TREATY BY RON WOODWARD Treaty is located on what was the Big Four Railroad and Indiana 15, six miles south of Wabash in the northwest corner of Liberty Township. It was given the name Treaty for Treaty Creek that flows nearby. Treaty Creek received its name because the mouth of the creek is located across from the Treaty Grounds where the Treaty of Mississinewa was held in 1826. 1875 seems to be when the settlement came to life. At that time the community included a store, black- smith shop, Big Four depot, an elevator, steam operated saw mill, wagon maker and resident carpenter. The first store to open was George Wohlgamuth and Company which sold dry goods and groceries, follo- wed by Abraham Vandegrift blacksmith. Wohlgamuth also built the train depot and a grain elevator. According to the 1875 Wabash County Historical Atlas the following were listed as residents of Treaty: Levi Bright, J. Temp Brady (teacher), Thomas G. Daugherty (stockdealer), Amos Lefforge, Tobias Miller, John Mossman, S.B. Morrison, Joseph Teeghtmeyer, Jacob Tyner, J. Z. Wagner (sawmill) and George Wohlgamuth. A total of 36 people made up the community. In July of 1876 a group of people in the fledgling community organized to form the Treaty Creek Bur- ying Grounds. Leaders of the movement "to secure title to suitable grounds and to improve and control the same" were J.S. Matlock, Wesley Dawson, C.H. Heironemous, Maria Pyle, Delila Spaw, B.B. Pyle and John Hoover. Treaty Cemetery, overlooking the banks of Treaty Creek, was begun in May of 1850 when a Margaret Moss, the first burial, was buried there. From that time on 102 persons have been known to be buried there including five Civil War veterans. Families buried in the Treaty Cemetery include the follow- ing surnames Alexander, Black, Clupper, Enyeart, Ferree, Friermood, Hainlen, Hollingsworth, Howell, Jester, Loughery, Moore, Pilgrim, Reeve, Teghtmeyer, Tyner and Wohlgamuth among others. Edward Gibson began operating a steam powered saw mill in 1878. D.R. Minnick opened in 1879 as did Alvin Taylor who was a carpenter and wagon maker. By 1881 Treaty was described as "prosperous as it is pleasant. The farmers round about are peaceable and industrious, gossip, silly and vile is little indulged in. One thing they lack yet, and that perhaps they will have soon is a room or hall for holding public meetings." The population of the community was 100 and H.R. Minnick set up as the communities doctor. The trappings of civil government were conducted by E.H. Roby who served as Justice of Peace. And, a justice was necessary. In January of 1881 a rick of flax straw, and rails as well as a cabin were burned on the Whites Institute farm. That was followed by a stack of hay on William Burson's property set on fire. Both north and west of Whites gates were broken to pieces and a shock of corn set on fire. Locals turned out with loaded shot guns for the next several nights to protect their property. Then in May Wohlgamuth & Waite's store was robbed. Three bandits, thought to be locals, entered the store as Wohlgamuth was closing up, tied him up and blew the safe. They made off with $300 in cash among other items. Civilization was quickly taking hold of the community. A Temperance meeting was held at the school house located near the Stone & Austin's Mill. The school house was completely filled and W.P. Jenkins served as president of the group. A.W. Hoover "a young man of excellent habits and much liked" was the main speaker. As early as 1884 Treaty was connected to adjoining communities by telephone. That same year, 25,000 bushels of corn were shipped from Treaty. The first school in the area was a log cabin which was also used for religious gatherings. The log school had no windows and students at on split logs. By 1861 a second story was added to the school. The school was a subscription school where parents paid to support the teacher's salary. Students attended from 6 a.m. to 6p.m. bringing their own lunch. By May of 1881 Laura Vandegrift was teaching the young children of the community in the log school house. Another early teacher of the school was Florence Brady. It is also possible that Temp Brady taught at this school as early as 1876. In 1884, it was replaced with a two-story brick structure which is still standing. Grade School classes were taught on the first floor and higher clas- ses on