USA > Illinois > Atlas of the State of Illinois, to which are added various general maps, history, statistics and illustrations > Part 29
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The population of the county, in 1870, was 10,385, and its resources mainly agricultural, the value of its farms heing nearly $6,000,000. Tho whole region is underlaid hy hitn- minous coal of a superior quality. Four railways penetrate the county, the Chicago & Paducah crossing the Decatur, Sul- livan & Mattoon at Sullivan. Lovington lies at the crossing of the Paducab and the Illinois Midland roads, and is a prosper- ous town of 800 inhabitants.
OGLE COUNTY.
OGLE COUNTY is near the northern horder of the State, and has an area of 819 square miles. The Blackhawk war was the first great agency in diffusing at the East intelligence respecting the agricultural richiness of Northern Illinois, and the region was in great part settled hy those who assisted in driving the Blackhawks from the country. At this pioneer period the land was embraced within the limits of Jo Daviess County, with the seat of justice at Galcna. Ogle County, then including what has since been ereeted into Lee, was organized in 1837. The first court was held at Dixon, Judge Stone presiding, and Thomas Ford, afterward Governor, acting as Prosceuting Attorney. Isaac Chambers, who located near the site of Forreston, in 1829, is believed to have been the first white man to inhabit the county. Soon after came John Ankeney, who erected the first public house in the county. In the spring of 1830, a Mr. Kellogg and Samuel Reed located at Buffalo Grove. Next came Messrs. Brooky and Bush, from Ken- tucky, and shortly after Mr. Winters and Mr. Durley, the latter of whom was killed by Indians. This closed the settlement till during or after the Blackhawk war. At first the crops were short, and the settlers very frequently had to go to Peoria to obtain supplies of food. Their new grain was ground on a grater, the old pounded in a wooden mortar. The Indians supplied them with venison, receiving in exchange corn and pumpkins. When S. M. Journey married John Ankeney's only danghter, every resident for miles around was in attendance. E. Doty located at Buffalo Grove in 1834, and his son Cyrus is the first white native. Simon Fellows established the first school that winter. In the year following, a post office was established. At this time, V. A. Bogue was tho only lawyer in the county. The earliest crop of winter wheat was raised iu 1834, and the first saw-mill built in 1836. John Phelps laid out the town of.Oregon in 1834, and J. W. Jenkins built the first log cahin. The ferry was established by Mr. Phelps, in 1835. The pioneer orchard was that of Perry Norton, planted near Byron, in 1836. That gentleman, with James and Jared San- ford, was the first to locate in that regiou. Samuel M. Hitt founded the Maryland colony in Mount Morris, in 1837, and two years later tho Rock River Seminary was established. George R. Webster and Stephen Hull settled at Polo, in 1835 Leonard Andrus at Grand Detour, and Aaron Payne at Payne's Poiut, the same year. The census of 1870 gives Ogle County a population of 21,412, of whom 11,201 are natives of Illinois, 3,105 of New York, 3,072 of Pennsylvania, and 4,782 of foreign birth, the Germans largely leading. Tbe Chicago & Iowa Railroad penetrates the county diagonally, the Illinois Central runs through the western quarter, the Chicago & Pacific is heing extended through the northeast corner, and the Chicago & North- Western crosses its southeast corner. Oregon, the county scat, has a magnificent water power, and has a large tmde with the adjacent region. Polo, the largest town in the county, lies on the Illinois Central, and is steadily developing in wealth and population. Roehelle is on the North-Western Road, has a large tmde and a $40,000 school-house. Dement, in the southcost corner, is a flourishing town of 600 inhabitants. There are 316,883 acres of im- proved land and 43,643 of woodland, and the estimated value of live stock is placed at $2,530,290. Along Rock River the face of the country is ahrupt, and covered with a fair growth of white and black oak, hut hy far the largest portion is rich, undulating prairie laud. Wbole townships are trecless, and have a soil of the fattest loam. All the limestones ahound, and there is an ample supply of sandstone for the manu- facture of glassware. On the Killbuck Creek is a fifty-acre peat bed, with a depth of nearly twelve feet, which is available as a fertilizer.
