Dubois County, Indiana - Chapter 7: Indian Titles and Original Surveys, 1910

Piankishaw - Patoka - Chip-kaw-kay - Vinceniies tract - Indians and French at Vincennes - Wabash Land Company - William Rector's base line - Government surveys - Buckingham's base line - Second principal meridian - Initial point - Rectangular system - Printed instructions given the government deputy surveyors - Government's knowledge of Dubois county land - Surveyors - Flagmen - Surveyor's compass - Blazed tree - Surveyor's blaze - Congressional townships - Area of Dubois county - Donations - Three flags in Dubois county.

"Piankishaw" is not a tribal name, but it means "those who have scattered out," or seceded from a main stock. The main stock was that of the Miami Indians. In 1902, there were three or four of the original stock [full blood] living in the Peoria Reserve, near Baxter Springs. The verb part of Pi-an-ki-shaw figures in this manner: "The men get scattered." It can be said of birds, cattle, hogs, fish, snow flakes, etc. Some Indians claim it means "a scattering about the head," as of hair, etc. It is claimed that the Piankishaw Indians came to Vincennes through the influence of Sieur de \^incennes, and that many of them were Catholics.

"Patoka" is also an Indian word. Some Indians claim it means a "loggy bottom." In the language of the Fox Indians, "Patoka" refers to the "totem of the wolf," and is used in this sense, '' Patoka T^ meaning "Wolf, how deep is the water?" "How far does the water come up on you, wolf?" as though spoken to a wolf crossing a creek or river, "Patoka" may mean "how deep?" Both "Patoka" and "Piankishaw" belong to the Miami language. According to the Bureau of American Ethnology, "Patoka" means a hill or eminence. In Dubois county, which has the north branch of the Patoka river, you will observe the "high bank," or "eminence," on the left hand side of the stream. It is a deep stream, as streams are considered in Indiana, because it lies low in the valley, and but little above the Ohio river. There was a Fox Indian chief, in Illinois, called Patoka.

Chip-kaw-kay, or Chip-kah-ki. This is the name of the village of the Piankishaws that stood at Vincennes in 1702 (or 1731.) It is probable that Vincennes was founded on its site between 1702 and 1731. Authorities differ as to the date. The Miami name of Vincennes was Chip-kahki-oon-gi. It is said to mean "Place of Roots."

There is a traditional account to the effect that the descendants of the French founders of Vincennes had been granted a large tract of land, since called the "Vincennes Tract," in the year 1742, by the Indians of that neighborhood. In the year 1794, and again in 1817, the French residents of Vincennes made some fruitless efforts to obtain from the government of the United States an acknowledgment of the validity of this old Indian grant. The grant was for land in Illinois and Indiana. The Indiana part of the grant extended fifty-seven miles east of Vincennes. It ran from the mouth of White river to Point Coupee, on the Wabash river above Vincennes. It included all of Dubois county except 5,600 acres, which lie south of the old treaty line in Cass township.

The French had lived at Vincennes probably a hundred years before the McDonalds came to the "Mud Holes" to erect their "cabin in the clearing," and probably had some kind of a peace treat}' or purchase agreement with the Indians, but when Indiana territory came under the American flag, in 1779, the \'incennes officials could produce no documentary evidences of their title.

Indians and French, at Vincennes, had intermarried and lived very much in common. They belonged to the same church. Both races, at Vincennes, were idle and indifferent. Commanders at the old Fort were in the habit of assigning tracts of land about Vincennes to citizens for various reasons and considerations. Sometimes the allotments or assignments were in writing, but generally the}' were given orally.

The "Vincennes Tract" was especially excluded from the limits of the Indian country by treaty of August 3, 1795; nevertheless, so uncertain was the French title to this tract that Congress would not recognize it as absolute, and proceeded to secure a new treaty with the Indians to confirm, or quiet the title. This new treaty was signed at Fort Wayne, Tuesday, June 7, 1803. The United States was represented by General William Henry Harrison, while the Indians were represented by the chiefs and head men of the Delaware, Shawnee, Pottawattamie, Eel River, Kickapoo, Piankishaw, and Kaskaskia tribes. The area of the "Vincennes Tract" was about 1,600,000 acres.

On Wednesday, October 18, 1775, at Vincennes, the "Wabash Land Company," through Louis \'iviat, agent, secured a treaty with the Piankishaw Indians, which gave the company a claim to 37,497,600 acres of land in Indiana and Illinois, lying on two sides of the "Vincennes Tract" - the north side and the .south side. On the south the mouth of White river was the dividing line. This line extended in a southeasterly direction. It was surveyed by Thomas Freeman, July 21, 1802, and struck Dubois county two-and-one-fourth miles north of its southwest corner. It cut a triangle from Cass township two-and-one-fourth miles by seven miles and contained 5,600 acres, more or less.

