Tag: Mississippi River

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Abraham Lincoln Employed IN263

Side one:
Lincoln (1809-1865) lived northwest of here 1816-1830. Worked circa 1825 as hired hand for James Taylor. William Herndon, a Lincoln biographer, wrote that Lincoln told him it "was the roughest work a young man could be made to do." He butchered, did farm tasks, and operated Taylor's ferry across Anderson River, a key Ohio River transportation link.

Side two:
Lincoln built a rowboat and used it to carry people to waiting steamers on the Ohio River. On his first trip, he earned a dollar, which made the world seem "wider and fairer," according to reports of later remarks by Lincoln. He took a flatboat of goods to New Orleans 1828. His work on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers helped to broaden his horizons.



Continental Divide IN390

This divide separates the Great Lakes drainage system from the Mississippi River drainage system.



Former Narrow Gauge Railroad/Railroad Construction IN160

Side one:
Tracklayers building narrow gauge railroad connecting Great Lakes at Tolego, Ohio, with Mississippi River reached this point October 1, 1880. In 1887, 2,000 men converted 206 miles of this to standard gauge railroad in 11 hours.

Side two:
A significant part of America's rail system in the 19th century was 18,000 miles of 3~foot~wide narrow gauge railroad in 44 states. Most subsequently converted to 4~foot, 8½ inch standard gauge.



Fort Miamis IN505
Side one: French built a palisaded fort on this strategic site in 1722; named Fort Saint Philippe des Miamis. One of three French forts built in what is now Indiana to protect French fur trade from encroaching English. First of five forts built over time within a square mile of the center of present-day Fort Wayne.

Side two: Nearby confluence of St. Mary's and St. Joseph's rivers forms Maumee River, a strategic central part of the waterways system connecting Great Lakes regions with Mississippi River Valley. Using a portage between Maumee and Wabash rivers, travelers could journey nearly 2,500 miles by water from French Canada to Louisiana.

La Salle in Indiana IN41

Side one:
Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, born Rouen, France 1643; died 1687. Emigrated 1666 to New France (near present Montreal, Quebec, Canada). Led explorations 1679-1682 in search of trade, expanded empire for France, and mouth of Mississippi River. On April 9, 1682 claimed entire Mississippi River basin for France, naming it Louisiana.

Side two:
In 1679, La Salle and his men came to present Indiana traveling on St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers. They canoed down the meandering Kankakee River through vast marsh-swamp-dune ecosystems--which covered over 625 square miles and teemed with game including fish, waterfowl, and mammals. Kankakee River forms part of northern and northwestern boundary of Starke County.



Historic Fifield WI494
At this site on the South Fork of the Flambeau River was a sorting pond where logs were separated by logging company brand marks. By unleashing a wall of water 20 miles upstream at the Round Lake Logging Dam, loggers flushed millions of logs to mills here and along the Chippewa and Mississippi rivers. Fifield, established in 1876 and named after Lt. Governor Fifield, was the social, business, and religious center of Price County. Its influence dwindled after an 1893 fire destroyed Fifield's business district. Homesteaders settled the nearly cutover, fire-scarred lands, but were generally unsuccessful at farming due to the poor soil, short growing season, and the distance to markets. Taxes mostly went unpaid, adn the return of these lands to the government, sparked the creation of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in 1933. These lands now contain vast forests, scenic areas, lakes, and rivers. Today, Fifield's economy depends upon natural resources and tourism.

Spencer WV714
Visited, 1771, by Jesse Hughes, Indian fighter and scout. In 1812, named Tanner's Cross Roads for Samuel Tanner. To the west on the Marcellus Hart farm is the deepest oil or gas well east of the Mississippi River, 9104 feet.

Wedding of the Waters 4E86

A great celebration marking completion of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad occurred near here on May 1-4, 1858. These festivities attracted 25,000 spectators and included a symbolic "wedding of the waters" at the Court Street Wharf, with firemen from cities along the Memphis & Charleston route pumping Atlantic Ocean water, drawn from Charleston Bay, into the Mississippi River.

One contemporary account hailed the celebration as "the greatest demonstration of popular joy" ever witnessed in the Mississippi Valley. Numerous Memphians, including Col. John T. Trezevant, Robert C. Brinkley, and W.B. Greenlaw, were important investors in and promoters of this railroad, which was highly successful.





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