USA > Illinois > Cass County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Cass County, Volume II > Part 2
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802-803
CHAPTER XXVII.
BEARDSTOWN PRECINCT.
Largest Municipality in County-Eli Cox the Earliest Settler-Lands Entered by Thomas Beard and Enoch C. March-A Claim Made of Earlier Ownership-Downing's Landing-Quarter Sections Made Necessary by River's Course-Original Town of Beardstown Platted -Description-Subsequent Additions-School Lands Donated by Congress-First Town Organization-First Board of Trustees- Reorganization as a Town-List of Town Officials-Legislature of 1857 Fixes Corporate Limits of Town-Oakwoods' Cemetery Asso- ciation-Officials of Same-The German Literary Association- Object and Officials-Gaslight and Coke Company-Incorporators -Beardstown Historically Important-Old Landmarks Recalled- First Schoolhouse Still Standing-Park Hotel-Old Opera House -Two Modern Theaters-Business Men and Firms Fifty Years Ago-City Adopts General Charter in 1897-List of City Officials- A Fine Public Utility-Beardstown Water Company-Artesian Well-Postal Facilities-Street. Paving-Public Library-Fishing Interests-Many Varieties of Fish-Black Bass Plentiful-German Carp Marketed in New York-Pearl Fisheries-A Recent Industry- Real Pearls Found-A Paris Market-Beardstown an Industrial Center-Railroad Division Point-Lumber Mills-Present Principal Business Concerns-Steel Wagon and Foot Bridge-Bright Future 804-809
CHAPTER XXVIII. BLUFF SPRINGS PRECINCT.
Old Bluff House Inn-Beardstown an Early Market-Farmers and Drovers Traveled Long Distances-Voting District Formed in 1882 -Bluff Springs Named-Noted Grain Shipping Point-Early Set- tlers-First Postmaster and Station Agent-Many German Settlers Churches-Methodist Episcopal-German Lutheran-Well Watered -Lost Creek-Clear Creek-Pisturesque Scenery-Beautiful View of the Illinois Valley from the High Bluffs.
809-811
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHANDLERVILLE PRECINCT.
Boundaries-Well Watered-Job's Creek-Panther Creek-Panthers Once Numerous and Dangerous-Panther Creek Station First Post- office-Changed to Chandlerville in 1851-Founded by and Named for Dr. Charles Chandler-A Notable Man-Came Almost Alone to the Sangamon Bottom-Built Log Cabin-Secured Entry Certificate in 1832-Circumvented a Land Shark-His Many Activities-Inter- ested in First Schools-Encouraged Settlements-Promoted Railroad Plans-Founded Mercantile and Meat Packing Concerns-Post- master. at Panther Creek-Appointed by President Polk-List of Settlers in Village in 1848-Subsequent Rapid Increase-Congre- gational Church Organized-Name of Chandlerville Adopted-Fur- ther Development-Illinois River Railroad-Business List of 1860- In 1861 Chartered as a Town-List of First Town Officers-Mills Built-Incorporated as a Village in 1874-All Trades and Profes- sions Represented-An Admirable Place for Residence and Equally for Business
811-816
CHAPTER XXX. HICKORY PRECINCT.
Situation and Boundaries-Fertile Soil of Great Depth-Grain, Clover and Timothy Do Well-Drainage Has Reclaimed Large Tracts of Land-Main Highway the old Beardstown and Petersburg Road- Laid Out in 1837-The "Barrens" Used Principally for Pasturage- Name of Hickory Given by County Board-Hickory Church-Fine Brick Schoolhouse-Voting Place-Prosperity Evident. 816-817
CHAPTER XXXI. INDIAN CREEK PRECINCT.
Smallest in Point of Population-Situation and Boundaries-Much Re- claimed Bottom Land-Now Very Productive-A Part of the Three Mile Strip-Named from Indian Creek-Early Settlers and Descend- ants-Churches and Schoolhouses-Excellent Highways, Telephone Lines, Free Mail Delivery-A Prosperous, Contented Community. . 817-818
CHAPTER XXXII. MONROE PRECINCT.
