HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      31

and relieve the machine of the shingles, cut one at a time. The shingles
were then baled, four bales to the thousand, when they were ready for
the market. Millions of feet of poplar timber were consumed in this
way in Clay county. Many landholders, either individually or by co-op-
eration, by planting such a factory and industry on their own premises
and using their own timber, with the proceeds realized, paid their taxes
and liquidated interest-bearing deferred payments on their land purchases.
    In the north-end third of the territory of the county there are known
to have been operated as many as fifteen or twenty such plants, some
of which may he enumerated from personal recollection: Beverly
Baldwin’s, Squire Compton’s, Andrew Hasting’s, Samuel M. Stewart’s,
William Nicoson’s, Jacob Wagle’s, Frump & Nicoson’s, William White’s,
Daniel Easter’s, Jefferson Nicoson’s, George Easter’s, Greenberry
Triplett’s, John Yocums, Henry Bemis’s, John Triplett’s, William and
Jesse Nicoson’s, John M. Browns, Richard Brown’s, Poffs’ and Pilant's.
In the more central part of the county were A. B. Wheeler’s, David
Moore’s, A. H. Wright’s, which were in Jackson township, and Huber’s
and White’s, which were in Washington township. In the southeast part
of the county were Jackson Cooprider’s, west of Middlebury, on the
Kossuth road, Isaac Frees, on the Schmaltz place, and Aaron Gilbert’s,
on the Solomon Moyer place. After operating his mill for a time by
hand power, Cooprider made the necessary changes for applying horse
power.
    The period of greatest activity in the manufacture of poplar shingles
was from 1860 to 1870, including the years of the Civil War, and the
area of greatest production, the north end of the county, because of
railroad facilities and the abundance of poplar timber. This industry was
not planted in Perry and Lewis townships, because of the absence of
poplar timber.
    Poplar shingles were always marketable, of which the standard price
was from $1.25 to $1.50 per thousand. Millions were shipped throughout
the country. The daily capacity of one of these hand power machines
was from six to nine thousand shingles.
    For the period of twelve or fourteen years, from the time that the
Terre Haute & Indianapolis railroad began operations up to the time
that the management adopted block coal instead of wood for fuel for
motor purposes, the chopping and hauling of wood was an important
industry within the zone comprising several miles on either side of the
railroad track. At that time it was a very common thing to see adver-
tising sheets, written or printed, posted at public places announcing the
want of wood-choppers by the cord. This industry was confined, in the
main, to the winter season, as there were more men then otherwise unem-
ployed than during the summer. This wood was hauled to the railroad
track and “corded up” on the “right of way” on either side. Not only
hundreds but thousands of cords, making a continuous stretch of miles
in the aggregate, were piled up along the road in this county. It was
then taken up by the work trains as wanted and hauled to the wood
stations, where it was cut into lengths for use by a horse-power treadmill
saw. At the Brazil station this saw was operated for a number of years
by John McDougal, who is remembered as having built and occupied
the first house on what is now North Washington street, then the
Shattuck place, the only dwelling-house then back of the National road,
north side, east of Meridian street.