USA > Indiana > A history of Indiana from its exploration to 1850 > Part 29
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The surveyor noted also the character of land, the tim- ber, and springs, on each section, and its probable value. All field notes were then returned to the surveyor general and, if approved by him, were sent to the government land office. After all the land was sold the surveyor's notes and plats were turned over to the State in which the sur- veys were located and are now preserved at the State capitals.
In the original survey only the section lines were run, but in making the plats the draftsman laid down the cross
(23)
342
HISTORY OF INDIANA
lines dividing the section into quarters and sixteenths. The sections in a congressional township were numbered from one up to thirty-six, beginning in the northeast corner and numbering the tiers back and forth. The townships were numbered consecutively as townships north and south and as ranges east and west.1 The whole expense of surveying was not to exceed three dollars for each linear mile.2
§ 64 LAND OFFICES
AFTER a tract of land was surveyed, a land office was opened and the land placed on the market. As soon as surveyors had been put to work on the Vincennes Purchase a land office was authorized.3 This office was ordered opened January 1, 1805. John Badollet, a friend of Al- bert Gallatin, and later a member of the State constitutional convention, and Nathaniel Ewing were the men placed in charge of the new office. Comparatively little land was sold here till after the close of the War of 1812. At this office was sold all the land then open for settlement west of the Second Principal Meridian.
In 1805 a line was run from Freeman's corner near Orleans to the Greenville Treaty line near Brookville and all the government land between this and the Ohio river was placed under survey. This tract had been purchased from the Indians in 1805. In 1807 a law provided for the opening of a land office for the tract at Jeffersonville.4 This office controlled the land east of the Second Principal Meridian. The settlers from the south, especially from Kentucky, who settled the hill country from New Albany to Bloomington entered their land at this office. They formed the backbone of the "southern" element in our population. They were Jacksonian in politics, Protestant
1 Thomas Donaldson, The Public Domain, ch. VII; Payson J. Treat, The National Land System, ch. VIII; Niles' Weekly Register, April 12, 1817. The "Life of Ziba Foote." Vol. II, 359, Indiana Historical Society Publications.
2 United States Statutes at Large, 1804, ch. 35.
3 Statutes at Large, 1804, Sess. I, ch. 35. This act also provided for land offices at Detroit and Kaskaskia.
4 Statutes at Large, 1807, ch. 49, Sec. I.
343
PUBLIC LANDS IN INDIANA
in religion, hostile to slavery, social, freedom-loving, poor, conservative, brilliant but uneducated.5
With the ratification of the New Purchase Treaty in 1818 the whole of central Indiana was thrown open to the surveyors. The lands were divided into two districts, one land office being established at Brookville and the other at Terre Haute.6 The two land districts were separated by the line separating the first and second ranges east of the Second Principal Meridian. The Brookville office was opened early in the year 1819 by Lazarus Noble, a brother of Senator James Noble and Governor Noah Noble. The settlers in the Whitewater Valley previous to this time had entered their lands at the Cincinnati office. This was not inconvenient for them since the large majority of them came down the Ohio or crossed it at Cincinnati. The Quakers were strong in this section, especially in Wayne county. For many years this was the most populous county in the State. Politically, the section was Whig, and aggressively anti-slavery.
Williamson Dunn and Ambrose Whitlock opened the land office at Terre Haute in 1819. The settlers came very largely by the Wabash and hence found Terre Haute a con- venient point. They came from all parts of the South and East and had no marked racial, religious, or political char- acteristics.
With the rush of settlers to the capital in 1825 the land office of Brookville was moved there. For a time it seems offices were maintained at both places. While Lazarus Noble was on his way to Indianapolis in October, 1825, to open the new office he died and was succeeded by his brother, later Governor Noah Noble.7 This office was especially active after the National Road reached Indian- apolis.
By 1822 settlers were locating around Fort Wayne.
5 Baynard R. Hall, The New Purchase; Hanford A. Edson, Presby- terianism in Indiana.
6 United States Statutes at Large, 1819, ch. 92. For the terms and boundaries of the New Purchase see United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 7, Indian Treaties, 187.
7 Indiana Journal, August 16, 1825; also November 22, 1825.
344
HISTORY OF INDIANA
There was a large number of special reservations in that region but no public lands opened to settlement. Capt. James Riley came in the spring of 1822 and surveyed lands in the vicinity. The act of May 8, 1822, established a land office.8 The land east of the line between ranges one and two east and north of the Brookville District was included in the Fort Wayne District. The office was opened with a land sale October 22, 1823. Joseph Holman, of Wayne county, was the first receiver and Samuel Vance of Law- renceburg, register. The office was in the old fort.9 Dur- ing the decade from 1830 to 1840 this office was thronged with settlers who came up the Maumee, attracted by the opening of the Wabash and Erie canal.
