Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1885 — GATH WRITES OF INDIANA. [ARTICLE]

GATH WRITES OF INDIANA.

The Influences Which Deter-* mined the Growth of the Hoosier State. Indianapolis in Many Respects a Peculiar City—The Old Town of Vincennes —The State’s Public Men. [Letter in Cincinnati Enqnirer.l It was the custom thirty years ago to allnde to the State of Indiana is if it were something between Arkansas and North Carolina. The pride of Virginians and Kentuckians, of Ohioans and Illinoisans found Tonsolation in reflecting upon these former three States as without the social basis of their own—the poor white commonwealths of the Union. As late as 1885 a history of Kentucky went outside of its scope and purpose to show that “a land company imported, in the seventeenth century, to the waters of Pimlico and Albemarle Sounds the worst, by far the worst, population of any brought to America, frbm whom have come the sand-hillers, crackers, dirt-eat-ers, red-necks, etc., of the South. The western march of this unhappy mongrel people,” Says the author, “passed south of Kentucky, and they then crossed the country from the Carolina coast to Central Arkansas and Southern Missouri.” 1Persons who have noted the social and political improvement of what were called the poor white States since the rebellion have also observed how necessary it has been lor more pretentious States which have fallen back in the race to keep alive these •■ancient and vague illusions. The history of Indiana illustrates the motto that “Honor and shame from no condition rise.” No State in the Union has come out stronger in biography, in the contrasts of type and character and in real monuments of towns, architectures, and convenience-, than Indiana since the beginning of the civil war. Within her borders were large ingredients fuom the slave States. And Southern Indiana for many years continued to import.and export slaves. into Indiana went a large Virg.nia and Kentucky element, but probably a larger Carolina element with occasional notable arrivals from Tennessee. The.e was also in Indiana a small but well-marked French element, not only at Vincennes and other spots in the South, but in the northeast, toward Canada and Detroit. Pennsylvania gave the first important Northern element to this State, and afterward Ohio began to send forward her second growth of citizens, and within the past twenty years there has been a qurious reflex wave of immigration to Indiana from the States to tpe west of her. of the land of Indiana was inferior, and therefore the larger tides of emigration, taking the water routes by the lakes and the Ohio, went past Indiana. They or their descendants have but recently discovered that in many cases they obtained worse land by going the further. Indiana has, therefore, grown beyond the expectations of her grandfathers. The census of 1880 portrayed her with abont two millions of inhabitants. This was an increase of abont one-third in twenty years, and of nearly a million cf inhabitants added in thirty years. Indiana is the sixth State in the American Union, next below Missouri, andnext above Massachusetts. This State had no general or spiritual incentive, like Ohio, Kansas, and some other Western Sta es. Be.ng closed to slavery by the organic law creating the Northwestern Territory, it did not attract wealthy people from the South, and as it haxl navigation inferior to other Western States, with their longer line: of lake and more general river systems, it furnished nojuurticular nucleus, such as Chicago, or ClevelandrdKSt. Louis for a great settlement. It was not colonized by Revolutionary soldiers, co-operating w ith their enterprising officers, as was the case with Ohio, in which it w/s originally containedThe growth.of Indiana was almost secondary: the large towns beyond its exterior furnished the newspapers v.hich were read by the people of the country, and. therefore, it had but few advertising advantages, the habit being to comment upon it as if it were some inoffensive -Egypt. The politics of Indiana was influenced by the rise and succession of the school of Gen. Jackson, whose warlike nature and humble beginnings greatly recommended him to the plain people there. The State had its own hero. Harrison, who came forward some years afterward and triumphed over Gen. Jackson's successor; but£hoPresident dying the scepter again de- , parted from the Moab of the West, and we heard but little of Indiana until the outbreak of the civil war. Two men then appeared of nearly equal force of character andriierce convictions— Jesse D. Bright and Oliver,P. Morton. A financier was also developed from the State banking system of Indiana in Hugh McCulloch; a quick and < arable Speaker ,of Congress and subsequent Vive President xVas Schuyler Colfax, a graceful, skillful and experienced advocate came also to the front in Thomas A. Hendricks. Indianapolis rose to be one of the most interesting cities in the West, although it had been created by an act of legislative will, and was without any particular advantages, except its centrality; This city has been said to be tbe largest city in the world, wholly remote from natural lines of communication: it is upon no river that pertains to commerce, and it has grown to be larger than Washington was at the commencement of the civil war, and has probably a stable population of nearly IOO.IXXJ. Other legislative centers in the West, like Columbus, St. Paul, and Denver, have taken root and flourished, but Indianapolis, above all other capital-', is probably the undisputed mistress of its State in cummunications, commerce, and

