USA > Illinois > McHenry County > Biographical directory of the tax-payers and voters of McHenry County : containing also a map of the county, a condensed history of the state of Illinois, an historical sketch of the county, its towns and villages, an abstract of everyday laws of the state, a business directory, officers of societies, lodges and public officers, a department of general information for farmers, dairymen, etc., etc > Part 3
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The material resources of Illinois, vast as they arc, are surpassed by educa- , tional facilities and institutions. The compact of 1787 devoted, irrevocably, one-thirty-sixth of her soil to common schools; and the first law inscribed upon the statutes, in 1818, gave three per cent. of all the rest to education.
We have 11,050 schools, and by the old compact, there can be no legal interference with the Bible in the public schools. Wc have more volumes, in public libraries, than Massachusetts. Of the 44,500,000 volumes in the
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
public libraries of the United States, one-thirteenth belong to Illinois. In newspapers, she stands fourth, with a yearly increase truly marvelous. In 1850, 500,000 copies were issued; in. 1860, 27,590,000; in 1870, 113,140,000.
In 1860, she had eighteen colleges and seminaries; 1870, eighty.
There is but one record of a duel between citizens of Illinois on her own soil. Alphonso Stewart and William Bennett were the principals. The seconds agreed to make it a sham, and provide blanks. Stewart was in the secret. Bennett mistrusted, and, unobserved, slipped a bullet into his gun, and killed Stewart, then fled the State. Afterward, he was caught, convicted and hung. This terminated the use of the code of honor in Illinois.
CHICAGO.
"Queen city of the lakes and the prairies," positively, indeed, and com- mercially the marvel of the world.
Through the greatest calamity of modern times, that destroyed her in a day, she arose like a miracle of resurrection, instinct with unparalleled energy, majestic with courage, beautiful and mighty. The youngest great city of the world. What is a Damascus of all the centuries in comparison with her to-day ? What are the thousand years of Icelandic settlement, in comparison with Chi- cago's less than fifty ?
All cities shuddered, all lands trembled, all hearts suffered, when Chicago lay smouldering in the ashes of her unequaled prosperity. "To have struggled and suffered amid those fiery scenes is as distinguishing as to have fought at Thermopyla, or Salamis, or Hastings, or Waterloo, or Bunker Hill."
In 1796, a mulatto from the West Indies, named Jean Baptiste Pointe au Sable, came here to trade with the Indians. John Kinzie was his successor, in 1804, the year in which Fort Dearborn was built. It remained only a trading post from that time, until the period of the Black Hawk war, in 1832. In 1833, the settlement about the fort was incorporated as a town. Voters were divided-twelve voting for, one against it. Four years later, it became a city, embracing 560 acres. In 1869, it occupied 23,000.
Grain was imported from the East, until 1837. The first exportation was made in 1839. A board of trade organized in 1848. It did not grow strong before 1855. Grain was sold by the wagon-load in the street. At the present day, one-tenth af all the wheat grown in the United States is handled in Chicago.
In 1854, the exports of grain from Chicago exceeded those of New York, doubled those of St. Petersburg, and the other largest grain markets of Europe.
Chicago is, indisputably, the great railroad center of the world. Examine a complete map of the State, and see the eighteen trunk lines, exclusive of eastern connections.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
There are more than 10,000 miles of railroad tributary to this city. All these roads have centered here, by the instinct of capital. The city has never given a dollar to secure one of them.
COMMERCIAL CHICAGO.
The commerce of the city, in 1871, had reached $450,000,000. In 1875, it was double that.
It is stated that one-half of our imported goods come directly to Chicago. Her banking capital is $24,431,000. Her wholesale business, in 1875, was $294,000,000. Notwithstanding the general depression throughout the country, a greater volume of business was transacted in 1876 than in any preceding year. The total trade of the city, for 1876, was measured by $652,000,000. It is a loss of eight-tenths of one per cent., in currency, from 1875, but a gain, if reckoned on a gold basis. Our manufacturers report $200,500,000 for the same year.
Chicago is the commercial focus of the great Northwest. As the country prospers, so the city must thrive. The welfare of one depends on the other. If the farmer has poor crops, or receives but low prices for what he has to sell, he is less able to invest in luxuries or necessaries, and the city merchant and manufacturer miss the farmer's trade.
