Paxson—Early Bailways of the Old Northwest. 257 
tetred Indianapolis but penetrated beyond to the Wabash River 
at Lafayette and Terre Haute. By the end of another season, 
(1853), there were seven railroads which radiated from In¬ 
dianapolis and gave her abundant trade routes to southern In¬ 
diana and Ohio as well as to Chicago. The Chicago connec¬ 
tion is typical of most of the through lines of the early fifties. 
Three companies were concerned in it. Prom Indianapolis 
City the traveler passed over the tracks of a second, the Hew 
Albany and Salem; while he entered Chicago from Michigan 
City, in the cars of the Michigan Central. Already some be¬ 
ginnings in railroad consolidation had been made, but the typi¬ 
cal company of this period was a local concern that depended 
on its connecting neighbors for through service. The public 
was too glad to get carried to its destination to worry over fre¬ 
quent changes of cars. 
