COTTMHN'S HISTORY PAMPHLETS
NUHBER XII
(Sheets from Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History)
CANALS OF INDIANA
Sent postpaid on receipt of price by Geo. S
Cottman, 336 N. Ritter Ave., Indianapolis
INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY,
Voi,. Ill
SEPTEMBER, 1907
No. 3
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS IN INDIANA.
No. Ill—The Wabash and Erie Canal.
HE Wabash and Erie Canal, while identified with the
State's internal improvement scheme of 1836, has a history
that stands apart from that of the system. The actual begin¬
ning. of this great waterway antedated the internal improve¬
ment law by four years, and it had its origin in Federal aid.
The first conception of such a work dates so far back that it is
a matter of speculation, for the benefits to be obtained were so
obvious that, as one writer says, they must have been suggest¬
ed to every traveler over the pass between the Wabash and Mau-
mee rivers. The same natural advantages that brought the old
French fur trade over this route pointed to the possibility of
here connecting the waters of the lakes and the Mississippi.
The Ordinance of 1787, Wayne's Indian treaty of 1795, and
President Washington recognized the military and commercial
value of the portage where Fort Wayne afterward grew up. A
little later others began to entertain ideas of a canal there, and
in 1818 Captain James Riley,* a government surveyor, who had
been sent to make preliminary surveys of the region, developed
and pushed this idea. A canal not exceeding six miles in
length, over the old portage between the St. Mary's and Little
rivers would, he thought, be an important step toward an un¬
interrupted navigation between the two water systems. His
opinion as that of a practical engineer was of sufficient weight
(to command the attention of Congress, which went so far as to
establish the feasibility of such a work by preliminary surveys.
As the country was thrown open and the population began to
crowd into the rich valley of the upper Wabash, the commer¬
cial demands for an outlet to the east became more imperative
and there were repeated and growing demands for improve-
♦An item in the Western Censor and Emigrant's Guide of August 31, 1824, makes this
Captain Riley the mariner, once famous for his travels and adventures.
102
Indiana Magazine of History
ment of the Wabash and its connection with the Maumee.
Indiana itself was too poor to attempt such undertaking-, and
Congress was besieged with memorials and bills for grants of
greater or less magnitude. The fight for such grants was con¬
tinuous and increased in the scope of its demands. In 1823
Jonathan Jennings reported a bill "to authorize the State of
Indiana to open a canal through the public lands for the purpose
of connecting the Wabash and the Miami of Lake Erie." All
this called for was a right of way for the canal, but it was
generally regarded by the representatives from Indiana as the
entering wedge finally to secure a land grant from Congress.
Before final action on this bill, attempts were made to enlarge
its scope, but it was finally passed in almost its original form.
This left on the State the burden of constructing the canal, but,
with no fund for the purpose other than a wholly inadequate
one derived from what was known as the three per cent, fund,*
it was not much nearer to the accomplishment.
The concession gained simply lay fallow for two years while
the general idea of Federal aid of internal improvements was
making its way; then another bill was introduced asking for a
land grant to aid the proposed canal in Indiana. Meanwhile
the idea of the magnitude of the work had grown. In the
debates upon the subject there seems to have been no fixed opin¬
ion as to the length the canal was to be. One had it the origi¬
nal portage connection of six or seven miles, another extended
the canal to the Little Wabash, twenty-five miles below;
others to the mouth of the Tippecanoe river, one hundred miles
down the Wabash. Mr. Hendricks, the leading supporter of the
bill, and Senator from Indiana, probably expressing the senti¬
ment, of the canal's friends, was of the opinion that the canal
should extend fifty miles, to the mouth of the Mississinaway
river, f In support of the bill the commercial benefits to the
western country generally were dwelt upon, and the most was
made of the value to the United States of a military highway
into the northwestern possessions, the need of which had been
demonstrated in the war of 1812. The bill in a modified form
♦This was three per cent, of the net proceeds from the public lands, allowed to the State
for internal improvements.
fuThe Wabash Trade Route in the Development of the Old Northwest," by Elbert Jay
Benton.
Internal Improvements in Indiana 103
was passed March 2, 1827, and granted to the State of Indiana
every alternate section of land, equal to five miles in width for
six miles on both sides of the proposed line and throughout its
whole length, for the purpose of constructing a canal from the
head of the navigation on the Wabash at the mouth of the
Tippecanoe river to the foot of the Maumee rapids. This gift
amounted to 3200 acres for everyone of the 213 miles of the pro¬
posed work. Indiana, accepting the conditions of the grant, took
steps toward the work, but considerable time was spent in dis¬
cussing the thing to be done (some, even at this time, leaning to
the idea of a railroad), and in organizing; and not until Febru¬
ary 22, 1832, was the first ground broken. This occurred at Ft.
Wayne and was made a notable public occasion.* The first
contracts were let in the following June; the first division of
the work, of thirty-two miles, was completed in 1856, and on the
fourth of July of that year the first canal boat, the "Indiana,"
passed through to Huntington. Progressing westward as funds
permitted, one after another of the Wabash towns borrowed life
and growth from its vitalizing touch. Wabash and Peru were
reached in 1837, Logansport in 1838, Tippecanoe River in 1841
and Lafayette in 1843.
Meanwhile an eastern division of the canal, from the State
line to the Maumee Bay, had been completed by Ohio, and with
this completion by the two States there was opened up the
largest continuous line of artificial water communication in the
world.
With the adoption of an internal improvement system by the
»"The birthday of Washington had been selected as an auspicious time for the beginning,
and by order of the Board of Canal Commisioners, J. Yigus, Esq., was authorized to procure
the necessary tools and assistance and repair to the most convenient point on the St. Joseph
feeder-line at two o'clock on that day for the purpose named. A public meeting was called
at the Masonic hall and was attended by all prominent citizens, not only of Ft. Wayne, but
of the Wabash and Maumee valleys. Henry Rudisille was chairman and David H. Cole-
rick secretary. A procession was formed and proceeded across the St. Mary's river to the
point selected. A circle was formed and the commissioners and orator took the stand.