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PEORIA COUNTY.
PEORIA COUNTY was set off from Fulton in 1825, and within the territory attached thereto for county purposes were the voting precinets of Galena and Chicago. This whole region tben had but 1,236 inhabitants. Just previous to the organ- ization of Peoria County, John Hamlin, a Justice of the Peace for Fulton County, was called to Chicago to solemnize thio marriage of Alexander Wolcott, the Indian Agent at the infant metropolis. At that date, the Judge of the Circuit Court would come on horseback from Quincy, bait bis horse at Peoria, and proceed to Chicago to hold court for two or three days. The territory above described now forms thirty counties, and its population, in 1870, was 771,191. The county officers cbosen at the organization in March, 1825, were Nathan Dillon, Joseph Smith and William Holland, Commissioners; Norman Hyde, Clerk ; Samuel Fulton, Sheriff; and Aaron Howley, Treasurer.
A log enbin was erected for the Clerk on what is now the Court House Square. Two years afterward, the Commissioners purchased a log cabin on the river bauk, in which to hold court. John York Sawyer held the first Circuit Court in 1825, which term was distinguished by the trial of an Indian, named Nowaque, for murder, bo subsequently escaping.
The first general election took place in August, 1826. The law required that the returus be made to the county seat within four days from the elosiug of the polls, and Galena Precinct, by the Rock Islaud route, was from ten to twelve days distant. Abner Eads volunteered to cross the Winnebago swamps on borsehack with the returns, and easily performed the feat within the allotted time. In the fall of that year, Mr. Eads piloted a train over the road and established a short route to the lead mines. The legislative act locating the county seat placed it upon a claim made hy Judge Latham, who had erected a log cuhin and claimed compensation. In default of $150 with which to quiet title, the matter remained unsettled for years, and the new town saw everything going to its rivals until a settlement was reached.
The preseut aren of Peoria County is 648 square miles. The surface is moderately rolling, and timher is plentiful. The year 1834 was marked by the erection of a jail of hewu logs, to be succeeded, in 1867, by an edifice costing $81,000. Tho almshouse, six miles west of Peoria, cost $37,000 and is located on a farm of 240 acres.
Peoria bas a bistory of its own as a French trading post. In 1763, there was a settlement in the upper part of the pres- ent city, which was, five years afterward, removed nearer the center, the hamlet heing ealled La Ville de Maillet. This cou- tained seventy dwellings, in 1812, when it was burned, by or- der of Gov. Edwards, to chastise the French for furnishing the Indians with guns. In the year following, Fort Clark was ereeted on the river hank, and for six years no white people appeared for settlement.
In April, 1819, seven persons from near St. Louis located at Peoria. These were Abner Eads, Josiah Fulton, Seth Fulton, Samuel Dougherty, Thomas Russell, Joseph Hersey and Jobn Davis. They found Fort Clark on fire, and plenty of Indian camps aud drunken Indians along the river. Mr. Eads soon brought his family, and nearly all tho party boarded there. At that date, corn was ground by pounding it in a wooden mortar with the butt end of an iron wedge. Jobn Hamlin, Judge Lock wood and Judge Latham came in 1821, the latter being made Indian Agent in 1823. Mr. Hamlin established a branch of the American Fur Company and crected the first store. In the year following, he exported in bonts the first produce to Chicago. 'There were bnt twenty-two buildings in the city in 1832. The lead mine excitement, in 1827, well nigh depopulated the place, and the Blackhawk war, in 1831-2, created great alarm, a company of volunteers being enrolled at Peoria uuder Abaer Eads. John Harulin, returning frou Springfield, found the settlers fleeing in hot haste. Through tbe action of leading citizens, the panic was stayed, and soon the settlements were guarded by parties of rangers.
