History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 68

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 68
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 68
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 68

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).

The winter of 1857, the Emporium Com- pany secured of the Illinois Legislature a charter for what was known as the Illinois Southern Railroad. The incorporators met the same year at the Shelton House, in Mound City, and organized. Gen. A. R. Butler, of Ohio, was made President, A. J. Keykendoll, of Vienna, C. B. Brown, of Cincinnati, Ohio, George W. Hite, R. B.

Shelton, William Burke, of Mound City, Hiram Boren, of Caledonia, Directors, and M. D. Gilbert, Secretary. The office of the company was located in Mound City. Its southern terminus was to be at Mound City, while its northeastern was to be at Vin- cennes, Ind. The road was surveyed, located and the contract for building let. In some of the counties through which it ran con- siderable grading was done. For a time it promised success; but stringency in money, and other difficulties, delayed its progress until the civil war put an end to further efforts. In 1874, a new charter was obtained, the name changed to Cairo & Vincennes Rail- road, and as such was built.

Among the early enterprises inaugurated by the Emporium Company was the building of the Marine Railway. They were located at the south end of Rawlings' reservation, and early in 1857, Mr. Robert Calvin, from Ohio, had the contract for grading the river bank preparatory to building the ways. After this contract was completed, Calvin graded the wharf, and did much other work for the company. He soon after repaired to a farm near Caledonia, where he still lives, enjoying the fruits of his labor and the beauties of granger life. Samuel T. Hambleton, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, had full charge of the con- struction, and no man in the country was better qualified. Familiar with all the de- tails of a work of that kind, he possessed much practical sense, with a genial happy disposition, made him a favorite with all, and especially with the large force of men he worked upon the ways. As was said, the im- mense wheels and all the machinery was molded at the Mound City Foundry, but not . until 1859 were they completed. The first boat that was taken from the river and drawn upon the ways was the R. H. W. Hill, a large, side wheel cotton boat, that ran between

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Memphis and New Orleans. To see the ma- chinery work, and to see a boat drawing so much water and weighing so much gently lifted from the water and left upon cradles, high and dry, to those who had never seen it done, was an interesting sight. This, coupled with the desire that it might be accomplished safely, upon which depended the success of the ways and the interest of the city, for the time being, at all events, caused a large num- ber of people to be present while the boat was being taken out. Everything worked like clockwork. The engineer, the men at the different posts assigned them, the cradles and the boat, all moved together, and the success of hauling out one of the largest steamers upon the river was accomplished, and Capt. Sam Hambleton was happy, and so was everybody else; if they were not at that time, an hour later they were. Tradi . tion breaks a bottle of champaign on a new boat when launched, and on an old boat when pulled out on new ways; that is one of the traditions which has continued to be ob- served to the present day. Upon this oc- casion it was not an exception. Nick Long- worth's (we do not think the old man was dead then) sparkling Catawba flowed free and copiously. Upon the command of Cap- tain Sam, toasts were drunk, speeches were made and the entire population were happy. The happy feeling was not confined to the Catawba, but those who took ice water felt the inspiration. It was quite a day for the marine ways and for Mound City.

Soon after this, Capt. Sam Hambleton re- turned to Cincinnati, where he and his brother, W. L. Hambleton, owned a marine railway, and his brother William came to Mound City (but did not bring his family until 1860), and took charge of the ways at this place. The ownership of the ways passed from the Emporium Company to Hambleton,

Collier & Co., W. H. Stokes, of Louisville, Ky., the company, Capt. W. L. Hambleton, one of the firm, Superintendent. No man in the country possessed the resources and quali- fications for the position as did Capt. Bill Hambleton. As a special notice will be given him in this history, we shall only re- fer to him in connection with the marine ways, of which he had charge from 1859 until he died in 1883-a period of twenty- four years. The ways worked, constantly. a large force of men, from their completion until the civil war came. The position of Mound City, and of her marine railway, at- tracted the attention of the Government. The three wooden gunboats had been con- structed at Cincinnati, and had come to Mound City and anchored out in the river They were the acorns from which grew the great Mississippi Squadron. The Govern- ment leased the marine ways. paying $40, - 000 a year, retaining Capt. W. L. Hamble- ton in charge. Before, however, Hambleton, Collier & Co., by contract with the Govern- ment, built three iron clad gunboats, the Cin- cinnati, the Carondelet and the Mound City. After that, the Government made gunboats of steamboats, and repaired, when needed. the boats belonging to the squadron, working 1,500 men. On the 1st day of July, 1863, the Government took possession of the prop- erty fronting the river, known as Rawlings' reservation, for a navy station, together with the Mound City Railroad depot, that stood on the reservation. A lease was given the Government to this reservation by the city. and the depot that belonged to the Empo- rium Company was sold to the Government, after which the Mound City Railroad depot was built on the corner of Main street and Railroad avenue, where it now stands. Im- mediately after the leasing of the reserva- tion, the entire Mississippi Squadron moved 31

