Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 57

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388


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1865 .- The War of the Rebellion ends.


J868 .- Gen. U. S. Grant elected to the Presidency.


1870 .- The third State Copatitution adopted.


POPULATION OF ILLINOIS


At Each Decennial Census from 1810 to 1890.


1810 (23)


12,282


1860 (4)


1,711,951


1820 (24)


55,162


1870 (4)


2,539,891


1830 (20).


157,445


1880 (+)


3,077,871


1840 (14)


476,183


1890 (3) ..


3 826,351


1850 (11).


851,470


1899 (est.) 4.500,000


NOTE .- Figures in parenthesis indicate the rank of the State in order of population.


ILLINOIS CITIES


Having a Population of 10,000 and Over (1890).


Name.


Population.


Name.


Population.


Chicago ..


1,099,850


Belleville.


15,361


Chicago ( 1898).


1,851,588


Galesburg ..


15,264


Peoria ..


41,024


East St. Louis


15,169


Quincy.


31,494


Rock Island.


13,634


Springfield.


24,963


Jacksonville.


12,935


Rockford


23,584


Moline. 12,000


Joliet. .


23,264


Danville


11.491


Bloomington ..


20,484


Streator


11,414


Aurora


19,688


Cairo.


10 324


Elgin ..


17,823


Alton ....


10,294


Decatur


16,841


Freeport


10,189


285


HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.


INDEX.


This index relates exclusively to matter embraced In the article under the title "Illinois." Subjects of general State history will be found treated at langth, under topical heads, in tha body of the Encyclopedia.


Admission of Illinois as a State, 258.


Altgeld, John P., administration as Gov- arnor, 279-80; defeated for re-election, 281. Anderson, Stinson H., 264.


Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention, 256. Anti-slavery contest of 1822-24; defeat of a convention scheme, 260.


Baker, Col. E. D., 263; orator at laying the corner-stone of State capitol, 264. Bateman, Newton, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 270, 274, 275.


Beveridge, John L., Congressman and Lieutenant-Governor; becomes Governor by resignation of Governor Oglegby, 276. Rirkbeck, Morris, 260.


Bissell, William H., Colonel In Mexican War, 265; Governor, 269; death, 270. Black Hawk War, 262.


Blodgett, Henry W., Free Suil member of the Legislature. 268,


Bloomington Convention (1856), 269.


Boisbriant, first French Commandant, 249. Bond, Shadrach, 255; Delegate in Congress, 257; first Governor, 258.


Breese, Sidney, 259. Browoe, Thomas C., 260,


Browning, Orville H., in Bloomington Convention, 269; U. S. Senator. 273.


Cahokia, first French settlement at, 252.


Camp Douglas conspiracy, 273. Canal Scrip Frand, 270.


Carlin, Thomas, elected Governor, 263.


Casey, Zaduc, elected to Congress: re- signs the Lientenant-Governorship, 262. Charlevoix visits Illinois, 247


Chicago and Calumet Rivers, Importance of in estimation of early explorers, 247 Chicago election frands, 278.


Chicago, fire of 1871, 276.


Chicagon, Indian Chlef for whom Chicago was named, 248.


Clark, Col. George Rogers, expedition to Illinois; capture of Kaskaskia, 251.


Coles, Edward, emancipates his slaves; candidate for Governor, 259; his election, 260; persecuted by his enemies, 261. Constitutional Convention of 1818, 258. Constitutional Convention of 1847, 266. Constitutional Convention of 1862, 272. Constitutional Cuavention of 1870, 275.


Cook, Daniel P., 255: Attorney-General, 258; elected to Congress, 260-61.


Craig, Capt. Thomas. expedition against Indians at Pepria, 257.


Cullom, Shelby M., Speaker of General As- sembly, 270; elected Governor, 276; fea- tures of his administration; re-elected, 277; elected to U. S. Senate, 278.


Davis, David, United States Senator, 277. Donglas, Stephen A., 263; Justice Supreme Court, 264, U. S. Senator, 266; debates with Lincoln, 268-70; re-elected U. S. Sen- ator, 270; death, 272.


