Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 28

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126

USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2 > Part 28

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EVOLUTION OF COUNTY ORGANIZATION.

PREHISTORIC INHABITANTS OF THE ILLINOIS COUN- TRY-REGION COVETED BY SPAIN, FRANCE AND ENGLAND THE DE SOTO DISCOVERY OF THE MIS- SISSIPPI THE BASIS OF THE SPANISH CLAIM- ITS DESTINY DETERMINED ON EUROPEAN BATTLE- FIELDS, ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM AND BY THE GEORGE ROGERS CLARK CONQUEST-KASKASKI.A. CAHOKIA AND PRAIRIE DU ROCHER THE CENTER OF FRENCH COLONIZATION-COUNTY OF ILLINOIS CREATED BY ACT OF VIRGINIA IN 17TS -- THE NORTHWEST 1FRRITORY ORGANIZED BY ORDI- NANCE OF 1787-SUBSEQUENT GEOGRAPITICAL CHANGES -- ILLINOIS ADMITTED AS A STATE IN 1518-NORTHERN BOUNDARY QUESTION-WON- DERIFUL FORESIGIIT SHOWN BY DLIEGATE N.1- THIANIEL POPE-THE MILITARY TRACT-COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS - SCHUYLER COUNTY SUCCES- SIVELY PARTS OF PIKE AND FULTON COUNTIES- THE COUNTY CREATED BY ACT OF THE LEGISLA- TURE JANUARY 13, 1825-ITS BOUNDARIES AND AREA-BROWN COUNTY DETACHED IN 1839 --- MC DONOUGH COUNTY CREATED BY ACT OF 1826. BUT REMAINS UNDER JURISDICTION OF SCHUY- LER COUNTY UNTIL 1830.

From the standpoint of the archavlogist, IIli- nois has a history that extends far back into the dim unknown past, when, even before the com- ing of the Indians, the hills and valleys were peopled by a race that left enduring monuments of their occupancy. The savage, who, for gen- erations, had occupied the country before the coming of the first explorers, had noted the curi- ous evidences of an earlier race, but their iguo- rance of any history or tradition of the strange antiquities only adds to the mysticism .that sur- rounds them.

By reason of its accessibility by the great water courses of the inland lakes and the mighty rivers that form its southern and western boun- daries, Illinois was destined to play an important part in the history of the nations; and, even while the east Atlantic States were but sparsely settled, it was looked upon with covetous eses by the rulers of empires in Europe. With rare

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

foresight they realized the vast importance of Illinois as the key to military possession of the new and as yet unexplored county ; and with the ever-changing fortunes of war, as played upon the battlefields of the old world, there were corresponding epochs in the history of Illinois. To get a clear understanding of the history of Schuyler County and its evolution from the ear- liest time, it is eminently important that we should know of these historie events in their natural sequence.

Illinois was first claimed by Spain, by reason of discovery by Ferdinand DeSoto, in 1541, who laid claim to all the country drained by the great Father of Waters, Spain, however, made no attempt to explore the vast territory and the written history of Illinois begins in 1673 when Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette paddled up the Illinois and Des Plaines Rivers, and made the portage at Chicago. To them fell the honor of adding this princely domain to the mother country under the name "New France." It was not. however, until April 9, 1682. that La Salle, with due form and ceremony, unfurled the fag of France on the east bank of the lower Missis- sippi, and took possession of the country in the name of his royal master. Louis XIV. Kaskas- kin, Cahokia and Prairie du Rocher later became the centers of French colonization, and for a period of ninety-two years, beginning with the coming of Joliet and Marquette, Illinois was a loyal subject of the crown.

The ancient struggle for supremacy between France and England subjected Illinois to the fickle fortunes of war. and when on the thir- teenth of September. 1759, Wolfe won his vie- tory on the Plains of Abraham, the country, of which Illinois of the future would be a part. passed from under French to English dominion. Six years elapsed before England came into un- disputed possession of Illinois, and from the bat- tlement of old Fort Chartres peacefully lowered the flag of France, which, for more than a cen- tury, had been the emblem of her sovereignty.

