YANKEE EMIGRANTS.

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CHAPTER XII.

INDIANA.

Yankee emigrants-Emigration checked by the war of 1812 Admission as a state- Rapid settlement of the state- Where the settlers came from-Soil of the state- The Ohio and Whitewater valleys The White River Valley - The Wabash Valley - River navigation Canals - Railroads - Agricultural products -Chari

table institutions, churches, colleges, and schools.

UPON the organization of the eastern portion of the Northwestern Territory into a separate territorial government, the remaining portion of it, extending westward to the Mississippi, and northward to the lakes, became known as the Indiana Territory. In 1804, it entered upon the first grade of territorial government, as prescribed by the ordinances of 1787. William Henry Harrison was appointed governor. Vincennes was selected as the capital. The north-western tribes had continued to be peaceable, since the conquest of that region by Colonel Clark. The French settlements on the Wabash soon began to receive additions of Yankee emigrants. The rambling disposition of the people, their curiosity to see and explore new and beautiful regions, led them to plunge into the wilderness, and seek out those remote and lonely settlements. Roadtraces, or lines of blazed trees, marked out the routes to be pursued by the emigrants. Previous to 1805, the Indian title to nearly all the southern half of Indiana had been extinguished, removing the chief obstacle to the peaceful settlement of the country.

Three years later, the population having increased to five thousand free white males, Congress, with a view to a future state government, assigned the limits of Indiana,

and authorized the election of a territorial legislature. The prosperity of Indiana was considerably checked by the last war with Great Britain. Indian hostilities were at once resumed, and many of the advanced settlements had to be abandoned. It was not until the summer of 1815 that the population of Indiana began rapidly to increase. For the various campaigns of that war, and the mounted expeditions that had traversed the territory, were virtual explorations of that fertile and beautiful country by thousands of young, hardy, and enterprising pioneers, who, upon the return of peace, moved thither with their families, and formed settlements upon all the water-courses. Many of the inhabitants came into the territory from Ohio and Kentucky. So great was the rush of emigration that, early the next season, the population had become sufficiently large to entitle them to a state government. In April, 1816, Indiana was admitted into the Union as a free and independent state.

None of the western states have become settled with greater rapidity than Indiana. Four years after the adoption of the state constitution, the population numbered one hundred and forty-eight thousand souls; five years afterward, two hundred and fifty thousand; in 1830, three hundred and forty-two thousand; and in 1835, six hundred thousand. The present population is over one million. Of that number, New York has furnished twentyfour thousand; Pennsylvania, forty-four thousand; Maryland, ten thousand; Virginia, forty-five thousand; Kentucky, sixty-nine thousand; and Ohio, one hundred and twenty thousand. In 1850, the improved farm lands in the state amounted to five million acres; the unimproved, over seven million acres.

The remarkable fertility of the soil of Indiana arises mainly from its geological position. Situated nearly

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in the center of the great American valley, far distant from the primitive ranges of mountains, the surface-earth is accordingly formed from the destruction of a vast variety of rocks, both crystalline and sedimentary, which have been minutely divided, and intimately blended, by the action of air and water. That soil is known to be the most productive which has been formed from the destruction of the greatest variety of rocks, by which is produced the due mixture of gravel, sand, clay, and limestone, necessary for the nutrition of plants. Two-thirds of the state of Indiana is level land, slightly undulating, and the water-shed, or divide, within its borders, is scarcely perceptible. But the country has continuous slopes of vast extent, and the highest elevation of the surface is six hundred feet above the Ohio River at the falls. Along the rivers are ranges of low hills, which extend back in spurs a little way into the country. Those on the banks of the streams, where the water-courses have torn through them, present much imposing scenery. Back of the hills is the table-land of the interior country; and that lies gently rolling, as if formed into billows. Occasionally there are small conical elevations, from one hundred feet to two hundred feet in hight. Inclosed within the river hills are the rich bottom-lands, which, originally, were covered with mighty forests. The predominant timber of the state is oak and beech. Next in order are the sugar-maple, hickory, ash, poplar, elm, cherry, hackberry, whitewood, coffee-tree, and honey-locust. Chestnut is found only on the east fork of the White River.

Indiana has four distinct natural divisions. First, the Ohio and Whitewater valleys, comprising about five thousand square miles. It is a limestone region, heavily timbered, and the soil of great depth and fertility. The bills are abrupt, and broken through by numerous streams,

that in dry weather show only the marks where torrents have disappeared almost as soon as the storms which had occasioned them. About two-thirds of this division consists of choice farming lands. The residue is too much broken to be cultivated profitably. The poorest land is in the flats at the heads of the streams, which would seem to have washed the substance of the soil upon the bottoms below.

Second, the White River Valley, which extends back, through the center of the state, from the Wabash to the boundary of Ohio, and contains about nine thousand square miles. The surface is uniformly level, originally covered with a heavy growth of forest-except in the western part, where there are some small prairies and low, rugged hills. This valley is wholly destitute of rock. The soil is the best in the state, with but very little that is not fit for cultivation. It is supplied with never-failing streams, and an abundance of water-power.

Third, the Wabash Valley, which constitutes the larg est division, as it contains upward of twelve thousand square miles. It interlocks with the White River Valley, which it resembles, in the eastern part. The Wabash Valley is more broken, but not less fertile. The middle of this region is supplied with running water; but the upper and the lower portions are nearly destitute of it. From the river-hills along the Ohio, the land inclines to the Wabash; and it is a curiosity of the Indiana river system, that the streams rising near the former river flow off to a great distance, and form junctions with the latter.

Fourth, the northern part of the state, which is watered by the St. Joseph's and its tributaries, and the Kankakee, a branch of the Illinois. It resembles very much the Wabash country, only that it is rather more