Named for President Monroe-Town Laid Off Before Cass County Was Created-Situation-Town Platted-New County Established- Early Merchants Remove to Virginia-A Deserted Village-The Boston Brick House-The Baptists Early in the Field-Clear Creek Church-Accept a Deed of Land-Congregation Now Scattered- Methodist Episcopal Church-A Telegraph Line Recalled-An Old Stopping Place of Abraham Lincoln-Original Precinct Established in 1838-Soil and Products-Social Life-People Hospitable-The "Burgoo" a Favorite Form of Entertainment.
818-821
CHAPTER XXXIII.
OREGON PRECINCT.
An Early Settled Section-Location-Boundaries-Surface-Extensive Operations in Stock-Drainage-Cox's Creek-Middle Creek-Pan- ther Creek-Newmanville-Early Physicians-Churches-Baptist- Disciples-German Lutheran-Methodist Episcopal-Oregon Chapel Garner Chapel-A Prosperous Part of Cass County .. 821-822
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PHILADELPHIA PRECINCT.
Date of Organization-First Election Judges-Surface Open Prairie- Philadelphia Village Platted in 1836-Stephen A. Douglas Bought Lots-Town Never Incorporated-First Schoolhouse Built in 1901- After Precinct Division Village Becomes a Postoffice-Early Busi- ness Men-First Murder in County-Local History Given in Other Chapters-Railroads-Considerable Business in Shipping Grain and Stock-People Attend City Churches-No Saloons. 822-823
CHAPTER XXXV.
PRINCETON PRECINCT.
Location-Boundaries-Soil-Little Indian Creek-An Early Gristmill -- Very Early Settlers- A Prominent Family-Town of Princeton Platted in 1833-A Postoffice, Store and Blacksmith Shop in 1826- Other Enterprises-First Physician and First Marriage-Business in 1860-Princeton Home of Noted Men-Charles Beggs-Judge Cyrus Epler-Rev. William T. Beadles-Owns a Madstone-Story of this Wonderful Stone-Princeton Village No More-Voting Place at Little Indian-First Schoolhouse Destroyed by a Cyclone- Churches-Missionary Baptist-Christian-Presbyterian-Method- ist-Zion Church-Zion Cemetery-Time Has Wrought Changes ... 824-827
CHAPTER XXXVI.
RICHMOND PRECINCT.
Situation-Boundaries-Early Political Activities-Lucas Precinct the Original Name-Changed to Richmond-Three Water Courses- Middle Creek- Cleary's Creek-Panther Creek-Varieties of Soil- Much Wealth Among the Farmers-Earliest Settlers-Their Descen- dants-Big Snow Recalled-Tobacco and Cotton Once Grown Exper- imentally-School Districts-Churches-Baptist-Methodist Epis- copal-Cemeteries-No Villages-Precinct Polling Place-Shick- shack Knob 827-829
CHAPTER XXXVII.
VIRGINIA PRECINCT.
Virginia One of the Original Precincts-City of Virginia Laid Out in 1836-Made County Seat in 1838-Dr. Henry H. Hall Entered Land in 1833- A Man of Courage and Enterprise -Born in Ireland-Educated at Belfast and Glasgow-Visits America-Marries in Virginia-Comes to Illinois in 1833- Enters Land-Developing Enterprises Follow-Settlement First Called Hallville-Virginia Becomes Accepted Name-Other Early Settlers-First Taverns-Dr. Hall Donates an Addition to Town- Public Grounds Addition-Builds a Courthouse-Retires to Farm in 1841-Dies in 1847-Virginia Incorporated as a Town-First Board of Trustees-First Town Officers-Early Day Prominent Residents -Business Men-Incorporated as a City in 1872-Again Made County Seat-Railroads Built-Banks Founded-Schools Organized -The Murphy Temperance Movement-Tile and Brick Plants- Other Business Ventures-Conflagrations-Heavy Losses-Present City Not Well Protected-Paved Streets- Result of Virginia Women's First Vote-Additions to Virginia-Grand Villas-Lon- gevity Not Unusual Here-Many Nonagenarians-Walnut Ridge Cemetery-Public Recreations-The Oldtime Traveling Circus-Its Thrilling Interest-Its Magical Attraction-Its Memory Lingers .... 830-837
CHAPTER XXXVIII. BIOGRAPHICAL.
The Part of Biography in General History-Citizens of Cass County and Outlines of Personal History-Personal Sketches Arranged in Encyclopedic Order
839-986
-
PORTRAITS
Alkire, Milem J.
