USA > Illinois > Mason County > Centennial history of Mason County, including a sketch of the early history of Illinois, its physical peculiarities, soils, climate, production, etc. > Part 22
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Herald, September 11, 1857.
The annual meeting of the stockholders of the Illinois River Railroad Company will be held at Chandlerville, on the first Sat- urday of September next, at which time and place there will be an election of five directors of said company for the ensuing year. Every stockholder is requested to attend said election.
By order of the Board of Directors.
K. S. THOMAS, President.
M. H. L. SCHOOLEY, Secretary.
ILLINOIS RIVER RAILROAD.
Call for installments of capital stock. An order of the Board of Directors and notice by the Treasurer.
Whereas, this board has heretofore made calls upon the sub- scribers to the capital stock of the Illinois River Railroad Com- pany for a payment of a portion of their stock, according to which calls thirty per cent. of the amount subscribed by each subscriber to said capital stock is now due, (including what has been paid;) and whereas, part of said subscribers have not yet paid the full amount thus due; and whereas, the work on the road has been commenced and the money is needed now to pay for such work;
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
and whereas, five per cent. more of said subscription has been called for by this board, which will become due on the first Mon- day in next September, and also five per cent. on each of the first Mondays of next October, November and December.
It is therefore ordered by this board, that each and all of the sub- scribers to the capital stock of the Illinois River Railroad Com- pany pay to the Treasurer of said company, or to his agents, at such places as he may fix upon, on or before the first Monday in next September, thirty-five per cent .- that is, the sum of thirty- five dollars, (including what has been paid) upon each share of one hundred dollars subscribed by him or her; and that they also pay to said Treasurer, or his agents as aforesaid, on each of the first Monday's of October, November and December, five per cent, or five dollars, upon each of such shares, and in default of any such payments by any subscriber, the Treasurer is hereby authorized to institute legal proceedings against each subscriber who shall fail or refuse to make any such payments. And it is hereby further or- dlered, that notice of the foregoing order or call be given to the subscribers, by publication in the Cass County Times and Mason County Herald.
I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of an order passed by the Board of Directors of the Illinois River Railroad Company, at a meeting held by them, at Chandlerville, on the 10th day of August, 1857, as the same appears of record.
Witness my hand and seal, this 11th day of August, 1857.
M. H. L. SCHOOLEY. Sec. of I. R. R. R. Co.
NOTICE BY TREASURER.
Notice is hereby given to the subscribers to the capital stock of the Illinois River Railroad Company, to make payments of the amount due and to become due from them, as specified in the fore- going order of the Board of Directors, either to G. N. Walker, at Havana, or Benjamin Beesley, at Bath, in Mason county; Sylves- ter Paddock, at Chandlerville, or N. B. Thompson, at Virginia, in Cass county. The money must be paid promptly, as the under- signed is bound to do his duty in collecting it.
THOMAS PLASTER, Treas. of I. R. R. R. Co.
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
The Morgan County Fournal, of Jan. 28, 1858, says:
ILLINOIS RIVER RAILROAD.
B. S. Thomas, Esq., President of this road, passed through Jack- sonville on Monday last, on his way to New York. The object of his visit is to make arrangements for procuring iron for the road, and to make sales of some county bonds.
We learn that among the bonds which Mr. Thomas has to dis- pose of, are some $100,000 voted by the people of Mason county. The value of "swamp lands" alone, owned by this county, is esti- mated at $300,000; so that the purchase of her bonds would be a safe investment.
The work upon the road is still progressing. Some forty-five miles of the northern part of the line is now ready for the ties and iron, and the whole road, as far south as Virginia, can be placed in readiness for track-laying early in the season. The engineers are now employed in locating that portion of the road between Vir- ginia and Jacksonville, and it will not be long before the work of construction will be going on throughout the whole line.
NOTICE TO RAILROAD CONTRACTORS.
Chief Engineer's Office, Illinois River Railroad,
PEORIA, March 14, 1857.
Proposals will be received by the undersigned until Tuesday, the 5th day of May next, for the grading, bridging and furnishing cross-ties for the Illinois River Railroad, between the cities of Pekin and Jacksonville, a distance of about seventy miles.
