USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 43
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The Mississippi river was as far west as our maps of the United States went; but on the map of North America the immense void between this river and the Pacific coast was filled up with large spaces lettered unexplored; and on its extreme western verge was a stiff range of mountains, studding the Pacific coast like the bold headlands of a river. Here the majestic forces of nature crowned the mountain tops with everlasting snow, and warmed the valleys with perennial spring. Here were tenantless deserts and basins below tide water, having no connection with the sea-so our geog- raphies said. Whatever else was there was left to con- jecture, and our timid imaginations would paint the sublimest grandeurs of savage life, basking in the assur-
499
Western Mysteries.
ance of a perpetual lease among their mysterious and impregnable fastnesses.
Our fathers, from whose fanciful imagery the wire edge had been taken off by the adaptation of ways and means to ends, looked more practically upon the mat- ter, and saw a glorious future spectacle opening before the world in the development of this exhaustless region of supply, though now beyond the limits of civilization. They beheld the vast chain of lakes on the map ex- tending into the interior of a continent almost to the dividing ridge of the Mississippi Valley, with an eye to the useful. Here unmeasured plains must be upturned by the plow, farm houses erected, churches, school houses and highways must be built, cities laid out, and all the ornamentation which belongs to them must be introduced. Where was to be the central metropolis of these productions of man's handiwork in the great plateau of North America-the high and salubrious ยท plain from whence the Mississippi found its sources, where the great inland seas secreted their waters, like reservoirs, for the use of a nation? The solution of this was yet a sealed book whose secrets were to be re- vealed in their own fortuitous way. Little by little the question has been answered as the progress of private and public enterprise has unveiled the destiny of Chi- cago.
The first settlers along the alluvial intervals of the rivers in Ohio and Indiana, especially in the wooded districts, had a sorry experience for the first few years; not for want of supplies wherewith to subsist, for these were easily obtained from the forest, but the fever and ague were ever present during the malarial months of spring and fall, and few escaped it sooner or later. It was not generally known then that the Illinois prairies were almost exempt from this scourge, and even if it had been their great distance into the wilds was an ob- jection to emigrants who journeyed westward in their own wagons.
At the close of the war of 1812 James Galloway, a native of Pennsylvania, emigrated to Erie county, Ohio, in this way, where he lived till 1824. He then
500
Adventures of James Galloway.
resolved to try his fortune on the Illinois prairies at or near Chicago, where the ague was less prevalent than at his home in Ohio. With this end in view he ob- tained a wagon with much exertion, and secured the services of a Mr. Slater, an experienced trapper, to ac- company him to his new destination. On the Ist of September, his outfit, consisting of a gun, an Indian tomahawk, ammunition, steel traps, blankets and a sack of corn meal, was ready, and the two started with a horse and wagon, westward into the wilds. Besides shooting the necessary game on which to live as they traveled day after day, they set their traps near their encampment each night, and thus obtained a stock of furs which increased daily, till their arrival at Fort Wayne. Here they disposed of them and resumed their journey through the forests, following military roads or Indian trails to St. Joseph, which was the next point to be reached. Thence they followed the old Indian trail which had for many years been a well . known route from Detroit westward around the south- ern extremity of Lake Michigan, thence branching off in various directions to important points in Indian estima- tion, such as Chicago, Rock Island and the Illinois river at Starved Rock. Mr. Galloway and his compan- ion took the Chicago trail. It led principally along the sands of the lake, and brought them directly to the spot by a better road than the average path through the wilderness. Here Mr. Galloway made the acquaint- ance of Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson, two notable Indian chiets, often mentioned in preceding pages, and a Scotchman named Wallace, all of whom showed him many favors, and subsequently were of essential service to him. Besides these, Mr. Galloway mentions Mr. John Kinzie, Dr. Woolcott and Ouil- mette, as permanent residents, and several others who were only transient visitors at the place. Such was Chicago, late in the autumn of 1824,
After sufficient rest, Mr. Galloway with his compan- ion started into the interior, and arriving at the present locality of Marsailles they found a squatter named Weed. Of him Mr. Galloway bought his title, which
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Adventures of James Galloway.