Hon. Charles W. Ewing then delivered an appropriate address and was followed by Com¬
missioner Vigus. The latter, after adverting to the difficulties and embarrassments which
had beset the undertaking and referring to the importance of the work and the advant¬
ages which would be realized, concluded by saying : T am now about to commence the Wa¬
bash and Erie canal, in the name and by the authority of the State of Indiana.' He then
struck a spade into the ground and the assembled gentlemen cheered. Judge Hanna and
Captain Murray, two of the able advocates of the canal, next approached and commenced
an indiscriminate digging, and the procession then marched back to town "—Valley of
the Upper Maumee River, v. II, p. 20.
104
Indiana Magazine of History
State, the Wabash and Erie enterprise was merged with the
general scheme, of which it was the main artery, and after the
abandonment of the other works it was still retained by the
State, it then being a source of revenue and having the land
grants behind it, though still an unprofitable holding. In 1846,
at the instance of the State's creditors, through Charles Butler,
their attorney, it, with its tolls and unsold lands, was trans¬
ferred to them in part payment of the internal improvement
debt. A part of the stipulation was that out of the sales of
these lands the new holders should complete the canal to the
.Ohio river. The property was put into the hands of three trus¬
tees, two appointed by the creditors and one by the State, and
its subsequent history until the final closing up of its affairs in
1876 of itself makes a long and complicated story. The credit¬
ors fulfilled their part of the contract to extend the canal, reach¬
ing Evansville in 1853,* but the lower or southern division was
the least successful part of the work. In fact, the innovation
that within a few years was to make canals a thing of the past,
the railroads, sounded the death-knell of the old Wabash and
Erie soon after it passed from the hands of the State. In the
early fifties a railroad was constructed from Toledo, O., west¬
ward, along the side of the canal, while others from New
Albany northward through Crawfordsville and Lafayette, open¬
ed up a formidable competition along the whole route. While
Benton gives the "heyday of the canal" as the period from 1847
to 1856, yet the high tide of tolls and rents ($193,400.18) was in
1852, and "from that time the income steadily decreased."
Traffic was deflected to the newer, swifter and more reliable
method of transportation, confidence in the future of the canal
waned, money ceased to be invested in boat-building and invest¬
ments in canal-property were withdrawn. By 1854 "bulky
goods, like corn, iron and lumber—articles which paid light tolls
—constituted its main traffic, "f while the better-paying exports
all went to the railroads; and to add to this curtailment, the im¬
ports caught by the canal dwindled away almost wholly; boats
that carried the bulky products eastward were forced to return
empty, and the passenger carriage which had been a valuable
♦The canal was then 459% miles in length.
fBenton, p. 79.
Internai. Improvements in Indiana 105
part of the business, dropped off altogether. In spite of the re¬
duction of tolls for the encouragement of shippers, the tonnage
steadily; declined till the competition with the railroads became
hopeless. By various makeshifts, that had in them the flavor
of desperation, traffic on the ditch continued to exist after a
fashion, until in the seventies it was wholly abandoned, the
court ordered the sale of the canal, the right of way and lands
went to speculaters and the old waterway, famous in our history,
fell into ruin. To-day, over part of the old route, lie side by
side the river, the dry and half-obliterated canal bed, a railroad
and an electric line, representatives of four distinct epochs in
commerce and transportation—the more and the less remote
pasts, the present and a dawning future.
The Wabash Canal, while short-lived and a failure as meas¬
ured by the sanguine hopes that promoted the enterprise, was
in its brief day a most important and interesting factor in the
development of the Wabash Valley. As it crawled westward
successive towns along the route hailed its arrival with jubi¬
lant demonstrations and other towns sprang up in anticipation
of its benefits. It brought into the valley a new life and energy,
both commercial and social. "The abundant agricultural
wealth of the Wabash country now found comparatively cheap
and easy transportation directly to the East; the regions north
and south for a distance of fifty to one hundred miles gravitated
to this outlet, and from the Illinois country westward to Lafay¬
ette came flocking the great prairie schooners laden with their
contributions to the world's marts.* Westward, in turn, came
the capacious freight boats laden with merchandise of all kinds,
and the packets with emigrants who, now having access to this
land of promise, came in an uninterrupted stream, adding to the
new currents of life. Towns along the river which heretofore
could have only a broken and restricted intercourse with each
other, were now regularly connected, and traveling was made
possible to the multitude. And it was idyllic and picturesque
traveling. People spent leisurely hours, sitting in pleasant
♦Old settlers tell of long trains of wagons waiting by the hour at these rising commer¬
cial centers for their turns to unload the product of the farms, bound to the eastern mar¬
kets. Four hundred wagons unloading in Lafayette during a single day of 1844 were count¬
ed by one of the pioneers. Another, speaking of the business at Wabash, says it was a
common occurrence to see as many as four or five hundred teams in that place in a single
day, unloading grain to the canal.—Benton p. 101.
106
Indiana Magazine of History
company on the decks or in the cabin of the smoothly gliding1
packets. Passengers got acquainted and fraternized, played
games and discoursed, and, when the boat was delayed, it was
quite common for congenial groups to step off and stroll on
ahead, gathering wild flowers as they went. The speed of the
best packets was six or eight miles an hour and one writer gives
us a picture of the swaggering driver in a slouch hat and top
boots, lashing his team to a trot.* On approaching a town
there was a great blowing of horns from the deck, and when
dock was made everybody went ashore to mingle with the towns¬
men, to ask and to answer innumerable questions. When the
boat was ready to go, a horn was blown again to warn the pas¬
sengers aboard, and on they fared to the next stopping place.
Merchants went by packet to the eastern cities for their
goods. Ft. Wayne, Huntington, Wabash, Peru, Logansport,
Delphi, Pittsburg and Lafayette attained a substantial commer¬
cial importance. Elevators rose and factories multiplied. Mills
secured power from the water stored to feed the canal, and car¬
goes of flour moved eastward continually.f The canal made
possible the increase of the population by enabling the settlers
to find markets for their surplus products, and obviously, by
this rapid increase of a rural population, agricultural conditions
were vitally affected. It has been asserted that there was no
agriculture in the country before the construction of the canal.