British dominion in the Mississippi valley was destined to be short lived. At the time the Brit- ish took possession the spirit of unrest was upon the colonies east of the Alleghanies. and events were shaping that were once more to change the map of the new world. In the midst of the Roy- olutionary War, which began in 1776. Gen. George Rogers Clark, of Kentucky, planned an invasion of Illinois, and his conquest of Kaskaskia, on

July 4, 1778, and subsequent capture of Fort Vincennes, is one of the brightest chapters in the whole of American history, and eventually re- sulted in shaping the destiny of the new nation.

The conquest of the Illinois country in 1758 by George Rogers Clark was the beginning of the American occupation, but it was not until 1757 that, by congressional action, it came under the control of the General Government of the United States. Gen. Clark took possession of the coun- try under authority of the Governor of Virginia, and the period immediately following is known as the "Virginia Occupation."

In his memoirs Clark says: "I inquired par- ticularly into the manner the people had been governed formerly, and much to my satisfaction I found that it had been generally as severe as under the militia law. I was determined to make an advantage of it, and took every step in my power to cause the people to feel the bless- ings of an American citizen, which I soon dis- covered enabled me to support, from their own choice, almost a supreme authority over them."

The Assembly of Virginia passed in October, ITIS, an act to establish a civil and military gov- ernment in the territory, which was christened the County of Illinois, and a County Lieutenant and other minor officials were appointed, Col. John Todd, of Kentucky, was appointed Conty Lieutenant by Governor Patrick Henry, and he reached Kaskaskia in May, 1770, and under his direction courts were established and a regular system of government inaugurated.

The transfer of sovereignty was made to the United States on the part of Virginia in 17 1. but it was not until March 1, 1784, that the ofli- cial cession was completed. In the meantime the County of Illinois had no positive form of government. and delegations were sent to Vir- ginia and to the Congress of the United States asking the establishment of a proper government. Settlers were crowding into the new country and. with no system of government or land titles, great confusion prevailed and extensive frauds in land grants were perpetrated that were later ratified and made good by the General Govern- ment. In time each village had a separate sys- tem of government of its own, which regulated local affairs as a matter of protection to its eit- izens, but without being subject to any higher authority.

The next epoch in the history of Illinois was the adoption of the Ordinance of ITST, which

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forever dedicated the State to freedom and gave to Illinois the proud prestige which removed it from the influence of Southern domination, and, in the prophetie words of Nathaniel Pope, who made the appeal for an extension of the northern boundary, became "the keystone of the arch of perpetual union."

By the passage of the Ordinance of 1787 the Northwest Territory was formed. and President Washington appointed General Arthur St. Clair its first Governor. In the spring of 1790 the county of St. Clair was formed and the first courts were held at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. In 1800 the Northwest Territory was divided, the portion lying cast of a line extending north from a point on the Ohio River opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River to the Canada line constituting the Territory of Ohio, while the region west of that line and embracing the bulk of the present states of Indiana. Illinois, Michigan and Wiscon- sin, was organized as Indiana Territory. Febru- ary 3, 1809, Congress created a territory out of all the country lying "west of the Wabash River and a direct line drawn from the said Wabash River and Post Vincennes, due north to the ter- ritorial line between the United States and Can- ada," to be known as Ilinois Territory. This included the present State of Wisconsin and a small portion of Eastern Minnesota, and Ninian Edwards was appointed the first governor of the new Territory. On April 7. 1818. a bill was introduced in Congress enabling the people of a portion of the Territory to organize the State of Illinois. As presented the bill designated the northern boundary of the State to be "an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan, west along the north parallel of 41 degrees 39 minutes to the center of the Mississippi River." Nathaniel Pope was then the Delegate from Ilinois in Congress and through his efforts the northern boundary was extended to 42 degrees and 30 minutes, and thuis the territory now embracing fourteen coun- ties in the northern part of Illinois, including the present city of Chicago, was added to the new State. Wisconsin made repeated protests against this action, and it was not until that territory was admitted as a State in 1848, that the northern boundary line of Illinois was thus finally confirmed and forever settled. ( See "Northern Boundary Question," pp. 101-102. of this work.)

THE MILITARY TRACT .- Previous to the admnis-

sion of Illinois as a state, Congress on May 6, 1812, set apart a section of her territory as bounty land for the soldiers of the War of 1812, and it became known as the Military Tract. This tract lay between the Mississippi and Ili- nois Rivers and extended as far north as the present northern boundary of Mercer County. It contained 5.360,000 acres of what is now the finest agricultural country in the I'nited States, and from its territory the following counties have been formed : Calhoun, Pike, Adams, Brown, Schuyler, Hancock, MeDonough, Fulton, Peoria, Stark. Knox. Warren, Henderson and Mercer, with parts of Henry, Bureau. Putuam and Marshall.