With the single exception of hogs, the products of the farm commanded relatively low prices in 1876; but on the whole the produce trade compares favorably through the year with former years. The principal falling off was in wheat.
Up to a very recent period, New York , controlled nearly all the foreign trade of the United States, with much of that between the seaboard and the West. The prominent class in England and on the continent of Europe known as "importers," used to send their orders for wheat, flour and bacon to factors in New York, who filled those orders there, and insisted on having the produce of the West offered to them at their doors and nearly on their own terms. Now the majority of those foreign buyers have found that they can do far better to deal directly with the West, and are sending their orders to Chicago. Com- manding, as she does, a large part of the produce of the Northwest in the places where it is raised ; possessing the ability to hold it in the country till wanted, and the facilities for storing it in immense quantities within her own limits ; the center of so vast a network of railroads, with a capital sufficient to control the movement in every stage, Chicago holds the key to the situation, and has literally forced the merchant princes of the Old World to come hither, as to the greatest primary market in the world. It is true she has powerful com- petitors in other countries, but that competition tends to enhance the im- portance of Chicago.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
The same arguments apply to the trade of the Eastern States, which used to be supplied mainly from New York. Now the bacon from Chicago goes directly South, and corn goes direct to the New England consumer without the intervention of New York merchants. It is found that the inspection systems of Chicago throw safeguards around the trade in grain, flour, pork and meats, which are worth more than the handling charges here.
There are now nineteen elevators for the handling of grain in Chicago. In addition to these, there are immense storehouses for all kinds of produce. Four hundred and fifty pairs of hands are employed in the public grain eleva- tors, besides the inspectors and the men who move the cars on the track, etc.
The pork trade was not so well controlled by capital through 1876 as 1875. Chicago packs as many hogs as Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Milwaukee combined, and she has become the model for operations outside, as well as the center for provision trade. There is a strong tendency to con- centrate stocks here, where they will command the speculative and consuming trade of the world.
There was a decided increase in receipts of flour for 1876, viz. : 3,014,286 barrels, against 2,625,883 barrels in 1875. The mills of the city have been running nearly to their full capacity all the year. The milling capacity of the West has greatly increased during the past few years.
Kansas flours come here more sparingly now than they used to do. They are not as readily sold as those made in other sections ; they are good, but not white enough to suit the majority of trade. Recently Nebraska millers have sent flour to Chicago for the first time. The article is generally liked, and it meets with a ready sale.
The average wholesale price for the year (1876) was about $4.75 per barrel for shipping extras, $5.75 on Minnesotas.
The receipts of wheat, as reported by the Secretary of the Board of Trade, in 1876, were 17,491,057 bushels, against 24,206,370 bushels in 1875. The inspection into store, as reported by the State authorities, was 42,624 car loads, which, at 350 bushels to the car, would equal 14,918,400 bushels. The differ- ence between this and the Board of Trade report is due to grain consigned on track, and wheat billed through to Chicago.
Receipts for oats were 12,654,621 bushels, against 12,916,428 in 1875, and shipments 11,688,471 bushels, against 10,277,134 bushels in same year. This falling off was owing to the relatively low prices during 1876, in addition to poor quality of the crop.
The demand for rye was light through the greater part of 1876, while the volume offered for sale was unusually large. The receipts were fully doubled, being 1,401,121 against 699,583 bushels in 1875. Nearly all the distilleries of Chicago were closed during most of the year, and the shipments were greatly increased from those of 1875.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
The barley market has not yet recovered from the demoralization that set in after the panic of 1873, and the character of the crop has not tended to improve the trade. Receipts were 4,750,176 bushels in 1876 ; 3,107,297 bushels in 1875. · Shipments, 2,868,468 bushels, against 1,868,206 bushels the preceding year.
The records of the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company show that the volume of business transacted there during the Centennial year was in ex- cess of any previous twelve months. The total arrival of cattle, hogs and sheep was 5,669,420 head, or 417,519 head more than reported for any former year. It is a well-known fact that in many of the live stocks of the country the busi- ness for 1876 was a decline from 1875.