624
Crum, Sarah A. 748
Crum, Thomas J. 744
Crum, William W. 752
Cullom, Shelby M.
266
Cunningham, Henry 768
Cunningham, James 764
Bartlett, Mrs. Sylvester J. 632
Bateman, Newton ...
. Following Title Page Vol. I
Baxter, Albert C. 648
Baxter, Ellen 644
Baxter, Ethel J. 652
Baxter, Hiramı B. 640
Baxter, Hiram B. (as a soldier) 636
Beard, Thomas
620
Beveridge, John L.
266
Biddlecome, Amanda F 662
Biddlecome, Daniel 658
Bierhaus, John M. 672
Bierhaus, Mrs. John M. 676
Bissell, William H. 258
Black Hawk (chief). 170
Blume, Carrie 688
Blume, Charles 684
Bond, Shadrach 250
Boone, Howard B. 696
Brandon, Paris A 700
Brauer, Anna E 712
Brauer, Louis E.
708
Buck, Walter E
720
Carlin, Thomas 258
Chicagou (chief) 246
Coles, Edward 254
Crum, Anne M. 756
Crum, Eben R. 724
Crum, Mrs. Eben R. 724
Crum, Marquis L
732
Cunningham, Mrs. James. 764
Day, Harry L. 772
Deneen, Charles S. 274
Dick, Edward 776
Dick, Mamie 776
Dieterich, William H 780
Dowler, Johanna G. 784
Dufelmeier, William and Family. 788
Duncan, Joseph 254
Dunne, Edward F 274
Edwards, Ninian 250
Ewing, William L. D. 254
Fifer, Joseph W 270
Ford, Thomas
258
Frank, Charles 792
Frank, Robert C. 796
French, Augustus C. 258
Hamilton, John M 266
Hines, Annetta
804
Hines, Harrison
804
Kendall, Orren
808
Kendall, Sarah E.
812
LaSalle, Reni Robert. 246
Leonhard, Charles 816
Leonhard, Lillie 816
Lincoln, Abraham
Frontispiece Vol. I
Lincoln, Abraham
620
Crum, Mary F.
736
Lucas, Allen T.
820
Altgeld, John P. 270
Armstrong, Claude J 628
. Armstrong, Edith F. 628
Bartlett, Sylvester .
632
Lucas, Fae R. 820
Lucas, Josephine S. 820
Lyles, Albert R. 824
Martin, Charles Æ Frontispiece
Matteson, Joel A 258
McClure, Lloyd M. 832
McClure, Milton 828
McCollough, William E 836
Meyer, Albert H. and Family
840
Nollsch, Alfred J. 848
Nollsch, Mrs. Alfred J. 848
Nollsch, Gottlieb 844
Nollsch, Mrs. Gottlieb 844
Nollsel, Thomas C.
852
Nollsch, Mrs. Thomas C.
852
Oglesby, Richard J 262
Palmer, John M. 266
Petefish, Louis A. 856
Phelps, John W. and Family. 860
Phillips, Henry
864
Price, Jennie M.
872
Price, William T
868
Quernheim, Theodore
880
Quernheim, Mrs. Theodore 880
Quigg, Henry
884
Reynolds, John
254
Schaad, Andrew 888
Schall, Anna 892
Schall, Edward 892 Selby, Paul. .Following Title Page Vol. I
Shankland, Ora 896
Shankland, Mrs. Ora 896
Skiles, Lee 904
Skiles, Louis O. 908
Skiles, Oswell 900
Snyder, John F 864
Sowers, Jesse 912
Sowers, Ruth E. 916
St. Clair, Arthur 250
Stribling, Roberta G. 924
Stribling, William B. 920
1
Tanner, John R.
270
Tonty, Henry de 246
Traut, Frank J 928
Treadway, Jefferson V. and Family . 932
Virgin, John W.
936
Virgin, Lou M.
936
War Eagle (chief)
246
Wood, John
262
Wright, Anna N. 940
Wright, John S. 940
Yates, Richard, Jr
274
Yates, Richard, Sr.
262
ILLUSTRATIONS
Baling the Threshed Straw 801
Baptist Church, Ashland.
761
B. & O. Railroad Station, Virginia. 680
Breaking the Soil .. 800
Catholic Church, Ashland. 761
Central School, Beardstown
741
Christian Church, Virginia. 704
City Hall, Beardstown. 716
Country Home of William T. Price.