social influence. Indianapolis is the social capital of the more modern history of this State; further back we must seek in cities and. towns now partly forgotten tor the ruling spirits of the State. Among these towns are Madison, New Harmony, Vincennes, Connersville, Brookville, Richmond, and other places upon the Ohio, the White and the Wabash Rivers. An atlas of Indiana, published ■ as late as 1822, shows next to nothing in three-. quarters of the whole State; there were only two counties in middle Indiana, nor h of a point thirty m les from the Ohio River, and from that point the settlements ran along the eastern and western boundary, and gave the State the appearance of a stocking hung up at Christmas, with all the “goodies” along the sole and instep, and nothing in the leg. Indianapolis stood at the highest forks of the White River, with a long name and no neighbors. Vincennes, with an origin anterior to the American possession, had propagated a few wild counties, but most of the counties and villages of consideration were close to the Ohio River and "Ohio line. The city of Cincinnati had an effective influence upon peopling Indiana, through her communications, which were early established, and by reason of the rich limestone valleys and plains about the Miami River, which constitutes the boundary point between Indiana and Ohio. Louisville, which became a place of wealth ana consideration later than Cincinnati, a'so had an influence in the settling of this State, but perhaps the greatest of all influences was the railroad extension through Indiana only a few weeks previous to the great rebellion. Until steam highways were put down in a State whoite rivers ran the wrong way, or toward the West instead of the East, there was , no general understanding or settlement of the ' Indian commonwealth. It was called Indiana because it was the great Indian land. The population in 1820 was less than 150,000 people, and Delaware- County, which had Indianapolis for its center, and comprised, probably, oneeighth of the whole State, had hardly 3,500 people. The Wabash River is to Indiana like a sash tier! around a man's body from left to right, and though it is SW) miles long, its part in the settlement of the State has be n greater as a drain and fountain than ts a highway. Indiana had no such comprehensive railroad as the Illinois Central to act as a great forked tree in the State, and fill it with boughs and twigs of population. The Nat ion al. .Road, which the Government built far into Ohio, Was taken un and carried along subsequently, but not in time to be of much benefit to a newcommunitv, with the railroad spirit coming so swiftly onward in the rear. In J 826 the Governor said in his message: “We must strike at the internal improvement of the Stare, or form our minds to remain poor and unacquainted with each other." No road was begun from Lake Michigan through Indiana; oils to Madison on the Ohio until 4830. Two years later a canal was opened from the Wabash to I.ake Erie The panic of .1837 came when Indiana had just launched a comprehensive system of canals. Until - about thirteen years before the great civil war the State was unable to pay the interest on her internal improvement debt The firs? railroad in the State was from Madison to irdianapolis, and it was opened in 1847; this road was meant to be the chief inlet to the State from the region of Cincinnati and the Ohio River. In 1853 a railroad was opened from India- apolis to Louisville. The Fort Wayne and Cheago Railroad in Ohio a good while, and was not opiened through to Chicago until 1858. The Ohio and Missis-ippl Railroa l, through Southern Indiana, was not op ned until the brink, of the rebellion; by. 1857 it was running to Vincennes, but was n t jeady for traffic to’.St. Louis until ■lß6ti. The Northern Indiana Railroad, connect ng the Lake Shore with Chicago, w “ only opened in 1852. Indiana ha-1 in Ixßo n ore.’h n 4.;:oo miles of railroad, and since that lime her mileage has increased. The con eqnenc:- has been the springing up cf new towns in • veiy.. portion of the State, and, perhap-s, rao-e than any State in the Union, Indiana has been creaicd and peopled by i.er railroads.

