USA > Illinois > Grundy County > History of Grundy County, Illinois > Part 39
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seended into the mine. The surface soil this year yielded a corn erop averaging from forty-five to sixty bushels to the acre, and the grass lands over two tons of hay. The shaft is six by fourteen and a half feet, divided into two compartments of six feet each, two feet and a half being utilized as an air shaft, and a double cage kept run- ning. It is down ninety-five feet. For fifty-six feet two inches, it is built of tim- bers solidly spiked together, and below that it is made of two by four inches scantling, placed on edge and spiked together, form- ing the wall casing. This was built in twenty-eight days, and is sufficient for hoisting 1,000 tons of coal per day.
" At the bottom I found no water. The roof was as dry as the interior of a house. The only water which was in sight, and that was very little, was that which came down from the top of the shaft. Below was laid a double track for the cars, which are used in hauling out the coal. There were four rooms being worked, and the weird appearance of the miners digging at the solid coal was a sight to be remembered. The mine ceilings are held in place by tim- bers, twelve inches square. There is ten feet of solid timber from the lip of the shaft out each way, three feet from the center and two feet space between cach. The roof overhead is formed of two-inch planks. All the digging is done with picks, the coal being undermined and dropping down of its own weight, thus obviating the use of gunpowder. The roofing overlying the coal is what miners term ' soapstone,' but is really shale clay, and is impervious to water. Below the coal is a bed of fire clay, which would doubtless make good fire brick.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
" Having looked through the new mines, I started over the country to Braceville. This little town is on the Chicago and Alton railroad, and is inhabited by about 1,000 people. Last summer, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company purchased the old Bruce mine, which it is now working. It also bought of James Whitton, 1,680 acres of coal land, paying $168,000 in cash. This land is underlaid with coal of a quality not nearly equal to that of Fairbank. The Milwaukee and St. Paul company is now getting out from 275 to 300 tons of coal per day from the old shaft, which is abont the measure of its capacity. The company has a second shaft down now, and is working twenty-five rooms in it. But water is found very troublesome here, and often prevents work- ing the mine to its full capacity. When I was there, No. 2 shaft was working but six rooms out of the twenty-five, and these were not entirely dry. They employ sev- enty-five miners, but only eighteen of them could work because of water. At present there are four pumps at work in this shaft getting out the water, and they have not succeeded in clearing it ont. They run three, four and five-inch pipes to the sur- face, and the volume of water that is raised can scarcely be computed. In No. 3 shaft, when the company was sinking it, an acci- dent occurred to the pump, and the mine was literally drowned out. The shaft is 117 feet deep, and the water rose to within thirty-five feet of the surface. In this see- tion water overlaps the coal at every point, and streams of it run through the mineral at a number of places.
" In Godley, which is a little east of Braceville, Baird and Hickox have a mine
running, and miners told me that there were few dry places there. The standard price paid for mining is $1.05 per ton in winter and 95 cents in summer, but at Godley they are obliged to pay from $1.25 to $1.30, which is from ten to twenty-five cents above the ruling price on the prairie, simply on account of water. The depth of the old Bruce shaft costs the company working it to pay as high as $1.50 per ton for mining in some spots."
The shafts opened along the western border of this township are all of this ehar- aeter, but notwithstanding this drawback, mining in this vicinity is being pushed with renewed vigor of late years. At Coal City, and the Diamond, in the northeast corner, are larger coal interests, and riding along the central part of the township one may imagine the lake not far away, and the distant columns of smoke rising at pretty regular intervals on the eastern horizon to indicate the passage of a fleet of steamers. Many experts believe the coal to be found west of the Mazon will prove a finer quality and much more cheaply mined than at the present scene of operations.
