the last century, would be
difficult. It was, as before mentioned, a vast domain, well watered and
fertile, and containing some of the best lands in the possession of the
federal government. Two rivers, however, assume such historical
importance, as to merit a more particular mention. Along their courses
two Indian confederacies were organized under the spur of British
influence, to oppose the advance of the infant republic of the United
States. These two rivers were the Wabash and the Maumee, both leading to
the principal center of the fur trade of the northwest, the town of
Detroit.

The valley of the Wabash, famed in song and story, and rich in Indian
legend, is now filled with fields of corn and prosperous cities. At the
close of the Revolution, the great stream swept through an unbroken
wilderness of oak, maple and sycamore from its source to the old French
settlement of Vincennes. Its bluffs, now adorned with the habitations of
a peaceful people, then presented the wild and rugged beauty of
pristine days; its terraces, stretching back to the prairies of the
north and west, were crowned with forests primaeval; while naked Miamis,
Weas and Potawatomi in canoes of bark, rounded its graceful courses to
the waters of the Ohio.

For one who has ridden over the hills to the west and south of Purdue
University, and viewed the gorgeous panorama of the Wea plain, or who
has glimpsed in the perspective the wooded hills of Warren and Vermilion
from the bluffs on the eastern side of the river, it is not hard to
understand why the red man loved the Wabash. An observer who saw it in
the early part of the last century pens this picture: "Its green banks
were lined with the richest verdure. Wild flowers intermingled with the
tall grass that nodded in the passing breeze. Nature seemed clothed in
her bridal robe. Blossoms of the wild plum, hawthorn and red-bud, made
the air redolent." Speaking of the summer, he says: "The wide, fertile
bottom lands of the Wabash, in many places presented one continuous
orchard of wild plum and crab-apple bushes, over-spread with arbors of
the different varieties of the woods grape, wild hops and honeysuckle,
fantastically wreathed together. One bush, or cluster of bushes, often
presenting the crimson plum, the yellow crab-apple, the blue luscious
grape, festoons of matured wild hops, mingled with the red berries of
the clambering sweet-briar, that bound them all lovingly together."

Through all t