1876 was more than ordinarily favorable for the dairy interest. The pro- duction in the West of butter and cheese was in excess of any former season. The healthy character of the butter trade was owing to the existence of a largely increased export demand. Receipts of cheese in Chicago were about 23,280,000 pounds, against 12,000,000 pounds in 1875. Receipts of butter, 35,384,184 pounds, against 30,243,247 pounds in 1875.
The season closed with the West nearly cleared of wool. About 50,000 pounds of old wool were brought into the new season. More Colorado wool was handled in Chicago in 1876 than any previous year. This city bids fair to be the great distributing center for the wool of Illinois and the surrounding territories. The quantity of California wool sold here is increasing. The . Western consumption of wool is also increasing.
The hay crop of 1876 was an average one in the West, and secured in ex- cellent condition. Timothy hay of the crop of 1875 sold at $8.50 to $14.00; prairie at $6.00 to $11.00. Timothy of 1876 has ruled steady at $8.00 to $11.50, and prairie at $5.50 to $8.00 per ton.
We have enumerated these statistics of the commerce of Chicago and the Northwest, for the years 1875 and 1876, for convenient comparisons in the future. We do not expect to enlighten the patrons of this book by presenting all these details of figures, for the farmers of Illinois are not an ignorant class of people who neglect libraries and fail to patronize and read the newspapers of the day.
VARIOUS ITEMS.
Chicago now embraces thirty-six square miles and has thirty miles of water front besides the outside harbor of refuge of 400 acres, inclosed by a crib sea- wall. The water provided for the city from the lake is as pure as any in the world. It is received through two tunnels extending to a crib two miles from the shore. The supply is brought from thirty-five feet below the surface, and is always .clear and cold. The closest analysis detects no impurities in the water reservoirs. The first water-tunnel is five feet two inches in diameter,
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
and two miles long. It can deliver 50,000,000 gallons per day. The second is seven feet in diameter and six miles long. It runs four miles under the city and can deliver 100,000,000 of gallons per day. The water is distributed through 410 miles of water-mains.
One-third of the city has been raised an average of eight feet, making the sewerage pitch 263 miles. In 1844, the streets were little better than quag- mires, and for years the reputation of the city for health, was anything but · favorable. Now, it is emphatically one of the healthiest cities in the Union. Wooden block pavements were used in 1857. In 1840, water was delivered by peddlars in carts or by hand. Afterward, a twenty-five horse-power engine pushed it through hollow logs laid along the streets, till 1854, when it was car- ried into the houses by new works.
The first fire-engine was used in 1835; the first steam fire-engine in 1859. Gas was used for lighting the city in 1850. The Young Men's Christian As- sociation was organized in 1858, and horse railroads constructed in 1859. A museum was opened in 1863; the alarm telegraph adopted in 1864 ; the opera house built in 1865.
THE MAILS.
In 1831, the mail was taken twice a week from the city by a half-breed Indian, on foot, to Niles, Michigan. He brought back what news he could gather. In 1846, often only one mail a week went from and reached the young city. A post office was established in 1833. The Post Master nailed up old boot-legs on one side of his shop to serve as boxes for those who could afford to pay rent for them. The mail matter of Chicago has reached a daily average of 6,500 pounds. Its distribution to the territory immediately tributary to the city is seven times larger than the amount distributed in a corresponding region around St. Louis.
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
The three grandest engineering exploits of the city have incalculably settled their advantages for the future. The construction of the tunnels under the lake was a glorious triumph of art and artisanship. The city, safely supplied with pure water above all contingences of failure, possesses one of the most im- portant elements of health and perpetuity-mighty as an armed host.
Whole squares at a time were lifted up several feet, on jack-screws, without interfering with the daily business conducted in the buildings.
Mark Beaubien established a ferry over the river and put himself under 1 bonds to carry all the citizens free for the privilege of charging strangers. Now twenty-four large bridges and two tunnels will convey both citizens and strangers "free " across the enlarged river.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
In 1833, the government expended $30,000 on the harbor, and then com- menced improvements on the river which have made it one of the curiosities of the country. It was once but a narrow, shallow stream that rippled over the sand into the lake. Now the largest ships are towed through the city branches by small tugs. It reminds travelers of the Thames in parts of London.
