THE INDIANA EXPERIMENT 37 



and so on". This decreasing width offset the increas- 

 ing lengths towards the east. The 2,500 acres were 

 in this manner divided into thirteen equal portions of 

 a trifle over 192 acres each. The first lot, on the 

 west, fell to Francis Louis de Siebenthal, No. 2 to 

 Philip Betteus, No. 3 to Jean Daniel Mererod, and 

 No. 4 to John Francis de Siebenthal. The remain- 

 ing nine were allotted to the Dufours. 



It was provided that "in order to indemnify the 

 family of the Dufours of the cost and trouble they 

 have been at (at least John James Dufour) by travel- 

 ing in the United States to choose a convenient place 

 of settlement, and presenting a petition to Congress, 

 it shall be given him or family the sum of $100 for 

 each lot, to be paid before the 1st of January, 1812, 

 diminishing six per cent unto the day of payment, 

 upon the sum that shall have been paid before that 

 time. As security of the said covenant each of us 

 engages the whole of his property, present and here- 

 after, and in witness put his name and seal this 20th 

 of January, 1803, at First Vineyard [Kentucky]." 



It appears to have been in 1803 that the first 

 settlement was made by the colony at New Switzer- 



land. John Francis Dufour is looked upon as the 

 real founder and leader of this colony, although he 

 did not remove there until 1809. He was a man of 

 great enterprise and ability, and he left an indelible 

 impress upon the people and institutions of Vevay, as 



