The Railroad comes to Martin County, Indiana

The story sounds familiar.  Construction crews laid ties and drove spikes, flattened hills and bridged rivers to join the nation by railroad. A team moving east met the team going west and a golden spike was hammered in as people celebrated. But this is Shoals, Indiana, 1857, not Promontory Point, Utah 1869. 

Investors had plans to join the east coast cities with the Mississippi River. A railroad already existed from Wheeling, West Virginia to Cincinnati. Now crews worked  to complete the last leg from Cincinnati to St. Louis. The eastbound crew from  St. Louis was the Ohio and Mississsippi Railroad. They planned to meet the westbound workers from Cincinnati in Washington, Indiana. Working westbound was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The westbound workers had met with difficult terrain. In southern Martin County alone a stretch of just 17.2 miles of track included 29 curves, 18 bridges and a tunnel over 1,000 feet long. So the O&M crews got to Washington and just kept building until the two railroads met up in Shoals, Indiana, where a golden spike was driven as dignitaries made speeches and crowds cheered. 

Railroad through Shoals, Indiana

Railroads brought increased opportunity for trade and travel. As areas switched from dependency on water travel and  poor roads, travel times shrunk and travel became less weather dependent.

 Northern Martin County was not served by rivers, just often impassable roads and it would be another 33 years before the railroads began serving that part of the county. In 1890 The Milwaukee Road completed 14.2 miles of track. The terrain was just as challenging as in the southern part of the county.  The 14.2 miles had a rise of 204 feet, 11 bridges, 43 curves and a tunnel 1,106 feet in length. The railroad brought the promise of prosperity and new towns were started at Burns City, Blankenship, Sims’ Station and Cale City.

Opening Day at Burns City Depot. Man in center is Noah Sims.

Most residents had not seen the big smoke-belching steam locomotives before. There’s a story that the first train stopped at Cale and let bystanders inspect it. When the engineer returned to the cab, he poked his head out of the window and yelled “Stand back, boys, I want to turn around here.” The panicked crowd backed up and gave him plenty of room. 

Connections: Alfred Sims, my husband’s great granduncle, platted Burns City after the railroad came through.

Alfred Guthrie, related to my husband’s great grandaunt, built the first train station in Tunnelton.

Noah Sims, my husband’s great grandfather, was the first railroad agent at Burns City. Four of his sons, Curtis, Calvin, Roscoe and Rousseau Sims worked on railroads. His grandsons, Truman and Curtis and great-grandsons Steve and Keith worked for the railroad.

Health Spas – Indian Springs and Trinity Springs

It’s summer and our thoughts turn to vacations – relaxing getaways, exciting entertainments, interesting people. Our nineteenth-century ancestors shared our need to get away. In Indiana many chose Trinity Springs Mineral Spa and its sister resort, Indian Springs. 

“Stinking water” had been discovered in Martin County, Indiana, near Harrisonville. The strong sulphur smell and taste inspired land owner Daniel Dunihue. His land was not much good for farming and it turned out he was very good at promotion. So using the rationale that if water had minerals in it and tasted bad, it must be medicine – he opened a health resort in the 1850’s. The first step was to change the name of Harrisonville to Trinity Springs after the three springs nearby. Down the road Levi Sims had platted a new town and the government authorized a post office for it. When a tired postal employee asked for the name of the village and said “and please make it short,’ then Short, Indiana was born. But people won’t travel to a spa in Short so the town was later renamed Indian Springs. 

Dunihue advertised his spa with glowing praise. “The Springs are situated in the wild, romantic and highly picturesque mineral region of Indiana and accessible in a day from Cincinnati or St. Louis, and intermediate points, by way of the Ohio and Mississippi R.R. which runs within seven miles of them, and from which passengers will be conveyed by hacks running every day except Sunday. “

Trinity Springs guests, 1892

“The medicinal properties of the water are unsurpassed as a general curative or preventative of disease. As a remedy for Dyspepsia and its attendant ills, and a restorative of the natural and healthful function of every part, it has no superior, if equal, anywhere.”

There were other benefits of the water. “The water is clear; the odor of hydrogen sulphide is strong, but the taste is not disagreeable, being but slightly bitter and sulphuretted. There is no malaria at Trinity Springs and the odor of the sulphur water has eliminated the mosquito.”

Trinity Springs guests on burros

The hotels offered much more than bad-tasting water. There were many opportunities for recreation.  There were evening parties, outdoor sports and exercises, good quail and squirrel shooting in season, fox hunting,  dancing, bowling, tennis and swimming. Posters advertised that there was excellent bass fishing. A herd of forty burros from Arizona was available for use of guests, with extensive burro trails throughout property. “Nothing more healthful and invigorating than a burro ride,” declared a hotel pamphlet.  There were shady paths for long walks and secluded spots all over Trinity Springs Preserve. “It is a veritable paradise for the lover of the Kodak or the landscape artist.”

Just north of Trinity Springs lay Indian Springs and owner Alfred Guthrie took more of a down-home slant in his advertisements. “You need not come here to dress, as pride and fashion have no recognition. Mother Hubbards may fan the porch floors without observation and shirt sleeves and suspenders can promenade without remark. People come here to have a free-and-easy time.” But he did wax eloquently when it came to the sulphur waters. “A winding pathway leads from the hotel to the springs at the base of the hill, on the edge of Sulphur creek, not quite so steep as Jacob’s ladder, but as full perhaps of angelic creatures constantly descending and ascending for the life-giving waters.”

Indian Springs Hotel, 1870

Trinity and Indian Springs became popular tourist spots. At one time seven hotels served the needs of visitors and six trains a day brought passengers to the resorts. Tourists often spent one or two weeks or even longer enjoying the offerings of the area.

“Thousands of people have come from all parts of the Union to Trinity Springs to test its wonderful waters. Thousands of people have been benefitted in health and have gone home with praise for Trinity Springs. Physicians advise their patients to come here.” 

“Nature smiles at Trinity Springs. It is an inviting playground. The hotel occupies an ideal elevation, swept by the pure air that comes from the shaded uplands and valleys. It is a charming vacation spot for the tired city man or woman wanting a rest and recuperation.”

Oddly, it was the coming of the automobile that brought the end of the spa resorts. The pace of life quickened  and the speed of tourism increased.  A family with a car had the freedom to visit one spot and then move on to the next. The leisurely vacation at a health spa became a thing of the past. The hotels closed, the towns that supported them shrunk then disappeared. Today a cleared field marks the hotel’s baseball diamond, a few pieces of concrete show where the sulphur-smelling swimming pool was located. But there’s not even a foundation stone of the Trinity Hotel. A highway project removed all traces.

Connections: Alfred Guthrie was related to my husband’s family through the Flinns.

Levi Sims was my husband’s first cousin 3x removed

All photos are from A Photographic History of Martin County by Bill Whorrall.