USA > Indiana > The Indiana gazetteer : or, topographical dictionary of the state of Indiana, 1850 > Part 14
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BROWNSTOWN, a central township in Jackson county, population 2,000.
BROWNSVILLE, a pleasant village in Union county, on the East Fork of White Water, thirteen miles south of Richmond, four and a half north-west of Liberty, and eight north-east of Connersville. It contains eighty-nine houses, four of brick, the balance frame, churches for the Methodists, Presbyterians and Reformers, three dry goods stores, and a population of 340. It has two min- isters of the gospel and two physicians. The town was laid out in 1816; the first settlers were James Conway, John Smith and Elijah Holland.
BROWNSVILLE, a north-west township in Union county, with a population of 1.640.
BROWN'S WONDER, a small creek in Boone county, a tributary of Sugar creek.
BRUCE'S LAKE, a fine sheet of water covering 500 or 600 acres, and lying partly in Fulton and partly in Pu- laski counties.
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BRUCEVILLE, a small village in Knox County, eight miles north-east of Vincennes, in a very fertile region of country.
BRUNERSTOWN, a small village on the west side of Put- nam county.
BRUSHY PRAIRIE, east side of Lagrange county, Spring- field township.
BRYANT'S CREEK, a small stream in Switzerland county, running south into the Ohio near Warsaw.
BRYANTSVILLE, a small village in Lawrence county, ten miles from Bedford.
BUCK CREEK, the principal branch of Richland creek, in Greene county.
BUCK CREEK, a beautiful stream that takes its rise on the west side of Hancock county, then runs into Ma- rion, and pursuing a south course, empties into Sugar creek, in Shelby county.
BUCK CREEK, a good mill stream, thirty miles in length, that rises in the east part of Harrison county and emp- ties into the Ohio at Mauksport.
BUCK CREEK, a first rate mill stream, rising in Henry county, runs north-west and empties into the West Fork of White river, near Yorktown.
BUCK CREEK, a small stream in Marion county, runs west into White river, nine miles below Indianapolis.
BUCK CREEK, a small stream in Tippecanoe county, emptying into the Wabash.
BUCK CREEK, a township in Hancock county, with a population of 450.
BUCKHART'S CREEK, a mill stream in Morgan county, emptying into White river from the west.
BUENA VISTA, a small village in the north-east corner of Monroe county.
BULL CREEK, a small stream in the north part of Clark county, running south into the Ohio river.
BULL CREEK, a mill stream in Huntington county, run- ning south into Little river.
BULLSKIN, a wet prairie in Blackford county.
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BURCH CREEK, a branch of Eel river, in Clay county, about twenty miles in length.
BURLINGTON, a small village on the Michigan road, in Carroll county, on the south side of Wild Cat, eighteen miles south of Logansport and fifty-two north of Indian- apolis. It is beautifully situated in a fertile part of the country, and contains about thirty houses.
BURLINGTON, a small town in Delaware county, on Prairie creek, seven miles south-east of Muncietown. It contains two stores, a physician, a tavern, a Presbyterian Church and twelve families.
BURLINGTON, a small town in Rush county, on the Indianapolis State road, eight miles north-west of Rushville.
BURNET'S CREEK, a small stream in the north-east cor- ner of Carroll county, emptying into the Wabash on the north side, near Lockport.
BURNET'S CREEK, a mill stream in Morgan county, emptying into White river on the west side.
BURNET'S CREEK, a mill stream on the west side of the Wabash, Tippecanoe county, near which the battle of 7th November, ISI1, was fought. It empties into the Wabash four miles above Lafayette.
BUSH CREEK, a tributary of the Mississinewa, in Ran- dolph county.
BUSSERO CREEK rises in Vigo county, runs south-west through Sullivan and empties into the Wabash in Knox county. It is about fifty miles in length, and in high water may be navigated with flat-boats for half that dis- tance. There are several good mills on this stream.
BUSSERO PRAIRIE, a rich and very fertile prairie, con- taining some 12,000 acres, in the north-west part of Knox county. A portion of it was formerly well cultivated by the Shakers, who had a flourishing village on its bor- ders; but they left the State many years since.
BUSSERO, a north-western township in Knox county.
BUTLER, a south-western township in DeKalb county, with a population of 450.
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BUTLER, a township in Miami county, with a popula- tion of 600.
BUTTERMILK, the name of a prairie in Sullivan county.
BUTTERNUT, a good mill stream in Jay county, a tribu- tary of the Salamonie.
BYRNEVILLE, a small town in Morgan township, Hai- rison county.
