USA > Indiana > The Indiana gazetteer : or, topographical dictionary of the state of Indiana, 1850 > Part 16
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Daviess county contains a variety of soil, from a sandy to a pure clay, adapted to the growth of the arti- cles usually cultivated in the west. The White River bottoms have a rich, black loam, in some places slightly sandy, which will produce heavy crops of corn, hemp, tobacco and small grain, without exhaustion or requiring a change of crops. These bottoms were originally hea- vily timbered, and along the West Fork are from one to two miles wide; on the East Fork about half that width. The north-east part of the county is rolling and heavily timbered; the north-west part level and interspersed with prairies and skirts of timber, the centre is generally level, and what is usually called barrens, the south and east undulating and with heavy timber. Interspersed
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with oak, hickory, gum, &c., are occasional districts con- taining from 1,000 to 5,000 acres of walnut, hackberry, ash and sugar tree timber, and others again of beech growth generally, the soil varying as is usual among such timber in the west. The principal productions of the county are corn, wheat, rye, oats, hay and potatoes, which are usually shipped to New Orleans in flat boats. The stock raised consists of hogs, cattle and horses; the former are slaughtered and sold in Washington to be shipped south; the cattle are sold to drovers for the Louisville and Cincinnati markets, and are generally purchased by persons from other States, so that it is diffi- cult to estimate the value of these articles. The falls on the West Fork of White river are now offered for sale, and when improved, which can be done at a small ex- pense, they may propel a large amount of machinery on both sides of the river.
There are in the county fifteen Methodist Churches and four Ministers, four Catholic Churches and four offi- ciating Clergymen, six Christian Churches and three Ministers, five Baptist Churches and one Minister, two Presbyterian, one Lutheran and three Cumberland Pres- byterian Churches. Common English schools are kept up from three to six months in the year, but no higher branches are taught.
The taxable land in the county amounts to 172,000 acres; 50,000 acres of the vacant land were selected for the Canal grant, and about 45,000 acres still belong to the United States. The most of this is very poor.
DAVIESS, a northern township in Fountain county, pop- ulation 700.
DEARBORN COUNTY was organized in 1802, and named after the soldier and statesman, Gen. Henry Dearborn, at that time the Secretary of War. It lies in the south- east corner of the State, is bounded east by the Ohio river and the State of Ohio, south by Ohio county, west by Ripley and north by Franklin, and contains 307 square miles. In 1830 it had 14,573 inhabitants; in 1840, 19,327, and at this time only about the same num-
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ber, as the county of Ohio has since been created from its limits. Dearborn county is divided into thirteen civil townships, Lawrenceburgh, Harrison, Logan, Miller, Centre, Laughery, Manchester, York, Kelso, Jackson, Sparta, Clay and Cesar's Creek.
The bottoms on the Ohio, Miami and White Water, about 13,000 acres in all, and the west and north-west parts of the county, are level or slightly undulating; the rest broken and hilly. The land in the vicinity of the rivers and creeks, both in the bottoms and on the hills, is a rich, loamy soil, and is not surpassed in the amount of its produce; the interior is well adapted to hay, wheat, &c. The corn is sold to distillers or fed to hogs at home, and much of the wheat made into flour by the millers. It is estimated that three distilleries in the county make $200,000 worth of whiskey and fatten $50,000 worth of pork annually. Of the articles ex- ported from the county in a year, it has been ascertained that they amounted, in 1847, to 131,318 bushels of wheat, 152,802 bushels of oats, 11,000 tons of hay, 500 cattle, 1,500 sheep and 25,000 hogs. To these add the barreled pork, flour, whisky, and other articles exported from the county, and the whole will amount to $1,500,000 a year, though some of the articles, perhaps one-fourth, are the products of the interior counties.
There are in the county sixty stores, forty groceries, forty ware-houses, eight grist mills, six saw mills, five distilleries, one oil mill, one woollen factory, 460 me- chanics, fifteen lawyers, fifteen physicians, fifteen preach- ers of the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopa- lians and Catholics. There is a flourishing County Semi- nary, established at Wilmington in 1835, with fifty stu- dents, a good High School in Lawrenceburgh, with about the same number, and common schools are established throughout the county.
There is no land belonging to the United States, or which is not taxable, in the county.
DECATUR COUNTY, organized in 1821, was named after the gallant Commodore Stephen Decatur. It is bounded
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north by Rush, east by Franklin and Ripley, South by Jennings, and west by Bartholomew and Shelby, and it contains 400 square miles. It is divided into nine town- ships, Washington, Fugit, Clinton, Adams, Clay, Jack- son, Sand Creek, Marion and Salt Creek. The popula- tion in 1830 was 5,854, in 1840 15,553, and at this time about 19,000.