In 1834, the town had seven framo bouses and twenty-one log teneurents. Incorporation as a town took place the next ycar, Rudolphus Rouse being clected Presideat, and, as a city, in 1845, William Hale being chosen Mayor. The census of 1870 shows a population of 22,849. The first mill in this part of the State was crected in 1830 by John Hamlin and John Sharp. There are now six steam mills in the city. The first blacksmiths were Alexander and Jobn Culdwell. Al-
COUNTY HISTORIES.
miran Cole erected the first distillery in 1844; twenty years thereafter, Peoria had twelve and the neighborhood several more. Charles Ballance opened the pioneer school in 1832. There are now nine school-bouses, six of them costly brick edifices. Gas was introduced in 1853, and the earliest water- works, by Stephen Stillman, in 1834. The steamer Liberty arrived at Peoria in 1829. En 1844, the number running on tbe Illinois River was 150. The Methodists wero the pioneers in religious matters, and among tho pioneer ministers were Rev. Mr. Hatch, of St. Louis, and Rev. John St. Clair, of Ottawa. Rev. Jesse Walker founded a Methodist society at Fort Clark in 1824, and Rev. Mr. Heath organized the first Methodist Church at Pooria, in 1833. John L. Bogardus was the pioneer lawyer. Augustus Langworthy was the first physician, and it is said that as late as 1833, he was the only doctor between Springfield and Chicago, the Wabasb and the Mississippi. The pioneer newspaper was the Illinois Cham- pion, issued weekly hy Abram S. Buxton and Henry Wolford. In 1851, N. B. Curtis & Co. opened tho first banking house, failing in 1857. Within a mile of the city limits are inex- haustiblo beds of eoal, and Peoria is, doubtless, destined to be a great manufacturing town, its river and railway facilities be- ing uusurpassed. Elmwood, Chillicothe, Brimfield and Prince- ville are thriving towns, enjoying a good trado with the vicinage.
PERRY COUNTY.
PERRY COUNTY is in the southwestern quarter of the State, its area being 441 square miles. It was ereeted into a county in 1827, and in 1870 had reached a population of 13,723. Among the pioneers were John R. Hutchings and H. B. Jones. 'The chief stream is Beaucoup Creek. The railways are tbe Illinois Central, tho Cairo Short Line, the Cairo & St. Louis Narrow Gauge, and the Chester & Tamaroa. The publie school system is well established. Wheat is the chief agricul- tural production. Salt is manufactured at St. John. Du Quoin, the chief town, has a population of 3,000, and is a thriving business center. Pinckneyville occupies a central position, with 1,200 inhabitants. Tamaroa is a railway junction, with nearly 1,000 inhabitants. Of the population of the county the natives of the Stato number 8,001, and the foreign born 1,791. There are 93,754 acres of improved land, and the value of live stock is placed at $621,825. In surface, Perry County is generally rolling, but there are some flat prairies, and the timher land is known as post oak flats. The coal measures have an aggregate thickness of nearly 300 feet, and comprise the chief mineral wealth of the county. In the southern portion, coal lies so near the surface that it can be excavated as economically as anywhero in the State. That mined at Du Quoin is ahove the average of our Western bitumi- nous eoals. The amount accessible at a very moderate depth is enormous. Carbonite of iron is extensively distributed through the coal measures. The limestones of the southern portion and the sandstones of tho northern afford suitable material for foundation walls. The noted blue mud, composed of leaves and partially decayed wood, is in great abundance, being six- teen feet iu depth on the west side of Six Mile Prairie.
PIATT COUNTY.
