Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 60

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 698

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INUNDATIONS, REMARKABLE. The most remarkable freshets (or floods) in Illinois history have been those occurring in the Mississippi River; though, of course, the smaller tributaries of that stream have been subject to similar con- ditions. Probably the best account of early floods has been furnished by Gov. John Reynolds in his "Pioneer History of Illinois,"-he having been a witness of a number of them. The first of which any historical record has been pre- served, occurred in 1770. At that time the only white settlements within the present limits of the State were in the American Bottom in the vicinity of Kaskaskia, and there the most serious results were produced. Governor Reynolds says the flood of that year (1770) made considerable encroachments on the east bank of the river adjacent to Fort Chartres, which had originally been erected by the French in 1718 at a distance of three-quarters of a mile from the main channel. The stream continued to advance in this direction until 1772, when the whole bottom was again inundated, and the west wall of the fort, having been undermined, fell into the river. The next extraordinary freshet was in 1784, when the American Bottom was again submerged and the residents of Kaskaskia and the neighboring villages were forced to seek a refuge on the bluffs -some of the people of Cahokia being driven to St. Louis, then a small French village on Spanish soil. The most remarkable flood of the present century occurred in May and June, 1844, as the result of extraordinary rains preceded by heavy winter snows in the Rocky Mountains and rapid spring thaws. At this time the American Bot- tom, opposite St. Louis, was inundated from bluff to bluff, and large steamers passed over the sub-

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merged lands, gathering up cattle and other kinds of property and rescuing the imperiled owners. Some of the villages affected by this flood-as Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Kaskaskia-have never fully recovered from the disaster. Another . considerable flood occurred in 1826, but it was inferior to those of 1784 and 1844. A notable flood occurred in 1851, when the Mississippi, though not so high opposite St. Louis as in 1844, is said to have been several feet higher at Quincy than in the previous year-the difference being due to the fact that the larger portion of the flood of 1844 came from the Missouri River, its effects being most noticeable below the mouth of that stream. Again, in 1868, a flood did con- siderable damage on the Upper Mississippi, reach- ing the highest point since 1851. Floods of a more or less serious character also occurred in 1876, 1880 and again in 1893. Although not so high as some of those previously named, the loss was pro- portionately greater owing to the larger area of improved lands. The flood of 1893 did a great deal of damage at East St. Louis to buildings and railroads, and in the destruction of other classes of property .- Floods in the Ohio River have been frequent and very disastrous, especially in the upper portions of that stream-usually resulting from sudden thaws and ice-gorges in the early spring. With one exception, the highest flood in the Ohio, during the present century, was that of February, 1832, when the water at Cincinnati reached an altitude of sixty-four feet three inches. The recorded altitudes of others of more recent occurrence have been as follows: Dec. 17, 1847 - sixty - three feet seven inches;

1862-fifty-seven feet four inches; 1882-fifty- eight feet seven inches. The highest point reached at New Albany, Ind., in 1883, was seventy-three feet-or four feet higher than the flood of 1832. The greatest altitude reached in historic times, at Cincinnati, was in 1884-the re- corded height being three-quarters of an inch in excess of seventy-one feet. Owing to the smaller area of cultivated lands and other improvements in the Ohio River bottoms within the State of Illinois, the loss has been comparatively smaller than on the Mississippi, although Cairo has suf- fered from both streams. The most serious dis- asters in Illinois territory from overflow of the

Ohio, occurred in connection with the flood of 1883, at Shawneetown, when, out of six hundred houses, all but twenty-eight were flooded to the second story and water ran to a depth of fifteen feet in the main street. A levee, which had been constructed for the protection of the city at great