Proposals may be for separate sections, of about two miles each, any number of sections, or all together. Bids will be preferred for the entire work, including the iron and station buildings. Profiles, plans and specifications are ready for inspection at the chief engi- neer's office.
This line passes its entire length over a rich and well developed country, where supplies are cheaply obtained. The first fifty miles being very level, with sand subsoil. The last twenty miles passes over a rolling country, and presents some heavy work. It is also the closing and interior link of the great north and south trunk road between Chicago and St. Louis, and between St. Louis and the upper Mississippi country.
R. S. THOMAS, President. W. G. WHEATON, Chief Eng.
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
THE HERALD .- W. W. STOUT, EDITOR.
Havana, September 11, 1857.
ELECTION OF DIRECTORS.
The election of directors of the Illinois River Railroad took place at Chandlerville on Saturday of last week. A large number of persons were present on the occasion, and and an amount of stock was represented equal to $350,000. Considerable interest was manifested among those present in regard to who should be elected to the directory, and as to how they should be appointed. But after the manifestation of considerable feeling in regard thereto, matters were finally arranged, as we presume, to the satisfaction of all par- ties. Judge Thomas was elected director for Morgan county; R. S. Thomas for Cass; J. S. Ruggles for Bath; Frank Low for Ha- vana; and Joshua Wagenseller, for Tazewell. The selection of a more efficient board of directors could not have been made. They are the very best men to be found along the line of the road, and their selection will meet the approbation of a large majority of the citizens of the different counties through which the road will pass, and give renewed confidence to the friends of this great improve- ment. After the election. the new board held a short session and chose James H. Hole, of Havana, to be the treasurer of the com- pany, and M. H. L. Schooley secretary. The board then adjourn- ed to meet again in Havana, on the third Saturday of the present month.
THE RAILROAD.
It is with no small degree of satisfaction that we inform our readers that active operations have commenced on the Illinois River Railroad at this place. At the present time between forty and fifty men, and also some dozen teams, are busily at work in despoiling the enormous sand-hill, which has so long been an eye-sore to the citizens of this place, of its huge dimensions, and they are now haul- ing away the dirt and making fills therewith on other portions of the road. The citizens of our town seem to manifest an extraor- dinary interest in the work, judging from the fact that all the "shady spots" in near proximity to where the work is going on, is constantly occupied all day long by persons who seem to content- plate with immense satisfaction its progress. This enormous sand-
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
hill is rapidly giving way before the "Mickeys," and it is a great pity but the road had been located throughout the center of it, the railroad company in making excavations for the road would have done more for the benefit of the town, more towards improving the appearance thereof, in three months' time, than the town council will be able to do in the next three years.
The road from Market street to the little prairie above town will have to be raised, we are informed, something like four feet above the present level.
There will be a bridge erected across Market street of sufficient hight to enable wagons to pass under with ease.
The town council held a meeting on Wednesday last, with the intention of granting the company the right of way through the town, but did not do so, from the fact that they thought it best to wait until they could see the chief engineer, before making the grant.
There will have to be a number of culverts made at different points along where the road passes through town, otherwise at times, immediately after hard rains, a number of lots lying back of the railroad would be entirely submerged with water. Conse- quently it was thought proper by the board of trustees to make some stipulations in regard thereto, before granting the right of way, and they delayed so doing until the proper officer could be seen in regard to it.
Having thus somewhat in detail given the beginning of the Illi- nois River Railroad, which was the first in the county, we will quote from the report of Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners, giving the present status of said road, though by its transfer its name was changed to Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville.
Work was begun on this road in Havana, in Sept., 1857. The road from Pekin to Virginia, fifty-eight miles, was put in opera- tion in 1859. From Pekin to Peoria, ten miles, was put in opera- tion in 1864. From Virginia to Jacksonville, fifteen miles, in the summer of 1869.
The P., P. & J. road acquired, by purchase, all the property covered by a deed of trust of the Illinois River Railroad Company, under the foreclosure of which it was sold. It also acquired, by
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
legislative authority, the right to use any or all the powers con- ferred upon the Illinois River Railroad Company, by charter and amendment, but no merging of the company took place by a con- solidation of these respective interests, except as here stated.
