NMHS Newsletter, May 2018
PLANK ROADS
Research Notes
by John Knarr
The first plank road in North America was constructed near Toronto, Canada, in
1836. Reports of its popularity and smoothness in transportation contributed to
a plank road craze in the State of New York. The first plank highway in that
state was completed in 1846 near Syracuse. Pennsylvania passed a general plank
road act in 1849. Indiana also passed an act (January 15, 1849) authorizing the
construction of Plank Roads. In 1850 the state of Indiana had about 400 miles of
plank road completed, at a cost of $1200 to $1500 per mile, and about 1200 miles
more were surveyed and in progress. [History of Huntington County Indiana,
1887, p. 205] By comparison, 212 miles of railroad were in operation in Indiana
in 1850, of which 124 were completed in 1850. [ibid]
The virtues of plank roads were celebrated in newspapers and journals. Books and
manuals on Plank Roads were published. William M. Gillespie published in 1847,
A Manual of the Principles and Practice of Road-Making which included a
chapter on Plank Roads; George Geddes, Observations on Plank Roads
(1850); William Kingsford, History, Structure and Statistics of Plank Roads
in the United States and Canada (1851); and the Hoosier State’s own, Robert
Dale Owen’s widely acclaimed book, A Brief Practical Treatise on the
Construction and Management of Plank Roads (New Albany, 1850).
Plank Roads were deemed an improvement over the older, rougher, bone-jarring
corduroy roads, consisting mostly of logs. The lament was frequently voiced
about the atrocious condition of pioneer roadways. Michael Knoop, living north
of Manchester, petitioned the County for road improvement and re-routing the
road passing through his lands: “...it is impossible to keep the said present
road in a passable condition for either wagons, horses or footmen, the bridges
and bridging being taken away by nearly every freshet of water.” [Wabash Co.
Commissioners Record D, Dec. Term, 1853, p. 217]
Gillespie in his Manual (p. 231) described the basics of Plank Roads: “In
the most generally approved system, two parallel rows of small sticks of timber
(called indifferently sleepers, stringers, or sills) are imbedded in the road,
three or four feet apart. Planks, eight feet long and three or four inches
thick, are laid upon these sticks, across them, at right angles to their
direction. A side track of earth, to turn out upon, is carefully graded. Deep
ditches are dug on each side, to ensure perfect drainage; and thus is formed a
Plank Road.”
Private Plank Road Corporations governed by a board of directors were formed and
tolls collected; profits were disseminated to the shareholders in the form of
dividends. The Articles of Association for the Huntington-Liberty Mills Plank
Road Company were dated September 11, 1850. The capital stock was to be $25,000
with 500 shares @$50 each. [See Combination Atlas Map of Huntington County
Indiana (1879), p. 16] The
capital stock of the Lagro and North Manchester Plank Road Company was initially
fifteen thousand dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each. This was
approved on January 21, 1850. [Local Laws of the State of Indiana Passed at
the 34th Session of the General Assembly, Indianapolis, 1850, p. 447]
The usual practice was for a group of promoters and prominent citizens to plant
favorable publicity in the local newspapers, create a charter and sell stock by
holding public meetings. Tolls were charged to defray expenses and make a
profit. Tolls were applied to those using the plank roads.
Research Note:
As a youngster in the 1940s and 1950s I recall the toll booth at the outskirts
of Liberty Mills on the eastside bend in the road.
According to Sec. 13 of the 1849 Indiana Act: “…the directors of such company
may erect toll gates at such points and at such distances from each other as
they may deem proper, and exact toll from persons traveling on the road, not
exceeding the following rates: for every sled, sleigh, carriage, or vehicle
drawn by one animal, one and one half cent per mile, and for every animal in
addition thereto one half cent per mile; for every horse and rider or led horse
one cent per mile; for every score of sheep or swine two cents per mile; and for
every score of neat cattle [ED: oxen, heifers, beef, horned cattle],
mules or asses five cents per mile. Persons going to and from funerals, and
soldiers of the United States or of this State, while in actual service, shall
be exempt from toll.”
Much of the agitation for planking of roadways happened in the antebellum period
and especially between 1849-1859.
