Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 129

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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Owing to the level surface of the county it has been liable to violent storms, having their origin in atmospheric or electrical influences. Several of these have occurred in different parts of the county with destructive and appalling results. Nothing could withstand their resist- less energy. Their narrow pathway, usually only a few hundred yards in width, was marked by utter destruction. During the past sixty years at least a half dozen such tornadoes have visited Morgan County. Their general direc- tion was from southwest to northeast, follow- ing the same-or nearly the same-paths both in the north and south parts of the county. Owing, doubtless, to the conformation of the surface of the country several miles southwest of Jacksonville, they were deflected north and south of the city in their pathway. Jackson- ville is on almost the same parallel of latitude as Philadelphia in the new, and Lisbon in the old world. It lies south of Madrid, Venice, Constantinople and Rome. It is six hundred miles south of Paris, and eight hundred miles nearer the equator than London. While the mean temperature of Morgan County is about the same as that of England, its summers are like those of Italy and the south of France, while its winters are like those of Sweden or Northern Germany. But happily the winters, kept back by the long, delightful autumns and cut short by the early approach of warm weath- er, are not usually of long duration.

Meteorological Events .- The latitude in which Morgan County is situated seems to be peculiar- ly liable to frequent and violent meteorological conditions. Its longitudinal position, also, in the valley between the great mountain ranges, east and west, is favorable to sudden and ex- treme climatic fluctuations. That fact is con- firmed by the following list of such events, given in the chronological order of their oc- currence.

Dry Season of 1820 .- The season of 1820 was remarkably dry, no considerable fall of rain occurring between April of that year and the same date of the following year. Nevertheless

a good crop of corn and other field products- owing to the richness of the soil and the heavy dews-was grown, affording a sufficient, though scanty, support to the settlers.

Wind Storm of 1821 .-- During the spring of 1821 a storm occurred in which a tree was blown down upon the roof of the cabin of Mr. James B. Crain. The roof was crushed in, and Jehu Reeve was killed. Mrs. Crain was badly injured. One of her arms was broken and one shoulder was put out of place. The broken arm was set by a Mr. Stephen Langworthy, but his limited medical and surgical knowledge did not enable him to discover that the shoulder was out of place, and in consequence Mrs. Crain remained ever afterward a cripple. She was a daughter of Mr. Isaac Reeve, Sr., and was the only white woman in the settlement during the first summer. It is also claimed that she was the mother of the first white child born in the county.

Cyclones of 1825 .- In April, 1825, a very vio- lent cyclone occurred west and northwest of the present site of Jacksonville. At that time Mr. A. K. Barber was teaching school in a log cabin on the farm of Mr. Abraham Johnson, subsequently owned by the late Cortez M. Dewey. Mr. Barber gave the following account of the cyclone: "The school-house had a punch- eon floor, and underneath an excavation which had been used for mixing mortar. There was a terrible rain, hail and wind storm, so that everything in the cabin was wet. The books were put away where they could be best pro- tected, and the teacher and scholars went out- doors to gather up hail and watch the storm. Looking south towards Lynn Grove, where Lynnville is now located, we saw a funnel- shaped cloud approaching. I had read enough of such appearances to know what it meant to all in its path. So we re-entered the school- house, and with my one big scholar put all the little ones down into the mortar hole under the floor. The cyclone struck the neighborhood with great force, but not the school-house. Among the houses unroofed of their clapboard coverings were those of Abraham Johnson, Rob- ert James and James Deaton, Sr. The cotton gin of Mr. Johnson and the cabin of Mr. Stephen Gorham, one and a half miles due west of the Mound, were blown down. Dr. George Cad- well's house near Swinnerton's Point-the only one in the vicinity with a shingle roof-lost

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one-half of its roof, and a house standing about where the County Poor House now is was de- molished. Many fences and trees were leveled to the ground, especially on the Johnson farm. The storm-cloud went on north and west until finally scattered. No lives were lost, so far as is known.

