History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 14

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 14
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 14
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 14

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).

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HISTORY OF CAIRO.

pearance of new embankments going up. In the meantime, the high waters began to come down the rivers, and the agent of the Cairo City Property began to realize that Dutcher was exposing the city. He said all he could to change the course of the work, but Dutcher would only promise and do noth- ing. When it became plain something must be done quickly, Mr. Taylor employed 300 men to work at night, and bank off the ris- ing waters, where the levees had been cut down. They would go to work in the even- ing, when Dutcher's men would quit work. After this had gone on two or three nights, Mr. Dutcher claimed the city company were interfering with his work, and he abandoned his contract, and turned adrift his force of 600 men, all of whom, of course, were given to understand that the city company had brought about the troubles. On the third night, when the night laborers repaired to their work-the waters every moment now becoming very dangerous-they found their works and tools in the possession of a mob of Dutcher's men, and they were vowing and swearing that no man should do a stroke of work unless their whole force was also em- ployed, and paid at the rate of $3 each per night. Such was the emergency, that even to delay and parley was to sacrifice the town, and the agent of the Cairo City Property ordered one and all to go to work. They did so, and this disastrous mob attack, at a critical mo- ment, when it could not be resisted, was after all, the means that saved the city and kept out the waters. The strip of levee between the old and new levee was the weak spot in the works, and so rapidly did the waters come during the night, that on this place the men worked for hours in water over twenty inches in depth. To understand this, it is neces- sary to state that there was an old levee out- side of this, and that when the water broke

over the outside levee, it came to the new one in a swirl or circle, so that the tendency of the current was not over the new levee. But so great was the emergency, and, thanks to the mob, so abundant were the laborers, that men were placed upon the endangered spot, and actually so thickly were they crowded, that human flesh formed an embankment, and kept back the waters until dirt was placed there, and the levee made high and strong enough to stay the waters. The riotous labor- ers lingered about the town, often threatening the men at work on the levees with violence; openly threatening to burn and destroy the town, and they were several times caught at- tempting to cut the levees and. let in the water. The regular laborers had armed, as well as they could possibly, with pistols and guns, and one night the rioters fired a num- ber of pistol shots in the direction of the workmen, and it is most fortunate that they did not bit or hurt any of them, for the rea- son that the laborers had their instruction to pay no attention to their assailants unless some of their men were hurt, and in that event to charge upon them and spare not, but kill all they came to. Many of the peo- ple in the town took sides against the com- pany, and turbulence continued to spread and intensify and grow, and finally the company telegraphed to St. Louis for a few boxes of muskets, and when the mob saw these arrive, and noticed they were taken to the com- pany's office, the next morning the roads, the . by-ways and the brush, even, were full of Dutcher's laborers, with their , little bundles on their shoulders, getting out of town as fast as they could. Dutcher, when he threw up his contract, repaired to the nearest hills, up the line of the railroad, and there awaited news of the drowning or burning of Cairo. and vapored and blowed his wrath at the town, threatening to sue and collect many

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millions of dollars damages for interfering with his contract work.

There are many other circumstances that go to establish the fact that Ashley was not only disloyal to the railroad company that employed him, but that he was willing to sacrifice not only Cairo, but the best inter- ests of the road in his schemes of speculation and selfishness. So plain did this eventually become, that the authorities of the railroad became aware of his tricks, and they per- emptorily and curtly dismissed him from their service. Instead of the city company being sued and made to pay immeasurable damages for employing this large force of men to work at night and save the city, the agent, Mr. Taylor, made out a bill against the road for every dollar he had expended, and the road paid it, because it was convinced that, instead of interfering with Dutcher's contract work, the company, by their agent, was simply doing the work the road had bound itself, by solemn contract, to do.

Strange as it may seem, this dastardly at. tempt to destroy the town, and probably all in it, was not understood at the time by the people; in fact, many so completely misun- derstood the daring moves of the unholy con- spirators, that they not only did not see how they and theirs had been saved, but they took sides, and many were vehement partisans of Ashley and his followers. They believed that the city company had stood about the town like a dog in the manger, and refused to let the railroad build the levees; and when the arrival of the muskets had dispersed the riot- ous laborers, and driven them in panic away, there were citizens left to take up their quar- rel, and threaten the city company.

