VOL. XXX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., APRIL 27, 1895.
NO. %__%/'
Resources of*
MADISON  COUNTY,   INDIANA.
This county la In the form of a regular]
parallelogram, being 15^miles wide from
east to west and 30 miles from north to
south. It contains 450 square miles, and
was organized in 1S23. The territory out
of which it was organized belonged to the
"New Purchase," as a considerable part of
that section of the State was called when
the St. Mary's Indian treaty in ^^extinguished the Indian title to it. Pendleton
was the first county seat, and there the
first courts of the csunty were held in 1823
and the clerk'*, and sheriff's offices were
log cabins.
The present taxable 'area is 283,050 39
acres, valued for this purpose, including
improvements, at 110,031,255, Adding to
this the city and town lots and improvements and the railway property appraised
for taxation in the county, the total tax a
ble values amount to f 20,410,721,
The population of the county has grown
greatly since the census of 1890 was taken,
and is now about 48.600. The great increase
in population has been made In the manufacturing cities and towns of Anderson,
Elwood, Alexandria, Summitville,Pendleton, Frankton and others..
The southern section of the county which
is drained by Fall creek and its tributaries
la undulating to hilly in places. The more
elevated points generally contain good
beds of gravel, which are covered with a
day and sandy loam productive soil. At
a few points in this region the gravel
comes near the . surface. Here were the
first settlements in the oounty. The valleys in this region abound in good springs
of pure water; That part of the county
lying sonth of White river was settled long
before the more northern sections, chiefly
because they were more nearly ln the track
of westward travel, but also because they
were more undulating and dryer than the
northern sections of .the county. In the
northern sections of the oounty the oountry
is more level, the streams lying near the
surface.
ABOVE SEA LEVEL.
The northern sections of the county,
though the highest, were originally the
wettest, even to swampy. By the accompanying map it will be noticed by the fig-
ures at Summitville the elevation above
the sea is 1,001 feet, while to the northwest
at Elwood they show an elevation of 858
feet. While at Anderson it is 847, Pendleton 848 and at Alexandria 812. The north
to norwest section is an elevated plateau,
and, the streams lying on the surface was
originally very wet and swampy. But
these regions have been pretty thoroughly
reclaimed by systems of open and tile
drainage, and are now among the most
productive lands of the county. Here
chiefly aro the black, formerly muck lands,
deep and almost inexhaustible in fertility.
They grow the heaviest crops of the staple
productions. Once deemed almost worthless because so wet and swampy, they are
among the most valuable lands of the
State, due wholly to thorough drainage.
THE TIMBEB LANDS AND STJNE.
Excepting the small prairie lying between Anderson and Pendleton, originally
the county was very heavily timbered.
Yellow poplar, walnut, oak, ash, hard
maple, hickory, elm and beech were the
chief timbers of the once dense forests of
the county. For many years this timber
was a great source of profit. But with the
exception of small tracts here and there,
the large timber has been removed. Including the fenced and pisture woodlands
there are still about 60,000 acres in timber
in the county.
There Is very good building stone near
Alexandria, Anderson and Pendleton. At
the latter place and near it is an exoellent
first in a good year averaged two tons, and
the latter two to thr6i tons per acre.
LIVE STOCK.
The county has nearly  12,000 acres  in
blue  grass  pasture, and in the high tides
"    - HANCOCK1"-cor "'     " "
MADISON COUNTY—Explanation.
The figures given at  Anderson,  Elwcod, Alexandria, Summitville and
Pendleton show elevation above the sea.
The circles at Anderson and Alexandria indicate developed stone quarries.
Natural gas Is found in every part of the county.
Dash lines   —   —   —   —   show gravel roads.
====== Natural gas pipe lines.
sandstone for building purposes, but hard
to quarry or dress when quarried. Very
good Niagara limestone, 10 to 12 inches
thick, is found near Anderson for building
purposes. Near Frankton also is a f lir
quality of limestone,
THE AOBICULTURAL FBOD UCTIONS.
