This is one of the finest counties in
the State, and contains one of the most prosperous towns in Indiana.
The name given to the county is the French name of the beautiful lake
included in it. The range of country east and west, from eight to
twelve miles south-east of Lake Michigan, was originally timbered land,
and parts of it are somewhat hilly, and the soil is mostly thin. The
timber was mostly oak and hickory. The level part was originally
covered with beech, poplar, sugar, etc., and in the vicinity of the
lake and Michigan City, are sand hills, originally covered with pine.
The county south of the above, for six or eight miles in width, is
gently undulating prairie, interspersed with groves of timber and small
lakes, which has a very rich soil. Still further south are the buroak
openings, a few dry prairies, and the Kankakee marshes, of which large
portions are better for grazing than for grain. It is
estimated that one hundred and eighty eight sections of land lie in
the different prairies in the county, the principal of which are
Rolling, Door, La Porte, Stillwell, Domain, and Hog prairies, which,
with the exception of a few wet places, are well adapted to wheat,
oats, corn, barley, hemp, and vines, and garden vegetables of every
description. Fruit succeeds well, and the wet prairies, when drained,
are excellent for grass. The oak openings are not inferior to the
prairies in respect to soil.
La Porte, a flourishing and prosperous city of over eight thousand
inhabitants, is the county seat. It is located in Center township, and
has excellent railroad facilities. Surrounded by a rich agricultural
district, with an abundance of good timber on every hand, it has all
the elements of commercial prosperity. In a literary and educational
point, the city has made great progress. Its schools stand high, and
are a credit to the great system of education of Indiana. Its public
improvements are excellent, and, in every point La Porte is a
prosperous and flourishing city. The La Porte reading room and natural
history association attests the literary culture of its citizens. This
institution was organized and incorporated in 1863; it started with
seven hundred volumes, all standard works, and is, at the present time,
in a high state of efficiency. Michigan City, in the northern part of
the county, on the margin of Lake Michigan, is a very prosperous city
of over five thousand inhabitants. All that can be said of the public
improvements, educational facilities, and prosperity of La Porte, may,
with propriety, be said of Michigan City. It is the gate to Lake
Michigan commerce from Indiana, and, as such, must soon become a great
commercial city.