PIATT COUNTY lies a little eastward of the center of the State, and comprises an arca of 440 square miles. George Hayworth, a Tenuesseo Quaker, was the pioneer of the region, building a cabin near the site of Monticello in the year 1823. He was soon joined by a Mr. Dagett. In March succeeding, Abraham Haneline came from Green County, Ohio, with his sons, and located in the timber near Coon's Spring, on the Sangamon River. Then James and John Martin, from Vir- ginia, built on Furnace Run, one mile above. In 1828, James A. Piatt, Sr., purchased the claim of Hayworth and located with his family. In the autumn of that year, Jeremiah Ferry staked his elaim on what is now the county fair grounds, aud, in 1830, D. Corbell settled at Madden's Run. The next year, Peter Souders, from Lee County, Virginia, built a cahiu in the northern part of the county. Other old settlers were Daniel Stiekel, who, in 1841, opened the first store at Monti-
cello; Lyman Lawrence, Sylvanus Oney, Owen Oacy, widow Farness, Abraham and Ezra Marquis, from Ohio; James Chambers, of Kentucky, and Joseph Moore, better known as " Buckskin Joe." The pioneers had to wait some years to se- euro a market for their products, eventually sending them to Chicago, a trip which consumed sixteen days. Young women sometimes rode forty-five miles to get a letter. The carly shoes were made from leather tanned in troughs, with bark ground in mortars. The bleached skeletons of buffalo aad elk fairly whitened tho prairies, and deer, wolves and wild boar were pleuty. Horse thieves were, on conviction, duly whipped by the Sheriff. Tho sick were visited hy all the ueighbors for twenty miles around. Piatt County was formed from Macon and De Witt in 1841, the first election being held in April. John Hughes, W. Bailey and E. Peck were the first Commis- siouers, and John Piatt, Sheriff. The population, in 1870, had increased to 11,000. Six railways enter the county, and tbo Sangamon River flows southwestwardly through the center. The resources of the county are mainly agricultural, the sur- face being mostly fertile prairie. Monticello, the county seat, was platted by James A. Piatt, and has a population of 1,500. Bement, seven miles south, contains ahout 1,000 inhabitants. Next comes Cerro Gordo, in the southwest part of the county, a thriving town laid out in 1855.
PIKE COUNTY.
PIKE COUNTY lies on the Mississippi, in the southwestern quarter of the State. Was organized in 1821, with an area of 802 square miles; and by tbe last eensus is credited with 30,768 iuhabitants. The Illinois River forms the eastern boundary, and small creeks are abundant. The railways are tbe Toledo, Wabash & Western, and two branches of the Chicago & Alton. The earliest settler of the region was a Canadiau Frenebman, named Tebo, wbo located on the bank of the Illinois, in Flint Township, in 1817, and was killed at Milton in 1844. In the summer of 1820, four soas of Micah . Ross, of Pittsfield, Mass., with a few other families, located in Atlas Township, six miles east of the Mississippi. On that side of the river there were then not more than five white men within fifty miles, and Major Hunter was the sole occupant of the site of Alton. The Legislature, then in session at Vandalia, learned of tho colony and laid off the county of Pike, embrao- ing all the territory north and west of the Illinois River, which polled 35 votes at its first election. Since that period, more than 50 counties have been created from it. The scat of justice was then at Coles Grove, the site of Gilead, in Callioun County. Judge Abrabam Beek held the first Prohate Court in May, 1821, and his first case was a divorce suit. The first white female born in Pike County was Nauey Ross; the first male child Marcellus Ross, and the first death that of Mrs. William Ross. Peter J. Saxberry and Matilda Stanley, still liviug in Pleasant Vale Township, were married on June 19, 1827. Biglow C. Fenton was the earliest Sheriff, and James W. Whiting, Clerk. Gen. Nicholas Hanson was the earliest member of the Legislature, and Tom Carlin the first State Senator. In 1833, the scat of justice was located at Pittsfield, Col. William Ross advancing the money and naming the town. The latter gentleman erected the pioneer mill at Atlas, in 1822, and Mr. Van Dusen started a ferry on the Illinois, which he subsequently sold to Nimrod Phillips, many of whose descend- ants still live here. The peninsula formed by Pike and Cal- houn Counties bas many natural advantages. The lands are ahout equally divided hetween prairie and timher. The soil yields as fine orops as nre raised iu the world. Stone quarries are numerous. Perry Springs have attained a national celebrity in tbe alleviation of physical ills, and the surround- ing country is hilly and covered with a beautiful forest growth. Tho Indians made this a place of resort. Until 1856, little cabins wero used by invalids, but five hotels now adorn the site adjacent to the magnesia, iron and sulphur springs. The flow and temperature of the water are not affected by the weather. Dutton's Spring, at Pittsfield, bas also been admira- bly fitted up for the treatment of invalids. Pittsfield is on a high rolling prairie, has fine buildings, and does a large eoun- try trade. Griggsville, laid out in 1834 by P. W. Jones, is on high ground, and has a thriving business. Ohio is designated as tho birthplace of 2,833, Kentucky of 1,207, and foreign countries of 1,849.
