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USA > Illinois > Piatt County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II > Part 30
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stream and these names were used to special- ize neighborhoods. So, "On the Sangamon"(1) was understood to refer to the neighborhoods on both sides of the river. from the head wa- ters to the Piatt County line. There were "The Okaw" and "The Ambraw"(2) settle- ments, by which was understood the neigh- borhoods about and in the timber belts along these streams, so far as they lay in this coun- ty. "Middle Fork" (3) was understood to mean the timber sometimes called "Sugar. Grove," in the northeast corner of the county. Besides these names, that of "Sadorus Grove" was used to designate the isolated grove of tim- ber at the head of the Kaskaskia River, in which Henry Sadorus and his family settled when they came to the county. "Bowse's Grove" referred to a small grove of natural timber on the east side of the Embarras 'River. "Linn Grove,"(4) as a name, early be- came attached to the beautiful eminence crowned with trees of nature's planting in the southwest corner of Sidney Township, which name it yet retains. "Lost Grove,"(5) at the northwest corner of Ayers Township, is sup- posed to have received its name from its re- moteness from everywhere else. "Hickory Grove," (") in St. Joseph and Ogden Town-
.
(1) "The Indian name for the Big Grove was 'Mashaw Montuck,' meaning big woods."- Henry Sadorus.
"Big Grove, in Champaign county, is on a branch of the Salt Fork of the Vermilion . Riv- er, and is about the center of the county. It is a body of heavily timbered, rich land, twelve miles long and an average of three miles in width. The country around is most delightful, the prairie is elevated, dry and of very rich soil, the water is good, and the country very healthy. The population of Big Grove must now exceed 200 families "-Peck's "Gazetteer of Illinois," (1837), page 159.
(2) Salt Fork rises in Champaign County, near the head of the Sangamon River, runs a south course until it enters Township eighteen North, in range ten east, when it makes a sud- den bend and runs north of east to Danville. The salt works are on this stream, six miles above Danville .- Peck's "Gazetteer" (1837),
page 306.
(1) Sangamon River, a prominent branch of The Illinois. It rises in Champaign County, in the most elevated region of that portion of the State, and near the head-waters of the two Ver- milion and the Kaskaskia rivers. It waters Sangamon and Macon Counties and parts of northwesterly .- Peck's "Gazetteer," page 287. Tazewell, McLean, Montgomery, Shelby and Champaign counties. Its general course is (2) Embarras river, (pronounced Embroy in Fr.) a considerable stream in the eastern part of the State. It rises in Champaign County, eighteen north, nine east, near the sources of the Kaskaskia, the two Vermilions, and the Sangamon rivers. It runs south through Coles county, receives several smaller streams, en- ters Jasper, turns southeast across a corner of Crawford, passes through Lawrence and enters the Big Wabash about six miles above Vin- cennes .- Idem, page 198.
The Embarras was voted $7,000 for the im- provement of its navigation by the internal im- provement act of the Legislature.
(3) Middle Fork rises in the prairie, " forty miles northwest of Danville, and enters the Salt Fork .- Idem, page 307.
(4) Linn Grove, in Champaign county, is four miles south of Sidney, from seventy-five to one hundred acres of timber, mostly linden and honey locust .- Idem, page 244.
(5) Lost Grove is seven miles east of Sidney, on the eastern border of Champaign County .- Idem, page 244.
(") Hickory Grove, in Champaign County, on the north branch of Salt Fork, and twelve miles east of Urbana. The timber is from half a mile to one and a half miles wide, and the soil and prairie around is first rate -Idem, page 219.
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
ships; "Bur Oak Grove," in Ogden; "Mink Grove,"(1) in Rantoul; and "Dead Man's Grove," in St. Joseph Township, like those above named, had then a definite meaning and referred to certain localities, though, like some of them now, these names now mean nothing, having passed from use. The last name has not been in use for many years, the grove referred to having long been called "Corray's Grove," taking its later name from a near-by dweller. It received its first name from the circumstance of the finding there of the dead body of a man who had died alone, and probably from exhaustion. (2)
About one mile north of the village of Philo, in the early times, was a tuft or small patch of timber and brush-along the margin of a small pond, which protected it from the an- nual prairie fires-of less than one acre, which, from the earliest settlement of the country, was a noted landmark for travelers, and which was known far and near as the "Tow-Head," from its supposed resemblance to something bearing that name. Its position upon a very high piece of prairie made it visible for many miles around. It has long since yielded to the march of farm improve- ment, and its foster guardian, the pond, has likewise given way to the same enemy of the picturesque, and now yields each year fine crops of corn.
