USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
In this discussion the advocates of a state system of public improve- ments did not lack for a precedent. To use a favorite expression of political platforms, they could "point with pride" to the fact that the state of New York had built the great Erie canal, which was begun in 1817, and that in ten years the tolls had paid the entire cost of construc- tion. If a canal in New York had been such a success, why should not
246
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
the state of Indiana profit by that experience? The theory appeared to be flawless, but the application of it failed to bring the results antici- pated. To quote again from Dillon:
"In fixing the mode of organizing a state board of internal improve- ment, and in defining the duties and powers of this board, the general assembly of 1836 committed several material errors. On account of these errors, and for other reasons, the internal improvement law of 1836 encountered a strong opposition; and this opposition was most marked among the people of those counties through which the lines of the pro- posed public works did not pass."
After all, this was only natural. The people of those counties were paying taxes to the state, which was using the public revenues to estab- lish certain public improvements that gave such counties no direct benefit. This opposition, like Banquo's ghost, would not down, and by 1839 it became so insistent that work upon the internal improvements was suspended. In his message to the legislature that assembled in December, 1839, Governor Wallace summed up the situation as follows: "The failure to procure funds, as we had a right to expect from the extensive sale of bonds effected in the early part of the season, has led to great and unusual embarrassments, not only among the contractors and laborers, but also among the people. The state has, in consequence, fallen largely in debt to the former, and is without means of discharging it. . . . What shall be done with the public works ? Shall they be aban- doned altogether? I hope not. In my opinion, the policy of the state, in the present emergency, should be, first, to provide against the dilapi- dation of those portions of the works left in an unfinished state, and, secondly, as means can be procured, to finish some entirely, and complete others, at least, to points where they may be rendered available or useful to the country."
The legislature of 1839 authorized the issue of $1,500,000 of cer- tificates of indebtedness, in the form of state treasury notes, for the purpose of paying the claims of the contractors and other public cred- itors. The certificates circulated as currency for a time at their face value, but within two years they had depreciated from forty to fifty per cent. They were printed on yellow paper and became known as "yellow dog" money. In 1840 the legislature redeemed these certificates with an issue of engraved scrip in denominations of five and ten dollars. This scrip was made receivable for interest, and later for the principal, from the purchasers of the canal lands in payment of their indebtedness to the state. It was printed on white paper and soon received the name of "white dog" money, in comparison with the certificates of 1839.
At the close of the year 1841 over $8,000,000 had been expended on
247
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
the internal improvements authorized by the act of 1836, and it was estimated that $20,000,000 more would be necessary to complete the system according to the original plans. Public sentiment was adverse to any further issue of state bonds, or any increase in the state debt, to carry on the work and the whole scheme collapsed.
The Wabash & Erie canal was commenced, however, before the pas- sage of the internal improvement law of 1836 and was built under a different act. When work was begun on the canal at Fort Wayne in
OLD TOW-PATH ON THE WABASH & ERIE CANAL
1832, the progress was slow at first, but after three years it was announced and confidently expected that it would be opened for naviga- tion as far as Peru by July 4, 1837. Says the Peru Forester: "Before twelve o'clock of that day, the town was filled with people of the county, to witness the grand display on the occasion. Unfortunately the boats did not arrive. The banks, being porous, absorbed the water much faster than was anticipated."
Following this was the statement: "Since the above was written, we were informed that the packet boat Indiana, Captain Columbia, had arrived at the head of the lock, about one mile above town, and that it
248
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
would be impossible for her to reach the basin in consequence of the canal not having been sufficiently filled with water to buoy her up."
No freight was carried by the Indiana on that initial trip. The passengers left the boat at the lock and reached Peru, some on foot and some in vehicles that went out to meet them. According to Graham, they were entertained at the National Hotel, located at the northwest corner of Canal and Miami streets, and then kept by John Cooper. Captain Columbia returned with the Indiana to Fort Wayne, but before leaving the lock announced his determination to make another trip the following week. His promise was kept and the Indiana was the first canal boat to arrive at Peru.