Enthusiasm and excitement exuded from various publications and pronouncements
and from the mouths of promoters. Claims were made that plank roads would
enhance the farmers’ and manufacturers’ ability to market their crops and
products, and would thereby contribute to increasing land values on the frontier
and in the hinterlands. It was boasted that one team could take a load of grain
from North Manchester to Lagro and return the same day, while it was a two day
trip for four horses over the old dirt roads. [News-Journal, “Memories of
the Old Plank Road,” July 17, 1933]
But realities soon set in. The challenges in making profit were great.
Anticipated profits were overly sanguine projections. Wood deteriorates and
decays. Wood is subject to wear and tear. Often planks became loose, broken or
missing. Boards would warp. Flooding often eroded the earthen base and scattered
the floating planks. Proper drainage was always a problem. Engineering questions
arose as to whether the stringers themselves prevented proper water drainage.
Repaving proved costly and time-consuming. The toll-paying public became
disgruntled and litigious if roadways were not maintained to a certain standard.
Sec. 10 of the Indiana Act provided: “…if such company shall suffer the road to
be out of repair to the hindrance or delay of travelers for an unreasonable
length of time, they shall have no right to collect tolls thereon until the same
is repaired.”
Competing technologies and alternatives developed. In southwestern Ohio (Dayton
and Cincinnati) and Kentucky, macadamized turnpikes were more common. The
inventor of macadamized highways was John L. McAdam, and the earliest
implementation was in England in 1815. Macadam roadways had a foundation of
rocks with layers of smaller stone or crushed stone. The development of “free”
gravel roads where the public paid no tolls eventually sounded the death knell
for the plank toll road movement. Railroad construction rapidly expanded, and
the early promoters of plank roads such as John Comstock of Liberty Mills turned
their attention and applied resources to promoting the rail connections of their
communities. The canals too had a foreboding and doubtful future as their
relative role lessened and their economic significance dwindled.
Research Note:
Thomas Comstock’s diary entry on his travel through Kentucky by stage coach:
“Covington, Saturday, April 9th,
1853 Left Cov. For Lexington at 7:20—84 miles. The country for some 60 miles is
quite hilly. We had an excellent McAdamized all the way. Passed through
Williamstown & Georgetown; the latter is a beautiful village.”
According to R.J. Skinner’s large 1861 Wabash County map at our Center for
History (one also hangs at the Wabash County Historical Museum), FIVE PLANK
ROADS existed in 1861 within our county. Each of these roads importantly served
as conduits, feeder routes or tributaries to the Wabash-Erie Canal.
Two plank roads existed in Chester Township: Lagro-North Manchester Plank Road
and Huntington-Liberty Mills Plank Road. The Lagro-Manchester road, passing
through New Madison (Servia), connected the Eel River communities with Lagro and
the Canal.
John Comstock was the primary mover in the development of the plank road running
all the way from Liberty Mills to Huntington. The terminus in Huntington was at
the intersection of Jefferson and Matilda [Park} streets. Some sections of road
today follow this early diagonal route: There is a stretch of road just
northwest of the Sycamore Golf Course as well as the diagonal road between State
Roads 105 and 5 commencing at Bracken (Claysville) north of Bippus (West Point).
The Lagro-Marion-Jonesboro Plank Road connected Lagro with Grant County, and it
was routed through the community called America and passed to the East of
Ashland (LaFontaine) in Liberty Township. The Wabash and Mt. Vernon Plank Road
ran through Waltz Township, passing to the West of the Mo-shin-go-ma-she Reserve
and crossing the Mississinewa River. Mt. Vernon was located just east of
Somerset. Elias Ogan, brother to
Peter and John Ogan of North Manchester, was a property owner at Somerset and
also a large property owner along the plank road. Elias Ogan built a steam saw
mill in 1854 to provide planking for the road. [Helm, 470] The Wabash and Eel
River Plank Road ran through Noble Township and connected Roann with Wabssh.
The landowners (in 1861) in Chester Township along the Lagro-North Manchester
Plank Road included (starting at Manchester): J.L. Williams, Henry Heeter & Jno
Heeter, R. Krosier, J. West, Frame’s Heirs, D. Shock, Jesse Mowrer Heirs, James
Early, F. Rockhill Heirs, C. Mylin, W. Warren, M. Swank, J. Augenbaugh, S.
