History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 44

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 44
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 44
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 44

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).

an active horticulturist. Cyrus Shick, of Pennsylvania, was also, till 1880, an exten- sive berry grower and shipper.

Until the year 1880, berries were shipped in the fruit cars specially constructed for that purpose, and went by the fruit train, or else the fruit was sent by express on the regular passenger trains, as the shipper found it to be most convenient or necessary. In that year, the berry shippers commenced using re- frigerator cars. In 1881, cooling houses in Cobden and Anna were built in which to store

and cool the fruit preparatory to shipment. These were the first buildings erected for this purpose in Southern Illinois. The refriger- ator cars delivered the berries in prime con- dition at Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo. In 1883, cooling houses were built at other stations along the railroad. The use of these cooling houses and refrigerator cars permitted the growing and shipping of varie- ties otherwise too soft for carriage to distant markets, and thus allowed a more extended planting of berries than would have been possible without them.

Refrigerator cars are also used for the transportation of raspberries, blackberries, peaches, tomatoes, etc., in their season. The cooling houses in the winter form storage places for sweet potatoes and fruit. The house in Anna was built by P. Earle & Sons, to accommodate their own immense crops. The Cobden cooler was built by the Cobden Refrigerator & Shipping Company, a stock company which receives berries from any grower, and at the low charge of 10 cents per case of twenty-four quarts gives them the benefit of the cooling house and of the refrigerator car to Chicago. The freight, $90 per car, is an additional expense, divided among the shippers according to the number of cases sent. A car will carry 500 cases, and on a trip to Cleveland is recharged with ice at Indianapolis. When sent to Chi- cago, the expense of loading the berries at Cobden, and unloading in Chicago, is $6.50 per car extra. The " Cobden Fruit Growers' Association," known also as the "The Peo- ple's Line," is another organization to facil- itate the cheap transportation and delivery of fruit, and handles the great bulk of the shipments. These companies are great aids to the grower in economizing expense, and have helped largely to develop the fruit- growing business in the county.

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

The black raspberries have been raised here in great quantities in past years. About the year 1873, the Turner red raspberry came into extensive cultivation in this county. It was so early in ripening, and so excellent in its other characteristics, that it created a new era in raspberry culture. The profits on this berry for several years were exceedingly large, and stimulated the growers to over- production. Fields of from ten to twenty acres of these raspberries multiplied rapidly. In 1879, Union County shipped 3,411 bush- els of raspberries, of which amount Cobden shipped 2,736 bushels, all in pint boxes. Of these, about one-fourth were black varieties, and the rest were the Turner. In 1880, there were hundreds of acres of these berries in bearing, and the market price fell below the cost of production. This was the crown- ing year of the raspberry business, the crop amounting to over 5,000 bushels, of which Cobden furnished 11,027 cases, or 4,135 bushels. The growers then plowed up their fields, and betook themselves to other fruits. Parker Earle & Sons, who were always the largest growers of this berry here, still have thirty acres of it in bearing at Anna. In its best days, cases of twenty-four pints often sold for $7 and $8 each. There are at pres- ent only 400 acres in raspberries, of all kinds, in this county. The Turner variety is the general favorite of the red sorts, and the Miami of the black sorts. By the careful method used here in picking and packing, the Turner, though naturally a soft berry when fully ripe, was carried in good order to such distant points as Chicago, Milwaukee and Dubuque. Walter S. Lamer is the larg- est shipper of raspberries at Cobden. His berries are superior in quality and in pack- ing, and bring the highest price in market.

The Lawton and Kittatinny blackberries were grown to the extent of 180 or 200 acres, between the years 1870 and 1880, but now

the total acreage given to the blackberry in Union County does not probably exceed 100 acres. The fruit ripens during the hottest season of the year, when it is difficult to make long shipments in anything like good condition, and when the pickers are all tired out with their tasks in the strawberry and raspberry fields. The market also is very fickle, as in some years the wild berries are so good and so plentiful as to seriously affect the sale of the cultivated varieties. The old growers have had their experience, are satis- fied with it, and are now pretty much out of the business. The largest blackberry ship- pers this year are P. Earle & Sons, who have out thirty-two acres of, the Early Har- vest, Wilson's Early and other varieties in their extensive berry plantation at Anna.

The red and white currants have been tried, time and again, but no great profit was found in them. They grow and yield well. The black currants succeed finely and make a delicious wine, the Black Naples va- riety being the best for this purpose.

