USA > Indiana > The Indiana gazetteer, or topographical dictionary of the State of Indiana, 1849 > Part 23
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but mostly clay. Nine-tenths of the county was origi- nally timbered upland, the balance about equally divided between river bottoms and barrens. The surplus articles raised for exportation are corn, hay, flaxseed, pork and beef, and these, with staves, hoop-poles, &c., are shipped down the river to the value of about $60,000, annually. There are in the county nine grist mills, nine saw mills, two lawyers, nine physicians, six preachers, and 126 mechanics of the trades usually most needed. The tax- able land amounts to 156,666 acres, and about 45,000 acres still belong to the United States.
There is a large rock, in Perry township, half a mile from White river, called the JUG Rock, from its shape. It is about twelve feet in diameter at the base, eighteen feet through the centre and ten feet at the top, and thirty feet high. It has a cap on the top three feet thick and eighteen feet in diameter, on which grow several sarvice bushes, and when these are in bloom, in the spring, the whole resembles an immense flower pot. Trinity Springs, near Harrisonville, on Indian creek, are now visited a good deal for their medical properties.
MARTINDALE'S CREEK, a good mill stream, a branch of the west fork of White Water, which rises in Randolph and runs south into Wayne, where it joins the main stream near Milton.
MARTINSBURGH, a small village in Washington county, twelve miles south-east of Salem.
MARTINSVILLE, the County Seat of Morgan, was first settled in 1822, by Joshua Taylor, Judge Gray, Jacob Cutler, G. W. Preston, Dr. Sims, and others. It con- tains a population of about 600. Most of the land in the vicinity is very fertile, and there is a large produce business done there. The town is four miles south of the centre of the county, one mile east of White river, thirty-one miles south-west of Indianapolis, and twenty north of Bloomington.
MAUKSPORT, a small town on the Ohio, in Harrison county, thirteen miles south of Corydon, and forty-two below Louisville. "
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MAUMEE, an eastern township in Allen, population 100.
MAUMEE RIVER is formed by the junction of the Little St. Joseph and the St. Mary's, at Fort Wayne, whence it runs north-west about 100 miles into Lake Erie.
MAXINCUCKEE, a beautiful lake in the south-west cor- ner of Marshall county, containing about 3,000 acres. Timbered and rolling land approaches it on the north- east and east; in other directions are barrens, mostly level and rising gently from the lake. It abounds with fish, and is much visited by fishing parties at some sea- sons of the year. The scenery about it is of a very ro- mantic character, and it is well worth a visit from those who are curious in such matters.
MAXVILLE, situated just below the mouth of Anderson river, in Spencer county, contains about thirty houses and 200 inhabitants.
McCAMMON, a township in Martin, population 575.
McFADEN'S CREEK, a small mill stream in Posey, which runs south into the Ohio near Mount Vernon.
MECHANICSBURGH, a small town on Sugar creek, north part of Boone county, eight miles north of Lebanon. It was first settled in 1836, by Moses Davison.
MECHANICSBURGH, a small town, recently laid out, on the Crawfordsville road, ten miles north-west of Indian- apolis.
MEDINA, a northern township in Warren county.
MEROM, the former Seat of Justice of Sullivan county, is situated at the foot and partly up the side of a high bluff between it and the Wabash. From this bluff are beautiful and extensive views of the country around. Merom has not improved, owing, it is alleged, to its un- healthy location.
METAMONONG, a mill stream, rises in Pulaski and runs south into White, where it joins the Tippecanoe.
METAMORA, a small town in Franklin county, on the west fork of White Water, laid out by Messrs. Mounts and Holland. It is eight miles west of Brookville, and contains a population of 200.
MIAMI COUNTY, named from the tribe of Indians who
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once possessed this and the adjoining parts of the State, was organized in 1835. It is bounded north by Fulton and Kosciusko, east by Wabash and Grant, south by Howard, and west by Cass and Fulton. It contains 384 square miles. The civil townships are, Peru, Erie, Jeffer- son, Richland, Union, Perry, Butler, Washington, Pipe. Creek, Deer Creek, Clay, Harrison and Jackson. The population in 1840 was 3,048; at this time it is about 10,000. About one-fourth of the county is estimated to be bottoms, one-sixth barrens and prairies, and the balance heavily timbered uplands. The timber is generally of the best quality, the soil rich and well adapted to the production of all the articles common to the climate. In the vicinity of the Wabash, Mississinewa and Eel rivers, there is a good deal of hilly land, not, however, so broken as to prevent cultivation ; the rest of the county may be called level. The surplus products, consisting of wheat, corn, oats, pork, beef, horses, &c., are estimated at over $150,000 annually. Since the purchase and settlement of the Miami Reserve, the growth and improvement of the county is becoming more rapid, and it will soon be among the foremost in the State. There are now five flouring mills, fifteen saw mills, one fulling mill, two carding machines, twenty-two stores and groceries, three ware-houses, six lawyers, fourteen physicians, twelve preachers, and the usual proportion of mechanics.