the second floor. The school bell was in a small dome on top of the mansard roof and summoned children to daily classes. The school day began with a salute to the American flag. The building was hea- ted with pot-bellied stoves; water came from an outside well. The building was condemned as a school in 1928, so the remaining students rode a kid hack to the Lafontaine School. For a time a wool buyer stored wool in the abandoned school house. But on January 13, 1930, the bui- lding was obtained by members of the Tri township Home Demonstration Club. In 1950, a hallway, two stairways and the second story were removed. The exterior was repaired and a new roof put on. The Treaty Institute for Evangelism purchased the building from Tri Township Club in 1875 and remodeled to house the institute's administration office. By 1929 Treaty was home to a population of 100. The town had a Christian Church, American Express and Western union Telegraph office and a post office run by postmaster R.V. Templeton. Perry Kaufman grew up outside Treaty in the early 1930s. He would often go into town and gave the following description of Treaty "if we needed something we could always go into Treaty. At that time there were two groceries in Treaty, one garage and a church. The grocery stores had just about everything you could want. One was run by Ray Vergon and the other by a man by the name of Templeton. One was just west of the elevator and the other on the east side where the trailer now sits. I remember that they had a little red pop machine. You could get a pot for a nickel. They kept them cold with ice. They didn't stock Pepsi-Cola until about 1936. They also had pop made locally at Scheerer's Bottling in Wabash. The shelves were lined with just about anything you might need. Also there wasn't row upon row of dog and cat food. The garage was at first a blacksmith shop then as automobiles became more they switched to them." In the early 1950s, the grocery store was west of the highway, 247E Treaty Pike, and owned by Kenneth Eppley. Previously it had been owned and operated by Durwood Hoyt then Ray Templeton. Later it would be run by William Myers and (?) Bridegroom. In the back yard of the Eppley house, 235E Treaty Pike, was the Eppley Popcorn factory. In 1929, He- nry and Susannah Eppley started hand picking, shelling and packaging popcorn in their farm house kitchen on Indiana 124. The product became so well known and popular that it eventually went into commercial production in Treaty. Eventually, the business was taken over by son Lester and his wife Lola Eppley. Gra- ndson Kenneth and wife Norine Eppley, and granddaughter Velma and husband Morris Ridenour. Eppley Popcorn was packaged and distributed (mainly to the east coast) from that location during the 1940s. The company was a lucrative business for several years, but it was sold and became known as the Garber Wri- ght & Son Popcorn factory. On April 19, 1949 the factory burned to the ground. The cause of the blaze was of uncertain origin with the damage estimated at around $50,000. It was never rebuilt. Chuck Eppley, son of Kenneth and Norine, recalls "being in the canning department of the factory watching my mother and others canning the popcorn. I, along with my brother still have old popcorn cans. I have a slight mem- ory of the night the popcorn factory burned down. I remember sitting in the living room, and some of the firemen came in the house to get a drink of water." In the early 1950s, the owner of the movie theater in Wabash would come to Treaty on the weekends, and set up outdoor movies for the entire community. The movies were shown either on the side or in the back of the store and people from Treaty and surrounding area attended. Eppley who attended these mov- ies remembers "I sort of remember receiving candy. But, what I do remember is getting hit in the back of the head by a flying coke bottle. It cut my head, and I remember the theater guy coming to our house to check me out. I don't know the year that the movies were shown but it could have been when Hoyt ran the store. The young man that was killed at the railroad crossing was named Hoyt, and I think that is when they stopped the movies because it happened after the showing." "In the mid 1950s Harold Robbins opened up his filling station and did mechanical work on cars. I used to mow his yard next to