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Nicholas McCarty, friend and neighbor of Daniel Yandes, reached the settlement in 1823. Besides his mercantile business he took large contracts for Indian supplies; he was familiar with the dialects of the tribes on the Miami Reservation; he became interested in silk growing and the manufacture of hemp.
He was an unostentatious man of great personal popularity.
The diary of April, 1822: “Sunday, 21st—Walked down to the river where I saw many people crossing the ferry. Madam Wick, Mrs. Carter and I had the pleasure of riding up the river to the mouth of Fall Creek and back again to the ferry in the flat.”
Flat boats loaded with provisions for the Southern market came down the river from a point one hundred and thirty miles above Indianapolis, when the water was high, but at this day navigation of the river has become a mere jest.
We smile when we read the following from resolutions adopted by a citizens’ committee at the time of the arrival of the steamboat Gen. Hanna from Cincinnati, in 1831:
“The arrival of the Gen. Hanna should be viewed by the citizens of the White river country, and of our state at large as a proud triumph and as a fair and unanswerable demonstration of the fact that our beautiful river is susceptible of safe navigation for steam vessels of a much larger class than was anticipated by the most sanguine. Resolved that Capt. Blythe’s company of artillery be invited to parade on this day at 2 o'clock near the boat to fire a salute in honor of the occasion.”
Perhaps a number who are here today remember the sad fate of the Gov. Morton, the side wheeler licensed to carry on the coasting trade. For thirteen months she was the pride and joy of every citizen of the town, but on the 6th of August,
