USA > Indiana > The Indiana gazetteer, or, Topographical dictionary : containing a description of the several counties, towns, villages, settlements, roads, lakes, rivers, creeks, and springs, in the state of Indiana > Part 14
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vine is successfully cultivated .. The settlements along the river below Vevay, where the culture of the grape is principally attended to, present an appear-
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ance of industry and taste. This part of the county, is a compound of elegance and usefulness, where to one of the most delightful natural situations on the Ohio, is added the embellishments of art; and where art and elegance are made subservient to wealth and comfort. Here are also beautiful orchards, with a great variety of the finest fruits, and gardens cultivat- ed in the most tasteful style. The wine of this county is of an excellent quality, and with the advantage of age, would not be inferior to the European wine; but it is generally used before it is sufficiently matured. The citizens of this county are rapidly improving in their circumstances, and some of them have already become wealthy, chiefly by the culture of the grape. In addition to the culture of orchards, gardens, and vines, the ordinary branches of husbandry are carried on in this county, and large quantities of corn, flour, beef, pork, potatoes, hay, and poultry, are annually transported to the low country. Vevay is the seat of justice.
SYCAMORE, a small mill stream in Morgan county, It rises in the northern section, and taking a southerly course, falls into the West Fork of White River near to the centre of the county. It affords some good mill seats, with water sufficient for the lighter kinds of machinery, and has one grist mill now in operation.
TANNER'S CREEK, a mill stream in Dearborn county. Its source is in the north-western part of the county, whence it runs south-eastwardly, and empties into the Ohio river about a mile below Lawrenceburgh.
TEMPLETON'S CREEK, a mill stream in Franklin county. It rises in Bath and Fairfield townships, and runs in a south-westerly direction, to the East Fork of Whitewater, where it empties, on the cast side, four miles above Brookville.
'TERRE-HAUTE, pronounced ter-haut, a large and Nourishing post town, and the seat of justice of Vigo 1
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county. It is situated on a beautiful high ground, on the east bank of the Wabash river. It was laid off in 1816, and established as the seat of justice in 1818. In 1830, it contained 600 inhabitants, and the increase since that time, is estimated at about one hundred an- nually, making at this time a population of about 900, The town site was originally a skirt of woodland, hav- ing the river on one side and a large prairie on the other, and rising gradually from the river bank. This town possesses some peculiar local advantages. Its distance from Vincennes places commercial competi- tion out of the question; and the constant intercourse with the towns on the river, above and below, and with those of Putnam and Clay counties, as well as the neighbouring villages west of the river, can be productive of no other effects than mutual kindness and reciprocal interest; and the National Road cross- ing the river at this place, opens an important trade from both the east and the west. The town now con- tains two wholesale houses, one confined to the dry- goods business, and the other to groceries; there are ten retail drygoods stores, six groceries, two drug stores, six lawyers, five physicians, a printing office, three hotels, several boarding houses, and a great num- ber of mechanics of almost all descriptions. The pub- lic buildings arc a large and commodious brick court- house, a jail, and a school house. It is about seventy- five miles west south-west from Indianapolis. N. lat. 39 deg. 25 min. W. lon. 10 deg. 12 min.
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THORNTOWN, a small village in Boon county, about eight miles north-west from Lebanon, containing about 60 inhabitants.
TIPPECANOE, an interior county, bounded on the north by unorganized territory, on the west by War- ren and Fountain counties, on the south by Montgo- mery, and on the east by Clinton and Carroll. It ex- tends from north to south twenty-four miles, and from east to west twenty-one miles, containing an area of 500 square miles, equal to 320,000 acres. It was or- ganized in 1826, and, in 1830, contained 7,167 inha-
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bitants. The face of the country is generally level or gently undulating, and consists of prairie, barrens, and forest land. The prairie may be estimated at one half, the barrens one-eighth, and the remainder heavy forest. The prairies are large, having a rich, black, loamy soil, and exceedingly productive. Their un- dulating surfaces, which in some places rise in hillocks, afford a prospect of the surrounding country several miles in extent, presenting summer scenes, on which the most sombre imagination must dwell with admira- tion and delight. The barrens are, for the most part, a lean, cold, and wet clayey soil, supporting a scatter- ing growth of oak timber and a kind of tall coarse - grass. These barrens are frequently found bordering on prairies, and afford a singular contrast of a cold clayey soil, immediately adjoining the richest and most fertile loamy lands. The soil in the forest lands is generally very rich, consisting of loam and sand. The timber consists chiefly of walnut, honey locust, poplar, ash, sugartree, buckeye, and the different va- rieties of oak; with an undergrowth of spice, hazel, plum, and hawthorn. The water courses are the Wa- bash river, the Wildcat, the Wea, Burnet's creek, and the Mill branch. The. Wabash affords the ad- vantages of navigation, and the other streams supply numerous excellent sites for mills and other machine- ry. The population and improvement of this county have been extremely rapid in their progress. At the 1
first election after the organization of the county, one hundred and sixty votes were given. In 1827, the lister returned 262 polls; in 1828, 451 polls were re- turned, and the population is at present upwards of eight thousand. This county contains a great number of very extensive farms ; some perhaps the largest in the state; and a great surplus of produce of different kinds is annually sent to foreign markets. Horses, mules, beef cattle, live hogs, corn, oats, flour, beef, pork, po- tatoes, and poultry, are the chief articles of traffic. Lafayette is the seat of justice.