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POPE COUNTY.
POPE COUNTY lies on the southwestern horder of the State, and has an area of 369 square miles. It was erceted from Gallatin and Johnson Counties in 1816, and tho seat of jus- tice located at Sarahsville (sinoc changed to Golconda). The earliest Commissioners were Robert Lacey, Benoni Leo and Thomas Ferguson. Hamlet Ferguson was Sheriff; John Scott, Reeorder; Thomas C. Browne, Prosecuting Attorney, and Samuel O'Melveny, Treasurer. The County Court adopted rates for tavern keepers, hy which the price of meals wns 25 cents; lodging, 12} ; whisky, or peach brandy, per pint, 12}, and eare of horse all night, 37}. Among the pioneers was Mr. Simpson, who located at New Liberty in 1809. The southorn portion of tho county is part of a dividing ridge be- tween the tributarica of the Bay and Ohio Rivers. Next come a line of sandy ridges, and then bottom lands, studded with cypress swamps. The adjoining bluffs appear to have once heen washed by a powerful stream, which gave them their present bold outlines. The sand ridges are topped by heavy timber. The region of Black Bend is yearly flooded hy the Ohio to the depth of several feet. On Sugar Camp Lake aro extensive Indian mounds and fortifications, and arrow heads, stone tools, eto., are found in many places. The Indians seem to have huried their dead on the highest points of the bluffs. North of the Big Bay River the soil on the ridges and slopes is generally a sandy loam, and sustains a fine growth of white and black oak and hickory. At numerous points are thin and irregular beds of conl. Sandstoue, hy the boat-load, is taken from the bluffs near Goleonda. There are many min- eral springs, with copperas as the chief ingredient. One in tho southwest quarter of Section 16, Township 13, has a con- siderable reputation as a watering place, and is frequently visited hy citizens of Paducah. Iron is'extensively dissemi- nated throughout the roeks of the southern portion. The Grand Pier lead mines, in the northern half, yield largely, and there are also spar and kaolin clay mines. The chief products of the county are potatoes, corn and tobacco. Only abont one-fourth the lands are cleared, and there are no railways. By the census of 1870, Popo County was credited with 11,437 inhabitants. Golconda received a town charter in 1845. It lies on a plain, with a fine levec fronting the Obio River, and a steam ferry. On the bluffs surrounding the city are many handsome residences. The population is about 1,000.
PULASKI COUNTY.