Gooseberries have been grown by the acre, but the cash returns were not such as to fascinate the grower, and so this fruit also has become merely a side show. The crops were large enough, but sugar is still too costly. When the great West becomes a sugar-producing section, and the sorghum lands reduce the price of sugar to a par with the gooseberry, quart for quart, then this great colic promoter will assume an bonora- ble position among the small fruits which bring fame and wealth to Union County. The fig tree is a treacherous plant here, no matter how well sheltered. Trees have been grown here ont of doors, of the Brown Ischia and Early Violet varieties, and borne fruit, but the only certainty is found by trans- planting the tree or bush to the cellar through the winter.

The mulberry grows to perfection here;

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

and now that silk culture is being revived in this country and is found to be a profitable pursuit, there might be some advantage de- rived from giving it some attention on our rich lands. The English walnut ripens here perfectly. There are over a dozen trees near Jonesboro, some of which bear annual crops. A grove of these trees would rival the orange in profit. The sweet American chestnut is also at home on the Union County hills. The pecan, shellbark hickory, black walnut, butternut, etc., all flourish here, and may be made sources of considerable profit by judi - cious planting. The American elm, the ash, beech, horse chestnut, locust, linden, maple, oak, sweet gum, poplar and willow are all grown as ornamental and shade trees and abound in the forests. The evergreens re- quire more care, but are successfully grown. Many private residences in different parts of the county have their lawns graced with groups of the arbor vitæ, junipers, pines and cedars. The holly is also seen here. Box and privet serve as borders for walks and beds. The mock orange and the Osage orange thrive, and the magnolia grandiflora shows its huge snowy flowers in sheltered places.

Flower gardens, filled with the richest and gayest of roses, shrubs, vines, bulbs and flowering plants, that bewilder an amateur, are to be seen around every village and town in the county. The cut-flower business has not grown in proportion to the other depart- ments of horticulture, or to its merits. James Bell constructed quite an extensive green house several years ago, from which considerable quantities of roses, ferns, etc., have been sent to Northern cities, realizing excellent returns. T. A. E. Holcomb also built a beautiful little conservatory, which has been a source of delight and profit to the owner. The science of horticulture has

not yet developed here its æsthetic side suffi- ciently to attract the masses. Only a por- tion of the people take other than the prac- tical, matter of fact view of it. The culti- vation of flowers and care of lawns are now, to many of the farmers, just what the grow- ing of small fruit was twenty-five years ago-too small business for men to bother about.

Before taking up other subjects, it is well to mention here that great efforts, many of them quite costly to the people, have repeat- edly been made to economically and profita- bly dispose of the vast amount of third-class fruit which annually goes to waste on the fruit farms, for want of time and means to save it. Evaporators, under the Alden patent, were erected in Anna aud Cobden in 1872, costing about $10,000 each, the peo- ple, as stockholders, putting in $5,000 cash and land, and the Alden Company offsetting this with the building and machinery, thus making it a stock concern. The evaporators were set to work on fruit and vegetables; but two years' experience under the most careful management showed the mortifying fact that, do the best they could, the evaporated fruit cost more than it would sell for in market. In other words, the Alden system was a fail- ure here. The heat was developed from a steam coil beneath the drying shaft. By re- moving the coil, putting the furnace in its place so as to use direct heat, and avoiding all use of steam, as has been done elsewhere, the business might have taken a profitable turn; but the stockholders had no great de- sire to experiment further, and abandoned the whole affair, converting the building to other uses.

At different times distilleries have been put in operation in different parts of the county, and made apple and peach brandies, ¡ etc. The injury proved greater than the

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

benefit derived, and the growing temperance movement soon crowded the distilleries out. At the present writing, the whole county is a solid unit for temperance, the principal towns working under iron-clad ordinances, and no intoxicating liquor being allowed to be sold or made.

The tomato, often improperly classed as a vegetable, is a fruit which has of late years acquired such prominence in the shipments from Union County as to outrank the berries in quantity if not in value. Col. F. E. Peebles, Secretary of the Fruit Shippers' Association, supplies many of the following facts: Tomatoes were raised by David Gow, at Cobden, in 1858, but the business was fairly opened in 1859 by D. Gow, G. H. Baker and Henry Ede, gentlemen who still rank high among the tomato growers. At that time, these three growers were able to supply the Chicago market with all the to- matoes it needed, and from not over 10,000 plants. As the tomato grew in favor as an article of diet, the demand called for increased production, until in 1882, there were around Cobden 220 growers cultivating 500 acres set with nearly 1,000,000 plants, from which over 225,000 third-bushel boxes of tomatoes were shipped; and not less than 15,000 bushels were allowed to rot, when the price fell too low. The fruit was shipped in fruit cars to points as far as Western New York, Canada, Dakota and Colorado.