Length of main line. 83 miles
Length of sidings and other track. 121/2 miles
Weight of rail per yard. . 52 and 56 lbs
Width of guage. 4 feet 81/2 inches
Number of miles run by passenger trains, for the
year ending June 30, 1875. 117,816
Number of miles by freight .. 84,345
Number of miles by construction 42,043
Total. 244,204
Total number of passengers 80,370
Total tons of freight. 129,997
The extraordinary care exercised in the management of this road has made it almost free from accidents. During the year above named, three passengers were injured, none killed; of em- ployees, there were two injured, and one killed. This is attributa- ble to the very sensible plan of Mr. John Allen, President and Superintendent of the road; which is, that when he has a good, careful employee, to hold him. In a somewhat extended railroad travel, we have yet to meet more efficient and gentlemanly con- ductors than are in the service of this road. Among them we are pleased to name Mr. J. D. Cork, Mr. N. McSherry, Mr. George Elwell, Mr. S. Reiley and Mr. W. H. Haynes. To Mr. Cook and Mr. Kelsey we have referred at length in another place. This road has been peculiarly fortunate in acquiring and holding the good will of the people along its entire line; is doing a prosperous business, and is in excellent condition.
THE INDIANAPOLIS, BLOOMINGTON AND WESTERN EXTENSION.
This line runs from Champaign to Havana, a distance of one hundred miles, and traverses Mason county in nearly an east and west direction, and began operations in October, 1873.
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
The guage of this road is four feet eight and three-quarter inches. The further details at our command, in regard to this road, not be- ing of general interest, we omit them, and have only to say that the road is carefully and judiciously managed, is in excellent order, and supplied with efficient and gentlemanly employees. Among them it is with much pleasure that we can here name Mr. L. C. Thrall and Mr. J. Caldwell, the gentlemanly and efficient conduc- tors. This line gives us a long wished for and much needed direct eastern connection for mails and travel.
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SPRINGFIELD AND NORTHWESTERN.
In 1853 a railroad from Springfield to Petersburg and Havana was discussed, and in that year Mason county voted $25,000 of stock in that enterprise, but for the time it was delayed. On Dec. 13, 1855, the city of Springfield voted $50,000 of stock to the Sangamon and Northwestern Railroad, and Menard county voted $100,000 to the same project. An organization was effected by the election of V. Hickox, J. T. Stuart, John Bennett, W. G. Green and John S. Wilbourn, directors, but here again it ended for a time. The date of the charter of the present company was March 24, 1869. The road was built in 1871-'72-'73. The entire length from Springfield to Havana is forty-seven miles. The weight of rail per yard is fifty pounds; guage of road, four feet eight and a half inches. This line is in good order, and is carefully and judi- ciously managed by the present officials and employees. They re- ceive from the government $45 per mile per annum for carry- ing mails, and $40 per month from the U. S. Express Company for carrying express. John Williams is President and principal owner of the road, and Geo. N. Black is Receiver. The impor- tant points connected by this line gives it a liberal share of through travel, and the rich farming region through which it passes, com- bined with the accomodating and popular conductors, Messrs. W. M. Bacon and M. Myers, give it a fine local passenger travel.
The S. & N. W. connects south with the T., W. & W., the C. & A., the O. & M., the G. & C., giving access to all points of the compass, from Springfield at all hours. At Petersburg it makes connection with the Jacksonville branch of the C. & A. north and south, and at Havana with the P., P. & J., and the I. B. & W. ex-
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
tension for the north and east, and thus to Peoria, where numerous roads diverge to all points of the compass. The large stock and coal interests on the line of this road, with the increasing develop- ment of the country must eventually make it one of the most pay- ing lines in the State. The line is in excellent condition, is opera- ted with care, and accidents are unknown on it.
THE CHICAGO AND ALTON RAILROAD .- JACKSONVILLE BRANCH.
For many years this line terminated at Petersburg, but in 1867 it was extended to Bloomington. It was opened up for service to Mason City in June, and to Bloomington on the 23d of Septem- ber, in that year. It was incorporated as the Tonica and Peters- burg Railroad Company, January 15, 1857. Richard Yates was the first president.