Goble, village of New Madison (Servia),
Charles Fudger’s Heirs, W. Honius and Peter Honius, J. Reed, D. Hamilton, Jno
Walker, Levi H. Smith, Geo Cronisterr, J.L. Pugh, Wm Thorn, Peter Wright, C.
Pauling, Jacob Misner, J. Bush, Jno Reed, Geo Guffin Heirs, Ezekiel Reed, Reeve
and Hibben. A steam saw mill was erected on the south side of New Madison by
Storey & Bowser of Fort Wayne to furnish the lumber for the plank road being
constructed between North Manchester and LaGro. Wm and John Honius later became
owners of the saw mill.
Starting at Liberty Mills, the landowners in Chester Township along the
Huntington & Liberty Mills Plank Road were: Wm Ross, A. Collett, J. Ruse and H.
Ruse, Frederick Nabor, A.D. Parrott, A. Baugher, S.B. Clevenger, Abr. Holderman,
R. Calhoun, Christ. Fruit, E. Miller, [southwest corner of Whitley County],
Lewis Webb, F. Webb, P. Bolinger Heirs, [Huntington County Line]. The diagonal
route ran north of Simonton Creek and did not cross that stream. A steam saw
mill (about one mile southeast of the Sycamore Golf Course on County Road
at 700E and north of Jenks Cemetery) had been erected to cut the timber
for the road. The 1861 map shows the saw mill to be owned by the Tillman
brothers.
In a public posting, the Huntington and Liberty Mills Plank Road Company
announced it was receiving sealed proposals on November 15, 1851 for “Grubbing,
Grading, Bridging, Planking and Completing said Road from the Saw Mill on
section three, on said Road, to Liberty Mills, to be let in sections of one mile
each, or thereabouts.” Also, at the same time and place was sold, “the new Steam
Saw Mill, now in progress of erection, four miles Southeast from Liberty Mills,
the Mill to be paid for in Plank Road Lumber.” [Indiana Herald,
Huntington, Indiana, Wed. October 29, 1851, p. 3]
Even today, one can stand at the Novae corner of 650E and State Road 114,
looking to the southeast, and view the grassy swath of land that once was the
line of the Plank Road. The steam saw mill was located along the plank road at
700E. Recently the treeline was removed, and the grassy path will someday be
plowed under. In the summer of 2018, though, one still has the opportunity to
view the diagonal route taken by this plank road. Thanks to Rex and Betty
Metzger for pointing this out. The plank road traversed the Metzger farm in
Whitley County. The angling Tillman Road, northwest of the Sycamore Golf Course,
also follows that line taken by the old plank road, as does the angling Bracken
Road between Routes 105 and 5. The plank road stayed north of Simonton Creek and
never crossed it. On the Sycamore golf course today one can envision its
approximate course over the high ground existing between Green No. 2 and Green
No. 11.
PLANK ROAD INFO IN WABASH WEEKLY GAZETTE,
February 6, 1849. Letter excerpts follow:
Recommendations submitted by John S. Patterson, road contractor at Logansport:
1. Purchased steam saw mill from Newel Taft, Lyons, New York for $1000 + $100
for freight and insurance.
2. Use oak and walnut for the plank, and in ascending hills, use yellow poplar.
The stringers are of oak, or walnut about 4 inches square, and laid almost under
the track of the wheels.
3. No turnouts are needed since the graded earth form a good enough turnout..
Single plank track; plank are nine feet long, three inches thick and from eight
to sixteen inches wide. No fastenings necessary.
4. Cost of plank road construction approximately $1200 per mile.
5. When road crosses over what are ordinarily called “corduroy bridges”, do not
remove them, but build plank road over them. Care should be taken to secure
drainage and to fill up with earth, the space between the surface of the old
road and the underside of the plank.
6. Plank roads are better than Coal, and much cheaper. We have tried both and
have abandoned Coal Roads.
LETTER FROM JUDGE HANNA OF FORT WAYNE:
The two steam saw mills running at Fort Wayne cost each about $2250, everything
included. These mills the company have sold at cost, and take their pay in
sawing at $1.62 per 1000 ft. Their stringers for the road are 2 by 4 inches, and
the plank 3 inches thick. Their mills cut from 600 to 800 feet of 3 inch plank
in 24 hours.
