 |
The Hoosier Slide
(Mouse-over photo for descriptions)
The Hoosier Slide sand dune was Indiana’s most famous
natural landmark, The huge, barren dune stood where the
NIPSCO generating station is now. The sand
dune had disappeared by 1920, and NIPSCO bought the land in 1925.
In the mid 1800s, the dune had trees and berries, cows even
grazed there. As the trees were cut and used, the dune
became bare, probably by 1870. Commercial sand mining
began about 1890, when the Monon Railroad built a switching track
along the south side of the dune, to serve the lumber docks along
the wet side of the harbor. The sand was loaded in wheel
barrows and pushed across planks to the gondola cars-this being
done mostly by the 100 or so dock wallopers, and their families.
These dock workers’ main job was to unload lumber, corn
and salt from the incoming ships. The sand mining was done
in between ships.
Around 1890, natural gas was discovered in central Indiana,
and glass factories started in the Muncie area. Large users
of Hoosier Slide sand were the Ball Brothers in Muncie, Pittsburg
Plate Glass in Kokomo, and the nearby Hemingway
Glass Co., which made insulators for telephone poles. As
cars and mechanized farm equipment became more popular, core
sand for foundries became another use for our sand. Core
sand was shipped as far away as Mexico.
The two sand companies, Pinkston and the Hoosier Slide Sand
Co., became more competitive, and the use of cranes and electrical
conveyor belts escalated. The sand removal was especially
heavy during WWI. Over 30 years, approximately 30
railroad carloads were shipped daily-a total of 13.5 million
tons.
|
|