was nothing more than a moral claim to twenty acres of land of which he had taken possession and improved with a log cabin. Here he wintered and made prepara- tions for a home. The following spring he returned to his family in Ohio by way of the lakes, and suddenly surprised them by his appearance in their midst with- out warning, as no means were then at hand to com- municate from one distant point to another, and they had received no tidings from him since he had left home the previous fall. His adventures were soon told, and his plans laid to emigrate to Illinois. The next year everything was made ready, and he, with his family, embarked from Sandusky, in October. Their vessel landed at Detroit, where, after making a week's stop, it sailed for Mackinaw. Here the captain fell among some boon companions, and wasted a week's fine weather in dissipation, although the season of au- tumnal storms was near at hand. About the middle of October the final start was made for Chicago during a severe storm. The vessel rode the waves successfully till rounding the island of St. Helena she struck a rock and sank on the beach within three or four rods of the shore. Fortunately all the passengers reached the land, but through a drenching rain, and here they re- mained two days without shelter, amidst the tamarack swamps of the wild place, living on such provisions as could be saved from the stranded vessel in the confus-
ion of the hour. Mr. Galloway had on board 150 bar-
rels of flour, ninety barrels of salt and fifteen barrels of pork. The salt was entirely lost, but the flour and pork were unloaded in order to repair the vessel. The repairs were made by two ship carpenters who fortu- nately happened to be on board as passengers. This
done, the merchandise was reloaded, except what was lost, and the vessel again put to sea, bound for the port from whence she had last started, Mackinaw, which they reached after two days' sail by dint of hard pump- ing to keep the disabled vessel afloat. Here the
American Fur Co. had a vessel commanded by Capt. Ransom, about to sail for Chicago, on her annual trip. Mr. Galloway's griefs did not end here, for he was ob-
502
Adventures of James Galloway.
liged to submit to extortionate terms in order to secure a passage for his freight and family. Besides paying $60, it was stipulated that on arriving at Chicago the most valuable portion of the freight should be placed in the hands of the American Fur Co., where it should remain till the roth of the following May .* On arriv- ing at Chicago, however, Mr. Galloway, through the assistance of the passengers, managed to get the flour and pork, one spinning wheel, and one loom into his possession, the fur company retaining one barrel of cherry bounce, one barrel peach brandy, one barrel of vinegar, perhaps on the ground that they could appre- ciate the use of these articles better than a private family.
There were then no temperance societies to bring consolation to Mr. Galloway for the loss of this ques- tionable merchandise, all of which he had made him- self, pure and tasteful. This, however, was no time to despond; provision for the winter must be made imme- diately, and under very adverse circumstances. His quarrel with the American Fur Co. had made it impos- sible for him to get quarters in Chicago where their influence was potent, and but for the kindness of Alex- ander Robinson, he might have been obliged to camp out all winter. He owned a vacant house at Hard Scrabble (Lee's place), and offered it to him rent free, which proposal Mr. Galloway accepted, and at once occupied the place with his family for the winter.
Joseph Laframboise, Mr. Wallace, a Mr. Weicks, and an Indian trader (well known to some old settlers of Chicago still living in 1881), named Barney Lawton, were at the time living at Lee's place, and were near neighbors to Mr. Galloway. Now the tide began to turn with him; Mary, his oldest daughter, was a comely miss of fourteen years, and began to receive invitations to dances and other social gatherings at Chicago; and though the prudential mother declined these overtures, she often entertained Chicago society at her house, and frequently on these occasions, were brought back to her
* The reasons for this unusual demand were not stated by my inform- ant.
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Adventures of James Galloway. 503
bottles of the delectable, drawn from the malmsey butt which the fur company had retained unjustly, as Mr. Gal- loway claimed; and in this way these free wines were shared partially by the original owners, not as a measure of justice, but with that air of profusion which often ac- companies dissipation in its early fascination, ere its excesses have crossed the Rubicon between decorum and degradation. When this line of demarkation was left to the censorship of public opinion only, its re- staints were stronger, and more salutary than when the temperance issue is complicated with politics to lacquer over private schemes with a shallow disguise of public good, as is sometimes the case now, particularly in large cities. But Chicago at this time was only a trad- ing post, and was subject to little or no restraint except what grew out of a natural discrimination between jus- tice and injustice; and though it was made up with sav- age life and the active spirits of civilized life, that brimmed over its confines; yet no acts of violence were committed, and in the main the ends of justice were answered and the people averaged as temperate then as now.