Duncan, Joseph, Governor; character of hls administration, 262-63.


Early towns, 258. Earthquake of 1811. 256.


Edwards, Niplan, Governor Illinols Terri- tory, 255. elected U. S. Senator, 259; alected Governor; administration and death, 261.


Ewing, William L. D., becomes acting Governor; occupant of many offices, 262. Explorers, early French, 244-5. Farwell, Charles B., 279. Field-McClernand contest, 264. Fifer, Joseph W., elected Governor, 279.


Fisher, Dr. George, Speaker of Territorial House of Representatives, 257.


Ford, Thomas, Governor; embarrassing questions of his administration, 264. Fort Chartres, surrendered to British, 250. Fort Dearborn massacre, 256-57. Furt Gage burned, 251.


Fort Massac, starting point on the Ohio of Clark's expedition, 251.


Fort St. Louis, 246; raided and burned by Indians, 247.


Franklin, Benjamin, Indian Commissioner for Illinois in 1775, 251.


French, Augustus C., Governor. 265-7. French and Indian War, 250.


French occupation; settlement about Kas- kaskia and Cahokia, 249.


French villages, population of iu 1765, 251. Glbanlt. Pierre, 252.


Grant, Ulysses S., arrival at Springfield; Colonel of Twenty-first Illinois Volno- teers, 271: elected President 275.


Gresham, Walter Q., supported by Illinois Republicans for the Presidency, 279.


Hamilton, John M .. Lientenant-Governor, 277; succeeds Gov. Cullom, 278. Hansen-Shaw contest, 260.


Hardın, John J., 263; elected to Congress, 264; killed at Buena Vista, 265.


Harrison, William Henry, first Governor of Indiana Territory, 254.


Henry, Patrick, Indian Commissioner for Illinois Country; assiste in planning Clark's expedition, 251; ex-ufficio Gov- ernor of territory northwest of the Ohio River


Illinois, its rank in order of admission into the Union, area and population, 241; In- dian origin of the name: boundaries and area; geographical location; navigable streams, 242; topography, fanna and flora, 243; soil and climate, 243-44; con- test for occupation, 244: part of Louisi- Ans in 1721, 249; surrendered to the British in 1765, 251 ; under government of Virginia, 252: part of Indiana Territory, 254; Territorial Government organized; Ninian Edwards appointed Governor, 255; admitted as a State, 258


Illinois & Michigan Canal, 261.


Illinois Central Railroad, 267-68.


"Illinois Country," boundaries defined by Captain Pittman, 241; Patrick Henry, first American Governor, 252.


Illinois County organized by Virginia House of Delegates, 252.


Illinois Territory organized; first Territo- rial officers, 255.


Indiana Territory organized. 254; first Territorial Legislature elected, 255.


Indian tribes; location in Illinois, 247. Interual improvement acheme, 263.


Joliet, Louis, accompanied by Marquette, visits Illinois in 1673, 245. Kane, Elias Kent, 258.


Kansas-Nebraska contest, 268.


Kaskaskia Indians remove from Upper Illinois to mouth of Kaskaskia, 248.


Kenton, Simon, guide for Clark's expedi- tion against Kaskaskia, 251.


Labor disturbances, 270, 280, 283.


La Fayette, visit of, to Kaskaskia, 261.


La Salle, expedition to Illinois in 1679-80, 245; builda Fort Miami, near month of St. Joseph; disaster of Fort Creve-Cœur; erection of Fort St. Louis, 246.


Lincoln, Abrahamn, Representative in the General Assembly, 203; elected to Con- gress, 266; nusuccessful candidate for the United States Senate; meinber of Bloomington Convention of 1856; " House divided-against-Itself" speech, 269; elected President, 270: departure for Washington, 271; elected for & second terio, 273; assassinstiun and funeral, 274. Lincoln-Donglas debates. 270.


Lockwood, Samnel D., Attorney-General; Secretary of State; opponent of pro- alavery convention scheme, 260.


