The remoteness from the markets of the world and poor transportation facilities discourages manufacturing industries throughout the territorial period; hence agriculture was the almost universal industry. A census of 1810 shows that in a population of 24,520, there were 33 gristmills, 14 saw mills, 3 horse mills, 18 tanneries, 28 distilleries, 3 powder mills, 1,256 looms and 1,350 spinning wheels. The value of the products, as estimated, were: "Woolen, cotton, hempen and flaxen cloths and mixtures, $159,052; cotton and wool spun in mills, $150; nails (20,000 pounds), $4,000; leather tanned, $9,300; products of distilleries (35,950 gallons), $16,230; gunpowder (3,600 pounds), $1,800; wine from grapes (96 barrels), $6,000; maple sugar, 50,000 pounds manufactured, value not stated" (Dillon). Even this modest showing must be examined if we would form a true estimate of the manufacturing industries as detached from the ordinary industry of the people at large. By far the largest item give, that of fabrics for clothing, was almost entirely the products of the home loom and spinning wheel, the mill products being valued at $150 only. More of less of the leather was home-tanned; many of the nails, doubtless, were the output of the village smithy, and the maple sugar was, perhaps, wholly a home article. It may be pointed out that the item of liquor seems quite disproportionate to the population and the other industrial products. In fact, the first separate industries to spring up in the beginning of our system were the gristmill, the sawmill and the distillery.

Agriculture was in a primitive stage. The facilities were crude, the crop raised, few, and the rude farms were won slowly form the wilderness only by vast labor, but farming was the hope of the country, and as early as 1809 we find in existence the "Vincennes Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and the Useful Arts" with Governor Harrison as its presiding officer. One writer states that this society was the forerunner of the State Board of Agriculture, and that within a few months after its organization it distributed $400 in premiums. In the columns of the only newspaper, "The Western Sun," we also find occasional communications urging interest in this direction. In one of these hemp is suggested as a crop so desirable that associations ought to be formed to promote its production. Its value is given as $110 per ton and its yield as a ton or two or three acres. This paper also urges the raising of sheep.