Research Note:
Judge Hanna was Samuel Hanna, older brother to Hugh Hanna who founded Wabash and
Laketon. Samuel Hanna and James Barnett erected the first grist mill in the Fort
Wayne area on the St. Mary’s River. It is interesting to note that the first
steam powered mill in Allen County, Indiana, was erected in 1835, and the boiler
for the mill had to be dragged by eight yoke of oxen from Dayton, Ohio. [Charles
R. Poinsatte, Fort Wayne During the Canal Era 1828-1855 (1969), p. 80]
LETTER FROM THOMAS G. ALVORD OF MICHIGAN:
1. The shoulder on the ditch side of the plank should be brought up just even
with the top surface and so wide as to avoid the earth being carried away from
the plank, but slightly inclining so as to offer no obstruction to the easy and
rapid passage of falling water from the surface of the road.
2. Wherever necessary sluices or culverts should be built, so as to ensure as
quick and perfect drainage as possible.
3. The cheapest and most desirable road: a plank track 8 feet wide with two
stringers 4 by 4, or 3 by 6.
4. The stringers are generally not less than 13 feet long, and are laid with the
ends abutting each other. Where two pieces of stringers come together on one
side shall not be directly opposite to the like point on the other line of
stringers. An offset is recommended.
5. With proper grading completed, two men can lay the plank road about 1000 rods
a day.
6. Average cost of grading and laying the plank road, including superintendence
would not exceed one dollar per rod, for a mile about $320.0.
7. Three inch plank 126,720 feet to a mile, 4 by 4 stringers, 14,080 feet to a
mile (at $3 per thousand) would cost $841.80.
8. Including other expenses, say $223.48, total cost per mile would be roughly
$1400.00. Additional expenses would include the cost of gate houses and their
lands.
9. By erecting steam mills on the line of the road, a company would be enabled
to furnish themselves with lumber for at least $140 per mile less, and their
mills would readily sell after they were done with their use.
10. The oak roads will last at least 12 years if not longer. The road way should
be at all times covered with at least one and a half inches of earth or sand,
which will reduce the tendency of oak to warp. The covering of fine gravel or
sand will protect the planks from steel rimmed wheels and horseshoes. In
Chicago, the lower part of Lake street, one of the busiest thoroughfares of that
active city has been for more than three years covered with 3 inch oak plank,
over which is a coating of beach sand. There has been very little if any wear
and no decay whatever.
11. The railroad benefits very little the local producing population along its
line. The termination points of the railroad alone locally benefit. In contrast
plank roads will reduce the expense of the avenues of entrance and exit to their
locations. Our common country roads will benefit with planking, and local land
values thereby are increased significantly along with populating and developing
the interior economically.
12. Mcadamized or Stone Roads are expensive, and repairs are expensive. Dirt
roads can become impassable.
13. Plank roads allow for an increase in load (in weight) and saving of time.
These advantages more than offset the cost of tolls on such roads.
The Huntington Indiana Herald [July 31, 1850, p. 2] trumpeted six advantages of
Plank Roads--
1st.
They are of easier and cheaper construction than Railroads.
2nd.
The repairs are less expensive, and they yield a larger and more certain return
to the stockholders.
3rd.
Produce can be carried over them cheaper than on Railroads.
4th.
The material for their construction is found in the abundant forests of our
country, and not in the iron regions of England.
5th.
They accommodate a larger number of people, because they can branch almost to
every man’s door, while Railroads cannot be so diffused.
6th.
They tend to sustain the neighborhood and village population, and create a home
market in every neighborhood they traverse.
ROAD RIVALRY AND HIGH STAKES DRAMA
Letter from A.J. Neff to the Editor of Wabash Gazette (February 6, 1849),
advocating Plank Road route from Wabash to Laketon, as also Hugh Hanna was
urging (Hugh Hanna founded Laketon):
MR. KNIGHT: SIR—Having noticed in a previous number of the Gazette, an article
on Plank Roads, the utility of the same, &c., and that the citizens of Wabash
and vicinity, had in contemplation the erection of one to North Manchester, and
that the citizens of the latter place were ready to subscribe half the amount of
stock necessary for the erection of said road. This may all be very true. But
what I wish to say, is this, that you are advocating the wrong route for a plank
road across the Eel river country.
