History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 11

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948

USA > Illinois > Union County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 11
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 11
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 11

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

they thought out and worked out causes here, whose effects will endure perpetually.

As remarked in the early portion of this chapter, the act granting the charter of the City of Cairo & Canal Company was the first step in attracting the attention of many of the leading men of the nation to this great natural commercial point, and that attention once arrested, and the lakes of the North and the waters of the great rivers at once made plain the fact that they must be joined together by railroads, had set busy minds to thinking how this immense work could best be done, or, for that matter, done at all. Men were studying the maps with the care and diligence which warriors give these things with reference to their marches, re- treats or battle grounds.

In the latter days of Judge Breese's life, he claimed that he had promulgated the idea of a Government land-grant in aid of the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad.

There is an abundance of evidence that not only Judge Breese, but that many others were giving it close attention. But, com- meneing with Judge Breese, and following along all the now existing records, letters and publications, we find they, one and all, fell short in the full completion of the idea of a land donation in this: They advocated donating the lands by pre-emption, and not as in the form the act was finally passed by Judge Douglas as a direct and absolute transfer of the title in fee to the railroad, upon its conforming to the prescribed condi- tions. Nearly all the people of Illinois had discussed the subject in social life, in the press and in public meetings held in the counties along the route of the proposed railroad, but the pre-emption-donation idea only prevailed, and the first time the thought of a direct title in fee was put forth by Mr. Justin Butterfield, January 18, 1848, in

a public meeting of the citizens of Chicago, which he had called for the purpose of con - sidering the feasibility of constructing a rail- road to connect the Upper and Lower Mis- sissippi with the Great Lakes of the North, and to recommend to Congress that a grant of lands should be made to the State of Illinois for that purpose. The meeting was presided over by Thomas Dyer, Esq., and Dr. Brainerd acted as Secretary. Col. R. J. Hamilton, Justin Butterfield, M. Skinner, A. Hunting- ton and E. B. Williams were appointed, by the chair, a Committee to report resolutions, and they reported the following, which had been prepared by Mr. Butterfield, which were unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That the great and almost in- credible increase in wealth. population and commerce of the great valley of the West, during the last ten years, as clearly exhibited by official reports submitted to the Congress of the United States, appears to require, on the part of that enlightened body, a corre- sponding attention to its wants an l necessi- ties.

Resolved, That the grant of public lands by Congress, for the purpose of opening or improving avenues of commerce in their State jurisdiction, has been approved by the wisest and most experienced of our states- men, and has been eminently beneficial to the States and the Union.

Resolved, That a railroad, to connect the Upper and Lower Mississippi with the great lakes, would be a work of great importance, not only to the agricultural and commercial interests of the State, but to all portions of the United States interested in the commerce of the lakes and the Western rivers.

Resolved, That, in a military point of view, as well as for the speedy and economical transportation of the mails (objects eminent- ly connected with the general welfare and common defense), such a road would be un- questionably of national importance, and therefore deserving of aid from the National Legislature.

Resolved, That our Senators and Repre-

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

sentatives in Congress of the United States be requested to use their best exertions to secure the passage of a law, granting to the State of Illinois the right of way and public lands, for the construction of a railroad to connect the Upper and Lower Mississippi with the lakes at Chicago, equal to every al- ternate section for five miles wide on each side of said road.

Upon these resolutions, Mr. Butterfield de- livered an able address, which he read from manuscript; from which we make the fol- lowing extracts: "The locomotive, whose speed almost annihilates time and distance, has introduced a new era in travel, in trans- portation and in commercial interchanges. It is in successful operation in most of the nations of Europe, and in most of the Ameri- can States, Illinois excepted-a level, cham. paign country, better adapted by nature for its use than any other State or country of equal extent in the world. Why we should be so far behind the age, in the adoption of this great improvement, it is unnecessary now to inquire. Suffice it to say, that in the years 1836 and 1837, when we were compara- tively weak and feeble in population, in pro- ductive industry and pecuniary resources, we madly and wildly rushed into a gigantic and ill-digested system of internal improvements altogether beyond our ability. We projected more than thirteen hundred miles of railroad; we borrowed millions of money, and sowed it broadcast; our money was soon expended, and our credit gone; in the great re-action of 1839 and 1840, desolation swept over the land, and the moldering ruins and crumbling monuments of public works are all that now remain of our once magnificent system of in- ternal improvements.

