USA > Illinois > Cass County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Cass County, Volume II > Part 32
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OTHER PROJECTED RAILROADS.
The same session of the legislature that granted the charter for the Illinois River Rail- road, gave two other charters to companies in- cluding some Cass County residents. On Feb- ruary 11, 1853, a charter for the Beardstown & Petersburg Railroad was granted to Amos Dick, Dr. Charles Sprague, Dr. V. A. Turpin, E. R. Sanders and Dr. Charles Chandler, and others from other counties. The road was to be built from Beardstown, down the Sangamon river
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
bottom, and then across to Petersburg, taking in Chandlerville. This would have been a splen- did route for a railroad, and very beneficial to the farmers along the Sangamon valley, but it was never constructed, not even any stock be- ing subscribed, as far as known. Another char- ter was also granted to some Cass County peo- ple and others, incorporating the Upper & Lower Mississippi River Railroad. Among these in- corporators were Dr. Charles Sprague and Dr. V. A. Turpin, enterprising physicians, who were residents of Beardstown. The road was to be constructed from Jacksonville to Rock Island, by way of Beardstown, Rushville, McComb and Monmouth. Nothing was done with this pro- posed line, and it remained for the next incor- poration running a line through Cass, to at least make a beginning, though the subscribers to the stock would rather, a little later on, that this road had gone the way of the previous one. But Drs. Sprague and Turpin were not content with battling, quite successfully, with the green- head flies and the miasma of the Illinois river bottom, but sought something which promised more remuneration for their labors, and relief from the dreary, monotonous round with pill- box and lancet. Their next venture in the rail- road line was the incorporation of the Rock Island & Alton Railroad. A charter was granted by the legislature February 15, 1855. Among others from Cass were: John Webb, Horace Billings, David Burlington and S. D. Skillings. The road was authorized to be laid out and constructed from Rock Island to McComb, thence to Rushville, thence to Beardstown, thence to Winchester, and from there to Whitehall in Grecne County. The capital stock was to be $3.000.000, and might be increased to $5,000,000. A great amount of stock was subscribed for this road hy people of Cass County, and there was a provision that counties through which the road might pass might become subscribers for stock and issue bonds to pay for the same. Sub- scriptions were made to this enterprise, and also to other railroad schemes, by the county and by private persons, amounting to over $150.000.
In 18SG grading was begun through the town of Beardstown and through the county south of Arenzville, and up the hill beyond Arenzville into Morgan County. One of the chief engineers was Ira Merchant, well known and well remem- bered as a resident of Beardstown, a brother- in-law of Thomas Finney, so long circuit clerk of Cass County. It is worthy of note that the line
of survey which his engineering skill selected for the grade up the big hill beyond Arenzville, is the same line subsequently adopted by the road which ultimately became the property of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The line through the town was west from the pres- ent road; it crossed the river at the foot of Jackson street, and ran on Jackson to block 13, and then turned south. Some of the early set- tlers say it was on Beard street, which is one block further west, but a subsequent lease to the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad, including Jackson street, would indicate that to be the original line. Whichever was the cor- rect line, grading was done and ties were brought by river and unloaded and hauled out over that part of town in great quantities, but were never laid on the grade, nor was ever a rail laid on the proposed road. The project was soon abandoned and the stockholders suffered great financial loss. The prospect of a railroad for Beardstown seemed almost hopeless. Dr. Sprague and other promoters were blamed, but this did not bring back the hard-earned cash that had been invested, nor build a railroad.
ROCKFORD, ROCK ISLAND & ST. LOUIS.