In 1862 it was consolidated with the Jacksonville, Alton and St. Louis Railroad Company, the whole taking the name of the St. Louis, J. & C. R. R. Co. William G. Green, of Menard county, was the first president of the new company, succeeded by George Straut, of Peoria. This road was leased to the C. & A. road April 30th, IS68.
A letter from George Straut, of Peoria, Illinois, dated June 5th, 1876, says :
J. COCHRANE, EsQ .:
Dear Sir: A brief history of the road running through your county, I presume would assist you to prepare your work. The project was first started as the Tonica and Petersburg Rail- road, and the line was located through your county in 1857. The Hon. Richard Yates was at that time president of the company, , and during the year IS58 a portion of the grading was done on that part of the line. The hard times of 1858, which continued for several years, made it impossible to negotiate railroad securities, consequently work was suspended for several years. Mr. Yates being a candidate for governor, in 1860, he resigned the presidency of the company, and Wm. G. Green was elected president; and during his administration arrangements were perfected for consoli- dating the interests of the Tonica and Petersburg and the Jackson- ville, Alton and St. Louis Railroad companies. This consolidation was ratified by the companies in December, IS62, and the new com-
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
pany was styled the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad Company. At the first meeting of the directors I was elected pres- ident, aud have so continued up to this time.
In 1863 arrangements were made for completing the road, and in 1864 it was completed from Jacksonville south to the C. & A. road at Godfrey, which gave our road an outlet to St. Louis, and in 1867 the line was completed from Jacksonville to Bloomington, giving us an outlet north to Chicago, over the C. & A. road. In the spring of 1868 the line was leased to the C. & A. road, and has 'been operated by that company since that time.
Yours, truly, GEORGE STRAUT.
HAVANA, RANTOUL AND EASTERN RAILROAD COMPANY. -
Length, 128 miles; western terminus, Havana, Mason county; eastern terminus, the C., D. & V. Railroad, in Ross township, Vermilion county. Length of line only graded, 361/2 miles. This road has been in progress for some time, with prospects of a rapid completion.
Amount of stock subscribed $1,000,000
Per centage paid in. 50,859
Iron and rolling stock have been purchased for the first division of the road. Width of gauge, three feet. The splendid region of country through which this line is to pass, and the very low cost of operating that class of roads, ensures it a good, safe investment, and completion at an early date.
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EDUCATIONAL.
THE EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF MASON COUNTY.
Unpolished marble does not show Its beauties to the sight, Until the labored polish doth Make all its colors bright.
The youthful mind inelines to rest In Nature's finest mould, Until, by education dressed, Its powers doth unfold.
Let us imagine that a young immortal is placed before us, whose duty it is to give him an education. This word signifies that we are to take him into our hands, find out what faculties he possesses, and then make the most of every one of them, preserving, how- ever, a just balance among all his varied powers. Not one of those powers were given him to lie dormant. He can never be a real man until all are developed. It is not our business to give him a certain amount of knowledge, to practice him in certain arts, or to teach him a profession.
He comes to us to be educated, not to be crammed with other people's ideas, nor to learn a trade. The ideas he can get afterwards by reading. The trade he can acquire when he is prepared for it. What shall we do for this young being, whose future we are to form for him? As quick as possible let us make a man of him. Let us, in the first place, take him up as a physical being, and young and feeble as he is, see what we can do for him. Let the persons who have the charge of him in this particular know everything about his body. Let them map out that knowledge to the best of their abilities, with a deep con-
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
sideration of the case in hand, to the comprehension of their pupil. Let them instruct that pupil not only in the anatomy and physiol- ogy of his body, but in the laws of life and health, of strength and growth, and of that essential exercise by which the highest physi- cal beauty is developed. Let the effort then commence, in which the scholar will enthusiastically unite, so soon as he is made to un- derstand it, to rear up out of this beginning the completest, strongest, healthiest, hardiest, most beautiful and graceful being possible. Let him not only be exercised, but exercised scientifical- ly, by a man who knows every bone and muscle of his body- every want and possibility of his physical existence. Let one set of exercises be suited to employ, invigorate and enlarge the muscles; let another inflate the lungs, enlarge the chest, and give larger scope for the growth and development of the internal organs. A third will give him ease of motion and gracefulness of carriage. Nor need we stop when these ends are gained. The organs of sensation, which are useful according to their power and accuracy, may be astonishingly improved by a course of scientific practice. The eye can be educated to see, the ear to hear and the hand to feel, and the remaining senses do their appropriate work. Nature, in these particulars, gives us the beginning and a subject capable of the highest degree of improvement. It is the business of effort and of art to carry that beginning to the best and highest attain- ments.