" The extent of steam navigation upon the Mississippi and its tributaries is rising of 16,000 miles, giving a coast of over 32,000 miles. * * a large portion of which is as

fertile as the Valley of the Nile, and capable of sustaining a population as dense as that of England, and is now settling and im- proving with unparalleled rapidity. The Middle and Eastern States, and many of the nations of Europe, are the great hives that are sending forth their swarms to populate our Western lands; year after year, in ever- increasing numbers, they come, and truly demonstrate that 'Westward the march of empire takes its way.' But who can foresee, who can calculate, the immense trade, travel and commerce that will be done upon the Western lakes and rivers when their banks and coasts shall be settled with half the density with which Europe is populated ?

" It is proposed to construct a railroad to connect the Upper and Lower Mississippi with the Great Lakes; this railroad to com- mence at the confluence of the Ohio and Mis- sissippi Rivers at Cairo. * * *

" Cairo is the most favorable point for the southern terminus of this road, as the navi- gation of both the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, above Cairo, is often obstructed by ice in the winter and by low water in the summer; but from Cairo to New Orleans there is an uninterrupted navigation all sea- sons of the year. * The railroad is important to our national defense. I be- lieve it is regarded by military men, that in case of a war with a maritime power, like England, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and that portion of our country bordering upon Canada in the north are our weakest frontiers; and in the event of such a war, it will be necessary for our defense to marshal our naval forces, so as to maintain our mari- time ascendency in the Gulf and on the lakes. That it is viewed in this light by the Govern- ment, may be inferred from the fact that about three years ago the project of the United States constructing a ship canal, be-

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, was agitated in Congress, and resulted in the Secretary of the Navy sending out one of our most distinguished naval commanders, and the chief of the Engineer Corps, to in- vestigate the practicability of the meas- ure. *

" We ask the Government to make a dona- tion of public lands to the State of Illinois, to aid in the construction of this railroad, equal to every alternate section, for a space of five miles wide on each side of it. * * * We do not ask for this land to be given to any private or chartered company, that they make gain or speculation out of it, but we ask for it to be donated to this State, in trust, to be used in the construction of a great public work, that will shed its benefits upon the whole of our common country, that will bind us together in the golden bands of commerce, and be our greatest blessing in time of peace, as well as our surest defense in time of war." * **

The address concludes with the following sentence : "In the winter season there ac- cumulates upon the hands of our merchants produce to the amount of about one-half mill- ion of dollars, which lies dead-weight upon their hands for three or four months, until the opening of the navigation of the lakes. Our merchants, in the meantime, receive in- formation by telegraph of the rise and fall of produce, but cannot avail themselves of the benefits of the lightning, either to buy or sell. Here the produce is, and must re- main, under the inexorable decree of nature, locked up by the ice. Construct this rail- road, give Chicago a southern outlet for her produce in the winter, and it is all she asks."

The resolutions adopted by this meeting, and the speech made by Mr. Butterfield, were printed in pamphlet form, and were sent to the different counties along the line

