USA > Illinois > Hancock County > History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws > Part 16
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ness of about seventy-five feet. All the uplands are covered by accumulations of drift, varying in thickness from twenty to sixty feet or more. This usually consists of a bed of blue clay or hard pan at the bottom of variable thickness, which is overlaid by brown clays, with gravel and boulders of waterworn rock of various sizes. Sometimes there are thin beds of sand in the brown clays, that pre- sent a stratified appearance, and serve as channels to the under- ground streams of water."
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HISTORY OF HIANCOCK COUNTY.
And in regard to these " boulders," such objects of curiosity and speculation all over the county, scattered not only along the bluffs and river shore, but standing isolated and alone, away in the prai- ries, the Report has the following wonderful statement:
" A large portion of the material composing the drift deposits has been transported from a distance, and many of the boulders are derived from the metamorphic strata of Lake Superior, several hun- dred miles from the spot where they are found. Many of these boulders are of great size and many tons weight, and must have re- quired a mighty force to transport them to their present position. One of these may be seen at the foot of the bluffs between Nauvoo and Appanoose, composed of the metamorphic rock of the North- west, which is nearly twenty feet in diameter. The power required to wrench such a mass of rock from its native bed and transport it, for hundreds of miles, with a force sufficient to obliterate all its angles, is inconceivablereat; but here is the boulder of granite, nearly five hundred miles, as the crow flies, from the nearest known outcrop of this kind of rock, giving unmistakable evidence that such a result has been accomplished. Several specimens of native cop- per have been found in the drift deposits of this county, which, from their appearance, leave no doubt that they have been trans- ported from the copper region of Lake Superior."
Of its economical geology, from the Report we glean the following: "Building Stone .- Hancock county is well supplied with good building stone, and there is, perhaps, no natural resource of this portion of the State that is so lightly appreciated at the present time in proportion to its intrinsic value as this. * * * The middle division of the Keokuk group will afford the greatest amount, as well as the finest quality, of building stone, and where this is easily accessible, no better material need be looked for. It is generally even textured, dresses well, and is well adapted for all the ordinary uses to which a building stone is applied. It is also tolerably even bedded, and affords strata thick enough for all the ordinary require- ments of architecture. Some of the beds are susceptible of a fine polish, and may be used as an ornamental stone. It outcrops on all the small streams in the western part of the county, as well as in the river bluff's throughout the county, except in the vicinity of Warsaw, and for a distance of five miles below, where, by an undn- lation of the dip, it is carried below the surface with the exception of a few feet of the upper layers. It appears again, however, on Rocky run, six miles below Warsaw, forming bluffs on that creek twenty feet or more in height. In the eastern part of the county it outcrops on Brunce's creek, north of Plymouth, and Crooked creek, in the vicinity of St. Mary's.
" The arenaceous and magnesian beds of the St. Louis group will also furnish a building stone but little inferior in quality, and quite equal in durability, to that afforded by the Keokuk limestone. * North of Warsaw, its out crop is generally high up in the bluffs, or on the small streams that intersect them, and in the in-
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terior of the county it will be found on all the principal creeks that intersect the limestones immediately below the coal measures."
" Potter's Clay .- The under-clays of the coal seams are almost the only clays in the State used for the manufacture of potter's ware, and are the only ones from which a good article of fire- brick has been made. The under-clay below the lower coal seam on William's creek, in the southeastern part of the county, is abont three feet thick, and appears to be of good quality, suitable either for potter's ware or fire-brick. There are probably many localities in the eastern part of the county where this clay may be found equal in quantity and quality to that of the locality above named. Beds of soft material like this are seldom well exposed by natural causes, and are best seen by artificial cuts through the strata with which they are associated. The coal seams will always serve as a guide to those in search of these clays."
Coal .- The supply of bituminous coal in this county is quite limited. And the Report concludes, that our people will mainly have to rely upon more favored districts.
HANCOCK MOUNDS.
