The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-29
INDIANA CENTRAL CANAL
A PROJECT FROM WHICH IMPORTANT
RESULTS WE'RE EXPECTED.
But in the End individuals and Conn
munities Had Nothing to show
for 1t Except Huge Debts.
\. J. Major, in Martinsville Reporter.

east side) which would be thorough out
let both north and south, for the surplus
products of the county. Their expectations
went up like a roman candle and came
down like an avalanche. So certain were
some men of the ultimate success of all
kinds of business upon the completion of the
canal, that soon as the survey was made
they were ready to buy everything in sight,
particularly real estate. They bought large
~ on credit made good by what they were
thought to be worth. They ultimately found
TO their sorrow that man can load himself
with more debts in one year than he can
unload in thirty years
The internal improvement system, which
was then being developed in some of the
Eastern States, particularly New York, be-
gan to buzz in the minds OF our Indiana
statesmen and business men and you ought
10 know by this time. if you read the
papers, that about all of the knowledge of
political economy worth having, belongs to
those classes, and their greatest desire is
70 serve the common heard of mankind with
the very cream of their latest discoveries
In those days there We're annual sessions
of the Legislature and we elected our repre-
sentatives once a year. The stumps swarmed
with orators especially along the proposed
lines of Improvement. The more famous
orators-and there were scores of them
honored many stumps in the early summer
of 1885, dispensing knowledge to the farmers
and wOrk-a-day people, telling them of the
prodigious quantities of butter and cream.
poultry and eggs, that would be consumed
by the men working Oh these public i'm
prOvements; and that money would just
creep into their pockets like flies into a SUI
gar bowl. Some of the more sanguine said:
1T is only necessary for the farmers wives
to raise an additional hen and chickens to
inf
roads and canals are finished and in opera
ton, when the rents and profits will more
than meet all demands
The members of the Legislature of 1885
felt warranted by the trend of public Opin-
ion to proceed and lay out the proposed i'm
prOVements, which they did in a way that
was generally acceptable to the different
sections of the State
A BIG SCHEME
They proposed three railroads and three
canals as follows: A railroad from Rich
mond to Terre Haute via Indianapolis
one from Madison TO indianapolis, and
one from New Albany to Michigan City;
one canal from Connersville down the
Whitewater river, to connect with the Mi
ami canal the Wabash and Evansville ca
nal and the Indiana Central canal. The whole
length Of these thoroughfares was somewhere
near $50 miles. If the State could have COM
pleted the work as it expected to do it
turned out it was miserable failure We
say miserable because ii added greatly to
the panic through which the people were
driven in the year 1910 and Saddled a debt of
100000 upon the State and made her Vir-
tually repudiator for thirty years. The
cause of this financial disaster is easy
enough shown by the fact that the State
had no money of her own, but had plenty
of undevelOped sources which would induce
capitalists to loan their money, but when
they saw about 100000 of their funds ex-
pended and yet not single road or canal
finished or earning dollar, and also saw
the storm cloud of panic lowering near
by, they began to hedge and would not buy
another bond. So all was lost, excepting
what the State got back after time by
d1ckering with private corporations who
took up the work where the State left off,
Two of the roads--the Terre Haute &, Rich
mond and the Madison & lndianapolis-were
finished in "a short time, and for several
Years were the best-paying railroads in the
state; The canals were never fully COM
pleted and about everything invested in
them was lost.
The history of this gigantic movement,
based as it was altogether on paper, though
quite an interesting study for borrowers
and lenders of money, has nothing much to
do with this sketch further than to show our
connection with the Indiana Central canal,
the southern division of which began at
Indianapolis and was to have extended down
White river to Newberry, in Greene county,
when 1t would have been connected with the
wabash and Evansville canal.
Early in the spring of 1897 an engineering
party started from Indianapolis to locate
this division of the States great enterprise.
This work intrusted to a couple of
young men from york State by the name
Of BOnham and Wheeler. They We're col
lege graduates and fully equipped for the
work, having served under experienced en-
gineers of the East. where the canal system
was at its best. They had the requisite
number of helps, such as fagmen. bush
whackers stake drivers. chain carriers, a
tent keeper and cook and master of the
COmmlsSary department. In short, they
hdd Whatever theN wanted ana PAID good
prices Tor provisions, ana ate much more
cream and butter, eggs and fried chicken
than did the lrishmen who followed them
stalghtWay with pick and shovel. They at
tended the frolics and play parties along the
line, much 10 the disgust of the rural
ROSTERS" whose Sweethearts' heads if not
their hearts. were turned topsV turVy at the
sight of their store clothes rings and
watch chains. But the young men were
pectatiOns beyond the evenings entertain
ment. Other amusements there were such
as fishing and hunting, for there was yet
quite supply OF wild game OF the larger
variety, which to the average young man
was very entiCing
The crack of the rifle. and the rap of the
paddle against the sides of the canoe were
often heard in these days on Sunday For,
If there was a law then on the deSecra-
ton of the Sabbath there were noNpoice to
enforce it. and rs yet THE sound of the
ch-going. bell these valleys and rocks
never heard" But these We're men who did
smile when a Sabbath appeared" and spent
it in chasing deer and spearing fish.
RESULTS IN MORGAN COUNTY.
The surveying party dragged its slow
length along down the valley, through
weeds and woods, plentifulIy interspersed
with copperheads and rattlesnakes, nettles
and mosquitoes. Whether the whole line
finished or not we do not know. We
never saw anything more of the engineers
after they passed beyond Martinsville.
Meanwhile times began to be lively at Port
Royal, or the Bluffs, as it was sometimes
called. which was the banner town in the
county. They had a tavern. blacksmith
wagon. shoemaker and hatter's shops, also
a store and 'doggeTy." There were about
$50 inhabitants. some of whom Wore store
clothes" and talked politics The lawyers
legislators and judges stopped in to stay all
night or get a drink while going to and fro
on business at the State Capitol. But after
work began on the canal and feeder dam.
and Waverly was lined up, everything
turned toward that center of gravity and
left the Pert to starve and dry up and
so the way of Babylon and Nineveh.
The contractors came in due time. with
a small army of ITishmen. with their carts
and wheelbarrows. picks and spades. Shan
ties were hurriedly improviseG near by the
work where beds and board were furnished
the sons of Erin. with three 'jiggers' of
whisky per day. The whisky was intended
TO browbeat the malaria which was always
lurking In the river bottoms IN those DAYS
particularly in the summer and fall months
On Sundays the dose was doubled, TO make
dOublv sure the antidOte, as il has long