History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois, Part 9

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 826

USA > Illinois > Clark County > History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois > Part 9
USA > Illinois > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois > Part 9

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Among the railroad projects which have agitated this section of the country, and in which the people of the county have taken more or less interest, may be mentioned the following: "The Wabash Valley Railroad," "St. Louis & Cincinnati," " Terre Haute & Southwestern," "Chicago, Danville & Vincen- nes," " Tuscola & Vincennes," " Paris & Dan- ville," " East & West Narrow Gauge," " Indi- ana & Illinois Commercial," " Pana & Vin- cennes," "Cincinnati & St. Louis Straight Line," etc., etc. Of these the Paris & Dan- ville, now a division of the Wabash, and the East & West Narrow Gauge Road, are all that have been carried to completion.

The building of the Paris & Danville, grew out of the old project of the Wabash Valley Railroad. The latter was agitated as far back as 1850-52, and its origin, doubtless, might be traced still farther back-to the pe- riod of the Internal Improvement fever. The project was well conceived, and had it been carried out at that day, it would have proved a formidable rival to the Illinois Central. It was intended to extend from Chicago to Vin- cennes, and ultimately to the Ohio River, thus connecting the commerce of that great water highway, with the lakes of the north. A company was formed, under the title of the "Wabash Valley Railroad Company," and work commenced, and prosecuted with more or less activity, for several years. Much of the grading was done in this county, as may still be seen between Hutsonville and Pales- tine, which was the settled route of the road. But the hard times, an insufficiency of capital, the general indifference manifested toward it in portions of the country through which it

IHISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

passed, and downright opposition in others, had their effect, and the project was finally abandoned.

After the close of the war, the enterprise of a road from Chicago to the Wabash Valley was again agitated under the title of "Chicago, Danville & Vincennes Railroad." As such it was chartered February 16, 1865, and the main line put in operation in 1822. After numerous changes it became the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, and with leased lines extends from Chicago via Danville, through Indiana to Evansville. March 3, 1869, the Paris & Danville Railroad Company was organized, to extend the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes on south through Illinois instead of through Indiana, as then seemed the intention of the latter company. The road was put in opera- tion from Danville to Paris in September, 18:2, about the time the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes was finished, but was not com- pleted to Robinson until in August, 1875. During the same fall it was finished to Law- renceville, on the Ohio & Mississippi, and connection made with that road, and arrange- ments effected, by which the P. & D. trains commenced running into Vincennes in May, 1876, over the O. & M. tracks. This was the first railroad (out of all the railroad projects agitated from time to time) completed through Crawford County.

The Paris & Danville was built on the old grade of the Wabash Valley Railroad in this county, until after leaving IIutsonville, when it diverged to the west in order to tap Rob- inson. It proved of considerable advantage to the county, and to the country generally, through which it passed-although from its very completion it has been but poorly man- aged. There is no just reason why it should not be a valuable and profitable road, if kept in good condition. In August, 1875, a re- ceiver was appointed, and the road operated by him until June 30, 1879. The purchasers

then operated it for a few months, when, on the Sth of October following, a new company, under the title of " Danville & Southwestern," was formed, and took possession of the prop- erty. This company bought, or leased the Cairo & Vincennes Railroad, built a link from Lawrenceville to St. Francisville on the latter road, thus making a complete and direct line from Danville to Cairo. In September, 1881, it was consolidated with the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, and has since been operated as a division of the Wabash system.

The Danville & Southwestern, or, as now known, Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, passes through as fine a section of country as may be found in the State. Together with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, with which it connects at Danville, it forms an unbroken line from Cairo to Chicago, that is said to be eleven miles shorter than by the Illinois C'en- tral. But the dilapidated and even danger- ous condition in which the road is allowed to remain, and the arbitrary manner in which it is managed, is a reproach to the Wabash company, and a disgrace to the country through which it extends. The Railroad Commissioners, and the people who must necessarily patronize it, and who aided in building it, should take the matter into their own hands, and compel its improvement, or stop its operation.