876
County Jail, Virginia
668
Court House (First), Virginia.
668
Court House (Present), Virginia
668
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Virginia.
705
Cumberland Presbyterian Seminary, Virginia.
705
Disking the Stubble Ground.
800
East Side of Main Street, Virginia.
680
Farm Team at Work in the Field. 800
740
Fish-Fry Day, Beardstown. 728
Fourth Street Lutheran Church, Beardstown
740
High School, Årensville
717
High School, Ashland.
761
High School Building, Virginia (Former)
693
High School, Virginia (Present)
693
I. M. Stribling Homestead.
692
Library Building, Beardstown
716
Lincoln School, Beardstown 741
Lippincott Memorial Hall. 705
Main Street, Ashland. 760
Mann Hotel, Virginia. 680
Map of Cass County Following Title Page
Methodist Episcopal Church, Ashland. 761
Methodist Episcopal Church, Beardstown 716
Methodist Episcopal Church, Virginia. 704 New Beard School, Beardstown 741
North Main Street, Virginia 681
Park Hotel, Beardstown 728
First Congregational Church, Beardstown
First Presbyterian Church, Virginia 704
Public School, Chandlerville. 717 Remains of the Largest Mounds 729 760 Residence District, Ashland Residence District, Beardstown 717 Residence of Dr. Charles Chandler, Chandlerville. 761 760
Residence of Dr. Henry Hall, Virginia.
Residence of William T. Price, Virginia
876 692 681
Ruins of M. E. Church, Virginia
Scene on Henderson Lake.
Sheriff's Residence, Virginia. 668
Sixth Street Lutheran Church, Beardstown. 740
South Side of Court House Square, Virginia 680 St. Alexius Catholic Church, Beardstown
740 728
Steamboat "Bald Eagle"
Steam Threshing Outfit at Work
Steel Bridge, Beardstown
Union College, Virginia
View in Residence Portion of Virginia
705 681 693
Virginia Primary School.
Washington School, Beardstown
741
Wheat and Corn Fields 800
Wheat in the Stack 801
729 801 729
State Street, Beardstown
Frase Martin
1
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
-
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
GEOGRAPHY-GEOLOGY-NATURAL VEGETATION-FOR- ESTS AND PRAIRIES-PICTURESQUE SCENERY- WATER COURSES-SANGAMON COUNTY-ORIGIN OF NAME-SANGAMON RIVER-EARLY ATTEMPTS AT NAVIGATION.
GEOGRAPHY.
Cass County is not one of the large counties of Illinois, nor yet is it one of the smallest. Its greatest extent is from east to west and is thirty-one miles long on the southern border, or southern tier of townships. Its greatest width is seventeen miles, from north to south. It comprises 390 square miles, or about 250,000 acres. Its northern boundary line is the San- gamon River, which crosses a middle line of range 8, west, which is the eastern boundary of the county, in section 16, township 19, north, range 8, west. After running in a very crooked, meandering way, the river empties its waters into the Illinois River in section S, township 19, range 12, west. From that point on to the southwest, the Illinois River forms the western boundary of Cass County to the south line of township 17, north, range 10, west. These two rivers give to Cass County a river frontage of about forty-five miles.
-
Cass County prairie lands and practically all timber or "barren" lands lie about 630 feet above the ocean level, forty-five feet above the level of Lake Michigan; and 340 feet above low water at Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio River.
As to soil, the following is, with some slight changes to conform to later discoveries, taken
from the compilation of facts concerning the geological formation of Cass County, by J. Henry Shaw: "The soil of this county is the same as that in the whole of this portion of the state, a dark-colored loam with a lighter colored clay sub-soil. On the ridges and bluffs which skirt the streamis, we find this sub-soil every- where, except upon the Loess formation, ex- posed at the surface of the ground, and gener- ally bearing a heavy growth of timber. On tlie bottom land the soil is an alluvial arenaceous loam, and excepting in localities where the sand too greatly predominates, is an excellent pro- ductive soil."
GEOLOGY.
