The Colorado statesman., 1921-04-23

He arrived at New Salem in 1881 "a stranger
friendless uneducated, penniless boy, working on
flatboat for $40 month"; as he himseif put IT.
In 1887 he left New Salem to take up his law prac-
tce in Springfield.
In those momentous six years he had trans
formed himself from an ignorant and uncouth
youth of twenty-five to a man of acknowledged
promise and ability with more than local popu-
larity and an ambition that spurred him to travel
far.
Those six years were crowded years. 1t was at
New Salem that Lincoln earned his nickname of
Honest Abe"-and incidentally fastened upon
himself q burden of debt which he was never able
fully to wipe until his fortieth year, after his
election to congress In 1S49
1t was at New Salem that he clerk and
storekeeper; that he studied grammar and Black
stone; that he was 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
he loved and wooed and lost Ann Rutledge
whose death he nearly lost his reason from grief.
New Salem was founded In 1928. Soon after
Lincoln went to Springfield the little town began
to decline Its people left for more accessible
places BY 1S45 New Salem had been abandoned.
Today under the auspices of the Old Salem Lin
coin League organization formed In 1917,
: "Honest Abe's' town Is being restored in fac
smile 1t will be in every possible detail like the
New Salem which he knew. Old maps, old prints.
old deeds-every record obtainable-have been
consulted to make the new village an exact repro
duction of the old. The only new building is the
lincoln museum William Randolph Hearst gave
the property. The cost of rebuilding is being met
by popular subscription The work will be done
some time this summer, 1t is expected
Old Salem State Park.
Old Salem State park will be New Saem's new
name Its purpose is to preserve for posterty the
environment and atmosphere that helped make
Lincoln the man.
As to the photographs here reproduced: The
nortrait of Honest Abe" is of the earliest
photographs he had taken and gives the best idea
of his appearance as a young man. The numbered
pIau is from the architects working model.
New Salem first called Camerons Mill. was on
the Sangamon river (then spelled Sangamo and
pronounced Sangamaw), 20 miles northwest OF
SnrirpieId In those days New Salem was In
Sangamon county with Springfield as the county
seat Springfield itself still mere village.
having popuation of 1000 or perhaps 1,loo
The capital of the state was yet at Vandalia, ana
waiting for the parliamentary tact OF Aorana"
lincoln and the "long nine" to take 1t TO spring
field.
The historian of the restoration proJect says
that the first settlers of New Salem were John ID.
cameron and his uncle, James hutledge, VINO en-
tered their claims on July 29 1873 mere they
erected their grist and saw mills, poth houseu
in one structure built out into the Sangamon river
that fringed the town site. New Salem gre" up
around this mill
sentiments existed already at Clarys Grove, at
n place now called Athens. at Sugar Grove uhu d.
Irdian Point all within or twelve miies Oh
Now Salem With mill to attract these setuers.
the opportun.ty for business at the new settlement