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to Mound City, Admiral D. D. Porter in command, while Capt. A. M. Pennock had command of the navy yard, and of the large force of mechanics and laborers. More than a thousand men were under the control of William H. Faukner, the chief Steam En- gineer, and Romeo Friganza, Navai Con- structor. It was under their supervision ex- tensive improvements were made; workshops, ordnance and office buildings. During the years 1863, 1864 and 1865, the squadron was increased from twenty- four gunboats in 1863, to 100 gunboats, 22 transports, 32 mortars and 8 tugs in 1865. In this year, the es- tablishment of a navy yard in the West seemed to be favored by the naval officers at this place, and by the Navy Department. Cairo desired the station and the navy yard, if established. Carondelet, below St. Louis, desired the same. Mound City had the station, and wanted the navy yard. But Congress was the making power; Congress, therefore, must be appealed to. To see and talk to Congress, Cairo sent, as her repre- sentative, Col. S. Staats Taylor and Gen. Isum N. Haynie. Blow, of Carondelet, was a Member of Congress, and aided by Gen. Frank Blair, did the talking for Carondelet. Mound City sent Dr. N. R. Casey to tell of the superior advantages of Mound City as a location for a permanent navy yard. As somebody has said, "they met at the hat- ter's." The station was not moved from Mound City, and had Congress believed a navy yard in the West a good thing to have, Mound City would have received the location. In 1865, Admiral Porter was ordered East, and Admiral Lee took command, followed by Commodore Livingston; he was relieved by Commodore Poor; in 1867 came Commodore Schank; he was followed by Commodore Walk, who remained until 1869, when Commodore Goldsboro relieved him, and he

was relieved in 1870 by Capt. Thompson, who remained in command until 1873. On the 1st day of July, 1874, the navy depart- ment having no further use for the navy station at Mound City, the Secretary, Mr. Robeson, discontinued it, the Government releasing the lease, and turned the buildings and improvements over to the city. When the war was over, the Government turned the marine ways over to the owners, Capt. W. L. Hambleton, Superintendent. In 1880, his brother, Capt. Sam T. Hambleton, came and superintended the work about the yard; he continued to do so until 1882, when he began to have trouble with his heart; he returned to his home in Cincinnati, when, a few weeks later, a noble man passed from earth, surrounded by his family and friends. While he was never a resident of Mound City, he had been identified with it for twenty-five years, and was known and loved by all the inhabitants. Capt. W. L. Ham- bleton continued in charge of the ways until he died, which took place in February, 1883. They are now in possession of Capt. W. P. Halliday, of Cairo.

The Emporium Company, in 1857, built the stone foundation for twelve buildings on the river front, known as Union Block, but in June, 1858, they sold lots and foundations to individuals-parties from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. These parties jointly, in the years 1858 and 1859, built the block of the best of brick made above the city limits, on the Ohio River. Each of the buildings was twenty-five feet by eighty feet, and three stories high. The third stories of the two south buildings were thrown together and finished in good style, and called Stokes Hall. The 'latter is forty-six feet by eighty feet, now known as the Opera House. Theatricals, dances, conventions, and, since the destruction of the court house by fire in

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HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

1879, Circuit Courts are held in it. Until the civil war, the building was unoccupied. The Government, in 1861, took possession of it, and from that time until after the close of the war, it was the largest United States hospital in the West. The wounded from the battle of Belmont were the first admitted. After the battle of Shiloh, 2,200 wounded and sick were provided for. Among the surgeons in charge were Dr. Franklin, of St. Louis, Dr. H. Wardner, now in charge of the insane asylum at Anna, Ill., and others, while it required fifteen or twenty Assistant Sur- geons to attend the sick and wounded, who came from various parts of the country. The present location of none of them are known, but Dr. C. W. Dunning, of Cairo, and Dr. N. R. Casey, of Mound City.

