The Indiana gazetteer, or topographical dictionary of the State of Indiana, 1849, Part 25

Author:
Publication date: 1849
Publisher: Indianapolis : E. Chamberlain
Number of Pages: 464


USA > Indiana > The Indiana gazetteer, or topographical dictionary of the State of Indiana, 1849 > Part 25


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carding machines, eight tanneries, eighteen stores, five groceries, one printing office, two lawyers, thirteen phy- sicians, twenty-five preachers, 126 mechanics, of trades most needed, one County Seminary and seventy district schools, in which 4,200 children are instructed about three months in the year.


There are many sinks or caverns in the county, which has lime-stone mostly for its base, where many of the springs and streams fall into the earth and there find sub- terraneous passages, until they unite with larger streams or reappear with larger and stronger currents. See Lost river and Half Moon spring, which are specimens.


The taxable land in the county amounts to 200,000 acres, and about 50,000 have been selected for the Canal Grant.


ORANGE, a south-west township in Fayette, population 1,250.


ORANGE, an eastern township in Noble, population 700.


ORANGE, a south-west township in Rush, population 2,000.


ORLAND, a thriving village in the north-west corner of Steuben county, on Crooked creek, ten miles north-west of Angola. The population is about 300. .


ORLEANS, a pleasant village, with a beautiful country around it, in the north part of Orange county, eight miles north of Paoli. It contains 85 houses.


OSSIAN, a small town in Wells county.


OsWEGO, a small town at the outlet of Tippecanoe lake, in Kosciusko county, six miles north-east of War- saw. It contains a population of 250.


OTTER CREEK, a western township in Ripley, popula- tion 550.


OTTER VILLAGE, a small town in the west part of Ripley.


OTTER CREEK, a mill stream, rises in the north part of Clay, and runs west through the north of Vigo into the Wabash.


OTTER CREEK, a northern township in Vigo, popula- tion 1,000.


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OUIATENON, or Wea Town, an old Indian town and Mission, eight miles below Lafayette. When destroyed by Gen. Scott in 1791, it contained 70 houses, some of them well built and furnished, a large Mission house, two stores, a smith's shop, &c.


OWEN COUNTY, organized in 1819, was named in honor of Col. Abraham Owen, of Kentucky, who was killed in the battle of Tippecanoe, while serving as a volunteer aid to Gen. Harrison. It is bounded north by Putnam, east by Morgan and Monroe, south by Greene, and west by Clay, and contains 396 square miles. The civil divi- sions into townships are Harrison, Wayne and Clay in the east, Franklin and Jefferson on the south, Marion and Morgan on the west, Jackson, Jennings and Taylor on the north, and Montgomery, Washington and La- fayette in the interior. The population in 1830 was 4,060, in 1840, 8,359, and at this time about 12,000. With the exception of the bottoms of White river, which in general are large and fertile, and a few tracts of level, wet land, when drained, well adapted to grass, the bal- ance of the county is undulating or rolling, a medium between the hilly region farther east and the level coun- try on the north, west and south. The upland portion is generally a rich, clay soil, and well adapted to corn, wheat, oats, grass, and other articles common to the cli- mate. The timber is mostly of a good quality. Iron ore and coal are found in abundance in the southern and western part of the county. The former is known to the manufacturer by the name of " liver ore," is destitute of manganese, and contains 443 per cent. of pure metal. This ore is very easy of access.


The surplus articles exported in 1848, were, 24,534 hogs, 57,760 bushels of wheat, 18,000 do. of corn, which, with tobacco and other articles of marketing, make the whole amount about the value of $200,000.


There are in Owen county about twenty grist mills, twenty-one saw mills, four carding machines, one print- ing office, fifteen stores, two groceries, five lawyers, four-


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teen physicians, thirteen preachers, nine Christian, seven Baptist, six Methodist and two Presbyterian churches, and eighty-four mechanics of the trades most in demand.


The falls of Eel river furnish the best water power, and are among the most remarkable curiosities in the State. They are three-fourths of a mile apart, the upper fall is 45 feet within a short distance, the lower fall is 35 feet perpendicular. The proprietors of these falls, though they have often talked of making large improvements there, have as yet done but little. Iron ore is abundant in the vicinity. It is much to be regretted that such fa- cilities for valuable and important improvements should not attract the attention to which they have such claims.


The taxable land in the county amounts to 165,768 acres, 19,000 acres have been selected for Canal lands.


