USA > Indiana > A history of Indiana from its exploration to 1850 > Part 22
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The road was surveyed in Indiana by Jonathan Knight, a government surveyor. He reached Indianapolis July 8, 1827, finishing it by September 4, of the same year, to the western boundary of the State.2 The road in Indiana is almost straight, crossing the State with a loss of only two miles from a straight line. The distance from the eastern State line to Indianapolis is seventy-one miles; from In- dianapolis to Farrington's ferry at Terre Haute, where it crossed the Wabash, is seventy and one-fourth miles.
The national government was slow in completing the road in Indiana. In 1830, $60,000 were appropriated. This was used in building the sixteen miles east and twelve miles west of the capital. The old covered bridge on Washing-
2 Indiana Journal, July 10, and Sept. 4, 1827.
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ton street, Indianapolis, where the road crossed White river, was built in 1834. The macadamized road became Wash- ington street and was the first improved street in the capi- tal. Congress finally abandoned it in Indiana in 1839. It then became the property of the State, which leased it to the "Plank Road Company." This company covered a great part of the road west of Indianapolis with heavy, narrow, oak planks, which made an excellent road for a few years. When the planks wore out the company abandoned it and it became a public county road. It was then graveled and still remains one of the best roads in the State.3
Thirty-four different acts of Congress show how im- portant the road was in a national way. It cost $6,824,919, but it was never completed. It was surveyed and opened to Vandalia and St. Louis, but was never macadamized be- yond Indiana. Congress did not overestimate its value. It was a powerful agent for the Union, and a material symbol of its power and usefulness.
It bound the East and the West together and brought them three days' travel nearer each other. During the twenty years of its greatness a steady stream of "movers," with their covered wagons and droves of cattle, hogs, and sheep, poured into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. For months at a time there was no moment in the daytime that a family wagon was not in sight. At night the road appeared like the picket line of an army. Having traveled over this road, the memory of it lingered long and came back especially vivid as one traveled over the corduroy or mud roads of early Indiana. Most of the settlers of the central and east- ern part of the State were familiar with "the old pike."
§ 49 THE MICHIGAN ROAD
ARTICLE two of the treaty between the Pottawattomie Indians and United States commissioners, made October 16, 1826, ceded to the State of Indiana what was considered a sufficient amount of land to build a public highway from Lake Michigan to the Ohio. This road was to be one hun-
3 Berry R. Sulgrove, History of Indianapolis, 107.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
dred feet wide, and to this right of way the Indians added a further gift of a section of contiguous land for every mile. Where the contiguous land did not belong to the Indians- all south of the Wabash-Indiana was to select a section of unsold Indian land for every mile of road. The United States confirmed the treaty February 7, 1827, and con- firmed to the State the gift made by the Indians by act of March 2, 1827.4
In 1828 John I. Neely, Chester Elliott, and John Mc- Donald were appointed commissioners to lay down the road from Lake Michigan to Indianapolis.5 They were instructed to select the best natural harbor on the lake; or, in the ab- sence of a good one, the best place to construct an artificial one. The route from Logansport to the lake offered con- siderable difficulty. The terms of the grant were for a di- rect road which would necessarily lead through the Kan- kakee swamps, where nobody lived, and where it would be very costly to build a road. To avoid this, the road would have to run due north from Logansport to the South Bend of the St. Joseph, thence west to Lake Michigan. The point where Michigan City now stands-the mouth of Trail creek -was selected for the northern terminus. Then two com- plete sets of field notes and plats were made, one for a road by South Bend, the other direct through the Kankakee flats.
The choice of routes was thrown back on the General Assembly and caused much angry discussion.6 The com- missioners, it was asserted, had been unduly influenced by the citizens of South Bend. January 13, 1830, the route of the second survey by the way of South Bend was chosen.7 The act of January 29, 1830, established the road from Logansport via Indianapolis and Greensburg to Madison.&
4 For the best discussion of the Michigan road see a decision by Judge Black, of Bloomington, Indiana, in the case of the Western Union Telegraph Company vs. Krueger, 74 Northeastern, 453. The historical part was written by Charles Moores, of Indianapolis, one of the attor- neys in the case. Also Senate Doc., XXXV, 453; Indiana Magazine of History, III, 80.