In this county was the residence of the celebrated Frances Slocum, who was taken from her parents in the Wyoming, when she was six years of age, and after- wards sold to and intermarried with one of the Miami Indians, and finally, after sixty years' search, was disco- vered and identified by her friends, but having lost her native language, she refused to leave her adopted home with the red men of the forest.
There are 133,300 acres of taxable land in the county, and about 100,000 acres yet belong to the United States or have been so recently purchased as not to be subject to taxation.
MICHELTREE, a township in Martin county, population 800.
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MICHIGAN LAKE, about 220 square miles of this sheet of water, lie in the bounds of Indiana, being ten miles of its south end, which is about thirty-seven miles in length, and an average width of six miles.
MICHIGAN, an eastern township in Clinton, population 900.
MICHIGAN, a north-west township in Laporte, popula- tion 1,230.
MICHIGAN CITY, is situated at the mouth of Trail creek, on Lake Michigan, twelve miles north-west of Laporte. It was first settled in 1831. There are in this place nine dry goods stores, one drug store, seven grocery and pro- vision stores, one printing office, a branch of the State Bank of Indiana, and 900 inhabitants. Michigan City has a number of large ware-houses, conveniently situated on Trail creek, for the storage and shipment of wheat, and had the improvement of the harbor been continued as was contemplated, the great emporium of the north- ern trade of the State would have been here. At one time more than 2,000 acres of land were laid out in town lots, houses were thinly scattered over the whole, and there were good prospects of its becoming a large and flourishing city, where business to the amount of millions would be annually transacted. Instead of this, vessels can now be loaded and unloaded only from Lighters, and in pleasant weather. The losses by the owners of lots alone, were no doubt four-fold the ex- pense of making a harbor, and to the public the loss of wealth, capital and in facilities for business is very large.
MICHIGANTOWN, a small town in Clinton, on Michigan road, forty miles north of Indianapolis.
MIDDLE, a northern township in Hendricks, population 1,640.
MIDDLE CREEK, a mill stream in Floyd, running into the Ohio six miles below New Albany.
MIDDLEBOROUGII, a small town in Wayne county.
MIDDLEBURY, in Elkhart county, eleven miles north- east of Goshen, has two stores, two distilleries, a fine flouring mill, a saw mill, an Academy, Baptist and Meth. odist Churches, and 200 inhabitants.
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MIDDLEBURY, a township in Elkhart, population 1,000. MIDDLE FORK, a branch of Wild Cat creek, in Clinton.
.MIDDLE FORK, a tributary of Big creek, in Jefferson county, passes under the Railroad ten miles from Madison.
MIDDLEPORT, a small town in Elkhart county.
MIDDLETOWN, a small town in the north-west corner of Henry county.
MIDDLETOWN, a small town on the Covington road, nine miles north-west of Crawfordsville, population 150.
MIDDLETOWN, a small town in Vigo county, fourteen miles south of Terre Haute.
MILAN, an interior township in Allen, population 175.
MILAN, a small town in Ripley, eight miles north-west of Versailles, on the Aurora and Napoleon road, popu- lation 200.
MILFORD, a small town on Clifty, in Decatur, eight miles west of Greensburgh, population 275.
MILFORD, a small town in the north part of Kosciusko.
MILFORD, a south-east township in Lagrange, popula- tion 400.
MILFORD, a small town in the north part of Warren county.
MILL CREEK, a tributary of the St. Mary's from the west, in Adams county.
MILL CREEK, the outlet of Manitou Lake, in Fulton county, is about four miles in length, has much fine water power along it, and runs north-west into the Tippecanoe.
MILL CREEK, sometimes called the main branch of Eel river, rises in Hendricks, near Danville, and runs south-west through Morgan, Putnam, Owen, and again into Putnam, where it joins the Walnut Fork of Eel river, four miles below the National road and near the east line of Clay county. There are two remarkable falls on this stream, three-fourths of a mile apart, one of them thirty-five feet perpendicular, the other forty-five feet within a short distance. They present a grand appear- ance when the water is high.
MILL CREEK, a fine mill stream, rises in Fountain, runs south-west into Parke, and falls into the Wabash near Westport, fifteen miles north-west of Rockville.