PULASKI COUNTY lies on the Obio River, at the southern end of the State, and has an area of but 190 square miles. It was set off from Alexander in 1843, and named in honor of Count Pulaski, the Polish nobleman, who aided the Ameri- can forees during the Revolutionary war. The greater portion of its area is high aud undulating, well watered, and ahun- dantly supplied with timber. The bottoms are heavily timhered throughout. The productions of both the North and South here find common ground, with the riebest soil. The season for planting and gatberiug is from three to five weeks earlier than the region of either St. Louis, Cincinnati, or Chicago. Tohaceo and cotton are successfully grown, but the growth of fruit is the chief oceupation. The wheat and eorn of the re- gion have long been famous for their superior quality. The climate is mild and healthy, with no high winds. Besides the transportation afforded by the Obio and Mississippi Rivers, the county is traversed by the Illinois Central and tho Cairo & Vincennes Radroads. Mound City, the county scat, was, during the war, the location of n navy yard, and the theater of exciting events connected with the struggle. It has good churches and schools, and at ono time had considerable manu- facturing. By the last census, it had 1,631 inhabitants. Villa Ridge stands on a range of hills, and is the principal point for the shipment of produee. The census of 1870 gives Pulaski County 8,752 inhabitants, of whom 1,112 aro natives of Kentucky, and 445 are of foreign birtb. The tobacco crop is reported at 157.000 pounds, and the value of live stock, $304,735. A singular geological feature is the yellow loom region of the oak barrens, the latter of which constitutes the main body of the upland. Only the lowest barren portion of tho carboniferous formation extends into the county, and not the coal measures. In metallie ores only iron has heen noticed.
COUNTY HISTORIES.
Besides the numerous copperas springs, there are waters im- pregnated with sulpbate of iron and with alum. The famed " Big Spring," at. Wetaug, is a limestone spring, with a funnel- shaped basin, thirty feet in diameter, and of great depth. The
swept away. The first mill erceted in Illinois was that of Pogi, on the Okaw, near Kaskaskia, rebuilt by Gen. Edgar, in 1795. Previous to 1800, Kaskaskia was essentially a French village. It reached the zeuitb of its prosperity in the St. Louis limestone furnishes the only building rock in the " early part of the present century, hut trade thereafter sought enun'y
PUTNAM COUNTY.
PUTNAM COUNTY is near the center of the north half of the State, has an area of hut 175 square miles, was erected in 1831, and was credited with 6,280 inhabitants in 1870. Since its organization, the counties of Bureau, Stark and Marshall have been taken from it. The first Commissioners wero Thos. Gallaher, George Ish and John M. Gay, and they met near the trading house of Thomas Hartzell, on the Illinois River. The county seat was located on the site of Hennepin, wbere it lins ever since remained.
It is stated that the first habitation for eivdized man any- where in the old limits of Putnam County was ereeted before 1825, by Gurdon S. Hubbard, a fur trader, since so well known as a leader in the development of Chicago. His log cabin stood ou the river bank somo two miles above Hennepin, and was soon afterward occupied by a French trader named Rob- inson.
The earliest settlements in the present domain of the county were made by John Kuox, James W. and Stephen D. Willis, and William Hawes in Magnolia, in 1826; Thomas Hartzell and Thomas Gallaher, Sr., at Hennepin, in 1829, aud Thomas Ware, tho Ishes and Shepards at Granvdle. Among the pioneers still living are the Shepards, Williamson Durley, the Moores and Capt. Hawes. The children of Thomas Gallaher and Smiley Shepard were the first born in the county. During tho Blackhawk war, Hartzell's trading honse was occupied as a block house, and subsequently moved into Hennepin, where it served as a fort. Near Florida was another fort, and the settlers volunteered readily for the campaign. The earliest church was organized nt Union Grove, in 1829. A short dis- tance cast of Hennepin are the remains of a log school house in which services were held at a remote period. Nearly oppo- site the mouth of Bureau Creek, James and Williamson Durley established, in 1831, one of the very first stores in the region. Settlers pourcd in rapidly at the close of the Blackhawk war.
The county, being the smallest in the State, has but four townships, and is separated by the Illinois River. It is called the richest region of its size in the State. The western quar- ter is penetrated by the Peoria & Bureau Valley Railroad. A great portion of the surface is high, rolling prairie, with a strip of bottom land along the river. Immense crops of corn aro raised here, and the region is famous for potatoes. Hennepin lies on an elevated plateau, and does a considerable business. Magnolia, Granville and Senaehwine are pleasant villages, sur- rounded hy a prosperous farming community.
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