5 Laws of Indiana, 1827, ch. 70.
6 Laws of Indiana, 1830, ch. 148-Joint Resolution.
7 Laws of Indiana, 1829, ch. 69, sec. 1.
8 Laws of Indiana, ch. 70.
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
A new board, consisting of Samuel Hanna of Wayne county, William Polke of Knox, and Abraham Mcclellan of Sulli- van county, was named. This board served only one year and was abolished by act of January 4, 1831. From this time on the whole work was entrusted to William Polke. The road was expected to be cleared and grubbed from Madison to the Wabash by November 30, 1831.
Three surveying parties, headed by Commissioners Hanna, McClellan, and Polke, spent the summer of 1830 selecting and surveying Indian lands.9 They had not made their final report until they were notified that Congress had refused to ratify their choice and had demanded that the road be laid down and then "contiguous" sections be chosen.10 Further, the sections must be selected from land not yet ceded by the Indians. The construction of the road went steadily on, however, scrip being used instead of money. This scrip was based on ceded lands and almost the whole road was financed with it. Noah Noble, who had the southern end in charge, laid off the road in sections of four miles each. By act of February 4, 1831, Polke opened the sale of land at Logansport. No land was to be sold un- der $1.25 per acre. The part of the road from Logansport to St. Joseph county was ordered under contract at a price not exceeding $150 per mile. The road was divided into three sections.11 The first, from Madison to Indianapolis, was under the immediate supervision of Daniel Kelso; the second reached to Logansport and was under Horace Bas- sett; the last was under Polke himself. Contracts for build- ing the road were let during the year 1832. Beginning at Madison, the road was laid off into sections of from ten to twenty miles each and the grading let to the lowest bidder. Bridges were let under separate contracts. The whole road, 265 miles long, was put under contract by June 30. During 1832 lands were placed on sale at Laporte.12 Scrip was ac- cepted in payment for all lands. The road was cleared one
9 Western Sun, Oct. 30, 1830.
10 Western Sun, Jan. 15, 1831.
11 House Journal, 1834, 106.
12 House Journal, 1833, Appendix.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
hundred feet wide, thirty feet of which was grubbed and graded. By 1836 it was clearly ascertained that this made a poor road. In the worst stretches logs were laid cross- wise and covered with sand. Many bridges were washed away every year by the streams. Although the road was used enormously north of Indianapolis, it was anything but satisfactory. It passed through fourteen counties, and was used by the inhabitants of thirty-five in going to the capital. The General Assembly at almost every session had to make an appropriation for repairs.
By 1837 the State was not able to give further aid to it, the State's resources being completely prostrated. By act of February 2, 1837, the various county boards, through whose jurisdiction the road ran, were required to divide it into suitable sections, over each of which a supervisor was to be placed with power to call out the hands to keep it in repair.13 The hands were liable to two days' work a year. By act of February 13, 1841, and January 31, 1842, the road was classed with all other State roads and brought entirely within the compass of the general road law of 1838.
The Michigan road began at Madison, ran almost due north through Jefferson and Ripley counties to Greensburg in Decatur. Thence by a direct line, it led across Shelby county to the capital. The important sections of the road were those from Indianapolis across Hamilton, Boone, Clin- ton, and Carroll counties to Logansport, and from that place due north again across Cass, Fulton, and Marshall, to South Bend, and thence west to Michigan City. During eight months of the year it was an open passable highway, but during the winter it was an endless stream of black mud and almost useless. Its importance may be estimated from the fact that one-half the pioneers of the northwest quarter of Indiana reached their homes over it. As a road it was not comparable to the National, but it was an available means of reaching a very attractive country when there was none other.
13 Laws of Indiana, 1836, ch. 49, sec. 3.
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§ 50 STAGE LINES
THE stage coach followed close on the trail of the pio- neers. Early in the spring of 1820 a Mr. Foyles started a stage line from Louisville to Vincennes. The advertise- ment stated that it was the first line to be established in the State. This is perhaps true. The trace from Louisville to Vincennes is the oldest in the State. At first it ran along the boundary between Crawford and Orange counties fol- lowing the south bank of Driftwood and crossing White river north of Petersburg. But the settlement of the towns of Washington, Mt. Pleasant, Hindostan, and Paoli caused most travelers to go by the northern route. It was over these routes that Foyles established his stage line, using whichever road seemed best.
This line continued in operation till it was superseded by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad just before the Civil War.14 The General Assembly petitioned Congress in 1829 for a grant of land to aid in building a clay turnpike over this route, but no aid was received.15
One among the first advertisements of a regular stage line to Indianapolis appears to have been that of John Wil- son. This line from Madison began during the summer of 1828. The stage left Indianapolis at 7 a. m. Thursday, reached Columbus via Franklin at 5 p. m. Friday, left there at 7 a. m. Saturday and arrived at Madison via Vernon at 5 p. m. Sunday. The fare was six and one-quarter cents per mile with fifteen pounds of baggage free.
