USA > Illinois > Hardin County > History of Hardin County, Illinois > Part 4
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"We have sometimes sat in the large fireplace, oc- cupying the entire end of a log cabin, and plucked from out the smoke of the chimney above us pieces of dried and smoked venison, or jerk, the only provision the place could afford us, and the only food the inmates had to sus- tain themselves, till they could obtain it by the cultivation of the soil. Our horses fared worse, in muddy pens, or tied up to saplings or corners of the cabin, regaled with the refuse of winter's fodder, sometimes (when we could not restrain over-liberality) with seed-corn, purchased in Kentucky at a dollar per bushel, and brought in small quantities. according to the circumstances of the purch- aser, one hundred miles or more at some expense and trouble. This, when they had it, our remonstrances to the contrary could not prevent being pounded on mortars to make us bread. Our lodgings were on beds of various qualities. generally feather-beds, but not infrequently fod- der, chaff, shucks, straw, and sometimes only deerskins, but always the best the house afforded, either spread on the rough puncheon floor before the fire (from which we must rise early to make room for breakfast operations or on a patched-up platform attached to the wall, which not unfrequently would fall down, sometimes in the night, with its triplicate burden of three in a bed. Such inci- dents would occasion a little mirth among us, but we would soon fix up and be asleep again. Now, I would here remark, that many of thesc privations could have been avoided by keeping a more direct course from one quarterly-meeting to another, and selecting. with a view to comfort, our lodging-places. But Brother Walker river, which afforded the only means of transportation
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sought not personal comfort so much as the food of souls, and he sought the most destitute, in their most retired recesses, and in their earliest settlements."
CHAIN OF TITLES
By Judge Arthur A. Miles
This beautiful and picturesque territory, with its rug- ged surface broken by many beautiful hills and valleys, now known as Hardin County, originally belonged to the Illini Indians, so far as we know, for an indefinite period. They were displaced by the Tamaroa Indians (Note No. 1) who by occupancy and use owned all southeastern Illinois when first visited by white man. Evidences of Indian occupation over a long period of time are numerous as several of their cemeteries have been located and many of their arrow heads, axes, tools, and vessels have been found. As the site of Hardin County is located so far in- land from the Atlantic coast, where the first settlements were made by white people, and as so little was known about the topography and extent of the country, the title of this particular territory was in dispute for about three hundred years.
Conflicting Claims
Spain claimed all this country by Columbus' discov- cry of the new world in 1492. Spain also claimed this country by discoveries and explorations by De Leon in 1503 and De Soto in 1541 although it is not known that either of these great explorers ever reached Hardin County.
England claimed all this country by Cabot's discov- ery of the North American Continent in 1498.
France claimed this territory by explorations by Mar- quet in 1671 and by La Salle in 1680, though there is no evidence that either of these good men ever touched the soil of Hardin County. There is, however, some history
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of travels published by Frenchmen which mention the great river, probably the Ohio, and the great cave of Cave- in-Rock. This would give them some cause to claim the territory.
The charters and grants given by the English gov- ernment to the Connecticut colony, the Massachusetts col- ony, the Plymouth colony, and the Virginia colony and probably those given to Lord Delaware and William Penn, could, by some stretch of the facts and imagination, have covered the site of this county.
The leaders of these colonies knew nothing of the extent of the country and as their grants covered points along the Atlantic seaboard, they claimed all the land to the west and some seemed to think that their grants spread fanwise from the coast. For no doubt they were familiar with the actions and words of the great ex- plorer, Balboa, when he waded into the waters of the Pacific ocean and claimed it and all its shores for the crown of Spain.
George Rogers Clark
The colony of Virginia, however, had the right of possession on account of the conquest of all this terri- tory by one of her sons, General George Rogers Clark, who recruited an army near Louisville, Kentucky, came down the Ohio to Fort Massac then across the state to cap_ ture Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Later he returned across the state and captured Fort Sacketville, now known as Vincennes, Indiana, from the British and Indians and held this section of the country for Virginia and the American government.
All these colonies ceded their rights to this territory prior to the forming of the Northwest Territory in 1787 by an act of Congress consisting of the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Min- nesota. Hardin County is wtihin that portion known as the Northwest Territory.
Counties Organized
After Illinois was admitted as a state in 1818, counties were laid out with more or less indefinite boundaries as this country had not as yet been surveyed. Pope and Gallatin counties had been organized but no definite boundary lines between the two had been fixed when the state legislature passed a bill on March 2, 1839, cutting off a portion of the eastern part of Pope County and call- ed it Hardin County. This new county was in a form of a triangle-the Ohio river forming one side, Grand Pierre Creek one side, and a line, running in a northwesterly direction from a point on the Ohio river near Cave-in- Rock to the southwest corner of township 10, south range 8 east touching the southern boundary of the then Galla- tin County near the head of Grand Pierre Creek, formed the other side.
By an act of legislature approved January 8, 1840, the western boundary was changed eastward to its present location and on February 20, 1847, territory was taken from Gallatin County, added to that already taken front Pope-giving Hardin County its present boundaries. Har- din County is in the southeast portion of the state of Illi- nois, is the second smallest county of the state and lies wholly within the Ozark territory-its northern boundary separating it from Gallatin and Saline runs almost ex- actly along the crest of the mountain range.