In 1828 the northwest quarter of the State was erected into the Crawfordsville District.10 Beginning about 1825 a heavy immigration set into the Wabash country by emi- grants from the southern part of Indiana and elsewhere, coming up through the central part of the State. Such people found it inconvenient to go to Terre Haute. For this reason Dunn and Whitlock had held a land auction at Crawfordsville, beginning December 24, 1824.11 Just when the office was permanently located at Crawfordsville does not appear, but it was prior to 1828.
The last land office district to be laid off in Indiana was the LaPorte. It included the lands lying west of the east- ern boundaries of Kosciusko and Elkhart counties, and north of the parallel running through Delphi.12 The law providing for this office was passed March 2, 1833, but just when the office was opened does not appear. It was removed to Winamac during the summer of 1839.13
§ 65 LAND SALES
EXCEPTING the lands reserved for school purposes, and those bordering salt springs and known as the "saline
8 United States Statutes at Large, 1822, ch. 126.
9 Col. Robert S. Robertson, Valley of the Upper Maumee, I, 199.
10 United States Statutes at Large, 1833, ch. 77, Sec. 10.
11 Sanford Cox, Old Settlers, 17.
12 United States Statutes at Large, 1833, ch. 78, Sec. 10.
13 Indiana Journal, November 15, 1839.
PUBLIC LANDS IN INDIANA
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346
HISTORY OF INDIANA
lands," all the lots in a district were offered at public auction. Due to the fact that a district's boundaries were frequently changed after an Indian treaty, there might be held more than one auction in a district.
At the auction, which usually took place at the opening of the district, the various lots of land were cried and sold to the highest bidder, provided the bid was equal to or above the minimum price fixed by Congress. Three months' notice of auctions was given in a proclamation by the President. The lands were offered in whole, half, or quarter section lots. Smaller lots were sold if the buyer would pay the extra cost of surveying. The usual duration of the sale was three weeks, but after 1820 Congress re- duced the time to two weeks.
The price fixed by Congress in 1800 was $2 per acre.14 The purchaser was required to pay at the time of purchase $6 per section or $3 per half section to cover the cost of the survey, and he was also required to deposit one- twentieth of the purchase price. He then had forty days to pay the first installment which consisted of one-fourth of the purchase price. The last installments consisting of one-fourth each were due at the end of two, three, and four years. Six per cent interest was charged if pay- ments were not made on time, and eight per cent discount was allowed if money was paid before it was due. The government was a liberal creditor. Every favor possible was shown to the honest buyer. Under a later law the debtor was given scrip for what he had paid, if unable to complete his payments. When all payments were made the purchaser was given a patent.15
The amount of money taken in at the land office was proverbial. January 1, 1815, the office at Jeffersonville reported $242,176 outstanding, while Vincennes had $122,- 723 out. By January 1, 1819, these debts by the land buy-
14 The Government has steadily reduced the price of public lands. The following have been the prices : $2.50, $2.00, $1.25, $1.00, $.75, $.662/3, $.50, $.25, $.121/2, and gifts as a homestead. Thomas Donaldson, The Public Domain, index.
15 The Government lost about $20,000,000 out of $47,000,000 credited under the law of 1800.
347
PUBLIC LANDS IN INDIANA
ers had increased to $1,021,834, and $1,390,909 respect- ively.16
During the first year of our statehood the Jefferson- ville Land Office sold 261,142 acres for $522,285; Vin- cennes 325,361 acres for $601,302.17 The public land sales at Indianapolis were held in October, 1820, July and August, 1821, and in September, 1822. There were sold 237,173 acres at an average price of $1.441/2 per acre. The remain- der of this district, 570,227 acres, was sold between 1820 and 1828 for the minimum price, which had been reduced at that time to $1.25 per acre.18 The receiver at Fort Wayne wrote in July, 1836, that he was receiving $25,000 per day. He expected to take in $1,500,000 during the season. Crawfordsville was doing even better; in fact the latter office exceeded all the offices of the United States for several years in the amount of business done.19
One of the serious problems of the land office was to get the money back to the government. After Jackson issued the Specie Circular nearly all the money received was in coin. From Ft. Wayne and Crawfordsville it was frequently transported in four-horse wagons, guarded by a score of armed men.
