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22 Documentary Journal, 1836, No. 5.
23 For an excellent description of how this law was carried, see speech by Judge David Kilgore, Debates in Constitutional Con- vention, 1850, index.
24 House Journal, 1834, 255.
411
THE WHITEWATER CANAL
seventy-six miles, seven dams were necessary, fifty-six locks, and 491 feet of lockage. The estimated cost was $1,142,126.
It would give an outlet for Franklin, Rush, Fay- ette, Henry, Randolph, and Hancock counties, as well as large parts of Wayne, Union, Decatur, and Dela- ware-a district aggregating 3,150 square miles. Pro- duce could be transported by this means at an average cost of $3.56 per ton as against $10, the current cost. This would save $221,000 for the section each year. The water power would turn 318 pairs of millstones. This argument is given in some detail to show the nature of the discussions that occupied the General Assembly and the newspapers during the decade from 1830 to 1840.25
The time of the session of 1834 was taken by the Assembly in framing a bill for a general system of improvements. It developed into a game of legisla- tive seesaw with the Whitewater canal as its center. Every member was willing to vote for the latter pro- vided his own county was not neglected. No system could be determined which it was thought the State could build. When the Assembly of 1835 met, it at once went to work on the unfinished bill. The only fight left over was on the route from Vincennes to New Albany. The influence of the lobby prevailed, however, and it was included.
As a study of the political activity of the times the agitation for this road is worth noting. The move- ment was started by a letter signed "Knox" in the Western Sun in the early summer of 1835. Acting on the suggestion, the citizens of Daviess county met in mass meeting at the courthouse in Washington, Octo- ber 5, and appointed delegates to meet similarly ap-
25 House Journal, 1834, 344. This is a good summary of the argument for and against canals as they viewed them at that time.
412
HISTORY OF INDIANA
pointed delegates from all other counties interested at Paoli, October 26, to deliberate on the affair of a turnpike road.26 After due discussion it was decided to send a lobby to the General Assembly, consisting of one man from each county. It was further decided to work for a macadam road. Petitions were prepared to be circulated in each county, and a committee of twenty appointed to present this united petition.27 The agitation that backed each route provided by the pend- ing bill was similar to the above, though usually stronger and more insistent.
On January 27, 1836, Governor Noah Noble signed the Mammoth Internal Improvement Bill.28 Taken in all its aspects, its consequences immediate and remote, it was the most important measure ever signed by an Indiana governor. It carried appropriations aggre- gating $13,000,000, or one-sixth of the wealth of the State at that time, fixing the policy and mortgaging the resources of the State for half a century. The act provided that the governor, by and with the consent of the senate, should appoint six men to act with the canal board already appointed. These men were to serve three years, except that one-third of the first ap- pointees were to serve one year, and one-third two years. The governor in making appointments was to have regard to local situations so that one member should be near each work. This board was to locate and superintend the works provided for, meet semi- annually, and make a detailed report to the General Assembly every session. Aside from necessary ex- penses, each member was to receive $2 for every day actually and necessarily employed. This board was to take such measures as were necessary to commence, construct, and complete the following works:
26 Western Sun, October 10, 1835.
27 Ibid., October 31, 1835.
28 General Laws of Indiana, 1835, ch. 2.
413
THE MAMMOTH BILL
1. The Whitewater canal over the route formerly designated. Also a canal to connect the Whitewater with the Central, from some point near the National road to some point in Madison or Delaware county if possible; if a canal could not be built, then connect them by a railroad. For these the sum of $1,400,000 was appropriated.
2. The Central canal, commencing at the most suitable point on the Wabash between Fort Wayne and Logansport, via Muncietown, to Indianapolis, down White river to the forks; thence by the best route to Evansville. Provided: The board may select the Pipe Creek route and build a feeder to Muncie if thought best. Appropriation, $3,500,000.
3. An extension of the Wabash and Erie canal from Tippecanoe river down to Terre Haute; thence by Eel river to the Central; or, if the board think best. strike the Central at the mouth of Black creek, in Knox county. Appropriation, $1,300,000.
4. A railroad from Madison, through Columbus, Indianapolis, to Lafayette. Appropriation, $1,300,000.
5. A macadamized turnpike from New Albany, through Greenville, Fredericksburg, Paoli, Mt. Pleas- ant, Washington, to Vincennes; $1,150,000 appro- priated.