There are numerous mounds throughout Hancock county, as in many other sections of the State and the whole Mississippi valley. They are found chiefly on the bluffs bordering the river and the smaller streams. In some instances they are in the open prairie, but most of them are in the timbered lands, and often covered with large trees. They are mostly small, of various sizes and elevations, from a few feet in height up to 15 or 20, and from 10 to 40 or 50 feet in diameter. It is vary rarely that one is found in this county to exceed these measurements.
We know of but two exceptions. One of these is the Gittings Monnd in the north part of the county, and though possessing all the characteristics of the smaller ones, covers nearly a section of land, and is perhaps fifty or more feet high. Mr. Gittings' farm lies on it, and it is without doubt a mere natural elevation of the prairie. The other is what is known as the "Big Mound " in Appanoose township. This mound is situated about seven miles east of Nanvoo, and in the open prairie. On the east, south and west of it, the prairie is quite level for several miles, but on the north it is approached by the broken timbered lands skirting the river bluffs. We are not aware that any accurate measurement of this mound has ever been made; but from the best observation we could make, by standing on its top, and also on the prairie at its base, we judge it to be not less than 40 to 50 feet high, while it is about one-fourth of a mile in diameter. It belongs to the estate of the late Amos Davis, and he chose it for the site of his fine residence, which occupies its summit. The barn, stables and other out-buildings, besides two or three fine orchards, are also located on the mound.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
Excavations have been made into numbers of these mounds, and in most instances human skeletons have been found, together with various art utensils, such as knives, tomahawks, stone axes, beads, pottery articles, ete. This fact has led to the conclusion that these mound formations have been selected as places for the burial of their dead, by some people occupying the country before us. Who were those people? We think the answer is plain. We hear much talk and read much newspaper comment about the "Mound- Builders." This term we believe to be a misnomer. Because a people have chosen these places as receptacles for their dead, it does not follow that they built them for that purpose, or that they built them at all. The Indian tribes who have just preceded us are doubtless the people who have so used these mnounds. Indeed we know that they have done so. The writer of this has himself seen them in several instances thus depositing their dead. But who ever saw or heard of these aborigines building mounds? They find them already built, by the same Almighty hand that built the mountains and the hills and prairies. Besides, North America has been known to civilization for nearly 400 years, and the people first discovered here were as incapable of ereeting these mounds as those just now passing away. And who supposes that human bones will remain at a depth of a few feet from the surface, for so long a period, without undergoing decomposition ? If the remains of Powhattan and King Philip can be found intact at this date, then it will do to guess that the bones found in these mounds have been deposited there by a race of men anterior to the people known as North American Indians. We are sustained in this view of the subject by many high authorities. Rev. John M. Peek, a writer of sound judgment and extensive observation, in his "Gazetteer of Illinois," after referring to some of the large mounds in the Missis- sippi valley, says:
" These large mounds are of the same shape and proportions as the smaller ones. Who supposes these to be the works of human art? Who will place these among the antiquities of a country? If any one will account for the formation of these stupendous works of nature, in a country of unquestionably diluvial formation, there are men who make no pretensions to the rank of western anti- quarians, who will account for the smaller ones, of a few feet eleva- tion, without the aid of an extinguished race of men. Until further evidence of their being the work of men's hands, I shall class them among the natural curiosities of the country."
This opinion of the origin of these mounds is also maintained by Prof. Worthen, in his report on Madison county. - [See Geol. Sur. of Ill., vol. i. p. 314.]
We should not omit to mention that, in digging the well for Mr. Davis on the summit of the Appanoose mound, a piece of timber, said to be a species of cedar, was found at a depth of 30 feet from the surface. Many similar discoveries have, however, been made in other places where no mounds exist.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
But there is indisputable evidence that this country has at one time, how remote it is impossible to tell, been inhabited by a race of people far superior to the Indians found here by the Euro- pean discoverers. There are remains, both within and without these mounds, that go to prove this fact; remains that could not have been left by these savage tribes, but must have belonged to a cultivated and enlightened people. That this is so, none of these writers will gainsay; yet we do not see that its admission has any bearing on the question of the origin of these mounds.
NATURAL PRODUCTIONS.
