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October 17, 2009

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Wabash & Erie Canal reaches Terre Haute 160 years ago

By Mike McCormick

On Oct. 25, 1849, the E.A. Hannegan and the G.R. Walker shared the honor of being the first line boats to arrive at the Terre Haute basin of the Wabash & Erie Canal.

Townsmen greeted the vessels, and the political notables aboard, with volleys of rifle fire, bands and a parade.

A feast at the Prairie House — appropriately accompanied by toasts and eloquent orations — followed.

Though no record was kept of the toasts, it is likely that the gathering saluted at least two Terre Haute men: William Crawford Linton and Thomas Holdsworth Blake.

On Feb. 22, 1832 — during the first year of Indiana Gov. Noah Noble’s administration — Grand Marshal Jordan Vigus symbolically launched construction of the long awaited manmade waterway at Fort Wayne by turning the first shovel of dirt.

By the end of the year, 32 miles had been placed under contract. Uninterrupted canal navigation between Fort Wayne and Huntington was available during 1836.

Gov. Noble named Linton, state senator and prosperous merchant, to the inaugural three-man canal fund commission. The native of Lancaster, Pa., was dedicated. When gold specie had to be delivered to eastern banks as security for canal bonds, Sen. Linton toted it alone by horseback, stagecoach, steamship and canal boat. Fearful of robbery, he did not sleep.

On Jan. 31, 1835, during one of those trips, Linton died of a violent heart attack on a stagecoach in Philadelphia. He was only 40 years old.

“No man did more for Terre Haute than William Crawford Linton,” Capt. William Earle wrote in his 1871 reminiscences.

Linton Square and Linton Street were once Terre Haute landmarks. Linton Square no longer exists, released by Linton’s heirs for use for Andrew J. Crawford’s iron works. Linton Street has been renamed Tippecanoe. Linton Township in Vigo County and the City of Linton in Greene County honor his memory.

Blake, oldest son of Dr. James Heighe Blake, third mayor of Washington, D.C. (1813-1817), married Linton’s sister Sarah but she died in 1831, leaving an infant daughter.

Having already served as U.S. District Attorney for Indiana, chief judge of the First Circuit Court, Indiana state representative and state senator and U.S. Congressman (1827-1829), Blake was one of Indiana’s esteemed pioneer statesmen.

In 1836, he was chosen by Gov. Noble to serve on the first six-man board of internal improvements.

That was the year construction began on “The Cross-Cut Canal,” a waterway intended to connect Terre Haute with the proposed Central Canal, linking the Wabash River near Peru to Point Commerce in Greene County and Evansville via the thriving towns of Marion and Indianapolis.

Thanks to effective lobbying by Blake, the legislature agreed to extend the Wabash & Erie Canal south from the Tippecanoe River, its original terminus, to Terre Haute.

Mismanagement and the Financial Panic of 1837 impeded progress. Work was halted on all canal projects in the state but the Wabash & Erie. In 1838, the state recklessly issued $5,627,000 in internal improvement bonds, $1,327,000 solely for the canal.

The state declared fiscal insolvency in 1841.

On May 19, 1842, canal proponents received a severe setback when Blake accepted an invitation from President Tyler to head the U.S. Land Office in Washington, D.C., succeeding Elisha Mills Huntington of Terre Haute. Judge Huntington resigned to accept an appointment as the sole federal judge in Indiana.

Commissioner of the national land office was a coveted post but Blake was devoted to Indiana’s internal improvements. His decision to accept the prestigious position in his former home was based upon the needs of his 11-year old daughter Glorvina.

In Terre Haute, he enlisted friends to assist in her upbringing. In Washington, Blake could turn to three brothers — primarily Dr. John Bond Blake, an eminent District of Columbia physician — a one sister — Glorvina Gordon — for support.

Without Blake, the canal struggled. At a canal convention in Terre Haute during May 1845, delegates decided to try to lure Blake back to Indiana. Charles Butler, a New York lawyer representing London and New York bondholders, attended.

More than $4 million of delinquent interest had accumulated on $11 million in canal bonds. Butler negotiated with the Indiana state legislature for seven months. When the General Assembly approved a settlement proposal, Butler went to Washington to plead for Blake’s help, convincing the former Terre Haute resident to accompany him to London as Indiana’s financial agent. While in England, Butler beseeched Blake to return to Indiana.

Blake responded with ambivalence. Glorvina’s basic needs were being met by his sister and brother. She was a teenager and he was devoted to her. If she were to return with him to Indiana, he would need to rely upon friends to help care for her.

Blake resigned as Commissioner of the U.S. Land Office effective Dec. 29, 1845. His decision to return to Indiana alone had ominous consequences.

Canal headquarters were moved from Fort Wayne to Terre Haute to accommodate Blake as resident trustee. He built offices at Fourth and Ohio streets and became immersed in his duties. The canal began harvesting a modest profit.

There were some health concerns. Driftwood floating in the canal seemed to cause disease. No one had yet discovered that mosquitoes were disease carriers.

On Nov. 24, 1849 — only 34 days after the first canal boats arrived in Terre Haute — the man most responsible for making his home community a center of the nation’s transportation focus died in agony from cholera in a Cincinnati hotel. Col. Thomas Holdsworth Blake fell victim to the ditch he was committed to save.

Glorvina Gordon, Dr. John B. Blake and Jacob H. Hager, chief clerk of the Wabash & Erie Canal, arranged to have Col. Blake’s body transported by steamer down the Ohio and up the Wabash to Woodlawn Cemetery in Terre Haute for burial.

Heartbroken by her father’s death, Glorvina Durham Blake died in Georgetown in December 1852, three months before her 21st birthday.

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