CABIN CREEK, a small stream in Randolph county, rises near Huntsville and runs north-west into White river, near Windsor.
CAIN, an eastern township in Fountain county, with a population of 1,100.
CALEDONIA, a small town on Bussero creek, east side of Sullivan county.
CALF CREEK, a small mill stream, running south into Little river, on the east side of Huntington county.
CALUMICK is a small river that rises on the west side of Laporte county, and runs west nearly parallel with Lake Michigan through Porter and Lake counties into Illinois; then a part of it empties into the Lake fifteen miles north-east of Chicago; the other part returns di- rectly east, parallel with its former course, and only three or four miles north of it, and then connects with the Lake at its extreme southern bend. The name was derived from Calumet, the Indian "Pipe of Peace." The original Indian name of the river was Ken-no-mo- konk.
CAMBRIDGE CITY is on the west side of Wayne county, where the National road crosses the White Water Canal, nine miles west of Centreville and fifty-two miles east of Indianapolis. It is a beautifully situated and flourishing village, containing a population of 1,200. The frequent interruptions of the Canal business by high floods, has heretofore retarded the improvement of this place to some extent; but the fertility of the country around, the water power and other advantages in the vicinity, can- not fail to make it a town of much importance whenever the banks of the Canal become so firm as to be secure from accident.
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CAMDEN, a pleasant village on the east bank of the Salamonie, in Jay county, eleven miles north-west of Portland. It was laid out in 1837; Henry Z. Jenkins and John D. Jones were the first settlers. It has an institution called the Penn Seminary, two stores, and a . population of 250.
CAMP CREEK, a mill stream in Clark county, emptying into the Ohio three miles below Bethlehem.
CAMP CREEK, a small stream in the south part of Da- viess county, emptying into the East Fork of White river.
CAMP CREEK, a small stream in Jefferson county, run- ning past Dupont and emptying into Big creek.
CAMPBELL'S CREEK, a small stream in Delaware county. CAMPBELL'S CREEK, a good mill stream in Huntington county. 1
CAMPBELL, a township in the north-west part of War- rick county.
CANNELTON, a post town in Perry county, four miles below the mouth of Deer creek and six above Troy, at the mouth of Anderson river. It now contains 600 in- habitants; but the indications of its rapid growth are evident from the superiority of its position and the rich- ness of its beds of coal, fire-clay, building stone, &c. During the two last sessions of the Legislature, ten charters, with an aggregate capital of several millions of dollars, were obtained for manufactories at this point, presenting as it does, in the opinion of practical and scientific men, advantages for the manufacturing of cotton, iron, hemp, wool, glass and stone ware not found in any other place in combination. The coal in the hills immediately back of the town, is of the best quality, is inexhaustible and easy of access, and is underlaid by excellent fire-clay. In the same hills, fire-stone and sand-stone, of a superior quality for building, are found in great abundance ; and near the bank, common clay and sharp white sand in large deposites. The vast influence which steam is to exert upon the growth of the manufacturing skill and industry of the great Western valley, deficient as it is in
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water power, and the immense importance that will be attached to coal for the supply of the fleets of steamers that will bear its commerce over its long diverging ave- nues of trade, extending from points thousands of miles asunder, and requiring voyages equal in length to the passage of the Atlantic, will make coal deposits a subject of deep interest to the Statesman, and to all who have an interest in the prosperity of these favored regions. Most bountiful is the supply of mineral wealth to this richest seat of nature's munificence, and doubtless will equal the most extended use which her other gifts can ever demand.
The following extracts from the report of Mr. Law- rence, a practical geologist, will be read with interest, as containing an accurate description of that part of the great " Illinois Coal field," which touches the Ohio at this point.
"The whole coal field, of which the point I refer to forms a part, occupies a portion of five States, extending from near Bowlinggreen, Kentucky, to the mouth of Rock river, Illinois, and from St. Louis, Missouri, to near Bloomington, Iowa, being about 500 miles in length and 200 wide, containing 70,000 square miles. It is not very likely, however, that any considerable part of this vast body of coal will be of any practical value to the pre- sent generation, but there it will lie, where a wise Provi- dence has placed it, a fund of future wealth which no man, at this time, can estimate. To the practical miner of the present time, the important inquiry is, where in this ex- tended field, is the most favorable combination of· cir- cumstances for the employment of labor and capital in mining coal? Feeling that this subject is every day ac- quiring more importance, I have spent much time in the study of this great coal field, and I shall confine the rest of my remarks to that portion of it which, in my opinion, offers superior advantages in respect not only to the quality of the coal, but to the facility and cheapness with which it can be furnished for use. The point to which I allude is Cannelton and its vicinity, on the north bank of
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the Ohio. The undoubted health, as well as the beauty of the location, the abundance and excellent quality of the coal, its commanding position on the lower Ohio, where navigation is not often interrupted, either by ice or low water, renders it a point of uncommon interest. The business of mining coal is becoming important, and whether viewed as a depot for the supply of fuel for na- vigation or domestic purposes, or as a future manufactur- ing city, it must be looked upon as a place of much future consequence.