The southeast corner of the "Vincennes Tract" was in Perry county, seven-and-one-half miles south of the southeast corner of Jefferson township, .south of an eastern fork of Anderson river, and near the northeast corner of Leopold township, in Perry county.

The "Wabash lyand Company" was composed of English, French, and American speculators, with Louis Viviat, an Illinois merchant, acting as agent. The following Piankishaw Indian chiefs and sachems signed the deed for their people, namely:

However, this deed was never approved by the United States. The agents of the company applied to Congress for a confirmation of at least a part of the claim, in the years 1781, 1791, 1797, 1804, and 1810, but all applications were rejected.

It might be a little interesting to know how the Indians were paid for their lands. The land of this "Wabash Land Company" would have made more than one hundred counties the size of Dubois county. It was paid for, with five shillings in cash, and a collection of goods and merchandise. Taking the proportionate part of each item, item by item, and counting all fractions of an item as one unit, in order to mention the item, Dubois county, in 1775, in Indian valuation, could have been bought, on the basis of the "Wabash Land Company's" deed, for the following considertion, namely:

This deed was never confirmed by Congress. It was made before there was an American Congress. In order that there might be no future trouble about the Indian title, a new treaty was made by General Harrison, at Vincennes. The Delaware Indians signed this new treaty Saturday, August i8, 1804, and nine days later the Piankishaw Indians signed it, thus perfecting the title in the United States. From the east line of the "Vincennes Tract" to Louisville, the "Buffalo Trace" was made the boundary line in this treaty, and it appears that William Rector surveyed the line July 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, 1805. He also did some surveying of the base line, and there the base line is known as "William Rector's Base Line."

The title to all land in Dubois county now seemed to be clear, and rested in the government of the United States, the Commonwealth of Virginia, which had a title through General Clark's victory, having by cession, March i, 1784, given her title to the United States.

To sub-divide this wilderness into congressional townships, six miles square, was the work of the federal government, and the next most important step. This was done by deputy United States surveyors. Below are their names, date of beginning the work, and the territory assigned to each: Levi Barber, September 10, 1804, range three, west; Nahum Bent, September, 1804, range four, west; David Sandford, October 17, 1804, part of range five, west; Robert Stubbs and Jacob Fowler, October 24, 1804, part of range six, west; Arthur Henrie, 1805, range five, west, lying and being south of the south line of the "Vincennes Tract," as surveyed by Thomas Freeman, July 21, 1802; Augustus Stone, August 29, 1805, range six, west, the same being that part south of the "Freeman line," in Cass township.

smaller Indian trails, deer paths, creeks, mounds, cliffs, etc. Ebenezer Buckingham, Jr., surveyed the base line in 1804. For that reason pioneers and some acts of the early Indiana legislatures often referred to it as "Buckingham's Base Line." This base line and the second principal meridian govern all the surveys in Dubois county.

The second principal meridian coincides with 86°, 28' of longitude west from Greenwich (England), starts from a point two and one-half miles west of the confluence of the Little Blue and Ohio rivers, runs north to the northern boundary of Indiana, and with the base line, in latitude 38°,

28', 20" north, governs the surveys of Indiana and part of those in Illinois. The first principal meridian is the east line of Indiana. The two meridians are eighty-nine miles apart. The base line is twentj^-five miles north of Louisville, and strikes the Wabash river four miles above the mouth of White river. Where the base line crosses the meridian line is called the "initial point." It is near Paoli, in Orange county, twelve miles east of the Dubois county line. For the convenience of settlers, land offices were established in time, at Vincennes, Washington, and Jeffersonville. To these offices pioneers went to "enter land," as purchasing it from the government was called.

From "Buckingham's Base Line" townships of six miles square were run out and established by the government surveyors heretofore mentioned. These townships were sub-divided into thirty-six sections of one mile square each, or six hundred forty acres. The survey of these sections was so made that they were also practically divided into quarter sections of one hundred sixty acres. When three corners of a quarter section were established, it was sufficient!}' established for the use of the government and pioneers.

The survey of the wilderness into tracts of land as small as one hundred sixty acres was a great undertaking, but it was the wisest precaution that could have been taken, and resulted in early settlement, clear titles and boundary lines, and much convenience to future generations. If you ever lived in a state that has no rectangular system of surveys, you would certainly appreciate the Indiana system.

