The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-11
THE GATEWAY OF THE WEST.
The Hoosier States Physical Character
istics and Early Population.
The Position 1t Holds in Relation to the
Travel and Commerce Of the Nation
Qualities of the Pioneers.

Prof. John Clark Ridpath, in Christian Advocate.
The territory now comprised within the State
of Indiana was originally part of New France.
BY the treaty of Paris. in 1868, this vast region
passed under the dominion of England. For
twenty years the British flag remained the only
emblem of civil authority between the capes of
Virginia and the coasts of New England on the
one side, and the Father of Waters on the other.
With the establishment of our independence by
the treaty Of 1888 the great countries west of the
Alleghenies and south Of the lakes were coded
by Great Britain to the new republic of the
West The best and greatest of the regions
whick thus became inheritance was the
country called the Territory Northwest OF the
River Ohio which began to be organic under
the Jesersonian ordinance Of 1887. Happy it
was for the destin;es of our country. and for all
the countries of the world, that this imperial do
main, out of which, within the space Of single
human life, were to spring FIVE great States and
the fraction Of another, was, by the act which
gave it political existence, forever consecrated to
freedom.
When. in the year 1900. the State Of Ohio was
organized, the remainder of the Northwest Terri
tory took the name of Indiana Territory. In 1905
Michigan Territory was set off on the north, and
four years afterward Illinois Territory on the
west Thus were determined the limits OF the
present State of Indiana Our commonwealth
received as boundary on the east the State OF
Ohio; on the north, the territory and lake of
Mchigan; on the south, the river Ohio. and on
the west the Wabash river and the Territory of
Illinois.
The country included within these limits has
an area OF 80 800 square miles It lies between
the parallels 37o At and 40 4V north, and be-
tween the meridians $40 4Y and 8So q west. 1t
the Western States-a fact somewhat unfavor-
able to her political and social Importance among
the commonwealth OF the Union
Considered, however, with respect to what
may be called situation, Indiana holds place of
high rank and advantage. In the first place,
the natural features of the State are greatly in
her favor as it respects the development of a
great civic community. In no other State of the
Union. perhaps, are the original gifts of nature
90 we'll and plentifully distributed Indiana had
City years ago, the finest forests to be found
within the limits Of the United States 1t is not
meant that her woods were grand and i'm
posing as those of the great Northwest; hut the
distribution was better, and the variety almost
Wabash valley was as rich and varied
as can well be imagined. The most
imposing tree was the yellow poplar. The
next was the tremendous white oak Of oaks
there might be seen in the same woods seven or
eight varieties. Then came the black walnut,
the black and swamp ASH the sugar and white
maple, the wild cherry, the gum, the sycamore,
1he elm, the lind. the white walnut, the buckeye,
the black and honey locust the beech, the she'll
bark and white hickory, and an infinity of wild
fruit-trees and blossoming shrubs. These
gr0wths we're not rare, but plentiful, profuse,
abundant. The primitive woodland growth of
Indiana, though it somewhat retarded the de-
!voiopment of agriculture, was a source of great
wealth. and though native woods have in
large part been hewn down and destroyed yet
our fields and farms are still surrounded win
a rim of the original forest into which one may
plunge and lose himself in solitude From the
window of the train the traveller across State
sees always beyond the fields of wheat and corn
the dark line of woodland in the horizon
Not all Of our surface, however, was covered
with forest. Indiana has her share of open glade
and prairie To be sure, our prairies are not
magnificent in extent like those further west,
but they are among the richest in the world.
From the latitude of Lafayette northward to the
lakes, and westward to the limits of the State,
the prairie lands greater in extent than the
forests and this part, including the country of
the Kankakee, is one of the finest farming regions
In America.
Not only in her native woods, but also in the
multitude and distribution of her running
streams is Indiana remarkably favored. AS
general fact her rivers and streams flow to the
southwest and fall into the Wabash. Almost the
whole State is part of the valley of that river
4 q
single tier of counties on the south. The south
east angle of the State is occupied with the val
ley of the Whitewater and the northwest with
the region of the Kankakee. All the rest of the
State is covered and contained within the numer-
Gus branching tributaries of the Wabash No
district Of the world is better supplied with run
ming water. The branches Of the Wabash reach
out like the veins of great and beautiful leaf
That river Is the damantal fact in tho nhvs;cai
geography of the State
In noticing what nature has done for Indiana,
failure should not be made to mention her SPLEEN
did supply of coal and stone. The coal fields of
the State are nearly eight thousand square miles
In extent Almost the whole southwestern slope
is underlaid with beds of the best block and bi
luminous coal The supply appears to be mex
haustible, and the quality equal or superior to
that OF western Pennsylvania. AS to our beds
OF stone. those of Bedford and Ellettsville are
unsurpassed in the world. 1t is possible to take
from the quarries of Bedford a larger and better
monoith or limestone than exists anywhere
among the monuments of mankind I doubt
not that the Bedford contractors will at any
time agree to furnish stone twice as great in
dimensions as the largest in the foundations of
Baaioec! l have seen inch.souare bars of this
stone, six feet in length which, supported at the
ends, would spring, under pressure, like bar of
steel. Struck with hammer. it rings with n
metallic clang like the cry of an anvil
But it is in respect to her political and indus
trial situation that Indiana has the greatest dis
tnction. glance az the map will show how
PECULIAR are the advantages which she enjoys
Tie State is divided centrally BY the fortietk
pa,ael Of latitude. Very nearly along this line
stretch the great arteries of civilization In
diana is kind of wrist in which the tendons of
progress and the currents of national life are
gathered and bound down before they are dis
triorted and poured out into the palm and
hngecs OF the iimtable West Or, to change
the h,ure. our State is sort of Caspian gate,
through which forever must pass and pass the
pnysl@l intellectual and spiritual forces of
American civilization. On the north the great
1akes, dropping out of Canada, press southwark
the currents of trade and travel and on the
south he Ohio, backed by the broken countries
OF Kentucky and Tennessee, presses the same
currents northward, thus forcing through In
diana the contracted and deepened tides of com
mercal and intellectual life Scarcely can the
traveller pass in either direction across the CONT
nent without finding himself in the bank full
channels ct the Indiana pass
One must needs journey from New Albany to