Because of size this is being sent in three parts this is two of
three.
This is an essay about Johnson Township dating from 1925. About
two-thirds of the way through, about farming it refers to "tiptops".
Does anyone know what they are?
Part Two.
The school at West Salem was the first school. The first school in
Decker was held in the old residence of Tom Beedle on the Davis farm
west of the Davis residence. When this burned a school was built on
the N. Y. Yates farm. Later a frame building was built and still
stands as part of the residence of William Moore.
The next school was built in Decker where the old yellow school house
now stands and it is at present being used as a tenement house. This
was a one room school and was moved to this site from the site where
the Farmers and Merchants Bank now stands. A new three room school,
two story building was erected. In the building all the grades and one
year of high school were taught. In 1901 this was moved down by the
side of the Methodist church and was used as a drug store for many
years. In 1901 the yellow school building was built, it was composed
of four rooms and a basement. It had a furnace and a ventilating
system. In 1911, the first brick school at Decker was built by C. C.
Harrall. It was a magnificent building, modern in every sense of the
word. It had a large gymnasium, several classrooms and accommodated
all the grades and four years of high school. In 1915 this was
destroyed by fire and the present beautiful structure under the
supervision of Oscar Frederick, was built.
The number of students has increased with the abandoning of the small
rural schools. The Halter school which stood on the Halter farm north
of St. Thomas church, No. 11, the Krien which stood on the present
Vollmer farm near the railroad and River Duchien, No. 12, the bloebaum
school which stood on the Bloebaum farm near the Mart Catt place, No.
8, Tadpole school on the Elvin Thorne farm. No. 3, Man school, was
across the road from the farm of Edward McCormick, No. 1, the Iona
school in Iona. No. 7, the Chimney Pierre, which is on the farm of
Joseph Carie.
The following schools are still used for school purposes: No. 2,
Decker high school building, No. 10, Cain Ridge school on the Catt
farm at Cain Ridge, No. 4, the Catt school across the road from George
Deem's, No. 6, the Vollmer school near Chas. Williams on the Hart
street road, near the township line. There are two parochial schools.
In olden times when the county was full of timber, there were many
sawmills situated throughout the township. There were no good roads at
this time and most of the transportation was by way of the river.
There was a flourishing town on the Gibson side of the river at Giro
across from Johnson township. There was a ferry here and Johnson
township used this town as a shipping point. The main things shipped
in this manner were timber, meat and grain. There was a grain elevator
on the site of the railroad bridge, also a hoop and stave factory. The
railroad had a switch running to these factories.
A grist mill was once owned and operated by Daniel N. Lane. There
were also numerous mills still here before 1910. Now there are miles
and miles of gravel roads which are kept in good condition by constant
dragging.
The township has some of the most productive farms in the state.
Intensive farm methods are used extensively. When the German settlers
came from Germany they brought with them the idea of intensive
farming.
Their idea has been applied and improved upon, resulting in the
present high state of cultivation of the farms. The assessed valuation
of Johnson Township is $4,180,990. There are 32,120 acres of land in
Johnson Township worth $2,890,800.
In 1893 Paul Rose came here from Saginaw, Michigan. He introduced the
mushmelon or cantaloupe as it is now called. At $9.00 an acre he
rented some land from S. A. Jordan and began the cantaloupe industry.
The farmers here then were skeptical for a few years but gradually got
away from the idea of the general farm and took up special farming.
At first there was no glass used in the hot bed sashes, muslin was
used instead. The boxes were clenched and then cut in the field, but
it was found that the box would hold together without being clenched
and without bottom and the needless labor was dispensed with. Only
baskets were used at first to ship the melons in. Now they are shipped
in standard crates and flats, baskets being used only in the case of
very ripe stuffs.
The Decker Gem and Rocky Ford were the favorite melons grown. Now new
varieties are grown, such as Pollock, Hearts of Gold, and the Honey
Dew have come into prominence. The water melon variety has changed
also; formerly the Sweetheart, Gob Gen, and the Tom Watson were the
varieties grown; these have been replaced somewhat by the Irish gray
and the Thurman gray.
Since intensive farming has become popular, the following products
are receiving notice: peaches, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tiptops,
apples and straw-berries.
In 1916 N. Y. Yates shipped the first solid carloads of sweet
potatoes out of this section, and later he built a 25,000 bushel
capacity storage or curing house where the potatoes are placed after
digging and kept under a temperature of 85 degrees for two weeks,
after which time they are cooled down to 55 degrees. The high
temperature of 85 degrees is necessary to drive out the moisture in
the potatoes. Later there were other large storages constructed by S.
A. Jordan and the C. M. Yates company, as well as a number of private
storages to take care of the large acreage of sweet potatoes. The
season 1924 Johnson township produced 100,000 bushels of sweet
potatoes of the Maryland Jersey type, which were of a very fine
quality. These potatoes topped the market in Chicago above any other
section. These potatoes were stored in bushel baskets, making it
convenient in shipping out in the original package.
The Horticulturalists society of Indiana has given N. Y. Yates the
credit for introducing the peach industry in Southern Indiana.
In 1903 N. Y. Yates made a few small ship-ments of Elberta peaches in
one third bushel baskets, placing them in cars of cantaloupes that
were being shipped to Buffalo, N. Y., at that time there being no
Interstate Commerce commission prohibiting the same. Cost by freight
was only a few cents per basket, these peaches selling in the Buffalo
market at two dollars a basket, which amounted to six dollars per
bushel. From this Mr. Yates conceived the idea of starting the peach
industry on a larger scale.
In 1908 Mr. Yates planted the first profitable commercial peach
orchard in the southern part of the state. It consisted of 25 acres of
the Elberta variety. After this orchard came into bearing Mr. Yates
and a number of others entered upon the peach industry and now Johnson
township alone has several hundred acres of peaches, principally of
the H. H. Hale and Elberta varieties.
Recopied by Henry Lauber May 27th, 1999.
End of part two.