6. A resurvey of the route from Jeffersonville via New Albany, Salem, Bedford, Bloomington, Green- castle, to Crawfordsville, to be made before next Oc- tober. If it be found practicable, construct a rail- road, if not, a macadamized road ; for which $1,300,000 was appropriated.
7. Fifty thousand dollars was set aside for re- moving the obstructions in the Wabash.
8. A survey of a canal if possible, if not, a rail- road from the Wabash and Erie near Fort Wayne, via Goshen, South Bend, Laporte, to the lake at Michigan City. This was to be commenced within ten years.
414
HISTORY OF INDIANA
A general fund was provided, to consist of all moneys raised from sale of State bonds, from loans, grants, profits, appropriations, tolls, and rents. The fund commissioners were authorized to borrow $10,000,000 on twenty-five years' time, at six per cent. For the payment of this loan, principal and interest, there were pledged, the canals, railroads, turnpikes, all grounds, rents, tolls, and profits, to the sufficiency of which there was pledged the faith of the State. The right of eminent domain was given the board, and it was authorized to purchase for the State any lands made especially valuable by the works ; though no mem- ber could buy land for himself within one mile of a canal. The Indianapolis and Lawrenceburg railroad was given the right to borrow $500,000 on the credit of the State, giving by way of security to the State a mortgage on wild lands. Finally, the State pledged itself to build each and all lines with all haste possible.
The news of the passage of the bill was received by the people with every demonstration of joy. Illumina- tions, addresses, and bonfires were the order in every city and town from Evansville to Fort Wayne. Not only in Indiana, but from Boston to New Orleans, the enterprise and spirit of the young State were ap- plauded. The immediate effect of the measure was to boom every town on the line and cause many new ones to spring up-on paper. Thousands of town lots were thrown on the market at the ridiculously low prices of $50 to $200 each; although the land, in many cases, had been bought within the year for $3 per acre.
ยง 69 CONSTRUCTION OF CANALS AND ROADS
PURSUANT to the act, Governor Noble appointed Samuel Hall, of Gibson; Thomas H. Blake, of Vigo; David H. Maxwell, of Monroe; John G. Clendennin, of Orange; John Woodburn, of Jefferson; and Elisha Long, of Wayne county, as the six new members of the
415
THE EATING BRIGADE
board of internal improvements. The board met at Indianapolis, March 7, 1836, with all present but Judge Hall. Maxwell was unanimously chosen chairman. The board appointed Jesse L. Williams engineer, and requested the fund commissioners to place a loan of $2,000,000. After deciding what sections should be put under contract, the work was distributed so that each member had the work nearest his home under his supervision.29
The meeting was anything but harmonious. The scramble for the lion's share of the money began as soon as the first meeting was called to order. Each commissioner seemed to be interested alone in getting his work completed as soon as possible. An engineer in chief for canals and an engineer in chief for rail- roads were hired in addition to a resident engineer, and full corps of surveyors for each line.30 The total num- ber of these latter, many of whose positions were sine- cures, was about seventy-five, at an average annual ex- pense to the State of $54,000. This body of workmen was popularly known as the "Eating Brigade."31
After deciding on the general policy of putting only those lines under contract that would soonest yield a revenue, the board ordered work to be commenced as follows: Whitewater, from Lawrenceburg to Brook- ville, the home of Mr. Long; twenty-two miles of Madi- son railroad, out of Madison; the Wabash and Erie,
29 Annual Report, Documentary Journal, 1836.
30 They appointed as resident engineers: Chief, Jesse L. Will- iams; for roads, Henry M. Pettit; eastern end of Wabash and Erie, Stearns Fisher; central part of Wabash and Erie, L. B. Wilson; western part, Anderson Davis; Whitewater, Simpson Tor- bert; Indianapolis line, T. A. Morris; Evansville line, C. G. Voor- hies; Cross Cut, W. I. Ball; Fall Creek and Erie and Michigan, Solomon Holman; Jeffersonville and Crawfordsville, R. H. Faunt- leroy ; Madison railroad, E. M. Beckwith; New Albany, Vincennes line, John Fraser.
31 John Dumont, in Recollections of Early Settlements of Car- roll County, 152.
416
HISTORY OF INDIANA
west to Lafayette; the Cross-Cut canal, from Terre Haute to Eel river; the Central canal, along Pigeon creek to Evansville ; bridges and grading on Vincennes- New Albany turnpike; Central canal from the feeder above Indianapolis to Port Royal Bluffs; and twenty niles of the Jeffersonville and Crawfordsville road. This policy had nothing to back it but the selfish greed of the members of the board.