In Dubois county a good surveyor can run out three-fourths of all the farms in the county without as much as ever seeing the deeds to them, and the larger the tracts, the shorter the deed. In Kentucky, for example, where the rectangular system of surveys does not prevail, farms have ever}' conceivable shape, and everybody's deed must be read and used to get the "calls" of the lines. There a farm can have any shape and any number of corners, and a large farm frequently has a deed as long as some "calls" in the deed itself.

The rectangular system of surveys, as used in Indiana, was endorsed and urged by Thomas Jefferson, chairman, and Messrs. Williamson, Howell, Gerry, and Reas, members of a congressional committee on surveys. Jefferson lived to be president and signed the first patent for land ever issued in the county - the very land he had been so instrumental in having surveyed.

The principle of the survey is a very interesting study, but since it is too technical for the general reader, it is omitted, except only such parts as all may readily and easily understand. The land was covered with forests, and trees were the most convenient things to be found, consequently they were utilized by surveyors and pioneers in the sub-division of the forest.

All those trees which your liue cuts must have two notches made on each side of the tree where the line cuts; but no spot or "blaze" is to be made on them, and all or most of the trees on each side of the line, and near it, must be marked by two spots or "blazes" diagonally or quartering toward the line.

You will take care that j-our posts be well driven into the ground and that there be one or two sight trees marked between every quarter section corner; also at the section corners that there be marks for every section corner where they corner.

The posts must be erected at the distance of every mile and half mile from where the town or sectional line commenced (except a tree may be so situated as to supply the place of a post), which post must be at least three inches in diameter and rise not less than three feet. All mile posts must have as many notches cut on two sides of them as they are miles distant from the town or sectional liue commenced, but the town corner posts or trees shall be notched with six notches on each side, and the half mile sectional posts are to be without any marks; the places of the posts are to be perpetuated in the following manner, viz: at each post the courses shall be taken and the distances measured to two or more adjacent trees in opposite directions, as nearly as may be, which trees, called bearing trees, shall be blazed on the side next the post and one notch made with an ax on the blaze, and there shall be cut with a marking iron on a bearing tree, or some other tree within and near each corner of a section, the number of the section, and over it the letter "T," with the number of the township, and above this the letter "R," with the number of the range, but for the quarter section corners you are to put no numbers on the trees; they are to be distinguished by the mark "^ S."

You will be careful to note in your field book all the courses and distances you shall have run, the names and estimated diameters of all corner or bearing trees, and those trees which fall in your line called station or line trees, notched as aforesaid, together with the courses and distances of the bearing trees from their respective corners, with the letters and numbers marked on them as aforesaid; also all rivers, creeks, springs, and smaller streams of water, with their width and the course they run in crossing the lines of survey, and whether navigable, rapid, or mountainous; the kinds of timber and undergrowth with which the land may be covered; all swamps, ponds, stone quarries, coal beds, peat or turf grounds; uncommon, natural or artificial productions, such as mounds, precipices, caves, etc.; all rapids, cascades or falls of water; minerals, ores, fossils, etc.; the quality of the soil and the true situation of all mines, salt licks, salt springs, and mill seats, which may come to your knowledge; - all are particularly to be regarded and noticed in your field books.

The government and the state each have a record made as per these and more particular instructions, but Dubois county never purchased any but an abridged copy of it. By reference to the records made by the deputy surveyor you can learn the distance any and all creeks, trees, etc., are from any section corner; thus the government had an exact and complete knowledge of Dubois county before it had sold a single tract of land in it.

The principles promulgated by the United States government in regard to surveys and surveying have been copied by state governments and other smaller political units. The government surveyors blazed or marked about ten thousand forest trees in Dubois county. More than a century has passed away since then, yet a few of the original trees remain, having withstood the hand of time and the more destructive hand of commerce. To-day one of these old trees, with its government surveyor's marks, is standing one-half mile north of the county seat.

The marks, blazes, and bearings mentioned in these government instructions were taken up and followed by Hosea Smith, John B. McRae, Gamaliel Garretson, Jacob Morendt, Miles Shuler, Gen. John Abel, Wm. E. Niblack, and other pioneer surveyors who worked in Dubois county. Thousands of government corners in Dubois county were perpetuated by county surveyors planting stones, properly marked, before the government trees were destroyed. The subsequent surveys in Dubois county rank above the average in Indiana. In pioneer days a surveyor was a busy and useful man. The surveyor was the advance agent of civilization, the pioneer of progress. From his work came the knowledge, and the plans and instructions, that eventually changed the forests to cultivated fields.