The first settlement of this township was closely allied to that of Mazon, Dr. L. S. Robbins, one of the Owen party of 1833, coming to Sulphur Springs in 1834, and building his cabin on the land he had se- enred by elaim the year before. In the following year the Eslinger family settled north of the Mazon, below the Chicago and Alton railroad. The head of this family was a Methodist preacher, and had a large family of boys. They stayed here some three or four years, made some improve- ments, but for some reason left for other
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
pirts. Soon after, the place was burned over and the buildings and fenees destroyed. Abont 1836 the " West Colony " settled on the Mazon Creek, toward the southeast corner of the township. But little more than this is known of this settlement. What the origin of the enterprise, or name was, is not known, and of their existence but few persons have any remembrance. It is certain, however, that several eabins were built here, and considerable improve- ment made, but the scheme. for some reason, proved a failure, and the place en- tirely abandoned after a short time.
In the winter of 1834-5 John Cragg came to Braceville and settled on seetion 19, where he remained until his death. Cragg was a pattern maker by trade and a fine workman. He was following his trade at Patterson, N. J., when he heard the flat- tering stories of the Illinois country. But the long journey and the unknown experi- enee to be expected on a frontier farm made him hesitate to come alone. IIe talked the matter over with his friends and associates, Edward Holland and a Mr. Gates, and with them made a compaet to go to the West and settle near each other, agreeing that each should forfeit fifty dollars should he fail to carry out his part of the agreement. Cragg was married and had his wife with him. The others were less fortunate, for while married, their wives were yet in the old country. It was arranged that Cragg and his wife should come on and make a elaim for himself and Ilolland, while Gates re- turned across the ocean for his own and Ilolland's wife. Gates found his task a more difficult one to accomplish than was anticipated. His own wite and Mrs. Hol- land, urged by their family friends, refused
to face the perils and privations of the frontier, and Gates, choosing the less of two disoppointments, remained at his old home, while Holland, after waiting for his wife in vain for a time, acting on the same prinei- ple perhaps, came to Illinois and settled just over the line in Mazon, and set up a blacksmith shop. IIe was never joined by his wife, and afterward solaeed his laeer- ated feelings with another less afraid of frontier life.
On his journey West, Cragg eame by way of St. Louis, where he stayed some time. Ilere he met a family who had left the vicinity of Ottawa during the Indian troubles of 1832, and who offered him the use of half of a double log cabin they had there. This family was abont to return to their elaim overland, while Cragg and his family came by the river. It was agreed that when the overland party reached the vicinity of their eabin they should sound a horn, when Mrs. Cragg was to reply with a similar signal. The latter family had been ensconced in their new quarters sev- eral days when the expected blast was heard, and had experienced just enough of the isolation of their position to learn of the arrival of companions with no little satisfaction. Mr. Cragg had busied him- self in prospecting the country about for a location, and soon fixed upon his place on the Mazon, and after building his eabin moved into it. The log cabin which is still standing was situated near the trail which was principally followed by the travel toward Chieago from the south. In this small building, hardly large enonghi for the family, they dispensed the courtesies and comforts of a frontier inn. The guests were not less rough than squeamish, and
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
are represented as hardly superior to the Indians in their social accomplishments.
In 1846, came John Kerns from New York and settled in the southern, and E. R. Booth, who settled in the southwestern part. In 1848 came D. R. Dowd, from Trumbull County, Ohio, and settled on the western line of the township near Mr. Booth. He was the first supervisor and gave the name of his Ohio home to this new township. In 1849 came Thomas Martin and Robert Huston. The latter was a weaver by trade, and came from New York by the Erie Canal, the lakes and the Michigan and Illinois Central to Morris. HIe was from May 1st to 21st in getting to Morris. During the trip the weather had been propitious, but no sooner had he set foot on Illinois soil when a discouraging rain set in. A team was hired to take his goods and family to their destination near where the village of Braceville is located. The rain came down rapidly and they just sneceeded in fording the Johnny Run be -. fore it became impassable. They reached a deserted cabin near their place that night, though they were obliged to travel much of the way in water from a few inches to two feet deep. Ilere the team was blockaded, and was forced to wait three weeks before it could return. This sort of an introduc- tion to the new country brought on the usual attack of the fever and ague, and for nine months Mr. Huston was not able to do anything toward putting up a house of his own. In the meantime he located his soldier's warrant, which he had purchased at a cost of $165, and began to invest the balance of his money in getting him a house. After getting a team he made trips to Chicago, teaming for others and bringing
a load of lumber back for his house which he erected on the prairie. This was per- haps the first frame building in the town- ship. Other early families were those of B. A. Crisler and II. Cassingham, who set- tled on the western side of the Mazon.