" In order to give a definite idea of the exact position of the coal and of the method of mining it, I give the fol- lowing description of the strata in a section of five miles along the Ohio. The dip, or incline, is to the west or to- wards the river at this place, at the rate of about fifty feet to the mile. First, or lowest, is a bed of green argillaceous shale or slaty clay, containing occasional thin layers of argillaceous iron ore. It is destitute of fossils, and its thickness as seen higher up the river is about eighty feet. Second, is lime-stone, about twenty feet thick, filled with small organic remains, &c. Third, is a true conglomerate of mill-stone grit, consisting almost entirely of quartz, gra- vel and coarse sand, without any visible cement. Its thick- ness is thirty-six feet. Fourth, is a fine grained sand- stone of remarkable uniformity of texture, and in the size of its particles. It has a single stratification, which causes it to split readily into square blocks. When first quarried, it is very soft and easily worked; but it soon hardens, which renders it an excellent and valuable build- ing material, and is the same kind of stone, it is stated by Dr. Owen, which was used in the construction of Melrose Abbey, which is 700 years old, and whose cornices are still as sharp and perfect as if they had been carved only a few years ago. The thickness of this bed is about thirty feet. Fifth, is about fifty feet thick, and consists of a confused mixture of sand, shaly matter and iron ore. Sixth, is argillaceous shale, including one of the most valuable beds of coal found anywhere in our coun- try. The whole varis, in thickness from about twenty
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to thirty feet. The upper and lower portions are light colored, but grow darker towards the centre, until it be- comes perfectly black in the middle. On the darkest portions of the shale lies the bed of coal, the thickness of which varies from three to four, and sometimes about five feet. But it is not its thickness that particularly recom- mends it; it is its excellent quality, the freedom of the mines from water, and. its nearness to the river. It leaves no cinder in the grate, and only 2.11 per cent. is white ashes. It resembles in appearance and burns like the Cannel coal, and it has been so called ; but it is considered by the best judges as belonging to the bitu- minous variety. Seventh, is sand-stone, about eighty feet thick. Above this sand-stone is another bed of coal, but too thin to be worked in this vicinity, though it ob- tains a workable thickness in other places. Tenth, is a bed of impure lime-stone, and eleventh is sand-stone, that tops out the hill."
The section of the coal seam at Cannelton increases in thickness in the interior, as whe e it is cut by the White, Eel and Wabash rivers, it is from six to ten feet thick. At Cannelton each acre now worked will yield 120,000 bushels, so that the amount near that place may be said to be almost inexhaustible.
Here, then, in this free and rapidly growing State, on the banks of the Ohio, is the power which is already at- tracting capital, enterprise and labor. The strong ten- dency of accessible coal fields, where the climate is favor- able to health and where food is cheap, is to attract a dense population. All the important manufacturing cities of England are on or near coal regions. The 100,000 artizans, factors, and others in and about Pitts- burgh, are evidence of the same tendency in our own country, and it is safe to infer like effects from like causes.
The importance of this coal field to Indiana, the wealth that is to be dug out of her hills, so long overlooked, the home market that will here be made for our agricultural products, the capital and population which will be at-
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tracted from abroad by this affluent combination of man- ufacturing advantages, warrant the anticipation that Cannelton, at no distant day, may become a large and important manufacturing city; nor will it be the only one on the lower Ohio and the other rivers penetrating the State, which, at navigable points, touch this great coal field. There are now about fifty stone and one hundred frame houses in Cannelton, and many more are now in the process of erection. The town was first laid out in 1835, and settled by colliers under the supervision of Rhodes and McLane. Afterwards the American Cannel Coal Company took charge of the concern. A more particular description of the manufactories in operation and in progress will be given under the head of Perry county.
CANTON, the county seat of Tipton, for particulars see Tipton county.
