The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-09-15

BEAVER LAKE ALL RgCLAIMED-A MILK AND
WATER PERFORMANCE.
A correspondent of the Peoples Press. of
Kentland, gives tho following interesting
account of region shat has had consider
able notoriety first and last. The end is
likely to be better than the beginning: On
the 10Th OF August, l674, in accordance with
note previously given the rroprie-
tors OF the adjoining lands and invited
guests, including 4 number of gentle
men from Chicago, Wilmington, Kanka-
kee and Momenee, assembled together
with a hundred or more of the settlers of
the northern part of the county to witness
the opening of the. ditch that will drain
the last remaining water of Beaver Lake.
At II o'clock NJ. they met at the junction
OF the lake, which has been reduced from
an area of $1,000 square miles and a depth
of five feet, to an area one-fourth of a mile
wide and two and half in length, and
one and a half feet in depth. This insignif-
cant body of water, which has been grad
ually reduced from its natural size to the.
present size, and where was once the body
Of the lake, is how rich and productive corn
fields, and mxuriant pastures for large
herds of cattle, was once the NEST unsightiy
swamp that could be found in the
West In the early settlement of Jas
per county, of which Newton then consti-
tuted part, Beaver Lake and Bogus
Island-a small hillock in the center of the
lake won a reputation for horse thieves,
burglars, counterfeiters and other disrepu,
table characters, which made it the sight of
much unwritten romance. On its bosom
innumerable fiocks of ducks, geese and
swan stopped in their annual migrations
from more southern ATTITUDES, and since
the fear inspired bv the name of Bogus
Island and its imaginary Clsud Duval's,
Dick Turpin's, have been removed. Many
persons who can not be scared by duck on
the wing, and who can maintain that seren-
ity of countenance which is iDseperable
from great courage, when the booming of
the prairie chicken resounds over the
prairie have come from the Hub, New
York. Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Chicago
TO wage war of determination against the
aforesaid feathered denizens of the lake and
the prairie, aud have in sportsman parlsnce)
bagged a great amount of such game and
wasted tons of powder and shot. But
to our task; ditch had been con-
strucsed thirty feet in width, had been dug
by Mr. Z. Parsons, in the employ of Messrs.
Milk and Cooley,to the margin of the water,
and the ceremony of opening the ditch and
letting the remaining water out of the lake
was the cause of all the assembled gentlemen
being present. Mr.. Milk removed the first
shoyel-full of dirt followed by Mr.. Gregory,
Cooley and Bancroft mot the historian but a
relatively followed by all the invited guests.
The small barrier was soon removed by
rushed into the ditch amidst prolonged and
enthusiastic cheers. The whole party then
adjourned to grove of willows, where
sumptuous feast was prepared Dy the
hospitable producers of the adj
joining lands. Messrs. Milk and
Cooley. after they had all partaken
something to renew the inner man and
build up the waste of muscle occasioned by
the severe and protracted use of the spades,
again returned to the scene of their morn
ing exploit, and each in his turn made an
eloquent farewell speech 10 the fast receding
waters of the once renowned Beaver Lake.
The draining of this lake will redeem
the richest section of country in the West,
and in less than two years from this time,
where is now the richest alluvial deposits so
wet as to defy cultivation, the visitor will
see the most luxuriant pastures and the
most productive corn fields in the world.
This ditch will soon place in cultivation
i50, 900 acres of land, audit demonstrates the
of the whole system of draining
undertaken by the Newton County Drain
ing Company.