The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1868-01-16
"REMINISCENCES.
NUMBER NINE.

and Bourbon townships, the former out of
the west six miles, and the latter out of
the east seven miles of Center, leaving it
eight miles east and west, the south half
of sections twenty-threa and twenty-four,
township thirty fur, north range two east,
and sections nineteen and twenty, in
township thirty-four. north range three
east, having been attached, making in all
fifty-nine square miles, being the largest
township in the county except German.
In our first article we referred to sever
al of the first settlers who were residents of
this township as carly as 1882 VIM. c.
Pomeroy and S. d. Tabor were the first
two justices of the peace. John A. Shir-
ley and Lydia Blakely were married by
VIM. G. Pomeroy in 1885, which was the
first marriage in the township of which
We have any knowledge the writer was
one of the witnesses the license was issued
by the clerk of the st. Joseph county cir
cult court-Marshall being attached at
that time to said county for judicial pur-
poses. The first couple that were married
in the township, after Marshall " set up
on her own book were j. W. Crusan
and Matilda Henderson. We have dis
tinct recollection of the first scra tch be-
tween two white men in the township; one
of them is now no MORE" the other still
resides in the township, and should this
happen to fall under his eye, he will readi-
ly call to mind the circumstan e.
AS we remarked in a former number,
there are probably not more than half a
dozen persons, who came here previous to
1885, who are here at this time Mrs
Garland Rose, Mrs. Grove Pomeroy, Mrs
D. Vanvactor, and Mrs. S. D. Tabor and
probably some of their children, are the
only ones that we recollect Of who lived
here before that date.
The east part of Center township, with
but little exception, is among the finest
land in the county, and contains some of
the very hes. sugar orchards in the state.
We never saw more beautiful body OF
land. Many of the improved farms in
that part of the township can not be bought
at this time for less than ninety dollars
per acre.
Sections two, twenty-four and twenty
five in township thirty-three, north range
two east, were indian reserves, and were
bought of them by Tabor & Hamilton, at
very low price, no doubt.
Yellow river runs diagonally through
the township from northeast to south
west TIE south part of the township is
pretty good farming land, although not so
valuable in state of nature as that por-
ton of the township lying east of the
Michigan road. The north part, west of
the Michigan road is rather thin, barren
and interpreted with marsh occasional
ly.
In the year 1885 Mr.. Milburn Coe
built saw mill on Yellow river, near where
j. V. Bailey & Co.'S grist mill now stands,
which, however, never amounted to much.
At an early day there was but little tim
Der used in building; timbers were split
and hewn for floors and doors clapboards
were used instead of Shingles to cover
houses with. Timber was sometimes
made for such purposes with "whip-
saw" There is probably not one in ten
of your readers who have ever seen a
whip-saw saw. The saw is about five
feet long, and about eight inches wide at
one end and about four at the other; a
handle about foot long on the narrow
end and some twenty inches long at the
broad end The timber for saving was
cut the desired length and hewed square /;
two polls of suitable size and length were
procured and one end of them fastened to
a couple of trees with forks about seven
feet hight, the other end of the poles left
on the ground the hewed log was lined in
the center with backing line, and then
slipped up the poles to proper place !;
the poles would then be raised to the prop
err hight and leveled; one man would
place himself on the top of the log, the
other underneath the man above would
take the broad end of the saw. the teeth
of which were hooked and pointed down
wards the saving was done by the man
below as he drew the saw down, the man
on the log would lift it up, and so on in
4" alienation. After the log was ripped
in two it was lined the desired thickness,
and sawed accordingly. A couple Of
sprightly men could saw five or six hun
dred feet of poplar boards in day. We
had the pleasure of assisting to saw few
hundred feet with one of the saws, and re-
tired in disgust.
There are two small lakes in Center
township, viz: Muckshaw, which is fed