David Thompson was noted for being more generous than his father, as well as more interested in civic and religious affairs. He spent much of his childhood in Indiana and despite being a second son, he was designated as his father's heir, possibly due to his brother James' alcoholism. The younger David was a strict teetotaller who was an elder in the Presbyterian church, but also donated widely to other religious organizations, while also personally providing charity to Indiana residents. He pursued a number of business and development interests, but was not as lucky or as shrewd in business as his father, and projects such as an attempt to revive the Grand River Navigation Company in reduced form (as the Haldimand Navigation Company) were a failure. The water-powered Ruthven Mill was a major source of income for Thompson, who sought to develop better infrastructure for the control of water power along the river and cooperate with other mill owners to do so. He invested thousands into repairing and upgrading the mill, including a major overhaul in 1870. Decline With the lack of a railway connection, the Ruthven Mill had difficult prospects for exporting its products. When the Canada Southern Railway was constructed in 1871 through Cayuga, bypassing Indiana, it placed Indiana at a disadvantage. Thompson, whose land had been expropriated for railway construction, was also being lobbied as the local member of parliament by Haldimand businessmen to support railway expansion in the area. He compromised with the construction of a new settlement, Deans, which was intentionally planned as a railway town to connect Indiana with the Canada Southern line. At Deans, Thompson constructed a small railway station and grain storehouse, which he used to export processed grain from Indiana to various parts of Canada and the United States. Thompson, however, continued to focus on water power, developing a secondary mill site at Deans, which was intended to be a sawmill. In 1879, Thompson funded the construction of a new dam on the Grand River, but by February 1880 he discontinued the project under mounting expenses. In April 1881, the guard locks at Deans failed, landing Thompson a repair bill in the thousands of dollars and causing him to lose interest in further development at Deans. By the early 1880s, the dam failures were continuing, and other dams along the river had begun to shut down. By the mid-1880s, Thompson was