The Arvada enterprise. (Arvada, Colo.) 1908-1970, 1921-04-28
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He arrived at New Salem In 1881 - stranger.
fs'endlese. uneducated. penniless boy. working on
. f)ath0at for SO q month";" ~ be himself put It.
u 1851 he left New Salem to take up his Law prac-
dee In Springfield.
In those momentous SIX years he had trans
formed himself from an ignorant and uncouth
youth Of twenty-five to q man Of acknowledged
promise and ability with more than q local popu-
laraty and IN ambition that spurred him to travel
far.
Those six years were crowded years. II was At
New Salem that Lincoln earned bis nickname of
Honest Abe"-and incidentally fastened upon
himself burden Of debt which he was never able
fully to wipe out until his fortieth year. after his
election to congress In 1S49
II was ut New Salem that be was clerk and
storekeeper; that he studied grammar and Black.
stone: that he was a captain In the Black Hawk
war. that he was deputy surveyor that he was
postmaster. that he was defeated and then elected
for the legislature. And 1t was At New Salem that
be loved and wooed and lost Ann Rutledge, over
whoae death he nearly lost his reason from grief
New Salem was founded In 1923. Soon after
Lincoln went to Springfield the little town began
to decline. Its people left for more accessible
places. BY lS45 New Salem had been abandoned
Today, under the auspices Of the Old Salem Lin.
coin League. an organization formed In 1917,
Honest Abe'S' town Is being restored In fac.
simlle II will be In every possible detail like the
New Salem which he knew. Old maps, old prints.
consulted to make the new village an exact repro
ductIon Of the old The only new building ID the
Lincoln museum. william Randolph Hearst gave
the property The cost Of rebuilding In being met
By popular subscription. The work will BE- done
some time this summer, II Ii expected.
Old salsm STATE Pari.
Old Salem State park will be New saem's new
name Its purpose II to preserve for posterity the
environment and atmosphere that helped make
Lincoln, the man.
portrait Of ~Honest Abe" IL one OF the earliest
photographs he had taken and gives the hest Idea
At bis appearance a. q young man. The numbered
plan Ia from the architects working model.
New Salem. first called Camerons Mill. WAS on
the Sangamon river then spelled Sangamo ana
pronounced Sangnmaw). 70 miles northwest Of
Springfield. In those days New Salem was IN
sangamvn county. with Springfield az the county
seat Springfield itself was still mere village.
having a population Of 1000. or perhaps 1.lOO.
The capital OF the state wan yet at Vandalia. and
waiting for the parliamentary tact Of Abraham
Lincoln and the 'lUng nine to take II TO Spring
neid.
The historian Of the restoration project says
that the first settlers Of New Salem were John n.
Cameron and his uncle, James Rutledge. who en-.
tered their claims on July -. 1928. Here they
erected their gr!st and saw mills. both housed
In one structure built out into the Sangnmon river
that fringed the town site. New Salem grew "
around this mill.
Sediments existed already at Clary's Grove. a.
q place now called Athens ct Sugar Grove and at
indian Point all within ten or twelve miles Of
tsw Salem. With mill to attract these settlers.
- oppostuaip sos business at the new ssttlsmsot