The first act passed in 1812 granted 160 acres to each soldier, and a subsequent grant extended the quantity to a half-section. The land thus appropriated was divided by lot among the sol- diers and the patents issued to them accordingly. Millions of acres of the finest land in Illinois were disposed of in this way. The soldiers did nothing with the land, most of them selling their titles for a tritle to speculators residing in East- ern States, while the land remained unoccupied year after year. After the organization of the State government in 1818, the State began to sell these lands for taxes and, for a considerable period, the principal revenue of the State was derived from this source. The greater portion of these lands thus went into the possession of parties who held them under these tax-titles. The grantees of the soldiers, who were the orig- inal patentees, brought suits of ejectment for their lands. A strong. but unsuccessful effort was made to sustain the tax-titles, but the prin- eipal reliance of the settlers was not so much upon the tax-titles as upon certain limitation laws of the State. The growth of this section of Illinois was greatly retarded by the contest over land titles. Many of the settlers purchased quit-claim deeds for $1.25 an acre. while thou- sands of others purchased lands, which now sell for from $100 to $150 an acre, for fifty cents per acre, and risked the security of their titles. Emigration was rapid to the Military Tract in the early 'twenties and soon afterwards several counties were organized therein,

COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS,-Pike County was the first to be organized in the Military Tract. It was set apart from Madison County In 1821, and at that time embraced the whole of the country

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north and west of the Illinois River, including what are now the Counties of Cook and Will.

By the act of the Legislature, approved Janu- ary 25, 1823, Fulton County was organized out of that portion of Pike County lying east of the Fourth Principal Meridian, and south of the township line between Townships 9 and 10 North, and extending east to the Illinois River on township line between 5 and 6 East. This included two townships in the southwest corner of Peoria County, the southern rier of townships in Knox County and the townships of Frederick, Browning and Hickory in the eastern part of Schyler County. For the next two years Ful- ton County had jurisdiction for govermental purposes, as Pike County previously had, over the region east of the Fourth P. M. and north of the Illinois and Kankakee Rivers to the Indiana State line.

SCHUYLER COUNTY ORGANIZED .-- By an act ap- proved January 10, 1825, the County of Calhoun was created with its present limits, from the southern portion of Pike County, and three days later (January 13. 1825) mi "omnibus bill," authorizing the organization of eight new coun- ties from the northern portion of Pike County became a law. These included the present coun- ties of Schuyler. Adams, Hancock, Warren, Mer- cer. Henry, Putnam and Knox, and were all embraced wholly within the Military Tract ex- cept Heury and Putnam Counties, which in part consisted of Military Tract territory.

The portion of the act creating Schuyler County designated the boundaries of the new county as follows :

"Beginning at the place where the township line between two and three south touches the Illinois River, thence west on said line to the range line between ranges four and five .west : thence north on said range line to the northwest corner of township three north. range four west; thence east on said township line to the merid- ian : thence down the meridian line to the south- east corner of township three north. range one west : thence east on said township line to the Illinois River. thence down the said river to the place of beginning."

The county was named in honor of Geu. Philip Schuyler,' who was a soldier of the Revolution. also served as a member of Congress from New York during a part of the war period, and was later a United States Senator from the same state.

As originally organized Schuyler County was thirty miles north and south by thirty-six east and west. including all of Brown County. In 1839 Brown County was set off and Crooked Creek was made the boundary line from the Illi- nois River to the northeast corner of Township One North, Range Two West, where the dividing line between the two counties ran west on the township line. thus leaving the county, as at present. six townships east and west and three and a fraction north and south.

By an act approved January 25, 1\26, the County of MeDonough was created with its pres- sent dimensions out of portions of Pike and Ful- ton Counties, although it was not formally or- ganized until 1830, in the meantime being at- tached to Schuyler County for governmental pur- poses.

CHAPTER IV.

PHYSICAL FEATURES-TOPOGRAPHY.

NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GENERAL LAND SURFACE-GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION AND TOPOG- RAPHY-AREA AND ELEVATION-EXTENT OF TII.L- ABLE AND UNTILLABLE LAND THE ALLUVIAN BOTTOM LANDS-RICH SILT DEPOSITS MADE BY ISLAND STREAM-NATURAL BEAUTY AND FERTIL- ITY OF THE SOIL-INLAND LAKES AND MARSHES -RECLAIMING THE PRAIRIES-WATER COURSES- HISTORY OF CROOKED CREEK-CLIMATIC CONDI- TIONS-RAINFAI.I ..

In considering the physical features and char- arteristies of Selmyler County, we realize that Nature is most in earnest when least dramatic, and. that hore, where there is no indication of her terrible power, she has stored up wonderful and varied resources amid the homely, yet not montonous, landscape. Man was anticipated and amply provided for within her bounds, and a fair survey of her physical features discloses a richness of soil and mineral deposits that is well calculated to sustain a prosperous people.

Geographically located midway of the State, north and south. and almost wholly to the west

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

of the Fourth Principal Meridian, which inter- and for several decades was deemed utterly sects the base line at her southern extremity, worthless. There came a time. however, when all the uplands were occupied and it was then that the swamps were reclaimed and drained, and now in many cases are the most fertile and productive lands in all the country, the topography and climate of Schuyler County are typical of the State. The county occupies a space of 430 square miles, and is bounded on the south and west by the counties of Brown, Adams and Hancock; on the north by MeDonough and Fulton and along its southern and eastern boun- dary it is washed for twenty-five miles by the Illinois River. Its high, level prairies have an elevation of 720 feet above the sea-level and are more than 250 feet above the contiguous valley of the Illinois.

The 274.914 acres of tillable land included within the bounds of Schuyler County and broken tracts that are in wooded forests give an idea of the diversified physical features at a glance. Along the banks of the Illinois the alluvian hot- toms vary greatly in extent. In some places the rugged bluff's rise to a height of one hundred feet in gradual slope from the water's edge, while along the streams that drain the uplands, the flat bottom-land extends back for miles.

More than three hundred years ago, when the early French voyageurs, traversing the Illinois River in their adventurous journey of explora- tion and discovery, referred to the valley as the elysium of the native Indians, they had but caught a glimpse of the grandeur that lay be- yond. From the bluffs of the llinois the land surface of Schuyler County appears rough and broken, but to the northward there spreads out a vast expanse of prairie land, fertile, rich and well drained by the streams that flow southward to the river. Appreciation of the beauty and bounty of this land led to the early settlement of Schuyler, and made its development first among the counties in the Military Tract. Here the pioneer settlers found rich, fertile soil with an abundance of elear, sparkling water that Imb- bled up from the gravel beds of the streams or spouted out from the crevices of the rocky cliff on the steep. hillside, and close by were the heavily wooded forests that furnished the mate- rial for his cabin home, his furniture and his fences. Thus it was that all his frugal needs were amply supplied by nature, and it was to him the ideal "promised land."

Along the valley of the Illinois, and adjacent to the streams that flow into it, there lies a broad expanse of low land that, in carly times. was either a miry bog or a tangled forest. In the spring of the year it was covered with water,

A striking illustration of the action of the streams that flow into the Illinois River, in work- ing over the material along their courses, is to be found in many parts of the county. These now narrow streams, fringed along their entire course by heavily timbered banks, have ranged in the course of centuries from oue bluff to the other. obliterating old curves and forming new ones, but never moving in a straight line for a dozen rods. With every change of the flowing stream, the alluvial deposit has been worked over, time and again, and greatly added to as the rich black silt from the prairie uplands has been spread, as a deposit. when the water receded or the stream changed its course. This ever-adding of new rich loam has made the bottom lands won- derfully productive. and they still receive re- plenishing, though in a less degree, by the occa- sional spring foods that swell the narrow streams into mighty rivers.