Cobden, for several years, has annually grown and shipped more tomatoes than any other place in the United States. In 1882, the crop exceeded that of any former year, the total shipments by freight and fruit ex- press aggregating 220 car loads. On July 29 of that year, twenty-five car loads of to- matoes left Union County, of which Cobden furnished over twenty-two car loads, and could have sent off thirty car loads, had the

prices warranted it. This immense shipment on one day was too much for even Chicago to hold up. The great markets of the West broke down and were weak for several days, during which the shipments continued, though at a daily loss to the shippers of not less than $1,000. The tomatoes cost at the Cobden depot at least 12 cents a box. The early sales reach $1 per box, and then rapidly fall as the supplies increase. In 1863, they sold as high as $3 per box, but now the ship ments from Bermuda and the South take the early market prices. Willis Lamer is a lead- ing grower. E. N. Clark excels in quality. J. T. Whelpley, J. Metz, Green & Vener- able, H. R. Buckingham and A. H. Chapman are also large growers of the tomato. Some of these growers cleared $2,000 each on the crop of 1882.

The watermelon succeeds in this county only in particular localities. The soil is generally too heavy for it; but the musk- melon grows finely and has become one of the famous products of Union County. The Japan variety has been grown in quite large quantities, to the extent of eighty to 100 acres. In 1870, Horace Eastman began the growing of melons at Anna, and for several years obtained extraordinary prices, ranging from $8 to $12 per crate of twenty-five mel- ons. In 1879, the melon business was at its height, with opening prices at $6 per crate of one and one-half bushels. Anna was the principal shipping point, with sixty acres in this crop, which yielded 9,200 crates and paid about $300 profit per acre above ex- penses. The leading growers at Anna were H. Eastman, I. C. Piersol, E. G. Robinson, J. A. Noyes, Asa Harmon and J. B. Miller. At Cobden, G. H. Baker is a leading grower of this fruit.

In vegetables as in fruits, Union County is a principal source of supply and Cobden is

John Galar

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

the largest shipping station. In any city to which Cobden chooses to send its products, it can, with a single day's shipments, break down the markets with either of the follow- ing articles: Strawberries, tomatoes, rhubarb, asparagus, spinach or sweet potatoes. Of asparagus, it has about eighty acres, grown principally by Amos Poole, M. A. Benham, A. Buck and E. Leming & Co. Other parts of the county have twenty acres or more in this crop, making a total of 100 acres. There are seventy-five acres of rhubarb grown in the county, of which Cobden has fifty acres, and ships by the car load. The shipments of rhubarb from that station for 1880 were 340,- 465 pounds, or 170 tons. A. Poole was the principal grower at the origin of the busi- ness, and last year he gathered a barrel of rhubarb from seven hills at one picking. The net profits are about $125 per acre. There are about 120 acres in the county planted with spinach, of which Cobden grows seventy- five acres, and in 1882 shipped fourteen car loads, or 13,500 crates, holding three-fourths of a bushel each.

But small attention is given to peas, beans, lettuce, beets, radishes, cabbage, etc., on ac- count of the increasing production of these crops at points further South. The total an- nual shipments of peas and beans from this county will average about 2,000 boxes; of lettuce, 2,000 cases; of radishes, 400 cases; of squashes, 200 cases, and of cucumbers about 500 boxes. Early onions are exten- sively grown, the crop of 1882 amounting to 1,200 cases, principally of the variety known as Scallions, or winter onions. The field onion is also extensively grown. The sweet potato is grown in great quantities. The shipments for 1882 were, from Cobden, 530,460 pounds; from Anna, 522,630 pounds; , from Dongola, 322,550 pounds; from other places, 50,000 pounds, or a total of 23,880

bushels. In these statements, Anna gets the credit of much that is grown around Jones- boro, and Cobden the credit of much that is grown around Alto Pass. In 1882, the total fruit and vegetable shipments from Cobden were 6,480,160 pounds; from Anna, 3,285,- 685 pounds; from Dongola 1, 444, 960 pounds, and from Alto Pass 407,040 pounds. In the year 1877, the fruit train shipments from Cobden reached the enormous amount of 10, - 287,835 pounds, equal to 643 car loads.

