Overview

Beginning with the first Indiana canal effort in 1804, this narrative deals with the half century of canal agitation in the valleys of the Wabash and Whitewater rivers. The rising tide of enthusiasm for internal improvements reached flood stage in the mammoth system legislation of 1836, which provided for a network of canals throughout the state, several turnpikes and even a few railroads. The Wabash and Earie Canal was eventually completed to Evansville, and for a brief period flourished as a busy carrier of agriculture and industrial products. The White-water Canal also had its useful moments in a checkered career. However, Indiana went bankrupt before the canals were completed, faced with such a heavy debt that for some years the state floundered in a financial morass. Affected by the vagaries of natural forces, the perversities of human nature, and the competition of early railroads, the rise, and fall of these two waterways and the ineffective Central Canal are chartered in this carefully researched and documented history. Men political and otherwise – governors, legislators, canal officials, citizens with vested interests, and articulate voters – who were involved with the improvements mania are brought to life with all their colorful idiosyncrasies. The youthful, over-confident mood of Indiana at the time, especially in the canal towns exhilarated by internal improvements that were supposed to bring progress and prosperity, is captured in this engaging, anecdotal chronicle.

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9780911198782

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Fatout is an excellent storyteller with a remarkable talent for involving the reader in his subject and recapturing the spirit of the past. His obvious fascination with and love for Indiana and its great canal adventures shine through every page. --James E. Fickle [In a]. . . skillfully written and entertaining narrative . . . Fatout covers the nineteenth century in his lively account of Indiana's struggle to produce a viable canal system focusing on the period of greatest activity, 1830-1860. --F. Daniel Larkin Fatouts confident mastery of his material allows him the rare luxury of humor. Journal of American History --Journal of American History The author's digging in primary sources has extended over many years and through such a variety of materials as to give his account a heavy undergirding of basic information interspersed with important perspectives about canaling in Indiana. The Register of the Kentucky Historic Society --The Register of the Kentucky Historic Society Excellent new book. Indianapolis Star --Indianapolis Star

Fatouts confident mastery of his material allows him the rare luxury of humor. --Journal of American History (07/24/2018) The author's digging in primary sources has extended over many years and through such a variety of materials as to give his account a heavy undergirding of basic information interspersed with important perspectives about canaling in Indiana. --The Register of the Kentucky Historic Society (07/24/2018) Excellent new book. --Indianapolis Star (07/24/2018) Fatout is an excellent storyteller with a remarkable talent of involving the reader in his subject and recapturing the spirit of the past. --Indiana Magazine of History (07/24/2018)

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""Fatout is an excellent storyteller with a remarkable talent of involving the reader in his subject and recapturing the spirit of the past."" Indiana Magazine of History

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