The WPA Guide to Indiana by Federal Writers’ Project

Author:Federal Writers’ Project
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781595342126
Publisher: Trinity University Press

Tour 2

(New Buffalo, Mich.)—Michigan City—Gary—Hammond—(Chicago, Ill.); US 12.

Michigan Line to Illinois Line, 45.5 m.

Concrete roadbed, two- to four-lane, throughout.

Route paralleled by Michigan Central R.R. between Michigan Line and Illinois Line; by Pennsylvania R.R., Baltimore & Ohio R.R., New York Central R.R., and Chicago, Indiana & Southern R.R. between Gary and Illinois Line; and by Chicago, South Shore & South Bend R.R. (electric) between Michigan City and East Chicago.

Accommodations of all kinds at short intervals.

This route, called the Dunes Highway, swings around the southern tip of Lake Michigan, never more than two miles from the lake. Its eastern section traverses the beautiful dunes region, one of Indiana’s most popular recreational areas, and the western section runs through the highly industrialized Cities of the Calumet—Gary, East Chicago, Whiting, and Hammond.

US 12 crosses the INDIANA LINE, 0 m., four miles southwest of New Buffalo, Michigan, and skirts the lake shore residential and resort developments of MICHIANA SHORES and LONG BEACH.

At 4.5 m. is the junction with Liberty Trail, a blacktop road that forms the eastern boundary of Michigan City.

Left on Liberty Trail is POTAWATOMI PARK, 0.5 m. (615 alt., 29 pop.), a fashionable residential village, without business establishments, set in a beautifully wooded section that was once the site of a Potawatomi Indian village. Father Marquette visited this region. In 1675 he is said to have preached to the Indians at MARQUETTE SPRING (R), alongside the two-mile circuitous park driveway, though this is doubtful as he was in ill health at the time. Here in 1831 Blackhawk, the Sauk chief, is said to have tried unsuccessfully to enlist Potawatomi aid in a projected Indian revolt.

Visible from Marquette Spring are the INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP GARDENS, which, when completed, will include flowers of all Nations. The project, inaugurated in 1934, has received flowers and plants for resetting from 300 well-known persons, including King Boris III of Bulgaria, Neville Chamberlain, King Gustav V of Sweden, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Ignace Jan Paderewski. Created and supervised by J. E., J. V., and C. L. Stauffer, the gardens are being developed as a public museum of flora.

TRAIL CREEK, which runs through Potawatomi Park, figured briefly in an incident that occurred in the fur trade days. In 1780 a small party of French-Canadians, Indians, and one American left Cohokia under the leadership of a half-breed, Jean Baptiste Hamelin, intending to pillage Fort St. Joseph of its rich store of furs. The expedition was timed to arrive at the fort, near the present site of Niles, Michigan, when the Indian garrison would be away on a hunt. Hamelin and his men sacked and burned the post, and escaped with 50 bales of valuable furs. When the commandant learned what had happened he sent the Indians in pursuit and both parties crossed Trail Creek, probably near Marquette Spring. The report of Major Arent DePeyster, British commandant at Detroit, states that the fugitives were overtaken at Petite Fort, near the present site of Tremont, Indiana, on December 5, 1780. Four were killed, two wounded, seven taken prisoners, and three escaped into the wilderness.

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