Page 144 - Demo

142grade architectural limestone is quarried in Monroe and Lawrence Counties where piles of colossal blocks of roughly cut stone are heaped near pits of deep blue water. Nearby, you can sometimes find a hulking shed constructed of wood, iron, or steel with windows containing hundreds of small glass panes. Here, workers would mill the raw stone, and artisans would carve decorative building adornments and statuary. While some operations have been abandoned, others remain busy. At other sites, limestone of lesser quality is crushed into gravel, for use on roads, or in making concrete. Brown sandstone is also quarried in places and clay (once used in local brick manufactories) is common. Occasionally, oil wells can be seen%u2014some are pumping while others are dormant and capped.Abundant water is another key feature of the region, with rivers including the East Fork of the White River and the Ohio River%u2014Indiana%u2019s southern boundary, which is plied by multiple, linked barges, often loaded with coal. The Lost River is probably the most unusual in the region. Through various %u201csinks,%u201d it disappears below ground, then reappears on the surface through %u201crises.%u201d Another important stream, the Blue River, is popular with canoeists. While there are few natural lakes, there are many man-made ones, including small private ponds, and large reservoirs%u2014the largest being Monroe and Patoka Lakes, both of which are surrounded by natural areas and public-access points. The Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge (Jackson County) was created as a welcome rest area for migrating waterfowl.Historically, sulfur-rich springs and creeks have been important. Because these foulsmelling waters were once considered healthful, they gave birth to spas and hotels such as the French Lick Springs Resort and the West Baden Springs Hotel, both in Orange County. Built and rebuilt over many decades, these two landmarks had their glory years in the decades prior to the Great Depression, but remain popular tourist destinations.Other natural features include caves. Some privately owned ones are accessible only by formal permission to trained spelunkers, but others are open to the public, including Squire Boone Caverns in Harrison County, Marengo and Wyandotte in Crawford County, and Bluespring Caverns in Lawrence County. In northeast Monroe County, large underground caverns are used as storage areas for natural gas. Widespread karst geologic areas often have sinkholes%u2014small to large depressions in the ground where rain water collects and seeps underground through the soil and limestone.For thousands of years, Indiana was literally what its name means%u2014land of the Indians. Then, in 1679, the French explorer La Salle became one of the first Europeans to visit this part of the continent, hoping to bolster France%u2019s military power and commercial dominance of the area. In time, small trading posts were established, including those at French Lick (Orange County) and Vallonia (Jackson County), where highly-prized beaver and other animal pelts were exchanged by native peoples for manufactured goods.Once the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 (concluding the French and Indian War), France ceded all it%u2019s lucrative North American holdings east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain. However, after the American Revolution, a defeated Britain was obliged to relinquish her own claims. Soon after, the Continental Congress passed the Ordinance of 1787 to create the Northwest Territory. With the advent of official land surveys and sales, American settlers poured into the area. By 1800, the Indiana Territory was carved out. It consisted of what is now Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and part of Minnesota. Finally, statehood for Indiana was granted in 1816, with the boundaries we all recognize today.