The first settlement in Owen county was made about the beginning of 1817, by John Dunn, Philip Hart, David Thomas and Samuel Bigger. The first church organized and the first meeting house and mill built was in 1819. Previous to that time, grain was sent about sixty miles to be ground. As a memorial of old customs, it appears that at the sale of lots for the County Seat in 1821, the county board allowed $9 87} for whiskey to treat the bidders. Now there is no one authorized to retail spi- rits, a majority of the citizens having decided not to allow licenses.


OWEN, a township in Clark, population 900.,


OWEN, an interior township in Clinton, population 650.


OWEN, a western township in Jackson, population 1,050.


OWENSVILLE, a small town in Gibson county, nine miles south-west of Princeton.


OWL CREEK, a mill stream in Fulton county.


OWL PRAIRIE, SO called from its being contiguous to the camp and hunting ground of a Delaware chief of that name. It is situated in Daviess county, sixteen miles north of Washington, and is a high, level, and fertile tract of land containing 1,500 or 2,000 acres.


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TOPOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS.


OXFORD, the County Seat of Benton county, is situated on the road from Lafayette to Chicago, 20 miles from the former and 110 from the latter, and 20 north of Williamsport. It was first settled in 1847, by H. T. Howard.


Ox FORK, a mill stream in the west part of Scott county, running north into Stucker's Fork.


ODD FELLOWS .- This remarkable Society, though it was introduced into this State at a late period, has ra- pidly increased in numbers.


The first subordinate lodge was established at New Albany, by virtue of a charter granted by the Grand Lodge of the United States, on the 9th October, 1835, upon the petition of "Joseph Barclay and others." This lodge, though very successful for a few years, -- reporting for the years 1836-7 a revenue of $1,013 84,-subse- quently became extinct. Other subordinate lodges were also established under the authority of the Grand Lodge of the United States.


On the 17th May, 1837, (New Albany Lodge, No. 1, Monroe Lodge, No. 2, of Madison, and - Lodge, No. - , having petitioned for the same), a charter for a State Grand Lodge was granted by the Grand Lodge of the United States, which was instituted at New Albany, on the 14th August. 1837. The Grand Lodge of the State was removed to Madison in 1842, and to Indian- apolis in January, 1846, at which latter place its sessions are now held on the third Tuesdays in July and January.


By the report of the State Grand Lodge to the Grand Lodge of the United States for the year ending Septem- ber, 1839, it appears that the total number of subordi- nate lodges was four, total number of contributing mem- bers 20S; total revenues $2,235 21.


By the proceedings of the State Grand Lodge, July session, 1849, it appears that the number of subordinate lodges had increased to sixty; number of contributing members 2,665; total revenues $17,762 12; (the report to the Grand Lodge of the United States for the year ending June 30, 1849, states these revenues at $31,202 23


's


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INDIANA GAZETTEER.


73.) Amount paid for relief of 269 brothers, $3,263 34; for education of orphans $142 13; for burying the dead $505 00; total relief, $4,180 47.


The Grand Masters, and their terms of service, are as follows:


In 1837-S, Joseph Barclay or Barkley; in 183S-9, Richard D. Evans; in 1839-40, William Ford; in 1840-1, Christian Bucher; in IS41-2, John Neal; in 1842-3, James W. Hinds; in 1843-4, Noah H. Cobb; in IS44-5, William Cross; in 1845-6, John H. Taylor; in 1846-7,. Joel B. McFarland; in 1847-8, John Green; in 1848-9, Philander B. Brown; in IS49-50, Job B. Eldredge.


The Encampment branch of this order has also begun to flourish, under the auspices of the Grand Encamp- ment, established at Indianapolis, on the 10th January, IS47.


According to reports to Grand Encampment for the year ending June, 1849, the number of subordinate En- campments was 17; number of members, 340; total revenue, $1,277 44; total relief, $207 00.


PAINT CREEK, a tributary of Deer creek, in Carroll county.


PALESTINE, a small town on Sugar creek, in Hancock county.


PALESTINE, a small town in the south-west of Monroe, on Indian creek.


PALMYRA, a small town in Morgan township, Harrison county.


PALMYRA, a small town in Rush, nine miles south-east of Rushville.


PAOLI, the Seat of Justice of Orange county, was first settled in 1816. It is situated near the centre of the county, on the turnpike from New Albany to Vincennes, forty miles from the former, sixty-four from the latter, and 100 nearly south of Indianapolis. It contains ex- cellent county buildings, a County Seminary, a Metho- dist and a Presbyterian Church, 150 houses, of which five only are brick, and 400 inhabitants.


