Presbyterianism on the Frontiers [pp. 445-469]

I877.] Presbyterianism on the Frontiers. 46I
By the time the Synod was formed, October I8, I826, some
changes had been effected. Our first church had been formed
in I8o6, and after that such towns as Madison, Charlestown,
Corydon, Evansville, New Albany, Princeton, Terre Haute,
Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Indianapolis, Columbus, Franklin,
and some others had been settled. The Territorial capital
had been removed from Vincennes to Corydon in 18t3. In
I8i6 Indiana was admitted into the Union. In I820 Indian
apolis was located, and in I825 became the capital of the
State. The population, from about Ii,ooo in I807, had increased to about 250,000 in I826.
And yet this new country was not very attractive in many
respects. The author of the Indiana Gazetteer for I849, reterring to the transfer of the State capital from Corydon to Indianapolis in 1825, says it required ten days to perform the journey
of only one hundred and twenty-five miles; and, moreover,
that "on two occasions, after hours of weary travel, the writer
had found himself very unwillingly at his starting-place of the
morning; and his good friends, the present Postmaster at Indianapolis, and the Auditor of State, after a day's travel, as
they thought, toward Cincinnati, were back at their own town,
which they took for some unknown settlement in the wilderness. And another traveler from Ohio, when asked if he had
been through Indiana, replied that he could not tell with certainty, but he thought he had been pretty nearly through it in
some places! "
Although emigration was making inroads into the northern
half of the State, the most of the population was thinly scattered over the southern half, and, according to Dillon, the
most of it was from the slave States; and in spite of the ordinance of I787, there were in Indiana nearly 200 slaves in
I826. As for the condition- of the country, we may learn it
from the statements of those who visited it in early times.
In I822 the Rev. John Ross made a missionary tour from
the Miami valley to Fort Wayne, and he describes the journey. One night the wolves howled about their little encampment, and when not far from their destination they were met
by a terrible snow storm; their wagon wheels were frozen fast
in the mud; they sought in vain to light a fire, and at last,
leaving their wagon with its contents in the care of a dog,