The Deep Snow, 1830-31 .- No meteorological event in the history of Illinois was ever so deeply and universally fixed in the memory of its inhabitants, at that time or since, as "The Deep Snow" of the winter of 1830 and 1831. That winter became famous in the climatology of Illi- nois, where it constitutes an epoch in the mem- ory of the early settlers as "the Winter of the Deep Snow." The storm began in the latter part of November, and the snow continued to fall, with but brief intermissions, until January. Then there came a cold rain, which froze as it fell, forming a crust of ice on the surface of the snow; and then again came more snow, and after that a continuous blast of cold winds from the north, lasting over two weeks. Al- though there was only an average fall of from three to four feet on the level, yet in some places, where it had drifted, the snow banks were seven feet in depth, covering fences and filling up lanes. Add to this unprecedented snow-fall the very low temperature, with the Borean tempest, from the north, and the fact that the people generally, who then inhabited the State, had never experienced anything of the kind and were wholly unprepared for it. and it is not difficult to believe the stories of the suffering and destitution which its pro- longed visitation entailed.

Nearly all kinds of game were destroyed, es- pecially deer, which were unable to run in the snow, and fell an easy precy to the hunter and his dogs. The corn not gathered, and the wheat from the buried stack had to be dug out of the snow for food; and roads cut through the drift to the distant mills. Stock perished for want of sustenance. But as no one then lived very far from the timber, fire-wood was close at hand, though hauled with great difficulty; and the old-fashioned fireplace was never without its cheerful blaze until the snow began to dis- appear early in March.

Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant, one of the found- ers of Illinois College, was a resident at that time. His account of the "Deep Snow" is re- corded in the following extract:

"In the interval between Christmas, 1830, and the New Year, 1831, snow fell over all Central Illinois to the depth of fully three feet on a level. Then came a rain, with weather so cold that it froze as it fell, forming a crust of ice over this three feet of snow, nearly, but not quite, strong enough to bear a man; and finally over this crust of ice there were a few inches of very light snow. The clouds passed away and the wind came down from the northwest with extraordinary ferocity. For weeks-cer- tainly for not less than two weeks-the mer- cury in the thermometer tube was not, on any morning, higher than twelve degrees below zero. The wind was a steady, fierce gale from the northwest, day and night. The air was filled with flying snow, which blinded the eyes and almost stopped the breath of any one who at- tempted to face it. No man could, for any con- siderable length of time, make his way on foot against it. The story of such a winter may be pleasant enough to hear, to one who hopes never to experience it: but the situation of the in- habitants of this county was certainly rather alarming. The people were almost wholly from regions more southern than this, and knew nothing by experience of dealing with such a depth of snow and such cold. Indeed, I had then had some experience of New England win- ter, and have had some since; but I have to this day never seen any other which bore any comparison with that. Jacksonville had then about four hundred people. We were dependent chiefly for keeping warm on having plenty of wood, for our houses were certainly far enough from being warmly built; and yet our supply of fuel for the winter was not, as is more com- monly the case now, piled at our doors before the coming of winter. It was in the forest, and must be brought us through that snow, and by people who were quite unaccustomed to it. Could it be done? It was at first not quite ap- parent that it could. Our corn was in the fields over which this covering of snow was spread. and to a great extent the wheat for our bread was in stacks in like condition. Snow paths could not be broken after the New England fashion. There a few hours of wind blows all the snow from exposed places and deposits it in valleys and behind hills where the wind can not reach it. A little energy. with ox-teams and sleds, will break out a road, and there will be no more trouble till the next snow storm.

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There is no truer picture than that given by Whittier in his 'Snow Bound' of the frolic of breaking the roads after a great snow storm. But nothing of the sort would have been of much use in our case. In this level country there is no end to the drifting as long as the snow lasts and the wind blows. There are no covered places into which the snow can be driven; consequently the path would fill behind a team, or any number of teams, in a few min- utes, so that the track could not be seen. The only way in which snow paths were made was by going as nearly as we could in the same place till the snow was finally trodden hard, and rounded up like a turn-pike. This snow- fall produced constant sleighing for nine weeks, and when, at last, warm rains and sunshine prevailed, about the first of March, melting the snow from fields and untrodden places, the roads remained as lines of ice which disap- peared but gradually. The New Englander has scarcely any such experience of winter as this- certainly not, unless it be quite in Northern New England. We had no railways then, nor any dreams of having them. But our mail com- munications with the rest of the world were interrupted for several weeks continuously. We, in those days, had only one mail a week, and that on horseback from Springfield, and to bring that through that snow required more energy than mail boys in those days were mas- ters of.