PARISH GROVE, a western township in Benton county,


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population 250. This township derives its name from that of the grove in the Grand prairie at a distance from any other timber, which has long been a noted landmark for travellers.


PARIS, a pleasant village, near the south line of Jen- nings county, eleven miles south of Vernon, and seven- teen north-west of Madison. It contains 4S houses and about 250 inhabitants.


PARIS, a small town in the north part of Posey county.


PARKE COUNTY, organized in 1821, was named in honor of Benjamin Parke, the first member of Congress for the Territory, and afterwards a Territorial and then a District Judge. It is bounded north by Fountain and Montgomery, east by Putnam, south by Clay and Vigo, and west by the Wabash, and it contains about 440 square miles. The civil townships are Adams, Washing- ton, Sugar Creek, Liberty, Reserve, Wabash, Florida, Rackoon, Union, Jackson and Green. The population in IS30 was 7,534, in 1840, 13,499, and at this time about 18,000. At least two-thirds of the county is either level or slightly undulating, the balance is more undulat- ing, and in places swells into hills, which usually have no great elevation. There are several small, rich prairies, with well timbered lands adjacent, and there are some sandy and poor barrens, but more than three-fourths of the county was originally covered with fine forests of oak, walnut, sugar, beech, ash and hickory. The soil is mostly a black loam with a mixture of sand, easily cul- tivated, and equal in fertility to any part of the west. To this also add the fine water power that may be had on Sugar and Rackoon creeks, and their numerous branches, the beds of coal and iron ore, and the location on the Wabash river and the Wabash and Erie Canal, and this may, in most respects, be esteemed the best county in the State. The surplus articles exported in a year, have been found to be 100,000 bushels of corn, 50,000 do. wheat, 20,000 do oats, 20,000 barrels of flour, 20,000 hogs, 3,000 head of cattle, and 200 horses and


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mules, estimated to be worth over $300,000, and all the product of the county.


There are in the county twenty grist mills, twenty- four saw mill-, six carding machines, thirty-one stores, six groceries, two printing offices, seven lawyers, twenty- five physicians, twenty-five preachers and 275 mechanics. There is a County Seminary at Rockville with fifty stu- dents, and a Female Seminary with forty, and of 6,252 children between 5 and 21 years of age, 5,200 attend school from three to six months in the year. The pre- vailing religious denominations are Presbyterians, Meth- odists, Baptists and Christians.


The taxable land amounts to 261,438 acres; 9,320 acres more have been purchased but are not yet taxable, and 7,610 acres still belong to the United States.


PARKERSBURGH, a small town in Montgomery county, twelve miles south of Crawfordsville.


PATOKA RIVER rises in the southern part of Orange, and runs west through Crawford, Dubois, Pike and Gib- son, and falls into the Wabash just below the mouth of White river. It is about 100 miles in length, is 50 yards wide, and is navigable in high water over 60 miles.


PATOKA, a north-west township in Crawford.


PATOKA, a south-west township in Dubois, population 1,400.


PATOKA, a central township in Gibson, population 2,750.


PATOKA, a township in Pike, with a population of 730.


PAWPAW, a mill stream in Wabash county, runs west into Miami, and falls into Eel river.


PAYNESVILLE, a small town on the National road, in Wayne county.


PENDLETON, a flourishing village at the Falls of Fall creek, in Madison county, named after the proprietor, was first settled in 1826; a mill, however, had been built on the school section, at the Falls, previously. It now contains 75 houses and a population of 400. There are very fine quarries of lime-stone, and also marble, in


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the vicinity, the water power is valuable, the country around is fertile, beautifully undulating and healthy, and the opening of the Bellefontaine Railroad, which will soon be completed to this place, will make it an important point.


PENN, a north-west township in Jay county, popula- tion 700, first settled in 1834, by Moses Hamilton.


PENN, an eastern township in St. Joseph county.


PENNSYLVANIABURGHI, a small town in the north part of Ripley.