Instead of suffering the strength and health and beauty of our pupil to waste away, as they do, almost universally, after the first hour of education is begun, we should not only preserve them all, but carry each of them to a perfection which nature, unaided by education, can never reach. The young man, when he goes from our hands, with all his other qualifications, in place of being the sickliest, weakest, and most pallid and cadaverous person in society, ought to be, physically, a pattern and paragon for all other men, with a good conscience and a brisk pulse, one whose head rarely pressed the pillow while others are astir. Polite without perfumery, graceful without a rattan ; meditative, without stimulat- ing cups, narcotic juices or voluptuous fumes.
Without particular and judicious treatment, however, this can- not be. Such a result will no more follow from the fact that a child lives on to the estate of manhood, than it follows that the crab-apple will gradually bear better and better fruit, till the most
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HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.
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luscious sorts shall drop from its outspreading branches, because the shower and the sunlight continue to moisten and warm the soil and atmosphere in which it grows.
Let us also, while this physical training is going on, look care- fully and philosophically into its mental constitution, determine precisely what intellectual faculties he possesses, and then set every one of these faculties to work, that we may thereby give each and all their utmost development. With a chart of the human mind spread out before us, we shall at once see the work we have under- taken to accomplish. We are to draw out, expand, strengthen and mature, and set in harmonious action every one of the prescribed possibilities of thought. It is easy enough when we have fixed upon mental growth as the first object of scholastic discipline to select from the boundless field of human knowledge those studies, which, while they are best adapted so promote this growth, will also furnish the mind with the most important truths. This second- ary object can be best attained, in fact, by pursuing a perfectly philosophical and universal method, for truth is the food of thought, and those sciences which are best adapted to develop the several faculties of the mind, will be found to be precisely those of the highest future value to the man. When that man goes out from his scholastic life, he will not be as graduates in general now are, the imbecile possessor of theoretic knowledge, but a being of varied powers. The word power exactly expresses the nature of his be- ing. Every one of his capacities has become a power. You need not ask him what he knows. Ask him what he can do. In his ability to do consists his superiority over those who only know. They, in the abundance of their lore can tell you all the laws of reason; because they have been memorizing the elementary prin- ciples of logic. He can reason, because the full expansion of this element of his being has been the direct object of his exertions. They can recite by the hour what has been written concerning the arts, based on imagination, particularly the works of great masters. He, through these works, has been cultivating his own imagina- tion. They (it is possible) can tell the names and detail the faults and graces of the great authors of antiquity. He can both write and speak. They are men of information. He of power, securing to himself that wholeness and evenness of mind without which no one can be truly great. This degree of perfection must be reached by exertions to develop a capacity, not to furnish it.
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OUR LIFE.
"Upon the summit of a hill, whose sides sloped either way, A toil-worn traveler musing stood, upon a summer day, Behind him lay the path of life, his weary feet had sped; Before, the dim declining way that to the future led.
And on his ear there rose a song of mingled wail and mirth, From memory's wonder-waking harp, the music of the earth, And sights and sounds and dreaming things that evening shad- ows bring,
Up to the windows of the heart like birds upon the wing.
A vision of his childhood's home, a group in alder grove, A mother's, brother's, sister's voice, the first young dream of love.
The fair bride blushing in his arms, the infant on her breast, And, ah, the green mounds by the way, where we laid then down to rest.
And much he mused on perils past, of toils and hopes and fears, Like April skies all mingled up with sunshine, shades and tears. And golden wealth so widely sought, and honors bright and brief,
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