Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 53

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1 > Part 53

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The Springfield & Northwestern Railroad Com- pany was reorganized under the name of the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad, and the road is still being operated under the latter.

The Biuff Line, originally incorporated nuder the name of the St. Louis, Jerseyville & Spring- fieid Railroad, was built from Bates to Grafton in 1882, passed into hands of receivers in June, 1887, following which the St. Louis, Aiton & Springfield Company was organized with, au- thority to build extensions from Grafton to Ai- ton, and from Bates to Springfield. This was accomplished and new receivers appointed in' 1890, when a new company was organized under the name of the St. Louis, Chicago & St. Paul Rallroad, and operated under that name until 1898, when It was consolidated with the Chicago, Peoria & St. Lonls Railroad, under which name it is now being operated.

The St. Louis & Chicago Railroad, better known as the Wing Road, was completed between Litch- field and Springfield in December, 1SS6, but the line was not opened for business until January 27, 1887. on which date the first passenger traln entered Springfield in charge of Conductor Conk- iing, with Engineer John McDanieis. The open-

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

ing of this road was the culmination. of a long chain of legal entanglements which had caused numerous delays in completing the line.

The fact that the St. Louis & Chicago Rail- road was nothing but a local line between Litch- field and Springfield, a distance of 45 miles, gave little promise of success ; but its promoter, Mr. D. L. Wing, seemed to have great faith In its ultimate prosperity, as he believed that the time was opportune for the success of another line between Springfield and St. Louis, and to this end he labored faithfully trying to complete and perfect his scheme, but fate seemed to be against him, and he gave up the fight. The road soon passed into a receiver's hands, and subsequently it was turned over to the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad Company, by whom it was op- erated for several years. On account of finan- cial difficulties, It was later surrendered to the original stockholders and then turned over to the St. Louis & Eastern Railroad, which was then operating a line between St. Louis and Marine, and afterwards constructed a line between Marine and Litchfield. As soon as the Litchfield extension was completed, the company was re- organized under the name of the St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Railroad, which company im- mediately commenced the construction of a line between Springfield and Peoria, and as soon as the Peorla extension was completed, they op- erated through trains between Peoria and St. Louis. This gave Springfield another line to both Peorla and St. Lonis. The St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Rallroad seemed to prosper, and soon started its engineers on the surveying of a llne between Peorla and Chicago, and even went so far as to purchase extensive terminals in Chica- go, but before the construction of the Chicago extension was begun, the Illinois Central and the Chicago & Alton Railroad Companies effected a deal by which the St. Louis, Peoria & Northern passed into the hands of those two lines, the Illi- nois Central taking the road between Springfield and St. Louis and the Chicago & Alton that be- tween Springfield and Peoria. The most import- ant feature of this transaction was the opening of the Illinois Central's Chicago & St. Louis Division. By acquiring the southern portion of the St. Louis, Peoria & Northern, the Illinois Central was enabled to enter the St. Louis gate- way with their through trains from Chicago by way. of Springfield, Sangamon County thus ac- quiring another important through line.

In the year 1902 the Indianapolis, Decatur & Western Railroad, which is now a part of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, ex- tended its line from Decatur to Springfield, there- by establishing an important connection with the Chicago & Alton and giving Its freight and pas- senger business a direct western outlet. The first train on this line entered Springfield Angust 11, 1902, and Springfield again smiled aud ex- tended a hearty welcome to another importaut spoke in her great wheel of transportation.

Iu 1880 the Jacksonville & Southeastern Rail- road, now a part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, extended its line from Waverly to Litch- field, passing through the southwest corner of Saugamon County, covering a distance of nearly nine miles.

' In 1889 the Pawnee Rallroad was built from Pawnee to Auburn giving Pawnee a connection with the Illinols Central at Pawnee Junction, and with the Chicago & Alton at Auburn. This line has since been extended eastward to Taylor- ville, Christian County, there forming a junction with the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, and is now operated as a branch of the Chicago & Alton, under the name of the Chicago & Illinois Mid- land. Its entire length is 241% miles.

ELECTRIC LINES .- In 1904 the Mckinley Inter- urban System came knocking at Springfield's door and, after a cordial reception, it was dis- covered that another transportatlon line, with a promising future, had entered the capital of Illl- nois, and with its rapld and frequent service, which added to the great network of Illinois lines, gives Springfield the up-to-date appearance of a fast growing metropolis.

