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Before 1855, there was no immigrant processing center in the United States. The shipping companies presented a passenger list to the Collector of Customs at ports along the eastern seaboard; these have become invaluable documents for people researching their genealogy. After arriving in the United States, passengers made whatever Customs declaration was necessary and went on their way. They then had to deal with new problems- boarding house runners, peddlers and tavern keepers who boarded the ships to make direct deals with the newly arriving immigrants. Once the immigrants got to the dock, they were sometimes sold tickets to the wrong destinations, cheated while changing money and talked into paying money for lodging in rundown boarding houses. But for many, the possibility of creating a new life in this country was worth every challenge. For those who chose to settle in Indiana, traveling westward was another lengthy journey usually by horse and cart on fairly rough roads. Many new immigrants first settled in the eastern states, in Ohio or Kentucky before coming to Indiana. Click here to see two letters of settlers who came to Indiana: James (Jimmie) Parks, originally from North Carolina; and Absalom Ketchum, a land surveyor who was interested in moving from Indiana to west of the Mississippi. Indiana's population doubled and then redoubled between 1820 and 1840, creating a demand for improved transportation routes throughout the state. By the mid 1800s, the extension of the "national road" (the main thoroughfare for immigrants migrating westward from Cumberland, Maryland to Illinois) and the construction of canals and railroads strengthened Indiana's link with the eastern US. In turn this increased immigration and industrial growth by providing easier access for manufacturing goods and more jobs for new settlers.
In 1822, Indiana and Illinois joined together in a plan to connect the Maumee and Wabash Rivers. By 1835, the canal linked Fort Wayne with Huntington; it was constructed predominantly by immigrant Irish workers. When completed in 1853, the canal was more than 400 miles long. By 1975, the Wabash and Erie Canal became obsolete due to lack of funds, malarial mosquitoes, dysentery, cholera, and other difficult working conditions. Remnants of the canal can still be found today On
October 1, 1847 the last rail was laid on the Madison & Indianapolis
line which linked Indiana's capital with the Ohio River 86 miles
away. By the early 1850s an explosion of new railroads spread out
from Indianapolis
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