Roads and Bridges

ROADS AND BRIDGES.

By Chas. F. S. Neal.

Thirty years ago it was not then known that sufficient gravel could be found here to construct a system of gravel roads in the county. In 1864 a company was organized to construct a gravel highway from Thorntown to Darlington, to connect and extend to Crawfordsville. This was the first gravel road enterprise in the county. It and the Rosston gravel road, on the old Michigan road, are the only toll collecting highways in the county. In the year 1857 the Lebanon and Royalton and the Lebanon and Sugar Creek Gravel Road companies were organized. At first these two roads were toll collecting, but in the year 1884 were bought by the tax-payers living along them and turned over to the county as a part of the free gravel road system. Under the legislative act of 1877, petitions for free gravel roads were filed before the board of commissioners, at a called session held August 6, 1879. The first road ordered constructed under this act was the Lebanon and New Brunswick, followed in quick succession by the Lebanon and Dover, Middle Jamestown, Lebanon and Noblesville, Thorntown and Bethel, Kirk’s Mill and Sharon, Kirk’s Mill south to Crawfordsville road, Lebanon and Thorntown, east end Noblesville, Elizaville, eleven roads, which exhausted the limit allowed by law, the limit being one per centum of taxables of the county. In the construction of these roads gravel was found in sufficient quantities to build and maintain them with only one exception. The roads constructed were highly satisfactory. The contractors on the Lebanon and Elizaville found materials of the poorest and in smallest quantities. Bad as it was when completed, it is now by careful management as good as the best. Gravel road building was started anew by the bond limit being increased from one to one and a half percentum and the Thorntown and Sharon and Whitestown’s two roads, and Zionsville’s two, the Lebanon and Fayette, Dover and Shannondale, Lebanon and Ladoga, Lebanon and Slabtown and Thorntown, Hazelrigg and Lebanon roads were ordered constructed. At this time twenty-four free gravel roads have been built, aggregating 181 miles, costing $189,100. The first issue of bonds for this public improvement was redeemed by the treasurer in February, 1886, and from his report he has ample means to redeem all that become due during the present and ensuing years. It will be seen that where gravel was considered so scarce, with many other seeming obstacles in the way, our roads have cost on an average of $1,181 per mile. Much of this can be attributed to the good management of our county board. Once constructed, the keeping of so many miles of road in proper repair has been no small task. These roads are managed by the county commissioners as a board of free turnpike directors. They first organized as such July 15, 1881, being Nathan Perrill, William Curry and James Coombs, with Charles L. Wheeler as clerk. This board meets quarterly. Each commissioner has especial charge of all free pikes in his district, and each road has its superintendent of repairs. Once each year these superintendents meet with the turnpike board and receive orders for repairs for the year. The present board of directors are W. C. Crump, Ben. C. Booher and Jacob S. Miller. The expenditures on account of repairs to the several roads in the county, to the present time aggregates $46,824.71, which includes the re-building of the Lebanon and Royalton and Lebanon and Sugar Creek roads. Including the extensive repairs to the roads last named, our roads cost us near $60 per mile each year.

The peculiar location of our county, being situated at or near the headwaters of numerous streams of central Indiana, makes the matter of bridging quite light to the tax-payers, compared to our neighboring counties. Singular as it seems, prior to 1870 only a few small bridges were erected, and these were only makeshifts compared with the handsome structures erected in the past ten years. As the county developed and products fast came marketable, good roads and easy carriage to market was demanded; and to have good roads with deep, dangerous fords greatly hindered at all seasons of the year the carrying of loads such as our farmers now start to market with. Our county board soon recognized the necessity of better crossings over the streams of the county. At the June session of 1870, seven thousand dollars was appropriated to erect a 130-foot iron span bridge on stone work near Thorntown, over Sugar Creek; also five thousand dollars to erect a similar structure over Eagle Creek at Zionsville, and four thousand dollars for one over Sugar Creek at Mechanicsburg. The erection of these three structures were all made out of general county revenue. For ten years our county fathers were content without further bridge accommodations.

