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A Road, a Well, and a Train
Written by Paul R. Wonning

History is usually thought of as merely a bunch of dates which need to be remembered. But history is much more than dates! It is a compilation of events, each one of which may seem insignificant, but when weighed with other happenings they all add up to something significant. And so it is with the history of Batesville.

Batesville was platted on November 3, 1852. This historic first chapter in the history of the town was dependent upon a number of other events happening first. There are three factors which are pertinent in the founding of Batesville - the building of a road, the digging of a well, and the construction of a railroad. The road in question was the Napoleon/Brookville Road. The construction of this road encouraged Teunis Amack to move from his established Peppertown farm to a new spot beside the new road and here he dug his well and established his farm. And then there was the train, which needed the well to service the steam engines in use at the time, which influenced the rail officials to not only build a station at the well, but to found a settlement. If not for the convergence of these three events, the site probably would never have been chosen for a town. The site Batesville occupies was, at the time of settlement, a swampy, heavily forested tract which even the Indians avoided. Not only did these three things have to happen, other diverse events influenced the settlement of the area. The British, possessors of this land at the time of the Revolution, would have to be dispossessed. And the various Indian tribes, occupiers of the land for many hundreds of years, would have to be displaced. So how did this all come about? And how did the town come into existence?

For the answer to these questions and more, sit back, relax, and read the following tale of the road, the well and the train.

Aeoliphile

We will start with the development of the steam engine, as this apparatus was an integral part of the railroad. A Greek, Hero of Alexandria, built the first operating steam device around the first century AD. It was called the aeoliphile, and it consisted of a hollow ball mounted on two metal tubes in such a way that the ball could turn, using the tubes as axles. Two additional tubes exited the ball, perpendicular to the axles. These tubes were bent at about a ninety degree angle. The axle tubes were connected to a boiler which supplied steam to the ball when the water in the boiler was heated. The steam exited the ball through the vent tubes, causing the ball to spin. The aeoliphile was considered a toy by the ancient world and no practical application was ever found for it.

Newcomen Engine

The first important step in steam driven mechanical power needed for the development of the railroad came in 1705. Coal was an important source of heat for homes and businesses at this time. And this coal had to be mined. Coal mines, since they are underground, have the unfortunate habit of collecting water. In pre-industrial times, removing this water was a major problem. An English military engineer named Thomas Newcomen solved this problem with his invention of the steam powered suction pump. This pump, it was found, could also supply water to large buildings. The reciprocating action of the engine limited it to pumping water.

James Watt

James Watt began a twenty five year career in improvements to this pump in 1764 when he was called on to repair a Newcomen engine. The "sun and planet" gear system he devised in 1781 changed the engines reciprocating movement, to a rotary one. This improvement, combined with many others which Mr. Watt conceived, led to a whole host of applications for the new steam engine. The development of the steam engine led to the Industrial Revolution and the dawn of a new era in human history.

Railways also have roots deep in our history. The first ‘railways’ constructed consisted of wooden planks placed on the ground over which wagons were pulled by horses or oxen. The wooden rails allowed easier rolling of the wheels, since the roads of that era were mud in which heavily laden wagons tended to get stuck. One early railroad of this type was in Leberthal, Alsace about 1550. These early railways were actually called "tramways". The Romans before this also constructed tramways using stone pavers. Improvements were made over time to include adding flanges to the wagon wheels to keep them on the rails and make them self-steering. Crossties were added to the rails to help the rails stay parallel to each other. These railways were mostly used in mining operations to aid in moving heavy loads of ore. The wooden rails allowed faster, easier movement of heavier loads than could be transported on the rutted mud roads common during that period.
A railroad of this type was constructed near Shelbyville, Indiana. It was approximately one and one quarter miles in length and had oak rails. A horse path paralleled the rail line, as the coaches were horse drawn. It was built by Judge W. J. Peaslee and a successful experimental run was made with a great deal of celebration on July 4, 1834. This little stretch of railroad was the first railroad built west of the Allegheny Mountains. There will be a bit more about this railway later in the story.


Horse Drawn Passenger Coach)

At the time of the Revolutionary War the land which was to become Indiana was a wilderness occupied by Indians, ruled by the British King. Had this situation not changed, settlement would have been delayed into this area. So, for Indiana to become a state and Batesville to come into existence this land had to be taken from the British and the Indians had to relinquish it. The first part of this scenario was played out by Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark and his band of soldiers.
During the summer of 1778 George Rogers Clark captured the British garrisons at Cahokia and Kaskaskia Illinois and Vincennes, Indiana. The British recaptured Vincennes following Clark’s departure from the area and settled in for the winter. Clark and his hardy force of men marched across the flooded southern Indiana countryside in February, 1779. They surprised the British force at Vincennes, taking them prisoner and regained this important strategic outpost for the Colonials. This and other activity by Clark in the region allowed the newly formed nation to claim the Northwest Territory as a spoil of war during the peace negotiations in Paris which ended the Revolutionary War on Sep 3, 1783.
For more on this subject, visit this web site:
Vincennes Indiana

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How Laughery Creek Was Named
Cincinnati and Brookville Beginnigs
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