Marion Porter was born near Burns City, Martin County, Indiana in 1891. His was a farm family. When his widowed mother died in 1937, Marion bought out the other heirs and continued to work the 80-acre family farm.
The Depression had hit rural residents hard and the federal government developed plans to deal with rural poverty. In 1938 FDR’s New Deal began a buyout program to turn much of Martin County’s submarginal, hilly cropland into parks and national forest. (See 12 Oct 2019 blog, Forest to Farm to Forest) Porter resisted, not allowing surveyors and appraisers on his land. On June 3, 1938 the government filed a petition to acquire Marion Porter’s farm.
Then as war tensions increased, the government’s plans for the land changed and the land was designated to become Burns City Naval Munitions. The introduction of the Navy into the mix didn’t change Porter’s mind. He continued to plant and harvest crops and ignore the government’s plans.
So the government condemned the land and mailed him a check for $1142 that he refused to cash. A new check was issued and, again, the check was not cashed.
It was a difficult situation. Marion was the third generation of Porters to be farmers in Martin County. A 1941 editorial sympathized with him, but also acknowledged that the government’s power of eminent domain was a sensible one and resulted in necessary civic improvements. “Hopeless’ was the word the editorial used to describe Porter’s struggle against the federal government. But Marion Porter wasn’t giving up.
In May a crew attempted to survey the land. Porter fumed and ordered all officials off his land, using profane and violent language, displaying his shotgun, and threatening them with arrest. In June 1941 U.S. marshal Julius Wichser visited Porter. He had been warned of Porter’s recalcitrance and took along an armed deputy. He spotted Porter’s son acting as a lookout, but managed to find Porter before he was warned. He tried to hand him the papers, but Porter dropped them to the ground. Wichser finally put them on the corn drill and left. He had delivered the restraining order forbidding Porter from interfering with survey parties. He was also ordered to appear in federal court in Indianapolis.
Porter, to no one’s surprise, did not appear for his hearing. A Conservation Department employee testified that the Porter farm was an ‘integral part of the defense project.’ The judge ruled that the land now belonged to the federal government through condemnation and barred Porter from trespassing on the land.
And so again Wichser was called on to deliver papers to Porter. He found him and two sons driving a team of horses toward his hay field.
“This order means you can’t interfere with the workers here and that you have to keep off the land,” Wischer informed Porter, as he released his hold [on the horse’s halter.]. “You’re all nothing but a bunch of relievers and you can’t put me off my land,” the enraged farmer shouted, and then he added embellishments of a not very complimentary nature. From a safe distance ahead, he turned and gave his scorching views of almost everything in general, but particularly of the marshal. “That’s all right with me, Marion,” answered the marshal evenly, “but the next time I come down here, I’m taking you out with me, and don’t get the idea I’m not big enough to do it.” — Indianapolis Star, 25 June 1941.
Wischer’s words were prophetic. The struggle between farmer and government continued. Porter did not vacate the land, but continued to farm his 80-acres. He was arrested and when the judge asked him if he was ready to comply with the government order, he answered, “I’m not promising anything.” He remained in jail for six months until family members finally convinced him to cooperate. He was released on May 28, 1942. His wife picked him up and drove him to their new residence. The government’s bulldozers cleared the buildings on the Porter farm and prepared to turn it back into forest.
Of the 340 tracts acquired for the original White River Project, only one farmstead, the Marion Porter farm, was condemned.
Connection: Marion Porter was the husband of Nellie Holt, my husband’s 1st cousin 1x removed.
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