the business. I do remember when the saw mill was established, and made sure I stayed away from it. I remember the train coming through Treaty all the time." The children of the Treaty area attended school in Lafontaine. "We rode the school bus driven by Herb Enyeart. My brother Bob graduated in 1956, and my sister Janice in 1958. I attended Lafontaine from the first grade until the eighth grade when my parents moved to North Manchester. Either in 1955 or 1956, the Lafontaine High School students, as well as some of us in the lower grades, walked out as a protect to basketball coach Charlie Steidel being fired by Bob McKinley. The protest made the newspapers." For fun, neighborhood kids would swim in Treaty Creek even though it was dirty. "There were two places where we swam. Both were off Treaty Pike going east. One was located off a gravel road where Orlie Cook lived. The other was close to the farm of Howard Enyeart. We also attempted to swim in Mark Enyeart's pond, but it was full of leaches. Otherwise we could ride our bikes up and down the county roads, play baseball in the fields, play basketball and just goff around." Families that lived along Treaty Pike in the early 1950s were James Gribben, Kenneth Eppley, Ray Templeton, Margaret Dayton, James Knotts, Charles Dyson, K. Wayne Working, Mark Enyeart, mark Burgess, Orlie Cook, Herbert Enyeart, Max Niccum, William Myers, J. Howard Enyeart, Robert Cooper, Blanche Lewis and Don Lewis. Those families that lived along Wacacona Pike were Elmer Crist, Helen Hunt, Chris Clupper, William Ogan, Robert Working, Russell Alber, Bruce Pilgrim, Ray Miergon, Wilbur Cox, Eugene Pilgrim, Donald Stanley, Lawr Stanley, Clara Rohrer, George Heck, Ralph Proffitt, Vestal Kendall and L.L. McCollough. By the late 1950s Treaty had Myers Grocery, Treaty Elevator, Treaty Christian Church and the Tri Township Home Economics Clubhouse. By 1959 business centered around the elevator acquired from previous farmer owners by the Wabash Farm Bureau in 1935. The elevator burned in 1945 and was rebuilt the following year. Additions to the business included a bulk fertilizer plant, storage, grain bins, chemical storage building and anyhydrous tank. In 1953 it was run by K. Wayne Working. Today it has expanded into the area where the saw mill used to be. To the south of Treaty was the Commodity Credit Grain storage area erected in 1949 which included 38 bins with a capacity of 123,500 bushels. In 2004 Treaty Dairy LLC built a facility just south of Treaty. In December of 2011 Mark Deardorff, of Macy, bought into the dairy farm. He grows crops on his Macy farm and feeds them to his 2,000 milking cows at Treaty. By 2013 the business employed 15 employees. The Church of Christ at Treaty had its beginning about 1873 when several young people of the area, called the Truth Seekers, met in the log school house. Originally called Treaty Creek Christian Church land was purchased for a building in 1909. In 1910 its first brick building was dedicated. The church did not have a full-time pastor for the first two years but Edgar Daugherty and A.L. Martin took turns preach- ing. In 1912 Harry Lett became the church's first full-time pastor. In 1959 land was purchased east of the church building which was torn down to make way for parking for a new church building. The present building was opened in 1962 at a cost of approximately $40,000. The 80 by 140 foot building had seating for 350 people, 15 classrooms, a sound proof room for small children and a full basement. With the excep- tion of laying the blocks, most of the work was done by members of the church. Work on an auditorium began in 1995 and was dedicated in 1996. More recently offices were moved into the basement and classrooms were added. Bridegroom's grocery store and service station closed in the early 1980s as had Harold Robbins service station and the Wabash Valley Sawmill. One of the most successful residents of Treaty was Edward W. Howe, better known as the "Sage of Potato Hill." He was born in Treaty May 3, 1853. He became the editor and proprietor of the Atchison Daily Globe (1877-1911) and produced E.W. Howe's Monthly (1911-1937). Howe authored the following books: The Story of a Country Town (1883), the Mystery of the Locks (1885), The Moonlight Boy (1886), Country Town Sayings (1883), The Blessings of Business (1918) and Plain People (1929). One of his bits of wisdom was "abuse a man unjustly, and you will make friends for him." He died in 1937. Also two doctors who became well known for experimental work grew up in Treaty. They were Rome and Thurman Wagner, whose father operated the sawmill for a time. They became physicians and invented the Mica-Plate X-Ray, both being pioneers in X-Ray treatment of cancer. Both died quite painfully of experimental burns particularly on their arms and back. Another favorite son of Treaty was Thomas Daugherty who became a government surveyor. Among his achievements was the laying out of the town Council Bluffs, Iowa. EDWARD W. HOWE from History of Kansas Newspapers (1916) From "Who's Who In America": Edgar Watson Howe; born Treaty, Ind., May 3, 1852, com- mon school education; been in printing office since ten years old; publisher Golden (Col.) Globe at 19; started Atchison (Kansas) Globe, 1876; turned business over to sons, 1912; since in retirement, and editor E.W. Howe's Monthly. Author: "The Story of a Country Town," "The Mystery of the Locks," "The Moonlight Boy," "A Man's Story," "Daily Notes of a Trip Around the World," "The Trip to the West Indies," Travel Letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa," "Country Town Sayings," "Pagan Psalms," "The Hundred Stories of a Country Town." Address: Atchinson, Ks. Comments on his work: William Allen White E.W. Howe is the most remarkable man Kansas or the Middle West has produced. Moreover, he has written the greatest novel ever written in or about Kansas or the Middle West. His "Story of a Country Town" is one of the ten best novels written in America. American Magazine, Aug., 1915-E.W. Howe, famous for his wisdom and ability to write, is one of Amer- ica's real possessions. Dr. Frank Crane, in New York Globe-E.W. Howe is a national-institution. On earth, in the heavens above, or in the waters beneath the earth, there is nothing like his Monthly; it is a broad stream of horse sense; he is giving to the world the most perfect example of self expression with which I am familiar. Seattle Post-Intelligencer-There is merit enough in E.W. Howe's Monthly to give it a national reading. Labouchere's Truth was never better. W.D. Howells-E.W. Howe's "Story of a Country Town" is a very remarkable piece of realism, and con- stitutes a part of the only literal movement of our time that seems to have vitality in it. Edward Bok: E.W. Howe's "Daily Notes of a Trip Around the World" is a lesson in travel writing that is worth while. I can not imagine a person who should not read this book. S.S. McClure-I have read E.W. Howe's travel letters with tremendous interest. I do not know that I have ever read any book of travel equally well done. New York Sun: E.W. Howe's travel book has the humor of Mark Twain. E.W. Howe from Wikipedia Edgar Watson Howe (May 3, 1853-October 3, 1937), sometimes referred to as E.W. Howe, was an Ameri- can novelist and newspaper and magazine editor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was perhaps best known for his magazine, E.W. Howe's Monthly. Howe was well traveled and known for his sharp wit in his editorials. How is known to have begun his journalistic career as far back as March 22, 1873, when as a 19 year old he came to Golden, Co. from Platte City, Neb. and partnered with William F. Dorsey to ac- quire the Golden Eagle newspaper. Renaming it the Golden Globe, it was the second main newspaper of Golden and served a Republican readership and political bent. Howe, who took over complete ownership by the end of the year, quickly gained a sharp-witted editorial reputation in the community that would pre- view his national fame. Within a couple of years Howe sold the Globe to his brother A.J. Howe and part- ner William Grover Smith, and moved to Falls City, Neb. In 1875, where he established a new Globe news- paper, affectionately called the "Little Globe". In 1875 he merged this with the Nemaha Valley Journal and it became the Globe-Journal. In 1877 Howe established and edited the Atchison, Kansas, newspaper Globe which he continued for twenty-f9ive years, retiring in 1911. Having been raised Methodist, he described himself as identifing with Methodism but is essentially a cultural Christian, according to his writing. WORKS: The Story of a Country Town (1883), The Mystery of the Locks (1885) and The Moonlight Boy (1886).