The flagman of the government surveyors usually rode a horse and wore a red shirt that he might be seen better by the surveyor. Some of the helpers who "blazed" the trees were also on horses. Their marks were higher up on the trees than those who were on foot. The surveying corps camped near the center of a congressional township while on its survey. To one who loved the deep forest the occupation was a romantic one.

The experienced surveyor and his pioneer woodsmen could easily find their camp without the aid of a compass. In fact, a surveyor's compass gets more credit than it deserves. It points ''toward''' the north; very rarely " to the north.''' Good surveyors use the needle but seldom. These experienced woodmen knew by the moss on the trees which way was ''toward the north," and they also knew that the long, thin limbs of a forest tree always grow on the north side. The surveyor knew, almost by instinct, when he quit his day's work, just what angle to take, and how far he had to go to reach camp. Having gone that distance, a shot from a rifle brought an answer from the camp and all was well.

In September, 1830, when Hosea Smith laid out the "county-town" of Jasper, he found the old government trees standing. He was assisted by William McMahan, then the county agent, and by James McMahan and Abraham Corn, principal chainmen.

To show how valuable a "blazed tree" was in pioneer days, this quotation is taken from an act of the Indiana legislature, approved January 8, 1 82 1, authorizing the survey of the State line between Illinois and Indiana, namely:

"The line is to be marked in the following manner; where the same runs through timbered land each sight tree to be marked with three notches on each side, and the trees at a convenient distance on each side to be blazed in such manner as will show on which side the true line runs, and at the end of each and every mile to mark two or more bearing trees, as nearly as may be in opposite directions, with a blaze and notch across the same, and note the kind of timber, estimated diameter, and course and distance, etc."

The "blazed tree" was a most important item to the pioneers. To "blaze" was to chip off from the trees with an ax or hatchet a portion of the bark of the trees, cutting sufficiently deep to take off a small portion of the wood beneath the bark.

In blazing for a path very small trees were cut, while in blazing for the bounds of a lot or a town, or a farm line, larger trees were selected, the blaze being usually made breast high. When, however, as was often the case, lines were blazed by men on horseback, the blaze was high up on the trees. After such blazes were grown over and lines were hunted for it was necessary to look high up on the trees for them. County surveyors, failing to do this, often experienced much trouble in following old lines.

In running a line or establishing bounds through a forest, the surveyor blazed in this manner: If a line went to the left of a tree designed to be blazed, the tree was blazed upon the right side; if to the right the tree was blazed upon the left side; if the line struck the tree direct it was blazed upon both the front and rear sides. In running a boundary line at a corner where two lines came together, either a monument was erected (a stake and four bowlders being usually regarded as such a monument), or a tree was blazed on all four sides; or, as was sometimes the case, three or four trees were scarred so as to indicate, as nearly as possible, the turning point in the line, that is, its corner, around which they grew. In Indiana the surveyor recorded the distance from one of these posts, or monuments, at every mile, thereby establishing the line with absolute certainty at that point and giving a secondary basis for the written description of the boundary required in title deeds and abstracts of claims. All our early "state roads" were so marked out.

The permanency of the record made by blazing trees was quite remarkable, and it is a matter of fact that, in many cases of disputed lines or boundaries of lots in forest lands, the courts have held to the record of the blazes, and carefully drawn plans and formally attested title deeds have been set aside as containing possible errors. The wound of the blazed tree heals over, but never so completely that the scar will not be readily recognized by the experienced surveyor; therefore, as long as the blazed tree escaped the ax of the lumberman, so long such tree was an unquestionable record to the truth of the line. The surveyor's recorded figures may have been in error, and his written description may not have coincided with the line of his hatchet, but blazes were unchanging, and in a court of law they were indisputable evidence. They could not be made to lie, no crossexamination could confuse them, no argument could confute them. They fixed dates as accurately as they preserve inscriptions. The outer shell which had grown over the scar was cut away and the rings in the wood beneath the bark testified to the date.

This whole subject is most interesting. Whether taken as an early landmark in the history of the county before roads were common, as establishing bounds of farms, or settling disputed points in Indian treaty lines in cases before courts, the blazed tree was a factor of historic and legal importance that can hardly be overestimated.