Logan. Gen. John A., prominent Union soldier, 272; Congressman-at-large.274-75; elected United States Senator, 276; Re- publican nominee for Vice-President; third election as Senator, 278


" Long Nine,"263.


Louisiana united with Illinois, 254.


Lovejoy, Elijah P., murdered at Alton, 263. Macalister and Stebbins bonds, 270.


Marqnette, Father Jacques (see Jollet); his mission among the Kaskaskias, 248. Mason, William E., U. S. Senator, 282.


McLean, John, Speaker; first Representa- tivein Congress: U.S Senator : death, 265. Mensrd, Pierre, 255; President of Terri- . torial Council, 257: elected Lieutenant- Governor. 258; anecdote of, 259. Mexican War, 265.


Morgan, Col. George, Indian Agent at Kas- kaskia in 1776, 251. Mormon War, 264-65.


New Design Settlement, 255.


New France, 244, 249.


Nicolet. Jean, French explorer, 244-5.


Northwest Territory organized; Gen. Ar- thur St. Clair appointed Governor, 253; first Territorial Legislature; separated Into Territories of Ohio and Indiana, 254.


Oglesby, Richard J., soldier in Civil War, 271; elected Governor, 274; second elec- tion: chosen U. S. Senator, 276; third election to governorship, 278.


Ordinance of 1787, 253.


" Painconrt " (early name for St Louis) settled by French from Illinois, 251.


Palmer, John M., member of Peace Con- ference of 1861, 271; elected Governor; prominent events of his administration, 275; nusuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor; elected U. S. Senator, 279; candidate for President, 282. Peace Conference of 1861, 271. Peace cooventions of 1663, 273. Perrot, Nicholas, explorer, 245.


Pittman, Capt. Philip, defines the bonnda- ries of the "Illinois Country," 241.


Pope, Nathaniel, Secretary of Illinois Ter- ritory, 255; Delegate in Congress; serv- ice in fixing northern boundary, 258. Prairies, origin of, 243.


Randolph County organized, 254.


Renault, Philip F., first Importer of Afri- can slaves to Illinois. 249.


Republican State Convention of 1856, 269. Reynolds, John, elected Governor; resigns to take seat in Congress, 262; Speaker of Illinois House of Representatives. 268.


Richardson, William A., candidate for Governor, 270; U.S. Senator, 272.


Rocheblave, Chevalier de, last British Commandant lo Illinois, 251; sent as & prisoner of war to Williamsburg, 252.


Shawneetown Bank, 257.


Shawneetown flood, 283.


Shields, Gen. James, 263; elected U. S. Sen- ator, 267; defeated for re-election, 269. Southern Hospital for Insane burned, 280. Spanish-American War, 281.


Springfield, third State capital, 263; arec- tion of new State capitol at, authorizeu, 275; State Bank, 259.


St. Clair, Arthur, first Governor of North- west Territory, 253; visits Illinois, 254.


St. Clair County organized, 254. State debt reaches its maximum, 268. State Fair permanently located, 281. Streams and navigation, 242.


Supreme Court revolutionized, 264.


Tanner, John R., State Treasurer, 278; elected Governor, 281-2.


Thomas, Jesse B., 255; President of Con- stitutional Convention of 1818, 258: elected United States Senator, 259.


Todd, Col. John. County-Lieutenant of Illi- nois County, 252.


Tonty, Henry de ( see La Salle).


Treaty with Indians near Alton, 257.


Trumbull, Lyman, Secretary of State, 264; elected United States Senator. 269-70; Democratic candidate for Governor, 277. Vandalia, the second State capital, 259.


War of 1812, 256; expeditions to Peorla Lake, 257.


War of the Rebellion; some prominent Illinois actors: number of troops fur- nished by Illinois: important battles par- ticipated In, 271-72; some officers whu fell:, Grierson raid. 272.


Warren, Hooper, editor Edwardsville Spectator, 260.


Wayne. Gen. Anthony, 254.


Whig mass-meeting at Springfield, 264.


Wilmot Proviso, action of Illinois Legisla- turenpon, 267.


Wood. John, Lientenant-Governor, filla Biasell's nnexpired term. 270.


