A river runs through it

I was bad and didn't post early this morning. Instead I'm posting after a full day in downtown Indianapolis. Did you know there was a river here? I didn't. But here is what I learned from Wikipedia. 
"While most American state capitals tend to be located in the central region of their respective states, Indianapolis is the closest capital to being placed in the exact center of its state. It was founded on the White River both because of this, and because of the incorrect assumption that the river would serve as a major transportation artery. However, the waterway eventually proved to be too sandy for trade." 
I've seen this river. It's relatively picturesque considering the view I had was in the industrial outskirts to the Southwest, but from what I could tell driving past, it doesn't look like it would ever have lent itself to trade.