Valley on the Upper Wabash, Indiana with Hints on its Agricultural Advantages…

One of the great immigration pamphlets. – Streeter Sale

This excellent piece of Midwestern promotional literature was written by Henry William Ellsworth and published in New York by Pratt, Robinson & Co. in 1838. Ellsworth was a fascinating figure who moved to Indiana after graduating from Yale and New Haven Law School. He was apparently practicing law in Lafayette when he wrote the volume, which reflects pride in his new home state, a keen interest in agricultural technology, and enthusiastic boosterism for economic opportunities in the Midwest (as well as a blatant disregard for indigenous populations).

“Such is the present situation of these States which, a few short years ago, presented little else than one unbroken forest, tenanted alone by the untutored savage. How rapid and startling has been their elevation; how proud their position, and how flattering their prospects!” [vii].

The book includes three lithographed plates. The first is a custom diagram for the “extremely cheap” ‘Prairie Cottage’ that takes into consideration local terrain, construction materials, and domestic needs. The following two are representations of new innovations in farming – Page’s Ditching and Banking Machine and Hussey’s Reaping Machine.

A fantastic map of the United States east of the Missouri Territory is tipped into the front. It was published in Philadelphia in 1838 by Samuel Augustus Mitchell and measures approximately 23.75″ x 19.6″. It presents the transportation network of a burgeoning United States, showing an incredible assortment of roads, railroads, and canals. Eight inset plans seen in the lower right show the areas around Niagara Falls, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Charleston, Hartford and New Haven, Albany, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.