The geological formations in this county con. sist of the Quaternay deposits, the Loess and Drift, and the Coal Measures, which alone of the older formations underlie the surface beds of clay, gravel, etc. The Loess forms the bluffs along the Illinois and Sangamon bottoms. Its general features here are the same as in many river counties, and it forms the same bold bluffs that are seen in other localities along the Illi- nois and Mississippi rivers. The material here is an ash or buff-colored marly sand, containing fresh water shells of existing species. The thickness of the formation is considerable, some 60 or 70 feet immediately at the bluffs, but it rapidly thins out in the back country, in many places disappearing entirely within a very short distance. It appears to extend further inland along the Sangamon Valley bluffs north of Vir- ginia, and several good sections of this deposit may be seen in the cuts made for the road bed on the right of way of the Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad (now the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad) between Virginia and Chandlerville. Deposits of Drift consist of brown, yellow and blue clay, with boulders, while sand and gravel seams are of frequent
617
.
618
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
occurrence amid the mass. The thickness can hardly be estimated, but from such experiments as have been made, it appears to be between 40 and 100 feet.
Coal Measures as far as developed, comprise a thickness of over 300 feet of the middle and lower portion of the series, which contains two or three seams of coal of workable thickness. The principal exposures, commencing with the lowest, are as follows :
In the southwest part of section 21, township 18, range 11, at the edge of the bluffs along the Illinois Valley, and also along the bluffs of the Sangamon Valley in sections 10 and 11, town- ship 18, north, range 11, west, are old coal mines, and one new one now in operation, but not producing a great amount of coal. It proba- bly would do better if more attention were given to it. These are reported to have the fol- lowing sections: 1, soil (Loess), 15 feet; 2, brownish sandstone containing many vegetable impressions, 13 feet ; 3, limestone (Blue Rock), 2 feet ; 4, clay shale (Soapstone), 12 feet; 5, coal (No. 1 of Illinois River section), 3 feet ; 6, fire clay, very hard, 4 feet. No. 2 of this sec- tion crops out along the bluff road at the edge of the bluffs and a few rods further west, in ledges several feet in vertical exposure. It is soft mieaceous sandstone, of a light or whitish brown color. About a quarter of a mile further north the coal seam No. 4 is reached by digging into the foot of the bluff and worked by strip- ping. Above the north line of section 21, the bluffs for about two miles, are mostly of Loess, and it is necessary to follow up the side ravines in order to see the exposure of rock, and fol- lowing up the various ravines along the San- gamon Valley bluffs, the investigator will find much the same condition of rock, sand and soil, Drift and shale, and, occasionally, some black slate. A shallow coal shaft in the southeast quarter of section 6, township 18, range 9, near Panther Creek, affords the following sections : No. 1, surface soil, 4 feet; 2, gravel (Blue Bind), 2 feet ; 3, black slate, 2 feet ; 4, clay shale (Soapstone), 13 feet; coal, 2 fect, 6 inches; fire clay, passing downward into nodular lime- stone, 2 feet : 7, clay penetrated, 2 feet.
All parts of Cass County appear to be under- laid by coal measures which here inchide the horizon of four or five different seauis of coal. It seems highly probable that there is no por- tion of Cass County outside of the river bottom
lands that is not underlaid with at least one coal bed of workable thickness.
A coal shaft was sunk at Virginia in 1SS2 by the Virginia Coal & Water Company and was worked with more or less success for a number of years and then abandoned. The coal mined was of a good quality, and was used mostly by local consumers. A mine was also operated at Ashland for a number of years until it was no longer profitable, by reason of competition by other mines in central Illinois with better facilities for shipping. What has been said of the geological formation gives the reader a gen- eral idea of the surface conditions of Cass County, and its possibilities for mining.
NATURAL VEGETATION.
When the early settlers arrived in Cass County, they found the southeast half largely prairie, covered with tall, coarse grass, with heavy roots extending deep into the ground. Often the grass grew so high that before the wild fires started and consumed it, a man on horseback could scarcely be seen within it; and traveling through it was very difficult, even on horseback, and almost impossible with a team and wagon. The movers and settlers kept close to the path that was once broken. Wonder is sometimes expressed by those who have seen these same prairies under cultivation, with deep rustling fields of corn and golden grain, or in meadow and pasture of tame grasses, why the early settlers passed by such valuable lands and made their homes in the edge of the timber on much inferior soil. The reason is very appar- ent to those who know the conditions that confronted the pioneer. It was absolutely nec- essary to have firewood, and some kind of ma- terial with which to construct houses. Many pioneers came from Kentucky, Tennessee and old Virginia, where they had lived in log cabins, and knew how to construct them. In the tim- ber along the creeks they found abundant tall, straight trees which they knew could be readily felled, hewed and shaped into logs for the walls of their cabins, and the task of preparing a field for first erops was much less formidable in the timber along the edges of the prairies. On account of the forest fires, the timber was kept pretty clear of underbrush and smaller trees, or saplings as they are called, leaving only the larger trees and they were not very close together. A corn field was often prepared by
619
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
simply "girdling" the larger trees, this being done by cutting a band around the tree out of its bark, near the ground, thus causing the tree to die. It then bore no leaves to shade the ground, and its roots drew no sustenance from the soil. The farmer could plow close up around the tree with almost as little difficulty as he could around a stump.
