The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-04-23

"a masterpiece of God"
He arrived at New Salem in 1881 "a stranger,
friendless uneducated, penniless boy, working on
flatboat for $40 month";" as he himself put it.
In 1887 he left New Salem to take up his-aw prac-
tice IN Springfield
In those momentous six years he had trans
formed himself from ignorant and uncouth
youth of twenty-five to q man of acknowledged
promise and ability, with more than a 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 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 at New Salem that he 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
he loved and wOoed and lost Ann Rutledge over
whose 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 1915 New Salem had been abandoned
Today. under the auspices of the Old Salem Lin
coin League. an organization formed in 1917
Honest Abes" 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, If is expected
Old Salem State Park
Old Salem State park will be New SaIem's new
name Its purpose is to preserve for posterity the
environment and atmosphere thar helped make
Lincoln, the man.
As to the photographs here reproduced: The
portrait of Honest Abe" is enc of the earliest
photographs he had taken and gives the best idea
of his appearance young man. The numbered
plan is from the architects working model
New Salem, first called Cameron's Mill, was on
the Sangamon river (then spelled Sangamo and
pronounced Sangamaw), 20 miles northwest of
Springfield In those days New Salem was In
SangamUn county. with Springfield as the county
seat Springfield itself was still mere village
having population OF 1000 or perhaps LOO
The capital OF the state yet at Vandalia and
waiting for the parliamentary tact of Abraham
Lincoln and the "lOnC nine" to take it to Spring
field
The historian of the restoration project SAYS
that the first settlers of New Salem were John NJ
tered their claims on July %, 1928. Here they
erected their grist and saw mills, both housed
in structure built out Into the Sangamon river
that fringed the town site. New Salem grew up
around this mill.
Sediments existed already at Clary's Grove at
a place now called Athens, at Sugar Grove and at
Indian Point all within ten or twelve miles of
New Salem With mill to attract these settlers
the opportunity for business at the new settlement