By act of February 16, 1865, the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad Company was incorporated, but no Cass County person's name appears among the list of incorporators. This railroad company secured from Beardstown a lease, on April 1, 1869, for the right to lay a track from the southeastern limits of the town over Morgan and Jackson streets to the Illinois River, and to lay a track along the north ends of all streets from Morgan to Jackson street. Pursuant to the authority granted, work was commenced that year and pushed rapidly for- ward. Thomas Doyle, now chief of police of the city of Beardstown, had charge of a long section of the road, and employed many men, and it is needless to say the work under "Tom" Doyle would not be delayed. After the road bed was graded to a certain extent, it was deemed advisable to have a construction or work train to assist, so arrangements were made to get an engine and some flat cars. One bright morning in the summer of 1869, the sound of a boat whistle was heard up by Muscouteen Bay, and a large and interested crowd of Beardstown people rushed to the river to "see the train come in," and the first train, or at least the engine,
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came in on a boat from Peoria, was promptly unloaded and placed on an improvised track, and in a day or two was at work, with Louis Rodgers as engineer. A track laid along the river front, had enabled the train to gather the material from along the bank, but the first or second trip resulted in a disaster from the road bed having slipped and the rails spreading, pre- cipitating the engine into the river. It was a problem how to extricate it, but the genius and muscle of those hardy constructionists soon conquered, and the rails were raised and a track built under them. As soon as the damage was repaired, work was resumed. The engineer, Louis Rodgers, is still living, residing at some point in Colorado, being at Denver when last heard from by Cass County people. George T. Saunders, the present police magistrate of Beardstown, was also an employe of the road, and recalls many interesting incidents connected with its early history. The first train out of Beardstown was in the summer of 1870, and was an excursion one to Arenzville. Flat cars were provided with seats and they and the engine well decorated with willow boughs and branches from shrubbery. It was a gala occasion and brought joy to the people who had worked so faithfully and spent such large sums of money to secure a railroad. A bridge had been built across the Illinois River the year previous and this road has always been a success, although it has changed hands several times, and is now a part of the vast and magnificent system of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- Dany.
ST. LOUIS, ROCK ISLAND AND CHICAGO DIVISION.
Beardstown was destined from the first to be a division point, and has continued as such to this day. The first shops were small and seem- ingly insignificant, but it must be remembered that all railroads and their equipment were for many years entirely different from those of to- day. The first roundhouse had but six stalls. The work shop was also a small affair, housed in a frame building, and from 15 to 20 men were able to do all the work. Since then as high as 1,000 to 1,200 men have been employed who make their homes at Beardstown. On a day, some six years ago, the pay roll for the company amounted to over $72,000. It now amounts to over $50,000 per month. In the panic of 1893, when cash was difficult of attainment, and the 12
banks of Beardstown, which had been able to handle the business usually without trouble, found themselves in a very tight quarter. Pay was held back for a day, and then the mer- chants and other business men of Beardstown came to the rescue and offered to carry the pay checks, and together with the banks, tided over the crisis. No people in the state or else- where in the country, have been more loyal to their local enterprises than have the people of Beardstown. This road is now known as the St. Louis, Rock Island and Chicago division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and has ot the first main track 57,307 feet, and of the second main track 43,982 feet, and of side track 130,099 in Cass County. It enters the county from Schuyler County by crossing the Illinois River at the foot of Morgan street, and runs southerly through Arenzville and out into Mor- gan County at the south side of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 31, township 17 north, range 11 west. It has a sta- tion named Hagener, on section 13 of the same township and range. Its passenger service is excellent, south to St. Louis, and north to Chi- cago, St. Paul and the great northwest. Its freight business is enormous. Thus good faith, excellent judgment and energy have made Beardstown in the railroad line what it is in other business matters, one of the most pro- gressive of the smaller cities in Illinois.
CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD.
The ouly other railroad in the county is the Chicago & Alton. It was incorporated in 1851 under the name of the St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad. It was opened for business in January, 1858, but in 1SGS it was sold to the Chicago & Alton line, and in 1SS4 became a part of the main line of that road. The first cor- poration secured the right of way with all im- provements of the old Tonica & Petersburg road. The Chicago & Alton Railroad was the first railroad in the world to put on Pullman sleepers and dining cars, and the first to use free re- clining chair cars. It runs through only a small portion of Cass County, entering the county from the south half of section 32, township 17, l'ange 8, and passing through the village of Ashland, exits into Menard County from the northeast quarter of the northcast quarter of section 28, same township and range. It was the advent of this road into the county which
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
induced the laying out of Ashland. The road has of main track iu the county 12,SOS feet, and of side track 5,114 feet. The road has no other station in the county except Ashland, which is regarded as an excellent shipping point for all the east end of Cass County, as well as for a large territory in Sangamon and Menard counties which lie contiguous to Ashland.
PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.
