Vickipedia

excerpts from the 1888 Chambers’s Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge

March 30, 2007

INDIANA

Filed under: geography — Erik @ 2:24 am

INDIA’NA, one of the United States of America, organized in 1816, with a governor and legislature, extends from 37° 47′ to 41° 46′ N- lat., and from 84° 49′ to 88° 2′ W. long., having a length of 275 miles, a breadth of 135 miles, and an area of 33,809 square .miles, or 21,637,760 acres. It is bounded on the N. by Michigan

state and lake, E. by Ohio, S. by Kentucky, from which it is separated by the Ohio River, and W. by Illinois. The state is divided into 92 counties. The capital is Indianapolis, near the center, and its chief towns are Evansville, New Albany, Madison, Richmond, Terre Haute, Lafayette, Fort Wayne, and its only lake-port, Michigan City. The population in 1800 was 4875; in 1810, 24.520; in 1820, 147.178; in 1830, 343,031; in 1840, 685,866; in 1850, 988,416; in 1860, 1,350,941 (of which nearly half were immigrants from other states, and from Germany and Ireland); and in 1870, 1,680,637. The state is level, with sluggish streams and great prairies. It is chiefly drained by the Wabash River and its branches. There are 7700 square miles of coal, portions of which, on the Ohio, are cannel coal of excellent quality. The soil is of wonderful fertility, and the climate, is like that of the south of France, with colder winters, and the hills on the Ohio are covered with fine vineyards. The staple productions are wheat, maize, cattle, swine, tobacco, fruits, wine, &c. In 1869, mines of coal and iron were found, and also quarries of building-stone. There are over 4000 miles of railway, and 374 miles of a canal, uniting the Ohio River with Lake Erie. There is a state university, a normal school, numerous common schools and churches, and about 300 periodicals. Vincennes, on the Wabash, was settled by the French in 1702. Early in this century, the settlements were disturbed by Indian hostilities; the Indians were defeated in 1811 by General Harrison, and the territory was rapidly peopled.

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