Indiana

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

one of the central states of the American Union. It lies on the northern shore of the Ohio, midway between the Mississippi River and the Alleghanies. It is situated between Illinois and Ohio, and has a shore line of sixty miles on Lake Michigan. By a peculiar clause in the cession of the Northwest Territory by Virginia, the boundary follows the low water mark on the Indiana shore. All islands in the Ohio River belong to Kentucky. The extreme length of the state is 276 miles; the usual width is 145 miles. The area is 36,350 square miles. The greatest elevation in the state is little over 1,200 feet above sea level. The mouth of the Wabash has an elevation of 370 feet. The territory adjacent to Lake Michigan is drained, of course, into that body of water. A small section in the northwest sends its waters through the Maumee to Lake Erie. The greater part of the state is drained by streams that find their way eventually into the Ohio. CHARACTERISTICS. The general surface of the state is level. The southern part is the more broken and bluffy, especially along the Ohio. The southwestern portion of the state was covered originally with heavy forests of oak, maple, walnut, hickory, ash, and other hardwoods. The northern portion was principally prairie. Extensive areas of swamp, especially around Kankakee, have been drained and are now agricultural lands of unsurpassed fertility. Naturally the climate in the southern portion of the state is somewhat the warmer. The mean annual temperature of the northwest is 49 deg.; in the Ohio valley 57 deg. . The southern third of the state, roughly speaking, has a peculiar white clay soil, admirably adapted to fruit raising. The Ben Davis apple and the Kieffer pear, the peach, and the plum do well. Orchards of from 10,000 to 40,000 trees are not uncommon. The Kankakee valley is famous for sugar beets. Save Iowa, no state in the Union has less waste land. Cereals, small fruits, and vegetables of all sorts thrive. The melons of Indiana are celebrated for their size and quality. RESOURCES. The mineral wealth of the state consists of coal, petroleum, building stone, brick clay, glass sand, and natural gas. The latter is conducted through pipes into many cities, including Indian-apolis. It is cheap enough to be used as fuel. Indianapolis, the capital, is the largest city. It had a population in 1900 of 169,164. Evansville, Fort Wayne, Terre Haute, and South Bend are next in order of size. The manufacturing interests of the state named in order of value are packing-houses, mills, distilleries, sawmills, manufactories of wooden wares, foundries, implement factories, woolen mills, brickyards, and pottery works. There are over 18,000 manufacturing establishments with an annual output exceeding a third of a billion dollars. EDUCATION. The common school system of Indiana is considered the most efficient in the West, if not in the Union. Half a million books are circulated by free township libraries. High schools, state normal school at Purdue, university at Lafayette, and a state university at Bloomington, are maintained at state expense. There are many denominational and endowed colleges. SETTLEMENT. The first white man known to have visited Indiana was La Salle. He explored the Ohio Valley in 1669-70. The French built several stockade forts. A post was established at Vincennes in 1731. General Clark took possession of the territory for the colonies in 1778. Indiana was a part of the Northwest Territory established by the Ordinance of 1787. In 1800 the territory of Indiana was organized, including all of the former territory except Ohio. Michigan and Illinois were cut off later. In 1816 Indiana was admitted as the nineteenth state of the Union. It has been nicknamed the Hoosier State. The word is said to be of southern origin, meaning "a rustic." The population in 1900 was 2,516,462. STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources: Land area (square miles) 35,910 Population (1908) 2,775,702 Indianapolis (1907) 233,217 Evansville 63,957 Fort Wayne 50,947 South Bend 44,605 Terre Haute 52,805 Muncie 27,293 New Albany 20,628 Anderson 25,842 Richmond 19,002 Lafayette 19,238 Marion 24,030 Elwood 19,232 Number counties 92 Members of state senate 50 Representatives 100 Salary of governor $8,000 U. S. representatives 13 Presidential electors 15 Annual state expenditure $6,620,000 Assessed valuation of property $1,767,000,000 Bonded indebtedness $1,389,000 Acres under plow 16,000,000 Agricultural Products-- Corn, bushels (1908) 137,000,000 Wheat, bushels 45,000,000 Oats, bushels 34,000,000 Barley, bushels 260,000 Rye, bushels 564,000 Tobacco, pounds 9,000,000 Clover seed, bushels 472,000 Wool, pounds 5,040,000 Butter, pounds 55,000,000 Eggs, dozens 75,000,000 Orchard products, value $4,500,000 Domestic Animals Horses 814,000 Mules 4,423 Milk cows 660,000 Other cattle 1,096,000 Sheep 1,215,000 Swine 3,159,000 Miles of railway 7,142 Operatives 176,000 Raw material $220,000,000 Output of manufactures $394,000,000 Output of grist $36,000,000 Output of liquors $25,000,000 Meat products $30,000,000 Tons of coal mined 14,000,000 Petroleum, barrels 5,000,000 Glass output $15,000,000 Clay products $7,000,000 Quarry products $3,600,000 Output of cars--vehicles $40,000,000 See Indianapolis ; Harrison