An east and west railroad through this county is an old project, and one agitated years ago. A company was organized in 1869 at Sullivan, Ind., as the " Indiana & Illi- nois Commercial Railroad Company," for the purpose of building a railroad from Worthington, Ind., to Vandalia, Ill. In No- vember, 1869, a vote was taken in Crawford County, to donate $100,000 to this road, and carried by 430 majority in favor of the dona- tion. The company was reorganized, or, rather, & new one formed, which was entitled the "St. Louis & Cincinnati Railroad Com-

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

piny," and the vote of the county again taken upon the proposed donation of $100,000, and again carried by a good ma- jority. At the same time the townships of Oblong, Robinson and Lamotte, voted an ad- ditional donation of §20,000 each. The agi- tation of the project was kept up for several years, and considerable interest manifested by the leading citizens of the county, and a strong belief prevailed that it would be built at no distant day. The enterprise, however, smouldered for awhile, and about 1875-6 it was revived, and the idea entertained of building a narrow gauge railroad upon the contemplated line. The project of building a narrow gauge road from Terre Haute to Cincinnati was receiving considerable attention, a matter that seemed favorable to the building the east and west road through this county upon the same gauge to connect with the former road somewhere east of the Wabash River.

Upon the subject of narrow gauge rail- roads in place of our present system, a late writer says: " As fast as the different lines wear out and need rebuilding, the narrow three foot gauge is claiming a large share of the attention of railroad men and capitalists; and it seems not improbable that the argu- ments in favor of a complete reorganization of our railroad traffic, will become so strong in a few years as to make the three foot gange as prevalent in this country as the old four foot ten inches has been and is now. The first argument consists in the economy of construction-the narrow gauge costing but little, if any, over 50 per cent. per mile upon the cost of present roads. The grad- ing and embanking require vastly less labor, while for ties, iron, spikes, etc., there is a cor- responding reduction. Another point in their favor is the facility and cheapness with which the narrow gauge cars can be run after being built. * * * * *

" Gen. Rosecrans, an eminent engineer, in

a letter published a few years ago, which at- tracted much attention among railroad men, showed from official records that the cost of the railroads of the country up to the close of the year 1867 (39,244 miles), amounted to $1,600,000,000. The narrow gauge would have been built from 30 to 50 per cent. cheaper, while the cost of transporting thereon would have been reduced at about the same rate. When we compute the money that might have been saved in the original con- struction, and also the annual saving accru- ing from decreased expenditures under the narrow gauge system, we find ourselves in pos- session of an aggregate amounting to nearly one half of the national debt. But the amount to be saved when the railroad system of the country in the future becomes well-nigh de- veloped by the narrow gauge, supposing the figures given to be accurate and reliable, are prodigious." A work published a few years ago shows that, should the States composing the present Union come to have railway mileage "averaging what Ohio already has," it would give us 165,800 miles. The result then of the new system is something worth considering. It requires but little mathe- matical genius to calculate the sum to be thus saved in railroad construction and man-, agement.

The east and west road, after many ups and downs, was built through the county as the Springfield, Effingham and Southeastern narrow gauge railroad, and trains put on it in the summer of 1880. A bridge was built across the Wabash River, and the trains began running through from Effingham to Swiss City in December following, the road doingi an excellent business. But the bridge was washed away in January, 1882, and has not yet been rebuilt. Everything now must be transferred at the river by boat to the Indi- ana division, thus causing great inconven- ience, and losing to the road much freight and

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

business that it would otherwise receive. All things considered, the little narrow gauge is a better road, is in better condition, and much safer to the traveling public than the Wabash, which, after all, is saying but little to the credit of the narrow gauge.

The Terre Haute & Southwestern Railroad was an enterprise that at one time excited considerable interest in this county. It was to start from Terre Haute, cross the Wabash somewhere between Darwin and York, and thence in a southwesterly direction, via Ol- ney or Flora, tap the Mississippi River at a convenient place, and so on to a southwestern terminus. This route would open up a re-

gion then having but few railroads, a region rich in mineral wealth, as well as in agricult- ural resources. Lines were surveyed, work was commenced and some grading done in places. Much of the timber for the bridge over the Wabash was gotten out and col-

lected at the place of crossing, and every- thing seemed to indicate the building of the road. But amid the great number of railroad projects of the country, it was lost or swal- lowed up, and now it is, we believe, wholly abandoned. The same fate has overtaken a number of other railroads which, had they all been completed, would have made Craw- ford County a perfect network of iron rails.

