Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-03-13
glorious triumph.
The Prairies of Indiana.

glorious triumph.
The Prairies of Indiana.
The line between the prairie land andthe
timber country of this State, runs diagonally,
from the North East TO the South West cor
ner. Beginning in the North East, in the
county of Steuben, it runs along through the
counties of Noble, Kosciusco Fulton, and
Pulaski, to Carroll, where it crosses the Wa
bash, and bears South across Tippecanoe, and
then runs Southwest through Fountain,
Parke, Vigo, Sullivan and Knox to the
rapids of the Wabash, where it recrosses the
river, and proceeds indefinitely. The line is
remarkable, inasmuch as it separates two por-
tons of the State entirely dissimilar in soil,
and natural productions. South of the line,
the timber is forest, dense, heavy, and of
every variety of species oftree, and the soil
is clayey loan. North Of the line, the tim
her, wherever it occurs, is in orchard, like
groves, and generally consisting of little vari-
ETY., being mostly oak, and the soil is a sandy
loan.
Ifyou approach the State of Indiana by the
Ohio and Indiana Railroad, through Fort
Wayne, you will reach the prairie country
near Warsaw, in Kosciusco county. If you
pass through Indianapolis. toward Lafayette,
you Will find the line between prairie and
timber, just beyond Thorntown. If you go
West, on the Tene Iaute Railroad, you will
first see the prairie at Tcrre Haute. IL you
approach South, over the New Albany and
Salem Railroad. you will suddenly emerge
from the dense forest into the open prairie,
just North of Charlottesville.
The Indiana prairies are generally small,
compared with those of Illinois and Iowa.
but they are all the better for this, inasmuch
as timber for fencing and building is always
convenient Those along the Wabash, in
Tippecanoe, Fountain, Vermillion, Nigo, and
Sullivan, are seldom moro than five or six
miles either in length or breadth. Those in
the Northeast counties-Steuben, Lagrange,
Noble, Koseiusko, Fulton, Marshall, and
Starke, are generally only Of few hundred
acres each in extent, with beautiful groves
every where interpersef Those of Elkhart,
ST. Joseph, Laporte and Porter, are larger,
sometimes covering a township or more, and
are extremely fertile, and surprisingly beau
tiful. In White. Jasper Warren and Ben
ton, We reach the open, treeless, illmltable
Il; a.,l,
Unity towards the setting sun.
In some Of the counties, particularly Pu-
laski, Starke,. White. Jasper, Porter and
Laporte, many of the prairies arg wet, so
much SO, as to be comiderefM marshes. Some
Of them may lie found difficult to drain, and
must remain marshy. hut, by far the greater
part Of them may be most perfectly drained,
when they will form the most fertile soil in
the world. The most difficult of drainage
are those about the head waters of the
MonOn, extending from the New Albany and
Salem Railroad, where it crosses the Monon
waters at Medaryville, to Winnhnac, en- the
Tippecanoe. There are also some on the
waters of the Iroquois, in Jasper, having hut
slight fall. There may be some marshy
lands, incapable Of drainage, on the waters of
the Kankakee, above English lake, and some
on the North bank Of the river near the Hi
| nois-line. But all along dhe KankalSee, from
the foot of English lake to the Illinois line,
particularly on the South side of the river
/ al, fan ,,F far, f.at 40
the mile, sufficient to carry of all the water,
whenever the State bitches are made.
The prairies of Indiana are peculiarly
valuable fef stock farms. The Tippecanoe
the Wea, the Wabash, the Monon,ih the Iro-
guois, and the Kanl1akee, with their nnmer-
.ous tributaries, and the large bitches made
under the Swamp Land Law, furnish an mex
hausable supply of pare, fresh water, while
grass springs up every where in surprising
abundance. We have travelled over the
prairies, on the banks of the Kankakee
where the grass was so thick that our dos
could not make his way through it. and sc
tall, that a man on horseback could scarcely
be seen a few rods off,
The wild prairie grasses will, after beins
for some years fed dow by stock, disappear
but timothy, red top, and blue grass will, i
sown, take their place, and produce mos
luxuriant pastures and productive meadows
The praries are not less valuable for grain
than for stock. Corn, wheat, and oats ara
cultivated with great care, and enormous
profit 1t is worth a journey across the At
lantic Just to look once at some of the prairie
farms. You may see them in all their glory
and grandeur on the Wea and Shawnee
plains, in Fountain, and on the Door prairie
ilSLaporte. Or you may find splendid speci
mems of prairie farms at Gov. Wiilard's and
Thomas Dowliug's, in White, near Nudge
Station, or near Rensselaer,, in Jasper, or nea
Oxford, ia Benton.
Prairie scenery is beautiful, surprisingly
beautiful-beautiful as dreams of early love
or visions of fairy land. He who has never
seen prairie, as it appears in spring morn
, ing, or an autumn evening has no concep.
, ton of nature in her most beauteous drape ~
Indeed, no mans education is finished unit
he has seen the praires.
The SALE OF HIAwATHA-lt is only three
months since this fine poem was published