Soon after the battle of Shiloh, the hos- pital, full of sick and wounded, with a hun- dred or more attaches, several hundred strangers in the city, visiting and looking after wounded and sick friends, sensational reports were frequent. Rebels had been seen in large numbers on the opposite bank of the river, in Kentucky; a large body of rebels had crossed the Mississippi at , Com- merce, all looking to a raid on Mound City, the main object being to destroy the marine ways, where the Government was repairing and fitting out so many gunboats and trans- ports. This gave color, and to many positive belief, that the stories circulated were not only reasonable but true. During one of these exciting days, the surgeon in charge of the hospital was called away, to be gone twenty-four hours. Before leaving, lie turned the hospital and all his authority over to Dr. Charlie Vail until his return. Dr. Vail was a young man of much promise as a surgeon and physician, with a large amount of social quailties. The night the Chief Surgeon left, Dr. Vail attended a wine sup-

per-plenty of eating and plenty of wine, drinking was indulged in, followed, of course, by patriotic songs and patriotic speeches. This patriotic feast was indulged in until after midnight, when Vail reached his headquarters. By that time he concluded he would at once put down the rebellion by a grand move upon the enemy; but to do so he must have more troops. After first order- ing out all persons attached to the hospital, he summoned one Tom Clarke, who was a sort of a private detective-that is, would follow the troops down into Missouri or Ken- tucky and return with some old buggies and horses. To Clarke Vail issued an order, first making him Commander of the citizens' forces, with authority to press at once into the service all able-bodied residents in the place. Clark arrayed himself with a cavalry sword and scabbard. With sword drawn and scabbard thumping the sidewalk, with aids at his heels, he proceeded to rouse the peo- ple and order them to the front of the hos- pital; that strife and carnage was less than a mile away. People turned out pell-mell --- some alarmed, and some to see what was going on. When they got in front of the hospital, Clarke mustered them into the serv- ice for the night. Many did not like this coercive business, and sent for N. R. Casey, the Mayor; they wanted to be relieved. The Mayor went. He found all the space in front of the hospital, to the river, covered with inen, armed with all sorts of deadly weapons. Near the Chief Surgeon's office he met Dr. Vail, Commander-in-chief. Upon asking him what all this meant, Vail's reply was, " Casey, make 'em a speech-make 'em a speech." The Mayor saw the Doctor retire for the night, and then dismissed his army, and quiet prevailed. Dr. Vail removed to Wisconsin after the war, and some years ago his bright, happy spirit passed from earth.

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Those who died at the hospital were buried on the river bank, just above the city, and some further up, near old America. After the close of the war, the Government pur. chased ten acres of ground, three quarters of a mile west of Mound City, for a national cemetery, and moved all who died or were killed at Columbus, Belmont, Cairo, Com- merce, Paducah and Mound City, and buried their remains in this ten-acre plot of ground, and when counted they numbered 5, 555. Congress made provision for the improvement of the place. It was soon inclosed with an iron fence. Evergreens, shade trees and flowers were planted; marble head-boards at each grave; a comfortable brick lodge built for the Superintendent, and a brick rostrum, from which orators address the great multi- tudes of people who visit the spot every 30th of May to decorate the graves of the dead soldiers. In 1874, N. R. Casey, then a member of the Legislature, secured the pas- sage of a bill appropriating, out of the State Treasury, $25,000 to build a monument at this national cemetery. The Governor ap- pointed, as Commissioners to carry out the provisions of the bill, Capt. W. L. Hamble- ton, of Mound City, Jonathan C. Willis, of Metropolis, and Dr. Looney, of Vienna, and in 1875 the monument was completed, stand- ing seventy-two feet high from its foundation.

Congress, at its last session, appropriated $15,000 to build a gravel road from the land- ing on the Ohio River to the cemetery, which will soon be completed. Joe P. Roberts, Esq., at the solicitation of many of the citi- zens, went to Washington City, and when he stated to our Member of Congress, Hon. John R. Thomas, the necessity of the road, Capt. Thomas at once introduced a bill appro- priating $25,000. That bill passed the House. The Senate amended it by making it $15,000. The House concurred, and it became a law.

