Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 128

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

cabins and in its filthy streets, geese and pigs waddled and wallowed in happy mire and con- tent, while dog-fights and drunken rows seemed to be the principal divertisements of its mon- grel inhabitants." On his journey he had made the acquaintance of a Mr. Duryea, who was probably the same "Relief Duryea," who, in 1837, was elected the first Recorder of Kane County. Meeting upon the street a man with an ox-team, they made inquiry of him regarding the country, and were told that the driver's name was Ferson, and that, with his brother, he had just entered a claim on the Fox River, about thirty miles west, where they had found the finest country on earth, and, being anxious for the presence of neighbors, he persuaded them to accompany him to his claim. They drove out over the old army trail, upon which the winter frosts and spring rains had rendered the sod so soft that the wheels frequently cut through the crust and, to lighten the load, the men walked most of the way. They forded the river near where the St. Charles bridge now stands, and found the Ferson cabin a little up the stream on the west bank.

As was the custom of the time they made this hospitable home their headquarters, while they prospected for a location. They went down the river a number of miles, and came upon Joseph McCarty digging stone for his dam "in the midst of a solitude that would have charmed a hermit." They were both delighted with the country, and determined to make it their future home. Mr. Gifford returned to New York, and his glowing account of the beau- tiful land he had discovered, induced his brother James T. Gifford to sell his property in Yates County, and arrange to accompany him to Illinois the next spring. Late in Febru- ary, 1835, they started with a pair of horses and a lumber wagon containing a few tools, a camping outfit, and clothing and food for them- selves and team, after the usual tedious jour- ney, reaching Chicago on the 24th day of March, 1835.

Everybody was talking of the beauty and desirability of locations to be found at different points, and they heard much praise of the op- portunities offered at Milwaukee Bay, and de- termined to visit that section. A Mr. Goodwin, whom they had met, decided to accompany them, and leaving their wagon and taking a little food, the three men followed the trail on

horseback to Milwaukee. They found no set- tlement nor shelter on the way, and, as the vegetation was not sufficiently advanced for the horses to graze, they divided their food with the animals. All the land about Mil- waukee appeared to be claimed, and the Giffords concluded to push westward on foot to explore the Fox River valley, which was their original destination. Sending their horses back to Chi- cago by Goodwin, they started westward, but in some way having lost their bearings, near nightfall came upon the cabin of a French and Indian half-breed named Jock Jumbo, near the present site of the city of Racine. They staid with him over night, and in the morning, hav- ing supplied them with a little food, he put them upon a trail which he said would bring them to the river about noon, and he thought they would find settlers a little way down the stream.

Following the trail, they reached the stream and turned southward along its banks. They thought nothing could exceed the beauty of the landscape continually opening before them. But James T. Gifford was looking for the loca- tion of a village where water-power was avail- able, and desired it should be on the line be- tween Galena and Chicago, then giving promise of becoming the two most important points, as he thought, in the northern part of the State. They saw no sign of a human being's presence until about mid afternoon, when they dis- covered an Indian in a canoe. Neither party could understand the other's speech, and they failed to learn of any settler, but he paddled them to the west bank of the river and they continued their journey and camped at night shelterless. The next morning they resumed their tramp, hoping each hour to come upon some settler's cabin, but none appeared. Hun- gry and weary-for they had had no food that day-they were overjoyed about the middle of the afternoon to discover a low hut, evidently of human construction. Upon investigation, they found it to be simply an enclosure of poles and logs, protecting from wild animals the decomposing body of a Pottawatomie brave. Disgusted and depressed they hurried on until night again settled upon them, cold and cheer- less and almost despondent. A heavy thunder- storm in the night drenched them, and their condition was pitiful and perilous. Their only hope of succor was in pressing forward, and,

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

at daybreak, they were again on their way. Two nights they had been without food, and this was also the second day of fasting. Each day they had forded creeks and sloughs, and now they were benumbed and soaked with the cold rain of the previous night. Toward noon they forded the marshy stream called the Nipper- sink, near the present village of McHenry, and with difficulty waded through its muddy bottom. In after years they said it was indeed "nip-or- sink" with them. Soon after, when very nearly exhausted, they heard the welcome sound of an axe and discovered a man splitting rails. He proved to be in the employ of Samuel Gillian, who had just located a claim and built a cabin some five or six miles above the present thriving village of Algonquin. Had they not crossed the river with the Indian, and had they endeavored to make their way down its east bank, they would almost inevitably have miserably perished in the interminable swamps above and around Fox and Grass Lakes. Who can fathom the providential imn- pulse, that induced them to cross to the west bank of the stream?