"I can not say, after all, that in town there was any very serious amount of suffering-we did get food and fuel, and had a good deal of fun and frolic out of the deep snow, though at the expense of not a few frozen ears, noses and faces. But the loss to the farms in stock and crops was very considerable. Some varieties of wild game were nearly exterminated. Deer were entirely unable to protect, themselves from the dogs and the huntsmen.

"In the spring of 1831 the big snow went off with such a rush that it raised the streams un- usually high. Mr. Thomas Beard, the founder of Beardstown, took his ferryboat out to the slough east of the town, and ferried the people across the slough to get into town."

Shooting Stars, 1833 .- In the fall of 1833 there occurred a strange phenomenon. On the night of the 13th of November there was an ap- parent falling of the stars, like rain from the

clouds. The unusual and extraordinary event created considerable alarm among the people.

The Sudden Freeze, 1836 .- While the average temperature in winter is 29.26 degrees, cold "snaps" are of frequent occurrence. On Jan- uary 28, 1873, the temperature fell to 40 de- grees below zero throughout the central and northern portions of the State. With the snow in some places sixteen inches deep, this was the coldest day ever known in Illinois. The most memorable instance of such sudden fall of tem- perature occurred December 20, 1836. Several inches of snow had fallen on that day, and it was warm enough for rain to fall in the after- noon, which melted the snow into slush and water. About two o'clock in the afternoon it began to grow dark, from a heavy, black cloud which was seen in the northwest. Almost in- stantly the strong wind, traveling at the rate of seventy miles an hour, accompanied by a . deep, bellowing sound, with its icy blast, swept over the land, and everything was instantly frozen hard. The water of the little pools in the roads froze in waves, sharp-edged and pointed, as the gale had blown it. The chickens, pigs and other small animals were frozen in their tracks. Wagon wheels, ceasing to roll, froze to the ground. Men, going to their barns or fields, a short distance from their houses, in slush and water, returned a few minutes later walking on the ice. Some caught out on horse- back were frozen to their saddles, and had to be lifted off and carried to the fire to be thawed apart. Two young men were frozen to death near Rushville. One of them was found sit- ting with his back against a tree, with his horse's bridle over his arm, and his horse frozen in front of him. The other was partly in a kneeling position, with a tinder-box in one hand and a flint in the other, with both eyes open, · as if intent on trying to strike a light. Many other casualties were reported. As to the exact temperature, however, no instrument has left any record; but the ice was frozen in the streams, as variously reported, from six inches to a foot in thickness, in a few hours. Such sudden, violent- and extreme changes are so exceptional as to be remarkable. Judge Sam- uel Wood, of Morgan County, and others then residing in the county are reliable authority for the foregoing account of the "Sudden Freeze" of that memorable day and event.

Judge Wood says he was nearly a mile from

Mt. B. Baxter

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home, in the prairie, when the blast struck him. The slush and water were several inches deep, and before he could get home he could walk upon the top, as they were frozen hard.

Mr. Huram Reeve also remembers that the day was warm and showery during the after- noon. Near two o'clock in the afternoon it grew dark, as if a rain storm was coming, and, in an instant, the strong wind, with an icy blast, came, and all was frozen. He found raccoons, opossums and other animals frozen to death. Between two o'clock p. m. and nine o'clock a. m. the next day the ice had frozen six inches thick.

Daniel L. Clarke says that, on the morning following the sudden freeze of the previous aft- ernoon, he rode his horse across Indian Creek on the ice, and had him in the stable before sunrise, and that the ice was one foot thick.

Little Indian Cyclone, 1845 .- In May, 1845, a cyclone passed about three-quarters of a mile northwest of what is the present site of Liter- berry, following the Little Indian Creek tim- ber in a northeastern direction. Its indescrib- ably violent and resistless force leveled the dense forest of large trees in its path. It de- stroyed a log stable in Morgan County, and the Old Walnut Grove schoolhouse, near Princeton, and the cabin of Mr. Thomas Beard, in Cass County. Its path through the timber could be seen for many years. Some of our present older citizens remember it well, having witnessed its terrible ravages. In later years another tor- nado passed near the same place, but was less violent and destructive.

