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Show 66 Early Western Travels [ Vol. 26 of its verdure- clad banks, as the far- winding stream gradually opened upon the eye, and then retreated in the distance. The confluence of the streams is at a beautiful angle; and, on observing the scene, the traveller will remark that the forests upon one bank are superior in magnitude to J. those on the other, though of the same species. The appearance is somewhat singular, and the fact is to be accounted for only from the reason that the soil [ 36] differs in alluvial - character. It has been thought that no stream in the world, for its length and magnitude, drains a more fertile and beautiful country than the Wabash and its tributaries." Emigrants are rapidly settling its banks, and a route has been projected for uniting by canal its waters with those of Lake Erie; surveys by authority of the State of Indiana have been made, and incipient measures taken preparatory to carrying the work into execution." About one hundred miles from the mouth of the Wabash is situated the village of New- Harmony, far famed for the singular events of which it has been the scene. 17 It is said to be situated on a broad and beautiful plateau overlooking the stream, surrounded by a fertile and heavily- timbered * For the historical importance of the Wabash River, see Crogjhan's Journals, in our volume i, p. 137, note 107.- ED. * The Wabash and Erie Canal, which connects the waters of Lake Erie with the Ohio River by way of the Maumee and Wabash rivers, has played an active role in the development of Indiana, her most important dties being located upon its route. The Ohio section was constructed during the years 1837- 43, and the Indiana section as far as Lafayette in 1832- 40; the canal being later continued to Terre Haute and the Ohio River near Evansville. Although the federal government granted Indiana 1,505,114 acres for constructing the canal, the state was by this work plunged heavily in debt. After the War of Secession the canal lost much of its relative importance for commerce. June 14,1880, Congress authorized the secretary of war to order a survey and estimate of cost and practicability of making a ship canal out of the old Wabash and Erie Canal. The survey and estimate were made, but the matter was allowed to drop. See Senate Docs., 46 Cong., 3 sess., iii, 55.- ED. 11 For an account of New Harmony and its founder, George Rapp, see Hulme's Journal, in our volume z, p. 50, note 22, and p. 54, note 25.- ED. |
