Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/191

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

claims are frequently made on the same tract, and a degree of litigation has ensued that appears to be almost interminable. There is another cause tending to retard the ingress of new comers which it would be invidious to repeat.

Indiana is a State more recently settled than any of the foregoing. The part where the Indian title was extinguished, was, till lately, comparatively small. Non-resident purchasers have shut up a large proportion of it from immediate cultivation; some judicious entries may still be made in the land-office, particularly by White River, and in some other parts at a considerable distance from the Ohio. The land office map for Jeffersonville district has many more vacancies in it than that at Cincinnati, showing that it contains much more land not yet appropriated by individuals. Here, as in Ohio State, the high lands are considered the most healthy. A recent purchase from the Indian tribes will make a valuable addition to the State of Indiana.[90] The tract is supposed to contain about six {160} millions of acres, and is to be soon abandoned by the natives. Already upwards of a hundred families have entered it, for the purpose of rearing cattle and hogs. These will have excellent opportunities for selling their stock when purchasers take possession of the newly acquired territory, and will have the advantage of becoming acquainted with the most valuable lands previous to the sales. The surveyors, and other persons, who have visited the new purchase, represent it

  • [Footnote: entry if no previous title was valid. The original claim to hundreds of thousands

of acres in Kentucky was never settled, the land being eventually held under possession titles.—Ed.]