Among the valued possessions of the State Library are two large atlases, in which are mounted a chronological series of old maps of the Americas -- Spanish, French, English and American, which, covering a period of more than two hundred years, reveal interestingly the growth of geographical knowledge of the western hemisphere. Those by French cartographers, of or including the Mississippi Valley, running from 1616 to the latter part of the eighteenth century are of special interest as connected with the French explorations and occupancy. The earliest of these, one by P. Bertius, 1616, gives the coasts of the continent in distorted outline, and a very crude knowledge of the great lakes is revealed, but all the interior is, of course, one vast unexplored blank. Four by Guillaume Delisle, dated 1703, 1720, 1722 and 1733 (the latter date doubtful), show the slowly changing ideas during that span. In 1703 the Ohio, without its branches, is given as Ouabache autrement appelle Ohio ou Belle Riviere." It rises in western Pennsylvania in what appears to be a good sized lake, called "L. Ouiasont," and, in its upper course, flows parallel with Lake Erie through what we would now describe as northern Ohio. The Illinois and Kankakee Rivers (not named) have their rise in tow small lakes in northern Indiana. This and subsequent maps seem to indicate some knowledge of the lakes of Kosciusko County and the belief that the Kankakee was their outlet. By 1720, a very fair knowledge of all the Great Lakes, as to relative size, locations and shapes, and also of the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois rivers, is revealed. In 1722 the Wabash is first given, though very incorrectly, it flowing almost parallel with the Ohio, west by south. The Ohio is so named in its upper course, but further down is given as "Ouabache." In 1733, the Wabash (unnamed) is quite different, being too far to the west and flowing from the north instead of northeast.

Another cartographer, of 1726, gives the Maumee and its branches imperfectly, but not the Wabash. One of the 1742 maps gives the "Hohio," "Oubach" and Maumee (the latter unnamed). The former still rises in its lake among the mountains of western Pennsylvania; the Wabash runs almost parallel, rising in a small lake in Ohio. As yet, there is no indication that the mapmakers knew of the portage between the Maumee and the Wabash. Branches are shown flowing into the Wabash from the north and west, but not from the south and east. A mountain-like elevation is shown in what appears to be about the center of Indiana. In 1746 the Wabash, given with greater accuracy, is first called the "R. de S. Jerome," and "F. des Miamis," at the Maumee, evidently indicates the old French fort of the name. The Kankakee is here given as "Huakiki." In 1755, White River is first shown, with both its branches. M. Seutteri's map of 1720 is chiefly notable as the best one, showing the boundary lines between the English colonies and the New France and the one separating the two great French provinces, Canada and Louisiana. This latter line, running eastward from the Mississippi to the Maryland border, cut through Indiana. One rather wonders why the French should continue to make maps of the region after it surrender to the British, but there are at least three or four after that event. J. Leopold Imbert, 1777, first shows Fort Ouiatanon, which is marked "Fort Francois," and a note at "F. des Miamis" states that it was built by the French in 1750 ("Batit par les Francais en 1750.") As this post appears on the map of 1746, Imbert's date probably refers to the rebuilding of the fort after its destruction by fire. It is curious that none of the maps before that of 1771, by Bonne, indicate the existence of Vincennes. Even as late as 1806 we find it absent from that of E. Mentelle, though on this map are both "Weauteneau" and "Fort Miami" -- the latter an anachronism, for before that time Ft. Wayne had succeeded to Fort Miami.

Two curiosities among these maps are an English revision of d'Anville's French map, of about the time of the French and Indian War, and a German production of 1821. The first has elaborate notes, in which it is claimed that the English were entitled to the country by early discovery, they having "thoroughly explored" to and beyond the Mississippi as early as 1654-64. In the german map the Great Lakes and the states of the Northwest Territory are strangely distorted. Lake Michigan touches Indiana east of its longitudinal center, and there are mountain ranges across northern Indiana and throughout Ohio.