40 



ditches and gullies, decreases surface drainage during precipitation. Tlie 

 uniform covering of snow in winter prevents tlie soil from freezing and 

 when the snow melts this body of water is i-etaiued. The great mass of 

 water formerly held by the forest and gradually given out to the streams 

 as they carried off the more immediate supply now flows from unprotected 

 tields lilve rain from gravel streets, washing away the best of the upland, 

 inundating the lowlands, and malcing agriciUture along the banks of many 

 streams most uncertain. 



Then, too, the navigability of our streams has been seriously affected. 

 The headwaters no longer contain sutticient Avater to float even the old- 

 time flatboat. and farther down tlie stream the channel is simply a laby- 

 rinth of bars and shoals, products of denuded fields above, making naviga- 

 tion impracticable. The failure of our streams to compete as formerly in 

 the commerce of our State increases the cost of living and destroys what 

 otherwise might be a great industry. 



The Wabash River, extending northward from the Oliio, receives triltu- 

 taries from almost every section and drains four-tifths of our common- 

 wealth. The central and southern parts are reached by the north and east 

 branches of the White River and the nortli and north central parts by the 

 Wabash and Tippecanoe. The records of the early navigation of these 

 streams is full of interest. The head of navigation for boats of small 

 draught was Monticello on the Tippecanoe. Logausport on the Wabash, 

 Indianapolis on the White River, and on the east fork of the White and 

 Muscatatuclv rivers, as far east as Scott County. On the southeast the 

 White River was navigable to Brookville. 



Some of these early boats had really a large carrying capacity. One 

 built at Terre Haute for the navigation of the Wabash was one hun- 

 dred and thirty feet long and twenty-nine feet wide, with a carrying 

 capacity of three hundred and fifty tons. 



From the heads of navigation and below, and from the smaller tribu- 

 taries of all of Indiana's streams from many miles in the interior, flat 

 boats carried lumber, pork, poultry, corn, wheat, oats, fruits and hoop- 

 poles down the ^Mississippi to New Orleans and the returning river steam- 

 ers distributed gi-eat quantities of freight up many of these streams into 

 the State. To some extent the smaller tributaries of the Ohio that reached 

 into the State through one or two counties were factors in our transporta- 

 tion system. But all of this has passed away and from only a few places 

 on the lower Wabash do we receive any practical advantage from our 