CARLISLE, the principal town in Sullivan county, is situated ten miles south of the County Seat and six miles from the Wabash river, twenty-two miles north-east of Vincennes and 110 miles south-west of Indianapolis. It was laid out in 1814, by James Sproul. The first set- tlers were Samuel Ledgerwood and William McFar- land. It has a High School, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, about 100 houses, and 600 inhabitants.
CARR, a western township in Jackson county, with a population of 900.
CARROLL County was organized in IS28, and contains 376 square miles. It was named after the venerable Charles Carroll, then the sole survivor of those who signed the Declaration of Independence. It is bound- ed on the north by White and Cass counties, on the east by Howard, on the south by Clinton, and on the west by Tippecanoe and White. It is divided into thirteen civil townships, Deer Creek, Tippecanoe, Jefferson, Adams, Rock Creek, Washington, Carrolton, Burlington, Demo- crat, Clay, Madison, Monroe and Jackson. The popu-, lation of the county in 1830 was 1,614, in 1840 it was 7,819, now it must be about 12,000. The face of the
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country is undulating along the Wabash, Tippecanoe and Wild Cat, which are the principal streams; in other places it is level. About one-fifth of the county was originally dry prairie, the balance forest, consisting mostly of oak, walnut, poplar, beech and sugar tree. The soil is generally a rich loam, well adapted to corn, wheat, hemp, tobacco, rye, grass, &c., and these with cattle, hogs and horses are the principal surplus articles raised for ex- portation. There are in the county eighteen stores, ten groceries, eight warehouses, seven lawyers, seventeen physicians, eighteen preachers, the usual proportion of mechanics, twenty-five grist mills, twenty saw mills, one woollen factory, one foundry, &c.
The Wabash, which is usually navigable four or five months in the year, and the Wabash and Erie Canal which runs through the whole length of the county, fur- nish great facilities for trade and the exportation of pro- duce, while the large dam across the Wabash at Pitts- burgh, and the other water power in the county on the Tippecanoe, Wild Cat and Deer creek, which may be used to almost any extent, will, with its rich soil and favorable situation, make Carroll one of the most im- portant counties of the State.
There is no land belonging to the United States in the county, and the number of acres subject to taxation is 227,372.
CARROLLTON, a township in Carroll county, with a population of 550.
CARTER, a northern township in Spencer county, with a population of 800.
CARTHAGE, the second town in size in Rush county, is beautifully situated on the east side of Blue river, ten miles north-west of Rushville. It has good water power and there are excellent mills in the vicinity, and as the Shelbyville and Knightstown Railroad will soon be com- pleted through the place, it will become an important point.
CASS COUNTY, named after the Hon. Lewis Cass, was organized in 1829, and contains 420 square miles. It is
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bounded north by the counties of Pulaski and Fulton, east by Miami, south by Howard and Carroll, and west by Carroll and White. It is divided into fifteen town- ships, of which Bethlehem, Adams, Clay, Harrison, No- ble, Jefferson, Miami, Eel and Boone lie north of the Wabash river, and Clinton, Washington, Tipton, Deer Creek and Jackson, which lie south of the river. The population of the county in 1830, was 1,154; in 1840 it was 5,480, and it is now about 10,500. The borders of the Wabash and Eel rivers are undulating or hilly, the other parts of the county level. All the south part is heavily timbered bottoms or table land, the centre is mostly bottom or high bluff land, and the north is prin- cipally prairie. The latter is best adapted to wheat and small grain, the bottoms for corn, and the high timbered lands for a fair crop of any kind of grain or grass.
There are in the county fifteen saw mills, six flouring mills, one of which can manufacture 1,000 bushels of wheat a day, an extensive saleratus factory, fourteen dry goods stores, six grocery and provision stores, seven ware-houses, twelve lawyers, nine ministers of the gos- pel, twelve physicians, twenty-seven blacksmiths, twenty- eight shoemakers, eighteen tailors, eight saddlers, ten cabinet makers, fifty carpenters, six wagon makers, four tanners, three gunsmiths, two chair makers, two hat- ters, &c.
The Wabash and Eel rivers run swiftly through the county, have high banks and solid rock bottoms, and af- ford an immense amount of water power that will here- after be brought into use. Twelve Mile, Pipe and Crooked creeks are also excellent mill streams, with simi- lar advantages on a smaller scale.
Iron ore is found in abundance in the marshes in the north part of the couuty, and also in the Logansport bluffs. Building stone, of the best quality, is abundant, and the Court House, County Seminary, and Old School Presbyterian Church, are fine structures built of stone, and would appear well in any of the western cities. The amount of produce exported from the county an-
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nually is estimated to be worth $250,000. The articles consist of 25,000 barrels flour, 50,000 bushels of wheat and corn, pork, oats, potatoes, &c. The amount of tax- able land in the county is 200,063 acres. There is yet 63,500 acres not taxable, comprising that part of the Miami Reserve which has been sold within five years, or which still belongs to the United States.