After the war, the building that had so long been used for United States Hospital, in which had suffered and died so many brave men, where the Sisters of the Holy Cross had come as ministering angels early, and stayed until the last sick and wounded had gone was vacated. For a long time it stood idle, as if taking a rest after its long oc- cupancy of suffering and distress. Its gloomy walls seemed to tell the sad story of the part it took in the rebellion. But the war was over, and something else must be done. Three of the south buildings were constructed into a hotel, and called the Stokes House, and was kept by different persons; among them, Capt. F. A. Fair, who came to Mound City in 1856, and did the brick work on the first brick house built in Mound City, in 1856 and 1857, afterward owned and kept the wharf-boat, and still resides in Mound City. Mrs. Van Ostran at one time kept the Stokes House, having for many years kept a boarding-house in Mound City. She had great energy, and the general verdict was, .she knew how to keep a hotel. She died while proprietress of the hotel. It is now kept by Mr. McClenan, a gentlemanly prop- rietor, kept in first-class style, and called the Mound City Hotel. W. H. Stokes, of Louisville, before his death, became owner of the block, and at his administrator's sale the buildings were bought by persons of Mound City, Mr. G. F. Meyer being the largest pur- chaser, after which he took down three of the buildings on the north end, out of which he built his extensive and elegant storehouse building, on the corner of Walnut and Main streets. The remaining part of the block, not occupied for hotel, is being rapidly ar- ranged for a large furniture factory. The factory has already been incorporated, with Mr. Ellis, of Indiana, G. F. Meyer, and Ferd Wehrfritz, of Mound City, incorporators.

HISTORY OF PULASKI COUNTY.

553

CHAPTER VI .*

MOUND CITY-DECLINE AND DEATH OF THE EMPORIUM COMPANY-OVERFLOW OF THE OHIO IN 1858-FLOODS OF 1862, 1867, 1882 AND 1883-LEVEEING THE CITY-BONDS FOR THE PAY- MENT OF THE SAME-A FEW MURDERS WITH A TASTE OF LYNCH LAW, ETC.

T THE first public evidence of financial trouble with the Emporium Company cropped out at the annual meeting of the stockholders in June, 1858. They appointed a committee to consider ways and means by which they might be relieved from their in- debtedness. Said committee reported and recommended that the President and Direc- tors be instructed to issue mortgage bonds, to the amount of $140,000 to liquidate the indebtedness of the company. The recom- mendation was unanimously approved, and the bonds were issued for their payment. All their real estate was mortgaged. The President and Directors, finding that the bonds could not be sold for more than 80 cents on the dollar, and to avoid this shrink- age they made a proposition to the stock- holders, to advance an amount of money in proportion to the amount of stock they owned, and receive these mortgage bonds therefor. This plan was adopted. A large number of stockholders made the advance and took bonds. Those that did not, held the stock; but as all the property of the company had been mortgaged, left the stock worth- less. At this meeting, in June, 1858, Dr. B. Cloak, of Kentucky, was elected President of the company, and he continued to act in that capacity until 1860, when Jesse Payton, of Philadelphia, was elected. He wrote and published several encouraging reports. He was President for two years, when J. R.

Emerie, of Mound City, was elected; he served two years, when George W. Carter, of Mound City, was elected President. He was a man of intelligence and energy. He came from Versailles, Ky., to Mound City in 1860, and identified himself with the people and the interests of the place. He owned a large number of lots and houses. He entered at once into the work of trying to save the de- clining fortunes of the company, and had it been possible he would have done so. The vast amount of money realized from the sale of stock and lots had gone, and what property was left was mortgaged. Time and space for- bid a minute history of this company. For the first two years of its existence it was a brill- iant success. It has been said, precocious children do not live long; so it was with the Emporium Company. George W. Carter was eight years President of the company. He was often a member of the City Council, and four years one of the County Judges; he died in 1877 greatly regretted. He was succeeded as President of the company by his son, John W. Carter, who served two years. John W. Carter, in 1878, came to an untimely death. He was a bright, genial young man, possessing more tlian ordinary intelligence and business capacity. His loss by death was seri- ously felt by the community. Then, as President of the company, follow N. R. Casey, Judge W. H. Green, of Cairo, D. Hogan and H. G. Carter. These last-named

* By Dr. N. R. Casey.