The two great laws that aid the growth and fix the size of cities are helping Chicago. The extent of country for which it is a distributing and receiving center and the number of dealers that do this distributing are the workings of these laws. Monopolists only build up themselves. They never make cities. There is a vast region of mostly productive land west of this western metropolis, and trade tides flow eastward.
No imaginary complications of human affairs can now picture Chicago as a Babylon of desert sands. She must, in the ordinary course of progress and civilization, remain the focus of countless centers of trade, travel and intelli- gence. There need be no more said of rivalry between Chicago and St. Louis or Cincinnati. These goodly cities are far enough away and near enough to preclude the probability of other great cities growing between them and Chicago.
"Chicago," says Dr. Fowler, " is in the field almost alone, to handle the wealth of one-fourth of the territory of this great Republic. This strip of sea- coast divides its margins between Portland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Savannah, or some other great port to be created for the South in the next decade. But Chicago has a dozen empires casting their treasures - into her lap. On a bed of coal that can run all the machinery of the world for five hundred centuries, in a garden that can feed the race by the thousand years, at the head of the lakes that give her a temperature as a summer resort equaled by no great city in the land, with a climate that insures the health of her citizens, surrounded by all the great deposits of natural wealth in mines and forests and herds, Chicago is the wonder of to-day, and will be the city of the future." *
MASSACRE AT FORT DEARBORN.
During the war of 1812, Fort Dearborn became the theater of stirring events. The garrison consisted of fifty-four men under command of Captain Nathan Heald, assisted by Lieutenant Helm (son-in-law of Mrs. Kinzie) and Ensign Ronan. Dr. Voorhees was surgeon. The only residents at the post at that time were the wives of Captain Heald and Lieutenant Helm, and a few of the soldiers, Mr. Kinzie and his family, and a few Canadian voyageurs, with their wives and children. The soldiers and Mr. Kinzie were on most friendly terms with the Pottawattomies and Winnebagos, the principal tribes around them, but they could not win them from their attachment to the British.
* The above from Dr. Fowler's oration as seen in Directory of De Kalb Co., published by 11. F. Kett & Co., Chicago.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
One evening in April, 1812, Mr. Kinzie sat playing on his violin and his children were dancing to the music, when Mrs. Kinzie came rushing into the house, pale with terror, and exclaiming : "The Indians ! the Indians !" " What ? Where ?" eagerly inquired Mr. Kinzie. " Up at Lee's, killing and scalping, " answered the frightened mother, who, when the alarm was given, was attending Mrs. Barnes (just confined), living not far off. Mr. Kinzie and his family crossed the river and took refuge in the fort, to which place Mrs. Barnes and her infant not a day old were safely conveyed. The rest of the inhabitants took shelter in the fort. This alarm was caused by a scalping party of Winne- bagoes, who hovered about the fort several days, when they disappeared, and for several weeks the inhabitants were undisturbed.
On the 7th of August, 1812, General Hull, at Detroit, sent orders to Cap- tain Heald to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and to distribute all the United States property to the Indians in the neighborhood-a most insane order. The Potta- wattomie chief, who brought the dispatch, had more wisdom than the command- ing general. He advised Captain Heald not to make the distribution. Said he : " Leave the fort and stores as they are, and let the Indians make distri- bution for themselves ; and while they are engaged in the business, the white people may escape to Fort Wayne."
Captain Heald held a council with the Indians on the afternoon of the 12th, in which his officers refused to join, for they had been informed that treachery was designed-that the Indians intended to murder the white people in the council, and then destroy those in the fort. Captain Heald, however, took the precaution to open a port hole displaying a cannon pointing directly upon the council, and by that means saved his life.
Mr. Kinzie, who knew the Indians well, begged Captain Heald not to con- fide in their promises, nor distribute the arms and munitions among them, for it would only put power into their hands to destroy the whites. Acting upon this advice, Heald resolved to withhold the munitions of war ; and on the night of the 13th, after the distribution of the other property had been made, the pow- der, ball and liquors were thrown into the river, the muskets broken up and destroyed.
Black Partridge, a friendly chief, came to Captain Heald, and said : " Linden birds have been singing in my ears to-day : be careful on the march you are going to take." On that dark night, vigilant Indians had crept near the fort and discovered the destruction of their promised booty going on within. The next morning the powder was seen floating on the surface of the river. The savages were exasperated and made loud complaints and threats.