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. MILL CREEK, a mill stream, rises in Fulton and runs west into Pulaski, where it joins the Tippecanoe.
MILL CREEK, a mill stream in Wabash county.
MILLER, a township in Dearborn, population 1,160.
MILLERSBURGH, a small town on the Ohio river, in Ohio county.
MILLERSBURGII, a small town on Eel river, Whitley county.
MILDHOUSEN, a German Catholic village in Decatur, nine miles south-east of Greensburgh.
MILLSTONE CREEK empties into the Ohio, in Perry county, seven miles west of Rome.
MILLPORT, a small town on the Muscackituck, in Jack- son county, on the Salem road, seven miles from Browns- town.
MILROY, a small town on Little Flatrock, eight miles south of Rushville.
MILLTOWN, a small town on Blue river in Crawford county, twelve miles north of Levenworth, population 150.
MILTON, an eastern township in Jefferson county.
MILTON, a small town in Ohio county, on Laughery creek.
MISHAWAKA, a flourishing manufacturing town on the St. Joseph river, four miles east of South Bend, in St. Joseph county. It was first settled in 1832, and has retained the Indian name that previously belonged to it. Its population is now 1,300. It contains two large blast furnaces, two cu- pola furnaces, one forge, three saw mills, one woollen fac- tory, one oil mill, one merchant mill with six run of burrs, and a great variety of shops for machinists and mechanics. As there is an immense amount of water power at Mishawaka, and excellent iron ore is delivered there at little more than the expense of digging, and wood and timber are also convenient, it must be one of the best manufacturing towns in the State. The enterprise and energy of its citizens promise much for the future. Al- ready many fine buildings show to much advantage.
MISSISSINEWA RIVER rises in the State of Ohio, and runs north-west through the counties of Randolph, Dela-
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ware, Grant, Wabash and Miami, and falls into the Wa- bash near Peru.
MONMOUTH, a small town on the St. Mary's, Root township, Adams county.
MONONG, a northern township in White county, popu- lation 310.
MONROE COUNTY, named in honor of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, was organized in ISIS. It contains 420 square miles, and is bounded north by Owen and Morgan, east by Brown and Jackson, south by Lawrence, and west by Greene and Owen. The civil townships are Bloomington, Perry, Clear Creek, Indian Creek, Van Buren, Richland, Beanblossom, Wash- ington, Marion, Benton and Salt Creek. The population in 1830 was 6,578, in 1840, 10,143, and at this time about 13,000. The face of the country is mostly hilly, though about Bloomington and many other places, it is gently rolling. There was originally no prairie or bar- rens in the county, and but a small portion of river or creek bottoms. The timber is generally of a good qua- lity, and such as denotes a fine soil, viz: walnut, sugar, ash, oak, poplar, cherry, hickory, beech, &c., and most of the county, except where it is too hilly, is as well adapted to the usual farming products, and to raising cattle, hogs and horses, as any part of the State. There are in the county eleven grist mills, twelve saw mills, four oil mills, nine carding machines, one foundry, one spinning, weaving and fulling machine, three printing offices, about twenty stores and groceries, nine lawyers, ten physicians, and preachers too tedious to mention. In fact, most of the Christian denominations are repre- sented here. Salt springs have been found and worked to some advantage in the eastern part of the county, and iron ore of a good quality in the south-west, where the Vir- ginia furnace was built by Mr. R. Ross. See Bloomington and the preliminary head, as to the State University, &c.
Truitt's grotto is an extensive cavern in which there are beautiful rooms of various sixes. It has never been fully explored.
The taxable land in Monroe amounts to 161,933 acres,
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and about 80,000 acres still belong to the United States. MONROE, an interior township in Adams, population 250.
MONROE, a south-east township in Allen, population 175.
MONROE, a township in Carroll, population 600.
MONROE, a township in Clark, population 1,300.
MONROE, a township in Delaware.
MONROE, an eastern township in Grant, population 500.
MONROE, a township in Howard, population 600.
MONROE, a northern township in Jefferson. 1
MONROE, a north-east township in Madison.
MONROE, a northern township in Morgan, population 1,400.
MONROE, a southern township in Pike, population 740. MONROE, a township in Pulaski.
MONROE, an interior township in Putnam, six miles square.
MONROE, a township in Randolph, population 600.
MONROE, a township in Washington.
MONROVIA, a small town in Morgan, eleven miles north north-west of Martinsville, population 150.