Under this head we group together the productions of the ani- mal and vegetable kingdoms. Of the animal, the buffalo, once so common all over the western prairies, has entirely disappeared. Indeed, it is doubtful if one of the species has been seen in the county by any of its pioneers. The same may be said of the elk. Bears, though not common, have occasionally been seen and taken; but have now forsaken us. Wild-cats were quite plenty in the early days, and almost all the old pioneers have wild-cat stories to tell. Wolves, the black and gray, formerly abounded, and the bounty on scalps still draws money from the county treasury. They find retreats among the fastnesses of Bear and Crooked creeks. The little prairie wolves,-so numerous 40 years ago, and whose laugh-like bark awoke the echoes of the night, around the farm houses, and even in the village strects, like the still smaller prairie dogs-have fled before the tramp of civilization. Panthers have been seen, and killed, and to-day one of these animals, or some- thing else, produces an occasional scare in the neighborhood. That " same old coon," the opossum, the mink, and the skunk still abound, as many settlers can testify; an occasional fox is seen; but the beaver, badger and otter have disappeared. Wood-chucks and musk-rats still find holes, and a variety of squirrels tempt the sportsman's shot. Deer, so numerous 40 years ago, are now very scarce, and many a pioneer longs for the "saddle of venison " he once procured so cheaply, and so richly enjoyed.
Hawks abound, and crows, and owls; but the turkey-buzzard has taken himself off. Wild turkeys are sometimes seen, but are wilder than " the law allows," and are seldom taken. Grouse, or prairie chickens, and quails are not near so numerous as formerly. Wild geese, brant and several species of ducks frequent the rivers and sloughs. Numerous varieties of fish frequent the streams. Rat- tle-snakes still are found now and then; also the black snake, and a few others; and turtles, toads and bullfrogs creep, hop and croak upon the land and in the ponds.
The principal forest growths of the county, are the several species of oak, hickory, walnut, butternut, ash, maple, elm, mulberry, cot- tonwood, black-jack, pawpaw, sassafras, willow, hazel, blackberry, raspberry, and numerous other plants and trees.
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The prairie grass, with its thousand and one gorgeous and beau- tiful flowers, which waved their tall stems to the breeze or nestled in little tufts upon the sod,-
" Fitting floor For this magnificent temple of the sky- With flowers whose glory and whose multitude Rival the constellations !"
These, all these, have gone-given place to the fields of waving grain, the rustling corn and the timothy and clover meadow. In recurring to those early days of prairie green and bloom, one can almost wish them back again; they were such a glory and a joy; such a boundless, magnificent, waving, rolling sea of beauty. This in bright summer; but ah! let winter's storms and snows come- and right here we close the picture and the chapter.
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HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY.
CHAPTER II.
PIONEERS AND PIONEER LIFE.
How did people live in the pioneer days ?- is a question which the youth of to-day may well ask. In 1817, it is said the first steamboat, the Gen. Pike, ascended the Mississippi above St. Louis. Previous to that period, all merchandise and provisions, except of home product, had to be brought to Illinois by way of New Orleans, in keel-boats. " cordelled " up the current by strong muscular force,-a trip from the settlements to that city and back, occupying about six months' time; or they had to be conveyed across the mountains from the seaboard cities to Pittsburgh or Wheeling, and floated down the Ohio in " broad-horns." Salt was procured in small quantities from Kanawha and about Shawnee- town; but tea, coffee, spices, sugar, and the thousand and one arti- cles which now constitute the food of the inhabitants, were seldom seen; or if seen, were procured for extreme occasions only, and at great expense, by the wealthy.
Buckskin moccasins and breeches, and rabbit and coon-skin caps were the common wear of the men; while wife and children were generally but meagerly enveloped in fabrics made from flax at home, or coarse cottons obtained from abroad at high prices.
The residences of the pioneers were chiefly log cabins; the most primitive ones always built without other tool than an ax, and perhaps an auger, and containing from top to bottom neither nail nor glass; hinges they had to the doors, made of stout timber, and locks in the form of a peg or wooden bar.
