Lincoln Memorial Bridge

Lincoln Memorial Bridge. . From earliest times the Wabash River was a route between North and South. Here at a fording place it was crossed by a Buffalo Trace: an ancient path worn by countless animals and aborigines in their migrations between East and West. Near this meeting of ancient ways moundbuilders left vestiges of a remote past and forgotten races. Here in historic times Indians dwelt and traveled both land and water routes. French explorers and missionaries followed. Early in the eighteenth century was established Vincennes, the oldest settlement in this region., From France, England won this region. In the War of the Revolution the British Commander in the Northwest came down the Wabash, making Fort Sackville at this crossing of ways the key to the frontier. George Rogers Clark with his troops followed the Buffalo Trace from Kaskaskia toward Vincennes and captured Fort Sackville. By this route came William Henry Harrison, first Governor of Indiana and Louisiana Territories. Pioneers came seeking new homes in Illinois and beyond the Mississippi. Here the youth Abraham Lincoln, making his last pioneer move, crossed the Wabash into Illinois., The Wabash River, dividing the States of Indiana and Illinois, was spanned after the Civil War by a bridge of timbers with an iron draw midstream. In 1931 the two states erected this bridge of concrete. It overlooks the scene of the victory which crowned the heroic march of Clark's little army from Kaskaskia. Forming a link in the central Continental Highway which replaces Buffalo Traces, Indian Trails, and dangerous fordings, this structure commemorates the opening of the West and the expansion of our country from Ocean to Ocean.