Geographic Regions in Indiana 101 



much of the southeastern quarter of the state, of a wide belt along- the 

 western side of southern Indiana, and also in many areas in central In- 

 diana and northern Indiana. (3) Prevailingly rolling to hilly. This 

 type is found in the lake region of the northeastern quarter, and is 

 represented along the valleys of many streams, notably the Wabash 

 northeast of Vigo County, and along the Whitewater. (4) the roughest 

 part of the state is found along the Ohio River and in the unglaciated 

 middle portion of southern Indiana. 



The three-fold division of Indiana, which has often been made, that 

 is Southern, Central and Northern, is largely based on characteristic dif- 

 ferences in relief, but partly on differences in soil. Northern Indiana 

 is the portion north of Benton County and the Wabash River. It con- 

 tains many moderately rough areas, and considerable sandy soil, as well 

 as muck land. Most of it, however, possesses a good glacial clay loam 

 soil. Central, or north central Indiana is prevailingly level to gently 

 rolling and possesses an excellent soil. Southern Indiana is the southern 

 third of the state. These three great physiographic regions are shown 

 in the accompanying map. (Fig. 1.) 



Contrasts in Respect to Drainage. With respect to drainage con- 

 ditions, most of southern Indiana was originally fairly well drained; 

 most of central Indiana has been artificially drained, while large areas 

 in northern Indiana are still undrained. The lakes and marshes of the 

 state are nearly all in this northern section. More than half of southern 

 Indiana was not glaciated while the remainder was glaciated much 

 longer ago than was the case in central and northern Indiana. 



Contrasts in Respect to Relation to Watertvays. During the early 

 settlement of the state, the relation to navigable streams was important. 

 Then the southern margin, along the Ohio River, and the part along 

 the lower Wabash were much better favored in transportation facilities 

 than the rest of the state. The settlement of the part of the state near- 

 est Lake Michigan was comparatively little affected by the lake because 

 of the belt of sand dunes and marshes which separate the lake from the 

 productive back country. 



Later the canal built from Lake Erie to Evansville gave what was 

 then considered a good means of transportation to a narrow strip. The 

 spread of the population over the state from decade to decade reflects 

 the importance of the waterways as highways. The population was 

 fairly abundant along the Ohio, Wabash and Whitewater rivers when 

 there were almost no settlers in large sections elsewhere in the state. 

 Not until the railroad era commenced, about 1850, did the large areas 

 of very sparse population disappear from the northern part of the state. 



Regional Contrasts in Railroads. Today, in contrast, the northern 

 two-thirds of the state is much better supplied with transportation facili- 

 ties than is most of the southern third. There are two southern coun- 

 ties which have no railroads and several which have only a small mileage. 

 Furthermore, a considerable share of the mileage in southern Indiana is 

 of branch lines with inferior service. The chief reasons for this condi- 

 tion are, (1) the roughness of much of southern Indiana with the conse- 

 quent diflficulty in railroad building; (2) the lesser demand for trans- 