expense, was almost entirely destroyed, and an appropriation of $60,000 was made by the Legis- lature to indemnify the corporation. On April 3, 1898, the Ohio River broke through the levee at Shawneetown, inundating the whole city and causing the loss of twenty-five lives. Much suffering was caused among the people driven from their homes and deprived of the means of subsistence, and it was found necessary to send them tents from Springfield and supplies of food by the State Government and by private contri- butions from the various cities of the State. The inundation continued for some two or three weeks .- Some destructive floods have occurred in the Chicago River-the most remarkable, since the settlement of the city of Chicago, being that of March 12, 1849. This was the result of an ice- gorge in the Des Plaines River, turning the waters of that stream across "the divide" into Mud Lake, and thence, by way of the South Branch, into the Chicago River. The accumula- tion of waters in the latter broke up the ice, which, forming into packs and gorges, deluged the region between the two rivers. When the superabundant mass of waters and ice in the Chi- cago River began to flow towards the lake, it bore before it not only the accumulated pack-ice, but the vessels which had been tied up at the wharves and other points along the banks for the winter. A contemporaneous history of the event says that there were scattered along the streamat the time, four steamers, six propellers, two sloops, twenty- four brigs and fifty-seven canal boats. Those in the upper part of the stream, being hemmed in by surrounding ice, soon became a part of the moving mass; chains and hawsers were snapped as if they had been whip-cord, and the whole borne lakeward in indescribable confusion. The bridges at Madison, Randolph and Wells Streets gave way in succession before the immense mass, adding, as it moved along, to the general wreck by falling spars, crushed keels and crashing bridge timbers. "Opposite Kinzie wharf," says the record, "the river was choked with sailing- craft of every description, piled together in inex- tricable confusion." While those vessels near the mouth of the river escaped into the lake with comparatively little damage, a large number of those higher up the stream were caught in the gorge and either badly injured or totally wrecked. The loss to the city, from the destruction of bridges, was estimated at $20,000, and to vessels at $88,000-a large sum for that time. The wreck of bridges compelled a return to the primitive system of ferries or extemporized bridges made

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of boats, to furnish means of . communication between the several divisions of the city-a con- dition of affairs which lasted for several months. -- Floods about the same time did considerable damage on the Illinois, Fox and Rock Rivers, their waters being higher than in 1838 or 1833, which were memorable flood years on these in- terior streams. On the former, the village of Peru was partially destroyed, while the bridges on Rock River were all swept away. A flood in the Illinois River, in the spring of 1855, resulted in serious damage to bridges and other property in the vicinity of Ottawa, and there were extensive inundations of the bottom lands along that stream in 1859 and subsequent years .- In Febru- ary, 1857, a second flood in the Chicago River, similar to that of 1849, caused considerable dam- age, but was less destructive than that of the earlier date, as the bridges were more substan- tially constructed .- One of the most extensive floods, in recent times, occurred in the Mississippi River during the latter part of the month of April and early in May, 1897. The value of prop- erty destroyed on the lower Mississippi was estimated at many millions of dollars, and many lives were lost. At Warsaw, Ill., the water reached a height of nineteen feet four inches above low-water mark on April 24, and, at Quincy, nearly nineteen feet on the 28th, while the river, at points between these two cities, was from ten to fifteen miles wide. Some 25,000 acres of farm- ing lands between Quincy and Warsaw were flooded and the growing crops destroyed. At Alton the height reached by the water was twenty-two feet, but in consequence of the strength of the levees protecting the American Bottom, the farmers in that region suffered less than on some previous years.

IPAVA, a town in Fulton County, on one of the branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 10 miles west-southwest of Lewistown, and some 44 miles north of Jacksonville. The county abounds in coal, and coal-mining, as well as agriculture, is a leading industry in the sur- rounding country. Other industries are the manufacture of flour and woolen goods; two banks, four churches, a sanitarium, and a weekly newspaper are also located here. Population (1880), 675; (1890), 667; (1900), 749.

IRON MANUFACTURES. The manufacture of iron, both pig and castings, direct from the furnace, has steadily increased in this State. In , 1880, Illinois ranked seventh in the list of States producing manufactured iron, while, in 1890, it had risen to fourth place, Pennsylvania (which

produces nearly fifty per cent of the total product of the country) retaining the lead, with Ohio and Alabama following. In 1890 Illinois had fifteen complete furnace stacks (as against ten in 1880), turning out 674,506 tons, or seven per cent of the entire output. Since then four additional fur- naces have been completed, but no figures are at hand to show the increase in production. During the decade between 1880 and 1890, the percentage of increase in output was 616.53. The fuel used is chiefly the native bituminous coal, which is abundant and cheap. Of this, 674,506 tons were used; of anthracite coal, only 38,618 tons. Of the total output of pig-iron in the State, during 1890, 616,659 tons were of Bessemer. Charcoal pig is not made in Illinois.

IRON MOUNTAIN, CHESTER & EASTERN RAILROAD. (See Wabash, Chester & Western Railroad.)