There are no barrens or prairie lands in the county; the face of the country is mostly level, with gentle un- dulations, though on some of the streams it is hilly ; the bottoms are rich, though small; the soil of the upland is generally a rich, black loam, and the timber consists principally of ash, poplar, walnut, sugar tree, oak and beech. Along the east and south line of the county there is some flat, wet land, good for grass, but not adapted to grain. The manufacturing establishments and mechanical trades of the county are merely suffi- cient for home consumption. The staple productions for export are hogs, cattle, horses, mules and wheat, and they are estimated to amount to $150,000 annually. There are in the county thirty-eight stores and groceries, twenty grist mills, twenty saw mills, one woollen fac- tory, of which all but six are propelled by water, twelve lawyers, twenty-three physicians and twenty ministers of the gospel. The County Seminary, at Greensburgh, is in a prosperous condition with about seventy-five pu- pils, and the common school system is in moderately suc- cessful operation throughout the county. The following is the number of churches of the various denominations: four Old School, two New School and one Associate Reformed Presbyterian, ten Baptist, ten Methodist, four Christian and one Catholic. The county of Decatur and its inhabitants, without making any special parade as to literature, morals, or enterprise, may be said to be self- sharpeners, steadily progressing in a variety of ways, and not inferior in respectability to any part of the State.
The taxable land in the county amounts to 224,847 acres, and only between 500 and 1,000 acres still belong to the United States.
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DECATUR, a township in the south-west corner of Ma- rion county, with a population of 1,200.
DECATUR, the County Seat of Adams county, on the west side of St. Mary's river, in Washington township, was first settled in 1837, by Jacob Huffer, Samuel L. Rugg and John Reynolds. There are in Decatur seventy houses, of which three are brick, twenty-one frame, and the residue of logs, with a population of about 400. This town is twenty-four miles south-east from Fort Wayne, twenty-eight miles north of Portland, ten miles west of Willshire, Ohio, and 110 north-east of Indian- apolis.
DECKER, a southern township in Knox county.
DEEP RIVER, a branch of the Calumic, in Lake county.
DEER CREEK, a fine mill stream, rises in the west part of Howard and runs west through Carroll, and empties into the Wabashı near Delphi. It is about forty miles in length.
DEER CREEK, a central township in Carroll county, with a population of 2,500.
DEER CREEK, a small stream in Henry county.
DEER CREEK, a small stream in Miami county, south of the Wabash.
DEER CREEK, a southern township in Miami county, population 300.
DEER CREEK, a small stream in Perry county, runs into the Ohio.
DEER CREEK, a southern township in Perry county, population 1,000.
DEER CREEK, a fine mill stream in Putnam county, runs south-west into Mill creek.
DEERFIELD, a pleasant village on the south bank of the Mississinewa, in Randolph county, seven miles north of Winchester ; first settled in 1832.
DEKALB COUNTY was organized in 1836, and was named in honor of the Baron DeKalb, a German Noble- man, who joined the American army during the revolu- tion, was made a General, and was killed in the battle of
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Camden. It is bounded north by Steuben, east by the State of Ohio, south by Allen and west by Noble county. Its length from east to west is twenty and a half miles, from north to south eighteen miles. The following are the civil townships, viz: Butler, Jackson, Concord, New- ville, Stafford, Wilmington, Union, Richland, Fairfield, Smithfield, Franklin and Troy.
The population of DeKalb county in 1840 was 1,96S; it is now about 6,000. The surface of the country is generally undulating, and with the exception of a few wet prairies, covered mostly with heavy timber. The St. Joseph runs about twelve miles through the south- east corner of. the county, and the other parts of it are well watered by Cedar creek and its numerous branches. The timber and soil are generally of a very good quality, and the latter is well adapted to wheat, corn, oats, grass, &c. As yet there are no manufacturing establishments of any consequence, and though there are twelve saw mills, there is but one good grist mill. There are five stores, three lawyers, twelve physicians, six preachers, and the usual proportion of carpenters, shoemakers, black- smiths, &c.
The home market up to this time has consumed the products of the county, but the character of the soil is such, that when it is improved, as it soon will be, there will be a large surplus of wheat, flour, pork, beef, and other articles for exportation. At present, whatever sur- plus is exported is taken to Fort Wayne, Toledo, Ohio, or Hillsdale, in Michigan. The prevailing religious de- nominations are Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and United Brethren, and there are several others, less, how- ever, in number.
