Effects of the Michigan Road on Northern Indiana, 1830-1860 Leon M. Gordon II* Need for easier routes of migration into northern Indiana, argument of military necessity, desire to expedite the removal of Indians, and longing for greater accessibility to markets were all advanced in ‘the late 1820’s by politicians, military men, and merchants as irrefutable reasons for the construc- tion of a great north-south highway connecting the Ohio River and Lake Michigan by way of Indiana’s new capital at 1ndianapolis.l As the vision of what became the Michigan Road grew, however, sectional and town jealonsies endangered attainment of the goal. In response ‘to growing public agitation road commis- sioners Lewis John Tipt~n,~and James B. Ray4 made sure that a route was provided for in article two of the Potawatomi treaty on October 16, 1826. Under its terms the *Leon M. Gordon I1 is a graduate student in history at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Geneal Prather, “The Struggle for the Michigan Road,” Indiana Magazine of History (Bloomington, Indiana, 1905- ) , XXXIX (1943), 1-5. 2 The public career of Cass is well known. His service in the War of 1812 and as governor of Michigan Territory won him the praise of Harrison. He later served as Jackson’s secretary of war, but as minister to France his severe Anglo-phobia was a handicap. Sent to the senate in 1845, Cass resigned in 1848 to become the Democratic presidential candidate. After an eventful period as Buchanan’s secre- tary of state, he retired and till his death in 1866 followed literary and scholarly interests. Louis M. Sears, “Lewis Cass,” Dictionary of Amer- ican Biography (21 vols., New York, 1943), 111, 562-564. 3 John Tipton was born in Sevier County, East Tennessee, August 14, 1786, but came to Indiana Territory in 1807. Having won distinc- tion at the Battle of Tippecanoe, he subsequently rose to major general. After service in the state legislature, Tipton was made Indian agent at Fort Wayne in 1824 and at Logansport in 1828. At the latter place he also served on the Michigan Road commission. From 1831 to 1839, Tipton represented Indiana in the United States senate, and he died on April 5, 1839. A Biographical History of Emznent and Self-Made Men of the State of Indiana (2 vols., Cincinnati, Ohio, 1880), 11, District 10, pp. 40-41. 4 James B. Ray was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, February 19, 1794. In 1822 he began his career in the Indiana senate and served as governor from 1825 to 1831. During this time he helped negotiate a treaty with the Miami and Potawatomi and was active on behalf of the Michigan Road. After leaving office Ray talked and wrote at length about the great potentialities of Indianapolis as a railroad hub. An attack of cholera proved fatal on August 4, 1848. William Wesley Woollen, Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana (In- dianapolis, 1883), 56-64. 378 Indiana Magazine of History Indians ceded a strip of land one hundred feet wide from Lake Michigan to the Wabash and included one section of good land contiguous to it for each mile from the lake to the Ohio River.5 The commission’s failure to name the southern ter- minus of the road was to cause much unnecessary and heated discussion. Governor Ray was especially interested in the project and rightfully insisted on full credit for the necessary grant. Having secured the land from the Indians, his next job was to convince disbelievers of the road’s necessity which he undertook in numerous speeches and public statements. The governor’s belief that since the road would split the Potawatomi territory their attachment to the land would be weakened was not borne out, and ultimately removal by force became necessary.6 In fact, one observer noted caustically the manner in which the poor Indians were “sucked in” on the arrangement in the false belief that such a road and land grant would be of great benefit to them. The resultant flood of emigrants belied that inferen~e.~ Although personal enmity toward the governor jeopard- ized the land grants, and bitter controversy raged in the Gen- eral Assembly over location of the southern terminus, opera- tions at the northern end of the road were quickly initiated. By an act of January 24, 1828, three commissioners, John McDonald of Daviess County, Chester Elliott of Warwick County, and John I. Neely of Gibson County, were appointed to survey and mark out a road from Lake Michigan to Indian- apolis. They were to select the best site for an artificial har- bor at the northern end of the road and accurately to survey the topography and natural resources of the region traversed.s The mouth of Trail Creek, the present location of Michigan City, was selected, and two routes south were surveyed. The most direct one passed through La Porte and the Kankakee swamps; the other, thirty miles longer, went through South Bend. A traveler in 1829 observed that the latter site at the southern bend of the St. Joseph River would be fine for a 5 For the treaty of October 16, 1826, see Charles J. Kappler (ed.), Indian Affairs, Laws, and Treataes in Senate Documents, 58 Cong., 2 Sess., no. 139 (2d ed., 2 vols., serial nos. 4623 and 4624), 11, 273-277. 