All evidence shows that it was, at least, conducted on a small
scale. Where formerly production was limited to supplying
home consumption, it now began to send its products to eastern
States. Larger farms took the place of the small clearings.
Lands that before were not considered worth cultivation were
now cleared, drained and brought into use. The increased area
included in a single farm and the ready sale at the enhanced
prices of its products led to the introduction of improved machin-
ery_ * * * jn 1844 there was shipped out of Toledo, com¬
ing from the Maumee and Wabash valleys, 5262 bushels of corn.
Two years later this output increased a hundredfold, and in five
years more it amounted to 2,775,149 bushels.^ Other industries
♦Valley of the Maumee, p. 17.
fLeroy Armstrong in Lafayette Journal, September 10, 1899. A very graphic and inter¬
esting article on the Wabash and Erie Canal.
} Ben ton.
Internal Improvements in Indiana 107
•were promoted, and the annual report of the trustees for the
year 1851 speaks of nine flouring-mills, eight saw-mills, three
paper-mills, eig-ht carding- and fulling-mills, two oil-mills and
one iron establishment, as being furnished water-power from the
canal, and in addition to these were many other mills, elevators,
foundries and warehouses scattered all along the route not
using canal water for power, but there, nevertheless, because of
the canal. Industries dealing with raw material were also de¬
veloped. The canal ran through a heavily forested tract and at
once became the highway for handling firewood. Similarly the
manufacture and shipping of lumber was begun and maintained
for a long time on an enormous scale, while the quarrying of
stçne and the manufacture of lime became prominent sources of
wealth. In conclusion, it was estimated by Chief Engineer
Jesse L. Williams that thirty-eight counties in Indiana and
nearly nine counties in Illinois, including an approximate
area of 22,000 square miles, were directly affected by the canal.
The same is affirmed of all the counties in northwestern Ohio.
In this connection, the stimulating effect of transportation
service upon contiguous territory is pointed out by Mr. Benton,
who cites Noble and Huntington counties as typical cases.
Huntington was a canal county. Noble was not, but offered far
better natural advantages. For the year 1840 to 1850 the rate
of increase in Noble was 190 per cent., while in Huntington it
was 397 per cent. And this, Mr. Benton adds, "is to be regard¬
ed as an extremely conservative case."
Another thing to be noticed is the effect of the canal on the
equalization of prices. After its opening, farmers who had
been selling wheat for forty-five cents per bushel and buying
salt at nine dollars per barrel received for their wheat one dollar
per bushel and got salt for less than four dollars a barrel.
"Illustrations," our author says, "might readily be multiplied."
Note—For further information touching the history of the
Wabash Canal and its commercial and social influences in the
settlement of the northwest, the reader is referred to Mr. Ben¬
ton's admirable thesis as preeminently the best treatment of
the subject that has yet appeared.
108
Indiana Magazine of History
THE WHITEWATER CANAL.
B Y JAMES M. MILLER.
[For an article on the Richmond and Brookville canal by James M.
Miller, together with a brief sketch of the writer, see this magazine, Vol.
I, p. 189.]
The rapidly increasing- settlement of the Whitewater valley
and the remarkable fertility of the soil caused an increasing-
demand for a market for the products of the farms, and as early
as 1822 or 1823 a convention of delegates from Randolph, Wayne,
Union, Fayette, Franklin and Dearborn counties, Indiana,
assembled at Harrison, O., to consider the practicability of con¬
structing a canal down the valley. The prime mover was
Augustus Jocelyn, a minister of the gospel who edited and pub¬
lished the Western Agriculturist at Brookville, and through his
paper worked up quite an interest in behalf of the improvement
of the valley. Shortly after the convention was held Colonel
Shriver, of the United States army, began a survey for a canal
and got as far down the valley as Garrison's creek, where the
survey was brought to a sudden close by the death of the colonel.
The suspension was of short duration, for Colonel Stansbury,
United States civil engineer, soon completed it. Nothing seems
to have been done until February of 1834, when the Legislature
directed the canal commissioners to employ competent engineers,
and "early the ensuing summer survey to locate a canal from a
point at or near the mouth of Nettle creek, in Wayne county, to
Lawrenceburg, Ind." Accordingly, William Goodin was em¬
ployed as engineer-in-chief and Jesse L. Williams assistant
engineer. During its construction and existence there were em¬
ployed as assistant engineers Simpson Talbot, Elisha Long,
John H. Farquhar, Martin Crowell, Henry C. Moore, Stephen
D. Wright, Dewey and John Shank The canal was first
located on the west side of the river as far as Laurel, where it
crossed to the east and continued down to the gravel bank just
above Brookville, where it recrossed to the west bank and pro¬
ceeded on to Lawerenceburg, but was afterward located on the
east bank from Laurel to its terminus.
Internal Improvements in Indiana 109
Strange as it may seem, this great and badly needed improve¬
ment was bitterly opposed by some and every obstruction thrown
in the way of the enterprise that could be, the opposition being
led by Charles Hutchens, a Kentuckian, who resided for many
years in Brookville, and during his residence edited several
papers.
A meeting was called to assemble at the court-house in Brook¬
ville at 2 o'clock p. m., December 25, 1834, to consider the pro¬
priety of constructing a canal from the forks of Blue creek to its
mouth. It was proposed to connect with the Whitewater canal
near the mouth of the creek, and it was thought that Congress
would donate the contiguous land. The call closes with the
following postscript: "While we are borrowing money to build
the Whitewater canal, let's borrow a little more to build the
Blue Creek." This was done by the opponents of the White¬
water, as the proposed canal would only have been four miles in
length. January 5, 1835, the engineer reported the survey com¬
pleted. The length of the canal was seventy-six miles, with a
fall of 491 feet from its head at Nettle creek to its terminus at
Lawrenceburg, requiring fifty-five locks and seven dams, the
latter varying in hight from two to eight feet. The esti¬
mated cost per mile was $14,908, or $1,142,126 for the entire
canal. In June of that year General Amaziah Morgan, of Rush
county, was appointed a commissioner to receive stone, timber,
or the conveyance of land to the canal to aid in constructing it.
