that both
the highest development and highest types
of civilization have prevailed where the
industries essential to Independent home
Ufe have been the best balanced. And so
here Is produced at the very threshold of
agriculture many of the things demanded
by agriculture or their equivalent in
money, and agriculture, at the doors of the
industries, feeds these consumers its surplus free from the expenses of long lines
of transportation.