In 1830 James Johnson started a line from Lawrence- burg, making the distance in two days and one night. The next year, 1831, A. L. and W. L. Ross put stages on the Brookville road. These connected at Brookville with A. McCarty's line for Cincinnati, and at Rushville with the Ohio stage. The Brookville stage made the trip in two days, or three days to Cincinnati. In June, 1832, P. Beers advertised that his stage would make the trip from In-
14 At present a stage runs from Paoli to New Albany over this same road, now a macadamized turnpike. This is the oldest pike in the State and also the oldest stage line.
15 Indiana Journal, Dec. 24, 1829.
(18)
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dianapolis to Dayton, Ohio, in two and one-half days, or, connecting at Eaton, the passenger could reach Cincinnati in two and one-half days. The following summer, April 26, James Johnson and Company put on a through line of stages between Cincinnati and Indianapolis via Lawrence- burg, Napoleon, Greensburg, and Shelbyville. The John- son coaches made the trip in two days and nights, the fare being $5.50 one way.
Not to be outdone in this race, James H. Wallace and Company, the next spring, put coaches on the Madison line which made the trip in one day, leaving Indianapolis Mon- days, Wednesdays and Fridays at 3 a. m. and reaching Madison at 8 p. m. in time to catch the Cincinnati packet, which would land them early next morning at Cincinnati, after a night's sleep and a good breakfast. Hacks were kept at each end of the route for the convenience of those who did not want to travel so swiftly. In 1835 Seth M. Leavenworth, founder of the town by that name in Craw- ford county, in partnership with John Orchard and Jona- than Williams, started a stage line from Leavenworth via Fredonia, Milltown, Proctersville, Paoli, Orleans, Bedford, Springville, Bloomington, Martinsville, and Port Royal to Indianapolis. This line was intended especially for stu- dents going to the State College and for boatmen return- ing from down river.16
Meanwhile lines were being projected into other parts of the State. The heavy immigration into the Wabash coun- try soon caused a great amount of travel to Terre Haute, Lafayette, and Logansport. As early as 1838, C. Vigus of Logansport put on a line of stages from Indianapolis , through Logansport to Michigan City. At the same time, W. L. Ross was making preparations for starting a line from Lafayette, through Logansport and Peru to Fort Wayne. At Lafayette the Ross stages connected with the Indianapolis stage via Crawfordsville, and at Fort Wayne connection was made for Toledo. On these lines were beau- tiful four-horse coaches carrying the United States mails.
16 Indiana Journal, May 15, 1835.
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The former line made the trip twice a week from Michigan City to the capital.
In September the Vigus's changed their route so that the main line extended from Niles, Michigan, to Indianapo- lis. At Niles, it connected with the daily Chicago and De- troit stages; at Plymouth, a stage for Laporte and Michi- gan City could be had; at Indianapolis, connections could be made with daily stages for Dayton and Cincinnati, Mad- ison and Terre Haute, or with tri-weekly stages to Cincin- nati and Louisville. The bright new stages of the Vigus line cost $600 each and were the pride of the settlers along the way.17
Traveling in the early coaches was not unmixed pleas- ure. If the roads were dry, the passengers had to hold on tightly as the stage bounced from rock to rock. If the roads were wet, there was danger from overturning. In 1838 a stage mired and turned over on Washington street, Indian- apolis, seriously injuring several of the occupants. Cross- ing streams was attended with risk. The roadway may have been washed away, leaving the stage to turn over. Congressman John Test had his leg broken in 1830, when the Cincinnati stage turned over in crossing Mill creek.18
§ 51 OPENING STREAMS FOR NAVIGATION
THE second plan of the General Assembly to secure in- ternal communication was to open up the streams for navi- gation. The natural features of the State easily lent them- selves to this plan. The southern boundary was a naviga- ble river from which numerous tributaries led into the in- terior. On the west was the Wabash, crossing the State diagonally, and sending off large branches to almost every county. The northeast was accessible from the Maumee, while the northwest had the St. Joseph river and Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, all the streams, except the Ohio, were too small for successful navigation; but it was
17 These advertisements are found in the Logansport Telegraph, the Indiana Journal, and Indiana Democrat of Indianapolis, the Madison Courier, and the Lafayette Free Press.