TIPPECANOE, a river in the north-western section of
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the state. It has its source in the unorganized terri- tory south of Lagrange and west of Allen; whence it takes a south-westerly course, about seventy miles, and then turns directly south to its junction with the Wabash river, near the northern boundary of Tippe- canoe county,
TIPPECANOE, a township in Carroll county.
TIPPECANOE, a township in Tippecanoe county.
TIPTONSPORT, a village in Carroll county. It is si- tuated on the east bank of the Wabash river, about six or seven miles north from Delphi.
TOBIN, a township in Perry county.
TRAIL CREEK, a small creek which rises in Laporte county and runs westwardly into Lake Michigan. At . the mouth of this creek is the commencement of the Michigan road, and the site of Michigan city.
TROY, a post town in Perry county. It is situated on the bank of the Ohio river, in the south-west cor- ner of the county, and commands a beautiful view of the river both above and below ; but the adjacent coun: try is hilly and broken. It contains two mercantile stores, a tavern, a carding machine, two physicians, a preacher of the gospel, and a school; with a popula- tion of about a hundred and fifty inhabitants, amongst whom are mechanics of various descriptions.
TROY, a township in Fountain county.
TROY, a township in Perry county.
TURMAN, a western township. in Sullivan county, bordering on the Wabash river.
TURMAN'S CREEK, a stream which rises in the northi- ern border of Sullivan and runs south-westwardly into the Wabash river. This creek passes through a rich tract of country but does not afford many sites for ma- chinery.
TURTLE CREEK, a stream in Sullivan county run- ning south-westwardly into the Wabash river. This creek, like Turman's creek, has water sufficient for mills; but its current is so sluggish as to afford but few sites for any kind of machinery.
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TURTLE CREEK, a creek in Switzerland, running southwardly into the Ohio river.
TWELVE-MILE PRAIRIE, a beautiful prairie in Clin- ton county. Its extent from north-west to south-east is about twelve miles, and its average width about four miles. It is supposed to contain about thirty thousand acres.
TWIN CREEK, a small mill stream in Washington county. It rises about seven miles north-west of Sa- lem, whence it runs in a north-westerly direction and empties into the East Fork of White River about three miles above Bono.
UNION, an castern county bordering on the state of Ohio. It was organized in 1821, and is bounded on the north by Wayne county, on the west by Fayette, on the south by Franklin, and on the east by the state of Ohio. It is about sixteen miles in extent from north to south, and fourteen miles from east to west, compre- hending an area of 224 square miles, or 143,360 acres. In 1830, it contained 7,957 inhabitants. The land in this county is moderately rolling. The different kinds of timber are principally walnut, sugartrec, poplar, becch, ash, and oak; the undergrowth is spice, pau- paw, redbud, and hawthorn. The soil is principally a dark loam. The county is well watered, and sup- plied with numerous sites for mills and other machine- ry. The pricipal streams are the East Fork of White- water and its tributaries, Hanna's creek, Richland creek, and Silver creek; all which afford valuable mill seats. There are twenty-two organized church- es in this county. The different orders of religious professors are Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Co- venanters, Dunkers, United Brethren, and Friends. There are also twenty-seven common schools, six Sun- day schools, and a well organized county seminary in which the languages and sciences generally are taught. The staple products of the county are flour, wheat,
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corn, oats, horses, mules, pork, beef, potatoes, and poul- try. Liberty is the seat of justice. UNION, a township in Boon county.
UNION, a south-western township in Crawford coun- ty.