Now by building your road North from Wabash to Laketon, you not only run it on a
direct route to Warsaw, but you strike the central portion of the grain growing
or grain raising country. And another fact worthy of attention is, that Lagro is
determined to build a plank road to Manchester, and if so, you make that place a
central point for both roads. Hence it follows that farmers West and North of
Laketon, will be obliged to drive to Manchester before they can get on to this
road, and when at Manchester they have twelve miles to Lagro and fifteen to
Wabash. Now I ask you, where will trade go? Most assuredly it will go to Lagro,
whereas if the road was built North to Laketon, the whole North and West would
bring their produce to Wabash, otherwise it will go to Lagro, as it has formerly
gone.
Then after taking these facts into consideration, I think that any rational man
would say, build your road to Laketon. And in reference to subscribing stock, I
would say, that the citizens of Laketon and vicinity, would not be behind their
friends at North Manchester.
Yours truly,
A.J. NEFF
RESEARCH UPDATES
In the aforementioned article in the News-Journal (July 17, 1933), some
faulty and misleading claims were made. It was said that “history seems to be
silent upon the names of the incorporators” [North Manchester-Lagro Plank Road].
In regards to the Huntington-Liberty Mills Plank Road, the
News-Journal misleadingly asserted that “there is no mention of any other
stock holders aside from Mr. Comstock” and “Nor is there any public record of
how the affairs of that company were closed.” The newspaper writer was
apparently alluding to such lack of information in Helm, History of Wabash
County, page 144.
When the Lagro and North Manchester Plank Road Company was incorporated on
January 21, 1850, the following persons were identified as constituting the
“body politic and corporate”: William Thorn, Samuel Davis, John Harter, Eli
Gomery, Mahlon C. Frame, and Madison S. Wilson of North Manchester; and Curtis
Paulding, Joseph Hopkins, Daniel Sayer, John N. Stephenson, Wilson Michael
English, and Wilson B. Barlow of Lagro. [See p. 447, Local Laws of the State
of Indiana Passed at the Thirty-Fourth Session of the General Assembly
(Indianapolis, 1850).]
When the Huntington and Liberty Mills Plank Road Co. was established, notices
were posted in Indiana Herald (Huntington IN). According to announcements
in that newspaper, John Comstock was elected President (1850-1852); John Roche,
Secretary pro tem (1850); James R. Slack, Secretary (1850-1851); L.P. Milligan,
Secretary (1851-1852, 1854); S.H. Purviance, President (1854). Samuel Moore
reportedly was also one of three directors [History of Huntington County
Indiana (1887), 521]. Patrick O’Brien in 1851-1852 superintended the
construction of the Huntington-Liberty Mills Plank Road [ibid, 523]. Later,
Milligan and A. Moore in the 1870s led the impetus to gravel road construction
in Huntington County. [Huntington Herald, Nov 16, 1907, p. 3, “Early
Roads of Huntington County”]
J.R. Slack had been an early promoter of a plank road between Springfield (South
Whitley) and Huntington [The Indiana Herald, Huntington, Wed. Dec 12,
1849, p. 3] with a possible spur to the town of Millersburg [i.e. Collamer].
That particular line never materialized, and
Slack teamed up with Comstock. Interestingly, about this time, a grist mill had
been built by W.W. Arnold and Brothers in 1848. It was originally powered by
water from the Eel River with the aid of a wooden dam. An historical plaque with
an original mill stone was erected in 1987 on that South Whitley site.
When the plank road companies dissolved or the plank roads were abandoned by the
companies, the county and its commissioners inherited the property according to
state statutes. The Huntington-Liberty Mills Plank Road was sold by the
Huntington, Wabash and Whitley county commissioners in 1910, and parties filed a
petition asking that the Liberty Mills Plank road be considered a part of the
proposed free gravel road for which a petition had been filed. [Daily
News-Democrat, Huntington, Sat., May 28, 1910, p. 1]
PUBLIC NOTICES IN 1850-1851
Plank Road Meeting.