Before the railroads came into the county, the only mode of transportation for either pas- sengers or freight were the stage coach and freight wagon, running along the public high- ways. The main highways were from the south- east part of the county through the present site of Ashland, to Beardstown, covering nearly the same route as the preseut highways from and between those points. The earliest road from the vicinity of Ashland ran nearly west to Walnut Grove, then north to Archibald Job's farm. The state legislature provided for the laying out of the public highways and sev- eral acts are on the statute books conceruing the State Road from Springfield to Beards- town. The oue passed in 1837 provides that after the road reaches the Archibald Job farm it shall run in a direct angle until it strikes the east end of Springfield street in Virginia. Another principal highway was from Beards- towu along Sangamon Bottom to Petersburg, with a branch east of Panther Creek through the timber and bluffs to Springfield. . The first road from the south was the one starting from St. Louis and runuing through Jacksonville to Fort Clark. It struck what is uow Cass County at old Princeton, iu the southeast quarter of section 36, township 17, range 10 west, and ran on northerly past Allendale and the Cun- ningham tan yard. A part of that road is still in use in Cass County.
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Another main road from the south came from Jacksonville, northerly to New Lexington aud from there iuto Cass at about the place where the preseut road enters the county in section 33, township 17, range 10 west, and coutinued on uorth to Virginia, with a branch turning west about the Morgan County line and run- ning westerly to the west side of the Rexroat place. or what was in an early day the Peter Conover land, and there turning north to the Jefferson Crum farm, in early days owned by George H. Bristow, who died there and who is
buried in the old abandoned graveyard nearby, and from that point on northward towards Mon- roe, a little hamlet platted in 1833, passing by the old tavern or iun built in 1838 by John Savage, which house is still standing in excel- lent condition, on the west half of the north- west quarter of section 14, township 17. range 11 west. This house was made a stopping place for the stage line from Jacksonville to Beards- town, and kuown as the "Halfway House" be- tween Jacksonville and Beardstown. After the road reached Monroe it ran over the line marked out by a special committee of the early settlers of that neighborhood who desired a way to get to the market at Beardstown. They had no such outlet until this committee, consisting of Joshua Crow, James Davis and Benjamin Mathews, opened the way northwesterly to in- tersect with the State Road from Springfield to Beardstown. Other lines of road were now rapidly opened aud in looking over the records it appears that Beardstown was like ancient Rome in one respect at least, for all roads led to it. About 1855 some euterprising Beardstown people built a plank toll-road across the sand ridges east towards Virginia. One early settler told the writer that when he was a boy he well remembers that plank road, especially upon one occasion, when he had helped to thresh out a couple of wagon loads of oats. by driving horses in a circle on the ground threshing floor, and then fanned out the chaff with a primitive fan-mill. After that the grain was loaded and he drove one of the teams to Beardstown, over the plank road. He says the boards on the road were mostly cottonwood and the sun had curled up the ends and edges and it was truly a hard road to travel, although it was possible to haul a heavier load over it than could have been hauled over the sand. His troubles were not at au end when he reached Beardstown, for there he found a long string of loaded wagons waiting turn to get into the great warehouse, and he had to sit in the broiling sun for two hours.
Many thousands of dollars in actual money, and many more thousands of dollars in labor value have been spent on the public highways of Cass County, but until within a very few years there have uot been auy very good roads for any considerable portion of the year. More scientific grading and the system of dragging recently introduced. have given us roads that are some better at least. A few hard roads
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have been made in. the county, the first being under the state experimental road law, and ex- tended easterly from Beardstown one mile on the highway commonly known as the State Road, to Virginia, and was laid in 1909. The next year a mile of hard road was laid easterly from Beardstown on the Sangamon Bottom road, and about the same time a half mile of concrete road was laid westerly from Chandlerville. The last of the hard roads to be constructed was the mile of State Aid road, under the road law of 1913, commonly known as the "Tice" law. Some pessimistic and cynical people say that if such progress is continued, Cass County will have, within twenty-seven years, a hard road from one side to the other.
STAGE MISSED AFTER FORTY YEARS.