The staple productions are shown ln
these figures for a good year and their
value the prioes qf year 1892, when the industries were at their best:
Acres Total bushels Value
Wheat..™™..™... 47,000              1,03.,0:0      . 1723,800
Corn.™™.  ™..60,170              2,406,800 96_,72.
Oats i. 8.CC0                 2.3.CO. £6-030
The timothy, clover and other  minor
crops yield alike heavy in the county; the
of the cattle and sheep industry were
grs/.sd with much profit. The following
figures will show something of this in a
fair year:
Horses and mules .-. - .....—  .......... 8,C0
Cattle _. .*. -,    19,223
Sheep..... .....„.....-.„.....„......_......... _...:...__.. 8 624
"BOMB OF THB HIGH LEVELS
This county, like others, has its intensive farm methods here and there and alio
its lower grades. In ihe southwestern
seotion two farmers report their whea
growing at 30 to 39 bushels p3r acre, corn
at 50 to 78 bushels and oats at 40 to 55 In
the northern and northwestern section the
1 reports of several of-the best farmers are
on wheat 28 to 41 bushels, oorn 60 to 78
bushels and oats 45 to 65. There are four
reporting on the alluvial lands of White
River as high as 44 bushels of wheat and
86 to 96 bushels of corn. These reports
show what the lands are capable of when
highly farmed.
NATUBAL OAS.
This county lies in the center of the
natural gas area of the State. Tbis area is
drawn upon by five pipe lines leading out
of the county, as well as by many leading
to the towns and manufacturing centers
ln tbe oounty. Natural gas has for about
seven years been one of the most prolific**
sources of wealth, and by its Influence in
stimulating manufacturing has nearly
doubled the population of the county.
The rapid accretion in population has been
in the towns where manufacturing has
rapidly developed. And so the agricultural Interests have felt the Influence of
this in better and bettor markets at home.
Indeed the demand on the farm and garden in the way of fruits and vegetiblt s
has more than kept pace with the supply,
for much has been shipped in to the thriving cities and towns of the county to supply the deficiency.
THE TOWNS AND BAILWAYS.
Anderson, the oounty seat, has shown
wonderful growth and development in
seven years. The population has doubled
in that time and is now about 20,000,
which is due to the location and building
up of great manufacturing industries.
Elwood stands next in population with
about 10,000. Then follows Alexandria
with 6,000, *Frankton 1,400, Summitville,
1,600, Pendleton 1,900 and others with
smaller populations. The rapid growth
of all has been due to natural gas and
growth of the manufacturing Industries.
Anderson is the railway center, having
four roads crossing here, two of which belong to great trunk line systems from the
west to the eastern seaboard with branches
reaching from the lakes to the Ohio
river. Elwood has two roads crosslrg
there from the north to the south and
from east to the west and Alexandria has
a like system of railways, while the other
towns mentioned are also supplied with
railway facilities. The county has 102 69
miles of railway, affording ample facilities
'or the agricultural and manufacturing
interests.
THE MANUFACTUBINO INDDSTBIES.
As already indicated, ibis industry is
more generally distributed over the county
than in any other one in the State. The
largest establishments are at Anderson
and Elwood where very large capital is
employed in various iron, tin, glass and
other factories. The most of this capital
has been invested in aU sections of the
county in the last seven years, natural gas
having been the controllng factor in this
development. The following figures covering the years named show the comparative growth of manufacturing in the
county:
18.0 1805.
Nnmber of establishments  167 310
Number of persons emplo'de        627 3,680
Capital invested  | 525,250     |3.940,0C0
Value of annual product . „ 1,194,312       6,885,C0J
Annual wages paid    176,733       1,670,0(0
When it is considered tbat this remarkable growth in the manufacturing Industry of the county has been made since the
discovery of natural gas, about seven
years ago, the reader will have some adequate idea of the Impulse due to the new
product. According to tha census data of
number of persons to the home, here we
bave addod in seven years about 15,000
consumers engaged in and dependent upon
manufacturing. Herein is seen the value
of this Industry to agriculture, for all these
added thousands must be ftd and the
borne market opens up the demand for
the surplus products cf the farm, orchard
and garden at the door of agriculture,
making a ready market and better prices
for tjie vegetables and small fruits.