Work had scarcely begun before a hampering criti- cism of everything connected with improvements was commenced by the people and the legislature.32
A powerful party in the legislature insisted on 'classification"-building a single line at a time-but no two sections could unite on what line to build first. The first annual report of the board prophesied plainly the final failure of the system. After reciting that "The system sprung from the reciprocal confidence, harmonious understanding and cooperation of the dif- ferent sections," the board reported that scarcity of labor had prevented them from placing many contracts. The contractors in different sections were bidding against each other for laborers and attempting to lure
away by extra inducements the better hands.33 The people, once the digging was begun, and they saw the many weary years necessary to complete the work, soon awoke from the trance of the canal orator. The land policy of the State and nation, by allowing any one to buy land for a trifle on seventeen years' credit, drew the more enterprising men away from labor on the works. Above all, the character of the improvements to be made on several lines was still unsettled. Should they build a pike or a railroad on the Madison line? If a railroad, a single or a double track? Should the New Albany-Greencastle line be a pike, railroad or maca- dam? A special surveyor was ordered, who spent one
32 Western Sun, January 2, 1836.
83 Documentary Journal, 1887.
417
THREE BUSY YEARS
year on the latter line, and still there was uncertainty. The same question hung over the Vincennes-New Al- bany line. A large party was at work in the woods and swamps of the northern part of the State trying to settle the question of canal or railroad from Fort Wayne to Lake Michigan. The same question was yet to be solved on the connecting line from Richmond to Muncie.34
Illinois and Michigan were engaged on similar sys- tems and drawing heavily on the labor supply, as well as flooding eastern markets with bonds. The "System" orators had not only promised there would be no higher taxation, but that soon there would be no need of a State levy at all, as tolls would pay all. Consequently the General Assembly made no provision for interest. During the first year expenses mounted up to millions ($3,827,000), and the interest had to be paid from loans. 35 But Governor David Wallace assured every- body that the outlook was glorious, plenty of money among the people, although eastern banks were failing. During the year 1837 over $1,500,000 was expended, not including $34,000 for surveyors, or $70,000 for officers' expenses. Ten separate routes had been sur- veyed and ninety-eight surveyors were continually in the woods. During the year 1838, $1,693,000 was spent for digging, with usual incidentals, not including $170,000 for interest, which put the total near $2,000,- 000.36 On January 24, 1839, Caleb Smith, the fund commissioner, reported that he had expended $5,- 000,000.
Governor Wallace, in his message of December 4, 1838, draws a distressing picture. The interest then due was $193,350, the revenue of the State was $45,000 from taxation, from total taxable property of $146,-
34 Engineers' Report, Documentary Journal 1837 (not paged).
35 Report of Board, Documentary Journal, 1837.
36 Documentary Journal, 1838, No. 22.
418
HISTORY OF INDIANA
850,000. "If this condition," said the governor, "does not startle us, it should at least awaken us." The governor assured the General Assembly, though, that if it would borrow money and invest in bank stock, the State would realize enough to pay out.
The opponents of the improvement system gradu- ally got the attention of the State. The question of reorganization and classification was raised in 1838, but without result. The next General Assembly abolished the whole organization and placed the financial affairs in the hands of two men, each under $100,000 bond.37 The internal improvement board was reduced to three members, with orders to classify works and build one at a time. But the act came too late. The State was a bankrupt beyond the power of any remedial law. The system finally broke down in August, 1839, when the board ordered all work to cease. The State at this time seemed to recover consciousness, and began to take stock of its condition.
The work on the Whitewater canal had commenced first. A big celebration at Brookville, September 13, 1836, at which David Wallace, Governor Noble and Ex-Governor Ray were the orators, ushered in the undertaking.38 The work was always pushed more than any other, on account of the great bulk of the population of the State being in that valley. Nine hun- dred and seventy-five men were employed, and the manager was sure the same force would finish the work in two seasons. December 20, 1838, Superin- tendent Long reported the canal well-nigh complete to Brookville.39 This line was practically finished when the failure of the State required a cessation of work, notice of which was given by Noah Noble, president of the board, August 18, 1839.40 In June of this same
37 Laws of Indiana, 1838, ch. 16.
38 History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties, index.
39 Senate Journal, 1838. 256.
40 Senate Journal, 1839, 144.
419
THE CENTRAL CANAL
year, boats had been run as far up as Brookville. It will be noticed that the original appropriation for the 116 miles was $1,400,000, the original estimate $1,700,- 000, and the final estimates over $2,000,000. During its first six months of operation $670 in tolls was col- lected. During this same period the gross receipts on the Wabash and Erie were $4,284-enough to pay in- terest on about $70,000, and not nearly enough for repair expenses.