Owing to the hills in southern Indiana, it was deemed best to
cross the line at Harrison creek and locate about eight miles of
the canal in Hamilton county, Ohio, recrossing into Indiana and
continuing to Lawrenceburg. As it was necessary to have the
consent of Ohio to construct the portion running through her
territory, the Legislature of Indiana authorized the Governor to
obtain Ohio's permission, and Governor Noble appointed O. H.
Smith a commissioner, who proceeded to Columbus, O., and
January 30, 1835, presented Indiana's request. This was bitterly
opposed, and the petition refused on the grounds that it was
against Ohio's interest to grant it, as the Whitewater canal
would run parallel to the Miami at a distance of from twenty to
fifty miles from it, and that the products of Wayne, Union and
part of Fayette and Franklin counties, Indiana, were taken to
110
Indiana Magazine of History
Hamilton and shipped to Cincinnati on the Miami canal, and if
Ohio granted the request, she would lose that tonnage. The
refusal only served to put Indiana on her mettle, and the Buck¬
eyes soon learned that when "the Hoosiers will they will, and
that's the end on't," for the Legislature immediately instructed
the Board of Internal Improvements, should Ohio persist in
her refusal, to construct a railroad on the Indiana side of the
State line from Harrison to Lawrenceburg. This, with the in¬
fluence of Cincinnati, whose people quickly realized what the
result would be to them if the commerce of the valley went to
Lawrenceburg, hastily changed the mind of Ohio's Legislature,
and the petition was granted. One enthusiastic advocate of the
Whitewater canal, in the Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette of
September 8, 1836, earnestly and persistently urged Cincinnati
to borrow half a million dollars to aid in constructing the canal
and Miami railroad. Early in January of 1836 the champions
of the Whitewater canal in the Indiana Legislature, Enoch Mc-
Carty in the Senate and Caleb Smith and Mark Crum in the
House, had the pleasing satisfaction of seeing their labors
crowned with success by the passing of the internal improve¬
ment bill.
Tuesday January 9, 1836, was a.gala day in Brookville, for on
that day the news that the internal improvement bill had passed
both houses of the Legislature was received, and in the evening
the event was celebrated with speaking by prominent men, all
buildings, public and private, being illuminated, and long rows
of lights placed on the fences along Meirs street. A long pro¬
cession was formed under command of Colonel B. S. Noble and
Captain Dodd, and, amid the ringing of bells, beating of drums
and roaring of cannon, marched through the streets to the in¬
spiring strains of a band of tnusic. The demonstrations contin¬
ued until after midnight, when the citizens retired to their
homes, but the cannon boomed till daylight. Of all who took
part in the demonstration there are, perhaps, living only Rev.
T. A. Goodwin,* Thomas Pursel, Jackson Lynn and W. W. But¬
ler*, of Indianapolis; Dr. Cornelius Cain, of Clarksburg, Ind.;
Jonathan Cain, of Connersville, and Eli Cain and Dr. Thomas
Colescott, of Brookville, who participated in the demonstration.
•Since deceased, as are, doubtless, some of the others. This article was written in 1899.
Internal Improvements in Indiana 111
September 13, 1836, the ceremony of "breaking- ground" and
letting of the contracts for the construction of the canal from
Brookville to Lawrenceburg was celebrated at Brookville by a
grand barbecue and every expression of rejoicing possible. The
orator of the day was Governor Noah Noble. The other speak¬
ers were ex-Governors James B. Ray and David Wallace; Hon.
George H. Dunn, of Lawrenceburg, and Dr. Daniel Drake, of
Cincinnati. Quite a number of speeches were made and toasts
offered, the following being offered by John Finley, editor of
the Richmond Palladium:
"There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale where the branches of Whitewater meet;
Oh! The last picayune shall depart from my fob,
Ere the east and the west forks relinquish the job."
A pick, shovel and wheelbarrow had been provided for the
occasion, and at the close of the speaking and reading of the
toasts one of the speakers seized the pick and loosened the ground
for a few feet, another trundled the wheelbarrow to the loosen¬
ed earth, another took the shovel and filled the wheelbarrow
and ex-Governor Wallace trundled it a short distance and
dumped it, and "ground was broken" for the Whitewater canal.
On this day, September 13, 1836, contracts were let for the con¬
struction of the canal to the following parties; William Carr,
Joel Wilcox, Zephaniah Reed, William Rhubottom, Joel Palmer,
R. & T. Freeman, Westerfield, Benjamin M. Remy, George
Heimer, Moses Kelley, William Marshall, N. Hammond, William
M. McCarty, Isaac Van Horn, H. Simonton, William Garrison,
Paren & Kyle, Carmichael & Barwick, Gibbons & Williams,
Halstead & Parker, Naylor, Troxall & Co., D. Bamham & Co.,
Scott & Butt, H. Lasure & Co., Vance, Caldwell & Co., Tyner,
Whipple & Co. and C. J. Meeks.
The State pushed the work, and in November of 1837 Joel
Wilcox, the contractor for building the bridge and dam across
the east fork of the Whitewater below Brookville, completed
the latter and water was let in the first mile of the canal. Ac¬
cording to the report of the Board of Internal Improvements for
that year, there had been employed between Lawrenceburg and
Brookville nine of that board, one engineer-in-chief, one secre-
112
Indiana Magazine of History
tary, twelve resident engineers, seven senior and eleven junior
assistant engineers and twenty-four rodtnen. One of the rod-
men was the venerable George W. Julian, now a resident of Ir-
vington, and who a few years later took such an active part in
national affairs. Also twenty axmen and 975 laborers, the
latter receiving $18 per month.
The White bridge, as it is called, was finished by the con¬
tractor in September of 1838, the west side of it being used for
a towpath. It is 392 feet long and cost $14,000. The locks
were either named for some prominent person engaged in con¬
structing the canal or for the town where they were located.