The half-famished and worn-out men were at once conducted to Mr. Gillian's cabin, where, of course, they received a hospitable welcome, and such succor as their pitiable condition re- quired. Mr. Gillian told them of the cabin of Wm. Welch, some twenty-five miles down the river on the east side, and near Scott's old army trail, and furnished them with a needful supply of food for their trip to Welch's. They now felt assured of their way, and that, as they neared the army trail, they were approach- ing the desired line between Galena and Chi- cago; and so they scanned the country, and the banks and current of the stream with more de- liberate care. The general appearance of the whole valley had, in all respects, fully equalled their most sanguine expectations, and the lovely landscape, where the city of Elgin now stands, attracted their admiring attention. It seemed to them a vast park rather than an uncultivated wilderness. The steep, though not precipitous, hills on the west bank of the river were covered with great white and black oak trees, and patches of smaller trees, and hazel and berry bushes grew in the more open places. The whole imposing hillside and narrow level bank to the river's verge was green with the grassy verdure of early spring. For a half mile

or more in width on the east side, over the gentler hills and valley slopes, were scattered the low topped, wide-spreading burr oak trees, with no undergrowth and carpeted beneath like a grassy lawn. The view was open and un- obstructed to the timber lands that are now the beautiful city park. It reminded them of the great old orchards in New York. The firm, gravelly bed of the stream guaranteed a solid foundation for a dam, and the rapid flow of the river indicated the fall of water necessary to in- sure the requisite power for mills. There was also a long, narrow slough paralleling the river for a half mile or more, near to its east bank, that with little expense could be con- verted into a raceway for distributing the power acquired by a dam.

Here they decided to locate their farms, and James T. Gifford's prospective mill and village. James T. stepped off and marked out a claim to the land which he subsequently platted, and Hezekiah located a larger claim for a farm ad- joining and south of his brother's. They found Mr. Welch's cabin some five miles south, on the bank of Brewster Creek, and near the army trail, which was the path they took back to Chicago. In Chicago they met a Mr. Joseph Kimball who was looking for a mill-site, and they persuaded him to investigate the one at their location, which he soon after did, in com- pany with his son Samuel. J. Joseph Kimball died while on his way back to New York for his family, but Samuel J, made a claim, and an- other son, Mr. William C. Kimball, came also and joined Mr. Gifford in constructing the dam, and equally shares with Mr. Gifford in the honor of first developing the beautiful city of Elgin. Mr. Kimball's saw-mill and Mr. Gif- ford's grist-mill were put in operation in 1837.

In the meantime dams and mills had been or were being constructed at North Aurora, Mill Creek, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, Dundee and Carpentersville. These were based upon individual enterprise and capital, yet were so essential to the interest and convenience of every individual settler that all possible help was extended by each. The McCarty's did their first sawing in June, 1835, and their first grind. ing in February, 1837. Previous to that time the nearest mills were near Naperville and at Ottawa. It is said that one settler drove his ox-team to some point on the Wabash River for flour.

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

Probably the first saw-mill to be operated in the county was built by Captain C. B. Dodson and Mr. Archibold Clybourn, at Clybournville, on Mill Creek a little below the fine city of Batavia. Some twenty or thirty rods above the present highway and tramway bridge over Mill Creek, a portion of the foundation timbers of the old mill-flume may still be seen at the bot- tom of the east side of the creek, and a part of the carriage that guided and conveyed the logs to the saw, with the iron-dogs that held one end of them in place, are exhibited near the pavil- ion of the park. A few of the stately white-oak trees of the olden time still stand as beautiful souvenirs of the former splendid timber of the country, in the lovely "Mill Creek Park," that is now the easily accessible resort of thousands of pleasure-seekers during the summer picnic season. Dodson and Clybourn also opened a store for trade with the Indians, and it was often well filled with pelts taken in exchange for goods. The mill was a marvel and delight to the Indians. In amazement they would silently watch the log press forward against the swift up-and-down flying saw, but when the man in charge stopped and reversed the motion, and the log started back to be reset for another cut, their astonishment was beyond stoic bounds, and they would break forth with ex- pressions and antics of the most extravagant amazement and delight. The old mill and store, and all they who then acted there their little part in that half-civilized, half-savage life, are but memories of man's puny efforts on the shoreless stream of time. A little longer the old oaks will stand, yet soon they too, with these men and their works, shall pass and be no more, but the beautiful brook shall murmur on forever.