6 See Leon M. Gordon 11, “The Red Man’s Retreat from Northern Indiana,” Indiana Magazine of Histow, XLVI (1950), 39-60. 7 Prather, “The Struggle for the Michigan Road,” ibid., XXXIX, 7-11; Louise Fogle (ed.), “Journal of Ebenezer Mattoon Chamberlain, 1832-5,” ibid., XV (1919), 249. 8 Laws of Indiana, 1827-1828. pp. 87-89; ibid., 1828-1829, pp. 8-9. Effects of the Michigan Road 379 village location. Moreover, the road “lately laid off” from Lake Michigan to Indianapolis would afford the advantage of an outlet to the Wabash. Meanwhile, a year had been lost in legislative bickering, and not until January 14, 1829, was an appropriation made for the nineteen people who worked on the survey north of Indianapoli~.~ Another year was consumed before Madison was finally chosen as the southern terminus, and the Lake Michigan to Indianapolis survey via South Bend accepted. The latter decision was made over Governor Ray’s opposition, and sub- sequent critics also felt the road should have gone through La Porte. The excuse given for not doing so was the mistaken belief that the Kankakee marshes were impassable. Having made the choice, however, the General Assembly ordered that the land grants provided for in the Potawatomi treaty be put on sale by the first Monday of December, 1830. It was expected that the receipts obtained from their disposal would cover building expenses.l0 Construction of the road between the Ohio River and the Wabash lies outside the scope of this article except to note that an act of January 29, 1830, set up the conditions under which this section was to be opened between August 1, 1830, and November 30, 1831. Plans for the new road created considerable public excitement, and Martin M. Post, the Pres- byterian missionary at Logansport, voiced the popular en- thusiasm that it would soon be opened through that city. He was premature, however, in saying that at the same time the road would be opened to Lake Michigan.ll Before that could occur, towns along the northern half of the road had to be developed. Speedy progress in that 9 Prather, “The Struggle for the Michigan Road,” Indiana Magazine of Historg, XXXIX, 12-19; “Northern Indiana in 1829,” ibid., 111 (1908), 85. 10Laws of Indiana, 1829-1830, pp. 111-114; The Western Farm- er and Gardener (Indianapolis 1845-1848), I, 354; Prather, “The Struggle for the Michigan Road,” Indiana Magazine of History, XXXIX, 19-24. At the time the commissioners were considering the Kankakee route they also visited Delphi with the expectation of running the road through it. The residents were surprisingly apathetic, however, and advised them to go to Cass County, which was done. .John C. Odell, Histow of Carroll County, Indiana (Indianapolis, 1916), 236. 11 Laws of Indiana, 1829-1830,pp. 114-116; Martin M. Post to Ab- salom Peters, Logansport, May 24, 1830, in American Home Missionary Society manuscript photostats (hereafter referred to as A.H.M.S. MSS photostats) in Indiana Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis, Indiana. 380 Indiana Magazine of History respect was indicated by a correspondent of the Indianapolis Journal in November, 1830, that the seat of justice of St. Joseph County would soon be established at the south bend of the St. Joseph River. He regretted, however, that the act of January 29, 1830, did not provide for opening the road to that point because superior salt from Canandaigua, New York, which sold for only $3.50 per barrel of five bushels, was available there. Actually, the road was not laid out through South Bend before June, 1831, and not until then were the town’s main streets cleared of standing timber.lz Local issues now gave way to disputes between the state and national governments over disposal of the land grants, but after considerable discussion conditions were laid down in 1831, for construction of the road between Logansport and South Bend. It was to be sixty-six feet wide and cleared of all stumps over one foot high; the creek banks graded: the swamps and mud causewayed ; and laid off into districts of not more than four miles in length. The whole was to be under contract by the fourth Monday of August, 1831.13 Rules had been laid down relative to acceptable scrip on February 4, 1831, and William Polke was made the sole com- missioner.