The fur trade was the great interest of the place, and it would have been premature at that time to have at- tempted the introduction of any other, farther than to supply the limited wants of the place. Ouilmette kept a flock of sheep by dint of much care to protect them from the ravages of the wolves. The flesh of these animals found a ready market for home consumption, but the wool was a drug, and Mr. Galloway purchased what he wanted of it for twenty-five cents per pound. This the industrious Mary carded, spun and knit into stockings, which she sold readily at from seventy-five cents to $I per pair, according to the length. This young Miss is now, 1880, Mrs. Archibald Clybourn, residing on Elston avenue, Chicago; and to her is the writer indebted for the preceding facts relating to her father. In the spring following their residence at Lee's place, 1827, her father, Mr. Galloway, moved with his family to the home he had purchased the year before. His transportation to the place was effected by means
504 . Archibald Clybourn Arrives at Chicago.
of a large boat fashioned on the dug-out plan, which he made himself from a black walnut tree, on the banks of the Chicago river. Taking advantage of the usual spring freshets, he navigated this vessel, freighted with his family and all his valuables, through Mud lake and down the Desplaines and Illinois rivers, to his home. The place was then called the Grand rapids of the Illinois. Here Mr. and Mrs. Galloway spent the re- mainder of their days, highly esteemed by all who knew them. Mrs. Galloway died in 1830, and Mr. Galloway survived till 1864, when he died, and many of the present inhabitants of Chicago will doubtless re- member reading the becoming obituary notices which the Chicago papers gave of him at the time.
In a former chapter, the adventures of Margaret and Elizabeth Mckenzie were related, and it will be remembered that Elizabeth, after having been raised from her childhood among the Shawanese, married a Mr. Clark, a trader near Detroit, by whom she had two children, John K. and Elizabeth Clark; and her father getting news from her and his older child, Margaret, sought and found them, and both of the captives left their husbands, and with their children returned with their father to Virginia, their old home. Soon after their return, Elizabeth married a Mr. Jonas Clybourn, and Mr. Archibald Clybourn, so well known as one of the esteemed early citizens of Chicago, was the oldest son of this union. Brimful of the spirit of adventure, nurtured into activity by the associations of frontier life, he made his appearance in the little town of Chi- cago on horseback, late in the summer of 1823. Alight- ing at the house of John Kinzie, he presented his diploma. This consisted of his elastic step, his honest countenance and his wiry form, hardened into ready service by his training. He had made the long jour- ney on horseback armed with a rifle, with which to pro- cure food on the way, and equipped with a blanket for a bed at night. His story was soon told to Mr. Kinzie: he was the son of Elizabeth, who was sister of Mar- garet. This reached a sensitive spot in Mr. Kinzie's heart, and he employed him at once as a clerk in his
.
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Clybourn's Parents Come to Chicago.
store, which he then kept on the north bank of the river.
After remaining in his service a year, young Archi- bald went back to Virginia for the purpose of bringing his father and mother to Chicago, as he had deter- mined to make the place his permanent home, and wished to settle his parents close by him, where he could cherish and protect them in their declining years. In accordance with this filial resolution, they, with him- self, came to Chicago the next year, arriving on the 23d of August, 1824. They made the journey in a lumber wagon, John K. Clark, the oldest son of Eliza- beth (Mrs. Clybourn), by her first husband, accom- panying them, to assist in attending to the wants of the parents on the way .* On arriving at Chicago, Mrs. Clybourn readily recognized the place as a familiar spot, where the Indian father who had adopted her had taken her with his family in his erratic wanderings dur- ing her captivity. Several times had he been here to trade with Shaw-ne-au-kee (John Kinzie), and pay his respects to his brethren, the Pottawattamies, and Mrs. Clybourn felt all the more at home at the place for this reminiscence.