The larger part of this township was originally prairie land, and enough of it still remains in its natural condition to give one a fair idea of what the whole country once was. The wild grass of these lands made excellent pasture and hay. With the range the early settlers had, their cattle would put on more flesh and in less time than on any other pasture. The sedge which grew along the sloughs was the first to start in the spring, and fur- nished the earliest pasture. The bent or blne-joint, which was principally found along the sides of the sloughs, or, in the vernacular of the pioneer, " between the dry and wet land," was preferred by stock to all other varieties, especially when mixed with the wild pea vine. This made the best hay, and as its yield was very large, was generally selected for this pur- pose. But the combined ravages of stock and scythe rapidly exterminated it, so that in many cases the ground where it grew became almost bare of vegetation. The stock and the farmer then resorted to the upland grasses, but before the settlers mul- tiplied so as to limit the range of the stock, the older and more experienced of the herd would go long distances to find their favorite pasture, necessitating on the part of the pioneer a hunt of several days to recover them.
The native grasses were not less marked for their medicinal qualities. Cattle and horses seemed to be remarkably free from
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
diseases so long as they could find plenty of wild hay or grass to feed upon. Horses raised upon the prairie were said never to be afflicted with the heaves, while liorses brought here, suffering with this malady, were speedily eured by simply feeding on the native grasses. This advantage, how- ever, was somewhat offset by the colie which this rank feeding frequently pro- dneed in horses with fatal effeet. The in- trodnetion of tame grasses has largely remedied this evil, and most farmers are now able to supply their stoek with a mix- ture of the two kinds. But the wild grass of the present is not found in all its virgin purity. The pea vine is almost if not en- tirely extinct, while the grass itself is very mueh modified, and is not valned in the markets equal to good timothy.
The village growth of Braceville town- ship is the result of the mining industry
found here. Braceville village was laid out in 1861 by N. Cotton, who did the work himself, using a sixteen foot pole. It may be imagined that as the village grew it was sometimes rather difficult to adjust con- flieting elaims with the claims of the plat, but that has been regulated, and a village of 1,800 inhabitants is now found here. The recent increased activity among the mines in this vieinity has added a consid- erable number to the population in the past year. But the large number of cheap, poorly constructed dwellings does not be- token solid prosperity, especially when this is taken in connection with the large num- ber of vacant stores, and lack of public im- provement. The Diamond, in the extreme northeast corner, and Coal City, located a little south and west of Diamond, are simi- lar towns but of smaller size.
CHAPTER XX I .*
GOODFARM TOWNSHIP-"THE LAY OF THE LAND"-EARLY SETTLEMENT-PIONEER EXPERIENCES-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES.
G OODFARM, like most of the town- -
ships south of the river, is well snp- plied with prairie water-courses. It lies just south of Mazon township, and contrib- utes to the streams which have been noted there, viz .: Murray sluice, Mazon Creek, Brewster and Wood sluices. The two lat- ter are the most important here, and join the " West Fork of the Mazon " in the township which bears the same name. The direction of these streams are nearly due north, and the general aspect of the land is that of a rolling prairie very liberally supplied with groves. Much of the land is in- sufficiently drained and has a low wet appear- ance, though the name of the township pretty correctly characterizes its soil as a whole.
James McKean was the first settler in this township. He seems to have delight- ed in the isolation of the frontier and to have moved from a neighborhood as soon as it became generally settled .. Ile was here as early as 1841. About 1844, J. M. Clover came from Indiana and bought his place, on section two, in the northern edge of the township. Two or three years la er Elijalı Saltmarsh came and settled on sec- tion five. He was of southern birth and had been a flatboatman on the Ohio River. His life on the river at a time when boat- ing involved a rough, boisterous experi-
ence, developed him into a decisive, ener- getic man, and he became a leading spirit in the township. He had a large family and made a good farin, but in his later years, unsatisfied with this settled country lie went to Oregon where some of his fam- ily had preceded him. Elnathan Lewis, a native of Vermont, next followed into this township. He had emigrated to New York and from thence to McHenry County in this State, from whence he came to Good- farm. Other settlers abont this time were Elijah Lewis, David Gleason and E. F. Brewster.
