Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 125

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 724

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In 1STS, the people of Illinois adopted an amendment to the constitution, and in agree- ment with this carefully worded amendment, various acts of the legislature have since been

passed, and in accordance with some of these, this unfortunate district has been greatly im- proved. Under the different acts of the legisla- ture which have been enacted at various times, a great number of drainage and levee projects have been carried out and others are still being planned. Immense tracts of swamps and over- flowed lands, considered almost worthless by our early pioneers, have since been brought to a high state of cultivation and are now by far the richest farm lands in Illinois. Large areas of these wet lands, once called sloughs, which yielded only coarse grass, reeds or rushes, have been improved by what are called "dredge ditches," excavated by powerful steam dredge boats.

The report of the State of Illinois Rivers and Lakes Commission furnishes a tabulated list of all the drainage and levee districts in this state. It gives the titles of 505 of these dis- tricts, situated in 81 different counties, and embracing 2,857,000 acres, with enough more land under contract to bring the total much above 3,000,000 acres. There are 21 counties which do not report any ditches or levees. The cost of all this work is given at nearly $19,000,- 000. It includes 3,118 miles of open dredged ditches and 1,322 miles of levee. These 3,000,- 000 acres are easily worth $100 more per acre on account of the improvement by drainage and . levees which, for the whole state, amounts to $300,000,000. Nearly all of this additional value has come from the intelligent action of the voters of Illinois in the adoption of the drain- age amendment to our state constitution in 1S7S, supplemented as it was by the prompt and care- ful action of the state legislature.

The Cairo District, owned almost entirely by the Halliday family, consisting of 6,400 acres, is a sample of districts constructed on over- flowed river bottom land wholly surrounded by levees, and freed from water by powerful pump- ing machines. The Kaskaskia Island Drainage

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and Levee District is being constructed on this plan of plain levee construction. When com- pleted, it will contain about 11,000 acres of the Great American Bottom, wholly surrounded by a very high levee. The Mississippi River, in 1SS1, broke through the Kaskaskia River a few miles above the old town of Kaskaskia, and has widened that stream so that the entire current from the Mississippi River flows through the en- larged channel, and the town has almost en- tirely disappeared. The old river channel around the west side of the island is now closed, and the Kaskaskia Commons and Common Lands, amounting to about 11,000 acres, includ- ing some private property, under recent legisla- tion, are about to be included in a district to be surrounded by a very high and costly levee, and powerful pumps will drain the enclosed area. Our drainage laws have been gradually adapted to a combination of land and sanitary drainage which will allow cities or villages or both, to be assessed for sanitary improvements in com- pany with adjacent or included territory, to be improved for agricultural purposes. It is al- most impossible, in general statements, to indicate clearly all of the peculiar legal pro- visions for the various conditions of drainage required, all of which provisions have been based upon the constitutional amendment of 187S.

The Hillview Drainage and Levee District of Greene and Scott counties, may be taken as an illustration of a very common variety of dis- tricts which are peculiar to Illinois River bot- toms, although they can be found along the Mississippi and in other parts of the state. The Hillview district is about 7 miles long from north to south and 3 miles from east to west and contains 12,500 acres of land. It lies on the east side of the Illinois River. Like many other river bottom districts, it formerly contained several lakes which had been leased to hunting and fishing clubs. Hurricane Creek in Greene County, which issues from the bluffs at Hill- view, is kept out of the district by the three- mile embankment of the Chicago & Alton Rail- road which forms the levee along the south side of the district. The Big Sandy Creek in Scott County, is leveed on both of its banks, carrying its water out to the Illinois River, and the levee on the north bank forms the south levee of the next district in Scott County, while the levee on its south bank is the north levee of the Hillview district. The west levee of this district is along the west bank of the Illinois River while the