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gentleman were elected Presidents with Directors to preserve the charter. The mortgaged property was sold in 1868, and bought by the bondholders. Those holding bonds, bought enough to cover the amount of bonds they held. As has been intimated, it would take a volume to follow the Empo- rium Company through all its wanderings. The charter incorporating this company had been granted for twenty-five years only, and it expired in 1882. While the end of this once grand corporation had been reached some years before, its breathings only ceased when the charter died.

The question whether the Ohio River ever had, or ever would overflow her banks at Mound City, was one often asked and dis. cussed by the early inhabitants of the city; but in June, 1858, the question was answered. Along in May, the river became bank-full, and then gradually began to overflow. It was not rapid or turbulent, but a constant increase in volume. First, the depressions filled with water, then it passed around ele- vations and formed a small island; then the island grew less until it disappeared. Houses were encroached upon; a false floor was necessary, in order to live " dry shod" on the inside. Thus the river continued to come, and the people continued to put in false floors in their houses until the water stood from two to three feet over the city, except the mounds. The weather was warm and pleasant. It was the first experience of the kind the people ever had, and instead of despairing and discouraging them, they rather enjoyed it. Business houses, upon their raised floors, kept open; there was but little interruption of the trade of the city, any way. Skiffs, yawls, scows, flats of every conceivable shape and style of boat, could be seen carrying through the streets merry and happy people. The "gunnel," twenty to fifty

feet long, bearing up a half-dozen passen- gers, controlled and steered with a pole, was a great favorite with many, especially with those who, in their extreme kindness, de- sired to get some friend on board and tilt him off into the water. The nights were moonlight, and the gay and happy people of all ages enjoyed their boat rides at night. Music, both vocal and instrumental, floated upon the air in every direction; serenading parties were frequent. Cotillion parties would be given, and, instead of coach and four, fifty gondolas would be moored around the hostess' house. Mound City looked very much like Venice did when the American lady said she visited Venice at an unfortu- nate time-the town was overflowed, and the people had to go in boats. By the 1st day of July, the waters had receded, and soon afterward it was difficult to find a resident that would admit water had been in the town. However, it established the fact that a levee was necessary to protect the city against a similar occurrence; yet it was de - layed, and in the spring of 1862 the city was again overflowed. The river became higher than it did in 1858, and the novelty was not so great; nor was the enjoyment of the peo- ple so marked. After the flood had come and gone, the city authorities set about build- ing a levee. By authority, they issued city bonds, bearing 10 per cent interest and run- ning ten years, to pay for it. Some were sold for 80 cents on the dollar, but a contract was made with George W. Carter and Alex- ander Frazier and Timothy Booth, to do the work for 30 cents per yard, and take city bonds in payment. Therefore, late in 1866, the levee was completed. The length was three miles. In the spring of 1867, the Ohio, fed by the Cumberland, Tennessee, Wabash, and other less rivers, again overflowed her banks, and soon surrounded the levee. Fears at once

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were entertained that, from the newness of the levee, it would fail to resist the pressure of the water from without. Their fears were realized, in the extreme northwestern por- tion; there a break occurred, fifty feet wide, and water rushed into the city with great force and rapidity, but it was twenty hours afterward before the water stood as high on the inside of the levee as it was on the out- side. No particular damage resulted, but more inconvenience, for the reason less prep aration had been made for such a visitation. When the location where the levee gave way was examined, after the water had receded, several old logs were found, having been placed in the levee when building, which evidently was the cause of the break. Then followed the contract, on the part of the city, with A. J. Dougherty and George E. Louns- berry, to build the levee broader at its base and higher, paying them in city bonds. This was in 1867-68. The total amount of city bonds issued for levee purposes amounted to $47,500. The river was again high in 1872 and 1875. By this time, the levee had become firm and compact. In the spring of 1882, the unprecedented flood came; but the levee protected the city. This flood was fol- lowed, in 1883, with a still greater flood, and while many towns and cities on the Ohio River were flooded, resulting in great loss of property, the Mound City levee stood the pressure, and the city remained dry. In the winter of 1867, N. R. Casey, then a member of the Legislature from this county, obtained from the State, by special act of the Legis- lature, the State tax of Mound city for ten years, to be applied to building levee, and paying the bonds and interest on the same. The State paid to the city the taxes for two years, when the new constitution, adopted in 1870, prohibited any further payment. The levee had been built, and bonds sold, and as

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History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 68

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