The number of acres of taxable land in the county is 194,S62, and about 30,000 acres still belong to the United States.
DELANY'S CREEK, a small stream in Washington coun- ty, that runs north into the Muscakituck. DELAWARE COUNTY, organized in 1826, was so named from its having been long the home of the largest divi-
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sion of the Delaware tribe of Indians. It is bounded on the north by Grant and Blackford, on the east by Ran- dolph, on the south by Henry, and on the west by Madi- son, and is nineteen miles east and west and twenty-one north and south, containing 399 square miles. There are twelve civil townships in the county, to-wit: Union, Washington, Delaware, Hamilton, Harrison, Liberty, Centre, Mount Pleasant, Perry, Monroe and Salem. İn 1830, the population was 2,372; in 1840, S,843, and at this time about 12,000.
The face of the country is mostly level or gently un- dulating, even the rivers and creeks not having any con- siderable bluffs or hills in their vicinity. In the south- west, south-east, and north-west parts of the county and near the centre, there are prairies mostly small and not exceeding one-twelfth of the county. They are usually called wet prairies, yet they are easily made tillable, and are excellent for meadow and pasture. The principal growth of timber is oak, hickory, poplar, beech, walnut, sugar, linn, &c., with an undergrowth of hazel, dog- wood, spice, and prickly ash; but the oak land is more extensive than the beech. There are but few acres in the county which cannot be well adapted to some farm- ing purpose. White river in the centre, the Mississinewa in the north, Buck creek, and their numerous tributaries, supply the county abundantly with water power, and there are already eighteen grist mills and thirty saw mills in the county, some of which are not surpassed in the State. This county has heretofore been so distant from good markets, and the roads so bad a portion of the year, that it has improved but slowly the last few years. The In- dianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad, which is now pro- gressing rapidly to completion, has already awakened the slumbering enterprise of the farmers, and there is now every prospect that Delaware will soon be among the richest and best counties in the State.
The taxable land in the county amounts to 249,271 acres. Muncietown, where the Muncie tribe of the Del- awares mostly resided, was on White river, near the pre-
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sent Seat of Justice, though the Indian town was mostly on the north side of the river. Here the prophet brother of Tecumseh resided, and here, until it fell by decay a few years ago, stood the post at which he caused his ene- mies, whites and Indians, to be tortured. David Conner, an Indian trader, was the first white man who settled here. It was through his influence with the tribe that the former use of the post was discontinued during the last war.
DELAWARE, a northern township in Delaware county. DELAWARE, a central township in Ripley county, with a population of 800.
DELPHI, the Seat of Justice of Carroll county, is beau- tifully situated on the high banks of Deer creek, on the Wabash and Erie Canal, one mile east of the Wabash. It was first settled in 1828, by Wm. Wilson, Enoch Cox, D. F. Vandeventer, Aaron Dewey, Andrew Wood and Jos. Dunham. It is surrounded by a very fertile and rapidly improving country, and contains Methodist, Bap- tist, Old School Presbyterian, New School Presbyterian and Episcopalian Churches, about 150 dwelling houses, and 1,000 inhabitants. Delphi is sixty-five miles north- west of Indianapolis, twenty-two west of Logansport, eighteen east of Lafayette, and twenty-two north of Frankfort.
DEMOCRAT, a township in Carroll county, with a popu- lation of 550.
DERBY, a small town in Perry county, on the Ohio river, at the mouth of Oil creek, ten miles above Rome. Its population is about 100.
DES MOINES, or as it is usually called Dismaugh, a beautiful lake in the north-east corner of Laporte county. The name was given at a very early period, and signi- fies "of the Monks," or Lake of the Monks.
DEWIT'S CREEK, a branch of Guthrie's creek, in Law- rence county.
DICK JOHNSON, a north-western township in Clay 'county, population 500.
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DILLSBOROUGH, a small town in Clay township, Dear- born county, fifteen miles south-west of Lawrence- burgh.
DIXON'S LAKE, in Centre township, Marshall county.
DOAN'S CREEK rises in the south-east part of Greene county, and runs west into White river.
DOMAIN, a rich, dry prairie in the south part of La- porte county, containing about two sections of land.
DOOR PRAIRIE, in Laporte county, was named from the narrow gap in the timber at Door Village, which is a translation of the French name, Laporte. It contains in all between seventy and eighty square miles, is proba- bly the richest and most beautiful prairie in the State.