PERRY COUNTY, organized in 1814, was named in ho- nor of the gallant Commodore Oliver H. Perry. It con- tains about 400 square miles, and is bounded north by Dubois and Crawford, east by Crawford and the Ohio river, south by the Ohio, and west by Spencer and Du- bois. The civil townships are Troy, Deer Creek, Ander- son, Clark, Tobin, Union, Oil and Leopold. The popu- lation in 1830 was 3,378, in 1840, 4,655, and at this time about 8,000. With the exception of about 20,000 acres of bottom land along the Ohio and Anderson, and some tracts of wet beech lands at the heads of the streams, the balance of the county is very hilly. On the bottoms and a portion of the hill sides and tops, the soil is rich, but much the largest part of the county is what is usually denominated poor land, though there is but a small part of it which may not, with careful farming, be made productive. The timber is generally of an excellent quality, and the best of oak and poplar are found on the hills; and in the bottoms, sugar, beech, ash and walnut. The surplus articles exported are corn, hay, pork and various kinds of marketing supplied mostly by the river bottoms, for as yet very little surplus is brought from the interior. The trade in wood and coal for the steamboats on the Ohio is becoming large, and employs a great many hands.


There are in the county seventeen grist and saw mills, twenty-five stores, ten groceries, fifteen ware-houses, five lawyers, fourteen physicians, twenty preachers and 250 mechanics. There are eleven churches, of which five are


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Baptist, two Methodist, three Catholic, and one Unita- rian. The taxable land in the county amounts to 75,665 acres, while the remaining 179,000 acres has either been too recently purchased to be taxed, or has been selected for Canal lands, or still belongs to the United States, which is the case with the most of it.


In the first settlement of Perry, the business of hunt- ing engaged the attention of many of the people, to pro- cure even their necessary food, and on occasions, the women were not less fearless and efficient than the other sex. Among the incidents that occurred in the early history of the county, is the following: John Archibald and his wife, having succeeded in treeing a bear, cut down the tree, which unfortunately fell on the husband, broke his leg, and held him fast to the ground. In the hurry of the moment the wife never noticed the accident, but she and the dogs pursued the bear for a mile or two, when he was brought to bay and she came up and killed him. For the first time she then missed her husband, and hastily returning relieved him from his unpleasant situation. Mr. A. is still alive, though he never obtained the perfect use of his limbs again.


The abundant and easily accessible veins of coal in Perry county, which, with other facilities, are described under the head " CANNELTON," early attracted the atten- tion of capitalists to the expediency of establishing man- factories there on a large scale, and the INDIANA POTTERY, for making Queensware, was built up near Troy some twelve years ago, at a heavy expense. Workmen were brought from England, who became unmanageable here, and faithless or incompetent agents rendered the effort a failure in a great measure; but the company are not yet discouraged, and they still expect to prosecute the busi- ness with success.


The American Cannel Coal Company, with a capital of $500,000, was incorporated in 1836. This Company proceeded to purchase 7,000 acres of land, of which 5,000 acres are coal lands. They commenced the working of coal, and last year employed eighty miners, and sold


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Lords Coal Mines


Castletu


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TOPOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS.


at the bank over 400,000 bushels of coal. They laid out the town, the site of which is on a bend of the Ohio, and embraces over 1,000 acres between the river and the coal hills. Lots of from two to four acres, above the highest floods, have been laid out for cotton and other mills, from which railroads will be made to the coal and also to the landing, which is a very fine one. In pro- viding for the growth of the town and the encourage- ment of manufactures, the rent for coal of only one cent per bushel for twenty-five years will be charged, while the cost for digging is only two cents per bushel. The inducements for building up a large manufacturing town are power, ample, cheap and certain; cheap food; faci- lities for transportation; nearness to the market to be supplied and the materials to be manufactured; healthy situation, with the best and cheapest building materials. The legislature of Indiana have also granted twelve char- ters of the most liberal character, for manufacturing es- tablishments, and two of these, the CANNELTON COTTON MILL, and the INDIANA COTTON MILL, have been organ- ized and will soon be in operation. The former will contain 10,500 spindles, and corresponding machinery for making sheetings, and will employ about 375 opera- tives. The factory will be of stone 272 feet long, 65 feet wide, and four stories high. This building, with the ware-house, superintendent's house, and twenty-five boarding houses for operatives, all now in progress, will occupy a lot of eight acres on the bank of the Ohio, where the navigation is rarely interrupted, and within one-third of a mile of an inexhaustible and rich coal bed.


The INDIANA COTTON MILL is to contain, at present, 2,000 spindles, and will make coarse tickings and cotton flannel. Gen. C. T. James, of Providence, Rhode Island, is the Contractor for these works, and A. McGregor, of Newport, Rhode Island, the Engineer. The machinery will be of the most perfect kind, from the establishment of W. Mason & Co., Taunton, Mass.


