The year 1825 found the village of Fort Wayne had developed to a town of nearly one hundred and fifty people—that is to say of persons considered more or less permanently settled. The town was in the pathway of many who traveled by way of the rivers, passing chiefly to the southwest; so there was a closer business and social connection with the busy eastern centers than had prevailed during the earlier years. In many respects the growth of Fort Wayne was typical of what was happening elsewhere in the West. The Indian country, opened to the whites by the treaties between 1795 and 1818, was being speedily settled. The “New Purchase” acquired from the Miami and Potawatomie in 1818 was carved into twenty-two counties and a flood of settlers rushed in to take up the choice locations. In 1829 it was estimated that a hundred thousand people were living in the New Purchase. In 1820, but four years a state, Indiana boasted a population of 147,178 people, and the next census revealed the addition of 195,853. In 1826, the northern third of Indiana was held by less than three thousand Indians while the southern two-thirds was settled by one hundred times as many whites. Within a short time pressure of the whites, who lusted for the rich land north of the Wabash-Maumee line, led to an inexorable demand for Indian removal. Fort Wayne as a central point along this line of the Maumee and Wabash river, and at the edge of the white civilization, while touching the Indian country, held a unique and paradoxical position. The traders and land speculators at Fort Wayne—the Ewings, Hamilton, Hanna, Barnett, Hood, Comparet, Coquillard, and others—were making a handsome profit in their dealings with the Indians. As long as the Indian agency remained at Fort Wayne, and as long as the Indians remained in this area and received ever-better annuities, these men profited. Removal of the Indians, as William G. Ewing pointed out, would deprive the area of many thousands of dollars distributed annually. This money, he maintained, contributed to the upbuilding of the area.[1]