Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1899-08-23
ENGULFED BY THE LAKE.
That Stood ON the sheres of
Lake Michigan.

/
Within sound of the footballs of Fort
Sheridan's sentinels and almost with
In the shadow of the fiuttering flag
when the sun sinks westward is site
OF deserted village. Two apple trees.
aceilar within closing foundation walls
crumbling inward and long tortu-
Gus embankment, showing where
railroad once ran, are now all that is
left to show that en- this spot of Lake
Michigan's bluff a once thriving ham
let stood.
In name the village lives only in
thoroughfare = ST. Johns avenue,
which, running south from the govern
ment reservation, pierees the hamlet
of Highland Park. The village of ST.
John was established some time in
the forties by man named Hettinger,
who long since was called TO place of
which the st. John for whom the vii
Iage was named once had vision
Hettinger's first neighbor in the vii
iage was Frank Mitch, who is prob
ably the only survivor of the original
inhabitants of the lake bluff town.
others came later. The residents of
st. John soon increased in number,
until 100 persons were gathered in the
place. 1t ran Half Day and Little
Fort, now Waukegan, a race for hon
ors- 1t was the direct line of stage
communication between Chicago and
Milwaukee. Only little ways re-
moved from the blacksmith's shop was
a tavern, where the stage changed
Horses and where travellers alighted for
dram and a dinner. Realty began to
boom in the town, but one dark night
the inhabitants were awakened to
danger Of which they had never be-
fore dreamed. There was a storm on
the lake. A northeast gale sent the
waves driving far up the bluff The
calm of the morning showed that what
before had been smooth, straight
faced. hardened bluff was now for
distance of 20 feet inland simply
frail upper strata of turf and dirt over
hanging a eavernous opening. The
water had undermined the foundation
of the edge of the town. The next night
the roofing layer gave way, carrying
with it some of the outbuildings. 10
add to their sorrow, there came within
the same week a lawyer, who told the
people of ST. John that their land titles
were faulty The inhabitants moved
back inland, however, told the lawyer
to ''go to- aid then they established
brickyard:.
In the course of time Lake Michigan
again asserted itself. Several of the
buildings of ST. John had to be ADAM
doned. Attacks from the land side
we're renewed, the weapons being
claims of faulty titles. ST. John peo-
pie thought they might be able to
withstand the legal assaults, but the
| attack of the waves was too much for
| them. They left their houses and their
stores, and the name of st. John be-
| came Ichabod- for it's glory was depart
ed. And now of those early days and
| early struggles there remains only
Frank Mitch, shoemaker, of Waukegan,
to tell the tale. More than 20 years
after st. John had become second Au-
burn, curiosity led Carpenter Now
ers to an examination of the
site of the old place. Three
fourths of the ground covered by
the old town has gone into the lake,
| but even at that time the erection of
| breakwaters had prevented further en-
| croachments of the waves. Mowers
| went to. the sandy beach underneath
| the bluff. Rustling above the edge far
| above him he could see the tips of the
apple tree branches, the last of the old
st. John orchard. The carpenter was
standing upon spot above which
years before the blacksmith's shop had
stood. CHANGING up and down the bank
something gfittering caught his eye.
The sun was striking the particular
| spot: in the bank at which his eye was
direeted,. and his first thought was
gold. He went to the place and found
half-buried in the sand at the foot of
the clay an ingot of pure copper weigh
ing; Is pounds. Mowers has a reputa-
| ton in the place where he still lives of
never allowing himself to be surprised
| at anything. He had seen the shining
| face of the copper in the sun and it
| had sent the idea of gold into his mind
1t was, gold, therefore, that he was
after.
| He disIOdged the chunk of copper.
dug about the place, and after two
hours work had unearthed gold and
silver Spanish and French pieces, mint
ed upon one side only and to the value
i'm American money of about $14. In
addition to this there were two or three
copper ur bronze coins found. One of
them was an old Roman piece, bearieg
la date corresponding to the second
| century of the Christian era. When
asked recently how he accounted for
| the metal under the bluff. Mr. Now
ers said that it had originally been
supposed that a cOunterfeiter's den
had been located in the old village of
ST. John. 1.-The fact, however" he said,
that the coins were all foreign made
this theory .untenable." 1t is his. be-
lief now that some time i'm the early
days a trading schooner went down off
the shore and that Lake Michigan is
even yet occasionally washing up
part of its cargo. = Chicago Inter
ocean.
Cycling In Holland.
At a distance Holland, by reason of
its fatness, may seem to be an ideal