Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-11-07

| nm blown to the beach
NV apple trees which have
but frail footing at the
embankments edge the last reminders of
a once thriving ar1 populous place will
have been swept away
Almost seventy wears ago the hamlet
of St John was founded by man named
Hetlinger and few of his followers
The site chosen was a commanding one
on the blum overlooking the lake and
oAe-haH mile cast OF the point where the north.
western depot at the Village or H.ghwood now
stands The great clay bank with the stretch OF
sand beach which shelves away to the waters edge
at It's loot looks as II 1t We're strong enough and
iar enough removed from the breakers to be safe
against the angriest northeaster that ever blew
The men who built their houses upon the plain
surrounding the embankment thought their foun.
dauons were as sure as though founded ON the
traditional rock They did take the precaution
however, to limit their building operations on the
east by line drawn fifty yards from the edge of
the blum That line has long since been buried In
.he SAND under the waves and with IT are the
houses and the shops Of the early settlers
In the year 1S45 the Village or St John was the
rival OF Waukegan. which was then called Little
Fort both We're prosperous and both were grow.
ing. Bighwood tradition hath II that people pass.
ing through the two places from Chicago declared
that 81, John showed the ear marks OF success and
that " was destined to be big city Other people
beside the Chicagoans thought so. too and they
hooked to the place and built substantial houses
and shops The two apple trees which alone re-
main OF all that pertained to the Village Of st
John grew In the yard of Sebastian Richards
whose house was farther removed from the
lake than any other In the village. The apple
trees were back or the residence Not long ago
the foundation OF bricks, which was all that
was left of Richards dwelling slid down the
blum into the lake during the height OF a win.
ter storm. The roots OF OF the apple trees
are even now extending into the air through the
side Of the embankment One good strong push
would send IT hurting to the beach 100 feet
below.
Among the names of the builders OF St John
| In addition to those Of Hettinger and Sebastian
Richards, the only that the Oldest High.
wood Inhabitants can remember. are Frank
Mitch, Peter Baker and George Shepard Mitch
was a shoemaker and 1t is said that he is still
following the trade in town in the far north.
AS far as is known he ia the only survivor of
! the men who founded the Village OF St John
| In the year 1s47 there we're several stores
] blacksmith shop, a tavern and postofhce in tho
! Village Of st. John, which then held a popula-
4 ton OF about 200 people, In that day there was
stage coach line between Chicago and NIL.
waukee. The tavern at st. John a relay
station for the stage Henry Mowers who re-
members the village in its latter days saws
I that the tavern noted for Its table, and It's
i liquor and that people frequently took the stage
i journey from Chicago for the sole purpose of
| getting good dinner and good glass.
It was who intended becoming a real.
dent Of ST John that afterward founded the
! Village of Half Day He had looked over the
lakeside village and then had declared that he
would establish that would last longer and
had more people In 1T. The Automobiles who
every Sunday pass through Half Day on their
runs to Waukegan and return may look on tho
halfdozen houses there assembled and know
that the man who turned his back st John
has kept his word.
When the Chicago and Milwaukee railroad was
built the surveyed line ran onehalf mile west
OF the Village of ST. John. An adequate idea
of the Importance of a place of which nov hare
i ly a vestige remains may be had when IL IL
known that the railroad authorities built a snur
line running to the south edge OF the town
Some nf the practical residents of the place had
discovered that an excellent quality of brick
could be made from the clay which was found
In pit a short distance south OF the blacksmith
shop. AS matter of fact the presence OF this
! br1ckyard was of the chief reasons that the
branch line of the railroad was built When
Uncle Sam accepted from tho Commercial Club
OF Chicago the land to the north of the city as
! military reservation the soldiers drew hun.
dreds OF carloads of both good brick and broken
brick from the site OF the old backward and
used the material for temporary road.making
and for the filling in Of swamp spots The fore
/ thought Of the st. John people in leaving be-
4 hind them specimens Of their handiwork saved
me United States government great many
dollars
1t Is possible to trace today with no dificuty
at all the embankment upon which the branc -
line Of the railroad ran to the brickyard ana 10
the now lost Village Of St John In size ard
outline 1t looks like a military redoubt and f,
i would perfectly answer the purpose Of one The
embankment was leYeled at lts u.esfer, cd
When stores we're erected I'm the villa n High
wood Il starts from point almost direct
~ back OF the little Methodist church and runs
eastward. broken only By roads which have ben
dug through tt
+ was less than ten years after the founding
Of st. John that he paople awakened 10 = nossi
bic danger TO their homes by the encrasehment
OF the waves Of the lake II IS true that they
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