In 1849, E. B. Stevens came from Kala- mazvo County, Michigan. His route was across the country and his conveyance, a wagon. Michigan was then an old set- tled State, and the cheap lands of Illinois presented quite an attraction to those of limited means. He came to this present loca ion on section thirty, and bought the claim of Henry Brown who had been here a year or two. Here Stevens found a log cabin, a straw barn and some Lombardy poplars set out, but the rest was left for him to accomplish. After buying his land, a barrel of flour and ten bushels of oats, he had no money left. He came in the spring, and making a good garden he managed to sustain his family until the fall when he got his wheat threshed, and a start for another year.
* By J. H. Battle.
P
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
About 1850, a tide of German emigra- tion began to flow into the township, which continued until this nationality constitutes fully one-half of the population. The first of this German element was Leonard Fisher, a native of Bavaria, who came in 1851. In 1852, eame Jno. L. Mcier, followed by Hoffman Hoag, Pfeiffer and Burkhard . Most of these people came from the same section of Bavaria and settled near each other here. They are good farmers and thrifty both in public and private. The town house is one of the neatest in the county, and has near it a neat tool-house for the protection of the township road im- plements.
There was but little variety in the carly experiences of tlic first settlers in the dif- ferent parts of the county. Those who came later, as in Goodfarm, found milling facilities better but no more accessible; stores better supplied with frontier necessi- ties but not much easier to purchase; more neighbors but no better means of commu- nication. Their lives, like those of their predecessors, were a continual struggle with the stubborn, natural difficulties whieli surrounded them, and none were so com- pletely isolated as to make a few years' later settlement of any appreciable advantage. Those who came after the completion of the canal, enjoyed the benefit of a nearer market than Chicago, and perhaps an in- crease in the value of farm products, but the roads were not improved and the open prairie wilderness still interposed its dif- ficulties. These obstacles were perhaps the most difficult which the pioneers of this county were called upon to surmount. So long as the pancity of settlements al- lowed a pretty free selection of route, mud-
holes could be evaded, and a worn track . avoided. But this practiec had also its disadvantages. In a country without con- tinnous fences, and few landmarks save the groves, it required some considerable skill and an intimate knowledge of the county to successfully cross even a small prairie in broad daylight. Mr. Baldwin relates an incident of " a gentleman, fresh from New England, who was viewing the country on the Vermillion and proposed to take a bee line to Ottawa across the prairie on foot. Ifc was advised to take the road, as being easier traveling and decidedly safer; that without any track he might get benighted on the prairie, for although the day was clear he would, for part of the distance, bc out of sight of timber, and he might mis- take his course and be lost. He foolishly rejected this advice with some indignation, and at noon set ont on his journey of some six miles. About twelve o'clock that night, exhausted and nearly famished, he got to a settlement on the Vermillion five miles further from Ottawa than the place from whenee he started. In the morning he was willing to follow the road."*
Crossing the uncultivated prairie at night was a very uncertain venture even to the most expert. If the night was clear the stars were a reliable guide and the pio- neers became quite proficient in the simpler rudiments of astronomy. In a cloudy night and a snowy or foggy day their re- sources were less sure. A steady wind often proved the only guide. The traveler, getting his bearings, would note how the wind struck his nose, the right or left ear, and then, keenly alive to these sensations,
*History of La Salle County.
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
would so maintain his course as to keep the bearing of the wind always the same, and regardless of all other guides would generally reach his destination without dif- fieulty. To do this required no little skill and a steady wind. If the latter changed gradually, the better the skill the wider the traveler diverged from home. Without these guides it was a mere accident if a person succeeded in crossing even a small prairie. The tendoney is to move in a cir- ele, and when onee this is begun and ob- served by the traveler, the only resonree is to camp in the most convenient place and manner and wait for morning. Each family had its signal light which was read- ily recognized by its members. It was a freqnent practice to ereet a pole by the chimney of the cabin and place a lighted lantern at the top. Others had a light in the window, which often saved a dreary night's experience on the prairie.