of the proposed road, with requests that pub- lic meetings should be held at each county seat, for the purpose of creating a public sentiment in favor of the Congressional land- grant project, and of requesting the Illinios Delegates in Congress to support it. This work among the people of Illinois, in order to influence to activity the members of Con- gress, was necessary and proper, and attended with much labor and considerable expense, and the preceding circumstances that brought both of these about were the following: The Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania, located at Philadelphia, had become the owner of large interests in Western real es- tate, as well as a large number of the bonds of the Cairo City & Canal Company, and the holder of much of the land of the company as security for loans advanced. It was, there- fore, largely interested in Cairo. In the year 1843, it sent its confidential clerk. S. Staats Taylor, to the West, to look after its interests. Mr. Taylor made his headquarters in Chicago, and had his office, during that time, with Justin Butterfield. This, prob- ably, was the main cause of deeply interest- ing the latter in the railroad project from Chicago to Cairo. Then, the bank's interests in the West cansed it to take a deep concern in the progress of the State of Illinois, and especially of Cairo and its vicinity, and it therefore provided the necessary funds to de- fray these first and necessary expenses. In fact, it is now well understood that the start- ing point in the building of the Central road and the city were made originally a tangible fact and the expenses defrayed in getting the law passed by Congress, by the hypotheca. tion of a strip of land in the city of Cairo. running from river to river, and long known as the "Holbrook strip." This strip of land is what is now Tenth street to Twelfth street, inclusive.

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

Mr. Justin Butterfield was one of the large-minded, public-spirited men of Illinois, who was profoundly interested in the de- velopment and welfare of his adopted State, and while he did not lay claim to the patern . ity of the advanced idea that perfected the land-grant to the railroad, and made it such a great and complete success, yet as he had stated to his office companion, Col. Taylor, he had first heard the idea advanced at some of the county meetings he had held, and his active mind was ready to take it at once in its entirety, to see its value and to boldly and ably push it forward to its final triumph. Certainly, the Central road had no better or abler friend than was Justin Butterfield, who, singularly enough, was the Commissioner of the General Land Office during the building of the railroad, and in that position was con - stantly called upon to guard the State's, the road's and the Government's interest in the matter of the land grant of the road. Prob- ably for his incorruptible discharge of these duties, he was savagely attacked in some of the public prints, and on April 24, 1852, he repelled these slanders in an open letter to the country, which opens with the following explanatory sentence: " During the past and present months, various publications have appeared in the Chicago Democrat (John Wentworth's paper), charging J. Butterfield, Commissioner of the General Land Office, with having been actuated by deadly hostility against the Illinois Central Railroad Company; of unwarrantably delay- ing and procrastinating the adjustment of the grant of lands; of attempting to kill the Chicago branch, by deciding that it should have diverged from the main trunk at the junction of the canal and river at Peru, and that the act of the Legislature, providing that it should not diverge from any point north of 39 degrees, 30 minutes, was void;

and of corruptly making various other de- cisions in the progress of the adjustment of that grant, adverse to the rights of that com- pany, from which an appeal was taken to the Secretary, and Mr. Butterfield overruled in all his objections; but that things went on so slowly, that the Directors of the company laid their case before the President, who at once ordered Mr. Butterfield to put the whole force of his office upon the work, if necessary to its execution; and that after this Mr. B. changed his whole course of conduct, etc."

After giving this summary of the charges against him, he proceeds to say in reply: " Had these publications been confined to the scurrilous sheets issued by the notorious editor of that paper, I should not have noticed them; but these falsehoods are told with such apparent candor and circumstan- tial detail, that some respectable papers, I observe, have been imposed upon, and copied them." He then gives a brief and succinct history of the grant, and the transactions un- der it, and then sums up the six distinct falsehoods in the charges, denies and refutes them in detail, and thus concludes his inter- esting letter: "The route of the old Central Railroad, as established in 1836, was from Cairo, via Vandalia, Shelbyville, Decatur, Bloomington, Peru and Dixon, to Galena; it did not touch within about one hundred miles of Chicago.

" A project was devised and published, in the latter part of 1847, for a railroad leading directly from Cairo to Chicago, and from thence to Galena, recommending an applica- tion to Congress for a grant of lands to be made to the State, in alternate sections, to aid in its construction. Judge Dickey, James H. Collins, Thomas Dyer and hun- dreds of other citizens of Chicago and other portions of the State, will recollect who was the author of the project! To whom did

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

the newspapers of that day ascribe it? Who, at his own expense, got up and circu- lated petitions far and wide to Congress for a donation of lands to the State for this purpose ? Who called the first meeting that was ever held in the State on the subject of a railroad direct from Cairo to Chicago? An address which I had the honor to make on that occasion, giving my views of the im- mense importance of the work and urging its prosecution, was published and circu- lated.