The pioneers of Hancock, as of most other sections of the West in those early days, were generally poor men, who sought the country with a view of making homes for themselves and children. Some of them, it may be said, were merely hunters, and came for the purpose of getting away from civilization, and to find plenty of game. These, usually, as neighbors began to settle near, pulled up and went further on. But he who came with a view of locating a permanent home, brought in most cases a family with him, and a meager supply of indispensable utensils and tools, with which to begin life in the wilderness. For very evident reasons, they gen- erally made their homes in or contiguous to timber. Their cabins were to be built, and in the quickest time possible; water without digging was to be found there; and shelter was afforded for such stock as they possessed.
Such few utensils as could well be brought in a two-horse wagon, with the family, or in many cases in a one-horse cart, were all they
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could afford; a cow or two, and perhaps a yoke of oxen; an ax, a few other simple tools, and the inevitable gun (rifle generally) con- stituted the "plunder " with which many a now and long since independent citizen began life as a pioneer in Hancock county.
Onee located, the first thing to do was to construct a shelter for himself and family. in the meantime living in the wagon as they had traveled, or under the shelter of a tent. It was the work of but a few days to erect a log cabin, with a elapboard roof and without a floor, into which the family and property could be stored, safe from storms and wild beasts.
Some came in parties of three or four or more, built their rude dwellings, and perhaps planted a small patch of grain; then returned for their families.
The construction of one of these primitive houses would be a enriosity to the denizen of the city now, though to most people throughout the West not very remarkable. Many of them have been built and occupied for years-comfortable abodes, too, for intelligent and happy families,-without a nail or a bit of iron in their make-up. Some of the best men our State and county have known-Judges, Governors, Senators, Generals,-have been born and reared in these rude structures. A few of them, now old and dilapidated, and fast approaching their end, like their earliest occupants, are yet to be seen in our midst; some, reconstructed, doing duty as smoke-houses, pig-pens or corn-cribs; others standing silent and deserted, in their desolation. Their owners, those that are left of them, have long since transferred their goods and chat- tels to more costly and pretentious edifices.
The ax has been the principal tool in the path of American civil- ization. It has always preceded the plow. In preparing the home, it has ever been the pioneer tool in the hands of the pioneer man; and with it, and with no other, he can fashion a home not to be despised. With it the trees are felled and cut into proper lengths for the hut; with it alone the clapboard roofs can be made; with it the puncheons for a door and the floor. But the tools really needed, though not always attainable, were, first, the ax, then a saw, an auger, a frow, and a drawing-knife. With these, and with- out many of them, under the guidance of a strong will, and wielded by a strong arm, the wilderness of Illinois has been dotted with happy homes, that would defy the rains of summer and the snows and storms of winter.
But there is another and often a mournful side to the picture of pioneer life. The rains and storms come sometimes before shelter can be provided. Sickness overtakes the pioneer or his family. Away in the wilderness-away from kindred or sympathizing friends-beyond reach of medicines or kindly help-no comforts- . perhaps unsuitable food-the wife, the child-another and another droop and die, and in the gloom and desolation are consigned to their lonely graves. No neighborly hand near to place the sod or strew a flower; no kindly voice to offer comfort. It is on this pic-
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ture of pioneer life that we would ask the reader to drop a tear. PIONEER MOTHER! Sad and disconsolate in thy dreary cabin, thy loved one lying asleep in death before thee, soon to be hid from thy loving embrace and care, TO THEE we drop a tear to-day. PIONEER FATHER ! the partner of thy joys and sorrows stretched on a bed of pain and sickness, or, perhaps, enveloped in her death shroud; chil- dren helpless and needing a mother's kindly care; money gone, crops failing, neighbors far away; a gloomy future before thee,- TO THEE We heave a sigh in this, our day of prosperity and richer enjoyments.
As before stated, the first settlers in this prairie country always selected locations in or near to timber. Gradually, a new comer, disregarding the practice and the advice of his predecessors, would work his way into the prairie a mile or two and erect his cabin. The results emboldened others to follow his example; and now, after forty or fifty years of trial, all that broad tract known of old as the " Hancock Prairie," embracing two-thirds of the county, is en- closed into farms, and the only vacant land in the county is in the timber !