18 Indiana Democrat, Dec. 4, 1830.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
thought that, by clearing them of snags and bars, they could be made navigable for pirogues and small flatboats. They would thus answer the purpose of highways, at least for the present. The first step in transforming these streams into highways was to declare them navigable wa- terways, thus forbidding their obstruction by milldams and bridges.19
This work was begun during the Fourth Session of the General Assembly at Corydon. By a combination bill ap- proved January 17, 1820, almost every creek large enough to float a sawlog was opened, so far as a statute without an appropriation would effect it.20 Later the General Assem- bly tried a different plan.21 January 21, 1826, John Eaton, Jacob Wolf, and Joseph Latshaw were commissioned to clear Busseron creek from Eaton's mills to its mouth in the Wabash above Vincennes. Log creek in Switzerland county, Plumb creek in the same county, Big Indian creek in Morgan county, Lick creek in Orange county, Lost river in Orange county, Mississinewa river from Marion to Peru, Brushy Fork of Muscatatuck, and Eel river up into Put-
19 The ordinance of 1787 provided that: "The navigable waters lead- ing into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places be- tween the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other State that may be admitted into the Confeder- acy, without any tax, impost or duty therefor." This plainly meant "Navigable" for the canoes and bateaux then used for navigation, and the early legislation was based on that understanding.
20 Laws of Indiana, 1820, ch -, p. 59. By this law White river to the forks at Daviess county: West fork to the Delaware towns near Muncie ; East fork to Flat Rock in Shelby county : Muscatatuck from its mouth to Vernon; Big Blue to Fredericksburg near the south line of Washington county ; Whitewater from the north boundary of Fayette county to the Ohio; Anderson from its mouth at Troy to the Hurricane fork near St. Meinrad; Poison creek to Cumming's mill; Oil creek to Aaron Cunningham's mill (the two latter entirely in Perry county) ; Raccoon creek in Parke county to Brook's mill; Big creek to Black's mill; Loughrey creek in Ohio county up to Hartford; Patoka river to Moseby's mill ; Indian creek in Harrison county ; Indian Kentucky creek for a few miles in Jefferson county up to Brook's mill; Little Pigeon and Big Pigeon creeks, the latter at Evansville, the former between Spencer and Warrick counties; Big Sand creek to its forks near Scipio in Jennings county, were all declared navigable streams.
21 Laws of Indiana, 1825, chs. 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40. See also ibid. 1826, chs. 29, 40, 41, 42, and 1827, chs. 42, 43.
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
nam county, were likewise put in commission. The county boards of justices had chief control of most of this work.
The commissioners were empowered to call out the "hands" living within two miles of the stream to help clear it. Little serious effort was ever spent on any of the minor streams, but great hopes were built on the possibilities of the White and Wabash rivers. It was confidently believed that White river could be opened to year-round navigation for boats of large tonnage. Much labor was spent on these streams, but the recurring freshets kept the rivers full of drifts and uprooted trees. The journals of the General Assembly contain numerous petitions to break up drifts that had interrupted navigation. The streams formed the main outlet for the surplus farm products of their valleys. Flatboats were built, loaded in convenient pools, and, when the water reached the proper stage, were floated down to the Wabash and Ohio, then either reshipped or taken to New Orleans. Hundreds of these went down the Wabash every year.
Upstream navigation was well-nigh impossible, but was occassionally resorted to when roads were impassable. It was difficult to get along the shore with a tow line, so the only way to propel a boat upstream was with sharp poles set against the bottom. This plan was used most on the upper Wabash from Lafayette to Logansport and Peru. Steamboats rarely went above Lafayette, and for several years an extensive commerce in salt and manufactured goods was carried on, between that place and upstream towns, by means of pole boats. For this purpose they used a flat-bottomed boat thirty to forty feet long, with four foot guards, along which six or eight men walked and pushed with spike poles set against the bottom. In this manner three or four tons could be transported eight to ten miles a day.
Merchants from the river towns frequently induced masters of small steamers to undertake to navigate the smaller rivers. In 1828 merchants from Indianapolis, Spen- cer, and Bloomington chartered the steamer "Triton," fifty- two tons burden, to carry a cargo from Louisville. It left
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Louisville April 24 and in four days reached a drift four- teen miles below Spencer.22 Two years later the "Trav- eler," under Captain Smith, reached Spencer in three days from Louisville. As early as 1827 Noah Noble, later gov- ernor, tried to induce the Kanawha Salt Company to send a steamer to Indianapolis, but was unsuccessful. The "Vic- tory" came within fifty miles of the capital during the year, but was compelled to turn back.