east side of the river consists entirely of high hills or bluffs. As none of the streams coming from these hills are very large, the flood waters of the district are quite easily handled by its pumps. There are about 16 miles of small lateral dredge ditches conveying the drainage all to one main ditch and the pumping plant is located at its outlet. The whole assessment on the district, which included all expenses, except- ing such tile drains as the land owner may desire, was in the neighborhood of $300,000, making an average assessment of about $25 per acre. In this district, as in many others, there was quite a large area of practically waste land before the commencement of the work, and an- other very large area which had long been culti- vated and which possessed considerable value, its owners running the risk of occasional over- flows. Districts like the Hillview district are very common, especially along the Illinois River, Now that the flow of water from the Chicago Sanitary District has been quite fully estab- lished, it is believed that districts of ths char- acter combining very similar features with those here illustrated, will prove to be of great permanent importance. The largest drainage project in this state, outside of Cook County, is the East Side Levee and Sanitary District of East St. Louis. It has been in process of or- ganization for several years and work has been in progress for over three years. It is about 1S miles in length, and its western boundary is the levee along the Mississippi River, much of which is the old levee raised, enlarged and strength- ened. Its average width is 7 miles and it will enclose the cities of East St. Louis, Granite City and Venice, besides several villages.

Cahokia Creek, which is about 55 miles in length, with a drainage area of about 300 square miles, flows through the central portion of East St. Louis and has hitherto been an almost insuperable barrier to modern improvements. Near the point where this large creek comes out of the bluffs and encounters the Great Amer- ican Bottom, quite a number of miles above Granite City, a large canal or outlet has been dredged to the Mississippi bank. It is 100 feet in width at the bottom and on its south bank has been thrown up a levee which will resist the Mississippi River at times of overflow, and forms the north levee of the district. The south levee will extend from the line of bluffs at the southeast corner of the district to its intersec- tion with the southwest corner of the district

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at the river levee, at some distance below the old town of Cahokia. The east side of the district will consist of the uplands and bluffs outside of the lowlands upon which the cities and villages are situated. The drainage water from this high land, and also from the old bed of Cahokia Creek, will be carried in a southerly direction near the line of upland, away from most of the area of the cities, draining some of the lakes and sloughs and having its lower end near the southwest corner, where will be situated the great pumping machinery. This ditch or canal starts at the northwest corner near where the Cahokia Creek is thrown outside of the north- east corner of the district. It will be SO feet wide, and will carry all the surface water of the enclosed district, and will have lateral ditches and connections with the sewers, unless the dif- ferent cities have separate sewer connections near their several old outlets. The estimated cost of this immense undertaking is over $6,000,- 000, and the work is one of untold importance to the region benefitted. The cities and villages included already contain a population of over 100,000 and are growing with great rapidity. The importance of this grand improvement can not at present be fully estimated.

J. H. BURNHAM.

ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Beginning with 1827, various attempts were made to establish a state historical society in the state of Illinois, but all were short lived, however, until 1899, when the present Illinois State Historical Society was organized. In re- sponse to a call signed by Judge Hiram W. Beckwith, Dr. Edmund Janes James and George N. Black, then trustees of the Illinois State His- torical Library, and J. H. Burnham, E. M. Prince, George P. Davis, David McCulloch, and other citizens interested in historical work, a preliminary meeting was held at the University of Illinois. On May 23, 1900, the Illinois State Historical Society was chartered as a corpora- tion under the laws of the state. The objects of the society were thus set forth in the articles of incorporation : "To excite and stimulate a general interest in the history of Illinois; to encourage historical research and investigation and to secure its promulgation ; to collect and preserve all forms of historical data in any way connected with Illinois and its peoples." Hon. Hiram W. Beckwith of Danville, Ill., served as president of the society from 1899 to

1903. He was succeeded by Dr. J. F. Snyder of Virginia, Ill., who served until 1905, when he resigned and was succeeded by Gen. Alfred Orendorff, of Springfield. On the death of General Orendorff in 1909, Col. Clark E. Carr of Galesburg, Ill., was elected as president and served in that capacity until 1913, when, on account of ill health he was made honorary president for life, and Dr. Otto L. Schmidt was elected president. The society has been served by the following as secretary: Evarts Boutell Greene, J. W. Putnam, J. J. McCan Davis, and its present secretary, Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber.

