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CHAPTER I.

The Physical Basis

Students have long recognized that the physical features of a country powerfully affect the inhabitants, but it is only the past decade that has taught men properly to appreciate the extent of this influence. Mountain ranges and bodies of water at one time form barriers and at another time determine channels of communication; the climate, the contour and character of the soil, and the mineral subsurface combine to limit the range of industries that are profitable in any locality. These industries react upon the population, influencing social ideals, politics, learning, and even religion. Unless nature refuses to care for the improvident and also rewards forethot with liberality, accumulations of wealth are rare, leisure for thinking and the incentive to think are lacking, and culture lags. So it is important to consider the physical wealth of any locality that one desires to understand.

Altho the United States is probably more richly endowed with wealth than any other country that has come fully under the control of a people of Western European culture. Indiana does not exhibit any startlingly lavish gifts of nature. A few small diamonds have been picked up in the commonwealth, after every hard rain the children of Brown County are sent to search the streams for particles of gold, iron ore has been commercially extracted in several localities, and in Vigo County there have been obtained some valuable mineral pigments. The Hoosier state, however, offers nothing to match the gold deposits of Alaska, the diamond fields of South Africa, the nitrate beds of Chili, the iron ranges of Minnesota, or the fisheries of Washington. Indiana is lacking in the showy lavishments; yet she is possessed of abundant wealth.

The wonderful hardwood forests, that at first formed a brake upon the rapid progress of civilization and later made

Indianapolis a great lumber center, occupied a soil that has become, under proper treatment, a source of infinite riches. Since the story of the trees and of the soil is reserved for other essays, this chapter will be devoted to the wealth that has been found under the surface, or in it waiting to be appropriated by society.

Water Power.

One of the prime needs of man is some strength greater than his own. Very early in the history of Indiana, therefore, the streams of the state were dammed and grist mills were operated by the water wheels. Later, with the completion of parts of the Whitewater and the Wabash and Erie Canals, a large number of powers became available, some of which are still in use. And today at Connersville on the Whitewater, at Mishawaka and South Bend on the St. Joseph, at Goshen on the Elkhart, and at various other points along these streams and on the Pigeon, White, Blue, Mississinewa, Tippecanoe, and Eel Rivers there are factories, mills, and electric power plants dependent in whole or in large part upon the water. Altho between 1904 and 1909 the horsepower of the factories derived directly from water diminished from 9,685 to 7,892, the use of streams has probably increased, as more and more men use them for the generation of electricity. There are still some excellent dam sites, notably on the Tippecanoe, White, and Eel Rivers, which have not yet been utilized because of their inconvenient location, but the improvements in methods of transmitting electricity will doubtless permit of their development before many years have passed.

It may, at first blush, seem strange that a state having so many rivers and so many hills as Indiana, should obtain only one and three-tenths per cent of its factory power direct from water courses, but the explanation is not far to seek. In the first place, the deforestation of the hills about the headwaters of many streams has made the flow so irregular that for weeks at a time during the summer it is impossible to obtain enough head for operation. Second, the glacial deposits over a large area of the state have prevented the river beds from reaching rock bottom, and so good dam sites are rare. Third, a large amount of underground drainage deprives the rivers of a great deal of water that would otherwise be available for power. Fourth, since the rainfall is

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