UNION, a township in Dearborn county.
UNION, a western township in Johnson county.
: UNION, an eastern township in Madison county.
UNION, a township in Parke county.
UNION, a township in Perry county.
UNION, a township in Rush county.
UNION, a township in Shelby county.
UNION, a south-eastern township in Union county. UNION, a township in Vanderburgh county.
UTICA, a pleasant thriving post village in Clark county. It is situated on the bank of the Ohio river, about eight miles south of Charlestown. It contains about two hundred inhabitants, three mercantile stores, and a variety of mechanics.
VALONIA, a post village in Jackson county, about three miles south of Brownstown, containing about forty inhabitants.
VANDALIA, a village in Wayne county, about nine miles west from Centreville, containing about a bun- dred inhabitants.
VANDERBURGH, a south-western county, bordering on the Ohio river. It was organized in 1818, and is bounded on the north by Gibson county, on the west by Posey, on the south by the Ohio river, and on the east by Warrick county. Its greatest extent from north to south is about twenty-four miles, and from east to west thirteen miles. It includes an area of about 225 square miles, or 144,000 acres; and, in 1830, ît contained 2,610 inhabitants. That portion of the county bordering on the Ohio river is very fertile; but the great body of the county is high, dry, rolling land, with good timber and water, but inferior in point of
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soil to many other counties in the state. The timber on the rolling lands consists chiefly of white and black oak, hickory and beech; with a few sugartrees and walnuts sparsely scattered over the ridges and valleys. The soil is clayey with a mixture of sand, and in some - places light loam, and produces plentiful crops of wheat, rye, oats, and grass; and may, all things consi- dered, be rated as land of a second quality. Although the soil in this county generally is not equal in fertili- ty to some other parts of the state, this deficiency is fully balanced by the superior commercial advantages which it enjoys. The propinquity of the Ohio river, which by a deep northern bend brings its waters al- most into the centre of the county, affords to the ag- riculturist the opportunity of transporting his surplus produce, without risk or delay, to the lower market, at all seasons of the year. And it is believed that with this advantage, the farmer can acquire wealth more rapidly on the second rate lands in Vanderburgh coun- ty than on the richest and most fertile lands in the in- -- terior. The chief articles of traffic are flour, corn, cats, beef, pork, potatoes, poultry, and lumber. Evans- -- ville is the seat of justice.
VEAL, a south-western township in Daviess county. VEAL CREEK, a small mill stream in Daviess coun- ty. It rises in the eastern section of the county and runs westwardly into the West Fork of White River.
VERMILLION, a western county bordering on the state line and on the Wabash river. It was organiz- ed in 1823, and is bounded on the north by Warren county, on the west by the state of Illinois, on the south by Vigo, and on the east by the Wabash river, which separates it from the counties of Parke and Fountain. It extends thirty miles from north fo south, and about ten miles from east to west, comprehending an area of about 280 square miles, or 179,200 acres. its population in 1830, was 5,706 souls. The face of the country is high and gently rolling, with some bluffs along the principal water courses. It is well watered and consists of a mixture of prairie and forest land, pe- 16*
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culiarly adapted to profitable cultivation. The vari- ous kinds of timber are white and red oak, poplar, sycamore, cherry, walnut, hickory, honey locust, elm, ash, and sugartree; with an undergrowth of spice, prickley ash, bazel, plum, and hawthorn. ' The soil is generally a rich sandy loam, and very productive. Freestone and limestone are both abundant along the water courses; the limestone is of that kind which is formed by vegetable petrifaction, and when burned, makes lime of an excellent quality. Some of the grey limestone has been found, but it is not abundant. Ex- tensive coal banks are in almost all parts of the coun- ty, particularly on both the Vermillions. . That which is found on the Big Vermillion is used both for black- smith work and for fuel. ' The Wabash river washes the eastern border of the county its whole length from north to south. The principal interior streams arc Big Vermillion and Little Vermillion, both which have their sources in the Grand Prairie in the state of Illinois, whence, taking a south-east course, they be- come tributaries of the Wabash. The chief articles of traffic are horses, mules, cattle, live hogs, corn, flour, beef, pork, potatoes, and poultry. The soil is well suited to.the culture of hemp and tobacco, and should those articles, at any time, come to be in de- mand they also would soon be cultivated and become important articles of trade, in this part of the state. Newport is the seat of justice.
VERMILLION, an interior township in Vermillion county.