About 1838 or 1839 George and Calvin Tyler began operating a saw-mill on the creek bearing their name, and John Hill commenced running a like mill on Popple Creek. It should be re- membered that all these constructions were upon Government land to which the occupants had no title whatever, depending simply upon occupancy.

The first bridge to span the river was erected at Aurora in 1836, and in the same year one was built at St. Charles. Bridges were constructed at Schneider's mill, at Batavia, at Geneva and at Elgin in 1837, and at Dundee in 1838. The first Carpenterville bridge was built in 1851.

These bridges also stood upon unsurveyed Gov- ernment land and they were built by individual subscriptions of money, material or labor, and the copy of the papers relating to the Dundee bridge indicates substantially the method of operation in each case. They read as follows:

"We. the subscribers, promise to pay to Thomas Deweese, Charles Metcalf and George McClure the sums by us respectfully subscribed, for the purpose of building a frame bridge across Fox River at or near the present cross- ing of said river, a little above T. Deweese's mill. We also authorize the said Deweese, Met- calf and McClure, or a majority of them, to let a job of said bridge to the lowest bidder, and generally superintend the erection and comple- tion of the same, and to see generally to the faithful expenditure of the money. Those who subscribe to pay in cash are not to be called on for payment until the frame of said bridge is erected, but those who may subscribe payable in labour or materials, will pay wheu called on by said committee. Payments are to be made to the person contracting on the order of the committee, surplus money, if any, to be ex- pended in improving the road." Signed, "John Oatman, $100; Jesse Oatman, $25; Hardin Oat- man, $25; Joseph Oatman, $25; John Oatman, $15; Charles Metcalf, $15; Thomas L. Shields, $25; Benjamin Bell, $10; Seth Green, $10; Ira Earl, $5; David Deweese, $5; George Hammer, $5; Isaac Hammer, $5: Jesse H. Newman, $10; Thomas Deweese, $100; Samuel Underhill, $25; James E. Parker, $15; Thomas H. Thompson, $10; Benjamin Moore, $10; Thomas Burbank, $10; Fred Ashbaugh, $10; Thomas Perry, $10; Salisbury Lang, $10, together with a number of other names so worn and obliterated as to be undecipherable.

The above paper bears no date, but a supple- mental subscription, dated August 1, 1838, was circulated, in which money, material, work or grain was solicited; and this paper named as the building committee, Increase C. Bosworth, Jesse Oatman, Seth Greene, Thomas Deweese and Edward W. Austin. This committee let the contract for constructing the bridge to Ed- ward W. Austin, George W. Hoit and Thomas H. Thompson, who agreed to erect a bridge with abutments "190 feet apart, with four piers between, ten feet high and made of hewed tim- ber," etc., and complete the same by March 1,

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

1839, for the sum of $1,565. That they promptly fulfilled its terms is shown hy this indorsement upon its back: "We, the party of the second part, do herehy accept the hridge which the party of the first part, in the within contract, here agreed to huild." Dated, "Dundee, Febru- ary 27, 1839," and signed hy each member of the committee.

Some of these suhscrihers lived at least three or four miles from the proposed bridge, every one of them in a log structure we would today call a hut, and very few of them had means suf- ficient to pay the government price for the land they had claimed. The real magnitude of these various undertakings may be faintly appre- hended, hy reflecting that the entire population of the county in 1837, was less than that of one small ward of our present populous cities. and that their financial means were even more largely disproportionate.

CHAPTER VIII.

LAND CLAIMS, SURVEYS, LAND TITLES.