They were Marshall's, Fox's, Trenton, Berwise's, Rhubottom's,
Cedar Grove, guard lock at Case's, Wiley's (two), Tyner's,
guard lock below Brookville, Brookville at the basin, Reed's,
just above the depot, Boundary Hill, Yellow Bank, Twin locks,
Gordon's, Metamora, Murray's, Ferris's, Jenks's, Laurel, Het-
rick's, Garrison's creek, Conwell's, Limpus's, Berlin, Nulltown,
Updegraff's, Herron's, Conwell's, Mill lock, Triple locks, Clay-
pool's, Carmen's, Fourmile, Swamp Level, Milton and Lock-
port (two).
The first boat to reach Brookville from Lawrenceburg was
the Ben Franklin, owned by Long & Westerfield and command¬
ed by General Elisha Long. It arrived June 8, 1839, and was
drawn by hand from below town up to its landing. The esti¬
mated cost of the canal from Hagerstown to Lawrenceburg was
$1,567,470, and to construct it to Brookville had cost $664,665.
The State debt had become so large she could not pay the inter¬
est, and the canal was sold in 1842 to Henry S. Vallette, a
wealthy Cincinnatian, who proceeded to complete it. In No¬
vember of 1843 the first boat, the Native, in charge of Captain
Crary, reached Laurel at dark with a grand excursion from
Brookville. During the night the bank burst and left the excur¬
sionists eight miles above Brookville to walk home. In June of
1845 the canal reached Connersville. The first boat to arrive at
Herron's lock was the Banner. The following October the
canal reached Cambridge City and had cost the company $473,-
000. In 1846 it was completed to Hagerstown, and according to
the report of the Auditor of the State for 1848, had cost the
State $1,092,175.13. In January of 1847 a flood destroyed the
Internal Improvements in Indiana 113
aqueducts at Laurel and this side of Cambridge City and cut
channels around the feeder dams at Cass's (now Cooley's Sta¬
tion), Brookville, Laurel, Connersville and Cambridg-e City.
The damage was estimated to be $90,000, and $70,000, was ex¬
pended during the summer in repairs. The following Novem¬
ber there was another flood that destroyed all that had been
done and $80,000 more was expended, leaving $30,000 of repairs
undone, and the canal was not ready for use until September of
1848. Disaster followed disaster, the cost of maintaining it ex¬
ceeding the revenue until the summer of 1862, when it was sold
at the court-house door in Brookville by the United States mar¬
shal to H. C. Lord, president of the I. & C. Railroad, for $63,-
000, that being the amount of the judgment. The railroad had
long desired to secure the canal from Harrison to Cincinnati, so
it could lay its track through the tunnel and thus gain an en¬
trance to the city and the use of the Whitewater basin for a
depot. This sale, for some reason, was set aside, although the
railroad held that portion of the canal and used it as I have
stated, but on December 5, 1865, C. C. Binckley (now Judge
Binckley, of Richmond, and State senator from Wayne county),
president of the Whitewater Valley Canal Company, sold it to
H. C. Lord, president of the Whitewater Valley Railroad Com¬
pany, for $137,348.12.
The last boat that ran from Cincinnati to Brookville was the
Favorite, owned and run by Captain Aaron C. Miller, at present
a resident of Brookville. I have obtained the names of the fol¬
lowing persons who are still residents of the county who helped
build the canal: James Derbyshire, Jonathan Banes, William
Carr, Peter D. Pelsor, Isaac K. Lee, John McKeown, Josiah
McCafferty and Jacob Harvey.
In 1836 Ohio began to consider the propriety of constructing
a branch from Harrison to Cincinnati, and in February of 1837
decided to build it, the estimated cost being between $300,000
and $400,000. In May following the books were opened at the
office of the Ohio Insurance Company, in Cincinnati, for the sale
of stock in the Whitewater canal. Ohio took $150,000 and Cin¬
cinnati $200,000, leaving $100,000 unsold. In February of 1838
M. T. Williams advertised in the Cincinnati Gazette for propos¬
als for constructing culverts over Mill creek, Bold Face, Rapid
114
Indiana Magazine of History
run and Muddy creek, also for an aqueduct at Dry Forks and a
lift and guard lock at the State line and a tunnel through the
ridge that separates the great Miami and Ohio rivers at North
Bend. In April of 1838 an excursion left Cincinnati on the
steamboat Mosselle for General Harrison's farm at North Bend,
to witness the ceremony of "breaking ground" for the Cincin¬
nati branch. In 1838 it was proposed to unite the Central canal
with the Whitewater and three routes were surveyed. Starting
at or near Muncietown the first intersected the Whitewater at
Milton and was thirty-three miles in length. The second, a
short distance this side of that place, was thirty-seven miles
long. The third, three and a half miles below Milton, was fif-
tyr-two miles long. After a thorough examination of the
country and ascertaining the amount of water that could be de¬
pended on, it was deemed impracticable and the project abandon¬
ed. In January of 1839 contracts for constructing forty sections
of the canal, averaging one half-mile each, between Harrison
and Cincinnati, were let. The locks on this portion were Mi¬
ami or Cleves, Dry Fork, Green's, Godley's and Cooper's. Thus
the work progressed slowly, but perhaps as rapidly as could be
expected, and in 1845 the branch was completed and direct
communication by the Whitewater canal between Brookville
and Cincinnati was established.
The first warehouse erected on the Whitewater canal basin in
Cincinnati was built by Stephen D. Coffin and Hadley D. John¬
son, of this place, and the first boatload of flour shipped down the
canal to Cincinnati was consigned to Mr. Johnson and he sold it
in that city. The first boat completed at the Rochester (now
Cedar Grove) boat-yard of Messrs.T. Moore, U. Kendall, G. B.
Child and S. D. Coffin was a packet called the Native, and with
Stephen D. Coffin as master arrived in Brookville July 3, 1839,
and the next day took a merry party of excursionists to Cass's
dam, three and a half miles below town, one of the excursion¬
ists being a "truant schoolboy" who in after years filled a very
important place in State and national affairs, made General
Grant an excellent postmaster-general and is at present filling
an important position in Washington City. The Native made
regular trips between Brookville and Lawrenceburg, leaving
the former at 6:30 a. m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, ar-
Internal Improvements in Indiana 115
riving- at the latter place the same evening, and on the return
leaving Lawrenceburg at 6:30 a. m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays, arriving at Brookville the same day. The fare was
$1.25 and $1.50, the State receiving 37>£ cents out of each fare.