A little distance north of the village of Ivesdale is a grove of small timber, formerly known as "Cherry Grove" by early settlers. Its name, perhaps now obsolete, was probably derived from the kind of timber growing in the grove, or most prevalent, as was the case with other groves heretofore named. These groves and belts of timber served the early comers here as landmarks, so conspicuous were they on the horizon, and, in the absence
of trails to guide the traveler, they served an excellent purpose as such:
Then there were other names in common use among the people which, for the want of names more appropriate, did service in the local nomenclature in the early days. Lest those names be forgotten-and that references thereto, if made herein in future pages, may be understood-we here recall them with ex- planations.
"Adkins' Point" referred to a point of tim- ber reaching to the north from the northwest corner of the Big Grove in Somer Township, and got its name from the residence there of the family of Lewis Adkins.
"Nox's Point" meant the locality of the vil- lage of Sidney, before that name was given the place, and received its name from the first settler in the point made by the Salt Fork timber in its eastward trend.(1) The settler was William Nox.
"Butler's Point," which, though in Vermilion County, will be referred to hereafter, is a point of timber reaching southward from the Salt Fork timber, just west of Catlin-also re- ceiving its name from an early dweller.
"Pancake's Point" called to mind a point of timber reaching westward from the Sangamon timber, in Newcomb Township, and owes its name to Jesse W. Pancake, who lived there more than fifty years since.
There was "Sodom," a neighborhood above the village of Fisher, which was afterward used as the name of a postoffice established there. Why the location got this name so suggestive of evil reputation, is not known. So "Wantwood" was applied to a treeless ex- panse of prairie reaching north from the head of the Sangamon timber, the early settler knew not how far.
There were also fords across the streams where early roads, in default of bridges, led the traveler through deep waters. Of these there were "Strong's Ford" and "Prather's
(1) The Indian name for Mink Grove was "Nip- squah "-Archa Campbell.
(2) Tradition relates that, many years since and before the settlement of the prairies, a band of regulators from an Indiana settlement, having found the trail of a horse-thief, who had successfully carried his stolen animal as far west as the "Tow-Head," overtook the thief there, finding him fast asleep under the shade of this little grove. Without the form of a trial the offender was promptly executed by being nung, by the neck, to one of the trees, until he was dead, where his body was found bv the next passer-by. This grove of timber was near by the road which led from the Salt Fork timber westward to Sadorus Grove and the Okaw.
(1) Nox's Point was also sometimes called "Williams' Point." Why the place received that name, and when, whether after or before the coming of the Nox family, does not appear. One Jesse Williams entered the first land taken in the county, about three miles east of the Point and it is possible that this fact suggested the name
Sidney, a townsite in Champaign County, on Salt Fork of the Vermilion River, on the south side of Section nine. Township eighteen north, range ten west, on the Northern Cross Railroad. from Springfield by Decatur to Danville .- Peck's "Gazetteer," (1837), page 292.
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
Ford," both across the Salt Fork, one about a mile north and the other the same distance south of the village of St. Joseph. The for- mer was where the iron bridge on the State road now spans the stream, and was later called "Kelley's Ford." Both fords received their distinctive names from near-by dwell- ers. A ferry was maintained by Joseph T. Kelley at the former. The latter, or Prather's Ford, was at the crossing of the Salt Fork by the Danville and Fort Clark road, a pioneer road across the country, noticed hereafter.
On the Sangamon were two well known fords with distinctive names. One at the vil- lage of Mahomet (or Middletown, as the vil- lage was known fifty years since), was called "Bryan's Ford," from John Bryan, a contiguous land-owner, who maintained a ferry there. The iron bridge a few rods away has, for many years, furnished a better means of crossing the" stream. The other, of historic fame, was known as "Newcom's Ford," from the resi- dence there of Ethan Newcom, a pioneer who came to the county in the early 'thirties. It was at the crossing of the Sangamon River by the Danville and Fort Clark road; and, beside being a ford of the river, was a place where travelers camped in great numbers. It was near the line which divides Township 21 and Township 22, Range 8, and in later years it gave the name of "Newcomb" to an- other Township, although the final "b" of the name, as thus used, is in addition to the spell- ing in use by the owner. Mr. Newcom spelled his name "Ethan Newcom," where signed to a deed.
