On March 2, 1827, Congress granted land to Indiana equal to one-half of five sections on each side of a canal route, every alternate section to be reserved to the United States. The donation was generous: 527,271.24 acres in a strip five miles wide and about 160 miles long from the mouth of the Tippecanoe River to the Wabash to the mouth of the Auglaize River on the Maumee. The law stipulated that the canal be commenced within five years, that it be completed in twenty years, and that it be toll free for all uses of the Federal Government.
Indiana Canals. Paul Fatout. Purdue University Press 1972


During the winter of 1830, sales of canal lands were held in Logansport and Lafayette, but the results were disappointing. Forty two thousand acres were sold, and brought only $75,000, an average of $1.75 per acre, of which one fourth was cash. .Notwithstanding this fact, a decided canal majority had developed in Indiana, and in 1832 the project was set in motion.

An estimate had been prepared, setting the probable cost at $1,081,970. More land was to be sold and the money realized was to be put in the hands of three fund commissioners who were given power to act. A loan of $200,000 was authorized."

The Mammoth Improvement Bill was drawn up, with a plum in it for every Jack Horner in the state, and Governor Noble signed it on January 27, 1836. By that mad act, Indiana placed her neck in a yoke of debt which was destined to gall her for half a century and humiliate her in the eyes of the world.

The bill carried appropriations aggregating $13,000,000, one sixth of the state's wealth at that time. The Fund Commissioners were instructed to borrow $10,000,000 on twenty-five years time at 6 percent - a debt of $20 for every man, woman, and child in the State.

The following works were authorized:

	The White water canal; also a canal to connect the White Water with the Central Canal, if practicable; if not, a connecting railroad was to be substituted. For this work $1,400,000 was set aside.
	The Central Canal, leaving the Wabash & Erie somewhere between Fort Wayne and Logansport, running via Indianapolis and the Forks of the White River to Evansville. For this $3,500,000. The Wabash Erie was to be extended from the mouth of the Tippecanoe river down to Terre Haute, and thence via the Eel River to the Central Canal. $1,300,000
	A railroad from Madison to Lafayette; a turnpike from New Albany to Vincennes, and a railroad or turnpike from Jeffersonville to Crawfordsville; each to cost $1,300,000/ $50,000 was to be spent in improving the Wabash River from its
	A survey was to be made for a canal (if practicable; if not a railroad) from the Wabash & Erie near Fort Wayne to Lake Michigan at Michigan City; this canal to be begun within ten years. Old Towpaths. Alvin F, Harlow 1926 D. Appleton Co.

An American Land Grab transferred the vast central portion of Indiana to the United States and required the Indians to leave the land within three years. This occasioned the departure of the Delawares from Central Indiana in 1820, followed by the removal of the Potawotamis in the 1830's and the Miamis in the 1840's.

This is partially explained by the influx of white people into all parts of the state, causing Indiana's population to double and then redouble between 1820 and 1840, creating a demand for improved transportation routes all over the state. Most of the Indian treaties after 1820 were formed ostensibly for the purpose of acquiring land needed for transportation arteries such as the Michigan Road and the Wabash & Erie canal; and treaties ordinarily provided for a few individual reservations of land to certain prominent Indian leaders and their families."
The Hoosier State- readings in Indiana History. Ralph Gray. 1980

The emigration (relocation of the Miami Tribe) finally began at Peru on October 6. Three canal boats were loaded with baggage, Indians, and white officials. On the second day, the three boats reached Fort Wayne, where the remainder of the tribe was awaiting the conductors; two more boats were added to accommodate them.

The party followed the Wabash & Erie Canal to its junction with the Miami and Erie Canal in Ohio, the passed through Dayton to Cincinnati, where the entire party was transferred to the steamer Colorado on the Ohio River.

The expedition reached St. Louis on October 20, 1846, transferred to the Clermont II, and three days later steamed up the Missouri River. The Indians and baggage were unloaded at Kansas Landing (now Kansas City) on the first of November and reached the Osage sub agency reservation eight days later.

Meanwhile Joseph J. Comparet of Fort Wayne, who had contracted with the conductors to deliver the Miamis' horses to the western reservation, arrived there on November 5. He had left Peru one day after the boat party and had lost only nine of the original herd of ninety-nine animals in crossing Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.
The Hoosier State- Readings in Indiana History. Ralph Gray. 1980

Many Miamis carried with them handfuls of the earth taken from the graves of their loved ones
Indians of Wabash County. Warder Crow. Wabash Hist. Museum. 1985