With all its defects, the canal greatly aided in developing and
making the Whitewater valley what it is to-day, one of the
prettiest and most desirable places on earth for a home.
James M. Miller.
Brookville, Ind.
THE CENTRAL CANAL.
[Prom an interview with Gen. T. A. Morris, engineer, in 1898.]
THE Central canal, of which the piece from Indianapolis to
Broad Ripple was the only completed portion, was a part
of the system adopted by the Indiana Board of Internal Im¬
provements in 1836. The Central canal was to run from Wa¬
bash, by way of Anderson and Indianapolis, to Evansville.
Work on the canal was begun in 1837 and prosecuted up to 1838.
"During that time the part between Broad Ripple and Indian¬
apolis was completed. A good deal of heavy work was also
done on the canal between Indianapolis and Wabashtown,
much of it about Anderson. The canal was almost completed
from Indianapolis to the bluffs of White river, and a small
amount of work was done between the bluffs and Evansville,
when the Board of Internal Improvements failed, overwhelmed
with debt. The board required the unfinished work to be meas¬
ured, and the contractors were allowed what was due them for
the work already done. As there was no money to make such
payment, the Legislature had authorized the issue of scrip, and
this was paid to the contractors.
"Some time after that the Legislature authorized the sale of
the Central canal to outside parties. Alexander Morrison and
myself were appointed commissioners to value the property,
which was to be sold at our valuation. It was sold to parties in
New York. Those persons disposed of it to a company formed
here. The present Indianapolis Water Company is a successor
of that company, and now owns the canal, having bought it
more than twenty years ago. '
116
Indiana Magazine of History
"I located the line of this canal, laid it off and superintended
the construction. I surveyed the line from Wabashtown to
Martinsville. It went through a rather rough country. I
camped out for six months, but came into town for Christmas.
Many a morning we had to shake the snow off ourselves when
we got up.
"There were forests and thickets and a great deal of swampy
ground. There was a big swamp a mile or so south of Broad
Ripple which contained water nearly all the year, and was a
great feeding place for wild ducks. There was another big
swamp southeast of this, near Hiram Bacon's place on the
Noblesville road, west to the river. Remains of the former
swamp still exist. I have had some good sport shooting snipes
and ducks there.
"North of Indianapolis, along Fall creek, was a swampy place
with a greater or less depth of water. It was at one time noted
for its big pickerel. I have also shot snipes there. The place
is now built up, and is called Lincoln Park."
The General said that in Madison and Grant counties the
surveyor's work was especially hard because of the swampy
nature of much of the ground, and that the surveyor had to be
an expert in jumping, as he made his way by springing from
hummock to hummock. There was one place in Madison county
where the engineers desired to unite two streams. They antici¬
pated some difficulty in doing this, but when they came to the
spot agreed on for the dam, they found that the beavers had
long before built a dam at that very spot and accomplished the
purpose the engineers had in view, so they simply laid their lines
across the dam made by the beavers.
FIRST OLD SETTLERS' MEETING.
In a previous issue [Vol. II, No. 1] we noticed what we then
thought the first old settlers' meeting ever held in Indiana.
This was in Wayne county, in 1854. In the Madison Daily
Ba?mer of January 29, 1852, we find an account of the organ¬
ization of the first settlers of the city of Madison, to be com¬
posed of those who were residing in the county since 1820.
Internal Improvements in Indiana 117
THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM OF INDIANA.
INDIANA'S great scheme for internal improvement which
went into active operation with the famous internal improve¬
ment law of 1836, has, so far as our published histories show,
never received more than superficial consideration. A thorough
study of it, of the spirit that begot it and the lessons taught
by its economic fallacies would, indeed, make a chapter of some
magnitude, and an inviting field still remains open for some
ambitious scholar to gather the substance and meaning of it
into an elaborate thesis. Thus far, Elbert Jay Benton, in his
"Wabash Trade Route," which has been cited in our previous
article, has, perhaps, got the most out of it. This brief study
claims to be little more than an outline, which may be of inter¬
est in connection with other articles of our series.
The internal improvement movement, as taken up by the
State, can be better understood when we remember that it was
but part of a more general one that swept over the country, and
which had been gathering force for years. The situation in the
United States was, perhaps, analagous to none other in the
world at that day—a vast interior, still new and in the rough,
predestined by climate, soil and natural resources to high de¬
velopment, and occupied by a race of boundless energy thorough¬
ly bent upon progress. Almost with the founding of the nation
the needs of transportation and the desirableness of facilitating
it by government aid was agitated; and as population spread,
forming sections, the needs became more imperative, both com¬
mercially and politically. There was a strong advocacy of fed¬
eral aid. In 1806 the Cumberland or National road, to penetrate
the West, was projected, and a year or two later Albert Gallatin,
as Secretary of the Treasury, laid before Congress an elaborate
scheme for federal works, consisting of roads, canals and river
improvements. His suggestions were not carried out, but the
fact that he had been instructed to prepare a report on the sub¬
ject was significant.
But such aid as the general government rendered was insig-
118
Indiana Magazine of History
nificant compared with the growing- needs of the country; pri¬
vate enterprise likewise failed to keep pace with those needs, and
the idea of State paternalism naturally grew up as the most
promising means to the desired end.
As early as 1812 the legislature of New York voted five mil¬
lions of dollars toward a canal to connect the waters of the
Hudson and the lakes, and though the war with England, fol¬
lowing soon after, put a quietus upon the proceeding for the
time, a few years later saw the completion of the great Erie
canal, to serve thereafter as an object lesson to other States.
About the same period Pennsylvania appropriated many thou¬
sands of dollars toward various improvements; Virginia and
North Carolina, alarmed by wholesale emigration from their
borders to the valleys of the Ohio and Tennessee, attributed it
to their insufficient transportation facilities, and sought to rem¬
edy it by State aid, and these were but the earlier steps in a
movement which took possession of the country at large. Turn¬
pikes, canals, navigable rivers, and a little later, railroads were
things that people must have, and whatever promised to bring
them made a strong bid for popular favor.