Then there were neighborhoods in the county which, from some peculiarity or other in their early settlement, took upon them- selves peculiar names, most of which have been forgotten or have fallen into disuse. Among these may be recalled the "Kentucky Settle- ment," now in Rantoul Township. This was on account of the coming there prior to 1860 of B. C. Bradley and many other thrifty farm- ers from Kentucky. The settlement was a compact gathering of good families upon a hitherto unbroken prairie, so arranged that the social and school advantages enjoyed else- where were not suspended. In like manner . the location about the ridge in Philo Town- ship, which divides the waters of the Salt Fork from those flowing into the Ambraw (Embarras), about 1856 became the home of
a colony from Massachusetts and other East- ern States, among whom may be named E. W. Parker and his brother G. W. Parker; Lucius, David and T. C. Eaton, and others of New England origin,-which gave the neighborhood the name "Yankee Ridge," which it bears to this day. So, the gathering upon the flat lands bordering the head-waters of the Salt Fork in Compromise Township, of a large number of Germans, who distinguished themselves as good farmers and good citizens, has given their neighborhood the name of "Dutch Flats," which it is likely to retain.
These names of localities are here intro- duced into the work to aid the reader in un- derstanding references to them upon future pages.
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY ROADS OF THE COUNTY.
TRAILS, HOW MADE FORT CLARK ROAD-ITS GREAT SERVICE-CHANGE TO THE SOUTH-OTHER TRAILS -SHELBYVILLE AND CHICAGO ROAD-BROWNFIELD AND HEATER ROADS.
In no one thing have been more noteworthy the changes which mark the transition from the condition of savagery which covered the whole county eighty years since, than in the roads of the county. Far from being ideal passages from place to place, the roads which mark nearly every section line, and afford the means of the easy transportation of persons and property, indicate the great advance. Hu- man agencies have produced all of this ad- vancement. Before the coming of the white man, and with him the ways of subduing and bringing to his use the elements which Na- ture had here planted, these useful avenues were not found, nor were they in demand.
It must not be supposed, however, that no roads existed which directed the traveler to his place of destination. The earliest comers found paths and traces leading across the country which, in a measure, aided them in finding the shortest cuts from timber grove to timber grove, but such were not of human or- igin. Before even the Indian came to hunt the wild animals, these animals, in search of water or pasturage, made their traces or paths, always choosing the best lines of travel and,
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
so far as possible, the shortest lines of com- munication. (1)
While to these lines few, if any, of the ex- isting roads owe their locations, this cannot be said of the first roads made use of by the white man at his coming. He found traces leading across the country which he chose then to call Indian paths, but we must look farther back than to the coming of the Indian for their origin.
The earliest comers to this country found already made a road, before them much trav- elled by wagons and teams, which led from . the east, entering the county near where the eastern line crosses the main branch of the Salt Fork, about two miles northeast of the village of Homer, from which place it me- andered to the northwest through Hickory Grove, passing a little north of the location . of the village of St. Joseph, crossing the east branch of the Salt Fork a mile north of the village, at a place afterwards, and for many
(1)It was for the great game animals to mark out what became known as the first thorough- fares of America. The plunging buffalo, keen of instinct, and nothing if not a utilitarian, broke great roads across the continent on the sum- mits of the watersheds, beside which the first Indian trails were but traces through the for- ests. Heavy, fleet of foot, capable of covering scores of miles a day, the buffalo tore his roads from one feeding ground to another, and from north to south, on the high grounds; here his roads were swept clear of debris in, summer, and of snow in winter. They mounted the high- est and descended from them to the longest slopes, and crossed each stream on the bars at the mouth of its lesser tributaries -Historic Highways of America (By A. H. Clark & Co.), Vol. 1, page 19.
