It is related in Hay and Nicolay's history of Abraham Lincoln that when his father, Thomas Lincoln, moved from Kentucky to Indiana he carried with him in addition to his family, a kit of carpenter's tools and several barrels of whisky. On reaching the Ohio River he constructed a raft in which he placed his earthly and spiritual belongings as above mentioned and started across. On nearing the Indiana side the raft parted, or capsized, or at least some accident happened to it, the kit of tools was precipitated into the River and the barrels of whisky were also set afloat. The legend says that he afterward recovered part of the whisky and also his kit of tools. This was the extent of his fortune on reaching the Indiana side. It is not at all likely that this whisky was taken along for consumption by his family, but as a means of trade and barter.

In the beginning of the last century it was a very common thing for the pioneers in Kentucky to have a small still on the farm. The settlers who came into Southern Indiana carried this practice with them so that there was a number of small stills erected and operated by farmers and used, not so much for home consumption as for trading for the necessities of life. The whisky was more easily transported than the grains from which it was made and as the roads were of the most primitive kind, and as it was difficult to bring the produce to the banks of the river, much freighting was saved by converting the corn into whisky and marketing it. The Ohio, Kentucky, Salt, Green, Cumberland, and the Tennessee

Rivers were used to a large extent as the means of carrying this article of trade. Whisky was convenient for barter because of the ease with which it could be divided into parts, it being thus possible to make change with despatch and convenience.

Whisky, even in those early days, was often stored because it was known that after ageing it would more than pay for the expense of holding it and for the loss by evaporation.

Origin of the Name "Bourbon." - Whisky made largely from Indian corn early became one of the principal products of Kentucky. The whole northeastern portion of Kentucky in the early days consisted of a single county which was called Bourbon county, and at that time it included practically all of the state in which whisky was made. In this way the term "Bourbon" came to be applied to the product of Kentucky, a name which it has since continuously borne. The term "Bourbon" has now the same relation to Kentucky whisky that the term "Cognac" has to brandy produced in the Charente region of France. The naming of the county "Bourbon" was doubtless due to the influence of the French settlers whose activities in the state of Kentucky are evidenced by many names of this kind, such as Paris, and Versailles. The names were doubtless a tribute to the home towns in France at the time they were applied.