However, with all the instructions given by the government, the work of the deputy surveyors could not be very accurately done. There were too many obstacles in the way, and land was so cheap, a few acres, more or less, were not considered as a serious matter. The following illustrations will show. A congressional township should contain, as near as may be, 23,040 acres. Here are actual results given by the government surveyors themselves:

This variation of the practical surveys from the theoretical surveys accounts for the variations in our section lines and the "fractions" that bother so many people not acquainted with surveys. With all this, the surveys were a blessing to future generations, and all of us can say : " Well done, good and faithful servants."

The area of Dubois county, according to the original government surveys of 1804 and 1805, is 273976.40 acres, or four hundred twenty-eight square miles. The government survey of Dubois county, in 1804-5, shows many interesting things. Here are a few, which will tend to show how swampy and wet the county was, due in a measure, to its dense forest. " Buffalo Pond," about two miles northeast of Jasper, contained about seven-hundred acres. In its center was an island. A mile east of " Buffalo Pond " was a swamp of one hundred acres. Southwest of Jasper, now part of Jasper, was another swamp of one hundred acres. Southwest of Ireland was a pond and swamp covering eight hundred acres, while near Shiloli was a swamp covering one hundred sixty acres. " Duck Pond " in Patoka township covered two hundred fifty acres. There was a two-hundred-acreswamp east of the "Devil's back-bone" in Madison township. Southwest of Rose-bank was a swamp covering one hundred acres, and another one north of the mouth of Straight river with an area of three hundred acres. There w^as also a small pond recorded east of Huntingburg. A swamp of one-hundred-sixty acres is shown between Patoka river and Leistner's cut on the Southern railroad. By cutting away the forest, and draining the land, more than half of these tracts are cultivated fields. Fifty years after the government surveys of these swamps and ponds the state of Indiana made surveys, dug " state ditches," and drained many of these ponds and swamps. Dr. Ed. Stephenson, of Jasper, was appointed treasurer of the Swamp Land Fund, in Dubois county, in 1853, by Governor Joseph A. Wright, and about twelve hundred acres of swamp land was all that remained unsold fifty years after the government surveys.

In 1850, seven ditches were dug to drain swamp lands. The digger took swamp land in payment for his services. At that time William Monroe acted as commissioner and let the contracts.

The government surveys located many other interesting things. They show a "barren" in a small part of Ferdinand township, while at what is now the northwest corner of Harbison township David Sandford, the surveyor, records a "coal bed." It is a mile west of Haysville, on the Portersville road. No attempt is made to mention all. These few are mentioned simply to show how well the general government did things even in its infancy.

After Indiana had been surveyed, the United States was very liberal in donating large tracts of land for various purposes. The names of these donations indicate their general purposes. Here are a few names given to certain lands: "Wabash and Erie Canal Lands," "Swamp Lands," "Saline Lands," "University Lands," "Seminary Lands," "School Lands," etc. The state of Indiana sold these lands under various acts of the general assembly, and patents were issued to the individual purchasers in the name of the state, the state having acquired its title from the general government. Some of these grants covered many acres of Dubois county land, the Wabash and Erie Canal alone covered 106675.53 acres. Of this amount 4034. 10 acres were known as "first class;" 84721.65 acres as "second class," and 17919.78 acres as "third class." The first grant to the Canal was made in March, 1827; the second in February, 1841; and the third in March, 1845. Government patents date from as early as 1803; 1809 being the first in Dubois county. Patents from the state date as early as 1816. Swamp land patents were issued by the Governor as early as September, 1850; and State University patents date from February, 1854. The canal issued its own patents. However, the greater part of Dubois county was retained by the United States government itself, and from it, patents were issued direct to the pioneer purchaser. The money it brought the general government was used largely in helping to defray the cost of the American Revolution, though Lewis Powers, James Harbison, Sr., and John Hills, were the only known resident revolutionary heroes.

Lewis Powers, with Major T. Powers on September 10, 1830 bought from the United States the eighty acres of land which embraces Buchart's addition to Jasper. It also embraces part of Milburn's addition and the High School grounds. It is thought by old pioneers that the remains of Lewis Powers, the Revolutionary soldier, lie buried in "Renner's graveyard" near Shiloh.

Dubois county, as a part of Indiana, has always been 7iear the current of American national life, and its very beginning, as a part of the "Vincennes Tract," united it with wonderful achievements in the life and progress of the nation. Three flags have been its emblems of government, and wars far from its wilderness, have played their part in its history. Early in the eighteenth century the French settled on the Wabash at Vincennes. A treaty signed at Paris, France, Thursday, February 10, 1763, ended French dominion and brought the British flag to Vincennes. In 1779, that flag was followed by the American standard, through the capture of Vincennes, by General Clark. He planted our flag in Indiana to stay.