VERNON, a north-castern township in Jackson coun- ty
VERNON, a post town and the seat of justice of Jen- nings county. It is situated on the west side of the north fork of Muscatatack. on the state road leading from Madison to Indianapolis. It is surrounded by a large body of good farming land in a progressive and prosperous state of cultivation, and well supplied with mills and springs of excellent water. The town site is somewhat uneven, and is almost insulated by the
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bend of the river, which nearly surrounds it. Water is obtained in abundance, and of the best quality, by sinking wells, about twenty or thirty feet from the sur- face, in any part of the town, even on the highest ground. When Vernon was established as the seat of justice of Jennings county, the proprietors made a donation for the benefit of the county, which produc- ed upwards of five thousand dollars, by the avails of which a large and elegant brick court house has been erected ; also a jail, a stray pound, and clerk's office, in- cluding a library room, with near two hundred vol- umes of choice books. After defraying all those ex- penses the county has about five hundred dollars loan- ed out on interest. This town contains about two hundred inhabitants, two taverns, two mercantile stores, a carding machine, two physicians, one lawyer, and one preacher of the Gospel, besides a number of craftsmen of various trades. Four churches meet in town for the purpose of public worship, and a large brick meeting house has been erected at common ex- pense, in which the several churches convene, each one according to its own appointment, and in case of inter- ference, the oldest appointment has the preference. The different denominations are Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. The place is unusually and uniform- ly healthy at all seasons of the year, and has the ad- vantage of the state road passing through it, from Ma- dison to Indianapolis, which is perhaps as much fre- quented as any other road in the state, and adds much to the vigour and life of the town. It is situated about sixty-four miles south south-east from Indianapolis. N. lat. 38 deg. 57 min. W. Ion. 8 deg. 21 min.
VERNON. a centre township in Jennings county in- cluding the town of Vernon.
VERNON, a township in Washington county.
VERSAILLES, a post town, and the seat of justice of Ripley county. It is pleasantly situated on a high bluff on the west side of Laughery, and surrounded by an extensive body of good farming land in a prosper- ous and progressive state of improvement. The pub-
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lic buildings are a jail, a brick school house, and a large and commodious brick court house. The town contains two taverns, three mercantile stores, a physi- cian, two lawyers, and a large number of craftsmen of different occupations; with an aggregate population of about 300 souls. It is about sixty-five miles south- east from Indianapolis. N. lat. 39 deg. 4 min. W. lon. 8 deg. 2 min.
VEVAY, a post town, and the seat of justice of Swit- zerland county. The situation of this town is very pleasant; it is thought by some to be superior in beau- ty to any other town site on the Ohio river. The first settlers in this place were emigrants from Swit- zerland, who at an early period commenced the cul- ture of the vine. By the industry and enterprise of those carly settlers, the beauty of the natural situation was soon greatly heightened, and that beautiful rich bottom which but a few years ago was covered by a heavy forest, now presents to the eye of the passing traveller a pleasant flourishing town, surrounded by orchards, gardens, and vineyards, where taste and el- egance are combined with use and comfort. The town contains upwards of a hundred brick and frame dwelling houses, a jail, a brick court house, three ta- verns, seven mercantile stores, three lawyers, three physicians, a printing office, and a variety of mecha- nics; with an aggregate population of about 400 souls. It is situated about twenty miles east of Madison, and about ninety miles south-east from Indianapolis. N. lat. 38 deg. 40 min. W. lon. 7 deg. 49 min.
VIENNA, a small post town in Scott county, about eight miles west from Lexington. It has a tavern, a store, and a post office, with about 50 inhabitants.
