In Indiana, the underground railroad began along the Ohio River in 1850 after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed requiring citizens to help capture runaway enslaved persons. It was created by those who objected to the law and continued until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Hoosiers eventually set up a series of stations across the state to hide, protect, and pass these escaping slaves on to the next station until, through Michigan, they reached Canada, where slavery was forbidden. This route of hideouts became known as the underground railroad, and although no records were kept of the escapees, they numbered in the thousands.