The first explorers that entered the interior of the American continent were dependent up- on the buffalo and the Indian for ways of get- ting about. Few of the early white men who came westward journeyed on the rivers, and to the trails of the buffalo and Indian they owed their success in bringing to the seaboard the first accounts of the interior of the continent .- Idem, Vol. 1, page 110.
"This animal (the buffalo) once roamed at large over the prairies of Illinois; and so late as the commencement of the present century. was found in considerable numbers; and traces of them are still remaining in the buffalo paths, which are to be seen in several parts of the State. These are well beaten tracks, leading generally from the prairies in the interior of the State to the margins of the large rivers. showing the course of their migrations as they changed their pastures periodically, from the low marshy alluvion to the dry upland plains. Their paths are narrow, and remarkably direct. showing that the animals traveled in single file through the woods, and pursued the most direct course to their places of destination "- "Illinois in 1837," page 38.
"The buffalo is not found this side of the Mississippi, nor within several hundred miles of St. Louis. This animal once roamed at large over the prairies of Illinois, and was found in plenty thirty years since."-Peck's "Gazetteer of Illinois," (1837), page 23.
years, known as "Prather's Ford." From this crossing place it followed the western branch of the same creek along its northern border, passing what was afterwards known as "Hays'" or "Gobel's Grove," to the northern point of the "Big Grove," near where Philip Stanford afterwards made his home. Thence it crossed what was afterwards known as "Adkins' Point," the northern extremity of the Big Grove, crossing the creek at and upon what was known as the "Beaver Dam," from whence it bore to the northwest, cross- ing the Sangamon at the place which after- wards was known as "Newcom's Ford"; then up the west side of the Sangamon River, near an early settler by the name of King, and on through Cheeney's Grove (now Say- brook), to Bloomington and Peoria, the lat- ter then called "Fort Clark." This road, al- though surveyed and laid out as a legal road about 1834, by authority of an act of the Legislature, did not owe its origin to this legal action, for it was traveled many years before that date. It was known as the "Fort Clark Road," and led from the eastern part of the State in the neighborhood of Danville, to the Illinois River. It was early recognized and cared for by the public authorities.
The Board of County Commissioners of Vermilion County, at its September session in 1828, entered an order appointing Runnel Fielder "Supervisor of the Fort Clark Road, from the Salt Fork (Prather's Ford) to the western line of Vermilion County." The same order allotted all of the road work due from residents in Townships 19 and 20, in Ranges 9 and 10, to this piece of road. (1)
What its real origin was will never be known, but it is fair to believe, from its loca- tion and the points connected, that it was first a buffalo path, leading from river and grove in the east to the 'like objects in the west; afterwards an Indian trail, where the buffalo was hunted and trapped, and finally
(1)This road as will be seen by a glance at the map of Illinois, was the shortest route be- tween the Indian villages along the lower Ver- milion River and the Kickanoo village at what is now known as the "Old Town Timber," in West Township, McLean County. These villages, from their situation and the known intimacies and friendships of the inhabitants, must have had frequent communications with each other from the earliest times. The presence of this trail when white occupation commenced, at once suggests its origin as connected with the visits of these Indians, one with another, for ages before the white occupation.
662
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
adopted by the great tide of immigration which set in early in the last century from the States east of Ohio to what is now known as the "Military Tract"; that is, to the lands lying between the Illinois and the Mississippi Rivers, in the western part of the State, where many who had taken part in. the War of the Revolution and that of 1812, were at liberty to claim homes.
It is certain that, at the earliest periods of the settlement of this county, a very large tide of travel passed over this route for the west. It is also well attested that many of those who became early settlers at the north end of the Big Grove, and along the line of this road in the eastern and western parts of the county, came by this road. This may well explain the reason of the settlement of the lands north of the Big Grove before those on the south. But a few years since and perhaps to this day-the route of this old road, long since abandoned, may be detected by the great gullies worn, first by the feet of the buffalo and afterward by the teams and wagons of the white man, across the ridges and high lands where it passed.
