Hoosier Slide
{{Short description|Historic sand dune}}
File:Hoosier Slide, 1907 - Michigan City, Indiana.jpg
The Hoosier Slide was a large sand dune on the shore of Lake Michigan near Michigan City, Indiana. The {{convert|200|ft|m|adj=on}} dune was a popular tourist destination in the late 19th century, attracting visitors for the view from the top and to slide down the dune's face. At about the same time as it became a tourist attraction, it was found to be a good source of iron-rich sand that would make a light blue-tinted glass. The sand mining activity led to the dune's disappearance by 1920.{{Cite book|last=Mueller|first=RoseAnna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDe756bT1cYC|title=Michigan City|date=2005|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-3409-1|pages=104|language=en}}
History
= Destination =
The sand dune stood {{convert|200|ft|m}} tall on the shore of Lake Michigan, just northwest of Michigan City.{{Cite book|last=Morrow|first=Jim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HxyXJqk58w0C|title=Beverly Shores: A Suburban Dunes Resort|date=2001|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-0804-7|pages=120|language=en}} Originally covered by stubby trees, the hill was revealed as a sand dune when the land was cleared. News accounts estimated that about 180,000 people visited the site each year from the Chicago area until 1920. It gained its name from the popular activity of sliding down the face of the dune.{{cite news |last1=Blodgett |first1=W.H. |title=Indiana Dunes, Among the Finest in the World, Menaced by Commercialism, Seething Furnaces, Rumbling Machiner Threatens Nature's Work |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91929284/millions-of-visitors-to-hooser-slide/ |work=Indianapolis News |date=June 14, 1919}} The dune became a popular destination for weddings and recreation, and had famous visitors such as Daniel Webster and Harriet Martineau, who wrote about the beauty of Lake Michigan as seen from Hoosier Slide.{{Cite book|last=Stodola|first=Barbara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wAF5PpXHKCcC&dq=hoosier+slide&pg=PT9|title=Michigan City Beach Communities: Sheridan, Long Beach, Duneland, Michiana Shores|date=2003-04-29|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-4396-3041-9|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Brennan|first=George A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2U15AAAAMAAJ|title=The Wonders of the Dunes|date=1923|publisher=Bobbs-Merrill|pages=156|language=en}} United States President William McKinley visited Hoosier Slide on October 17, 1899, where he was honored with a 21-gun salute in celebration of the end of the Spanish–American War.
= Glassmaking =
Sand miners began mining Hoosier Slide in 1890.{{Cite book|last=Moser|first=JoAnn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xrinCwAAQBAJ&dq=hoosier+slide+ball+blue&pg=PA27|title=Mason Jar Nation: The Jars that Changed America and 50 Clever Ways to Use Them Today|date=2016-05-02|publisher=Cool Springs Press|isbn=978-1-59186-652-7|language=en}} Glass companies like the Pittsburgh Plate Glass and Ball Corporation had recently established factories in Muncie, Indiana to make use of local sand dunes and natural gas from Findlay, Ohio. Wind-blown sand from the dune was sampled for glassmaking, and due to its iron-rich composition, was found to produce a light aqua-blue glass. Ball produced distinctive "Ball Blue" jars from the sand, which were sold widely. The blue glass was also thought to be beneficial in reducing the deterioration of canned fruit.{{cite web|last1=Ashcraft|first1=Jenny|date=January 19, 2022|title=Indiana's Most Famous Landmark Disappears|url=https://blog.newspapers.com/indianas-most-famous-landmark-disappears/ |publisher=The official blog of Newspapers.com|access-date=24 January 2022|language=en-US}} The Hemingray Glass Company used the sand from Hoosier Slide to produce glass electrical insulators.
As early as 1894, concern was expressed at the disappearance of the dune from mining activity, when it had diminished to {{convert|63|ft|m}}.{{cite news|date=September 28, 1894|title=A Diminishing Hill|work=South Bend Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91913958/hoosier-slide-is-disappearing-1894/}} Mining continued until Hoosier Slide had completely disappeared by 1920. A total of {{convert|13,500,000|ST|t}} of sand were used for glass, effectively removing the dune in its entirety.{{Cite book|last=Madison|first=James H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMUCo0UXCjoC&dq=hoosier+slide+ball+jar&pg=PA174|title=Heartland: Comparative Histories of the Midwestern States|date=1990|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-20576-6|pages=174|language=en}} However, Ball had enough sand from the dune stored in reserve to continue producing blue jars until 1937. Once their reserves had been exhausted, Ball made clear glass jars, and occasionally made commemorative jars in other colors.
Site
After the dune had been exhausted by sand mining, its site was purchased by Northern Indiana Public Service Co., becoming the site of the Michigan City Generating Station.{{Cite book|last=Mueller|first=RoseAnna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDe756bT1cYC|title=Michigan City|date=2005|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-3409-1|pages=69|language=en}} Public outcry over the disappearance of Hoosier Slide and other dunes led to the creation of legislation which protected remaining dunes in the 1970s and 1980s.{{Cite book|last=Beiser|first=Vince|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=opyhDwAAQBAJ&dq=hoosier+slide+ball+blue&pg=PA89|title=The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization|date=2019-08-06|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-399-57644-7|pages=89|language=en}} Nearby dunes are protected within Indiana Dunes National Park.{{cite web|date=September 17, 2019|title=What happened to Hoosier Slide?|url=https://www.beachcombingmagazine.com/blogs/news/what-happened-to-hoosier-slide|work=Beachcombing Magazine}}
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References
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{{Coord|41|43|16.5|N|86|54|37|W|type:landmark_region:US-IN|display=title}}
Category:Dunes of the United States
Category:Landforms of LaPorte County, Indiana