Then again the timber settlers had material in hand for fencing their fields and lots. Many of the first fences were, however, but brush fences, constructed by piling the brush and smaller limbs cut from the fallen trees in such a way as to form a barrier to keep the stock from wandering away. These fences answered the purpose for which they were made for sev- eral years better than might be supposed. There was also in the timber, protection for the stock and for the people from the fierce winds and storms of winter, which they could not have with- stood in the open prairies. The prairies did not present a very inviting prospect for agricul- ture in those days, even when they were burned off by fires, as there was revealed a wide stretch of uneven, boggy and sometimes miry land that had every appearance of requiring years of laborious toil to put it in condition to yield passable crops of the cereals with which the early settler was acquainted. Indeed they were more than half right about it. It has required time, labor and ingenuity to work the miracle. Where once was a houseless, roadless, even pathless wilderness, the habitude of howling, roaring wild animals, and a fiercer, wilder, sav- age human element, there is now a veritable Garden of Eden.
FORESTS AND PRAIRIES.
A large portion of the surface of Cass County consists of prairie; and the county also has a large extent of bottom lands in the valleys of the Sangamon and Illinois rivers. The Sanga- mon Valley varies in width from two to eight miles, its widest portion being about where the bluff line turns south, forming the eastern high- land border of the Illinois Valley, in section 9, township 18, range 12. The Illinois Valley in Cass County is of wider extent than the Sangamon, but does not have an equal propor- tion of as valuable, fertile soil, on account of a number of sand ridges extending through parts of it. Yet this Illinois bottom, if it were not for the lakes and sloughs that cover a portion
of it, would be as fertile a region as could be found anywhere in the State of Illinois.
The prairie lands are now broken and placed under cultivation, and are perhaps as fertile as is known in any agricultural district. They ex- tend from the south line of the county north- ward east of the village of Arenzville; their northwestern border being nearly a diagonal line to the northeast corner of the county. The soil is of a rich, dark color, having the general char- acteristics of the other prairie soil in Illinois. Between the prairies and the Illinois and San- gamnon valleys are the timbered lands, beginning at the edge of the prairies and extending to within a short distance of the valleys where they end in high and sometimes very abrupt bluffs, having little or no vegetation upon them. Others of these bluffs slope more gently to the valleys beyond, and are covered with wild grasses that furnish grazing for stock a large portion of the year. These timber or forest lands are what are called the "barrens," pro- nounced by the early settlers "barns." This name was given to these lands because their fertility was supposed to have been very much exhausted and nonproductive by reason of the variety of trees growing on them, and also on account of the fires running through them from the prairies, which it was believed cooked the soil. The very fact that these lands were cov- ered with the excellent growth of timber found there, indicated the productiveness of the soil, and the settlers soon learned that the land known as the barrens when cleared and put under cultivation, produced magnificent crops of cereals, especially winter wheat. Indeed many of the so-called barren farms have become equally productive of as great a variety of vegetables, cereals and tame grasses as the prai- rie farms. The soil of the timber regions is generally of a light grey colored clay. On this land was a heavy growth of black, white and red oak, pin oak, laurel oak, walnut, butternut, white and red elm, hickory, iron wood, sassafras, redbud, hackberry, soft and sugar maple, swamp white oak, chinquapin, sycamore, pawpaw, the last four varieties being found along the streams. Many cottonwood trees were to be found stand- ing alone on the prairies. Wild cherry and locust were also found in great abundance, while among the smaller trees were the black and red haws. On the lower bottom lands were found great groves of shellbark hickory, and pecan, as well as many of the varieties men-
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