The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-04

ance, 1nIuSlng new lie INTO all the little
river towns. The abundant agricultural
wealth of the Wabash country now
found comparatively cheap and easy trans
portation directly to the East; the regions
north and south for distance of fifty to a
hundred miles gravitated TO this outlet, and
from the Illinois country, westward, to La
fayette came fiocking the great prairie
schooners laden with their contributions to
the worlds marts. Westward, in turn, came
the capacious freight boats laden with mer-
chandise of all kinds, and the packets with
emgrants who, now having access to this
land of promise, came in an uninterrupted
tide, 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 reg
ularly connected and travelling was made
possible to the multitude. And it was idyllic
and picturesque travelling. People not given
to the frantic haste of the present day
were content to spend leisurely hours sit
ting in pleasant company on the deck or in
the cabin of the smoothly-gliding packet.
Passengers got acquainted and fraternized,
played games. discoursed, argued, and, no
doubt, made love, and when the boat was
delayed it was quite common Tor congenial
couples or groups to step off and stroll on
ahead, gathering wild flowers as they went.
Yet movement. hustle and excitement were
not lacking. The speed of the best pack
cts was about eight miles an hour, and one
writer gives us a picture of the staggering
driver in a SLOUGH hat and top boots, lash
ing his team to a sharp trot On approach
ing a town there was a great blowing Of
horns from the deck, and when dock was
made everybody went ashore to mingle with
the townsmen, to ask and answer innum-
cradle questions, and to descend upon the
public houses, presumably for fluid refresh
ments When the boat was ready to go a
horn was blown again TO warn the passen-
gers aboard, and on they Jared to the next
stopping place.
An Englishman named Beste. who with
his family, Travelled through here early in
the ffties, describes his trip from Terre
Haute to the lake and gives interesting
glmpses of the people Being an English
man of position this traveller could not I'M
derstand the rather brusque anti-aristocrat-
ic notions which frequently shocked and
panied him The children, according to him,
were independent and pert, their elders in
ordinately jealous of their doctrine of
equality and rights, and he dwells with
some severity on their rude1esses and
crudenesses. Among other things he men
tons that the chewing of Burgundy pitch"
was universal habit among the women.
The ordinary course of travel was some
times retarded by mishaps to the canal,
which, at some points, ran between levees
or bikes, instead of through an eXcavated
channel, and not infrequently these levees
springing a leak, let the water uncere-
moniously into the low lands without, in
which case the boats lay in the mud till
the break was repaired. Among the un-
usual happenings recounted is that of the
wreck of the packet boat Kentucky, in 1914.
A mill-dam giving way in the high coun-
try back from the canal let loose a great
flood which, sweeping down the canal,
broke through the tow-path at one
of these embarked points. The pack
ct mentioned was carried bodily through
the gap, washed down into the
river bottoms, which were submerged with
a freshet, and broken to pieces among the
trees Three Of the passengers were
drowned The others were rescued by the
people of the vicinity, but the baggage and
mails were swept away and lost.
The canal was continued south to Evans
vile, but the lower part never attained an
Importance comparable to the upper and
soon fell into disuse And the upper part,
intellectually important though it was in its
time was destined to speedily have its day.
1t was some eleven years in the making,
and thirteen years later the Toledo & Wa
bash Railroad was completed along it's line
to Lafayette. The ushering in of the rail-
road era gave new turn to the tide of af-
fairs; now all is changed, and the old pic
hos ofl vvI cd in
teresting a chapter in our States history
is all but forgotten, save by the lingering
remnants of the past generation.
Q A