[Indiana Herald, Huntington, Wed., Jan 23, 1850]
The citizens of Huntington, Whitley, and Kosciusko Counties are requested to
meet at the Court House in Huntington, on the 24th day
of January, 1850, for the purpose of organizing a Plank Road Company, under the
provisions of an act granted for that purpose. As this is a matter in which all
are equally interested, it is hoped there will be a general attendance at the
meeting on that day.
******
Huntington and Liberty Mills
PLANK ROAD MONEY.
[Indiana Herald, Huntington, Wed., Oct 2, 1850]
NOTICE is hereby given to the Stockholders in the Huntington and Liberty Mills
Plank Road Company, that at a meeting of the Board of Directors of said Company,
held at Huntington on the 28th day
of September, 1850, it was ordered by said Directors that the Stockholders in
said Company be required to pay to the Treasurer of said company, within thirty
days from the date of this notice, ten per cent of the amount of their
subscription of stock to said road.
JOHN COMSTOCK.
President. JOHN ROCHE,
Secretary pro tem.
Huntington, October 2, 1850
******
Huntington and Liberty Mills
Plank Road Letting.
[Indiana Herald, Huntington, Wed. Dec 18, 1850]
NOTICE is hereby given that Sealed Proposals will be received at the office of
the Secretary of said Company in the town of Huntington, until the 15th day
of January next, for the Grading, Bridging and Planking of Seven Miles of the
Huntington and Liberty Mills Plank Road, commencing at the intersection of
Matilda and Jefferson Streets, in the town of Huntington, thence north along the
Goshen and Liberty Mills road seven miles. The Road to be completed and made in
good traveling condition. Plans and Specifications of the work can be seen at
the office of said Secretary.
JAS. R. SLACK, Secretary.
December 11, 1850
******
Plank Road Notice.
[Indiana Herald, Huntington, Wed., August 27, 1851]
THE Stockholders in Huntington and Liberty Mills Plank Road Company, will meet
at the Court house in the town of Huntington on the 1st Monday and 8th day of
September next, for the purpose of electing one President, three Directors, one
Secretary, and one Treasurer. A general attendance of the Stockholders is
requested. JAS. R. SLACK,
Secretary
August 13th, 1851
Source: NMHS Newsletter, August 1988
The Plank Road and the $500 Bull
Transportation was the one cry of the people in the days when John Comstock was battling to make Liberty Mills the trading center of the Northern Indiana universe. It was anything for a way to get some place and back, or to get produce to market and purchased supplies home. John Comstock felt the need of better roads and realized that to amount to anything, Liberty Mills must have a way for people to get there. In the later thirties or early forties he was one of the men who worked in opening what has been known as the Mail Trace road from Lagro north to Liberty Mills. This got its name from the fact that a track had been blazed through the woods along which mail was carried from Lagro north to Liberty Mills, and probably farther, though there is no definite information. It was only the trace of a road and as the mail was carried over it, the name Mail Trace seemed to apply. But the blazed trail was not sufficient and the work of clearing a roadway and bridging the streams was undertaken. Noah Lindsay, father of Edward Lindsay, was a sort of a foreman for the men who had the contract for this road, Mr. Comstock either having the contract, or being interested in the work. It was a dry season and workmen had difficulty most of the year in getting water to drink, but when the road was finished the dry spell was broken and a celebration was had at Lagro that equaled that of the arrival of the first canal boat at Wabash. The best of Liberty Mills whiskey flowed freely or would have flowed freely had it not been drunk quickly.
But the cleared road with its corduroy bridges did not answer the needs and a plank road was proposed. Just how this happened to be slated for North Manchester instead of Liberty Mills does not appear, but it is known that Comstock was tireless in his efforts to at least get an extension north to Liberty Mills from where this road turned west to go to North Manchester. But for some reason he was not able to get this extension and he at once announced that Lagro was to be marked off the map so far as Liberty Mills was concerned, and Huntington was to be the shipping point from his town. He promoted, built, owned and soon had in operation a plank road from Huntington to Liberty Mills, which like other roads of its kind, was of comparatively short life. J. A. Browne of this city remembers when as he would walk from Huntington in an early day, he would try to keep out of the muddiest places on the road by jumping from one old plank to another. The road entered Liberty Mills at an angle from the southeast, coming there from Claysville. Most of the old line of this road was abandoned at an early date and later more of it has been closed and the traffic diverted to the section lines. It was this change that put the road at the back of the Horace Rockwell house, between the house and the barn, when in an early day the road went past the front of the house, as any self respecting road should do. The line of this old road is still open through a part of Section 36, the buildings on the Frank Bowen and H. T. Tilman farms being on this road.
