the project. Over the years, the government continued to purchase shares on behalf of the Six Nations, until they owned over of the company. In 1833, construction began on the first lock at a location known as Grand River Rapids, which was the place that would soon become Indiana. This made Indiana the first natural stopping point along the river en route to Brantford. The new town quickly boomed in population, with David Thompson, a prominent businessman and financial backer of the Grand River Navigation Company, taking an interest in it. The oldest surviving document referring to the place as "Indiana" was a letter written in 1833. Other early documents which used the new name include an 1834 advertisement placed by Thompson soliciting for canal workers at Indiana and an 1835 petition by townspeople for the government to construct a bridge across the river. A prominent lumber merchant, Thomas Lester, arrived in 1837. Heyday By the early 1840s, the Grand River Navigation Company had begun to collapse, and Thompson divested himself from it by selling most of his shares to the Six Nations and distancing himself publicly from the company. Lots in Indiana were sold off by the company piecemeal along with general land sales to buttress its finances; Thompson personally purchased almost two dozen lots. Perhaps originally intended as a planned company town similar to many mill towns of the era, development was instead varied, with numerous small rural-industrial enterprises, as well as a diverse housing stock that included frame, brick, log, and stone houses, with the vast majority built out of wood. Only 50 to 60 of the over one hundred lots were ever built on, despite a population of 714 in the 1830s. While Indiana did not have the full characteristics of a company town in terms of rigid planning and direct control by a paternalistic owner, it nevertheless was guided by David Thompson as a wealthy patron with a vested interest in overseeing his large workforce. Thompson sponsored a small local Presbyterian church, despite being personally non-religious and much of the population in the area being Catholic. While Thompson invested in Indiana, he also diversified his real estate interests, and following his election to the legislative assembly, spent time away in Kingston. He died in 1851 and was soon replaced by his son, also named David Thompson, as the main patron of the town. The younger