Ferry Dispute in Dearborn County
Charles Vattier ran a ferry in Dearborn County over Hogan Creek. At the March 1832 session of the Dearborn County Commissioners, he filed a petition for an alteration in his ferry rates. When the board rejected the change, Vattier relinquished the ferry, wrongly thinking his ferry was too important for the county to lose. As soon as Vattier relinquished the ferry, Elias Conwell stepped up to run the ferry in Vattier's place. The Commissioners allowed Conwell to temporarily run the ferry until their next session.
Six months later at the September Session of the County Commissioners, Conwell made his formal application for the ferry across Hogan Creek. Vattier was there again. This time he aked for the ferry back and said that he owned the land on both sides of the creek. But Conwell was running the ferry on the the land he on the Aurora side of Hogan Creek and the land on the opposite side was owned by the Aurora Association. The old ferry had always been situated on the lands of Conwell, not Vattier. The County Commissioners sided with Conwell and ordered Vattier to pay the costs of his dispute.
Charles Vattier probably could have kept earning money from the ferry (on Elias Conwell's land) if he hadn't tried to change the rates.
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