Yates, Richard, at Bloomington Conven- tion of 1856, 269; Governor, 270; prorogues Legislature of 1863; elected Uolted States Senator, 273.


286


HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.


ILES, Elijah, pioneer merchant, was born in Kentucky, March 28, 1796; received the rudiments of an education in two winters' schooling, and began his business career by purchasing 100 head of yearling cattle upon which, after herding them three years in the valleys of Eastern Ken- tucky, he realized a profit of nearly $3,000. In 1818 he went to St. Louis, then a French village of 2,500 inhabitants, and, after spending three years as clerk in a frontier store at "Old Frank- lin," on the Missouri River, nearly opposite the present town of Boonville, in 1821 made a horse- back tour through Central Illinois, finally locating at Springfield, which had just been selected by a board of Commissioners as the temporary county-seat of Sangamon County. Here he soon brought a stock of goods by keel-boat from St. Louis and opened the first store in the new town. Two years later (1823), in conjunction with Pascal P. Enos, Daniel P. Cook and Thomas Cox, he entered a section of land comprised within the present area of the city of Springfield, which later became the permanent county-seat and finally the State capital. Mr. Iles became the first postmaster of Springfield, and, in 1826, was elected State Senator, served as Major in the Winnebago War (1827), enlisted as a private in the Black Hawk War (1831-32), but was soon advanced to the rank of Captain. In 1830 he sold his store to John Williams, who had been his clerk, and, in 1838-39, built the "American House," which afterwards became the temporary stopping-place of many of Illinois' most famous statesmen. He invested largely in valuable farming lands, and, at his death, left a large estate. Died, Sept. 4, 1883.


ILLINOIS ASYLUM FOR INCURABLE IN- SANE, an institution founded under an act of the General Assembly, passed at the session of 1895, making an appropriation of $65,000 for the pur- chase of a site and the erection of buildings with capacity for the accommodation of 200 patients. The institution was located by the Trustees at Bartonville, a suburb of the city of Peoria, and the erection of buildings begun in 1896. Later these were found to be located on ground which had been undermined in excavating for coal, and their removal to a different location was under- taken in 1898. The institution is intended to relieve the other hospitals for the Insane by the reception of patients deemed incurable.


ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL, a water- way connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois River, and forming a connecting link in the water-route between the St. Lawrence and the


Gulf of Mexico. Its summit level is about 580 feet above tide water. Its point of beginning is at the South Branch of the Chicago River, about five miles from the lake. Thence it flows some eight miles to the valley of the Des Plaines, fol- lowing the valley to the mouth of the Kankakee (forty-two miles), thence to its southwestern terminus at La Salle, the head of navigation on the Illinois. Between these points the canal has four feeders-the Calumet, Des Plaines, Du Page and Kankakee. It passes through Lockport, Joliet, Morris, and Ottawa, receiving accessions from the waters of the Fox River at the latter point. The canal proper is 96 miles long, and it has five feeders whose aggregate length is twenty-five miles, forty feet wide and four feet deep, with four aqueducts and seven dams. The difference in level between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River at La Salle is one hundred and forty-five feet. To permit the ascent of vessels, there are seventeen locks, ranging from three and one half to twelve and one-half feet in lift, their dimensions being 110x18 feet, and admitting the passage of boats carrying 150 tons. At Lock- port, Joliet, Du Page, Ottawa and La Salle are large basins, three of which supply power to fac- tories. To increase the water supply, rendered necessary by the high summit level, pumping works were erected at Bridgeport, having two


thirty-eight foot independent wheels, each capa- ble of delivering (through buckets of ten feet length or width) 15,000 cubic feet of water per minute. These pumping works were erected in 1848, at a cost of $15,000, and were in almost con- tinuous use until 1870. It was soon found that these machines might be utilized for the benefit of Chicago, by forcing the sewage of the Chicago River to the summit level of the canal, and allow- ing its place to be filled by pure water from the lake. This pumping, however, cost a large sum, and to obviate this expense $2,955,340 was ex- pended by Chicago in deepening the canal be- tween 1865 and 1871, so that the sewage of the south division of the city might be carried through the canal to the Des Plaines. This sum was returned to the City by the State after the great fire of 1871. (As to further measures for carry- ing off Chicago sewage, see Chicago Drainage Canal.)