PIONEER IMMIGRATION OF 1838-40-METHODS OF LOCATING AND PROTECTING LAND CLAIMS- STRUGGLES BETWEEN THE CLAIM GRABBER AND THE CLAIM JUMPER-GOVERNMENT SURVEYS- THE THOMAS HUTCHINS SYSTEM-SOME IRREGU- LARITIES ' EXPLAINED-PREEMPTION TITLES AND MANNER OF PERFECTING THEM-GOVERNMENT LAND OFFICE AT CHICAGO-FIGHTING THE "LAND SHARKS."

The settlers who came into the county after 1838 or 1840 were not so wholly isolated or de- pendent upon themselves as were the earlier pioneers. By this time there were neighbors, although widely separated, who would assist in cases of sickness or other emergency. Roughly sawed oak, black-walnut and bass-wood lumber could be had for use in building; some small kilns for hurning lime had been made; "flour- mills" were in operation within reasonahle dis- tance; and in the villages along the river, there were tin, hlacksmith, and shoe shops. There

were stores, also, at each of these places, where the common necessities of the household could be procured, and there were physicians who could be called in case of accident or illness.

The more desirable lands near the timher, and where water was available, had nearly all been claimed, vet very little of it was actually occupied. The claims were usually so large that neighbors were very widely separated. A thousand acres or so was not a very large claim, and it was not considered disreputahly greedy to claim as much land as you could run a fur- row around in one day. Some shrewd men lo- cated and endeavored to hold several smaller claims in choice localities. The only security they had for the assumption of ownership of any except the tract on which they resided, was their individual ability to drive away intruders and small degree of respect entertained hy the community for their pretensions.

These conditions produced frequent disputes and controversies, and occasionally hitter con- flicts and feuds. As emigrants came driving through the country seeking desirable places to locate, they camped upon the great open tracts, and looked with desire upon the fertile lands. The former claimant soon observed the camp and notified the newcomers of his "claim," and endeavored to sell a portion of it, or, if he failed to do so, ordered them to move on. Usually they went if the claim to previous ownership did not appear too unreasonable; hut at other times they refused to recognize the claim- ant's right, and would neither huy nor move, but set about making a "claim" of their own.

Thus the issue was fully joined. If the first claimant was hold and resolute, and appeared ahle to enforce his demand and the neighbors seemed disposed to support his claim, the new-comer would probably leave and make a similar trial elsewhere; for he was not seeking a fight and knew that, by and hy, he would be in the other fellow's situation and would not wish anybody to "jump" the claim he was hop- ing to locate. But if the reverse of this ap- peared, he often stood his ground and prepared for battle. Sometimes it came on then and there in a rough-and-tumble fight, to which the women and children were often not idle specta- tors, but in which they took an active part. The contestants were not out on a holiday picnic, but were in desperate earnestness, seek- ing homes and land; each had trailed in toil, pri-

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

vation and peril over the long journey from the older States, and was no trifler to be readily bluffed. Usually, however, after a war of words and show of determination, if neither yielded, the quarrel was referred to the neighbors, and if public sentiment was adverse to the new- comer, it was idle for him to continue the struggle, for they dealt summarily and roughly with the "claim-jumper." But if, on the other hand, he and his family seemed to be honest and thrifty folks who would be a desirable ad- dition to the community, and if his contention that the first claim was unreasonable appeared just, they took no action and the struggle be- came wholly personal. This was a dangerous condition, and in the strife the most determined and persistent won. Sometimes they remained bitter enemies for years, while in other in- stances they became helpful friends after the struggle was over.

One actual occurrence of this kind is narrated to illustrate the conditions then prevailing over the entire county that brought on many such conflicts, sometimes with disastrous results. In 1835 or 1836 a Mr. D -- , who was an unusu ally active, resolute man, settled in the county and commenced making "jack-knife claims" of separate tracts, covering about a quarter sec- tion each, of the choicest pieces of land in that vicinity. He would indicate his "claim" by driving a few stakes or by blazing trees, by plowing a furrow or building a little pole and brush shack, as suited his convenience. The settlers in the locality did not approve of his course, for they desired neighbors and that the land should be improved. By his resolute manner and belligerent attitude, however, he stood-off some people who wished to locate on these lands, and induced others to pay him something for his "claim." At length a Mr. W ------ , looking for a desirable location, ar- rived and camped, and finding such a place and seeing no indications of occupancy, he decided upon a favorable spot and hired a Mr. H-

