Indiana Wilderness Landscapes such as this limestone cliff in western Indiana would have been familiar to the original inhabitants of Indiana—the Indians and the prehistoric people before them. Many such cliffs can be seen today in Turkey Run State Park in Parke County, Indiana. 4 | Hoosiers and the American Story 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 4 8/29/14 10:57 AM 1 Native Americans in American History “These knives will be more useful to you in killing Beavers and in cutting your meat than are the pieces of stone that you use.” — Claude Charles Le Roy, in first record of trade between the Miami People and French explorer Nicolas Perrot, 1665–66 Indiana’s First Humans Scientists believe that the first humans to settle in S E IT S Mastodons C North America probably migrated across a land bridge I R ISTO Mastodons, along with other large mam- from the area currently called Siberia along the Bering H mals, such as mammoths, saber-toothed AND Strait to the land known today as Alaska. This migra- M U E cats, and dire wolves, roamed Indiana tion occurred near the end of the Ice Age, between MUS during the ice age between 1.8 million E TAT 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. Generations later, some S to 10,000 years ago. This mastodon descendants of these first North American immigrants skeleton is more than 13,000 years old NDIANA I E and was discovered on a farm near Fort settled in what became Indiana, a land that provided Wayne, Indiana. It is on display at the abundant animal life, including mastodons, lush for- Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, TIONS OF TH OF TIONS ests, and rivers teeming with fish. Eventually the early EC where it has been named Fred. COLL people grew crops. The rich soil and long, hot summers were ideal for growing corn, which became a staple nine miles over swampland in order to connect with of their diet. Even today, vast cornfields checker the the Saint Mary’s River, which connected to the Mau- M O Indiana landscape. mee River. The Maumee, which begins in present-day C Like the first white settlers in Indiana who fol- Fort Wayne, flows east/northeast into Lake Erie. The KPHOTO. C lowed centuries later, the early people were river-cen- nine-mile stretch between the Wabash and the Saint STO I tric—they lived and traveled along rivers. The Wabash Mary’s was known as the Wabash–Maumee Portage, a TIONS OF TIONS EC River was one of the most important rivers to these portage being a land passage connecting two bodies of early inhabitants. The Wabash begins in western Ohio water. This portage became one of the most important HY, 2007, COLL 2007, HY, and flows west and southwest through Indiana. As the locations in early Indiana. It was here that the largest P A R native peoples paddled their canoes from the south Miami Indian village of Kekionga was located, a site PHOTOG E to the northeast on the Wabash toward Lake Erie, that Americans would capture and rename Fort Wayne. IG EY B they had to stop and carry their canoes approximately The Wabash also carried Native Americans south to Chapter 1 | Native Americans in American History | 5 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 5 8/29/14 10:57 AM Physiographic Map of Indiana INDIANA UNIVERSITY JOHN C. STEINMETZ, STATE GEOLOGIST INDIANA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MISCELLANEOUS MAP 69 M I C H I G A N LAKE MICHIGAN R X ST. JOSEPH DRAINAGEWAYS DE E R E O PL lk STEUBEN L B M ha A N O ST. JOSEPH r LAGRANGE A t KE IG C ELK- MICH L PORTER A HART N LAPORTE DE KALB AI LAKE R River O MARSHALL S M Y NOBLE EXPLANATION ISO STARKE A ARA KOSCIUSKO W VALP E G COMPLEX S A River Y IN AUBURN MORAINAL A A WHITLEY ALLEN St. Joseph R. EW R JASPER G PLYMOUTH MORAINAL COMPLEX R. NORTHERN MORAINE AND Kankakee A D ee AIN m LAKE REGION DR PULASKI FULTON ND au AKEE A M ANK ES MAUMEE K IN NEWTON A LAKE OR M HUNTING- PLAIN MAUMEE LAKE PLAIN REGION W MIAMI St. SA WABASH TON R WELLS Mary's WHITE WA CASS River Salamonie Wabash ADAMS CENTRAL TILL PLAIN REGION Lake Salamonie BENTON Mississinewa IROQUOIS TILL PLAIN CARROLL Lake GRANT River JAY SOUTHERN HILLS AND HOWARD BLUFFTON TILL PLAIN LOWLANDS REGION TIPPECANOE Mississinewa River WARREN BLACK- FORD CLINTON TIPTON MADISON DELAWARE River TIPTON TILL PLAIN RANDOLPH Southern limit of Wisconsin FOUNTAIN MONTGOMERY HAMILTON glacial deposits River BOONE O H I CENTRAL HENRY WABASH NEW CASTLE TILL PLAINS WAYNE Southern limit of older VALLEY glacial deposits HENDRICKS AND DRAINAGEWAYS er Creek