On Mr. Clybourn's arrival at the place he took pos- session of a parcel of land, now known as Sheffield Addition to Chicago, where he built a log house and made preparations for farming. Nearly the entire north half of the state of Illinois was then in its wild state, while the southern half was well settled, and Chi- cago was dependent on it for various supplies, of which beef was the one most wanted. To supply this de- mand, young Archibald, after having comfortably set- tled his parents, went into the business of butchering, and was obliged to go as far south as Sangamon county to buy his cattle. This long trip brought him past the home of Mr. Galloway, on the Illinois river, which was a kind of half way station between Chicago and the settled portions of Illinois. Here amidst the dreary
* John K. Clark had been to Chicago four or five years previously, and it was owing to his commendations of the place that young Archibald and others came, as told in a preceding chapter.
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Reminiscences of Mrs. Clybourn.
wastes of the broad prairie, relieved only by narrow fringes of woodland along the streams, Mr. Galloway's solitary home welcomed the occasional travelers who passed that way. This home was enlivened by the youthful Mary, and when young Archibald, quartered on the hospitalities of the venerable father, and talked over their forest. adventures together, other thoughts came to his mind, and other emotions to his heart, that eclipsed even the social affinities of backwoodsmen.
In the summer of 1829, a stylish carrage drawn by two mettlesome steeds arrived at Chicago from over the southern prairies. In it were Mary and Archibald. She was Mrs. Clybourn now. In 1835 they built a fine brick house on their farm, which was then a model to be admired by every one who saw it, and at this time, 1879, is still a respectable, as well as commodious house, bearing the appearance of an ancient landmark of the prairies. Such it was for many years after it was first built, the whole country to the westward being an open prairie of such exceeding fertility that the grass in many places was tall enough to hide a horse and his rider. At the time of Mr. Clybourn's marriage, 1829, Chicago consisted of the several white families and persons already mentioned, and a few other emigrants, whose names are not remembered by those to whom the writer is indebted for the details of that early day. Besides these and the garrison were perhaps a dozen families of half breeds living in huts, who were more like Indians than white people, and many of them cast their lot with the former when they were moved westward in 1835-36; some of them were above par in those refined virtues which bring love and peace to the domestic circle; of these, several young girls have been mentioned to the writer who married respectable white men, and whose descendants are now among our esteemed citizens.
In 1821 Chicago and its environs were surveyed in government sections .* In 1829 Chicago was surveyed and platted into village lots, and a map of it engraved and published the next year, This was done, not by
* See copy Government Survey at Handy & Co.'s, Chicago.
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Chicago Surveyed and Platted.
private enterprise, the usual method of laying out towns, but by state authority, for the purpose of selling lots and applying the proceeds to the construction of the canal, which was to connect the lakes with the Mis- sissippi river. This scheme had long been thought of, and the expectation of its ultimate fulfillment had drawn thither a little nucleus to a future metropolis. On the 14th of February, 1823, the legislature of Illinois, then holding its sessions at Vandalia, passed an act constituting and appointing a board of canal commissioners to make preliminary surveys. The next year, 1824, five different routes were partially surveyed, and estimates made of the cost of constructing the canal. Col. R. Paul, an engineer of St. Louis, was one of the board. Their highest estimate was only $716, 110.60. Nothing more was done till January 18, 1825, when the Illinois legislature passed an act incorporating the Illinois and Michigan canal, with a capital of $1,000,000. The stock was not taken, and all hope of building the canal by the state vanished. Those interested in the completion of this work, with- out which Chicago would be a forlorn hope, next looked to congress for aid; and two years later, in 1827, on the 2d of March, through the influence of Hon. Daniel P. Cook, it came. Every alternate section of public land in a belt twelve miles wide, through the center of which the canal was to pass, was donated to the state of Illinois by the general government, to aid in its con- struction.
Unfortunately the state was then under too heavy a load of debt to avail itself of this generous endowment to build the canal, and its commencement was destined to be again postponed.