On April 11, 1831, there appeared in White river, at Indianapolis, a real steamboat, the "Robert Hanna." Not only was there a real steamboat, but it was pushing a heav- ily laden keel barge. The citizens of Indianapolis had al- ways claimed that White river was navigable. Now who could deny it? No excitement in the history of the town compared to this. Every man, woman and child lined up on the banks of the river. There was no time for sleep that night. Early the next day Capt. B. I. Blythe paraded his artillery company on the bank and fired a salute. The cap- tain of the boat then offered to take the ladies who wished to go on an excursion up the river. There was no lack of volunteers and the gallant captain had to make a second trip.23 The boat had been purchased by Hanna & Com- pany, contractors on the National Road, to be used to haul stone from the Port Royal Bluffs for the big bridge across White river. The boat was not built on the lines required and had to be sent back.
On its return trip it ran on a bar at Hog Isand, a few miles down, and lay there till winter. However, the event added greatly to the reputation of the capital and limited the swaggering of the members from the river cities, Madi- son, New Albany, and Vincennes.
There were many attempts in the early years of Indi- ana to pilot steamboats up to the upper Wabash towns. The best water came in March usually. In 1821 Mr. Lin- ton, a trader from Terre Haute, had a steamer run to that town, which they estimated to be three hundred miles from
22 Indiana Journal, May 15, 1828.
23 Indiana Journal, April 16, 1831.
LAKE
MICHIGAN
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R.
Cal
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River
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May
River
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Salamonte River.
WABASH
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West Fork
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5.
RIVER
West
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Muscat, fuck
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WHITE
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Blue
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Scale of Miles
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RIVERS AND STREAMS OF INDIANA.
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st. Mary's
St. Joseph's
268
HISTORY OF INDIANA
the Ohio.24 A merchant of Lafayette, named Elston, freighted a steamer to that town as early as 1825. On March 24, 1830, Capt. John Moon, of Ripley, Ohio, ran the "Paragon" to the mouth of Rock creek, about twelve miles below Logansport. He reported good water-six and one- half feet-on the bar below Logansport. These reports, and the fact that boats could be loaded anywhere along the river for the New Orleans market, brought a rush of settlers.
The steamer "American," James L. Wilson, master, was during the time making regular trips from Louisville to Terre Haute.25
The steamer "Lawrence" from Cincinnati, 125 tons burden, chartered by Sloan and Landes, reached Covington March 18, 1827, only six months after the sale of lots for that town had been held. The same year a steamer made its way up to Lafayette.26
The shopkeepers of Delphi and Peru had tried, unsuc- cessfully for some years to secure regular navigation up to those towns.27 Finally, they prevailed on the master of the
24 Miami Times quoted in The Western Sun, May 8, 1830.
25 From the Western Sun of April 25, 1829, the following river news is taken: April 17, "Criterion" arrived from Lafayette to Shawnee- town; 18, "Victory" from Lafayette to Louisville; 19, "Wm. Tell" from Cincinnati to Lafayette; 21, "Criterion" returned from Shawneetown with a barge of salt in tow. From the same paper, April 23, 1831, is the following: April 16, "Pearl" from Shawneetown to Eugene; April 17, "Fairy" from Louisville to Lafayette; April 18, "Pearl" on return to Shawneetown ; April 20, "Forester" from Lafayette to Louisville; April 18, "Java" Louisville to Eugene; on the 23, the "Experiment" made the trip, the first on record, from New Orleans direct to Terre Haute.
In the issue of March 27, 1834, these arrivals at Vincennes were noted : March 22, "Camden" from Lafayette, and "Shylock" from the mouth of the Wabash; 24, "Salem" from Pittsburg, and "Tennessee" from Lafayette; 25, "Logansport" from Delphi ; "Sabine" from Pittsburg; "Fairy" from the mouth of the Wabash; 26, "Tide" from Lafayette; "Wm. Hurlbut" from Cincinnati; on 26, "Monroe" and "Salem" down from Lafayette. From April 14 to 27, forty-one boats landed at Terre Haute. The "Indian" was built that spring expressly to do the carry- ing trade from Cincinnati to Lafayette. While the stage of water would permit-during February, March and April-there was at least one boat per day at the Vincennes wharf.
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