IROQUOIS COUNTY, a large county on the eastern border of the State; area, 1,120 square miles; population (1900), 38,014. In 1830 two pioneer settlements mere made almost simultane- ously,-one at Bunkum (now Concord) and the other at Milford. Among those taking up homes at the former were Gurdon S. Hubbard, Benja- min Fry, and Messrs. Cartwright, Thomas, New- comb, and Miller. At Milford located Robert Hill, Samuel Rush, Messrs. Miles, Pickell and Parker, besides the Cox, Moore and Stanley families. Iroquois County was set off from Ver- milion and organized in 1833,-named from the Iroquois Indians, or Iroquois River, which flows through it. The Kickapoos and Pottawatomies did not remove west of the Mississippi until 1836-37, but were always friendly. The seat of government was first located at Montgomery, whence it was removed to Middleport, and finally to Watseka. The county is well timbered and the soil underlaid by both coal and building stone. Clay suitable for brick making and the manufacture of crockery is also found. The Iroquois River and the Sugar, Spring and Beaver Creeks thoroughly drain the county. An abun- dance of pure, cold water may be found anywhere by boring to the depth of from thirty to eighty feet, a fact which encourages grazing and the manufacture of dairy products. The soil is rich, and well adapted to fruit growing. The prin- cipal towns are Gilman (population 1,112), Wat- seka (2,017), and Milford (957).

IROQUOIS RIVER, (sometimes called Picka- mink), rises in Western Indiana and runs westward to Watseka, Ill .; thence it flows north- ward through Iroquois and part of Kankakee

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Counties, entering the Kankakee River some five miles southeast of Kankakee. It is nearly 120 miles long.

IRVING, a village in Montgomery County, on the line of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, 54 miles east-northeast of Alton, and 17 miles east by north of Litchfield; has five churches, flouring and saw mills, creamery, and a weekly newspaper. Population (1890), 630; (1900), 675.

ISHAM, Edward S., lawyer, was born at Bennington, Vt., Jan. 15, 1836; educated at Lawrence Academy and Williams College, Mass., taking his degree at the latter in 1857; was admitted to the bar at Rutland, Vt., in 1858, coming to Chicago the same year. Mr. Isham was a Representative in the Twenty-fourth General Assembly (1864-66) and, in 1881, his name was prominently considered for a position on the Supreme bench of the United States. He is the senior member of the firm of Isham, Lin- coln & Beale, which has had the management of some of the most important cases coming before the Chicago courts.

JACKSON, Huntington Wolcott, lawyer, born in Newark, N. J., Jan. 28, 1841, being descended on the maternal side from Oliver Wolcott, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; received his education at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and at Princeton College, leav- ing the latter at the close of his junior year to enter the army, and taking part in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, a part of the time being on the staff of Maj .- Gen. John Newton, and, later, with Sherman from Chattanooga to Atlanta, finally receiving the rank of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel for gallant and meritorious service. Returning to civil life in 1865, he entered Harvard Law School for one term, then spent a year in Europe, on his return resuming his legal studies at Newark, N. J .; came to Chicago in 1867, and the following year was admitted to the bar; has served as Supervisor of South Chicago, as President of the Chicago Bar Association, and (by appointment of the Comptroller of the Currency) as receiver and attorney of the Third National Bank of Chicago. Under the will of the late John Crerar he became an executor of the estate, and a trustee of the Crerar Library. Died at Newark, N. J., Jan 3, 1901.

JACKSON COUNTY, organized in 1816, and named in honor of Andrew Jackson; area, 580 square miles; population (1900), 33,871. It lies in the southwest portion of the State, the Mis- sissippi River forming its principal western

boundary. The bottom lands along the river are wonderfully fertile, but liable to overflow. It is crossed by a range of hills regarded as a branch of the Ozark range. Toward the east the soil is warm, and well adapted to fruit-growing. One of the richest beds of bituminous coal in the State crops out at various points, varying in depth from a few inches to four or five hundred feet below the surface. Valuable timber and good building stone are found and there are numerous saline springs. Wheat, tobacco and fruit are principal crops. Early pioneers, with the date of their arrival, were as follows: 1814, W. Boon; 1815, Joseph Duncan (afterwards Governor); 1817, Oliver Cross, Mrs. William Kimmel, S. Lewis, E. Harrold, George Butcher and W. Eakin; 1818, the Bysleys, Mark Bradley, James Hughes and John Barron. Brownsville was the first county- seat and an important town, but owing to a dis- astrous fire in 1843, the government was removed to Murphysboro, where Dr. Logan (father of Gen. John A. Logan) donated a tract of land for county-buildings. John A. Logan was born here. The principal towns (with their respective popu- lation, as shown by the United States Census of 1890), were: Murphysboro, 3,880; Carbondale, 2,382; and Grand Tower, 634.