In the light of this prevailing and growing idea, then, it is
not suprising that the citizens of Indiana, concerned to despera¬
tion by the difficulties of their situation, should have fallen in
with the notion, and, beguiled by specious arguments, launched
into a rash undertaking that afterward threatened to be the
State's undoing. The sentiment within the State that culmi¬
nated in the Act of 1836, with its reckless appropriation, was a
growth. "For a period of more than ten years the expediency
of providing by law for the commencement of a State system of
public works had been discussed before the people of the State
by governors, legislators and distinguished private citizens."*
In his message of December 8, 1835, Governor Noble said: "The
first steps in most of the important works undertaken have met
with opposition from those who entertain fears of taxation, bank¬
ruptcy and ruin, but of all the public works in other States there
are none that have been abandoned, or that have proved bur¬
densome or unpopular with the people, even under the highest
rate of taxation: on the contrary they have uniformly become
•Dillon p. 569.
Internal Improvements in Indiana 119
sources of wealth and comfort, monuments of public spirit and
enterprise, and objects of just pride and exaltation with the
people. These triumphant successes have settled the question
as to the practicability and utility of public works, and, encour¬
aged by these examples, our citizens have manifested their
willingness to enter with spirit upon a system that will contrib¬
ute not less to their own prosperity than to the credit of the
State."
The messages and addresses of Governors Hendricks, Ray and
Noble (1822 to 1834) urged public works—the improvement of
rivers and the construction of roads and canals. The financial
success of such works in other States, particularly the Erie
canal, in New York—where, according to the statement of
Governor Marcy, of said State, the revenue from the canal
would, within three years, more than pay off its cost—was often
quoted. Ohio's canal system, also, had paid well, and facts and
figures to prove the safeness of such investment were abundant.
In a word, what the people needed the people would use when pro¬
vided with it, and the returns from the tolls would take care of
the necessary debt.
With the agitation public sentiment became educated to the
idea, as is evidenced by the part the question came to play in
politics. It became an issue in support of which politicians ar¬
rayed themselves, and not a few, among them James B. Ray,
Governor from 1825 to 1831, may be said to have ridden into
power on this wave.
In view of all the circumstances, the State, though it did the
unwise thing, as the sequence proved, yet acted slowly, and not
without prudence. The bill committing the State to the public
works did not make its way through the legislature until pre¬
liminary surveys had been made, information made public and
the will of the people determined by the ballot. "In 1836 the
financial affairs of the country seemed to be in sound condi¬
tion, and the minds of the people of Indiana were fully prepared
to regard with favor the commencement of an extensive system
of State internal improvements."* It was only a question of
time till this tide must have its way and it issued eventually in
an elaborate law of forty-four sections, providing for a system
♦Dillon, p. 571.
120
Indiana Magazine of History
of turnpikes, canals and railroads that should practically
touch and benefit all sections of the State. These were to com¬
prise:
1. The Whitewater Canal, extending from the National Road
down the valley of the Whitewater river to Lawrenceburg on
the Ohio and "above the National Road as far as may be prac¬
ticable;" also a connection by canal or railroad between the
Whitewater and Central canals.
2. The Central Canal, to connect the Wabash Canal above Lo-
gansport with the Ohio at Evansville, running by way of Mun-
cietown and Indianapolis and down the White river valley.
3. The extension of the Wabash Canal (which under feder¬
al encouragement had been under course of construction for
four years) from the Tippecanoe river down the Wabash valley
to Terre Haute, and thence, by a practicable route, to connect
with the Central.
4. A railroad from Madison through Columbus, Indianapolis
and Crawfordsville, to Lafayette.
5. A macadamized turnpike road from New Albany to Vin-
cennes by way of Greenville, Paoli, Mount Pleasant and Wash¬
ington.
6. A railroad, if practicable, and if not a macadamized road,
from Jefferson ville and New Albany to Crawfordsville by way
of Salem, Bedford, Bloomington and Greencastle.
7. The removal of obstructions to navigation from the chan¬
nel of the Wabash between its mouth and the town of Yincennes.
The total length of these roads and canals has been given as
more than 1200 miles.* The appropriations specified in the act
was $8,000,000, and the actual loan authorized on the credit of
the State was $10,000,000.
An eighth provision authorized a survey and estimate of a ca¬
nal if practicable, if not, of a railroad, from the Wabash canal at
or near Ft. Wayne, to Lake Michigan at or near Michigan City,
by way of Goshen, South Bend, and, if practicable, Laporte.
The State pledged itself to construct this work within ten years.
The machinery essential to so great an undertaking was or¬
ganized, a Board of Internal Improvements was created, expert
engineers were secured, and a large army of workers put into
♦W. H. Smith, History of Indiana.
Internal Improvements in Indiana
121
the field. Through these experts and laborers the borrowed
money found its way into circulation; prosperity instead of
hard times "stared people in the face" and most of the people
were more than satisfied. It was believed that the revenues
from the public works would fill the State treasury and simply
do away with taxation, and the dream of opulent times snuffed
out the enforced prudence of the normal business world and be¬
got a burning fever for more gain. "A period of wild specula¬
tion ensued. Those who owned one farm bought others, and
those who owned none went into debt and purchased one."*
But though the improvement bill was "hailed by its friends
as the dawning of a new era in the history of our legislation,
essential to the prosperity of our people, and highly creditable
to the character of Indiana,"f there was a minority who saw
breakers ahead, and even among its ardent supporters there was
not lacking those whose foresight and sagacity begot premon¬
itions, as is shown by this excerpt from Governor Noble's mes¬
sage of December 5, 1836 (House Journal, 1836, p. 19): "There
must," he says, "be foresight and stability in our legislation so
as to continue and increase the confidence of the people at home,
and maintain the just credit of the State abroad. Until our
success is complete our duties will not terminate, and whilst in¬
dulging our fancies with the prospect of a bright future, it
should not be forgotten that during the progress of every public
work like ours there has been a financial pressure from which
we can claim no exemption. An overflowing prosperity will
follow profuse disbursements of the public funds. With its
current we -Will all be swept along, and, seduced by the times,
we will live high, purchase freely, contract debts and plunge
into other extravagances at which our present notions of econ¬
omy would revolt. And when these disbursements are reduced,
when the heaviest demands are made upon us for the support of
the Treasury, we shall have parted with the means placed in
our hands. Such a state of things will hardly fail to bring
upon us a pressure, and when the dark period arrives, there may
be some so forgetful of its past benefits as to complain of the
system."
