A New Guide for Emigrants to the West

by John Mason Peck

Boon.—Watered by the tributaries of Raccoon and Sugar Creeks. Surface, level,—soil rich.

Carroll.—Streams; Wabash river, Deer, Rock, and branches of Wildcat creeks. Considerable timber,—some prairies, of which Deer prairie is the largest and most beautiful. Considerable quantities of limestone on the surface; a remarkable spring near Delphi,—the water reddish.

Cass.—Streams are Wabash and Eel rivers, which unite at Logansport,—the head of steamboat navigation of the Wabash, and termination of the W. and E. canal. Surface, generally level, rolling towards the rivers with abrupt bluffs; soil, near the rivers, a mixture of loam and sand; at a distance from them, flat and clayey. Large proportion, forest land,—some prairies.

Clark.—Silver and Fourteen Mile creeks furnish excellent mill sites. Ohio river on the south. Surface, rolling and hilly; soil, loam, mixed with sand. Minerals; limestone, gypsum, water lime, marble, salt, iron ore, copperas, alum.

Clay.—Eel river and tributaries. Surface moderately undulating; soil various, chiefly clay and loam, and a mixture of sand, in places; timber predominates,—some prairies.

Clinton.—Watered by the South, Middle, and Kilmore's Forks of Wildcat creek. Surface, moderately undulating, or level: Twelve Mile prairie extends from S. W. to N. E. 12 miles, and is three fourths of a mile wide. The remainder timbered land. Soil, a rich sandy loam, and exceedingly fertile.

Crawford.—Waters; the Ohio and Blue rivers,—plenty of water power, and excellent springs. Surface, hilly and broken; in places, tolerably productive; in others, soil thin and rocky. A timbered region, and abundance of limestone.

Daviess.—Streams; Forks of White river, with its tributaries, Smother's, Prairie, Veal, Aikman's and Sugar creeks. Level bottoms on the rivers—sometimes inundated; undulating on the high grounds. Soil on the West Fork, sandy; much timber,—an extensive tract of sugar tree; some prairies. The county destitute of rock near the surface; plenty of lime and sandstone in the bed of West Fork of White river, at the rapids. Plenty of coal.

Dearborn.—Watered by the Great Miami, Whitewater, Laughery, Hogan's and Tanner's creeks. Surface, hilly and broken, with rich, level, bottom lands, on the Miami. Soil, one fourth first rate, one fourth second rate,—remainder inferior. A timbered region.

Decatur.—Flat Rock, Clifty, and Sand creeks, are all good mill streams. Surface, generally level,—some parts undulating; soil, loam, with a substratum of clay; well adapted to grain—timbered. Minerals; limestone, some iron ore and coal.