The following series of blog postings will be for the entertainment and interest of my grandfather who is currently recovering from open heart surgery in Rochester, Minnesota. The following is a novice attempt at the history of the farm, specifically the 40 acres that have been held by the family the longest.IntroductionMankind has always been drawn to bodies of water. Many a poem was written as an ode to some lake or stream. Many a hymn was inspired by the billowing waves of the oceans. Many a song has been sung of the rivers that run through our lives. Perhaps the Yellow River of Northern Indiana does not have the class o
f the Seine in France, the mystique of the ancient Nile, or the power of the ever so mighty Mississippi, but like all of these there are many who call its muddy banks home. From the river, so long ago named the Yellow by the natives; the farm is only a short distance. Less than 2 ½ miles separate the river and the farm. From the river the land rises sharply then drops again as one proceeds north, only to begin its slow rise once more. The tile, ditches, and streams of the farm all flow to meet the river as well, adding to its width. As it meanders by the little corner of the world in which the farm is placed it does not seem noteworthy at all. Yet by the time it flows into the Kankakee River in Starke County it has nearly doubled in size. Let us begin our history and discussion of this farm, the Plainview Farm, by looking to this Yellow River and the greater Yellow River Valley of which it forms the spine.An old settler of the county, Charles Reeve, has written the following of the river and its greater valley: “Those who are residents and read the newspapers should rejoice that they live in the safe and beautiful Yellow River Valley. I suppose few of them ever stop to think that they do live in a valley; that westward the land rises from thirty to fifty or more feet to the mile, until it reaches the summit a few miles out and then slopes away on the great Kankakee plains, at only six or eight inches to the mile, to the Kankakee River, it then rises again to the high table land of the prairies; while on the north and northeast it rises in like manner to the summit, and then slopes away to the St. Joe River, and then the same on the east, southeast, and south, to the Tippecanoe. Nor do they regard our inland position and timbered protection, where the wild storms sweeping up the valleys of the larger streams above named and from Lake Michigan and the great Western praries are carried up by the rising land toward us, and so high over our heads instead of tearing us in pieces, while the timber, obstructing the currents, makes clouds and rain, and saves us from droughts. As day after day the reports of the terrible storms all over the country come to us, and the wailings of victims of pestilence leaving knowledge of the awful desolation in their track, are quiet valley is full of peace and safety- no failure of crops, no epidemics, no floods or great droughts, with good lands, ready and convenient markets, no public local debts, schools and churches convenient on every hand, the farmers of the Yellow River Valley should hug themselves with delight in their safety and prosperity.”
f the Seine in France, the mystique of the ancient Nile, or the power of the ever so mighty Mississippi, but like all of these there are many who call its muddy banks home. From the river, so long ago named the Yellow by the natives; the farm is only a short distance. Less than 2 ½ miles separate the river and the farm. From the river the land rises sharply then drops again as one proceeds north, only to begin its slow rise once more. The tile, ditches, and streams of the farm all flow to meet the river as well, adding to its width. As it meanders by the little corner of the world in which the farm is placed it does not seem noteworthy at all. Yet by the time it flows into the Kankakee River in Starke County it has nearly doubled in size. Let us begin our history and discussion of this farm, the Plainview Farm, by looking to this Yellow River and the greater Yellow River Valley of which it forms the spine.An old settler of the county, Charles Reeve, has written the following of the river and its greater valley: “Those who are residents and read the newspapers should rejoice that they live in the safe and beautiful Yellow River Valley. I suppose few of them ever stop to think that they do live in a valley; that westward the land rises from thirty to fifty or more feet to the mile, until it reaches the summit a few miles out and then slopes away on the great Kankakee plains, at only six or eight inches to the mile, to the Kankakee River, it then rises again to the high table land of the prairies; while on the north and northeast it rises in like manner to the summit, and then slopes away to the St. Joe River, and then the same on the east, southeast, and south, to the Tippecanoe. Nor do they regard our inland position and timbered protection, where the wild storms sweeping up the valleys of the larger streams above named and from Lake Michigan and the great Western praries are carried up by the rising land toward us, and so high over our heads instead of tearing us in pieces, while the timber, obstructing the currents, makes clouds and rain, and saves us from droughts. As day after day the reports of the terrible storms all over the country come to us, and the wailings of victims of pestilence leaving knowledge of the awful desolation in their track, are quiet valley is full of peace and safety- no failure of crops, no epidemics, no floods or great droughts, with good lands, ready and convenient markets, no public local debts, schools and churches convenient on every hand, the farmers of the Yellow River Valley should hug themselves with delight in their safety and prosperity.”
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