MONTEZUMA, a flourishing town on the Wabash, in Parke county, eight miles west north-west of Rockville. The land in the vicinity is very good, and the town has an extensive trade.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, named in honor of Gen. Rich- ard Montgomery, was organized in 1823. It contains 504 square miles, and is bounded north by Tippecanoe, east by Clinton, Boone and Hendricks, south by Putnam and Parke, and west by Fountain. It has eleven civil townships, viz: Clark, Scott, Brown, Walnut, Union, Franklin, Wayne, Cole Creek, Sugar Creek, Ripley and Madison. The population in 1830 was, 7,376, in 1840, 14,438, and at this time about 18,000. The western part of the county, and near the principal streams is somewhat hilly and broken, the north and central part undulating, and the east and south level. The timber is generally of a good quality, and the soil, with scarce any exception, rich and well adapted to corn, wheat, grass,
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fruit, and all the products common to the climate. There are several good prairies in the north part of the county, now mostly in cultivation, and occasionally barrens or oak openings, but two-thirds of the county were origi- nally covered with heavy timber.
The surplus articles annually exported from the county are wheat 150,000 bushels, corn 100,000 do., 20,000 hogs, 3,000 cattle, 400 horses, and 200 mules, estimated to be worth $250,000. There are in the county eight grist mills, twelve saw mills, three woollen factories, one oil mill, thirty-three stores and groceries, thirteen law- yers, thirty-six physicians, thirty preachers, thirty-six churches, mostly Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian, two printing offices, and the usual proportion of mecha- nics. The Wabash College is in this county, as to which see first part. The Female Institute and the County Seminary are in a good condition, and there are common schools in most of the school districts.
The taxable land in the county amounts to 300,000 acres. The completion of the Crawfordsville and La- fayette Railroad, which has been commenced with much spirit, will make Montgomery among the richest and best counties in the State.
MONTGOMERY, a western township in Gibson, popula- tion 2,500.
MONTGOMERY CREEK, a mill stream in Henry county.
MONTGOMERY, a southern township in Jennings, popu- lation 1,250.
MONTGOMERY, an interior township in Owen, popula- tion 820.
MONTICELLO, the County Seat of White, is situated on a high bank on the west side of the Tippecanoe, on the borders of the Grand Prairie, which here approaches the river. The situation is esteemed very healthy, and it presents fine views of the boundless prairie on the west, and the winding river and its valley on the east and south. It contains about fifty houses, and a population of 200. Monticello is twenty-five miles north north-east of Lafayette, eighty-two north-west of Indianapolis, and
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sixty-two south of Laporte. The first settlers were Wm. Sill, Sam. Reffenberrick, Roland Hughes and Rob. Spencer.
MONTPELIER, in Blackford county, first settled in 1839, by emigrants from Vermont. It was laid out by Abel Baldwin. It is situated on the Salamonie, in the north- east part of the county, forty miles south of Fort Wayne.
MOORE'S HILL, a small town in Sparta township, Dear- born county, thirteen miles west north-west of Law- renceburgh.
MOORESVILLE, a flourishing town on White Lick, north part of Morgan county, first settled in 1824 by Samuel Moore, (from whom it took its name) Asa Bales, J. S. Rooker, and others. It is sixteen miles south-west of Indianapolis, and fifteen north-east of Martinsville. The present population is 550.
MORGAN COUNTY, named in honor of Gen. Daniel Morgan, was organized in 1822. It contains 453 square miles, and is bounded north by Hendricks and Marion, east by Johnson, south by Brown and Monroe, and west by Owen and Putnam. It contains the following town- ships, viz: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Harrison, Brown, Clay, Ray, Baker, Green and Gregg. The population in 1830 was 5,579, in 1840, 10,741, and at this time about 14,000. About one-third of the county is river and creek bottoms, the soil a sandy loam and of the richest quality. There is generally a ridge of hills where these bottoms terminate. Back of these the land becomes undulating, and in some places level, and in some places too wet for any crop but grass. In the south part of the county, adjoining Mon- roe, is a very hilly and broken region, yet the timber is good and the soil excellent, where it can be cultivated. No part of the State is more favorable for agriculture, and some of the best farms in it are now found here. The principal crop is corn, though wheat, oats, grass, and fruit are successfully cultivated, and the spirit of progress is now apparent among the farmers, in the erec-
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tion of substantial buildings, in planting good orchards and vineyards, and in increasing the variety and quality of their crops. Though White river is not favorable for navigation but a short time each year, yet from twenty- five to thirty boats, carrying from fifty to seventy tons, are annually sent off freighted with surplus products. Other articles are taken to the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, and cattle, horses and mules are driven usually to distant markets. In most years, 40,000 bushels of corn, 60,000 of wheat, 30,000 hogs, 1,000 cattle, 500 horses and mules, and many other articles of considerable value have been exported from this county, and were there a railroad completed to Martinsville or Mooresville, as has been proposed, or even the Plank road completed from Franklin to the Bluffs, the amount would be largely in- creased.