Three large streams, with their many branches that spread out and ramify in every direction, drain the entire land surface of Schiuy- ler County to the Illinois River. These streams, as they wind tortuously between clay banks, have, through the long centuries, cut deep chan- nels from which the land slopes gradually, mak- ing large areas of broken country which is heav- ily wooded with valuable timber and unsuited for cultivation. In this broken country where the timber has been cleared, all kinds of grasses grow, making rich pasture land for the adjacent farms. Back from the wooded hill-tops the land becomes richer and better. and here we find a rich black loam, which is from twenty to thirty inches in thickness, and which is underlaid by clay, making an ideal soil for the staple agricul- tural crops for which Illinois is famed. Within the bounds of Schuyler County there are no vast unbroken prairies, but rather a continued succession of gentle sloping ridges. wide in ex- tent and easy of cultivation. This undulating surface approaches nearest to the prairie on the water-shed in the central part of the county be- tween Crooked and Sugar Creeks, and reaches northward into Mr.Donough County.

Compared with the flower bedecked and grass-

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

grown knolis in the timber lands, the open prai- rie presented a dreary contrast to the early set- tlers. Covered with tough prairie sod and over- grown with wild grasses that reached above a man's head, these rich and fertile lands were little better than impenetrable swamps. Shallow marshes and shallow Inkes were numerous, the latter often having neither inlet nor outlet, and varying in size from small ponds to acres in extent. It was for many years supposed that the grass-covered prairies were unsuited to agriculture, and it required the actual experi- ment to prove the utter fallacy of the generally accepted theory.

In a country where there is such a diversity of soil and land surface, it is interesting to trace the course of the streams which are primarily the controlling element in the make-up of the topography of the country. Crooked Creek, which enters the county on the north side of Bir- mingham Township and flows through Brooklyn and Camden Townships, and from there forms the southwest boundary of the county until it empties into the Illinois River, is rich in his- torical lore. It was first known as Le Mine River, and was so designated by the government surveyors in their field notes, but this name was changed by the early settlers to La Moine River. At that early day it was regarded as a navigable stream and well bore the dignity of being called a river. But by slow degrees the volume of water that flowed through its course was less- ened by the cultivation of the land and the di- verting of minor tributaries, and the settlers gave it the good old Anglo-Saxon name of Crooked Creek and, as such, it is known on the maps of Illinois today. It has its source in Hancock County and, in its devious course through Schuyler, traverses a distance of more than fifty miles.

Missouri Creek, the main tributary of Crooked Creek, enters the county on the west side of Huntsville Township and flows through Hunts- ville. Camden and a part of Brown County.

The eastern tributaries of Crooked Creek are Horney, Stony and Brushy Creeks, which rise in Littleton Township.

Crane Creek and Coal Creek have their source in Rushville Township, and flow by widely di- verging courses to the Illinois River, where they empty within three-quarters of a mile of each other.

Horney branch rises in Buena Vista Township

and empties into Crooked Creek in Woodstock Township.

Town Branch has its source in Rushville Township and empties into Crooked Creek.

Sugar Creek rises in Littleton Township, flows through Littleton and Oakland and the south- west part of Fulton County, then enters Schuy- ler again and flows through Browning and Fred- erick Townships to the Illinois River.

Dutchman Creek rises in Browning Township and empties into the Illinois River at the vil- lage of Browning.

Ilarris branch is a tributary of Sugar Creek, and has its source in Fulton County, thence tlow- ing through Browning Township.

CHAPTER V.

GEOLOGY AND FLORA.

GEOLOGICAL, REPORTS OF THE COUNTY COMPILED BY A. H, WORTHEN, STATE GEOLOGIST, IN 1558- GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS-MINERAL RESOURCES Or SCHUYLER COUNTY INCLUDE COAL AND ZINC -- TIIE LATTER NOT DEVELOPED-VALUABLE DE- POSITS OF STONE AND CLAY-LIST OF TREES, SHRUBS AND FLOWERS OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

Schuyler County, with its diversified land sur- faces, which include the alluvian bottoms and the high bluffs adjoining, with the outeropping of rocky ledges; the deep black soil of the prairie, which, in many places, is underlaid with a rich vein of coal; the more broken land areas, with their valuable clay deposits, offer a fruitful field for the study of the geological formations of the country.

We are dependent for our geological knowl- edge of Schuyler County largely upon the reports of A. II. Worthen, who, in 1858, gathered the material that forms the basis of the economical geology survey recorded in the Illinois Report published in 1570, which is now out of print. The researches made by Mr. Worthen were, in a manner. superficial and, while probably correct in a general sense, were not sufficiently extensive to give a complete record of the geological for-

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 28

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1126

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126