By an act of the legislature approved May 16, 1903, a new section was added to the origi- nal act by which the State Historical Library was organized in 1889. By the provisions of this section (60) the State Historical Society is declared to be a department of the Illinois State Historical Library and the board of trus- tees is authorized to pay certain expenses of the society out of funds appropriated by the legislature to the library for this purpose. In accordance with the provision of this statute the General Assembly has, from time to time, made special appropriations for expenses for the State Historical Society.

The first annual meeting of the society was held in Peoria, Ill., June 5-6, 1900. These an- nual meetings, which were comparatively small at the beginning, have grown in attendance and general interest until they now constitute an im- portant means of bringing together the scat- tered workers in this field from various parts of the state. The membership in the society now numbers over sixteen hundred and in point of membership and interest it ranks as the largest historical society in the United States. When the society was first organized the three trustees of the library were made directors and the president of the board was also made the president of the society. The society as now organized has a board of officers consisting of an honorary president, a president, four vice presidents and a board of directors of fifteen members, elected at the annual meeting of the society. The present officers of the society are : honorary president, Hon. Clark E. Carr, Gales- burg ; president, Dr. Otto L. Schmidt, Chicago ; first vice president, W. T. Norton, Alton ; second vice president, L. Y. Sherman, Springfield ; third vice president, Richard Yates, Springfield ; fourth vice president, George A. Lawrence, Galesburg ; secretary-treasurer, Mrs. Jessie

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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

Palmer Weber. The board of directors are: Edmund J. James, Urbana-Champaign; J. H. Burnham, Bloomington; E. B. Greene, Urbana- Champaign ; Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, Spring- field ; Charles H. Rammelkamp, Jacksonville ; J. O. Cunningham, Urbana ; George W. Smith, Car- bondale; William A. Meese, Moline; Richard V. Carpenter, Belvidere; Edward C. Page, De- Kalb; J. W. Clinton, Polo; Andrew Russel, Jacksonville ; Walter Colyer, Albion; James A. James, Evanston ; H. W. Clendenin, Springfield.

The publications issued by the society are its "Transactions," which contain the papers read at the annual meetings and contributions to state history, and the Journal of the society, which was begun in April, 190S, and it is now issued quarterly under the management of a committee. Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber is chair- man of this committee and editor-in-chief of the Journal, being also secretary of the Histori- cal Society and librarian of the Illinois State Historical Library. Mrs. Weber has been ex- tremely helpful in maintaining a vital relation between the two organizations.

JESSIE PALMER WEBER.

THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LI- BRARY was created by an act of the General Assembly of May 25, 1SS9. The first board of trustees, consisting of Hiram W. Beckwith of Danville, Dr. Arthur Edwards of Chicago, and Edward F. Leonard of Peoria, organized Novem- ber 25, 1889, by electing Mr. Beckwith president, Mr. Leonard, secretary, and Miss Josephine P. Cleveland, librarian. Complying with a request made at the first meeting of the board, the Secretary of State, as ex-officio state librarian, transferred from the Illinois State Library, 442 volumes relating distinctively to the history of the state. The books formed the nucleus of the State Historical Library of today, which now contains 39,700 volumes, besides an inter- esting collection of manuscripts. It has a large and rare collection of books, pictures and manu- scripts. relating to Abraham Lincoln, Illinois' greatest citizen. It has a fine collection of newspaper files which are constantly in use by all classes of citizens. The library is building up a fine collection of genealogical material which is of great assistance to, and much used by, persons interested in the study of ancestry and by those seeking admission to patriotic hereditary societies. The library collects ma-

terial along all lines of state history, natural history, histories of counties, towns, 'cities, vil- lages, churches, travels, biographies of prom- inent citizens, and the part taken by the state in various wars, in short any material that in any way touches upon the history of the state or its people. The purpose of the library as defined by the act creating it is "to procure from time to time, books, pamphlets, manuscripts, monographs, writings and other material bear- ing upon the political, physical, religious or social history of the state."