Even at this date, 1827, Chicago was by no means exempt from Indian alarms, of which the "Winne- bago Scare" was no inconsiderable one, and is worthy of notice, more as a record of the times than as an item of history as to the event itself. It has been well told by Gurdon S. Hubbard and Mr. H. Cunningham, a citizen of Edgar county, beginning with the relation of Mr. Hubbard, as follows:
508
Account of the Winnebago Scare.
" At the breaking out of the Winnebago war, early in July, 1827, Fort Dearborn was without military occu- pation. *
"Doctor Alexander Wolcott, Indian agent, had charge of the fort, living in the brick building just within the north stockade previously occupied by the commanding officers.
"The old officers' quarters built of logs, on the west and within the pickets, were occupied by Russell E. Heacock, and one other American family, while a num- ber of voyageurs, with their families, were living in the soldiers' quarters, on the east side of the inclosure. The storehouse and guard house were on either side of the southern gate; the sutler's store was east of the north gate, and north of the soldiers' barracks; the block house was located at the southwest and the bas- tion at the northwest corners of the fort, and the maga- zine, of brick, was situated about half way between the west end of the guard and block houses.
"The annual payment of the Pottawattamie Indians occurred in September of the year 1828. A large body of them had assembled, according to custom, to receive their annuity. These left after the payment for their respective villages, except a portion of Big Foot's band.
"The night following the payment there was a dance in the soldiers' barracks, during the progress of which a violent storm of wind and rain arose; and about mid-
* Says Wm. Hickling, as to the cause of this war:
"Should any one be curious enough to inquire into the causes which led to, and brought about, this so called 'Winnebago War,' let him con- sult 'Reynolds' Life and Times,' and also an interesting article on the subject furnished the Jacksonville (Ill.) Journal, August 17, 1871, by the Hon. Wm. Thomas, of that city, and which article was also reproduced in one of our city papers a few months since, under the head of 'Fifty Years Ago.'
" This speck of war with a portion of our aborginal inhabitants on the then western frontier was caused, like too many others of a similar character, which for more than two centuries past have from time to time been the cause which has deluged our frontier settlements in blood, by the wanton brutality, outrage and total disregard of decency and right, perpetrated by a few semi-civilized, drunken white men upon a portion of the band of Winnebagoes, then encamped near Prairie du Chien, whose motto at that time seemed to be, as is too often the case nowadays, viz .: 'That the poor Indians have no rights which a white man is bound to respect.'"
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Account of the Winnebago Scare.
night, these quarters were struck by lightning and totally consumed, together with the storehouse and a portion of the guard house.
"The sleeping inmates of Mr. Kinzie's house, on the opposite bank of the river, were aroused by the cry of ' fire!' from Mrs. Helm, one of their number, who from her window had seen the flames. On hearing the alarm, I, with Robert Kinzie, late paymaster of the United States army, hastily arose, and, only partially dressed, ran to the river. To our dismay, we found the canoe, which was used for crossing the river, filled with water; it had been partially drawn up on the beach and became filled by the dashing of the waves. Not being able to turn it over, and having nothing with which to bail it out, we lost no time, but swam the stream. En- tering by the north gate, we saw at a glance the situa- tion. The barracks and storehouse being wrapped in flames, we directed our energies to the saving of the guard house, the east end of which was on fire. Mr. Kinzie, rolling himself in a wet blanket, got upon the roof. The men and women, about forty in number, formed a line to the river, and with buckets, tubs and every available utensil, passed the water to him; this was kept up till daylight before the flames were sub- dued, Mr. Kinzie maintaining his dangerous position with great fortitude, though his hands, face and por- tions of his body were severely burned. His father, mother and sister, Mrs. Helm, had meanwhile freed the canoe from water, and, crossing in it, fell into line with those carrying water.
"Some of the Big Foot band of Indians were present at the fire, but merely as spectators, and could not be prevailed upon to assist; they all left the next day for their homes. The strangeness of their behavior was the subject of discussion among us.
" Six or eight days after this event, while at breakfast in Mr. Kinzie's house, we heard singing, faintly at first, was gradually growing louder as the singers ap- proached. Mr. Kinzie recognized the leading voice as that of Bob Forsyth, and left the table for the piazza of the house, where we all followed. About where
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