When the state system of internal improvements collapsed in 1839, the Wabash & Erie canal was partly completed and the finished portion was bringing in a revenue. This part of the work was therefore not abandoned, and, as part of the lands granted by the government was still unsold, it was hoped that sufficient revenue could be realized. from the sale to complete the canal according to the original design. The act of 1836 contemplated 1,289 miles of canal, railroad and public highway. Levering's Historic Indiana (page 224) says that in 1842, when only 281 miles of this system had been completed, the state was in debt to the amount of $207,894,613 and the authorities found it a difficult matter to pay even the interest upon this indebtedness. Transportation chan- nels were still needed by the people, but there were no funds available with which to build them. The Wabash & Erie canal, with its lands and tolls, was taken in part payment of the claims of the contractors and other creditors by certain bondholders, who promised to complete the canal. This they did in 1851. The total length of the canal, from Toledo, Ohio, to Evansville, Indiana, was 460 miles, of which 379 miles were; in the state of Indiana.
Elbert J. Benton, in his history of this great waterway, says : "Before the opening of the canal, in 1844, the zone of the Maumee and upper Wabash valleys had sent towards Toledo only 5,622 bushels of corn. Five years later the exports from the same region, sent to that port, reached 2,755,149 bushels. For home consumption, the large number of laborers added to the population increased the demand for produce and much more money than ever before came into circulation. "When the canal was begun, the upper Wabash valley was a wilder- ness. There were only 12,000 scattered population in all that district, but people began to flock in by wagon-loads, so that the number had increased to 270,000 by 1840. In 1846, over thirty families every day settled in the state. Five new counties were organized in three years following the opening of the first section of the canal from Fort Wayne
249
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
to Huntington. Thirty per cent of the emigrants entering the port of New York passed into the group of states where the Erie canal and its connections were being constructed. The boats that took grain up the canal brought back emigrants and homesteaders from the East. Thirty- eight counties in Indiana and nine in southeastern Illinois were directly affected by the new waterway. Long wagon trains of produce wended their way to the towns on the shores of the canal. In the year 1844 four hundred wagons in a day were waiting to unload at points like Lafayette and Wabash."
Some of the towns that sprang up along the line of the canal grew into cities of considerable size. Industry was stimulated by the pros- pects of having a reliable outlet to the markets. Saw mills, flour mills, paper and oil mills were established in these towns and every boat that went up the canal carried the products of these mills to the eastern states. Between the years 1840 and 1850 the increase in population in the counties adjacent to the canal was nearly 400 per cent, or more than twice the increase in other parts of the state. Such an influence did the canal wield in the development of the country through which it passed that Mr. Benton calls it the "Indiana Appian Way."
Just before the canal land office was removed from Peru to Logans- port, a smooth swindle in connection with the lands was attempted and came very near being successful. A. W. Morris and John Fitzgerald succeeded in securing the passage of a bill by the legislature of 1846-7, declaring forfeited all lands upon which any part of the principal or interest was due and unpaid. Immediately after the governor signed the bill, Morris and Fitzgerald secured a copy and started for Peru. Enlisting the cooperation of the clerk in the land office, the door of that institution was kept closed until the conspirators could enter all the choice farms in the canal strip whose owners were delinquent. While this was going on, John Shields, who had considerable business with the land office, went to the building, but was denied admission. Suspecting that something was wrong, he noised it about and within a short time a large number of people were at the office, demanding to know why they were denied admission. Morris and Fitzgerald left Peru as hastily as they had come, not caring to face the indignant populace. The act was subsequently declared fraudulent and at the next session was . repealed.
About the time the canal was completed the building of railroads engrossed the attention of the people of Indiana. As the railway lines came into operation the income of the canal was visibly affected, and in a few years it ceased to be a paying institution. The legality of the company was also called into question and the state was asked to pay
250
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
one-half of the debt for which the canal had been taken, the creditors claiming that, by granting franchises to the railroad companies, the state had defrauded the canal company out of large sums that would otherwise have been received in tolls. As the railroads increased in number and mileage, the traffic on the canal correspondingly decreased until the company ended in a financial failure, but during its existence, perhaps no one agency was of such potent influence in developing the Wabash valley as the Wabash & Erie canal.