The labors of the trustees have resulted in the collection of a well selected library relating to Illinois, the Mississippi Valley and the old Northwest Territory. In 1899, there began a series of small volumes designated as "Publica- tions of the Illinois State Historical Library." They were prepared largely under the super- vision of Dr. Edmund J. James, then a pro- fessor at the University of Chicago, and in- cluded a bibliography of Illinois newspapers and two volumes dealing with the "Territorial Rec- ords of Illinois." In 1903 a more ambitious series was undertaken under the title of the "Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library," the first volume of which was edited by Judge H. W. Beckwith. In the year 1905, the work of publication was given a new im- petus by the more liberal action of the General Assembly. Prior to that date, beginning with 1899, small appropriations had been made to the library specifically for publication. In 1905, this amount was increased and in addition an appro- priation was made for procuring documents, papers and materials and publications relating to the Northwest and the State of Illinois. This appropriation made possible for the first time that examination of archives within and with- out the state without which a comprehensive policy of publication could not be carried out. For the purpose of securing the services of historical students in shaping this larger plan of publication, the library board appointed an Advisory Commission, and acting on the advice of this commission, the board accepted a plan of publication in series, each series to consist usually of material belonging to a particular period in the political history of the state, as, for instance, the Virginia series, dealing with the period when the sovereignty in the Illinois Country was claimed by the State of Virginia. In some cases, however, a topical arrangement

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is also provided as in the Lincoln series. Nine volumes of the collections have been published as follows :

Historical Collections of the Illinois State His- torical Library. Ed. by H. W. Beckwith ;

Virginia Series. Vol. I. Cahokia Records, 177S- 1790. Ed. by Clarence Walworth Alvord ;

Lincoln Series. Vol. I. Lincoln-Douglas De- bates. Ed. by Edwin Earle Sparks ;

Executive Series. The Governor's Letter Books, 181S-1834. Ed. by Evarts Boutell Greene and Clarence Walworth Alvord ;

Virginia Series. Vol. II. Kaskaskia Records, 1778-1790. Ed. by Clarence Walworth Alvord ; Executive Series. The Governor's Letter Books,

1840-1853. Ed. by Evarts Boutell Greene and Manfred Thompson ;

Virginia Series. III. George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771-1781. Ed. by James Alton James :

Biographical Series. Vol. I. Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois 1814-1879. Ed. by Franklin William Scott ;

Bibliographical Series. Vol. II. Travel and Description, 1765-1865. By Solon Justus Buck.

The volumes so far published have attracted favorable notice from the general public and from scientific historians as well. In carrying forward the work of publication the trustees have had the cooperation of some of the leading educational institutions of the state. This has been done chiefly through the agency of the Ad- visory Commission, which was organized by the board in 1905, and included, at that time, Prof. E. E. Sparks, of the University of Chicago: J. A. James of Northwestern University ; Charles H. Rammelkamp, of Illinois College ; E. C. Page, of the De Kalb Normal School ; Henry Johnson, of the Eastern Illinois Normal School and

Evarts B. Greene, chairman. Since the organiza- tion of the commission changes in the personnel of the board have taken place, Prof. Sparks leaving to accept the presidency of the Pennsyl- vania State College, his place being taken by Professor A. C. Mclaughlin, head professor of history in the University of Chicago. On the resignation of Professor Henry Johnson, of the Eastern Normal School, this vacancy was filled by the appointment of William A. Meese, of Moline, a well known writer and speaker on Illinois history. The annual Transactions of the Historical Society are issued as publications of the library ; these volumes contain the papers read at the annual meeting of the society and additional contributions to state history. The publications of the library and society are used by students and clubs throughout the state and in many schools they are used as text books for students in state history. During the years of its existence the library board has had but four presidents. Judge Lambert Tree occupied the position for four years, Judge Beckwith until his death in 1903. Dr. Edmund Janes James resigned, and Dr. Evarts Boutell Greene was elected. The present board of trustees consists of three members.

Dr. Evarts Boutell Greene, Urbana,

President,

Dr. Otto L. Schmidt, Chicago, Secretary.

Charles H. Rammelkamp, President Illinois College, Jacksonville.

But two librarians have been appointed, Miss Josephine P. Cleveland, who served in that capacity for eight years or until her death in 1897, and Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, the pres- ent librarian.

JESSIE PALMER WEBER ..

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 125

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857- Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 724

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 724