In connection with the canal three locks and dams have been built on the Illinois River,-one at Henry, about twenty-eight miles below La Salle; one at the mouth of Copperas Creek, about sixty miles below Henry; and another at La Grange. The object of these works (the first


287


HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.


two being practically an extension of the canal) is to furnish slack-water navigation through- out the year. The cost of that at Henry ($400,000) was defrayed by direct appropriation from the State treasury. Copperas Creek dam cost $410,831, of which amount the United States Government paid $62,360. The General Government also con- structed a dam at La Grange and appropriated funds for the building of another at Kampsville Landing, with a view to making the river thor- oughly navigable the year round. The beneficial results expected from these works have not been realized and their demolition is advocated.


HISTORY. - The early missionaries and fur- traders first directed attention to the nearness of the waters of Lake Michigan and the Illinois. The project of the construction of a canal was made the subject of a report by Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury in 1808, and, in 1811, a bill on the subject was introduced in Congress in connection with the Erie and other canal enter- prises. In 1822 Congress granted the right of way across the public lands "for the route of a canal connecting the Illinois River with the south bend of Lake Michigan," which was fol- lowed five years later by a grant of 300,000 acres of land to aid in its construction, which was to be undertaken by the State of Illinois. The earliest surveys contemplated a channel 100 miles long, and the original estimates of cost varied between $639,000 and $716,000. Later surveys and estimates (1833) placed the cost of a canal forty feet wide and four feet deep at $4,040,000. In 1836 another Board of Commissioners was created and surveys were made looking to the construction of a waterway sixty feet wide at the surface, thirty-six feet at bottom, and six feet in depth. Work was begun in June of that year; was suspended in 1841; and renewed in 1846, when a canal loan of $1,000,000 was negotiated. The channel was opened for navigation in April, 1848, by which time the total outlay had reached $6,170,226. By 1871, Illinois had liquidated its entire indebtedness on account of the canal and the latter reverted to the State. The total cost up to 1879-including amount refunded to Chi- cago-was $9,513,831, while the sum returned to the State from earnings, sale of canal lands, etc., amounted to $8,819,731. In 1882 an offer was made to cede the canal to the United States upon condition that it should be enlarged and ex- tended to the Mississippi, was repeated in 1887, but has been declined.


ILLINOIS AND MISSISSIPPI CANAL (gener- ally known as "Hennepin Canal"), a projected


navigable water-way in course of construction (1899) by the General Government, designed to connect the Upper Illinois with the Mississippi River. Its object is to furnish a continuous navigable water-channel from Lake Michigan, at or near Chicago, by way of the Illinois & Michi- gan Canal (or the Sanitary Drainage Canal) and the Illinois River, to the Mississippi at the mouth of Rock River, and finally to the Gulf of Mexico.


THE ROUTE. - The canal, at its eastern end, leaves the Illinois River one and three-fourths miles above the city of Hennepin, where the river makes the great bend to the south. Ascend- ing the Bureau Creek valley, the route passes over the dividing ridge between the Illinois River and the Mississippi to Rock River at the mouth of Green River; thence by slack-water down Rock River, and around the lower rapids in that stream at Milan, to the Mississippi. The esti- mated length of the main channel between its eastern and western termini is seventy-five miles -the distance having been reduced by changes in the route after the first survey. To this is to be added a "feeder" extending from the vicinity of Sheffield, on the summit-level (twenty-eight miles west of the starting point on the Illinois), north to Rock Falls on Rock River opposite the city of Sterling in Whiteside County, for the purpose of obtaining an adequate supply of water for the main canal on its highest level. The length of this feeder is twenty-nine miles and, as its dimensions are the same as those of the main channel, it will be navigable for vessels of the same class as the latter. A dam to be constructed at Sterling, to turn water into the feeder, will furnish slack-water navigation on Rock River to Dixon, practically lengthening the entire route to that extent.