CHAPTER VII .*

THE " RAGING " WABASH-IMPROVEMENT OF ITS NAVIGATION-BOATING IN THE EARLY TIMES-OVERFLOWS, LEVEES, ETC .-- DAMAGE DONE TO THE FARMERS-AGRI- CULTURE-EARLY MODE OF OPENING AND CULTIVATING FARMS- PIONEER PLOWS AND HOES-CRAWFORD COUNTY AGRI- CULTURAL SOCIETY-INCORPORATION AND LIST OF OFFICERS-HORTICULTURE-THE COUNTY POOR, ETC., ETC.

"THE improvement of the Wabash River is a question that has long agitated the country contiguous thereto. The navigation of this stream in the early settlement of Craw- ford County was a matter in which the people then were much interested, as they relied chiefly upon it to reach the best markets for the disposal of their surplus products. Fifty years ago boating on the Wabash was no in- considerable business. Flat boats loaded with grain, pork, hoop-poles, staves, etc., etc., were taken out of the Wabash every season by scores, thence down the Ohio and Missis- sippi to New Orleans, which was then the best and most liberal market this country could reach. Many steamboats used to come up the Wabash, some of large tonnage, in high water, and load with grain and pork for the Cincinnati, Louisville and New Orleans trade.

Many efforts have been made to improve the Wabash so as to make it a permanent, re- liable and durable water highway, and the question has been agitated in Congress from time immemorial almost. It was the opinion of many wise men (who were interested in its improvement), that with but little work and expense it might be made one of the best and

most profitable water routes in the whole country, while others, with an equal amount of wisdom perhaps, but less pecuniary inter- est, did not think much of it as a water highway. Of the latter class, was Dr. J. W. Foster, who, in a letter to the New York Tribune, gave his opinion as follows:

" With regard to the importance of the Wa- bash River as a great artery of trade, I am not profoundly impressed. This stream, like Ohio, each year its sources are cleared up and its swamps drained, appears to flow with diminished volume. A survey with reference to the improvement of its navigation has just been completed under direction of the United States Topographical Bureau, and the plan contemplated is to remove the snags and sawyers, and excavate channels through the sand-bars. This plan, while it might remove many impediments, would not increase, but rather diminish, the average of water, by per- mitting to flow more freely, and when com- pleted would only admit of the navigation of the river for a limited portion of the year by steamers of small capacity. To slack-water the river would be impracticable, for the in- tervals bordering the stream are broad, and large tracts of rich land, now cultivated, would be inundated and rendered valueless. The only feasible method to render the Wa-

* By W. H. Perrin.

7.4

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

bash thoroughly navigable, is to start at the head of Lake Michigan, say at Michigan City, and cut a canal, at least 100 feet broad on the bottom, to the northernmost bend of the Wabash, and use a portion of the water of that great reservoir to keep the river in a boatable condition, except when closed by ice. By this means water communication far cheaper than any land conveyance, might be maintained throughout the entire length of the State of Indiana and a good portion of Illinois, thus uniting the commerce of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with the Great Lakes."

The foregoing is perhaps the most practica- ble view to be taken of the Wabash River improvement, and no doubt something like that sooner or later will be done. The time is not very far distant, when water high ways will receive more attention than they do now; when they will be used by the people in self- defense, that is, in competing with great rail- road monopolies. The subject of canals, as affording cheaper transportation for heavy freights than railroads, is now being strongly agitated in many portions of the country, and we believe it a question of but a few years, when the building of canals, especially in the West, will become a reality.