Following close on the heels of the Mckinley system, we find the Mississippi Valley Tractlou Company, with its line completed between Spring- field and Rochester, and above the great din of business, we can hear the loud cry of "On to Pawnee and Hillsboro," which we feel will be an assured fact in the near future.

Before bringing this article to a close, I wish to add that the Springfield & Jacksonville Trac- tlon Company is now employlng a force of men on the projected interurban line between Spring- field and Jacksonville, and we are promised that before the snow flies we may expect to see the opening of this line, which will add another Im- portant line to Springfield's large and happy family of rallroads and transportation lines.

In all there are elght lines of steam railroads

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

and will soon be three electric (or interurban) roads operating in Sangamou County territory.

CHAPTER XXIII.

AGRICULTURE-FARMING LANDS.

PRIMEVAL CONDITIONS IN SANOAMON COUNTY-FIRST FARMINO LANDS LIMITED TO THE TIMBER TRACTS -DELAY IN IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRAIRIE SOIL- PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS-DOMESTIC CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRIES-FIRST PRAIRIE PLOW-ITS FINAL SUCCESS AND SUBSEQUENT AORICULTURAL DEVEL- OPMENT-EARLY FARMINO IMPLEMENTS AND METHODS-CHANGE PRODUCED BY THE IMPROVE- MENT OF PRAIRIE LANDS-INTRODUCTION OF THE REAPING MACHINE-CONDITIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE CIVIL WAR-A PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT- IMPROVEMENT WROUGHT BY TILE-DRAINAOE-ERA OF SCIENTIFIC FARMINO AND A FORECAST OF RE- SULTS-FARMINO AND FARM LAND STATISTICS, 1910.

(By DeWitt W. Smith.)

To the earllest settlers the agricultural lands of Sangamon County appeared to be confined to the timbered tracts, which then covered about one- third of its entire area, and which they could clear off with the axe and break with the rude wooden mold-hoard plows of that day, after the manner of the older settled communities from whence they came. The prairle lands were sup- posed to be useful only as a range, or wild pas- ture, upon which their cattle might wander and graze, together with the deer and antelope. A suggestion of-the idea that the tough prairie sod would ever surrender Its douinion to the civiliz- ing power of the ploughshare, would have been ridiculed by the pioneers.

PRAIRIE AND TIMBER LAND PRODUCTS.

Our rich prairle lands, which now rank among the most productive in the world, were, eighty years ago, littie better than a beautiful wilderness, covered with a rank growth of waving grass and yellow blooming rosin weed, frequently taller than the head of a man sitting on horseback, and Interspersed with innumerable flowering shrubs

and plants, and acres upon acres of wild straw- berries, hut so infested with swarms of yellow headed flies, mosquitoes and buffalo gnats, that, iu midsummer even, the thick hide of the ox could not withstand thelr tormenting stings. It Is within the memory of men now ilving, that a journey across the big prairies was, in the sum- mer time, undertaken only at night, because on a hot summer day horses would be literally stung and worried to deatlı. No settler of that time ever dreamed of making his home on the prairie, and later on, when a few adventurous newcomers began to bulld a quarter of a mlle or so from the timber, they were thoughit to be foolhardy tempt- ers of fate. "

The principal products of the sınail timber clearings of that early day (there were no farms according to the present understanding of the term), were Indian corn, a little wheat, some cotton and flax, and a few patches of tobacco. There were no markets, and each settler raised only enough for the wants of his own family, aud their wants were almost as simple as those of the wild Indians. The country teemed withi wild game, wild fruits, grapes, berrles and nuts ; succulent roots and herbs ahounded In both prairie and timber ; wild honey could be obtained by merely locating and chopping down a hee-tree.

PIONEER DOMESTIC LIFE.

Every house contained a spinning wheel, and many of them a loom, for spinning and weaving the home raised cotton and flax for the women's dresses. Two yards of linsey woolsey constituted a dress pattern, except in the case of some ultra fashionable and gay falr one, who required an extra yard for frills and flounces, which were usually dyed with polk berrles, acorn galls and hutternuts, for coquettish effect. The ineu were usually clad In deer-skin and coon-skin. For shoes they wore home made moccasins of deer- skin.