This enterprise is intended to be but the beginning of a


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movement which may result in giving the control of the price of cotton to the country, where it is produced. It may, too, operate as a check to over production, by giv- ing cotton planters other means of investment besides lands and slaves, and it may result in changing the cha- racter of the present cotton manufacturing districts of the world, for the coal districts in the vicinity, and the fertile and healthy regions around, present opportunities for the increase of manufactures to an unlimited extent. The wealth of Indiana may eventually be concentrated in this part of the State, which was so long overlooked by emigrants. The present improvements at Cannelton owe their origin to Gen. Seth Hunt, of N. H., a man of sin- gular intelligence and energy, who, in connection with Messrs. Hobart, Williams and Russell, then wealthy capital- ists of Boston, formed the American Cannel Coal Company, purchased the lands, and procured several entries to be opened to the coal strata. If the respective companies do not calculate on too large profits, and relying on these, neglect the system, attention and economy which manufacturing establishments every where require, they will scarcely fail of success. It is this neglect which has occasioned so many failures in the efforts to build up manufactories in the west.


PERRY, a northern township in Allen, population 675.


PERRY, a northern township in Boone, population 620.


PERRY, a western township in Clay, population 625.


PERRY, a south-west township in Clinton, population 800.


PERRY, a township in Delaware.


PERRY, a north-west township in Lawrence, popula- tion 1,800.


PERRY, a southern township in Marion, population 2,200. .


PERRY, a western township in Martin, population 1,200.


PERRY, a northern township in Miami, population 930.


PERRY, a southern township in Monroe, population 1,050.


CANNELTON MILL CANNELTON.


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TOPOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS.


PERRY, a western township in Noble, population 1,200.


PERRY, an eastern township in Tippecanoe, popula- tion 700.


PERRY, a western township in Vanderburgh, popula- tion 500.


PERRY, a north-west township in Wayne, population S00.


PERRYSBURGH, a small town in the north-west part of Miami county.


PERRYSVILLE, the largest town in Vermillion county, is situated on the west bank of the Wabash, fourteen miles north of Newport. It was laid out in the year 1825, by James Blair. It contains a steam mill, two churches, and is a good business point from its connec- tion with a rich country back of it, and with the Wa- bash and Erie Canal, from which there is a side cut to this place.


PERU, the Seat of Justice of Miami county, is situated near the centre of the county, on the north bank of the Wabash and on the Wabash and Erie Canal, 68 miles north of Indianapolis, 60 west south-west of Fort Wayne, and the same distance east north-east of La- fayette. It was laid out in 1825, by the late Judge Hood. It now contains six churches, one each for the Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Catholics, Old School and New School Presbyterians, over 200 houses and about 1,500 inhabitants. The fine country around Peru, and the enterprise of its citizens, which is doing much to complete the Railroad from Indianapolis to this place, must make it an important point.


PETE CORNSTALK, a small stream in Howard county.


PETERSBURGH, the Seat of Justice of Pike county, is situated one mile south of White river, and four and a half miles below the junction of the east and west forks. It was laid out in 1817, and named after Peter Brenton, who made the principal donation for the pur- pose of obtaining the County Seat. The first settlers were John McIntire, Thomas C. Stewart, Peter Brenton,


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INDIANA GAZETTEER.


Thomas Mead, Thomas Case, John Finn, and others. It contains seven stores, two groceries, three taverns, two churches, 100 dwelling houses, of which five only are brick, and a population of 450. The situation is a very fine one, on an oval, elevated plain, on the east side of Pride's creek, and the country around is very fertile. Peters- burgh is 110 miles south-west of Indianapolis, 20 south- east of Vincennes, and 19 north-east of Princeton.


PHELP'S BRANCH, a small stream in Pulaski county.


PHILADELPHIA, a small town on the National road, at the crossing of Sugar creek, in Hancock county, four and a-half miles west of Greenfield.


PHILOMATH, a small town in the north-west corner of Union county, laid out in 1833, by J. Kidwell and J. Adams, where they attempted for several years to sus- tain a Universalist College and Press, for the dissemina- tion of their sentiments. The attempt proved a failure, for the Press has been removed, and the College aban- doned.


PIERSON, the name of a township and prairie in Pu- laski county.


PIGEON CREEK, or Big Pigeon, as it is often called, is a considerable water course and valuable mill stream, which rises near Princeton, runs south then south-west through Gibson, Warrick and Vanderburgh, and falls into the Ohio at Evansville.




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