" Those who have, for years past, known my sentiments and humble services in favor of internal improvements, and especially for a direct communication between Chicago and Cairo by railroad, can judge of the prob- ability of my having attempted to strangle the project on the eve of its accomplishment! The charge emanates from one whose name and character, wherever he is known, is a sovereign antidote for all the poison he can distill.

" Although famous at the Capitol, in the adjustment of 'Congressional stationery,' in which vocation 'he can't be beat,' he is evi- dently a great novice in the adjustment of railroad grants."

Recapitulation .- In their chronological order, we give the corporation acts, as they were passed by the different Legislative bod- ies, that had in view the building of the city of Cairo, and that are referred to at length in the preceding part of this chapter.

January 9, 1817-John G. Comyges and associates were incorporated by the Territo- rial Legislature of Illinois, as the "President, Directors and Company of the Bank of Cairo," and authorized to build a city upon the lands entered by them.

January 16, 1836-D. B. Holbrook, A. M. Jenkins, M. A. Gilbert and others were in-

corporated by the Legislature of Illinois as the " Illinois Central Railroad Company," authorizing the company to construct a rail- road, " commencing at or near the mouth of the Ohio River, and thence north, to a point on the Illinois River, at or near the termina- tion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal," with the privilege of extending the road from the Illinois River to Galena.

February 27, 1837-Act passed by the Legislature; of Illinois, "to establish and maintain a General System of Internal Im- provement," and " providing for a Board of Public Works," and directing and ordering the construction of a railroad from the city of Cairo, at or near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to ¿some point at or near the southern termination of the Illinois & Michigan Canal, via Vandalia, Shelbyville, Decatur and Bloomington, thence via Savanna to Galena, and appropriating for the construction of said railroad the sum of $3,500,000.

March 4, 1837-A. M. Jenkins, D. B. Hol- brook, M. A. Gilbert and others were incor- porated as the Cairo City & Canal Company, and were authorized to purchase and sell land in Township 17 south, Range 1 west, in Alex- ander County, and to build a city thereon, to be called the city of Cairo. This act amended February, 1839.

June 7, 1837-The Illinois Central Rail- road Company released and' gave back to the State the right to construct " a railroad, com- mencing at or near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and extending to Galena, conditional, however, that the said State of Illinois shall commence the con- struction of said railroad, within a reasonable time, from the city of Cairo."

June 26, 1837-An agreement entered into between the Illinois Central Railroad, by its President, A. M. Jenkins, and the Cairo City

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

& Canal Company, by D. B. Holbrook, its President, that the railroad to be constructed by the Illinois Central Railroad Company " shall commence at such point or place in the city of Cairo, as the Cairo City & Canal Company may fix and direct."

June 26, 1837 -- The Cairo City & Canal Company mortgaged its lands in Township 17 south, Range 1 west, of the Third Principal Meridian, on a portion of which the city of Cairo had been platted and laid out, to the New York Life Insurance & Trust Company, as security for loans secured from English capitalists.

February 1, 1840-The act to establish and maintain a General System of Internal Improvements, passed February 27, 1837, was repealed by the Legislature, and the work on the Illinois Central Railroad stopped; building a city here stopped, and, to complete Cairo's disasters, the company's banker in London failed, and the Cairo City & Canal Company were hopelessly bankrupt, and the nearly fifteen hundred people that had gathered here dispersed, and desolation brooded over the land.

March 6, 1843-The President and Direct- ors of the Cairo City & Canal Company were incorporated as the Great Western Railway Company, and authorized to construct a railroad, " commencing at the city of Cairo, in Alexander County, Ill., and thence north, by way of Vandalia, Shelbyville, Decatur and Bloomington, to a point on the Illinois River at or near the termination of the Illinois & Michigan Canal," and to extend the main road to Galena.

March 6, 1845-The last above-mentioned act repealed by the Legislature.