But John Comstock was not a quitter. He did not quit the cattle business when a few of his high priced animals died, nor did he quit his efforts to get transportation to and from Liberty Mills when the plank road rotted to pieces. He was ready to do his part when the first railroad was suggested and took extensive stock in the company, being elected as vice president of the Eel River Valley Railroad Company. That was in 1852, but that first company seems to have gone a great deal like the interurban companies that in the memory of living man were organized by Mr. Drayer and Mr. Barry. In getting out from under this deal, Mr. Comstock was glad to trade his railroad stock to a New Yorker for a stock of merchandise that his Liberty Mills store could use, at the same time sending the worthless railway stock like chickens, home to roost. Later in 1872 he again became interested in the railway as it was really being built and leads to a bull story.
Mr. Comstock owned a great deal of land through which this road, which was known as the Detroit, Eel River & Illinois, would have to pass. The matter of a right of way through this land was one that gave the promoters some concern, for they knew of Mr. Comstock’s unsatisfactory experiences with the other railroad venture. So it was not the ordinary right of way agent who visited Mr. Comstock. Instead it was D. L. Quirck, really the head man in authority of the company, who came. He did not talk railroad but let Mr. Comstock talk cattle, finally getting so much interested in cattle that he bought a $500 bull from the Comstock herd, and incidentally went away with a deed for the desired right of way and a gravel pit at about $1000 less than he had expected to pay. But $500 was not a high price for Comstock cattle, for older men remember him selling a bull at one of this sales for $3000 that was shipped to Iowa, while he on one occasion at a sale sold a cow for $175 that was so badly crippled she could hardly walk, but was bought by a fancier because of the calves she might raise.
We talk about how busy we are today, but one cannot but wonder, as he looks back into history of those early days and considering the time killing difficulties to be encountered, how men were able to accomplish as much as they did—that is, the ones who got any place. And it seems that then as now it was really only the busy man who had time to do things, either for the public or for himself. Before coming to Indiana, John Comstock was elected as justice of peace in New York, and the title Judge stuck to him as he came west. That with his fitness for the office soon made him probate judge of Wabash county, a judge who had to do with the settlement of all estates. He was elected in 1848 and held until 1852, when the office of probate judge was abolished by an act of the legislature. Before a court day, Mr. Comstock would put in extra time at home getting things in readiness for his absence and would often work until nine or ten at night. Then mounting his favorite saddle horse he would ride to Wabash, a trip through the woods and the darkness that would then often take many hours. It was frequently nearing daylight when mud bespattered he would arrive at a hotel. Wabash then having three, known as the McKibben house, the Center house, and the Indiana house, and after an hour or two of sleep he would appear in the court room. If there was any possibility of finishing the work by a night session, court would be continued until late at night. Then Judge Comstock would mount his horse and be back at home ready to go to work with the strongest of his hands the next day.
In those days everybody was not as smart as they are today. It is said that young men even sometimes were willing to listen to the talk of their elders in hope of learning something, rather than doing the talking as the cigarette smoking youth of today is likely to want to do. Men there are who say that it was a pleasure and almost a liberal education for them to listen to John Comstock and Dr. Lent, the leading physician of his day in Liberty Mills, when they would talk together. The doctor was a highly educated man in a day when education meant more than a college yell and half of a mustache. He was recognized as one of the most skilled physicians of his day in the whole of Northern Indiana. John Comstock, too, was educated in books far beyond the average of his generation, and coupled with that was a knowledge of the world and of men that he had gained by a life full of business and activity. When these men met and talked there is little wonder that the young men, who possibly had never seen the other side of the county, would stop and listen, and listening learn things that have helped them all along their lives. Dr. Cyrus V. N. Lent—can’t you imagine his appearance from his name? Tall, precise, silkhatted, and exact in every detail of his life and appearance. He was an early secretary of the Masonic lodge and the precision of his records are today the wonder and admiration of the secretaries of these later days, if indeed they have ever taken the time to look back and see them.