HISTORY .- The subject of such a work began to be actively agitated as early as 1871, and, under authority of various acts of Congress, preliminary surveys began to he made by Government engi- neers that year. In 1890 detailed plans and esti- mates, based upon these preliminary surveys, were submitted to Congress in accordance with the river and harbor act of August, 1888. This report became the basis of an appropriation in the river and harbor act of Sept. 19, 1890, for carrying the work into practical execution. Actual work was begun on the western end of the canal in July, 1893, and at the eastern end in the spring of 1894. Since then it has been prosecuted as continuously as the appropriations made by Congress from year to year would permit. Ac- cording to the report of Major Marshall, Chief of


288


HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.


Engineers in charge of the work, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, the construction of the canal around the lower rapids of Rock River (four and one-half miles), with three locks, three swing bridges, two dams, besides various build- ings, was completed and that portion of the canal opened to navigation on April 17. 1895. In the early part of 1899, the bulk of the excavation and masonry on the eastern section was practi- cally completed, the feeder line under contract, and five out of the eighteen bridges required to be constructed in place; and it was estimated that the whole line, with locks, bridges, culverts and aqueducts, will be completed within two years, at the farthest, by 1902.


DIMENSIONS, METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION, COST, ETC .- As already stated, the length of the main line is seventy-five miles, of which twenty-eight miles (the eastern section) is east of the junction of the feeder, and forty-seven miles (the western section) west of that point-making, with the twenty-nine miles of feeder, a total of one hun- dred and four miles, or seven miles longer than the Illinois & Michigan Canal. The rise from the Illinois River datum to the summit-level on the eastern section is accomplished by twenty-one locks with a lift of six to fourteen feet each, to reach an altitude of 196 feet; while the descent of ninety-three feet to the low-water level of the Mississippi on the western end is accomplished through ten locks, varying from six to fourteen feet each. The width of the canal, at the water surface, is eighty feet, with a depth below the surface-line of seven feet. The banks are rip- rapped with stone the entire length of the canal. The locks are one hundred and seventy feet long, between the quoins, by thirty-five feet in width, admitting the passage of vessels of one hundred and forty feet in length and thirty-two feet beam and each capable of carrying six hundred tons of freight.


The bulk of the masonry employed in the con- struction of locks, as well as abutments for bridges and aqueducts, is solid concrete manufac- tured in place, while the lock-gates and aque- ducts proper are of steel-the use of these materials resulting in a large saving in the first cost as to the former, and securing greater solid- ity and permanence in all. The concrete work, already completed, is found to have withstood the effects of ice even more successfully than natural stone. The smaller culverts are of iron piping and the framework of all the bridges of steel.


The earlier estimates placed the entire cost of


construction of the canal, locks, bridges, build- ings, etc., at $5,068,000 for the main channel and $1,858,000 for the Rock River feeder-a total of $6,926,000. This has been reduced, however, by changes in the route and unexpected saving in the material employed for masonry work. The total expenditure, as shown by official reports, up to June 30, 1898, was $1,748,905.13. The amount expended up to March 1, 1899, approxi- mated $2,500,000, while the amount necessary to complete the work (exclusive of an unexpended balance) was estimated, in round numbers, at $3,500,000.


The completion of this work, it is estimated, will result in a saving of over 400 miles in water transportation between Chicago and the western terminus of the canal. In order to make the canal available to its full capacity between lake points and the Mississippi, the enlargement of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, both as to width and depth of channel, will be an indispensable necessity ; and it is anticipated that an effort will be made to secure action in this direction by the Illinois Legislature at its next session. Another expedient likely to receive strong support will be, to induce the General Government to accept the tender of the Illinois & Michigan Canal and, by the enlargement of the latter through its whole length-or, from Lockport to the Illinois River at La Salle, with the utilization of the Chicago Drainage Canal-furnish a national water-way between the lakes and the Gulf of Mexico of sufficient capacity to accommodate steamers and other vessels of at least 600 tons burthen.




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