From early residents along this road it has been learned that, as early as the first per- manent settlements here, each autumn wit- nessed great tides of covered wagons passing over this road for the west, all destined to points beyond the Illinois River. The vari- ous settlements at Prather's Ford, Stanford's, Newcom's Ford and at King's, higher up the Sangamon River, were stopping and resting places for these immigrants. They either camped out in the contiguous groves, or shared the narrow accommodations of the cabins. of these men. It was probably by this route that the early pioneers of the squatter variety, such as Fielder, Sample, Rice, Gab- bert and other transients, came to the coun- try from their eastern homes; and, after sell- ing out their improvements upon Government land, passed on over this road to regions to the westward, to repeat the process in other places.
Subsequently that part of the travel des- tined for places south of the creek and grove, sought out a shorter trail and crossed the creek at Strong's Ford, where the State road now crosses the creek by the iron bridge, eight miles east of Urbana, from which cross- ing it reached the Big Grove at Fielder's-
later Roe's-at which point the road divided, one line passing to the Brownfield neighbor- hood, on the north side, while the other line passed to the Busey neighborhood, on the south side of the Big Grove. Years after- wards, and about the year 1834, when the county-seat had been established at the south side (now Urbana), the trail running from Bartley's Ford direct to Matthew Busey's, and on to Urbana, was adopted and legally laid out, as a necessity. From this locality. it was naturally continued on to the Sanga- mon, at which crossing, lower down than that of Newcom's, the town of Middletown, or Mahomet, was subsequently laid out.
Stories of the opposition to this diversion of the travel from the north side of the Grove to the new settlements on the south side, are still told by old residents. Local jealousies and prejudices were strong in those times, as well as in later periods. At the crossing of the Salt Fork on this road was erected, about 1836, the first bridge which spanned one of the streams of the county. It was afterwards carried away by the high water of the creek.
This road was continued on to Blooming- ton upon a route afterwards chosen for a rail- road which parallels the wagon road the whole distance, being at no place between St. Joseph and Bloomington, many rods dis- tant from the railroad. Along this early road the villages of Mahomet, Mt. Pleasant (now Farmer City), and Le Roy sprang up to meet local demands, and over its easy grades for many years flowed the western fleets of prai- rie schooners, transferred from the Fort Clark road which was totally abandoned as a public road. No portion of this latter road survives the change, while its younger rival -in places changed from a diagonal road to contiguous section lines-still exists as a highway across the eastern counties of the State. Portions of this road are still in ex- istence as diagonal streets in the towns through which it runs, notably West Main Street, Urbana, and Bloomington Avenue, Champaign. No stage makes tri-weekly trips over it now, and few of the white sails of western emigrants are seen upon it, but enough remains to remind the citizens of a half century ago of its greatness as a public road.
This road, as traveled since about 1835,
663
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
now forms not only the main traveled road between the eastern part of the State on the east, and Peoria on the west, but constitutes, in fact, the main streets in the cities of Dan- ville, Urbana, Mahomet, Farmer City, Le Roy and Bloomington.
When the white man first came here, he also found other trails which served to guide the traveler from timber to timber. One led from the Big Grove southward to Linn Grove, and to the head of the Ambraw timber, while another led from the same central location south westward to the head of the Okaw tim- ber. These were utilized by the Indian vis- itors from the north in their annual hunting expeditions, and served to bring to the Sado- rus family their red visitors, as well as-to guide hunting parties and white traders from the north, who are said to have extended their pursuit after the furs produced in the country as far into the interior as our groves and timber belts. The location of these trod- den paths over high ridges, connecting im- portant timber groves, suggests a like origin to that attributed above to other early trails -namely, to the buffalo herd. Over them, doubtless, in remote ages these wild roamers of the prairie, in great masses thronged from water-course to timber belt, in search of wa- ter and food, leaving no other souvenirs of their presence than their bleaching bones be- side their worn paths, or near by their wa- tering and resting places. Man, either as a savage with his ponies, or as a civilized den- izen of the country with his wagon, gladly accepted and long made use of these trails, until the improvement and fencing into farms of the country forced the roads upon section lines, since which, except in the memory of the aged, neither has now an existence. The scarred and furrowed surface of many a knoll upon these routes, however, where from the erosion of travel, the soil was long since worn away, bear silent testimony of the use to which they were put generations ago. (The writer well remembers passing over these roads when no fenced-up farms marred the landscape, or interfered with the freedom of travel. The roads were then, in places, much worn and gullied.)
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