Comparing the settlements of the county as between the eastern and western sides, there is a wide difference observable. In the west, most of the earliest settlers are gone, having "pulled stakes " and removed perhaps to greener pastures. They had settled mostly on the bluff lands near the river, or on the river shore; and lived by hunting and fishing, and by following river occupations. The broad prairie lying east and south of them was a broad waste, useful only as pastures for deer and other game.
Those on the eastern side of the county came mostly a few years later; and finding the timber and prairie lands more evenly dis- tributed and more convenient for farms, took up lands and settled to stay, and they did; and numbers of them yet remain in the county. Divide it evenly by a north and south line, and the east- ern half will count probably two permanent settlers of the period previous to 1840, to the western side's one.
There is another marked difference between the two sections. While in the eastern part we will see many of the best farms still fenced with the old-fashioned Virginia rail fence, the growth of the forests near by; in the west side such fences are rarely seen, except- ing along or near the river bluffs. The great prairie between, set- tled and occupied more recently, and since the introduction of pine lumber, is generally enclosed with boards, or with the more recent Osage orange line fence. The latter is largely used; and in con- nection with the barbed wire, will constitute the fence of the future.
To the log cabins of the early days, many pioneers who now occupy fine mansions, with their many modern improvements, look back with a feeling of kindness akin to regret. They remember the happy hours they have passed in them; the many days and nights of enjoyment amid friends and neighbors, they have lived in these rude and rough, but comfortable homes. To be sure, their
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CARTHAGE .
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exteriors were rough and uninviting, and their interiors anything but ornamental. But there the babes were born and nurtured, perhaps mourned in death. There the holiest of human of affec- tions were centered, and there the ever-changing scenes of life's drama were enacted. Those only who have had the experience can tell of the comforts and enjoyments that may be realized in these rude homes of the West. Let the LOG CABINS of the pioneers be remembered with reverence !
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CHAPTER III.
THE ADVANCE GUARD.
Who the first man was to settle within the limits of the county of Hancock, after the most diligent inquiry we have been unable to ascertain.
When Illinois became a member of the Union in 1818, the county of Madison with eight or ten others had been formed. Out of Madison, Pike was formed in 1821, and in 1825 several counties were formed from the latter, among which were Adams and Han- cock-the latter being attached to Adams until such time as its population would justify a separate organization.
Whether there was at the date of the State's admission a single white inhabitant, other than the garrison at Fort Edwards and its attachees, within the limits of the county, may never be known. The Frenchman named hereafter, it seems resided among the Sacs and Foxes, on the site of Quincy, as long ago as the year 1811; and it is probable that others were settled in the vicinity of Forts John- son and Edwards. There were French here at date of organization, but we have no knowledge of them beyond that fact.
There was a garrison at Fort Edwards from the date of its erec- tion in 1814 to 1824, when it was abandoned ; and it is reasonable to conclude that it would draw traders and settlers around it. But all those around it when it was vacated are now gone. We have the fact that when Adams was separated from Pike in 1825, there were in Hancock certain residents, some of whose names we have been able to obtain; and also that before this event, certain Hancock people are mentioned in the records of Pike county.
Fort Edwards was made a voting place by the Adams County Court in 1825, and included the whole of Hancock county.
The following extract from a " History of Quincy," by Henry Asbury, Esq., will come in place here. It is from the Quincy Whig of Dec. 31, 1874 :
" 1811-Banvet, a French trader, had a trading-post here. Was supposed to have been killed by Indians,
"1813-An Indian village of the Sauk tribe here.
" 1813-Two regiments of mounted rangers, from Missouri and Illinois, commanded by Gen. Howard, passed over the present site of Quincy and destroyed the village, the Indians having decamped."
Of this expedition, Davidson & Stuve's "History of Illinois" says: " The march was continued up the Mississippi. On the present site of Quincy they passed a recently deserted camp and village,
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