In 1873 the constitutional amendment was adopted enjoining the state from ever obligating itself for the payment of any portion of the canal bonds. As stated above, business declined and in 1876, upon fore- closure, the great waterway was sold to William Fleming, of Fort Wayne, by a United States marshal. In the summer of 1875 a freshet caused a washout of the canal at the eastern edge of the city of Peru, near the old dam. When the waters subsided the canal was practically dry and no longer fit for commercial purposes. With the gloomy out- look financially of the canal company there was no disposition to repair the damage done and boats were left stranded at infrequent intervals along its bed, where they gradually went into ruin and decay.
E. H. Shirk and A. N. Dukes, of Peru, bought from Mr. Fleming the old waterway from Lagro to Lafayette and the most of it has been disposed of piecemeal, either by purchase or condemnation proceedings, to electric railway lines and other interests. In the purchase of the property Shirk and Dukes had some associates, among whom were H. J. Shirk and several Logansport people, but their holdings were small and they were soon lost sight of as interested parties.
STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION OF THE WABASH
In the early part of this chapter mention is made of the first steam- boat that ascended the Wabash river to Lafayette, about 1823. While the country was yet undeveloped, and but sparsely settled, several attempts were made to send steamboats farther up that river. The fol- lowing account of the first steamboat that ever reached Logansport is taken from Sanford C. Cox's "Recollections of the Early Settlement of the Wabash Valley :"
"During the June freshet of 1834, a little steamer called the Repub- lican advertised that she would leave the wharf at Lafayette for Logans- port on a certain day. A few of us concluded to take a pleasure trip on the Republican, and be on the pioneer steamboat that would land at Logansport, a thriving town situated at the confluence of the Wabash and Eel rivers, in the heart of a beautiful and fertile region of country. At the hour appointed the Republican left the landing at Lafayette,
251
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
under a good head of steam, and 'walked the waters like a thing of life.' We soon passed Cedar Bluffs, Davis' Ferry, the mouths of Wild Cat and Tippecanoe, and began to anticipate a quick and successful trip. But soon after passing the Delphi landing the boat stuck fast upon a sandbar, which detained us for several hours. Another and another obstruction was met with every few miles, which we overcame with much difficulty, labor and delay. At each successive sandbar the most of the boat's crew and many of the passengers got out into the water and lifted the boat, or pulled upon a large rope that was extended to the shore-an important auxiliary to the steam power to propel the vessel over these obstructions. Night overtook us stuck fast upon the bottom of the river below Tipton's port.
"Several days and nights were spent in fruitless attempts to get over the rapids. All hands, except the women and a few others; were frequently in the water up to their chins, for hours together, endeavor- ing to lift the boat off the bar. The water fell rapidly and prevented the boat from either ascending farther up or returning down the river. While at this place we were visited by several companies of well dressed, fine looking Miami and Pottawatomie Indians, of all ages and sexes, who would sit for hours on tlte bank, admiring the boat, which they greatly desired to see in motion, under a full head of steam. After four days and nights' ineffectual efforts to proceed, the boat was abandoned by all except the captain and part of his crew.
"Two or three weeks afterwards over a dozen yokes of large oxen were brought down from Logansport, and the Republican was hauled over ripples and sandbars to Logansport, and the citizens of that place and the surrounding country had the luxury of a steamboat arrival on the Fourth of July, and Captain Towne had the (doubtful) honor of being the commander of the first steamboat that visited Logansport; for it cost him his boat, which bilged soon after its arrival in port, and its hull, years afterward, might be seen lying sunk to the bottom of the Wabash near its confluence with the waters of Eel river."