♦Smith, v. I, p. 280.
fElbert Jay Benton's Wabash Trade Route, p. 54; quoted from Lafayette Journal and
Free Press of January 29,1856.
122
Indiana Magazine of History
Despite these forebodings, however, the framer of the Mes¬
sage permitted himself to see only a bright and hopeful out¬
come, and he proceeded to point out the policy whereby there
would be thrown into the Treasury each year, not only a suffi¬
cient supply for the demands upon it, but a continuous handsome
balance that would prepare the State for any crisis.
But time proved the wisdom of the first and not of the sec¬
ond of these predictions. In a word, the sanguine hopes of the
friends of the great system were but short-lived, and so swiftly
did adversity follow that three years after the public works be¬
gan they were deliberately abandoned in the midst of construc¬
tion and after an expenditure of something more than five and
a half millions of dollars, for at least one and a half millions of
which there was no return. "The State abandoned outright
three of its works: The Jefferson ville and Crawfordsville roads,
after expending $339,183.18; the Lafayette and Indianapolis
road, after expending $73,142.87; the work on the Wabash rap¬
ids, after expending $14,288.42. The Whitewater Canal, pro¬
jected from Lawrenceburg to the mouth of Nettle creek, 76yí
miles, was completed for 31 miles between the Ohio river and
Brookville. The work cost $1,099,867. It was later completed
by a private company and maintained in successful operation for
some years. Rents and tolls had brought the State $9,902.41.
The northern division of the Central Canal was sold to private
parties in 1850 and 1851. It had cost the State something over
$863,209.88. The State received in tolls and rent $13,720.13.
Similarly the Madison & Indianapolis railroad passed into
private control after costing the State $1,624,605.05, and re¬
turning $63,182.32. No part of the Erie and Michigan canal
was finished. A feeder and surveys cost the State $156,324.
The water power of the Northport feeder dam was available,
and that was conveyed to Noble county for school purposes.
On the Central Canal between Indianapolis and Evansville $574,-
646.49 was expended, on the Cross Cut, $436,189.88."*
This abandonment "caused wide-spread disaster, bankrupting
most of the contractors and leaving hundreds and thousands of
laborers without pay for the work they had done,"f and it left
♦Benton.
fSmith.
Internal Improvements in Indiana 123
the State under an enormous debt without the ability to pay even
the accruing- interest, which was honorably discharged only
after years of financiering, and which all but resulted in the
disgrace of repudiation.
The causes of this disastrous outcome were various. In part
it is attributed to the financial distress that swept over the coun¬
try in 1837. Another factor was unwise management. Instead
of proceeding judiciously and slowly in the floating of bonds,
and completing one work at a time, thus securing speedy returns
from tolls, there was a politic attempt to satisfy the clamorous
demands of the sections to be benefited and to supply them all
at once with their canals, roads and railroads. Thus, to bal¬
ance the vast expenditures there was no income, save a slight
one from the Wabash Canal, which had previously reached a
stage of service. "To add to the State's embarrassment, the
price of labor, provisions and material increased the cost of the
various works far above the original estimates," and yet again,
bonds had been sold on credit, and, owing to the subsequent
panic in the business world, sums amounting to more than three
million dollars were a total loss. These and other causes that
would seem to be inseparable from government paternalism*
operated fatally. Some of the works, such as the Whitewater
canal, the Madison railroad and some minor features of this sys¬
tem, were transferred to private companies that extended and
operated them. The Wabash canal was for the time retained
by the State. The utter loss of the work on the unopened ca¬
nals may fairly be considered as due to the succeeding era of
railroads which speedily made canal construction practically
obsolete.
For the better part of a decade legislation in Indiana was
fronted by the State's huge and steadily accruing debt, and the
seeming impossibility of lifting the burden. The solution was
made possible, eventually, by the creditors themselves. In 1845-
'46 the population of the State was estimated at 800,000, the
taxable property at $118,500,000, the voters'poll-tax at $124,000.
The total debt per capita was a little over $20, and the wealth
per capita about $140. For five years Indiana's bondholders
had received no interest on their investments, the ultimate re-
♦See Autobiography of Philip Mason, p. 172.
124
Indiana Magazine of History
covery of the principal was a matter of serious doubt, and the
depreciated bonds were being1 quoted at 40 cents on the dollar.
Among the bondholders were not only large capitalists, but
many persons of limited means that depended on their invest¬
ments and were actual sufferers by the non-payment of their in¬
terest. Their straits demanded some remedy, if remedy were
possible.
As an agent for these desperate creditors Charles Butler, a New
York attorney, appeared at the legislative session of 1845-'46
with a plan whereby the State might satisfy its bondholders.
This plan which, in substance was eventually accepted, is em¬
bodied in the law known as the "Butler Bill" (General Laws,
1846) and is to the effect that the bondholders should receive as
part payment of the debt the Wabash and Erie Canal, then in
operation from Lafayette eastward, with its tolls and unsold
lands. A part of the stipulation was that out of the sales of
these lands the new owners should also complete the canal to
Evansville. The property was put into the hands of there
trustees appointed, two by the creditors and one by the State,
and with this transfer Indiana was happily rid of the most gall¬
ing burden she has ever been saddled with.
G. S. C *
OLD BLOCKHOUSE STILL STANDING.
According to a newspaper correspondent")" there still stands
a half-mile west of Petersburg, in Pike county, a blockhouse of
the war of 1812. The accompanying picture shows it to be a
large, two-story cabin of heavy logs and provided with portholes.
It was occupied during the war by Hosea Smith and family, to¬
gether with his neighbors, who came to it as a refuge.
♦The unsigned article on the Wabash & Erie canal is also by the editor.
tIndianapolis News, March 9,1907.