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

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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,
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* 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.

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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,

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-- 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

 

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