LM Berry John Fraim (A biography in progress) John Fraim 189 Keswick Dr. New Albany, OH 43054 760-844-2595
[email protected] www.greathousestories.com www.desertscreenwritersgroup.com www.midnightoilstudios.org www.symbolism.org © 2017 – John Fraim 1 Contents Before The Lights (1820s – 1880s) 3 The Magic Lights (1880) 6 A Light Goes Out (1892) 12 Finance, Fair & Fire (1893) 15 Horseradish & Politics (1896) 21 Century End (1897 – 1899) 25 Silver Beach (1907) 30 Final Wabash Years (1908 & 1909) 38 Dayton (1910) 48 New Home (1928) 53 Afterwards/Notes --- 2 Before The Lights (1820s – 1880s) In the first decades of the nineteenth century, the Northern half of Indiana had very little white settlement. The Miami and Potawatomie Indians had suffered serious defeats at the hands of General Anthony Wayne along the Maumee River in 1794 and William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. However, they still held the rights to the land in this area. There was a need for additional land for white settlement and the need to establish a canal system along the Wabash River. By the early 1820s the federal government had acquired Indian land south of the Wabash River except for the 760,000 acres in the Big Miami Reserve, but settlement was slow due to a lack of adequate transportation routes. In fact, there were no towns on the Wabash between Fort Wayne and Terre Haute until 1825 when a river boatman named Grigsby recognized the site of Lafayette as an excellent site for flatboat navigation and platted a town there.