DOOR VILLAGE is located in the gap before referred to, four miles south-west of Laporte.
DORMIN, a small prairie in Laporte county. The word in Indian means corn.
DOVER, a small town in Kelso township, Dearborn county.
DOVER, a new town recently laid out in Wayne county.
DOVER HILL, the new County Seat of Martin county, situated in Perry township, on the road from Mount Pleasant to. Bedford, and contains about fifty inhabitants. It was laid out in 1845.
DREWERSBURGHI, a small town in White Water town- ship, Franklin county.
DRIFTWOOD, or the East Fork of White river, is the interpretation of the Indian name. In French, it was called Embarras. Where Blue river unites with Sugar Creek, though not in all cases until after Flatrock comes in, it loses its former name, and from thence it is uni- formly called the East or Driftwood Fork of White river, until it unites with the West Fork about forty miles above the entrance of White river into the Wa- bash. This stream is navigable only in high water, and then flat boats of almost any size can pass down it about 170 miles without difficulty. For further particulars see the article, " Rivers, &c.," in the General View of the State.
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DRIFTWOOD, a southern township in Jackson county, population 700.
DRY FORK, rises in the east part of Franklin county, then passes into the State of Ohio and empties into White Water.
DUBLIN, a small town on the National road in, Wayne county, eleven miles west of Centreville. It contains about fifty houses and 250 inhabitants.
DUBOIS COUNTY, named in honor of Toussant Dubois, who had charge of the guides and spies in the Tippeca- noe campaign, and who for many years was a hospitable, patriotic and enterprising citizen and merchant of Vin- cennes, was organized in ISIS. It is bounded on the north by the East Fork of White river, east by Orange and Crawford, south by Perry and Spencer, and west by Pike, and contains 420 square miles. It is divided into six civil townships, viz: Columbia, Harbison, Bainbridge, Hall, Patoka and Ferdinand. The population in IS30 was 1,774, in 1840, 3,632, and at this time about 5,600. The north-eastern part of the county is rolling, the other portions level, and about one-fifth of the whole is in the bottoms of White river, Patoka and other streams. A large portion of the county has a very good soil, though considerable tracts are of a different description, and it is estimated that one-eighth of the county is occasionally inundated. There are no prairies in the county, and the most common timber is white and black oak, poplar, walnut, sugar, beech, hickory, &c., with much under- growth of dogwood and spice bush. The principal arti- cles exported from the county are hogs, cattle, horses. corn, &c. There are in the county fourteen stores and groceries, four ware-houses, one brewery, one distillery, three lawyers, seven physicians, three preachers, three Catholic, five Methodist and two Cumberland Presbyte- rian Churches, eight grist and saw mills and two carding machines, and there are fifteen blacksmiths, twenty-nine cabinet-makers, seventeen house carpenters, five mill- wrights and nineteen tailors.
Coal mines are abundant. White river and Patoka
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both admit of being navigated three or four months in the year, and there is no reason but want of enterprise and industry, why Dubois should not be among the rich counties of the State.
DUCK CREEK, a small stream in Franklin county, run- ning south into the West Fork of White Water, eight miles above Brookville.
DUCK CREEK, a small stream in Henry county.
DUCHEIN, a sluggish stream in the south part of Knox county, which runs south-west into the Wabash, called River Duchein.
DUDLEY, a township in Henry county.
DUDLEYTOWN, a small town in Washington township, Jackson county, eight miles east of Brownstown.
DUNLAPSVILLE is in the south-west part of Union county, five miles south-west of Liberty, eight south-east of Connersville, and thirteen north of Brookville, on the west side of the East Fork of White Water. It was laid out in 1817, by John Dunlap, and he, Wm. Nickles and J. W. Scott, were the first settlers. It contains three stores, six shops for mechanics, a large and well finished Presbyterian Church, twenty-five other houses, and about 100 inhabitants.
DUPONT, a pleasant and flourishing village on the Rail- road in Jefferson county, fourteen miles north-west of Madison. It contains about forty houses, the most of which have been built within the last three years.
DURKEE'S RUN, a small stream that empties into the Wabash in Tippecanoe county.
EAGLE CREEK, a fine mill stream rising in Boone county, runs south about forty miles, and empties into White river on the west side, four miles below Indian- apolis. Its Indian name was Lau-a-shinga-paim-honnock, or "Middle of the Valley," so called from the beautiful bottoms that extend along it, sometimes from two to four miles in width. '
EAGLE CREEK, a tributary of the Kankakee, in the eastern part of Lake county.