One would naturally suppose that the fate of the Republican would have had a tendency to discourage others from making the attempt, but not so. Along the Wabash was a large, fertile, undeveloped coun- try, and adventurous navigators were willing to take risks, hoping that congress could be made to see that the Wabash could be rendered navi- gable and undertake the improvement of the river. In 1835 the first steamboat ascended the river as far as Peru. The voyage of this vessel is thus described by Cox :
"During the next summer (1835), there was another June freshet in the Wabash, and the steamboat Science was advertised for a trip to
252
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
Logansport, Peru and Chief Godfroy's village above the mouth of the Mississinewa. The unusually high stage of the river gave promise of a successful trip. At Delphi and other points along the river, consider- able accessions were made to our company. The boat reached Logans- port without any difficulty. There was a large increase of passengers from this point. The Tiptons, Laselles, Durets, Polks, Johnsons and many others of the old settlers of the town turned out, many of them .
-
-
ON THE EEL RIVER NEAR CHILI
with their entire families, for a steamboat excursion, to visit the neigh- boring town of Peru and their aboriginal neighbors and valuable cus- tomers at Godfroys village.
"The boat left the wharf at Logansport under a full head of steam, which was considered necessary to carry her over the rapids a short distance above town. Our gallant boat failed to make the ripple, and after puffing and snorting for about two hours without gaining over forty feet, she dropped back to the foot of the rapids, where several
253
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
hundred of the passengers went ashore to walk around the rapids. Rosin, tar and sides of bacon were freely cast into the fire, to create more steam, and another longer and stronger effort was made to get over the rapids, but in vain.
"After narrowly escaping the destruction of his boat, the captain deemed it prudent to drop down to Logansport again and lighten the boat. Over two hundred barrels of flour and salt were taken off the boat, which lay that night at the landing at Logansport and one hundred or more of the citizens of Lafayette and Delphi shared the hospitality of their neighbors at Logansport.
"After breakfast the next morning, the most of the passengers walked around the rapids, and the steamer passed over them the first effort. All joined in congratulations for the success of the morning, which was considered a favorable omen for a successful and pleasant trip. We soon reached Miamisburg and Peru, two little rival towns on the west bank of the Wabash."
Concerning the arrival of the Science at Peru in 1835, Graham's "History of Miami County" says: "She came without notice, and left without ceremony. Her movements were governed by the maxim that 'time and tide wait for no-steamboat.' The water was falling and delay was dangerous. Lying to at the bank a moment, to allow those who de- sired a short ride to get aboard, she went up to Chief Godfroy's above the mouth of the Mississinewa, stopped there a short time, returned, let off her excursionists, and then passed down the river out of sight and was gone."
The steamer Tecumseh, Captain David Laughlin, came up the Wabash to Peru in the spring of 1836 and brought several consignments of goods to the local merchants. This boat afterward had its name changed to the Logansport and made several trips up the river to that city. There is a story to the effect that Chief Godfroy offered $500 to the owner or master of any steamboat that would ascend the Wabash as far as his village. Both the Science and the Tecumseh went there, but it is not known which of then, if either, received the promised reward. By 1837 indications pointed to an early completion of the Wabash & Erie canal and after that date efforts to bring steamboats up the river as far as Peru .practically ceased.
THE RAILROAD ERA
The first railroad in the United States was a line about nine miles in length, running from the town of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, to' some coal mines. It was somewhat in the nature of an experiment, but it proved to be a success, and thoughtful men foresaw that this was the
254
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
coming method of transportation. While the states were turning their attention to the building of canals as a means of developing their natural resources, a few miles more of railroad were built in the East, though many people were skeptical as to the ultimate results and many others were strenuously opposed to the introduction of this method of traffic and transportation. About 1830 some young men of Lancaster, Ohio, asked the school board of that town to grant them the use of the school house for the purpose of discussing the railroad question. To this request the board made the following reply :
"You are welcome to the use of the school house to debate all proper questions in, but such things as railroads and telegraphs are impossi- bilities and rank infidelity. There is nothing in the Word of God about them. If God had designed that his intelligent creatures should travel at the frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour, by steam, He would clearly have foretold it through His holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to hell."