In 1881 the legislature authorized county boards to create a special bridge fund, and since that time a fifty-foot iron bridge, on stone work, has been erected in Marion Township over Eagle Creek. In Clinton Township two iron bridges have been erected, one over Mud Creek near Elizaville, fifty feet long, and one over the same stream near Hugh Wiley’s, seventy-five feet long; Washington Township has a good bridge near the Bird, seventy-five feet long, and at the present time a 144-foot span on stone work is being erected over Sugar Creek at Crose’s Mill. This structure, when completed, will be the largest, as also the most expensive, in the county. A bridge ninety feet long is also being erected over Brush Creek.

Sugar Creek Township has two bridges, one north of Thorntown over Sugar Creek, and one east over Prairie Creek. Center Township has three good iron bridges, fifty feet long, all over Prairie Creek. Union Township has an eighty-foot iron bridge over Eagle Creek. Eagle Township has three iron bridges over Eagle Creek. Jackson Township has an eighty-foot span over Eel River and a fifty-foot span over Raccoon Creek. In all, eighteen good bridges in the county, fourteen of which are of wrought iron, costing in the aggregate $40,200. Large as this seems, many counties have expended half the amount on one structure. As much more expended on good, substantial structures and Boone County will have the streams crossing her highways well bridged.

In its native condition, a large portion of Boone County consisted of marshy lands, much of which during the wet seasons, was occupied and covered with extensive sloughs and lagoons of water. At an early day these lands were estimated to be of little value, as it was then thought that it was impracticable to drain them. As the improvement of the county progressed, a partial and very imperfect system of artificial drainage was commenced in some localities. Without giving the details of the early progress of drainage, we may state that up to the year 1879 much ditching had been done. Probably as much as three hundred miles of large open ditches had been made, and more than six thousand miles of small, mostly covered, drainage had been made. Take the number of farms in the county and estimate an average quantity of ditching on each, and the highway ditching, and the above estimate will not appear to be too great, though the exact amount can not be given. Since 1879 it is probable that more drainage has been done than prior to that date. Many of the open ditches that had been cut prior to 1879 have been re-cut and much enlarged so as to increase their efficiency in the capacity of drainage; besides many new drains have been made, and many thousands of rods of covered tile drains have been put in, the exact quantity it is impossible to give, and yet there is no abatement in ditch improvements, but it is on the increase every year. Fresh impetus was given to drainage by the legislative act of 1881, which gave a new method of procedure by giving the circuit court law, under which James Nealis and George Stoltz were appointed Drainage Commissioners. They were succeeded by Thos. J. Shultz and S. F. Cox, and they in turn by I. S. Adney and Joseph Etter. During the first fifteen months, beginning with September, 1881, forty-three large drains – about one hundred and seventy-five miles – were constructed. Since that time as many miles more have been constructed, until at the present time as much as four-fifths of the large drains of the county are constructed. The construction of so many large drains gave ample outlet to many deep ponds and sloughs that heretofore the imperfect outlets had failed to drain. One singular obstacle to the drainage of our county is that on most all of the ditches is a backbone, or high place; on these the beaver and muskrat built their dams. On the removal of these obstructions many thousand acres became dry land. Not until 1883 were any provisions made to keep such valuable public improvements in repair, which now is placed in the hands of the county surveyor. The first large ditch in the county was constructed by Fordice & Devol, followed by Eel River, Sanitary Raccoon, Grassy Branch and many others. In proportion to the number of acres of wet land originally, probably Perry Township is the best drained of any in the county, while Harrison has the largest number of main drains according to area. At this time, by estimate, there are near four hundred miles of open drains and seven thousand miles of underground ditching in the county.

Source Citation: Boone County History [database online] Boone County INGenWeb. 2007. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~inboone> Original data: Harden & Spahr. "Early life and times in Boone County, Indiana." Lebanon, Indiana. May, 1887, pp. 132-137.

Transcribed by: Julie S. Townsend - July 10, 2007