Of the old stage line that ran from Spring- field to Beardstown or from Jacksonville to Vir- ginia and Beardstown, very little can be learned. No advertisements appear in any of the copies of the early newspapers so far as investiga- tion discloses, except in the newspaper of Fran- cis Arenz, published in 1833, in which a Mr. Kineer says he has established a large barn at the tavern opposite Beardstown, across the Illi- nois, where he has good horses, new carriages and. hacks which he will use as public convey- ances, or let out at private hire, and that his line will be an extension of the Smith & Sanders stage line from Springfield to Beardstown, on into the Military Tract. From that alone is learned who owned the stage line running through the county at that time. It is said upon pretty good authority that the celebrated Frink & Walker stage line at one time had all the branch lines through Cass County. Jacob Dunaway of Virginia was a driver for the stage line in 1849, from Jacksonville to Virginia and from Virginia to Beardstown, but abandoned that exalted position in 1852 for a mercantile business, and in 1854 purchased the stage line from his former employers and conducted it until the railroads put him out of business. The stage made its last trip from Jacksonville to Virginia in the summer of 1869, and the people along the old stage road who had been accus- tomed to see it make its regular trips day after day for forty years, felt they had been moved away back from civilization when it ceased to travel, and New Lexington of early days, which had become old Arcadia, saw its finish. In look-
ing over old records of highways especially, it is seen that the name of New Lexington often appears as a starting point, or place through which the road mentioned should run. No one of the present generation could recall where such a town had been, but a look through the private laws of 1853 disclosed the fact that cit- izens of that embryo city had applied to the . legislature and that on the anniversary of Lin- coln's birthday, February 12, 1853, changed the name from New Lexington to Arcadia.
BRIDGES AND TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE LINES.
Beardstown from 1826 had only one way of getting the denizens of Schuyler County across the river, and that was by the ferry of Thomas Beard. That mode of transfer became obsolete, and in 1SSS, by money advanced by liberal resi- dents, the city council caused a wooden toll- bridge to be constructed across the river from the foot of State street to the Schuyler bank opposite. Subsequently, with money obtained in the same iuanner, this body caused a gravel road to be constructed from the bridge landing in Schuyler County to Frederick. By tolls collected up to 1898, the total cost of the bridge and road had been paid with the exception of $6,500, but the wooden bridge by that time was so ' worn that it was beyond repair. A new bridge was necessary and to meet the emergency the Beardstown Bridge Company was formed and a new steel bridge was built at a cost of $26,911.60. The city council provided by ordi- nance for taking over the bridge from the new company, and consummated the plan and have paid for the steel bridge, which is still in ex- cellent condition and making money for the city. The mayor and aldermen who were in office at that time and had charge of the plan were : John J. Beatty, mayor ; and J. H. Swope, Sylvester Wildes, Z. H. Sextou, Daniel Draser, James G. Neeley, Theodore Schaar, John Madine and George Lukemeyer, aldermen. The attor- ney who prepared the plaus and engineered the legal part of the transaction, was the late Hon. Milton McClure.
The old bridges of wood and iron on the high- ways throughout the county are fast being replaced with concrete structures, which are much more substantial and durable. It is hoped that Cass County will soon get into the proces- sion demanding good roads, aud then construct them.
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The first telegraph line in the county ran along the highway from Jacksonville through Monroe neighborhood to Beardstown. The first telephone line through the county was erected in 1896, the right of way being granted by the county board July 20, 1896, to the Central Union Telephone Company. On March 21, 1898, the county board granted a right of way also to the Illinois Telephone Company. These compa- nies changed hands several times. The Bell Company now has a through line, and the Cass County Telephone Company has a line of connections through most of the county, as well as exchanges, and there are several private lines, so that now Cass County has a complete system of telephone lines and connections reach- ing to almost every point in the entire county.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE PRESS.
FIRST NEWSPAPER-BEARDSTOWN CHRONICLE AND ILLINOIS BOUNTY LAND ADVERTISER-NEUTRAL IN POLITICS- ONE ISSUE OF MORMON PAPER. AT NAUVOO-GAZETTE FOUNDED IN 1845 AT BEARDS- TOWN-BIOGRAPHY OF SYLVESTER EMIMONS-SUB- SEQUENT CHANGES-BEARDSTOWN AND PETERS- BURG GAZETTE-THE WHIG CENTRAL ILLINOISAN -THE DEMOCRAT, THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC PAPER AT BEARDSTOWN-THE GAZETTE ( REPUBLICAN )- THE CENTRAL ILLINOISAN (REPUBLICAN)-BIOG- RAPHY OF LOGAN URIAH REAVIS-MERGING OF NEWSPAPERS-THE ILLINOISAN-DEMOCRAT-THE ILLINOISAN-STAR-THE WEEKLY ENTERPRISE- THE DAILY ILLINOISAN-STAR-THE HERALD- THE CHAMPION-THE CASS COUNTY MESSENGER -THE CASS COUNTY DEMOCRAT-THE BEOBACH- TER AM FLUSS-THE WOCHENBLATT-NEWSPA- PERS AT VIRGINIA-THE OBSERVER-THE OWL- CASS COUNTY TIMES-CASS. COUNTY INDEPEND- ENT-CASS COUNTY UNION-CASS COUNTY DEMO- CRAT-EVOLVING OF THE GAZETTE-PROMINENT NAMES CONNECTED WITH ITS HISTORY-CASS COUNTY COURIER-VIRGINIA COURIER-THE EN- QUIRER-OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE COUNTY-THE JEFFERSONIAN - TEMPERANCE BUGLE - NEWSPA- PERS AT OTHIER POINTS-WEEKLY EAGLE AT ASH- LAND-THE ASHLAND NEWS-TIIE SENTINEL -.