September 29, 1846-The bondholders, creditors and owners of the City of Cairo & Canal Company franchise, organized The Trust of the Cairo Property, and all the com-

pany's property in Town 17 south, Range 1 west, was conveyed to Thomas Taylor, of Philadelphia, and Charles Davis, of New York, as Trustees of the Cairo City Prop- erty.

February 10, 1849-The President and Directors of the Cairo City & Canal Com- pany, with others, rechartered and rein- stated as the Great Western Railway Com- pany, with all the powers conferred by the act of March 6, 1843, and the Governor of the State authorized to hold in trust for the Great Western Railway Company whatever lands might be donated or thereafter secured to the State of Illinois by the General Gov- ernment to aid in the construction and com- pletion of the Illinois Central or the Great Western Railroad from Cairo to Chicago.

December 24, 1849-Release executed by the Cairo City & Canal Company to the State of Illinois, of the charter of the Great West- ern Railway Company, upon the condition that the State would build "within ten years from January 1, 1850, a railroad from Cairo to Chicago, and that the southern terminus should be the city of Cairo.

September 20, 1850-An act of Congress, granting to the State of Illinois the alternate sections of land, for sixteen sections in width, on each side of the railroad and its branches, for the construction of a railroad from the southern terminus of the Illinois & Michigan Canal to a point at or near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, with branches to Chicago and Galena.

September 20, 1850-Release by the Cairo City & Canal Company of the charter of the Great Western Railway Company to the State, and the acceptance of the same by the State of Illinois.

February 10, 1851-The act of incorpora- tion of the Illinois Central Railroad passed by the Legislature, and providing for the

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

conveyance to Trustees the lands donated by the General Government to the State.

June 11, 1851 -- An agreement between the Illinois Central Railroad and the Trustees of the Cairo City Property, for the railroad to construct and maintain levees around the City of Cairo, in consideration of conveyance to the railroad company of certain lands in the city of Cairo, specifying the levees were to be about seven miles long, and to inclose about thirteen hundred acres of land on the point.

September 15, 1853-The city of Cairo was platted and laid out and recorded by the Cairo City Property, and the first lot sold to Peter Stapleton.

October 15, 1853-Deed executed by the Trustees of the Cairo City Property, to the Illinois Central Railroad, for the land speci- fied in the agreement of the road to construct and maintain levees.

May 31, 1855-An additional agreement entered into between the Cairo City Property and the Central road, by which the road agreed to "construct and maintain new pro- tective embankment, to prevent the abrasion of the Mississippi levee." This agreement materially changed that of June 11, 1851.

June 12, 1858-This new embankment, constructed on the Mississippi River, gave way, and the city was inundated.

October 12, 1858-The Illinois Central Railroad, having restored the levees to the condition they were in before the overflow, were informed that the reconstruction of the levees did not fulfill their agreement, and the road was notified to widen and strengthen the works to at least a width of twenty feet on the top of the levees, with a slope on each side of one foot perpendicular to five feet horizontal, and the entire levees to be raised two feet higher than the old levees.

October 29, 1858-Formal notice given by

the Trustees of the Cairo City Property to the Illinois Central road, that, in conso- quence of the road's failure and refusal to strengthen the levees, according to their con- tract, the Trustees would at once proceed to do the work and hold the railroad company responsible for the reimbursement of all costs of the same, with interest.

October 1, 1863-Mortgage executed, by the Trustees of Cairo City Property, to Hiram Ketchum, Trustee, to all the property of the Trust of the Cairo City Property, as a secur- ity for a loan of $250,000.

October 1, 1867-An additional mortgage, by the same parties last above-named, upon the same property, for an additional loan of $50,000.

July 18, 1872-Suit commenced by the Cairo City Property against the Illinois Cen- tral Railroad, for $250,000, money expended by the city company upon the levees. The suit was compromised by the payment by the railroad of $80,000, and the conveying back by deed to the Cairo City Property, of 397 acres of the 487 acres that had been conveyed to the railroad, in consideration that the road would construct protective levees. By this settlement, the railroad was released from any further obligations in regard to the levees.

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 11

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 948

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948