Another par incident, only on a more ex- tended scale, was when the United States Marshal came down from Springfield to serve writs upon the " heads of the town "-lead-

ing citizens, as it were, who, like pretty much all of the residents, were defiant tres- passers upon the company's property, and the few leaders of whom the company had commenced · proceedings against in the United States Court. When the Marshal ar- rived, there was a flutter of excitement, and the mutterings of the threatened storm were all around the sky. But the Marshal was quiet and gentlemanly; in truth, he seemed to be about the only one not heated with great excitement. He waited upon the parties for whom he had writs; told them that he was going up the river for two days, and then he would return, and they must give bail, or he would be compelled to perform the pain- ful duty of putting them in jail. That night, a meeting of the people was called; some brave, short speeches were made, and finally the meeting resolved that the city company had no right nor title to any property within the city, and that they would not obey the writs of the United States Court. Here was insurrection and civil war! Or, as it turned out, a roaring farce, that surpassed the Three Tailors of Bow Street, when they issued their proclamation to an astonished world, and announced that " We, the People of England, etc."

When the officer returned, and the " rebels " took a second look at him, they concluded to recognize his writs, and, under solemn protests, gave bail and escaped the bastile.

The embankments constructed by the Illi- nois Central Railroad, under their contract, did not prove to be protective embankments or levees. On June 12, 1858, they gave way, and the city was inundated; this inundation was the result solely of the imperfect con- struction of the embankment. Logs and stumps had been put in the levees, and this furnished a route for the waters until the

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dirt became so soft and giving, that it ceased to be an obstruction to the waters, and the flood came. This destructive overflow led to the following correspondence between the Illinois Central Railroad Company and the Cairo City & Canal Company, and which furnishes the only complete explanation of the facts, and the views of the different in- terested parties at the time that we can now procure:

July 13, 1858, Charles Davis, Esq., one of the Trustees, addressed the President and Directors of the Central road, substantially as follows: " The recent inundation of Cairo has particularly directed the attention of the Trustees of the Cairo City Property to their agreements with the Illinois Central Rail- road Company, relative to the construction and maintenance of levees or protective em- bankments around the city of Cairo.

" At the time of making those agreements, the Trustees understood, and have ever since understood, and have uniformly and repeated- ly been advised by various counsel, that these agreements were, on the part of your company, not only a legal undertaking to construct levees or protective embankments, to the extent and in the manner prescribed in said agreements, but were also a continuing and perpetual legal undertaking to maintain the same after they had been constructed.

" The Trustees have received, both from their beneficiaries and from purchasers of land at Cairo, very many expressions of regret that the levees and protective embankments have proved insufficient for the purpose of their con- struction, and very many statements of great actual and prospective loss and damage to such beneficiaries and purchasers, and many inquiries whether the Illinois Central Com- pany had performed their agreements before- mentioned. Their beneficiaries have com- municated to the Trustees the opinion of said

beneficiaries, that the duty of the Trustees to the said beneficiaries required them to de- mand, and by all means in their power to en- force, a full and continual performance of said agreements, and urgently request the Trustees to give immediately, and in the fut- ure continue to give, their attention to this matter.

" Without now adverting to any omissions in the past, the recent inundation has done much damage to the levees and embankments, which, under said agreements, it is the duty of your company to repair. The Trustees have a telegram from Mr. S. S. Taylor, dated at Cairo, 6th inst., informing them that the sewers were all open, and a portion of the city dry, so that work on the levees and embankments could be resumed.

" The Trustees do hereby, in conformity to the requests of their beneficiaries, and in as- sertion of their rights under said agreements, request the President and Directors of the Illinois Central Railroad Company to repair the damage which has been done, and also to perform at once whatever has been omitted that is required to be performed, under said agreements for the construction and main- tenance of levees and protective embank- ments around the city of Cairo.

"When the Trustees consider the importance of the performance of these agreements to the compamy itself, but much more when they consider the innumerable and the very heavy liabilities to which the company is needlessly exposed by every omission to perform agree- ments of such general and public concern, the Trustees can scarcely believe that the President and Directors of the company will delay unnecessarily, or even voluntarily neglect to do all that the company has by said agreements undertaken."

To this, under date 15th July, 1856, Mr. Osborn, the President of the Central road,

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replies, acknowledging the receipt of the let- ter, and stating "it is the intention of the company to repair the damage occasioned by the late freshet to the works at Cairo, as far as is incumbent upon it under the con- tracts with your company. I am not aware of any omission in the performance of the contract, and do not understand that clause of your letter which requests this company to perform at once whatever has been omit- ted that is required to be performed under said agreement for the construction and maintenance of levees and protective em- bankments, etc."

Under date 22d, the same month, Mr. Os- born again writes to Mr. Davis, and among other things says: " I am desirous to meet the views and wishes of your shareholders, but the difficulty is the ready money. Capt. McClelland has decided to accept, if not al- ready done, the proposition of Mr. Edwards, to whom the price of the unfinished work was referred, payable, $5,000 upon the 1st day of September, and the balance (about $6,000) on the 1st day of December. If you will be good enough to postpone those payments un- til the 15th of January, I will at once give directions to have a force make the repairs to the levee and embankments with all prac- ticable dispatch."