Viao, a western county, bordering on the state of Illinois. It was organized in 1818, and is bounded on the north by Parke and Vermillion counties, on the west by the state of Illinois, on the south by Sullivan county, and on the east by Clay. It extends twenty- four miles from north to south, and about twenty miles from east to west, comprehending about 400 square
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miles, or 256,000 acres; and, in 1830, it contained 5,737 inhabitants. The face of the country is level or gently undulating and consists of forest lands, inter- spersed with beautiful prairies, with a most luxuriant soil, and may generally be ranked as first rate land. The timber in this county is not much different from that of other parts of the Wabash country. Sugar- tree is in great abundance; and poplar, walnut, hick- ory, elm, beech, cottonwood, honey locust, cherry, and the different kinds of oak, constitute the principal fo- rest growth. The poplar, walnut, oak, and ash, are the only kinds of timber commonly used in building. The undergrowth in the forest lands, is chiefly spice, plum, and hawthorn; and on the borders of the prai- ries there is abundance of hazel, sassafras, and su- mach. The soil, in the high prairies, is uniformly a rich loam mixed with sand. Such are the Honey
creek, Fort Harrison, and Otter creek prairies. Each of these prairies is from five to eight miles in length, and varying from two to four miles in width. Prairie Creek prairie, situate in the southern extremity of the county, lies low, and a part of it is inundated by high freshets. Its soil is alluvial, and produces most luxu- riantly. A grey limestone is found in the forest lands, in different parts of the county, and on the banks of the river, and on some of the smaller streams, are quar- ries of freestone, which are an excellent article in building. Inexhaustible beds of stone coal of an ex- cellent quality also abound in this county; some of which has been shipped to New-Orleans, where it commands as high a price as the Pittsburgh coal. The prairies have no reck or stone of any description. The only navigable stream in the county is the Wa- bash, which passes nearly from north to south, divid- ing the upper part of the county, and on the lower part forming the line between this state and Illinois. The mill streams are Prairie creek, Honey creek, Of- ter creek, and Sugar creek. All these creeks afford facilities for mills; but their waters fail in a dry sea- son, and the citizens have then to depend on steam
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mills, two of which are in this county. The staple products of the county consist chiefly of pork, beef, corn, flour, whiskey, stone coal, poultry, and live cat- tle and hogs. Much the largest amount of trade has been, for some years past, carried on in the articles of pork and corn; but the fluctuations of the market com- bined with the perishable nature of the articles, has induced the farmers to turn their attention to the rais- ing of stock, which will soon be an important item in the productions of the county. Terre-Haute is the seat of justice.
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VILLAGE CREEK, a small mill stream in Fayette county, which runs a south-westerly course, and emp- ties into the West Fork of Whitewater on the east side.
VILLAGE CREEK, a branch of Pleasant run in Ma- rion county.
VINCENNES, a centre township in Knox county.
VINCENNES, a large flourishing post town, and the seat of justice of Knox county. It is handsomely situ- ated on the east bank of the Wabash river, having a fine fertile prairie of several thousand acres on the north, east, and south. This is by far the oldest town in the state; and was, until within a few years, the largest and most important. . It was established by some Frenchmen, 150 years ago, for the purposes of Indian trade. In 1800, when the Indiana territory was organized, the seat of government was established at Vincennes; and was continued here until 1813, when it was removed to Corydon. Previously to its becoming the seat of government, this town had at- tracted but little public attention. Situated in the midst of an Indian and a wilderness country; and in- habited almost exclusively by French people from Ca- nada, whose only trade was with their savage neigh- bours; it held out no inducement to cmigration from any of the United States. In 1798, there were here but twelve American families, and scarcely a build- ing but of the most ordinary kind. . But in a few years after this period, when the Indiana territory was or-
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ganized, the, seat of government established at this place, and the Indian title to the lands in its vicinity extinguished, the tide of emigration from various parts of the Union began to flow to Vincennes; and it was soon made to assume, by the superior enterprise and capital of the emigrants, a very different appearance. In 1806, a university was here established and incor- porated by an act of the Legislature; and a large ele- gant university building of brick was erected soon af- terwards by the trustees at an expense of 10,000 dol- lars. The high expectations of the founders of this institution, however, have not been realized. Respec- table schools, to be sure, have been generally taught in the building, but it has never merited the title of a university. In the same year, a library company was here incorporated, which has been very successful in its operations. The library consists, at present, of 1500 volumes of well selected books. About the same time, also, the Roman Catholic Church, founded at an early period, and then beginning to decay, was re- built by the French citizens. The Indian war which commenced on the Wabash in 1811, and continued to rage with unabated fury for several years; the remo- val of the seat of government in 1813; the pecuniary embarrassments here as in every other part of the western country for some time after the war; together with the prevalence of an exceedingly malignant fe- ver in 1820, gave a very severe shock to the prosperi- ty of Vincennes. But the town has long since entire- ly recovered from these misfortunes, and is now in a very flourishing state. The present population con- sists of 1600 inhabitants, about one-sixth of whom are French. There are here several schools, together with a county seminary, in which all the branches of education are taught, preparatory to an admission into the higher classes of a college. There is also here a very respectable seminary for young ladies, called the "St. Clare's Female School," which is under the su- perintendence of the bishops who preside over the li- terary institution at Nazareth in Kentucky. This
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