Snow Storm, 1855 .- In February, 1855, a snow storm prevailed all over the northern and mid- dle portions of the United States. During sev- eral weeks Jacksonville was without news from the rest of the world.

Cyclone, 1855 .- In May. 1855, a terrible c clone swept through the central part of Morgan County. A few persons and some stock were killed, and much property was destroyed.

Cyclone, 1856 .- On the night of the 15th of April, 1856, a cyclone passed over the county, south and southeast of Jacksonville, uprooting trees and destroying property. The noted cy- clones of 1859 and 1880, which were so destruc- tive of life and property, followed the same path of that of 185G.

Cyclone, 1859 .- On the 29th of May, t859, a very destructive cyclone passed over the south part of the county, resulting in some loss of life and much destruction of property.

Warm Winter, 1877 .- On the 19th of October, 1877, it commenced raining, and continued to rain, more or less, every day up to December 27th. On Christmas day fish worms were crawl- ing on the sidewalks, and the streets of Jack- sonville were alnost impassable for teams. Few persons came into the city except on foot or by the railroads. Business was almost suspended. Deep mud, and more or less rain continued un- til the middle of March, 1878.

Cyclone, 1880 .- On May 7, 1880. another de- structive cyclone passed over the south part of the county, following nearly the same path as those of preceding years already mentioned.

Great Sleet Storm of 1883 .- The year 1883 was marked by two storms that will be long remembered as the Blizzard of February 5th, and the Greasy Prairie and Literberry Cyclones of May 18th. On the 2d of February a storm of unusual severity was noted approaching from the northwest. It swept down the watershed of the Missouri River, spreading from the moun- tains to the great lakes, increasing in intensity as it came, blocking all the northwestern rail- roads with snow, causing great delay of trains. The cold was intense. When the storm center had reached the region of Omaha, with its southern wing stretching far down toward the Gulf of Mexico, it made the usual curve to the east and northeast. The great whirl of winds being from right to left, the warmer air from the region of the Gulf was drawn into the storm area, and great modification of the character of the storm resulted. Very soon after reach- ing this point on the night of February 2d, the snow, which prevailed in the regions west and north, ceased, giving place first to a kind of hard-balled snow, gradually changing to fine, dry sleet, and then to a mixture of sleet and rain, which froze solid as fast as it fell. It froze fast to everything. Every tree became a mass of ice, and every twig an icicle. Many valuable fruit and fine ornamental trees were broken down by the mass of ice. As the storm swept on eastward, it continued to be modified by the whirl of the south winds until it became a driving rain which melted down the ten or twelve inches of snow which then covered the ground in Indiana. Ohio and Western Pennsyl- vania, producing the greatest floods ever known in the Ohio River.

In Jacksonville and vicinity the storm, though damaging to trees, telephone and tele- graph wires, was a thing of beauty. Every

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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY.

tree and shrub was brilliant with ice hanging in every conceivable form. No description can do justice to the scene. This continued for nearly a week before there was sufficient warmth and wind to make the ice drop from the trees and other objects to which it clung. The telephone wires of the city were nearly all broken down by the weight of the ice, and that means of communication was almost entirely destroyed for the time. The telegraph wires were in but little better condition, and the rail- roads were actually blocked by the ice on the rails for a short time. In this vicinity the sleighing was good almost continuously up to the 15th of February, at which time a great thaw set in, causing floods which did much damage to bridges and otherwise. At the be- ginning of the thaw there was about one foot of snow and ice on the ground. The fall sea- son of 1883 was unusually wet, delaying the ripening of the late corn. The first frosts came early, doing great injury. There was greater injury done in Morgan County that fall by frosts than before for thirty years. The field of ice above described was not very great in extent. It seems not to have been more than about 100 miles wide in any direction. Jack- sonville was very near its center.