Notwithstanding such objections, the railroad gradually found friends among the more progressive element of the population. In the light of modern progress, the arguments of the Lancaster school board in 1830 seem extremely puerile, to say the least. And, although the holy prophets failed to foretell a "frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour," it is no uncommon occurrence for the fast passenger trains of the pres- ent day to travel at a rate four times that great. In fact, a railroad whose trains did not make greater speed than fifteen miles an hour would hardly be considered as deserving of patronage.
LAKE ERIE & WESTERN
This was the first railroad in Miami county. It was projected by W. J. Holman, a citizen of the county, as a connecting line between Indian- apolis and Peru. Mr. Holman made the preliminary survey and esti- mates of cost, in which he undertook to show that the road could be built by the people living along the line. Through the efforts of Mr. Holman, the Peru & Indianapolis Railroad Company was incorporated on January 19, 1846. Among the members of the first board of directors were W. J. Holman, J. T. Miller, N. O. Ross, G. S. Fenimore, Wil- liam Kessler and R. L. Britton, of Miami county. The first funds sub- scribed, amounting to about $500, were paid to General T. A. Morris, of Indianapolis, to make an estimate of the cost of construction. In June, 1849, the directors asked the people of Miami county to support a proposition authorizing the county to subscribe $20,000 for the comple- tion of the road. A large majority of the taxpayers voted for the sub- scription, and upon the strength of this subsidy a loan of $10,000 was
255
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
- negotiated, which sum was placed in the hands of the directors. Work was commenced on the road at Indianapolis and in time was completed as far as Noblesville, where the money ran out and further construction was suspended until additional aid could be secured from the counties along the line. Most of the counties responded with help, but in the meantime the mortgagees, who had loaned the company the $10,000 in 1849, became somewhat anxious and the company got into the courts, which caused another delay.
After many trials and tribulations, the road was completed to Peru in the spring of 1854. Shops and a round-house were built at Peru in the fall of 1853. In 1869 connection was made with Michigan City, by means of a road called the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville, which ran from Peru to Laporte, and the completed line then took the name of the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railroad. Four years later the old shops, in the southwest part of Peru, were abandoned and new ones were erected in the northwestern part of the city. When, before the removal, arrangements for a change of shop location and right of way through the city of Peru were begun, the citizens of the municipality became interested and the right of way, as it is today, was donated, James M. Brown, A. N. Dukes, A. C. Brownell, William Rassner and others being conspicuously active for the city's welfare. A contract was entered into between the common council and the railroad company providing for a reversion of title both of the right of way and shop site in the event that the shops should ever be removed from the city. On one or two occasions this contract has stood the city in good stead when under new management or new ownership the company has mani- fested a disposition to abandon them. In 1881 the road was leased by what is now the Wabash Railroad Company, by which it was oper- ated until 1887, when the lease was surrendered and the road passed into new hands, becoming a part of the Lake Erie & Western System, the main line of which runs from Sandusky, Ohio, to Peoria, Illinois. It is still known as the Lake Erie & Western, though it is now under the control of the New York Central System.
Another change in the right of way was effected in 1895 through the efforts of C. H. Brownell, who succeeded in having a removal of the long switch which then ran east on Main street to Forest and then diagonally across many lots, now regularly platted and adorned with comfortable homes, to the old woolen mills. The switch was changed to leave the main line near the bridge, then run east along the canal to a point east of Forest street, where it angles slightly toward the north and on to its original destination.
256
HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
THE WABASH
Soon after work was commenced on the Peru & Indianapolis Rail- road the preliminary steps were taken to build a railroad from Toledo, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, down the Wabash valley. The first active work done on this project was in a meeting' at Logansport on June 23, 1852. At that meeting were a number of eastern capitalists, as well as the leading business men of the Wabash valley, James B. Fulwiler and L. D. Adkinson, of Peru, being among the number. It is said that when Daniel D. Pratt was called on for some expression as to the advisability of building the road, he walked over to the secretary's table and signed his name for a handsome sum of money, remarking at the time: "There is my speech." His example was quickly followed and before the meet- ing adjourned a large part of the money necessary for the construction of the road had been subscribed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.