Chronicles of Notre Dame du Lac
Edward Sorin, CSC -- Translated by John M. Toohey, CSC, 1895

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1866

pg 503       Mary's, takes his meals with them and assures to all for the 
             future the satisfaction and the advantages of community life.
                  The community has made a valuable acquisition this year in 
             the purchase of 1320 acres from Mr. Irwin, five or six hundred of 
             which are a deposit of turf.  About one thousand tons have 
             already been taken out and will replace twelve hundred cords of 
             wood.  Our neighbors are astonished beyond measure to see that 
             Catholic from beyond the sea have come to discover such a treasure 
             for them.  They could not be convinced until they saw the fire 
             that this black earth made in our boilers.
                  The event of the year is the big bell, which everybody wants 
             to see and to hear.  It is the largest bell in the United States, 
             and unquestionably the most perfect and most sonorous.  It can be 
             heard for fifteen or seventeen miles.
                  The material improvements this year at Notre Dame were the 
             painting of the outside of the college, and the painting of the