v White i PARKE HANCOCK R PUTNAM MARION RUSH lue n B VERMILLION o c o SHELBY FAYETTE UNION Rac I L N O S JOHNSON Brook- VIGO CLAY MORGAN MARTINSVILLE HILLS ville Lake WABASH LOWLAND Cataract FRANKLIN Lake DECATUR Whitewater R. OWEN N BROWN BARTHOLOMEW O S T RIPLEY R N C M E O DEARBORN A M SULLIVAN N T SPRINGVILLE P River MONROE T R GREENE S Monroe U A JENNINGS C B Lake P S U C L E MUSCATATUCK R R A N E G A PLATEAU OHIO N W D River O L 10 0 30 Miles LAWRENCE T F S O JEFFERSON B SWITZERLAND KNOX O W White O River 10 0 50 Kilometers DAVIESS R N JACKSON L DEARBORN D K A N UPLAND D Fork U MITCHELL P SCOTT MARTIN L A WASHING- N TON CLARK D Wabash White East ORANGE PIKE CHARLES- Patoka oka ESCARPMENT TOWN Pa t Lake PLATEAU River CRAWFORD FLOYD HILLS GIBSON DUBOIS WARRICK PERRY POSEY SPENCER NIVERSI BOONVILLE U TA VANDER- HARRISON S T I IS S BURGH HILLS N S E I G A RIVER I N L L A I U D M N I M OHIO DCCCXX Modified from Gray, H. H., 2000, Physiographic Divisions of Indiana, Indiana Geological Survey Special Report 61, Plate 1. K E N T U C K Y Digital compilation by Kimberly H. Sowder MAP OF INDIANA SHOWING PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS By Henry H. Gray 2001 Indiana’s physical geography is a testament to the legacy of glaciers, which eroded and shaped the land during the ice age. The blue areas of the map indicate a till plain, which is characterized by a flat or gently rolling landscape that was flattened as glaciers melted. This region is well-suited for agriculture because glacial sediment enhanced the soil. The green areas of the map illustrate that some of the melting ice sheets created lakes and also left be- hind masses of rocks and sediments in ridge-like formations, called moraines, at the edges of the glacial lakes. The last glacier did not reach the bottom third of Indiana, leaving the southern region’s steep hills and valleys intact. 2033-12 Hoosiers American Story.indd 6 8/29/14 10:57 AM the Ohio River, which in turn connected to the Missis- most of the French were interested in trading with the sippi River and ran all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. In Indians. Among the first Frenchmen in Indiana was northwest Indiana another important river, the Saint René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who entered Indiana Joseph, provided access to Lake Michigan through in 1679 on the Saint Joseph River near present-day land that is now in southwestern Michigan. South Bend. During the ensuing century, Indians Using this early transportation network, early trapped animals and gathered furs to exchange with inhabitants established settlements along the river French traders for European-made metal axes, hoes, banks. One of the largest settlements was Angel guns, glass beads, and cloth. The French sent large Mounds on the Ohio River near present-day Evans- quantities of furs across the Atlantic Ocean to Euro- ville. Angel Mounds consisted of a village and several pean customers. Wabash Valley beaver and fox furs large mounds used for ceremonial purposes, surrounded became the height of fashion on the streets of Paris. by a log stockade fence. In the twentieth century The Indians, too, benefited from this trade. Native archaeologists began to study pottery, tools, and other Americans replaced their stone, bone, or wood tools artifacts found at the site. for more durable ones made of metal; they added cloth Another important early settlement that also to the materials, such as leather and fur, that they featured mounds was on the White River near present- used for clothing; they also traded for metal pots to day Anderson. Today, visitors to Mounds State Park replace their less durable clay or bark containers. But can see ten prehistoric earthworks constructed be- there were huge costs to trading with the French. The tween 200 BC and 200 AD by two distinct cultures of Indians were unaccustomed to the alcohol Europeans people, named the Adena and Hopewell by modern- introduced, so drunkenness became a problem. day archaeologists. Many of the region’s mounds were Diseases such as smallpox and measles were also destroyed when the land was cleared for agriculture. unintended consequences of the trade. These diseases The mounds in today’s park were preserved by the proved deadly to the Indians who had not before Bronnenberg family, who settled the land in the 1800s. experienced them and so had not acquired the The restored Bronnenberg house is in the park and immunities to recover from them. open to visitors.