The Little River in southwest and the Eel River in Eel River Township in northwest Allen County are tributaries that feed into the Wabash River. The Little River Wetlands Project is in the Little River Watershed or sometimes called Little River Valley. They have a series of videos linked on our page which also references an October 1819 survey for Chief Richardville that mentions the Little River.
The Wabash is the state river of Indiana, and subject of the state song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" by Paul Dresser. Two counties (in Indiana and Illinois); eight townships in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; one Illinois precinct, one city, one town, two colleges, one high school, one canal, one former class I railroad, several bridges and avenues are all named for the river itself while four US Navy warships are either named for the river or the numerous battles that took place on or near it. Text and map copied from Wabash River on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
There is a river singing in between
Bright fringes of pawpaw and sycamore-
That stir to fragrant winds on either shore
Where tall, blue herens stretch lithe necks and lean
Over clear currents flowing cool and thin
Through the clear furrows of the pebbly floor.
My own glad river! though unclassic, still
Haunted of merry gods, which pinings fill
With music all the go den willowbreaks!
Above the Halycons lifts his legal crest;
The tulip tree flings thee in flowery flakes;
The tall flagg over thee its lances shakes;
With every charm of beauty thou art blest,
O happiest river of the happiest West!
There may be more grandeur and nobility in other parts of our great country, but surely no state has greater claim to pastoral loveliness than Indiana. Maurice Thompson loved his native state, and sought to paint her charms for those who shared his adoration and to bring the blind to sense of the beauty that lay about them. "The Wabash" is one of his most inspired flights, and who shall dare to say it is not true poetry?
"There is a river, singing in between
Bright fringes of pawpaw and sycamore,
That stir to fragrant winds on either shore,
Where tall blue herons stretch lithe necks, and lean
Over clear currents flowing cool and thin,
Through the clean furrows of the pebbly floor.
M
y own glad river, though unclassic, still
Haunted of merry gods, whose pipings nil w
With music all their golden willowbrakes:
Above thee halcyon lifts his regal | crest,
The tulip-tree flings thee its flower flakes;
The tall flag over thee its lances shakes,
With every charm of beauty thou art blest,
O happiest river of the happy west!".
View on the Wabash River at Wabash. Poem about the Wabash River by Hugh Malcom McCormick. THE WABASH ...
Poem about the Wabash River by Hugh Malcom McCormick.
THE WABASH
Listen to the Wabash Singing to the dawn-
Weaving through the sedges
Wavy green and fawn
With a scarf of morn-mist
Flung across its breast-
Bent below the sycamores
Drowsily at rest.
Listen to the Wabash Murmur-as the night slips behind a low moon
Safely out of sight.
Bubbles, caught by sunrise
Nodding, turn and slide,
Flash along the shallows
On the amber tide.
Listen to the Wabash Crooning to the noon-
Ripple by the sandbar Whispering a tune.
Idle in the slow pool,
Shining in the sun,
Flowing to a far sea
Where the rivers run.
Sons of Indiana Revel in Annual Feast in New York.
AUTHORS NOT THERE
New York, Dec. 18.- Exiled Hoosiers to the number of five hundred, which include many of the famed beautiful women of the commonwealth, attended the annual dinner of the Indiana society of New -York at the hotel Plaza Saturday night. Among the native sons that responded to speeches. in the cause of the state. were Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, United States Senator John W. Kern, Representative Edgar 0. Crumpacker: and Professor Calvin N. Kendall. What they did not say in praise of the land their birth is hardly worth mentioning Anyone who was so unfortunate as to be born in another state, and attended the banquet last Surely went away weeping and striking their breasts in woe.
At a recent banquet of a similar society in Chicago the glorious history, of the state was reviewed from famous Battle of Tippecanoe to the recent street car strike in Muncie. Last night the New York society "went them one better.' In: historically tracing the origin of the species author, which now abounds in Indiana. it was necessary to go back to the mound builders, whose "best sellers" were emblazoned in gripping and masterly hieroglyphics on stones recently uncovered and discovered.
It was indeed a great night for Indiana in New York. What with songs of praise for, the land of poets, playwrights, professors, politicians, presidential possibilities, pawpaws and persimmons, there was little else to sing about save the revered song "On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away," which was done in unison and great zeal.
Never before, has such a remarkable gathering of Hoosiers been arranged. While unreserved praise was given to the scores of writers who have done much to lift Indiana out of the high grass of oblivion, not a one of them appeared in person. In fact, the evening was given over to the cause of science and statesmanship, two wares that the publicity agents of the Hoosier state desire to promote at this time.
The fact was made, plain when the toastmaster, Colonel James B. Curtis, an armory was named in Indianapolis, and who is likewise national president of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, made his opening remarks.
He boasted of the fact that' Indiana was able to present talent from most every field of human endeavor.
Dr. Wiley, declared he was born "below the belt," that is to say the "author was proud of it, because: it was from a country where, such men such as Abraham Lincoln and General Lew Wallace spent their boyhood.
He said he guessed he was invited to protect his Indiana friends from an impure dinner, because so many of them had risen to wealth and a life of luxury that some precaution was necessary. it were not for the fact that the state had so many well regulated public institutes, said, he believed more genius come to the surface, but as it was there: were severe restrictions put upon them, which afterwards end in confinement.
Senator Kern said there was no immediate cause for alarm from the "captains of industry." and he believed in the republican president and a democratic house of representatives.
On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away by John Ryan; Dresser, Grey Gull (4182), Publication date
1928-04 on Archive.org. Performer: John Ryan; Writer: Dresser; Sung by.
Digitized at 78 revolutions per minute. Four stylii were used to transfer this record. They are 3.8mil truncated conical, 2.3mil truncated conical, 2.8mil truncated conical, 3.3mil truncated conical.
The preferred versions suggested by an audio engineer at George Blood, L.P. have been copied to have the more friendly filenames.
The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed as The Four Mills Brothers, were an American jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century who made more than 2,000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies, and garnered at least three dozen gold records. The Mills Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" was among the best-selling songs of the 19th century in terms of sheet music sold. Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland & Co. in October 1897. The lyrics of the ballad reminisce about life near Dresser's childhood home by the Wabash River in Indiana. It remained popular for decades and the Indiana General Assembly adopted it as the official state song on March 14, 1913. The song was the basis for a 1923 film by the same title. Its longtime popularity led to the emergence of several different lyrical versions, including an 1898 anti-war song and a Swedish version that was a number one hit.
"On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" by Paul Dresser November 11, 2011 Artis Wodehouseon YouTube.
George Spitzer, baritone, and Artis Wodehouse, 1887 Mason & Hamlin Liszt Organ perform Paul Dresser's 1897 song, On The Banks of the Wabash, Far Away at Church of the Epiphany, NYC 10/30/11 in a concert given by the chamber music group, Melodeon.