The receivers were very careful as to the kind of money they received. Only such as could be deposited in the Bank of the United States as cash would be received. It was necessary for one who owed the land office to get this kind of money. This led to much inconvenience and positive wrong. At the old land office of Vincennes a bank was established where the customers could get their bank notes converted into land-office money. The bankers-in this case the receiver was president of the bank- charged from six to twelve per cent for this service. This business was called "note shaving." The money when re- ceived at the land office was deposited immediately in the
16 American State Papers; Finance, III, 782.
17 Niles' Register, XIII, 261.
18 Indiana Journal, July 19, 1834.
19 Republican and Banner, July 20, 1836; Logansport Telegraph, June 18, 1836.
348
HISTORY OF INDIANA
bank and again used for "note shaving." The office at In- dianapolis was kept over a store, the storekeeper doing the "note shaving" with money furnished by the receiver of the land office.20
The land offices were among the most lucrative public positions open to ambitious politicians. As a result there were many cases of fraud and embezzlement, not to men- tion errors caused by ignorance. A general investigation of the land offices was begun in 1833. James B. Gardner, who inspected the offices in Indiana, found them in bad condition. He estimated that one-fifth of all the land cer- tificates issued was defective either through the laziness or ignorance of the register.
Many of the receivers were speculating in land scrip. As mentioned above, if any one failed to pay in full for land, the land was taken back and the buyer was given scrip or due bills for money actually paid and this was subsequently received as cash in payment for other land. The receiver bought up this scrip at heavy discount and turned it in as cash. Speculators in the east bought it up and cashed it with dishonest receivers. A widely organ- ized ring of speculators was found among the congressmen and men in the General Land Office at Washington. It perhaps cost one Indiana senator his re-election. The agent at Indianapolis in 1833, in connection with a mer- chant of the town, was doing an extensive business in scrip, of which the merchant, during the year 1833, had gathered up $98,000 worth. Not only was this turned into the land office at par but it was used by the merchant to "shave" money brought in by the buyers, which was not acceptable at the land office. A clerk in the store held a commission as notary public and was making large sums of money taking affidavits which were demanded on every pretense by the receiver who shared in the fees. The receiver had formed a partnership with a local broker and they were doing a profitable business speculating in lands
20 American State Papers, Finance, V, 66; American State Papers, . Public Lands, VII, 507; see also Logan Esarey, Early Banking in In- diana, 234.
349
PUBLIC LANDS IN INDIANA
and cashing notes given by the land buyers. On these notes they got eight per cent discount. At the time of the investigation the receiver had $12,000 of government money so invested. The receiver had also loaned large sums of money to the merchants in Indianapolis. The United States attorney, who was a candidate for United States senator, found it very embarrassing politically to collect the debts due the land office on account of the large number of prominent persons who had borrowed money from the re- ceiver.
At Crawfordsville the inspector found everything in an uproar. The office had been placed in the hands of Dr. I. T. Canby, the defeated candidate for governor in 1828. As soon as he arrived, he and his bondsmen began using the land office money to set themselves up in the mercantile business. In a short time Canby was a defaulter to the extent of $46,433. His bondsmen had entered 3,200 acres of first class land at the lowest price. Gen. Samuel Milroy, one of his bondsmen, had taken over the office but had later turned it over to his son.21
Speculation in public lands did not play so important a part in Indiana as it had in Ohio. Many of the towns of the State, however, were opened up by speculators. There was complaint of speculators at the land sale at Indian- apolis, Jeffersonville, and especially at Fort Wayne. By 1830 the speculator had come into such bad repute that he would not be tolerated at the sales. This was the case at Crawfordsville, LaPorte, and Winamac. Women who came to the sales to bid off their homesteads were not bid against. After the sales, speculators or their agents visited the land office and frequently bought up a great many tracts. One of their plans was to hunt up those persons who had pur-
21 The details of this investigation are given in American State Papers, Public Lands, VII, 560. The following defalcations were report- ed : Joseph Holman, Fort Wayne, $4,721, paid after suit: Charles M. Taylor, Jeffersonville, $5,738, paid after suit; Andrew P. Hay. Jeffersonville, $5,046, paid after suit; J. C. S. Harrison, Vincennes, $9,253, given 18 years to pay; Israel T. Canby, Crawfordsville, $46.433, paid by securities. The money at Indianapolis was secured by the bonds- men without suit and the office reported even.