The only lakes in the county are Georgetown Lake, near that place, Fletcher's Lake, in the north part of the county, and Twin Lake, near the centre. 'None of them exceed a square mile in size.
In a prairie south-east of Logansport, there is a spring that boils up from the centre of a mound, six feet above the level surface of the prairie. Three miles below Lo- gansport, is a stream that turns a saw mill on the top of a bluff 150 feet high, then pitches down the whole dis- tance with but few interruptions. This stream has its source only a mile and a half in the rear of the bluff. The town of Kenapacomequa, or l'Anguille, the French name, or Old Town, was destroyed by Gen. Wilkinson in August, 1791, as is heretofore stated in the historical part of the General View of the State, stood on the north bank of Eel river, six miles north-east of Logansport. It was once a considerable town, and extended for two miles and a half along the stream. It was then called a village of the Kickapoos.
CASS, an eastern township in Clay county with 370 in- habitants.
CASS, a township in the south-west corner of Laporte county, with a population of 230.
CASS, a southern township in Ohio county, with a population of 1,000.
CEDAR CREEK, a mill stream about forty miles in length, rises in DeKalb county, runs south into Allen, and empties into the Little St. Joseph.
CEDAR CREEK, a branch of the Kankakee, in Lake county, the outlet of Cedar Lake.
CEDAR CREEK, a northern township in Allen county, with a population of 700.
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INDIANA GAZETTEER.
CEDAR LAKE is situated a little south of the centre of Lake county, and is three miles long and three-fourths of a mile wide. It abounds with the various kinds of fish found in the west.
CEDAR LAKE, In Troy township, Whitley county.
CENTRE, a township in Boone county, with a popula- tion of 1,650.
CENTRE, a township in Dearborn county, with a popu- lation of 2,250.
CENTRE, a township in Delaware county.
CENTRE, a township in Grant county, population 2,500.
CENTRE, a township in Green county, with a popula- tion of 1,275.
CENTRE, a township in Hancock county, population 900.
CENTRE, a township in Hendricks county, population 2,170.
CENTRE, a township in Howard county, population 700.
CENTRE, a township in Laporte county, population 3,070.
CENTRE, a township in Marion county, with a popula- tion of 8,000.
CENTRE, a township in Marshall county, with a popu- lation of 1,800.
CENTRE, a township in Porter county, with a popula- tion of 1,100.
CENTRE, a township in Rush county, with a population of 1,400.
' CENTRE, a township in St. Joseph county.
CENTRE, a township in Vanderburgh county, with a population of 750.
CENTRE, a township in Wayne county, population 3,250.
CENTREVILLE, a small town in Lake county, lying six miles north of Crown Point.
CENTREVILLE, a small town in Spencer county, nine nine miles north of Rockport.
CENTREVILLE, a small town in Vigo county.
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TOPOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS.
CENTREVILLE, the County Seat of Wayne county, is situated near the centre of the county, sixty-one miles east of Indianapolis and six miles west of Richmond. The situation is healthy and pleasant, and all the country around is good farming land, highly improved, well wa- tered, and mills, machinery, and other facilities are so abundant as to render this among the most desirable por- tions of the State. The population of Centreville is now 1,000, and both the public and private buildings indicate the taste and wealth of the citizens.
CELESTINE, a small town in Dubois county, named after the second Bishop of Vincennes. It contains twen- ty-five houses, and its inhabitants are principally Catho- lics.
CESAR CREEK, a south-western township in Dearborn county, has a population of 400.
(. CEYLON, a small town in Posey township, Franklin county.
CHAMBERSBURGH, a small town in Fountain county, on Coal creek, eight miles east of Covington.
CHARLESTOWN, the Seat of Justice of Clark county, is pleasantly situated two miles and a-half from the Ohio river, thirteen miles above the Falls and 106 miles south- east of Indianapolis. It is surrounded by first rate land in a good state of cultivation. The town contains a spacious and convenient Court House, a County Semi- nary, a Female High School, recently established by the Presbytery, both in a good condition; churches for the Episcopal and Reformed Methodists, and for the Baptists and Presbyterians; about 200 dwelling houses and a population of 1,200. Charlestown was first settled in 1808. It has been the residence of many distinguished men in the State.
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