The packages used in shipping the prod- ucts of Union County are the one third bushel box for peaches, early apples, pears. plums, tomatoes, early potatoes, etc .; the twenty-four quart case for strawberries, blackberries, cherries and vegetables; the twenty-four pint case for raspberries, and the cne and one-half bushel crate for melons. These packages are manufactured in the county, principally by Mesler & Co., at Cob- den, M. M. Henderson & Son, at Anna, and R. T. Shipley, at Jonesboro. These firms turn out several million packages annually, which are supplied direct to the growers in all parts of the West, and cannot be ex- celled for quality of material or workmanship. The third bushel boxes are supplied at a cost of $37.50 per 1,000.

The reputation of Union County as a fruit- producing section is not based wholly upon the immense quantities of fruits, etc., shipped from here, but largely upon the excellent quality of the fruit, the superior character of the packages, and the unrivaled perfection of the packing. In no other section is fruit. packed better, nor is there anywhere else so great skill and care used in the preparation of the shipments. The long distances over which much of the fruit is sent requires the utmost nicety of preparation and attention to the minutest particulars. The growers and shippers pride themselves on the excel-

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

lence of their shipments, and in sustaining the fair fame of their county as the finest fruit garden in the valley of the Mississippi.

Thus the cultivation of the fruits and vegetables in this county has progressed from the rudest beginnings to its present noble proportions. The wild fruits have gradually given place to improved and cul- tivated varieties. Horticulture has risen to a science calling for the genius and talent of the most intelligent men, and affording ob- jects for the expenditure of wealth and taste to a most liberal extent. Several new fruits have originated here through the skill of some

of the more studious horticulturists. The Freeman's late peach was originated by H. C. Freeman, of Alto Pass; the Lawver apple by John S. Lawver, of Cobden, and the Sucker State strawberry, by John B. Miller, of Anna, all of them fruits that do honor to the county and State which gave them origin.

The future of horticulture in Union County is full of glorious promise. As the great

West absorbs the limitless population of the four quarters of the globe, its crowding mill- ions will call unceasingly for more and more of the fair fruits that bless the soil of South- ern Illinois. The resources of this favored region and the energies of its people will be taxed to their utmost capacity. The time is not far ahead, and the day of preparation is now at hand. The beginning is already well made, but the tenth part of what is to be has not yet been done. Though the history of the past fifty years of horticulture in this county may seem sufficiently honorable and grand, that of the next half century will far transcend anything that the proudest fruit. grower of this day and generation can con- ceive. To our children and our successors is committed the great work of achieving this result, and for them this history of our own labors is written, with the hope that the same God who has prospered us thus far will also prosper them, even to the end of time.

CHAPTER XI .*

.JONESBORO PRECINCT-TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES-COMING OF THE WHITES-PIO- NEER HARDSHIPS-EARLY INDUSTRIES-ROADS, BRIDGES, TAVERNS, ETC .- RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL-STATE OF SOCIETY-PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENTS, ETC.

" And the names he loved to hear Have been carved for many a year On the tomb."

-OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

TONESBORO PRECINCT is situated in the west central part of Union County, and comprises Township 12 south, in Range 2 west, of the Third Principal Meridian, with a few additional Sections which have been attached to it for the sake of convenience. It

is bounded on the north by Ridge or Alto Pass Precinct, on the east by Anna Precinct, on the south by Meisenheimer Precinct and on the west by Union Precinct. The surface is rolling, and often rough and billy, with numerous small water-courses. The princi- pal of these is Clear Creek, which flows through the western part, in a southerly course, and passes into Meisenheimer Pre- cinct. Several small streams flow into it in this precinct. In addition to the streams

*By John Grear.

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

mentioned, there are a number of springs which afford an abundant supply of excellent water the entire year. Originally, the land was covered with heavy timber, but much of it has disappeared before the encroachments of the " relentless pioneer," but enough still remains for all practical uses. The St. Louis & Cairo Railroad runs through the precinct, and has greatly improved the country since its completion. The principal products are corn, oats and wheat, some stock and a little fruit. The latter, however, is grown more for family use than for sale, none of the farm- ers devoting especial attention to it, as in some of the neighboring precincts.