Pursuant to the law of 1834, J. L. Williams sur- veyed the route for the Central canal in the summer of 1835. The plans called for a cut forty feet wide at the surface of the water, twenty-six feet at the bottom, and four feet deep. Six different locations were made. The surveys show the hesitancy and lack of knowledge that hindered all the works. During all the summer of 1836 surveying continued along the line. The Indianapolis division was laid off from the dam at Broad Ripple to Port Royal Bluff, twenty-four miles. Also the south- ern division along Pigeon creek in Vanderburg county, and the Cross Cut at Eel river from Terre Haute to Point Commerce, were laid down.
During 1836-37, forty-five miles were put under contract at $611,336. Seven hundred and fifty men were at work on the Indianapolis division. When work was suspended by the State, eight miles of the section from Indianapolis to Muncie were finished, six- teen miles immediately south of the capital, and nine- teen miles on Pigeon creek. These sections, together with the Cross Cut, no part of which was ready to have water turned in, had cost the State $1,820,026. A humorous predicament of the Pigeon Creek section was that, when it was finished, Pigeon creek, which was supposed to feed it, was dry.41
By the close of 1841 the State had expended $156,-
41 Senate Journal, 1841, 13. See Documentary Journal, 1835, No. 8, Report of Engineer,
420
HISTORY OF INDIANA
323 on the line from Fort Wayne to Lake Michigan, for which it had nothing to show but a wagon load of surveyors' field notes.
The Vincennes-New Albany route was surveyed during the summer of 1834 by John S. Collins and Watts. 42 The length was 105 miles and the grading was estimated at $4,300 per mile; ballasting, $10,878; total cost of line, $1,590,747. Work commenced promptly and $654,411 was expended. The road was built as far west as Paoli, forty-one miles, and twenty- seven miles more were graded. This work proved of considerable local benefit, and under such superintend- ents as John Frazier, 1844-47, Michael Riley, 1848, and Joel Vandeveer, 1850, enough tolls were collected to keep it in tolerable condition.43 It never paid a dollar of revenue to the State.
Among the routes ordered surveyed by the Assem- bly of 1834 was the New Albany-Crawfordsville route, and thereafter the State confined its efforts in this sec- tion to this line-from New Albany, via Salem, Bed- ford, Bloomington and Greencastle, to Crawfordsville. Howard Stansbury was in charge of the preliminary survey.44 The actual work was done by Edward Watts, John P. Paul and Fitzhugh Coyle. The line was 158 miles long and the total cost of "graduation" estimated at $628,581. This meant only an ordinary dirt road. During the summer of 1836, Surveyor Fontleroy was hired to survey the road with a view to building a rail- road, which Commissioner Maxwell favored. The re- port was favorable, but the improvement board was not satisfied and ordered Jesse Williams, aided by ex-
42 Documentary Journal, 1835, or Senate Journal, 1835, 213. Mr. Watts had just graduated that year from Indiana College.
43 Reports are found in Indiana Pamphlets, vol. 2, Nos. 4 to 14, inclusive.
44 Documentary Journal, 1835, No. 11, or Senate Journal, 1835. 115.
421
PIKE OR RAILROAD
pert railroad engineers, Forrer from Ohio and Welch from Kentucky, to resurvey.
These men reported that a macadam road would cost about $2,000,000, and a railroad about $7,000,- 000.45 The controversy was finally ended by an act of the General Assembly, January 25, 1838, which di- rected the board to build a macadam road.46 Work was not pushed on this line as on the others. Superin- tendent Maxwell seems to have had no faith in it. When work was suspended he had expended only $372,- 733 and had partly graded the sections from Salem south and from Greencastle north. Most of the money went to surveyors. Four different squads had spent as many seasons on it, and had agreed on nothing. The evidence seems to indicate that hunting and fishing were more congenial than surveying. Of all improve- ments of the State this line was conducted with least hopes of success.