350
HISTORY OF INDIANA
chased small tracts and buy the adjoining land. If the settler prospered he would soon want more land. If he failed the speculator would buy his tract at the government price and get the advantage of the improvements. In any case he would get the advantage of the rise of land without doing his part in developing the community. He paid very little tax, did not help build roads, raise houses, churches, schoolhouses, or roll logs. The speculator, the note shaver, and the horse thief were the most despised men on the frontier.22
The following table shows the amount of land sold in the years given and the money received. It gives one a good idea of the number of persons coming into the State every year, though of course not all buyers were immi- grants :
1816 there were sold, 586,503 acres for $1,123,587
1817-1822 were sold, acres for
2,108,336
1822 there were sold, 252,982 acres for 329,066 1
1823 there were sold, 165,046 acres for 211,157 1
1824 there were sold, 154,558 acres for 187,508 1 1 1
1825 there were sold, 162,270 acres for
210,248
1826 there were sold, 200,190 acres for 1
250,238
1827 there were sold, 209,691 acres for 1
263,063
1828 there were sold, 250,812 acres for 1
313,517
1829 there were sold, 346,527 acres for
435,571
1830 there were sold, 476,351 acres for
598,115
1831 there were sold, 554,436 acres for
694,863
1832 there were sold, 546,844 acres for
684,209
1833 there were sold, 554,681 acres for 693,52223
The offices had collected the following amounts up to the close of 1835 :
Vincennes
$2,317,657
Jeffersonville 2,265,127 1 1
Brookville & Indianapolis
2,153,875
Terre Haute & Crawfordsville 2,315,689
Fort Wayne
355,853
LaPorte 102,04024
The total area of the public land in Indiana was 21,637,- 760 acres. Of this the State of Indiana received as a gift
22 Sanford Cox, Old Settlers, 18; Col. William M. Cockrum, A Pioneer History of Indiana ; Robert S. Robertson, Valley of the Upper Maumee, I, 198.
23 American State Papers, Public Lands, VII, 530; see also Niles' Register, IX, 278.
24 American State Papers, Public Lands, VII, 543.
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351
PUBLIC LANDS IN INDIANA
23,040 acres of "Saline lands"; 2,612,321 acres of "swamp lands"; 650,317 acres for common schools ; 46,080 acres for the university; 1,457,366 acres for the Wabash and Erie canal; 2,560 acres for a capital site; 170,582 acres for the Michigan road.25
25 Thomas Donaldson, The Public Domain, index; Public Lands, VI, 663; Purdue University received 212,238 acres, but none of it was in Indiana.
CHAPTER XVI
SYSTEMATIC INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
§ 66 THE PROBLEM, THE PEOPLE, AND THE LEGISLATURE
IMMEDIATELY after the War of 1812 there arose in all parts of the United States a demand for internal improve- ments constructed by the government. The rise of a politi- cal party favoring this policy is contemporaneous with the admission of Indiana into the Union. The party found its strength among the farmers, and was based on a legitimate economic need. The farmers throughout the State pos- sessed an abundance of fertile land. Their surplus prod- ucts were of little value to them, since a large part, and frequently all, of their profits were eaten up in transporta- tion. Their markets were the seaboard cities, and the far- ther west the farmer was, the less valuable was his sur- plus grain. Every State from New York south and west was busy from 1816 to 1840 developing and perfecting its own system. Legislators and legislatures were called wise just in proportion to the completeness and inclusiveness of their systems. Every State finally caught the fever, and in the two decades following the close of the War of 1812 they rolled up a combined internal improvement debt ag- gregating $225,000,000.1 Pennsylvania took the lead in amount, while New York led in time and spirit, and was the only one to carry the policy to success. At the very time when the Indiana General Assembly was holding its first session, the future policy of the United States toward internal improvement was being decided. In the session of Congress, convened in 1816, a select committee,2 ap-
1 American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1840, 105, Boston.
2 McMaster, A History of the People of the United States, IV, 411.
SYSTEMATIC INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 353
pointed on motion of Calhoun, introduced a bill setting aside the bonus of $1,500,000, paid by the Second Bank of the United States, and the annual dividend on $7,000,000 of stock, owned by the United States, as a fund for building roads and canals. This measure passed Congress by vir- tue of votes from the middle and western States, but it was vetoed by Madison. Three months after the first Indiana Assembly adjourned-April 15, 1817-the legislature of New York undertook the construction of the Erie canal, and every resource of that State, from the income of lot- teries to the labor of her convicts, was pledged to its com- pletion.
In his message to the General Assembly of December 2, 1817, Governor Jennings of Indiana referred to a letter from DeWitt Clinton of New York, discussing the prac- ticability of connecting the Great Lakes with the Ohio- Mississippi system, thus making all-water connection be- tween the Hudson and Mississippi.3 In the same message, he notified the General Assembly of a resolution of the Pennsylvania legislature, inviting the governors of Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana to meet the governor of Pennsylvania in a conference on internal improvements, especially looking to the better navigation of the Ohio.
Even then there were two parties in State politics that continued through the whole era to divide the counsels and energies of the young State. The settlers along the Ohio and Wabash rivers looked to New Orleans as the natural emporium; while all those settlers, and they were rapidly gaining the ascendency, who came over the National Road, looked to New York and the seaboard cities as the best markets. During the next ten years the "System" was the commonest subject of discussion. No one knew exactly what was meant by the "System," but it was felt that as soon as possible the State, by some means or other, would construct some kind of a system of communication that would answer the needs of the people.
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