The corn was grated into meal on home-made graters; the wheat was ground In hard-wood mortars, and bolted through home-woven clothi. They cured their tobacco by hanging it to the rafters of their cabins, and they cured venlson for winter use by hanging it In the smoke of their chimneys.

They had enough and to spare,-winy should they wish for more? It was Arcadia. But soon there began to drift in among them a new order of men,-inquisitive, bustling, meddlesome and

ANDREW V. SMITH

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

aggressive, cranky meu, who with the perverse genius of cranks, wanted to make things go ronnd. "Why don't you cultivate the prairie, instead of chopping down trees and plowing among the stumps?," they asked the shnple pioneer. And the simple pioneer replied, "Cul- tivate it yourself, if you want to, aud be hlanked to you." And sure enough, the restless aud bustling ones began to devise ways aud means for accomplishing this apparently impossible task.

FIRST PRAIRIE PLOW.

Oramel Clark, horn in Lebanon, Conn., came to Sangamon Couuty about the year 1820, and located near the site of the present village of Sherman. He had been a blacksmith, aud after settling in this county, he set up a small forge, and between the intervals of farming and hunt- Ing he did custom work, chiefly In iroulng the rude wooden mold-hoard plows of his neighbors. Ahont the year 1826 he undertook to construct a plow, heavy and strong enough to break prairle sod. IIis first sod plow was huilt without trucks, was drawn by several yoke of oxen, and held to the furrow-or at least attempted to he so held-by a man walking behind it and holding the handles. Hls plow was only a partial success ; it lacked sufficient weight to withstand the heavy strain put upon it, and the task of hold- ing it to the furrow by handles held hy one man, was a difficult one. The man holding the han- dles would frequently he knocked down by them when the plow would jump out of the ground upon striking some particularly strong hunch of roots. Mr. Clark was, however, a patient and persevering man, and about the year 1830 he had built a plow set in a heavy frame, mounted upon and steadied hy trucks,-the whole equipment weighing a thousand pounds or muore, being drawn by twelve oxen and turning a 24-Inch furrow. The Clark plow did the work ; others were huilt upon the same pattern, and soon the crack of the ox-driver's whip proclaimed a new order of things on the prairies.

LATER INVENTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT.

Then began the real agricultural development of Sangamon County, and, indeed, of the entire prairie region. Previous to that time the agricul- ture of the county was of the most elementary character, and the implements employed were crude and antiquated. The plows had iron or

steel points aud hars, with wooden mold boards; the harrows were destitute of metal in any of `their parts, the frames, the pins which held them together, and the teeth heing all of wood. The planting and cultivating was all done by hand. Harvesting of the small grains was by meaus of land hooks and "cradles"-a combination of long wooden teeth-and a steel sickle. Threshing was done by means of hand flalls, or on earthen threshing floors, upon which bundles of grain were spread in circles, around and npon which horses and oxen were rode and driven by the boys and girls of the family, while the men and women stood around the edges of the circle and stirred and turned the straw with woodeu pitch forks nntil the grain and chaff were separated from the straw. Afterward the grain was sep- arated from the chaff hy winnowing, which process was accomplished upon a windy day, by tossing in a sheet, the light chaff being blown away, and the heavier grain falling hack in tite sheet. Later the "farming-mill" came and fur- nished as important au evidence of progress as did the use of the horse in trampling the sheaves of wheat over the hand-driven "flail."

The combination of inventions and devices by which, in the memory of men now living, our agriculture has progressed from those rude and meager beginnings to its present magnificent pro- portions, seems in the retrospect nothing short of miraculous. Within the space of sixty years, greater progress was made in the world's meth- ods of agriculture than in the thousands of years that had gone before. The prairie break- ing plow was a veritahle John the Baptist iu the prairie wilderness,-the forerunner, the herald and the prophet of the wonders that were to come. It was a rude and clumsy engine, and bore no more ontward and visible signs of its great mission than did that marvelous human instrument of God, who was called Abe Lincoln, and who began to move and stir the minds and sonls of men in Sangamon County about the same time that the prairie-breaking plow began to move and stir the surface of its soil.