JACKSONVILLE, the county-seat of Morgan County, and an important railroad center ; popu- lation (1890) about 13,000. The town was laid out in 1825, and named in honor of Gen. Andrew Jackson. The first court house was erected in 1826, and among early lawyers were Josiah Lam- born, John J. Hardin, Stephen A. Douglas, and later Richard Yates, afterwards the "War Gov- ernor" of Illinois. It is the seat of several im- portant State institutions, notably the Central Hospital for the Insane, and Institutions for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind- besides private educational institutions, including Illinois College, Illinois Conference Female Col- lege (Methodist), Jacksonville Female Academy, a Business College and others. The city has several banks, a large woolen mill, carriage fac- tories, brick yards, planing mills, and two news- paper establishments, each publishing daily and weekly editions. It justly ranks as one of the most attractive and interesting cities of the State, noted for the hospitality and intelligence of its citizens. Although immigrants from Kentucky and other Southern States predominated in its early settlement, the location there of Illinois College and the Jacksonville Female Academy, about 1830, brought to it many settlers of New England birth, so that it early came to be

MANZ

INSTITUTION FOR DEAF AND DUMB, JACKSONVILLE.

Main Building and Girls' Cottage. INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND, JACKSONVILLE.

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regarded as more distinctively New England in the character of its population than any other town in Southern Illinois. Pop. (1900), 15,078.

JACKSONVILLE FEMALE ACADEMY, an institution for the education of young ladies, at Jacksonville, the oldest of its class in the State. The initial steps for its organization were taken in 1830, the year after the establishment of Illinois College. It may be said to have been an offshoot of the latter, these two constituting the originals of that remarkable group of educational and State Institutions which now exist in that city. Instruction began to be given in the Academy in May, 1833, under the principalship of Miss Sarah C. Crocker, and, in 1835, it was formally incorpo- rated by act of the Legislature, being the first educational institution to receive a charter from that body; though Illinois, McKendree and Shurtleff Colleges were incorporated at a later period of the same session. Among its founders appear the names of Gov. Joseph Duncan, Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant (for fifty years the President or a Professor of Illi- nois College), John P. Wilkinson, Rev. John M. Ellis, David B. Ayers and Dr. Ero Chandler, all of whom, except the last, were prominently identified with the early history of Illinois Col- lege. The list of the alumnæ embraces over five hundred names. The Illinois Conservatory of Music (founded in 1871) and a School of Fine Arts are attached to the Academy, all being under the management of Prof. E. F. Bullard, A.M.

JACKSONVILLE, LOUISVILLE & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. (See Jacksonville & St. Louis Rail- way.)

JACKSONVILLE, NORTHWESTERN & SOUTHEASTERN RAILROAD. (See Jackson- ville & St. Louis Railway.)

JACKSONVILLE & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. Originally chartered as the Illinois Farmers' Rail- road, and constructed from Jacksonville to Waverly in 1870; later changed to the Jacksonville, Northwestern & Southeastern and track extended to Virden (31 miles); in 1879 passed into the hands of a new company under the title of the Jacksonville Southeastern, and was extended as follows: to Litchfield (1880), 23 miles; to Smith- boro (1882), 29 miles; to Centralia (1883), 29 miles -total, 112 miles. In 1887 a section between Centralia and Driver's (1612 miles) was con- structed by the Jacksonville Southeastern, and operated under lease by the successor to that line, but, in 1893, was separated from it under the name of the Louisville & St. Louis Railway. By the use of five miles of trackage on the Louis-

ville & Nashville Railroad, connection was obtained between Driver's and Mount Vernon. The same year (1887) the Jacksonville Southeast- ern obtained control of the Litchfield, Carrollton & Western Railroad, from Litchfield to Columbi- ana on the Illinois River, and the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis, embracing lines from Peoria to St. Louis, via Springfield and Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Southeastern was reorganized in 1890 under the name of the Jacksonville, Louisville & St. Louis Railway, and, in 1893, was placed in the hands of a receiver. The Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Divisions were subsequently separated from the Jacksonville line and placed in charge of a separate receiver. Foreclosure proceedings began in 1894 and, during 1896, the road was sold under foreclosure and reorganized under its pres- ent title. (See Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Rail- road of Illinois.) The capital stock of the Jacksonville & St. Louis Railway (June 30, 1897) was $1,500,000; funded debt, $2,300,000-total, $3,800,000.