Boating on the Wabash, as we have said, was a big business years ago. Some of our readers, whose memory extends back to the river period, will doubtless remember, and will be interested in knowing the time and occasion of the following wrecks on the Wa- bash: In 1836 the steamer Concord, which plied between Cincinnati and Lafayette, Ind., was wrecked four miles below Clinton going up. The Highlander sunk two miles below Montezuma in 1849; the Kentucky, a fine boit, wis wrecked in 1838 at York cut-off The Visitor collided with the Hiram Powers in 1849 at Old Terre Haute. The Confidence struck a snag in Hackberry bend and floated

down two miles where she sunk, many years ago. " In those days," said an old river man to us, in speaking of the river business, "the Wabash was an important stream. Large vessels constantly plowed her waters and an immense trade was done." It was the only way the early settlers had of getting to market, except by wagons and teams. As the country settled, and towns sprung up, teaming to St. Louis and Chicago, relieved the river of much freight which had formerly reached market through that source alone, and in later years the railroads have almost entirely absorbed the river business.

It would be of almost unto:d value to the country bordering the Wabash River, if some plan could be invented, or some means adopted, to secure the lowlands from inunda- tion. Its periodical overflows annually de- stroy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property, often sweeping away in a few short hours a whole year's labor of the farm- er. When the Wabash gets on the rampage, it can cover more ground than any other river of its size in the world perhaps, and carry away wheat shocks and stacks, and overflow cornfiel ls by wholesale. In the summer of 1875, and again in 1876, it overflowed all the low country bordering it, and the damage to farmers in Crawford County alone aggregated many thousand dollars. Some farmers were almost totally ruined financially, while all who owned and cultivated farms in the bot- toms sustained more or less loss.

A system of leveeing its banks was under- taken a few years ago, but has never been of much, if any, benefit to the farmers of the county. Under a law of the State, Commis- sioners were appointed to manage the work. They issued bonds and taxed people accord- ing to the amount of benefit they would probably receive from the levee. Much of the work was done, and the contractors were paid in bonds, which they afterward sold, or

IfISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

endeavored to sell, as best they could. The levee was never completed, a fact which ren- dered that portion built, valueless. Squab- bles and differences arose among those inter- ested; law suits followed, and finally the Supreme Court decided that the levee bonds were unconstitutional. The matter thus ended in a grand fizzle. Some who invested in the bonds sustained considerable loss, and are not yet through swearing at the enter- prise. Indeed, the subject of levee bonds is scarcely a safe topic of conversation to this day in a miscellaneous crowd in the eastern part of the county.

Agriculture .- This science is the great source of our prosperity, and is a subject in which we are all interested. It is said that "gold is the power that moves the world," and it might truthfully be said that agricult- ure is the power that moves gold. All thriv- ing interests, all prosperous industries, trades and professions, receive their means of sup- port, either directly or indirectly, from the farming interests of the country. Its prog- ress in Crawford for nearly three quarters of a century, is not the least interesting nor the least important part in its history. The pio- neers who commenced tilling the soil here with a few rude implements of husbandry, laid the foundation of that perfect system of agriculture we find at the present day. They were mostly poor and compelled to labor for a support, and it required brave hearts, strong arins and willing hands-just such as they possessed-to conquer the difficulties with which they had to contend.

Johnston, in his "Chemistry of Common Life," gives the following graphic descrip- tion of the system of farming commonly adopted by the first settlers on this continent, and which applies to a single county with as much force as to the country at large. He says: " Man exercises an influence on the soil which is worthy of attentive study. Hc

lands in a new country and fertility every- where surrounds him. The herbage waves thick and high, and the massive trees sway their proud stems loftily toward the sky. He clears a farm from the wilderness, and ample returns of corn repay him for his simple la- bor. He plows, he sows, he reaps, and from the seemingly exhaustless bosom of the earth gives back abundant harvests. But at length a change appears, creeping slowly over and gradually dimming the smiling landscape. The corn is first less beautiful, then less abun- dant, and at last it appears to die altogether beneath the scourge of an unknown insect or a parasitic fungus. He forsakes, therefore, his long cultivated farm, and hews out an- other from the native forest. But the same early plenty is followed by the same vexa- tious disasters. His neighbors partake of the sanie experience. They advance like a devour- ing tide against the verdant woods, they tram- ple them beneath their advancing culture; the ax levels its yearly prey, and generation after generation proceeds in the same direc- tion-a wall of green forests on the horizon before them, a half-desert and naked region behind. Such is the history of colonial cult- ure in our own epoch; such is the history of the march of European cultivation over the entire continent of America. No matter what the geological origin of the soil may be, or what the chemical composition; no matter how warmth and moisture may favor it, or what the staple crop it has patiently yielded from year to year; the same inevitable fate, overtakes it. The influence of long, contin- ual human action overcomes the tendencies of all natural causes. But the influences of man upon the productions of the soil are ex- hibited in other and more satisfactory results. The improver takes the place of the exhauster, and follows his footsteps on these same al- tered lands. Over the sandy and forsaken tracts of Virginia and the Carolinas he