On the same day, by written communica- tion, Mr. Davis accepted the terms and con- ditions proposed by Mr. Osborn.

Under same date, S. Staats Taylor, in re- ply to letter of inquiry from the Trustee, Mr. Davis, writes: " I would state that, in my opinion, an embankment twenty feet wide on the top, with a slope on each side of one foot perpendicular to five (or even four) feet horizontal, would be sufficiently strong to resist the pressure of any water that could be brought against it, provided it was properly constructed. The late high water at Cairo

has demonstrated that the levees are not high enough, and to make them safe in this par- ticular they should be at least two feet (if not three feet) higher. Where the levees were up to grade, the water in the Ohio was within one foot seven and a half inches of the top of the levees, and on the Mississippi side it was still higher, bringing it within a very few inches of the grade.

* *

" I have reason to believe that the embank- ment at the place where it broke was ren- dered weak and insecure by logs being buried in or under it, and a considerable portion of the new protective embankment, both on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, was con- structed without the natural surface being properly prepared by grubbing and plowing, so as to allow the artificial embankment to amalgamate and firmly combine with the natūral ground. From a neglect to do this, the water during the late high water perco- lated, and found a passage in many places in considerable quantities, between the artificial embankment. and the natural ground. This neglect to properly prepare the ground ex- isted at the time of building the new levee on the Mississippi last winter, and the ground was not only not grubbed or plowed, but large stumps were allowed to remain in that levee, and are there now, notwithstanding my notification at the time to Capt. McClelland that they were so allowed to remain there. The contractor employed by the railroad company last winter was detected by myself in burying large logs in that embankment, not merely allowing those to remain that had fallen, when the embankment was to be con- structed, but actually rolling others in from other places. When detected, those that were in view were removed, but as a portion of the embankment was constructed before his practices were known, the probability is

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that others are yet in the embankment, de- tracting, of course from its strength and security."

A communication from Mr. S. S. Taylor, which was read at the meeting of the Trustees .on the 29th September, 1858, is, to some ex- tent, a semi-official account of the overflow of the town in 1858, and as such deserves to be placed upon a permanent record. It is dated Cairo, September 6, 1858. " After the last meeting of the stockholders, in Septem- ber, 1857, our city continued to increase in population, and improvements continued to be made, the improvements, owing to the financial crisis, being fewer in number than during the previous spring and winter. The increase in population was, nevertheless, greater than at any previous period, every house and structure capable of protecting population from the elements becoming filled to repletion. This increase continued dur- ing the winter and spring, so that at the municipal election in February last, in which there was no such particular interest taken by the people as to bring out a full vote, there were over 'four hundred votes polled, and at the same time it was known that there were about two hundred and fifty residents who did not vote, some by reason of not being entitled, and others for want of inter- est.

" It was thus ascertained, with a consider- able degree of accuracy, that at the time of the election in February last, we had at least 650 men residents here. It is generally con- ceded that one in seven of a population is a large allowance of voters, in many places it not being more than one in ten. But giving us the largest allowance, and that may be proper, inasmuch as in a new place there is always a preponderance of men, this calcula- tion will afford us a population of 4,500. Shortly after this time, some inconven-

ience from the accumulation of water within our levees began to be felt. This accumula- tion arose from excessive rains. These rains interfered somewhat with the filling in and grading of the Ohio levee, and in the early part of December we were obliged to close our sewers, from the waters in the rivers having risen to a level with their outside mouths, and, with the exception of a few days in the early spring, they remained closed until they were re-opened after the overflow.

" This state of things continued until, and was in existence at, the time the breach in our levees occurred on the 12th of June last.

" As you are aware, this breach, whereby the water was first let into the town, oc- curred on the Mississippi, at the point where the levee on that river leaves the river bank, on the curve toward the Ohio River, and about half a mile from the junction of the two levees.

" At this point where the crevasse first oc- curred, the levee was very high, the filling of earth being not less than twelve feet high.

" In the neighborhood of the crevasse, the soil appears to be sandy, and an undue quan- tity of that kind of soil may have entered into the composition of the levee at that point. An inspection of the crevasse also shows that the ground was not properly prepared for the reception of the embank- ment, it not having been properly grubbed, as appears by the roots and stumps still standing in it, in the ground where the em- bankment is washed off. When the levee broke, no one was in sight of it, that I can ascertain. Capt. McClelland, the Vice Presi- dent and Chief Engineer of the Central Rail- road and myself had passed over it on foot within two hours before it occurred, and a watchman, whose duty it was to look after it, was over it about twenty minutes before, but

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to none of us was there any appearance of weakness. After leaving the location about twenty minutes, and being distant less than one-fourth of a mile, the watchman heard the roaring of the waters running through the crevasse, and when I reached it, three-fourths of an hour afterward, the water was running through to the full width of 300 feet, and in an unbroken stream, as if it was to the full depth of the embankment. The probability is, I think, that, aided by the stumps and roots in the embankment, and it is possible some other extraneous substances, the water had found its way through the base of the embankment, and had so far saturated it as to destroy its cohesion with the natural ground below, and then the weight of the waters on the outside had pushed it away.