JAMES, Colin D., clergyman, was born in Ran- dolph County, now in West Virginia, Jan. 15, 1808; died at Bonita, Kan., Jan. 30, 1888. He was the son of Rev. Dr. William B. James, a pioneer preacher in the Ohio Valley, who removed to Ohio in 1812, settling first in Jefferson County in that State, and later (1814) at Mansfield. Subse- quently the family took up its residence at Helt's Prairie in Vigo (now Vermilion) County, Ind. Before 1830 Colin D. James came to Illinois, and, in 1834, became a minister of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, remaining in active ministerial work until 1871, after which he accepted a super- annuated relation. During his connection with the church in Illinois he served as station preacher or Presiding Elder at the following points: Rock Island (1834); Platteville (1836); Apple River (1837); Paris (1838, '42 and '43); Eugene (1839) ; Georgetown (1840); Shelbyville (1841); Grafton (1844 and '45) ; Sparta District (1845-47) ; Lebanon District (1848-49) ; Alton District (1850) ; Bloom- ington District (1851-52); and later at Jackson- ville, Winchester, Greenfield, Island Grove, Oldtown, Heyworth, Normal, Atlanta, McLean and Shirley. During 1861-62 he acted as agent for the Illinois Female College at Jacksonville, and, in 1871, for the erection of a Metho- dist church at Normal. He was twice married. His first wife (Eliza A. Plasters of Living- ston) died in 1849. The following year he mar- ried Amanda K. Casad, daughter of Dr. Anthony W. Casad. He removed from Normal to Evans- ton in 1876, and from the latter place to

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Kansas in 1879. Of his surviving children, Edmund J. is (1898) Professor in the University of Chicago; John N. is in charge of the mag- netic laboratory in the National Observatory at Washington, D. C .; Benjamin B. is Professor in the State Normal School at St. Cloud, Minn., and George F. is instructor in the Cambridge Preparatory School of Chicago.

JAMES, Edmund Janes, was born, May 21, 1855, at Jacksonville, Morgan County, Ill., the fourth son of Rev. Colin Dew James of the Illi- nois Conference, grandson on his mother's side of Rev. Dr. Anthony Wayne Casad and great- grandson of Samuel Stites (all of whose sketches appear elsewhere in this volume); was educated in the Model Department of the Illinois State Normal School at Bloomington (Normal), from which he graduated in June, 1873, and entered the Northwestern University, at Evanston, Ill., in November of the same year. On May 1, 1874, he was appointed Recorder on the United States Lake Survey, where he continued during one season engaged in work on the lower part of Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence. He entered Harvard College, Nov. 2, 1874, but went to Europe in August, 1875, entering the University of Halle, Oct. 16, 1875, where he graduated, August 4, 1877, with the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. On his return to the United States he was elected Principal of the Public High School in Evanston, Ill., Jan. 1, 1878, but resigned in June, 1879, to accept a position in the Illinois State Normal School at Bloomington as Professor of Latin and Greek, and Principal of the High School Department in connection with the Model School. Resigning this position at Christmas time, 1882, he went to Europe for study ; accepted a position in the University of Pennsylvania as Professor of Public Administration, in Septem- ber, 1883, where he remained for over thirteen years. While here he was, for a time, Secretary of the Graduate Faculty and organized the in- struction in this Department. He was also Director of the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, the first attempt to organize a college course in the field of commerce and industry. During this time he officiated as editor of "The Political Economy and Public Law Series" issued by the University of Pennsylvania. Resigning his position in the University of Pennsylvania on Feb. 1, 1896, he accepted that of Professor of Pub- lic Administration and Director of the University Extension Division in the University of Chicago, where he has since continued. Professor James has been identified with the progress of economic

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume I, Part 60

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. ed. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913. jt. ed. cn; Wilderman, Alonzo St. Clair, 1839-1904, ed; Wilderman, Augusta A., jt. ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 698