As has been stated above, there was a great rush for railroad charters during the years 1831-'32-'33. The belief was general that the problem of travel and transportation had been solved. Long lines such as the Buffalo and Missisippi and the Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago were projected. The plans were discussed in interstate railroad conventions. At this time a charter was obtained for the road from Madison to Lafayette. During the years 1834-'35-'36 there was a reversal in public opinion, and a railroad came to be regarded as practicable only when a canal or pike was impossible.
During the summer of 1835 Mr. Gooding surveyed for the State a line for a canal from Indianapolis to Jeffersonville.47 One object of this canal was to fur-
45 Documentary Journal, 1837, No. 19.
46 Revised Statutes, 1838, 354.
47 Senate Journal, 1835, 189; also Documentary Journal, 1835, No. 12.
422
HISTORY OF INDIANA
nish a way around the Falls, since it was to have two outlets-one above and one below. There were many obstacles to the construction, but Mr. Gooding finally found a feasible route and estimated the cost at $3,580,- 000. The cost staggered even that credulous General Assembly and they gave up this line with the consola- tion, however, that it would soon be built.
In the meantime Edwin Schenck had finished a survey for the Madison railroad. On this road he estimated that a four and one-half ton locomotive could draw thirty-six tons six miles per hour ; or one horse, three and one-half tons, five miles. It was not decided what motor power would be used. Covered wooden bridges were called for in the plans. Flat rails from Liverpool were estimated at $49 per ton, edge rails at $59. The bluff at Madison was to be climbed on an incline by means of a windlass. The length of the road was 144 miles, and the first estimates of cost were $1,666,797.
Jesse Williams, chief engineer for the State, during the seasons of 1836-'37 kept a squad of surveyors on the line from Madison to Lafayette, and on January 30, 1838, after the State had spent $445,000, advised the legislature to abandon the railroad and build a pike.48 When work was stopped on the road, twenty-eight and one-half miles were completed at a cost of $1,493,013. The northern end had been converted into a pike, and the section from Crawfordsville to Lafayette was graded.
Under the law of 1831 a board of three fund com- missioners was appointed, whose duty was to borrow money to build the Wabash and Erie canal. 49 This board continued under the law of 1836. The business of the board was very poorly managed from the start
48 Documentary Journal, 1837, No. 21.
49 Laws of Indiana, 1831, ch. 1, sec. 3.
423
A BANKRUPT STATE
and finally bankrupted the State. During the summer of 1832, $100,000 worth of State bonds were delivered to J. D. Beers & Company, Merchants' Bank of New York, on an unfair bid.50 One-half of these were sold on credit, thus twice violating the law. This is only an example of how all the loans were placed: No books were kept, although the board kept an office in New York. The annual reports of the board of fund com- missioners are not complete or consistent, and little reliance can be placed on them. The State government paid little attention to the board until money began to fail. It seems that bonds were signed and delivered to the several members of the board to sell as best each could.
When work was stopped on the State's improve- ments in August, 1839, the people at first refused to believe that the State had failed. The business of the State had come to depend so heavily on the money fur- nished by the fund commissioners that it was para- lyzed.51 Hundreds of contractors had put all their money into the work and now found themselves unable to pay the laborers whose living depended on their daily wages. The fund commissioners reported that money would soon be plentiful, but once the work was stopped the people soon came to recognize their condi- tion.52 It was useless to propose any plan for com- pleting the system. When it was learned that State bonds to exceed $3,000,000 had been delivered, for which the State received nothing, and that the fund commissioners were charged with making immense sums of money by dealing in State securities, the peo- ple began to demand an investigation.
The election of 1839 was over before the panic
50 Documentary Journal, 1835, No. 10.
51 Indianapolis State Journal, March 12, 1840.
52 Western Sun, August 31, 1839.
424
HISTORY OF INDIANA
struck the State, and the General Assembly stood as undecided under the conditions as did the people. But, taking up the murmur of the people, the Assembly, one of very limited ability, and well suited to the clique then robbing the State, attempted an inquest on the defunct system.53 The House called for no less than seventeen formal reports and was completely bewild- ered by them. Eighteen reports were made to the Senate by the internal improvement officials. The mem- bers, through a long session of eighty-five days, dis- cussed petty politics while the stealing continued under their eyes. The patience of the outraged people was exhausted. Before this deadlock Assembly had ad- journed both parties were fencing for position for the election of 1840. This was the most desperately con- tested political campaign ever waged in Indiana. Both parties were well supplied with good speakers, who for near six weeks went up and down the State making speeches.
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