The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-29
VALLEY OF WHITEW ATER
ITS GLORIES RECALLED By THE
FRANKLIN COUNTY REUNION.
A Corner of the State Which, i'm Times
Past, Has Furnished Many Men
Who Achieved Prominence.

| citizens of Brookviile brings into notice
corner of our State not very prominent now,
| but which in its relation to the history of
| Indiana should be of interest to the rising
generation of Hoosiers. refer not only to
the famous old town of Brookville. with its
picturesque environs, its quaint reminders
of other days and its record for distin-
| guished sons, but also to the whole region
of which it was once the metropolis This
region, reaching from the Ohio river north
| ward, nearly half the length of the State,
and with a width varying from twelve to
| twenty-five miles, comprised the valley of
the Whitewater river with it's two branches,
the east and west forks. In pioneer times
it was Familiarity known as THE White
water" and the frequency with which it
| was alluded to in the local literature of
| those days reveals it's Importance as
source of the emigration which spread over
the State at later day. The Whitewater,
indeed, might almost be called the mother
land of some other parts of the common
| wealth. Indianapolis, for example in her
first days was so nearly made up of immi-
grants from Whitewater and Kentucky
that the political division sprang up along
the sectional line. and these two classes
were arrayed against each other in the
| first local campaign. Long after that they
| still continued to come from Lawrenceburg,
| Brookville, ConnersVile and intervening To-
| calities and the numbers here to-day who
| look back to the Whitewater as their old
home practically beyond compute. Mad
son, also, in her growing, hopeful days,
| crew good blood from this center, and over
! the State generally and beyond it's bor-
ders the same is true. Brookville alone
| lays claim to half a hundred notables,
among these being James B. Ray, Noah
| Noble, William Wallace and Abram A.
| Hammond Governors of Indiana; John p.
| st. John, Governor of Kansas, and Stephen
S. Harding, Governor of Utah; James B.
Eads, civil engineer; William NJ. Chase,
artist; Hiram Powers, sculptor; Lew Wall
| ace, author, and many others whose names
are we'll known. Brookvlle to be sure,
makes the most of her material and counts
in some who can scarcely be called prod
| uctS OF the region, but when these are elm
mated list remains that piques surprise
| and curiosity and # we look southwark to
| LaWrenceburg and northward to Corners
vile and Centerville we may find other
| men whose services and fame reached be-
yond the State, such as Oliver p. Morton,
| George w, Julian, Oliver H. Smith, Caleb
B. Smith, Ambrose e. Burnside and others.
| The reasons for the unusual crop of able
| people who sprang up along the White
| water cannot be explained very confident
| ly 1t may be said that in the early days the
talent and energy that came to Indiana
seeking opportunities naturally drifted to
one or the other OF the few cen ter then
| Brookville got goodly proportion of this
immigration, especially after the establish
the original stock that came in to open up
| the country and settle permanently though
| varied and hailing from both South and
| East, was sturdy and moral, and scons
| from these have passed still westward and
northward to people other localities. The
schools such as the old Brookville sem
mary, were good, considering the times, but
| not remarkable, and could hardly be called
| an unusual factor.
PROSPERITY AND DECLINE.
/ The class above alluded to as men who
| came hither seeking opportunity were not
certain quantity, and their ebb and flow
seems to have registered the huctuating
fortunes of the leading towns of the White
water. Thus, many of the more notable
| names of Brookville were identified with it
only during brief eras of prosperity in
| duced by extraneous causes, and when
| these was lapsed the ambitious citizens fit
| ted. About the first of these blooms" was
| from 1920 to 1925. when the interior part of
the State was opened up and the land office
| located at the town named. During these
| five years much money came to the place;
| it thrived. and the men who were drawn
| there made it political and intellectual
center. Then the question of removing the
| office to Indianapolis, as more central
v wss czen was w G6te bad o
| unconcealed contempt for the little, insig-
nifcant capital in the woods buried in
| miasmatic solitude and surrounded, as
James Brown Ray said in one of his POM
pous speeches, by "a houndless contiquity
| Of shade" Nevertheless the despised and
ague-ridden capital got the land office; the
| fortune-seekers of Brookville betook them
selves elsewhere like migrating birds, and
| then followed a period of sorry decadence,
during which houses over town stood va
cant and dilapidated, all business Ian,
| guished; money became all but extinct and
| there was a reversion to the communistic
| method of exchanging goods for goods or
| goods for labor.
This paralysis lay on Brookville and the
surrounding country until the schemes for
| internal improvement, agitated throughout
the twenties and for one-haf of the third
| decade, began to take definite and practical
| shape. About 1888, according to Mr. 7. A.
| Goodwin. there was a revival OF life in the
| Whitewater; people began to paint their
| houses and mend their fences, and deserted
houses began to fill up. The internal i'm
| struction of "the whitewater canal. com
| mencing on the west branch of the White
| water river. at the crossing OF the National
| road, thence passing down the valley of the
| same to the Ohio river, at Lawrenceburg,
| and extending up the said west branch of
the Whitewater above the National road as
far may be practicable" This was a
| promise of commercial prosperity and new
| lease of life to the Whitewater region The
vile for building the various sections of the
| canal there was grand jollihcation-
speechmaking; dinner, toasts and all the
along the valley. Towns sprang up along
! the proposed route and lay in wait, and
| the canal, crawling northward, reached
| them successfully. making one and then
another the head of navigation, each -four
| wheat and hogs and other agricultural ex-
| ports from the iniying country for many
miles east, north and west. This great
| trade, of course always sought the nearest
point of shipment. and so Brookville, Meta
| mora. Laurel, Connersville and Cambridge
| City were, in turn, entire ports and reaped
| the benefits of traffic The people on the
| east branch, envous of this prosperity. also
! clamored loudly for a canal, and one TO
| gun, but never finished. Haf-oblterated
| traces of the ditch may still be found.
AN ERA IN INDIANA HISTORY
The old canal days are a distinct era in
| the history of our State. The younger gen.
! Grafton knows little about them, but many a
Renaissance might be picked up, in this
| city and elsewhere. of the merchant fleets
CT the Whitewater and the idylic journey
| ings up and down the beautiful valley by
| packet.
This order of things, which continued for
| about thirty years, was manifested in the
| face of serious discouragements, for the
| Whitewater river. one of the swiftest
| streams in the State. is subject TO violent
| freshets. and these have repeatedly dam
! and entailing heavy expenses in repairs
| The great flood of 1S47 all but ruined the
| ditch. and scarcely was this recovered from
| when another proved almost disastrous
! Besides these checks on traffic untold thou
! sands OF collars have been lost by the