The history of every township is full of misadventures of this sort. A gentleman and his wife were belated on their return home on a clondy night, and though hav- ing some clue to the way, sought in vain . for some glimmer of his home signal. His horses seem to have become completely be- wildered, and after having urged them forward for some time, the travelers be- came convineed they were journeying in a confused circle, and were preparing to camp ont in their wagon, when a weak flash of light betrayed the location of a residence in the near distance. Getting the direction at the instant, the house was gained in a few minutes, and they found it to be their long sought home. The children had gone to bed, and carelessly removed the light from the window, but a brand falling
out of the fire-place had flashed the signal, which saved them from an unpleasant pre. dicament.
A gentleman and his wife, on another oc- casion, went across an eighty aere field to visit a neighbor. On returning, about eight o'clock in the evening, they lost their way, and notwithstanding there was a fence on one side of this field, the couple became hopelessly bewildered, and would have been obliged to remain out all night, had not their daughter, anxious at their staying so late, opened the cabin door to listen for some evidence of their coming. The light thns flashed out into the darkness, revealed to them their position, which was within calling distance of their home, and where they had been vainly wandering some two or three hours.
Such experiences, unpleasant in the warm weather, were too often fatal in the winter season. The trackless prairie, covered with a deceptive expanse of snow and swept by a fierce blast which pierced the most ample clothing and the hardiest frame, made the stoutest heart waver. Journeys npon the prairie were never undertaken under such circumstances, save under stress of the most urgent necessity. But nearly every ,early settler can remember some experience in winter season traveling, while some never reached the home they sought, or the end of the journey reluctantly begun.
With the settlement of the prairie, and the regular laying out of roads, traveling became less dangerous, though seareely less difficult. The amount of labor which could be devoted by the few people in the seattered settlements, made but little effeet upon the roads of a country which seemed particularly exposed by the character of the
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HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
soil, and the conformation of its surface to the unfavorable action of rain. Even now the farming community pays a heavy annual tribute to muddy, impassable roads. Thirty-five years ago, a man canght by high water away from home, was detained for two or three weeks, and many a trip about the county was made more in a boat than in a wagon. Matthew Johnson, who came from Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1852, landed in Morris in April of that year. HIe had relatives in Felix, and started over to see them. He found a wagon totally in- adegnate for the undertaking, and had to resort to a boat to reach his friends' house.
The natural ontgrowth of a low, wet country, with the "breaking" of a rank soil, was miasinatie disease. During the first forty years of the settlement in Grundy County, the fever and ague reigned su- preme, and seemed to mock at quinine and infusions of barks. Doctors were scarce, and the settlers, brought up with a pro- found belief in the medicinal virtues of sassafras and boneset, preferred to save the expense of a professional visit. Nor did they suffer greatly by this practice. But in the ease of accident, the lack of talented surgeons proved a terrible misfortune, re- sulting in many a misshapen limb, or the loss of it altogether. An incident is re- lated of an early settler, who was accidentally shot by another in handling a gun. A heavy load of shot shattered the bone just below the shoulder. The artery fortunately eseaped injury, and the wound was done up to await the arrival of the only two doctors in the county. On coming to the wounded man the doctors disagreed. One declared amputation necessary, but the other refused to consent to an opera-
tion, and in the utter lack of any proper instrument for the purpose, the arm was allowed to hang. In this way the wound was left to nature and the simple eare of the women folks. A number of pieces of bone were taken out in the process of dressing the wound, but one large piece remained obstinate, and kept the wound unhealed for a year. In the meantime the wounded man, with his arm in a sling, handled his team alone, hauling timber, lumber and farm product. Finally, taken with a throat disease in Chieago, he consulted a physi- cian in the Medical College, when his arm eame under observation, and was subse- quently gratuitonsly treated before a elass in the college. Similar cases were by no means rare, and serve to indicate some of the unwritten hardships of pioneer life.
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