Uutil the advent of the prairie-breaking plow, the agriculture of the county was confined al- most exclusively to cleared tlmher patches, the tough prairie sod refusing to he suhdued by the puny machinery and implements that preceded it. But that cumhrous instrument was not to be resisted. Before its hard, relentless share the prairles of the old settlers rapidly disap-

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

peared. It proclaimed the death of the old, and It ushered in the new order of things.

With the loss of their prairie range, and the crowding in of new settlers on every slde cf them, many of the old pioneers, with their famn- ilies, sought new fields and pastures farther west. But where one family moved away, new ones came in hy scores and by hundreds, and many of the new settlers actually huilt dwelilng houses on the prairies.

ADVANCE IN LAND VALUES.

The prairie lands, which, hefore the advent of the pralrie hreaking plow had almost no value, began to he taken up at the government price of $1.25 per acre, or hy land warrants that were held hy old soldiers, who were usually only too giad to dispose of their rights of entry at the rate of seventy-five cents to one dollar per acre. And here I wish to note the fact that so far as the writer's recollection extends, there has never heen a time when onr farm lands were not regarded by many wiseacres as being too high priced. The ascending scale from one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre up to the present price of one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars per acre, has heen accompanied hy the same incessant chorus of lamenting and forehoding voices. "Too high, too high: Ruin, ruin !" Jeremiah was a prophet of sweetness and light compared with them. As a matter of fact, the men who bought wild pralrie iand (be- yond the absolute needs of his family for suh- sistence), at one dollar and a quarter an acre, took more of a speculative and gambling chance than the man who, at the present day, huys the same land for two hundred dollars per acre. The man who hnys land today knows almost to a certainty what, during a term of years, he can make out of it. He has the advantage of good drainage, he has cheap and reliable transporta- tion, he has farming implements of which his grandfather never dreamed, he has a market at his very door, he has the use of cheap money, he has the assurance that every working day of his life he and the members of his family may, If they choose, when not employed with the duties of the farm, find other lucrative em- ployment. The man on the prairies eighty years ago, and indeed for many years afterwards, had none of those advantages. The only cer- tainties that he had were the sod under his feet and the malaria in the air ahout him.

"LAND POOR"-PUZZLING PROBLEMS.

The writer can remember when, fifty years ago, there was much raw prairie land, stili un- enclosed, in the county. It was worth from ten to twenty dollars an acre, and generally the men who owned it were called "land poor." To be "Iand poor" was a hy-word, and almost a term of reproach ; it was the equivalent of the mod- ern slang expression, "he bit off more than he could chew."

For many years after the pralries hegan to he cultivated, and were producing prolific crops, the settlers found themselves with an emhar- rassment of riches; they could produce great crops, hnt had no availahle market for them, nor means of conveyance except in the cum- hersome wagons of those days, and not eveu wagon-roads and hridges. The difficulty was overcome hy feeding their corn to cattle and hogs, long of leg and strong of bone, which, after concentrating the farmer's hulky corn into solld meat and fat, could transport themselves on foot to St. Louis and Cincinnati, where large pack- ing houses were hinlt for their reception after their long walk. Cattle were sometimes driven over the mountains and Into the eastern markets of New York and Philadelphia. A steer, to en- dure such journeys and retain his flesh, had to he not less than six or seven years old, and a hog not less than half that age. But the trans- portation problem was soon to he solved in a more effective manner.

Inventive genius was at that time particu- larly active. At the same time that Oramei Clark was perfecting his prairie-hreaking plow in Sangamon County, Cyrus McCormick, in Vir- ginia, and Obed Hussey, in Ohio, were perfect- ing horse-driven reaping machines; John Ste- vens, in New York, was devising plans for rall- way construction, and S. F. B. Morse, in the same State, was perfecting the electric telegraph, withont which railways could not have heen op- erated with speed and safety, nor upon their present extensive scale. This coincidence and combination of Inventions in the space of a few decades, set the world forward in material de- velopment more than had heen accomplished hy twenty centuries of previous effort.

CONDITIONS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR.