Indianapolis ftaelf was only laid out in 181, and the public offices were not established there until 1825. and .the State House, rec ntly destroyed, was n<?t opened until 18»4, when It cost ♦60,060. The present county Conrt House of Indianapolis cost ♦1.500,000, rises eighty-one feet irom the ground, is three stories high, and is 275 feet lorg, and its tow.r Is 200 feet high. The great Union Depot in that cityj which is abont to be built upin a scale corresion ting to its continental uses, will be one of the chief human centers in the West ■, . To comprehend the origin of Indiana one must go to the old city of Vincennes, which is said to have been founded as early as 1710, on the Wabash River, some seventy-five miles from its month. Until 1813 this post, fort, and town was the capital cf Indiana There can still be seen the Executive mansion of the first Governor, William Henry Harrison. It is narrated that in tbe yard of this house, which stands upon the sloping river bank, Tecumseh, the celebrated Indian organizer, had resolved to kljl Harrison' by assassination, in the midst of acouncil which was,held there. The city occupies a healthful plain, adapted to frnit, and many of the houses retain the-0)d French appearance; mahy qf the people not only look like Frenchmen of either pure or mixed blood, but they speak the French language, and French immigrants have settled at Vincennes within our own time. The old cathedral In the place, with its graveyard and conventual surroundings, is worth a visit. It is said , that M. de Vincennes, who gave qpme to this place, was killed by the Chickasaw Indiana His wfe could only make her mark, though she was a daughter of the wealthiest citizen of Kaskaskia, which was the French emporium or the Upper Mississippi. Vincennes is older than Savannah, and of the age of Trenton, N. J., and, if its <1 te lie correctly stated, it is eight years older than New Orleans. It had been in the English occupation about sixteen years when the Kentuckians occupied it, in 1779, under Gen. George Rogers Clark, whom many consider the true founder of Kentucky. Nearly five years afterward the Northwestern Territory was presented by Virginia to the United States, and Gen. Harmar and Gen. St. Clair both visited Vincennes, wh'ch was visited by distinguished foreigners. Volney, the traveler, wrote an account of it, and in its vicinity was established a notable English settlement in Illinois by Burbeck and Flower, both autnors and men of intrei id moral courage. Gen. Harrison, though historically assigned to the State or Ohio, began his more public life in Indiana. In Ohio he had been the territor.al subordinate of Gov. St. Clair, In Indiana he was himself the Governor at Hie early age of twenty-seven; the youngest son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence: he fought,against the Indians in tho West under Schuyler and Wayne, and won a captaincy: and he commanded Cincinnati when it was a frontier fort. Identifying himself with the new West by marriage and property interests, he wes sent to Congress as a delegate. His father-in-law, Mr. Symmes, of New Jersey, cxf.n T r ill 1p f 1 n. million of InnH on a tinw on the little Miami River, and finally had patented to him near 312,000 acres, upon which stands Cincinnati and the most populous portions of Ohio and Indiana. Harrison lived at Vincennes about twelve years, and when we became a second time engaged in wax with England, he was made a Brigadier General; and at the close of that war was returned to Congress frbm Ohio. The remainder of his life, about twenty-seven years, was spent rnOhio, but very close to the Indiana line. —— Harrison was not only the first Governor of Indiana, but he was the chief warrior of the State, and tbe battle of Tippecanoe, which he fought at Tecumseh's own settlement, became a political battle cry, which carried him into the Presidency. Indiana cast her electoral vote twice for Harrison for President—in 1836 and in 1840. Of the Indiana electors in 1840 one, Caleb B. Smith, lived to he in the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln, and another, Richard W. Thompson, was in the Cabnet of President Hayes.

State Items. U —John J. Johnson, Deputy Recorder of Muncie, committed suicide with a revolver. —The Grand Jury of Dearborn County returned sixty indictments last week for the unlawful sale of liquor. —There will be considerable building in Lafayette and the vicinity this summer of houses principally of the better class. —Frederick GrotegUth, who killed his wife at Vincennes June 4, has confessed.. He quarreled with his wife and cut het throat with a razor. —Professor Borden is arranging for the dedication of Borden Institute, at Newi Providence, on July 4. Hon. Will Cum-J back will deliver the address. William Doliver Was declared notguilty; by a jury at Winnamac. He was tried foil the murder of Zack Letterman, committed at Medaryville, last February. —lt is said that $2,000 will place the Floyd County Jail in perfectly safe anc| first-class condition, and make separate) apartments for male and female prisoners. —The directors of the Northern Indiana penitentiary have made a contract for a large stoneworkshop, in which 300 convicts will be worked by the Amazon Hosiery Company of Chicago. —Eloping couples . from Kentucky are unusually numerous for the season, and justices of Jeffersonville and New Albany are kept busy marrying from whom they receive liberal fees. —A SIO,OOO suit at Muncie turns on the legality of a mortgage, it being alleged that the seal used by the notary who took the acknowledgment was not his own seal, but one borrowed from another notary. —The colored population of Plainfield expect a rare treat in a short time; Henry Dunbar, a colored man at that place, avers that oil several occasions he has eaten four dozen hens’ eggs at a meal, and proposes to beat this record at a public exhibition to take place at Guilford Hall or the base-ball park. ’ • —J. D. McLaren, a leading attorney of Plymouth, has been retained by the Whaleys of Marshall County to prosecute their claims to the estate of James Whaley, deceased, who died without issue in Dutchess County. New York. The estate is valued at $1,000,000. The Whaleys of Marshal County are directly, related, and they are certain of getting a portion of this large estate. -

—Within the last three nights no less than six burglaries have been committed in this city (says a Wabash telegram), and though the aggregate amount of money and property obtained will not exceed $25, a reign of terror of a mild type has been inaugurated. The crooks are believed to be women—members of a band of gypsies which has been loitering about this vicinity for several weeks. —Stucker Rogers and Edward Rogers, aged respectively twelve and thirteen years, are in jail at Bloomington, charged with placing obstructions on the track of the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway. It is alleged that the boys got acme old ties and stones and placed them on the track at a curve between Gosport and Stinesville. A freight train, drawn by engine No. 23, collided with the obstruction, and the engine was thrown from the track and blew out a cylinder head. The boys are grandsons of the proprietor of the Rogers House at Gosport, and have been canghi in many scrapes. Some time ago, if is c barged, they set fire to two barns at Gosport.*