EAGLE CREEK, a small stream in Wabash county.
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EAGLE, a south-eastern township in Boone county, with a population of 2,000.
EAGLE VILLAGE, a pleasant town on the Michigan road, in the south-east corner of Boone county, fourteen miles north-west of Indianapolis, and the same distance south-east of Lebanon. It contains about forty houses.
EAST FORK of White Water. See White Water.
EBERLE, a small village in Putnam county, recently laid out, at present with only six families.
ECONOMY, a small village in the north-west part of Wayne county, with a population of 400. It is fourteen miles north-west of Centreville.
EDEN, a southern township in Lagrange county, with a population of 300.
EDINBURGH is a flourishing town, containing about 100 houses and 490 inhabitants, situated in the south-east corner of Johnson county, on the east bank of Blue river, and where the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad crosses that stream, and the Shelbyville Branch Railroad comes in. Edinburghi was settled in 1821, by William Hunt, W. R. Hensley, John Adams, Israel Watts, Lewis Bishop and Alexander Thompson. It is thirty miles south-east of Indianapolis, ten from Franklin, fifty-six north-west of Madison, and sixteen south-west of Shel- byville. The health of the place was not good for many years after its first settlement, but at present there is not much complaint in this respect, and Edinburgh, from the great fertility of the country around it, and the water power in the vicinity, has now become a very important point.
EEL, a township in Cass county, north of the Wabash, with a population of 370.
EEL RIVER, called by the French L'Anguille, which means Eel, and by the Indians Sho-a-maque, which means "slippery fish," rises in the north-west corner of Allen county, and after running about 100 miles south- west, empties into the Wabash at Logansport. As it has its source in lakes and springs, and runs a rapid course, it is not surpassed in the west as a mill stream.
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For at least sixty miles its average width is fifty or sixty yards, and the usual depth between one and two feet.
EEL RIVER, a branch of White river, emptying into it at Point Commerce, in Greene county, is about the same length and width as the former, though in high water it runs much more and in dry seasons much less water. It rises in Boone and runs first south-west and then south- east through Hendricks, Putnam, Clay and Owen coun- ties.
EEL RIVER, a north-western township in Allen county, population 100.
EEL RIVER, a northern township in Greene county, with a population of 525.
EEL RIVER, a north-west township in Hendricks county, with a population of 1,370.
EIGHT MILE CREEK, runs from the south into White river in Randolph county.
ELI's CREEK, a good mill stream in Union county, which rises in Fayette and empties into the East Fork of White Water.
ELIZA LAKE, one of the largest of the many small lakes in Porter county.
ELIZABETHI, a pleasant village in Harrison county, on the South Fork of Buck creek, four miles from the Ohio, and twelve south-east of Corydon. It contains 150 in- habitants.
ELIZABETHI, a small town in Spencer county, twenty- three miles north of Rockport.
ELIZARE ABETHTOWN, a small town recently laid out on the Railroad, seven miles south-east of Columbus. It con- tains about thirty houses and 150 inhabitants.
ELIZABETHTOWN, a small town in Jackson county, on the East Fork of White river, four miles north of Browns- town.
ELK CREEK, a tributary of the Muscakituck, in Wash- ington county.
ELKHART COUNTY was organized in 1830, and was named after the river Elkhart, which enters the county near its south-eastern corner and runs in a north-west
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course through it into the St. Joseph. It is twenty-two and a half miles in length from north to south and twen- ty-one in width, and. is bounded on the north by the State of Michigan, on the east by Lagrange and Noble, on the south by Kosciusko, and on the west by Marshall and St. Joseph counties. The population in IS30 was 935, in 1840, 6,660, and at this time it is about 12,000. The following are the names of the civil townships: Elk- hart, Benton, Harrison, Baugo, Jefferson, York, Osolo, Union, Clinton, Jackson, Concord, Olive, Middlebury, Washington, Cleaveland and Locke.
The face of the country is generally undulating, em- bracing every variety of soil and timber, though all but a small portion is first rate land. About one-half of the county is covered with heavy timber, such as beech, ma- ple, walnut, hickory, poplar, oak and cherry; the re- mainder is oak barrens or prairie. There are three remarkably fertile prairies, the Elkhart, Two Mile and Pleasant Plain. The former stretches south from Go- shen six miles, and is from two to four wide; the lat- ter are in the vicinity of the St. Joseph river, and are in a high state of cultivation.
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