to assist him in putting up a cabin for his family. It happened to be upon one of Mr. D-'s "claims," and learning of it, Mr. D ------ came to the place where the two men were at work and warned them off. The usual discussion followed; W- refused to admit the claim or to quit work, whereupon D- gathered about him a few rough fellows who were accustomed to follow his lead, and, coming

with a load of rails, commenced building a fence close around the cabin W- and H- - were at work upon. This of course, led to a quarrel, and the principals being hot resolute men, quickly precipitated a fight. W ---- was a large powerful man and de- fended himself with great courage and vigor, but the numbers were too heavily against him, and the battle seemed, as usual, to be going in

-'s favor. Infuriated by the unjust at- tack and unfair odds, W --- pulled his hunt- ing-knife and rushed upon his assailants like a madman, stabbing and cutting some of them and driving them from the field. Fortunately none were seriously wounded. W- - held the land, but the fight created a bitter feud that lasted many years. This dangerous condition existed for six or eight years, until the lands were pre-empted or purchased. The struggles over pre-emption rights were almost as disturb- ing and bitter. The fact that so few homicides occurred, and that these differences were so frequently adjusted without violence, is ample evidence of the innate quality of justice and pewer of self-restraint possessed by the early settlers of the county.

About 1838 the Government began the surveys of the lands of the county, the north tier of townships being first surveyed. Theoretically, and by provision of law also, the township lines should be just six miles apart and run due north and south, and the range lines should also be just six miles apart and run due east and west, thus dividing the land, like a checker- board, into perfect six-mile squares, each con- taining thirty-six sections of one mile square to the section. The township lines start at the "Base Line," which had been very carefully sur- veyed and distinctly located, crossing the State on an exactly east and west line. Its east end is on the Wabash, a little north of Mount Carmel, and its west end is on the Mississippi, a few miles south of Belleville. It crosses at right angles the third principal meredian line at the corners of the four counties of Clinton, Marion, Washingon and Jefferson. The range lines began at the "Third Principal Meridian," which also had been very carefully surveyed and distinctly located, and which runs due north from the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers near Cairo to the Wisconsin State line. This line passes three or four miles west of Rockford. Therefore, the townships

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HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.

of Kane County number north from the Base Line; and the Ranges east from the Third Prin- cipal Meridian. The south line of townships in the county is No. 38 North, which should be 228 miles north of the Base Line, and the north line of townships is No .42 North. The ranges number east from the Third Principal Meridian, and the west line of townships is in Range 6 East, which should be thirty-six miles east of the meridian line, while the east row of townships is in Range 8 East. Knowl- edge of this enables a person to readily locate any properly described tract of land situate in the county. The township and range lines were first surveyed, cutting the county into fifteen townships.

Then another set of surveyors came, and, by east and west and north and south lines, one mile apart, divided each township into thirty-six sections, each one mile square, and containing 640 acres of land. These sec- tions were numbered consecutively, be- ginning at the northeast corner of

the township and numbering west to six, then dropping south bringing seven under six, and numbering east to twelve, and so con- tinuing, back and forth, to number thirty-six in the southeast corner of the township. These surveyors also ran half-section lines, cutting the sections into quarters, and at each quarter-sec- tion corner they drove a stake properly marked to designate the number and the quarter of the section1.

This beautiful system of land-surveys was de- vised by Thomas Hutchins, the first Govern- ment Surveyor, and was adopted by the United States in 1788. It is the best ever yet sug- gested; but, like all human theories, it is not perfect in practical application. The second party of surveyors rarely, if ever, found the township surveys strictly accurate, and con- consequently there would be minus or plus thirty-six even sections in a township. They carried these inaccuracies to the west and to the north sections of the township. But larger errors were made by the first surveyors, who, in running their township lines north from the Base Line, would vary from an exact northerly course and, to get back upon the true line, were compelled to make an offset, like that which projects the north tier of townships of this county, about a mile and, a quarter east of the other townships.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kane County, Part 128

Author: Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 950

Author:
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 950