Here are some interesting facts about the Wabash River you may not have known...

• In 1825 the Erie Canal opened and the year before the Indiana General Assembly introduced legislation for the building of the Wabash & Erie Canal.
  
  
• In the 1920's there was a "Pearl Rush" after a pearl valued at $6,000 was taken from a mussel in the Wabash River.
  
  
• Wabash, IN was the first electrically lit city in the world.
  
  
• Steamboats travelled the Wabash River to Lafayette, IN and some nearly made it to Indianapolis, IN up the White River.
  
  
• Resting in the Wabash River bed at the Penn Central bridge is a derailed train engine - which is still there today.
  
  
• The highest recorded river stage of the Wabash River was 31 feet. The lowest was 2 feet!
  
  
• In 1913 the General Assembly enacted the state's song, "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," by Paul Dresser.
  
  
• In the early 1900's men forked mussles from the Wabash River.
  
  
• The Wabash River flows through limestone, which gave the river a bright, clear appearance and made for a prime area for mussels.
  
  
• The Native American tribe the "Miami" called the river "Wa bah shik ki" meaning "white" for the limestone.
  
  
• The first steam boat had arrived on the Wabash River May 10, 1823.
  
  
• In June 1831, the Western Register & Terre Haute Advertiser reported 63 steam boats arriving in six months and 1,700 flatboats descended in the spring.
  
  
• Spalding & Rodgers Circus "the Floating Palace" which was known as "the most stupendous, colossal showboaat ever" arrived in Terre Haute, IN on April 23, 1853.
  
  
• The French spelling "Ouabache" is pronounced "Wabash."
  
  
• Mussel shells taken from the Wabash River were once used to manufacture buttons until plastic buttons took over the market.
  
  
• The steam boat era continued until 1880's where they were used for people and commerce - they were also used as pleasure excursions.
  
  
• In 1850 the Wabash & Erie was finished and brought much rejoicing and prosperity to the town of Terre Haute, IN.
  
  
• The canal lasted 10 years in Terre Haute, at which time the railroads took over.
  
  
• The Soren Johnson family, owners of the Johnson Motor Company, began their invention in Terre Haute, IN and then moved to South Bend, IN where they marketed their outboard motor in 1921.
  
  
• The ealriest settlers along the Wabash River were the first to use the phrase "Indian Summer."
  
  
• In the early 1800's, rivers were a major means of transportation.
  
  
• In the 1950's, M. D. Cohen & Sonbegan exporting shells from the Wabash River to be cultured in Japan.