PAGE 10 ■ DUBOIS COUNTY HERITAGE
THE HERALD ■ WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2016
PHOTO COURTESY OF HELEN (SCHILLER) BURRIS
Velma (Harder) Schiller, left, and her son, Radus, 2, posed with the rest of the new home economy class at Dubois High School in 1937.
Mills, logging, river shaped initial industry By LEANN BURKE lburke@dcherald.com No mills operate in Dubois these days, but in the unincorporated town’s first 100 years, the milling industry was a driving force behind the economy. Before the town was platted in 1885, pioneer Andrew Kelso purchased land in the area from the government. His 1829 purchase made him the first landowner in Dubois, according to George R. Wilson’s 1910 “History of Dubois County.” Wilson suspected that Kelso built a grain mill prior to purchasing land at Dubois based on a memory of Charles Ellis. Ellis recalled another town near Dubois, called Knoxville, and said that’s where Kelso built his mill; however, Wilson found no record of Knoxville ever being platted. The most popular mill in the area, however, was built by another early settler in Dubois, Shiloh Polson. While the Kelso mill mostly ground corn, the Polson mill could grind both corn and wheat, and it provided
THE EARLY DAYS
DUBOIS a machine for carding wool — untangling the material and ordering the strands to be made into yarn. Charles W. Ellis purchased the Polson mill in 1866 and converted it to steam power shortly after. In 1889, Ben Rowekamp, Ferdinand Schneider, Henry Beckman and Charles Nordhoff purchased the mill and formed Dubois Milling Company. The company supplied flour to stores in parts of Dubois, Martin and Orange counties until it closed in 1939. Two other Polsons bought land in Dubois in the town’s early days: Thomas S. Polson in 1838 and Robert S. Polson in 1839. According to Ellis’s memory, Thomas practiced medicine in the town for 40 years, and Robert operated a flat boat. He remembers that Robert died during the Civil War and is buried “in the Sunny South.” Logging also played a large role in the
Kelso arrived first, but town named after merchant Hays
A parade float passed through Haysville during the town’s sesquicentennial celebration Aug. 6, 1966. Photo from “A History of Northeast Dubois County in Indiana.”
economic development of the budding Dubois. The first settlers in Dubois County had to clear forests to build homesteads and farms. Several histories recount early farmers doubling as loggers in the colder seasons. The men felled trees and rolled them to the shores of the Patoka River, where they were shackled together to form rafts. In the spring when the river flooded, timber men rode the rafts to Jasper to sell the logs, a trip that took three to four days. The Dubois mural exhibit at the Dubois County Museum recounts the site of the floating rafts: “(A line of rafts) often extended for a mile upstream from Dubois. In many cases, there were as many as 15 rafts, and in the process of jamming, many were sunk never to be recovered.” Logging continued to be a major industry for Dubois until 1935. Joseph Friedman Sr. and his sons — Jacob, Edward, William, Tony, George and Fred — made most of their living through logging, using horsedrawn wagons to carry the logs. Later, Anthony DeKemper used a yoke of oxen to By CANDY NEAL cneal@dcherald.com Haysville’s first settler was in the community before Haysville was officially named. That man was Joseph Kelso, and he bought 624 acres of land in 1816. The town was not laid out until 1835, when Moses Kelso, a probate judge in Dubois County, settled there. Kelso also operated a wool carding machine establishment there in 1840. Haysville was named for Willis Hays, who bought land in the area in 1818 and was the area’s first merchant; he was also an associate judge. Hays donated some of his land for the town. A ferry service started in the early 1840s, carrying people who lived on the north side of White River to the south side into Haysville; Harry Krodel operated a ferry service in the early 1900s. In 1913, a bridge was built across the river. In 1932, the bridge was declared unsafe and a new bridge was built several hundred yards east; that bridge was completed in 1933. The Meyer Planing Mill was started in 1874 by George Meyer, who named the company George Meyer and Company. He passed on the business to his sons August, John and Wesley; that partnership dissolved in the early 1920s, leaving August Meyer as the sole owner. The building continued as Meyer Planing Mill until 1933, when August’s son Roy took over the company and named it Meyer Custom Woodworking. When rumors spread about mineral be-
move the logs, eventually adding a Caterpillar tractor to his process. Flooding of the Patoka River often cut Dubois off from the rest of the county in its early days. In 1869, townspeople remedied the issue by building a bridge. In 1890, the bridge was upgraded to steel, and today a concrete bridge sits where the original wooden structure was built. The bridge paved the way for the Pony Express mail delivery system that ran along the Southern Railroad, which was built through Dubois in 1908 to connect Jasper to the south and French Lick to the north. The first freight train passed through Dubois on Oct. 25, 1908. Soon, passenger trains joined the freight trains that passed through the town, and a depot was built. In the railroad’s heyday, six trains passed through the town each day. The depot stood until 1969 when it was torn down. Dubois may not be a railroad boom town anymore, but agriculture remains at the base of the Dubois economy, albeit with modernized farms.
THE EARLY DAYS
HAYSVILLE ing located in the area, the Hartsfelt Mining & Smelting Company formed a company with John Seitz of Haysville as president. The company moved in a 20-ton smelting furnace and silver mining began in the late 1880s, but stopped in March 1888 when the U.S. Mint determined that the not enough silver was in the ore to warrant mining. The George Hoffman House was built in 1890 and was unique because of its Queen Anne style and spindle work that was on the upper and lower porches. The house used to sit on the north side of Market Street but has been razed. In 1902, John and Anna Opel sold about 5 acres of land to George and Ludwig Eichmiller, who started the Haysville Flour Mill. The flour, corn meal and ground feed were made at the mill. Future owners included Wilby Dorsam, James Schwenk and William Braun. The land is now part of Burger Farms. The Opel-Kieffner complex was three joined buildings that housed a home, a saloon and a lunchroom. The saloon was operated by John Opel Sr. and later by Henry Kieffner. The complex was destroyed by fire in 1916. Martin Stamm Saloon was built in 1917 and operated as a saloon until Harry Baker purchased it and converted it into a general store. Haysville celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1966 and its bicentennial this year.