" As you are aware, when the contracts for building the different divisions of the Illinois Central road were originally let, in June, 1852, that for the construction of the lower cross- levee and the levees below it, on both the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, was included in the letting, and was given out to Mr. Richard Ellis. Under this contract, work was com- menced and prosecuted at various points, on both the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, from September to December, 1852, when the con- tractor failed, and the work was abandoned until December, 1853, except on that por- tion along the Ohio River above the freight depot. On that section it was continued, with a view, apparently, of constructing an embankment for the accommodation of their railroad track, rather than for the purpose of protecting the town from inundation, the em- bankment having been built in the same manner as their ordinary railroad embank- ments. The instructions given by their en- gineer in charge of their work at the time it was done were the same as those issued in other cases for the construction of railroad

embankments, viz., that while the filling was over four feet, the stumps were not to be removed, and no grubbing done, and I am told by the engineer in charge at the time the work was done that these instructions were followed, and that the embankments along the Ohio River, above the freight de- pot, was thus built without the stumps being removed or grubbing done. A portion of this bank, at or near the curve on the Ohio, near the junction of the levee, is quite narrow, and after our late experience I should think it was far from being secure.

" At the time of the overflow, a very large portion of our population were obliged to go away, from inability to procure accommoda- tions here. Some, who had two-storied houses, remained in the upper story, but most were obliged to desert their dwellings. The population thus mostly scattered into the neighboring towns and country, with the exception of those who procured accommoda-" tion on the wharf and flat-boats and barges at the levee. A large portion of those who thus went away have already returned; others are coming back daily, and if employment to justify their return can be found, I am sat- isfied the great bulk of our population will shortly be back here again. I think our population is at least three thousand now, if not more.

" Early in the last spring, the foundry buildings took fire, and were entirely con- sumed. The establishment was just begin- ning to transact a very successful and pro- fitable business.

" During the last spring, a good ferry was established between Cairo and the adjoining States of Missouri and Kentucky, by the Cairo City Ferry Company, and a good steam ferry-boat furnished, which makes regular trips between those States and Cairo, bring- ing trade and produce to it. Before the de-

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struction, by the late high water, of the prod- uce of the farms along the rivers, a very perceptible increase in the business of the city took place from this cause, and a re- suscitation of the business of the adjoining country on the opposite sides of the river will, by the aid of the ferry, be attended with a corresponding effect here.

" Portions of the roads in the adjoining States are so far finished that, by the 1st of November, we shall have a continuous rail- road from here to New Orleans, with the ex- ception of the river travel between here and Columbus City, sixteen miles from here. This road is now finished, with the exception of two gaps, of eighteen and six miles re- spectively, and these are being rapidly filled. A steam ferry-boat will commence running from here to Columbus, on the 1st of the next month, in connection with this road, and when the road is completed, as it will be by November 1, we shall be within two days' travel of New Orleans.

" The first section of the Cairo & Fulton Railroad, in Missouri, is now pushed for- ward with energy, and that portion between Bird's Landing. opposite here, and Charles- ton, a village about fourteen miles from the river (Mississippi), will be in operation by the 1st of December next. Charleston is a thrivin gvillage, in a well-settled, well-culti- vated and flourishing section of Missouri, and our connection with it by railroad will tend to increase considerably the business and trade of our town. As you are aware, a road was cut out along the bank of the Ohio River to Mound City last fall, and a bridge . across Cache River was commenced then, but has been delayed since by the high water. The construction of this bridge has been since re-commenced, and the contractor in- forms me that it will be ready for use one week from next Saturday. This will give us

a good road to Mound City, and, by connec- tion with roads there, will give us free com- munication with the country and villages be- yond, and thus give us a good deal of trade from those quarters.

" In consequence of the great destruction of property by high water in the country about us, the farmers have but little to sell, and this, connected with the general depres- sion of trade, has made it rather dull here; notwithstanding which, some improvements are still going on in our city. The distillery which was commenced last spring is being pushed to completion, and will be ready for operation by the 1st of next month. Two houses -- one a dwelling, twenty-five by forty, two stories high. the other for a German tavern, twenty-five by seventy-five, and three stories high-both commenced before the overflow, are in process of completion. Two others, one twenty-five by seventy and three stories high, have been contracted for and begun since the overflow, and are nearly finished; and one other, a dwelling-house, contracted for since the overflow but not yet begun.

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 14

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