There are in the county eighteen grist mills, twenty- eight saw mills, three carding machines, one fulling mill, one printing office, thirty stores and groceries, seven lawyers, twenty physicians, thirty preachers, about 300 mechanics, a flourishing County Seminary, and about eighty common schools, which are kept. up a portion of the year. The religious denominations which have erect- ed churches, are as follows: Cumberland Presbyterians one, Lutherans one, Baptists five, Reformers or Christians ten, Friends three, Methodists fourteen. The taxable land in the county is 217,047 acres.
In the western part of the county is a cavern, from the mouth of which leaps a foaming stream that only at a few feet distance turns a flouring mill. This cavern has been explored about half a mile, but the darkness and the myriads of bats that make its gloomy halls their abode, render its full exploration a matter of difficulty. About two and a-half miles south-east of Martinsville, at a ford of the creek, where an Indian trail passed it, is a spot called by the Indians "Murder Ground." The origin of the name, by their tradition, was, that one of their parties having captured several prisoners from Ken- tucky, in early times, had escaped with them to this
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place without being pursued, as they thought. Here they left their prisoners bound, and went out to hunt. In their absence, a party of Kentuckians came up and stationed themselves in ambush, near the prisoners, and shot the Indians almost to a man as they returned at different times from hunting.
MORGAN, a northern township in Harrison, population 1,350.
MORGAN, a western township in Owen, first settled in 1820 by I. Moore, W. Reynolds and J. Beaman, popula- tion 955.
MORGAN, a southern township in Porter, population 400.
MORGANTOWN, a village near Indian creek, eleven miles south-east of Martinsville, on the road to Edinburgh, population 160.
MORVEN, a small town on Flatrock, south-east corner of Shelby.
Moscow, a village in Orange township, south-west corner of Rush, ten miles from Rushville.
MOSQUITO CREEK, a good mill stream in the south-east part of Harrison, fifteen miles in length.
MOUND, a southern township in Warren county, in- cluding a part of MOUND PRAIRIE.
MOUNT AETNA, a small town in Lancaster township, county of Huntington, south of the Seat of Justice.
MOUNT CARMEL, a small town in Springfield township, Franklin county, population 150.
MOUNT HOLLY, a small town in Randolph, laid out in 1836.
MOUNT PLEASANT, a township in Delaware.
MOUNT PLEASANT, the former Seat of Justice of Mar- tin county, is situated on the west bank of the east fork of White river, on the road from New Albany to Vin- cennes. It was laid out in 1817, population 100.
MOUNT SIDNEY, a small town on the Muscackituck, ten miles south-east of Brownstown.
MOUNT STERLING, a small town in Switzerland county, four miles north of Vevay.
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MOUNT TABOR, a small town on Beanblossom, in Mon- roe, three miles from its mouth, and eleven miles north- west of Bloomington.
MOUNT VERNON, the Seat of Justice of Posey county, was first settled in 1803, by Andrew McFadin, and the site where the town stands was long known by the name of McFadin's Bluff. It contains one Baptist, one Metho- dist and one Presbyterian Church, substantial buildings for the Court House and public offices, two good hotels, and about 200 houses and 1,000 inhabitants. It is situ- ated on the Ohio river sixteen miles above the mouth of the Wabash, twenty-two miles west south-west of Evans- ville, and about 200 south-west of Indianapolis.
MOUNT MERIDIAN, a small town on the National road, in Putnam county, eight miles south-east of Greencastle, and thirty-four west south-west of Indianapolis.
MUD CREEK, a tributary of Sugar creek, in Boone county.
MUD CREEK, in Daviess county, runs south-west into the east fork of White river.
MUD CREEK, a mill stream in Fulton, rises near the south-east corner of the county, and runs south-west into the Tippecanoe.
MUD CREEK, a branch of Wild cat in Howard county.
MUD CREEK, a branch of Eel river, in Morgan county.
MUD LAKE, a small sheet of water in the western part of same county.
MUD CREEK, a small stream in Pulaski county.
MUD CREEK, a tributary of the Mississinewa, in Ran- dolph county.
MUD CREEK, a small stream in Rush county.
MUNCIE CREEK, a small stream in Delaware county.
MUNCIE, originally an Indian town called Muncey- town, or Outainink, was the residence of the MUNSEES, one of the divisions of the Delaware tribe of Indians. See Delaware county, of which it is the Seat of Justice. The present town is, however, on the south side of White river, opposite to the Indian town, which was on the north. The situation is a very fine one, and the popula-
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