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

spreads large applications of shelly marl, and the herbage soon covers it again, and profita- ble crops; or he strews on it a thinner sow- ing of gypsum, and as if by magic, the yield of previous years is doubled and quadrupled; or he gathers the droppings of his cattle and the fermented produce of his farm-yard, and lays it upon his fields, when lo! the wheat comes up luxuriantly again, and the midge, and the rust, and the yellows, all disappear from his wheat, his cotton and his peach trees. But the renovater marches much slower than the exhauster. His materials are collected at the expense of both time and money, and barrenness ensues from the early labors of the one far more rapidly than green herbage can be made to cover it again by the most skill- ful, zealous and assiduous labors of the other."

There is a great deal of truth in the above extract, and we see it illustrated in every portion of the country. The farmer, as long as his land produces at all plentifully, seems indifferent to all efforts to improve its failing qualities. And hence the land, like one who nas wasted his life and exhausted his ener- gies by early dissipation, becomes prema- turely old and worn out. When, by proper care and timely improvement, it might have retained its rich productive qualities thrice the period.

The tools and implements used by the pio- neers of Crawford County, were few in num- ber and of a poor quality, and would set the farmer of the present day wild if he had to use them. The plow was the old " bar share," with wooden mold-board, and long beam and handles. Generally they were of a size be- tween the one and two horse plows, for they had to be used in both capacities. The hoes and axes were clumsy implements, and were forged and finished by the ordinary black- smith. If any of them were broken beyond the ability of the smith at the station to re- pair, a new supply had to be procured from

the older settlements. There was some com- pensation, however, for all these disadvan- tages under which the pioneer labored. The virgin soil of the Wabash Volley, when once brought into cultivation, was fruitful, and yielded the most bountiful crops. As a sam- ple of the corn produced, under poor prepa- ration and cultivation, we learn from Mr. Leonard Cullom that his father planted ninety acres of sod corn in 1815, the next year after he came to the county, from which he raised a large crop, and shipped a flat boat load to New Orleans, retaining enough at home to last him plentifully until he could grow another crop.

The first little crop consisted of a "patch " of corn, potatoes, beans and other garden " truck." In some instances a small crop of tobacco and of flax were added. Quite a number of the settlers also raised cotton for several years. Indeed, it was thought in the first settlement of Southern Illinois, that cot- ton would eventually become the staple crop. But the late springs, and the early frosts of autumn soon dispelled this belief. Cotton was produced more or less, however, for a number of years, and the people were loth to give up the attempt to grow it successfully, but, in time, were forced to yield to the un- propitious seasons.

But with the settlement of the country, the increase of population, and the improve- ments in stock, tools and agricultural imple- ments, the life of the farmer gradually be- came easier, his farming operations greater, and agriculture developed and improved ac- cordingly. The change was not made in a year, but the growth and development of the farming interests were slow, increasing by degrees, year by year, until it reached the grand culmination and perfection of the present day.

Agricultural societies, as an aid to farming and the improvement of stock were formed,

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

and fairs were held to promote the same end. The first agricultural association of Crawford County was organized about 1856-7. Grounds were purchased and improved in the northeast part of Robinson, adjoining the cemetery. In 1810 these grounds were sold for some $500, and the present grounds, one mile west of town, were purchased. They comprise twenty acres, for which the society paid $30 per acre. The grounds have been enclosed, good buildings erected, stalls put up, trees planted, wells sunk, so that now the society possesses in them a very good property.

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History of Crawford and Clark counties, Illinois, Part 9

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 826

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 826