THE NEW ERA AT CHANDLERVILLE-CASS COUNTY JOURNAL-THE INDEPENDENT- THE SANGAMION VALLEY TIJIES-THE ARENZVILLE INDEPENDENT- FEW FILES AVAILABLE-OTHER PUBLICATIONS- BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH IIENRY SHAW-HIS RELI- ABLE HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CASS COUNTY- PROSE AND POETRY-VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO LOCAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.
FIRST NEWSPAPER.
The products of the press of Cass County have been limited almost exclusively to the issuance of newspapers. In that particular line of the printing industry, the county has certainly been very prolific. Only a few books have been writ- ten and published by citizens of this county, and some literary work has been done which found a place of publication elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is interesting to marshal the list of news- papers printed and published in the county, even though the limits of this work necessarily re- quire the mention of each to be exceedingly brief.
While Cass County was yet a part of Morgan County, there came to Beardstown an enter- prising man, frequently mentioned in the pages of this history, Francis A. Arenz, who estab- lished the first newspaper plant founded in any part of the state north of Jacksonville, and south of Chicago. It was named the Beardstown Chronicle and Illinois Bounty Land Advertiser. A brother of Francis A. Arenz, Judge John A. Arenz, now deceased, in writing of his brother, and mentioning the newspaper, said: "He es- tablished the paper as one of the several enter- prises he engaged in for developing the new country and incidentally promoting his own busi- ness interests." There are but few of the copies of the paper now in existence, one being in the State Historical Library at Springfield. It is interesting to note in looking over the columns, the advertisements appearing therein. Its first issue was June 18. 1833, and it was continued until the fall of 1834, when the plant was sold and moved to Rushville. The paper had a wide circulation ; it carried advertisements from Mc- Donoughi. Schuyler, Knox, Fulton. Warren, Adams, Hancock, Morgan, Calhoun and Henry counties. Mr. Arenz was a Whig in politics, but the paper was neutral, and was under the man- agement of John B. Fulks, a long time resident of Beardstown.
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GAZETTE FOUNDED AT BEARDSTOWN.
There was no other paper in Cass County un- til 1845, when Sylvester Emmons of Beardstown established the Gazette. The first issue was August 15, 1845. Mr. Emmons was a lawyer of Beardstown, but had been induced by some gentlemen who had started an anti-Mormon paper at Nauvoo, to move to that place to act as editor for them. He succeeded in getting out one issue of the Expositor, as the Nauvoo paper was called, on June 7, 1844. On June 10 the Nauvoo council declared the paper a nui- sance and directed the mayor to have the es- tablishment removed. Joseph Smith, the Mor- mon leader, was the mayor, and the order of the council was immediately carried into execution. After the destruction of the press, the mayor and sixteen others were arrested for riot. This brought on the Mormon war. Mr. Emmons hastily returned to Beardstown where he re- sumed the practice of law until the following year, when he issued his Gazette. He was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., February 28, 1808, and studied law at Philadelphia, Pa., coming to Hancock County, Ill., later on, and there he was admitted to the bar, in May, 1843. He moved to Beardstown as before stated, prior to going to Nauvoo. After founding the Gazette, he con- ducted it until 1852, during which time it was a Whig in policy. The paper during the Cass and Taylor campaign of 1848, was very ably edited, and made a strenuous and locally suc- cesstul campaign for the Whig party. As a re- sult of his efforts, Mr. Emmons was appointed postmaster of Beardstown in 1849. He was mayor of Beardstown for two terms, was master- in-chancery for the county, and in 1852 was elected circuit clerk of the county. Mr. Emmons was a highly respected citizen, and a very able man, whose death occurred Novem- ber 15, 1881.
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