At the close of the Civil War, iu the year 1865, the agriculture of Sangamon county had

MRS. ANDREW V. SMITH

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

reached a comparatively high plane. It had passed through four successive eras, viz. :

I. The primitive, or pioneer ;

II. The cultivation of the prairies ;

III. The introduction of horse-driven plant- ers, harvesters and threshers, and

IV. The era of rapid transportation.

From the year 1860 to 1865, farm lands had doubled in value, and it behooved the thrifty farmer not to waste his high priced acres. While land was cheap, only the most easily avail- ahle of it was used. On nearly every farm there were many wasted acres in wet sloughs and ponds, which were not only unproductive, hnt actually hindered the improvement and culti- vation of the ground adjacent to them; they were, besides, the prime breeders of malarla. Malarial fevers with their accompanying ague or "chills," were the great bane of the country. During the late summer and autumn mouths chills and fever were part of the daily life of every farmer's family.

INTRODUCTION OF TILE DRAINAGE.

Surface ditching afforded some relief, but was inadequate. Ahout the year 1875 experiments began to be made with underground tile drain- age, with such marked success that, within a few years, it hecame general throughout the county. It wrought a marvelous change in the appearance of the country, and in the produc- tive value of farm lands, but ahove all in the health of the people. The prairie sloughs that would mire an ox in mid-summer, and the ponds and swampy places have not only disappeared, hut where they once were we now find the rich- est and most productive of all our farm lands ; while malarial diseases, which are almost in- separahle from allnvial soils, have hecome so rare as to be almost unknown to the present generation. The hottles of ipecac, calomel, rhubarb and qulnine, together with the nauseous domestic remedies, which were once the prin- clpal decorations of the shelves and cuphoards of the farmers' homes, have disappeared, and in their places one now finds objects of virtu and art.

Of all the modern inventions and expedients that have hettered the Sangamon County farm- er's condition, probably no one of them has done more for his general welfare than has tlle drahn- age. Its nse marks the fifth and crowning era

of onr agricultural progress, to date. What the future may have in store for. us we can only conjecture.

A NEW ERA-SCIENTIFIC FARMING. .

We appear to be now entering upou an era of scientific farming, as taught hy the schools and colleges. Not many years ago the "hook farm- ers," or "scientific feller," was a joke among farmers ; we speak more respectfully of him now. It is true that he was often impracticable and visionary; he scored more failures than successes, aud very few individuals could long withstand the financial expense of the many failures which are inseparahle from scientific agricultural research. The National and the varions State Governments have very wisely adopted the policy of maintaining experimental stations and colleges, where the hook farmers and scientific fellows may carry on their experi- inents and researches at the expense of the pub- lic. Thinking men have come to realize the fact that a failure proves hut one thing, viz. : that the thing sought can not he obtained in that particular way ; it by no means proves that the thing sought cannot he obtained at all. If a State experimental professor makes ninety-nine mis- takes and one pronounced success, the one suc- cess may far more than compensate the public for the expense of the ninety-nine failures. It is said that the professors talk some nonsense; that may very well he true, for many wise men before them have sometimes talked foolishly, hut it in no wise detracts from the great value of their actual achievements. They have accom- plished a vast amount of good, and the intelli- gent farmer should respectfully listen to all they say and govern himself by what they prove. They are earnest, enthusiastic men-men of the type that revolutionize the world-and there is hardly a doubt that they will, in the end, suc- ceed in making agriculture an almost exact science. It is far from being that now. We do some good farming in Sangamon County, as farming generally goes, hut we are only scratch- ing the surface of things. Onr generation has seen some marvels, hut those who come after us will see still greater ones.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS, 1910.

The following tahle of farming statistics is taken from the decennial census report of 1910,

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

those relating to farms and farming property heing brought up to 1910, wille those relating to farming operations are for the calendar year 1909. For censns purposes a "farm" comprises all the laud managed by one person conducting agricultural operations by his own lahor or with the assistance of members of his household or employes ; hnt when a landowner has one or more tenants or managers, the land operated hy each constitutes a farm. Under this definition any tract comprising three or more acres, under separate management, is accounted a farm.

A "Farmer" or "farm operator" is defined as a person who directs the operations of a farm ; hence, owners of farms, but not themselves en- gaged in this line, are not reported as farmers. Farm owners include (1) those operating only their own land, and (2) those cultivating both their own land and that rented from others.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 53

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 864

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864