Jonesboro Precinct is one of the oldest set- tled portions of Union County, more than seventy years having elapsed since the first white people penetrated thus far into the wilderness. See the figures: 1809-1883! More than two-generations have passed be- tween these milestones, and many of their names have long ago been "carved on the tomb." The pioneers who bore the brunt of life in the wilderness have passed away, and their bodies have moldered into dust. We shall never see their like again, for the times in which they lived have changed, and there can be no necessity for the repetition of their experiences fifty or seventy-five years ago. The life which the pioneer of the far Western Territories leads is vastly different to pioneer life in Southern Illinois. Here they had none of the comforts or luxuries of civilization, but endless toil and extreme privation were required to maintain existence. With the railroads penetrating the Great West and the unsettled Territories. the pioneer can take with him to his new home not only the com- forts, but many of the luxuries of the older settled States with trifling cost. and live with comparative ease. Even houses can be transported to the contemplated settle-

ment, and set up in a short time ready for their occupants. Not so fifty years ago. The settlers came with nothing, and for years it was an incessant struggle for life-itself. It was only by the most superhuman efforts and persevering industry that a comfortable home was finally obtained.

The first settlement of this precinct was made by North Carolinians, as were nearly all of the early settlements of the county. It is generally conceded that John Grammer, the hardy, rough, rude old pioneer-the rough diamond -- was the first settler in what now forms Jonesboro Precinct, and that 1809 was about the date of his settlement. We have but little to say of John Grammer in this chapter, as considerable space has been de- voted to him in the preceding pages, and any- thing further would be a repetition. The following pioneers, and early and prominent citizens of Jonesboro. town and precinct, have also been written up, and their lives and deeds placed upon record in other chapters of this work. Dr. S. S. Conden, Thomas Fin- ley, John Evans. Winsted Davie, Dr. B. W. Brooks, the Willards, George Wolf, Judge Daniel Hileman, Jacob Hunsaker, John McIntosh, James Provo, Mrs. Nancy Hileman, Richard M. Young and Abner and Alexander P. Field. Nothing new can be said of them in this chapter. They were pioneers, and were fitted for the work they had to do, and they did it without flinching or quailing:

In addition to those already given. we may mention the following, who were also early settlers in this precinct: Abraham Hunsaker, Philip Shaver, Adam Clapp, Edmond Vance, James Smiley, Thomas D. Patterson, Benja- min Menees. Christian Flaugh, Jacob Little- ton, John Whittaker, A. Cokenower, Giles Parmlee, Jacob Wolf, Michael Limbrough, William Grammer, Emanuel Penrod, George Hunsaker, Daniel Kimmel, Robert Hargrave,

3 54

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

David Brown, Daniel F. Coleman, a man named Heacock, Dr. Priestly, L. B. Lizen- bee. Dr. Jones, Nimrod, Fergueson, Fullen- wider, etc. Up to and previous to 1815, Abraham Hunsaker, Philip Shaver, George Wolf, Adam Clapp, Edmond Vance and Thomas D. Patterson came into the precinct. Most of the others mentioned settled during the year 1816. George Wolf was a Dun- kard preacher, and Abraham Hunsaker was a kind of striker, to use a backwoods expres- sion, for him. They used to hold meetings in the pioneer settlements, and were esteemed wherever they went for their unswerving honesty. Smiley opened a large farm near Jonesboro; Lizenbee was long Deputy Clerk of the court. Of all those mentioned as coming into the precinct up to 1816, George Wolf is the only one known to be alive. He was living, when last heard from in Califor- nia, but was growing very old and feeble. The others have gone to their final reward.

Philip Shaver was the only survivor of the Cache Massacre, which occurred within the present limits of Mound City, in 1812, and a full account of which will be found in that chapter. Although he was badly wound- ed, he succeeded in making his escape, by swimming the bayou, and then making his way on foot to Union County. He settled a short distance below Jonesboro, where he lived for many years. Shaver's name fre- quently appears among the county records. and sometimes as Shafer and Shaffer, but the correct name is Shaver. He was a North Carolinian, and came to Southern Illinois previous to the war of 1812. Among the other pioneers of Jonesboro Precinct, whose names have been mentioned above, were men noted in the community and the times in which they lived for more than ordinary in- telligence, but space will not allow extended notices of them here. It is enough to say

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 44

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