 Porter
County, organized in 1836, was named in honor of Commodore David Porter,
of the United States Navy. It is bounded north by Lake Michigan, east by
LaPorte, south by the Kankakee, which separates it from Jasper, and west
by Lake County. Its average length is 35 miles, and the breadth 15 miles.
The names of the several townships are Winchester, Jackson, Liberty and Portage,
in the north; Washington, Center, Union and Porter, in the center; and Pleasant,
Morgan and Boone, in the south. The population in 1840 was 2,162; at this
time [1849] it is about 5,000. The surface of the country is gently undulating.
About one-fourth of the county is timbered in oak, walnut, poplar, pine,
maple, butternut and beech, one-third barrens, and the remainder prairie
and bottomland. Except near Lake Michigan and the marshes of the Kankakee,
the general character of the soil is good, and best adapted to wheat, oats,
corn and grazing.
There are in the county three gristmills, eight sawmills, one carding and
one fulling mill, a printing office, four lawyers, ten physicians, nine
preachers, and the usual proportion of carpenters, blacksmiths, wagon-makers,
tailors, shoemakers, etc. There are several small lakes in the county, among
which are Flint, Spectacle and Eliza Lakes. The taxable land amounts to 155,380
acres. |