Greasy Prairie Cyclone, 1883 .- In April, May and June of 1883 there were a number of lines of tornadoes developed in different parts of the West. Two of these lines passed over this re- gion. On the 17th of May a storm center passed down the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and spread out into a long belt of low barometer extending from Yankton to the Gulf of Mexico. On the morning of the 18th of May the center of this long belt of low barom- eter changed its movement or course to the northeast, passing to the north of an area of high barometer which lay over the Gulf and Middle States. During that day this entire belt of low barometer passed around to the northeast, and in this rapid movement a line of tornadoes was developed, extending from Springfield, Missouri, almost to Chicago. Al- most directly in this line of barometric disturb- ance that day occurred no less than fifteen dis- tinct tornadoes within the space of five hours. Jacksonville lay directly in the line, and two of the tornado tracks passed near by, one about eight miles to the southeast, the other about five miles to the northwest. These are now

known as the Greasy Prairie and the Literberry Cyclones, and will be long remembered by all citizens living in Morgan County at that time.

The Greasy Prairie tornado first touched the ground in Greene County, a few miles east of Roodhouse, in Section 21, Township 12 North, Range 11 West, and swept in a great curve to the northeast, the concavity of the curve being to the northwest, and left the ground in Sec- tion 21, Township 14 North, Range 9 West, in Morgan County. It formed a path nineteen miles in length through a region of country, most of which was thickly settled. Although no town was struck, the destruction of prop- erty was very great. How the people escaped with so little loss of life seems quite mysterious when looking over the ruins of their dwellings. There were forty-one dwellings entirely

de- stroyed or badly wrecked, besides about the same number of barns and other buildings. Five persons were killed and fifteen seriously hurt. A considerable number of families found shelter in out-door cellars. A number of fami- lies who were not provided with such cellars resorted to thickets of underbrush. All of those came out unharmed. In this tornado all injuries happened to those who remained indoors. In some places this tornado spread out about one mile wide; in others it was much narrower, but not often less than one-fourth of a mile. It was very irregular in outline, and in the effects of its action. It sometimes happened that a part of a house would be left standing, while everything else around was torn to frag- ments for a quarter of a mile on either side; and occasionally there would be a point of de- struction that seemed to be to one side of the storm's track and out of its course. This tor- nado, although much more extensive, and, on the whole, doing much more damage to prop- erty, seemed to lack the compactness, certainty of movement and terrific force of the Literberry tornado of the same day. The cloud accom- panying it seems to have been continually changing its form, so much so that no two ob- servers of it give the same description of what they saw.

The Literberry Cyclone, 1883 .- The Literberry tornado is especially memorable from the fact that it struck and almost totally destroyed the village of Literberry, seven miles north of Jacksonville. It first touched the ground in Section 36, Township 16 North, Range 11 West,

Mrs . B. Baxter

HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY. 643

in Morgan County, at about 8 o'clock p. m., May 18th. It passed into Cass County about the eenter of the south line of Section 31, Town- ship 17 North, Range 9 West. It left Cass County and entered Menard County from See- tion 33, Township 18 North, Range 8 West, hav- ing pursued almost a straight course for a dis- tance of twenty miles. In its course it struck and destroyed nine dwellings, one church and one school-house outside of Literberry, and thir- teen dwellings, two churches, eight business houses, one depot, five freight ears and several large corncribs, besides barns and other out- buildings in Literberry. A few other buildings were more or less injured.

This eyelone was very compact and perfect in outline throughout its course. Its power was irresistible; everything that lay in its path was literally made into kindling wood. To say that houses were destroyed but partially ex- presses the utter destruction of its work. Houses were rent into splinters. Even the fenee posts were generally torn out of the ground or broken down. The large grain seales at Liter- berry were not only destroyed, but the heavy irons were taken out of the pit and carried away or broken up. The bare iron trucks of the freight cars in some instances were carried five hundred yards along its awful path. The cloud accompanying it was always definite in out- line, being cone-shaped with its apex on the ground, and its base upward during most of its course. Different observers agree substan- tially in their description of its form, and other distinctive characteristics.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Morgan County, Part 129

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. cn; Short, William F., 1829- 4n
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286