On the following day, when preparations were making to leave the fort, and all the inmates were deeply impressed with a sense of impending danger, Capt. Wells, an uncle of Mrs. Heald, was discovered upon the Indian trail among the sand-hills on the borders of the lake, not far distant, with a band of mounted
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
Miamis, of whose tribe lie was chief, having been adopted by the famous Miami warrior, Little Turtle. When news of Hull's surrender reached Fort Wayne, he had started with this force to assist Heald in defending Fort Dearborn. . He was too late. Every means for its defense had been destroyed the night before, and arrangements were made for leaving the fort on the morning of the 15tlı.
It was a warmn, bright morning in the middle of August. Indications were positive that the savages intended to murder the white people ; and when they moved out of the southern gate of the fort, the marcli was like a funeral proces- sion. The band, feeling the solemnity of the occasion, struck up the Dead Marclı in Saul.
Capt. Wells, who had blackened his face with gun powder in token of his fate, took the lead with his band of Miamis, followed by Capt. Heald, with his wife by his side on horseback. Mr. Kinzie hoped by his personal influence to avert the impending blow, and therefore accompanied them, leaving his family in a boat in charge of a friendly Indian, to be taken to his trading station at the site of Niles, Michigan, in the event of his death.
The procession moved slowly along the lake shore till they reached the sand- hills between the prairie and the beach, when the Pottawattomie escort, under the leadership of Blackbird, filed to the right, placing those hills between them and the white people. Wells, with his Miamis, had kept in the advance. They suddenly came rushing back, Wells exclaiming, " They are about to attack us; form instantly. " These words were quickly followed by a storm of bullets, which came whistling over the little hills which the treacherous savages had made the covert for their murderous attack. The white troops charged upon the Indians, drove them back to the prairie, and then the battle was waged between fifty-four soldiers, twelve civilians and three or four women (the cow- ardly Miamis having fled at the outset), against five hundred Indian warriors. The white people, hopeless, resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Ensign Ronan wielded his weapon vigorously, even after falling upon his knees weak from the loss of blood. Capt. Wells, who was by the side of his niece, Mrs. Heald, when the conflict began, behaved with the greatest coolness and courage. He said to her, " We have not the slightest chance for life. We must part to meet no more in this world. God bless you." And then he dashed forward. Seeing a young warrior, painted like a demon, climb into a wagon in which were twelve children, and tomahawk them all, he cried out, unmindful of his personal danger, " If that is your game, butchering women and children, I will kill too." He spurred his horse toward the Indian camp, where they had left their squaws and papooses, hotly pursued by swift-footed young warriors, who sent bullets whistling after him. One of these killed his horse and wounded him severely in the leg. With a yell the young braves rushed to make him their prisoner and reserve him for torture. He resolved not to be made a captive, and by the use of the most provoking epithets tried to induce them to kill him
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
instantly. He called a fiery young chief a squaw, when the enraged warrior killed Wells instantly with his tomahawk, jumped upon his body, cut out his heart, and ate a portion of the warm morsel with savage delight !
In this fearful combat women bore a conspicuous part. Mrs. Heald was an excellent equestrian and an expert in the use of the rifle. She fought the sav- ages bravely, receiving several severe wounds. Though faint from the loss of blood, she managed to keep her saddle. A savage raised his tomahawk to kill her, when she looked him full in the face, and with a sweet smile and in a gentle · voice said, in his own language, "Surely you will not kill a squaw !" The arm of the savage fell, and the life of the heroic woman was saved.
Mrs. Helm, the step-daughter of Mr. Kinzie, had an encounter with a stout. Indian, who attempted to tomahawk her. Springing to one side, she received the glancing blow on her shoulder, and at the same instant seized the savage. round the neck with her arms and endeavored to get hold of his scalping knife, which hung in a sheath at his breast. While she was thus struggling, she was dragged from her antagonist by another powerful Indian, who bore her, in spite of her struggles, to the margin of the lake and plunged her in. To her aston- ishment she was held by him so that she would not drown, and she soon per- ceived that she was in the hands of the friendly Black Partridge, who had saved her life.
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