Note: The Shawnee Indians, a kindred tribe of the Tamaroas, actually lived in this county at the arrival of the white settlers.
HARDIN COUNTY AGRICULTURE
By Sidney Snook Haman
The great tide of American civilization rolling west- ward across the Appalachian mountains in the closing
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years of the Eighteenth century brought in its wake the pioneer farmer. In the front rank of this mighty pro- cession, which marked the moulding of a nation, came the hunter, who trekked through the forests in pursuit of game; and, following him closely, the frontier farmer, who was attracted by the virgin soil of the broad river valleys.
This pioneer farmer usually brought his wife and children along with him and planned a more or less per- manent abode. Scores of them came down the Ohio river by flatboat or barge. During the latter part of the century the river was the principal route of entry into the new country. Thousands of crafts of every size and de- scription moved downstream with their human cargo of valiant settlers who sought to carve new homes in the western wilderness, traders taking their goods to market at New Orleans, and free souls lured by a spirit of ad- venture. Aboard the family boats, bearing old and young with their eyes turned hopefully to the future, the routine of daily living was carried on. The family cow and the chickens were part of the living cargo. These journeys down the river were slow and uncertain and full of peril from snag and shoal and the buffeting of wind and current, but for years the human drift continued.
Landed in a strange new country with all that was safe and familiar behind him, this frontier farmer set staunchly about the task of wresting a home and a live- lihood from the wilderness. He girdled a few trees, cut a clearing in the forest, built a log cabin, put a rail fence around his ground, and planted a garden patch with beans and corn, potatoes and cabbage and turnips. In the autumn he laid-by his crops, the corn in a crib, the turnips and cabbage and potatoes buried in mounds. There was his winter's food supply.
Such is a picture of the pioneer farmer. The ad- vancing frontier had gained a foothold in the new land of the West.
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That might well be a picture of the first farmer in Hardin County, whoever he may have been. He came into this territory on that sweeping tide of emigration that pushed over the mountains and down the valleys.
Historians record that as early as 1808 Samuel O'Mel- vany, an Irishman, led a group of Irish families down the broad waters of the Ohio into this section and made a permanent settlement near the present site of Elizabeth- town. They tilled the soil and raised their food and prospered.
As the pioneer surge continued, the settlements grew. By 1830 the banks of the river were lined with bustling villages. In this immediate section, which became Har- din County on March 2, 1839, more land was cleared, more settlers tilled the oil, more crops were harvested. New trails had been blazed, and hardy pioneer farmers and their families had conquered the wilderness.
The Tuber Staple
In the very early years of Hardin County's farming the growers discovered what crop was best suited to the soil and meant the biggest yield. Maybe it was that pioneer Irishman who found it out. The crop was Irish potatoes. The potato forged to the front as the principal crop and held that distinctive place until the early Eight- ies of the last century. Since that time, however, it has declined until today the appellation of "potato country" would no longer be fitting.
But it was then. Thousands of bushels of high grade potatoes were shipped out of the county aboard flatboats down the river to New Orleans. The potatoes were either piled in bulk aboard the flatboat or loaded in bar- rels for shipment. Sacking potatoes was rare. When the flatboat captain and his crew reached their desti- nation down river, the cargo would be marketed, the boat sold, and he and his men would return overland. Com-
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paratively few potato crops ever were shipped by steam- boat because of the higher transportation costs.
Cave-in-Rock, Elizabethtown, and Shetlerville were potato shipping points. Stories are told of that early day when Cave-in-Rock, the cave in the rock itself, one-time rendezvous of Ohio river pirates who preyed on boatmen plying the river, was known as "potato cave" because quantities of potatoes would be stored there until the ar- rival of flatboats to transport the cargo downstream. Protecting campfires, lighted by the growers to ward off freezing of the potatoes, flickered on the gray walls of the dusky old cavern, which had once patterned the firelight of the pirates' campfire as they gathered about it to di- vide their ill-gotten gains, to join in revelry, or to plot bloodshed. Those wicked old boys would have grinned a wicked grin at such a prosaic sight as a pile of potatoes.
With the flatboats tied up at the shore, the loading of the potatoes, bushel upon bushel, would begin. Some- times hours would be required to complete the task. Har- din County's reputation grew as a land of fine potatoes, and numerous potato growers found the venture a highly profitable one.
Farmers planted their potatoes about the Fourthi of July and dug them after the first "killing frost." They were wont to talk proudly of the "Peachblow", which was the most prolific late potato grown in the county.
Staple Crops Change
About 1880 the potato crops began to fail. And what, one might ask, happened to the potatoes? Once a potato county why not yet a potato county? Wearing out of the soil by raising one crop right after another and a change in the climate are held responsible. Old-timers insist that the fall and winter are not what they used to be. Those early potato growers well knew that the crop re- quires a damp climate. Along in the late seventies, ac-
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cording to those who watched the potatoes and the weath- er, the autumn rains began to lessen. Dry falls became the rule instead of the exception. The potato yield de- creased steadily. Furthermore, much of the land had been overworked and robbed of what might be called its "potato elements." Hence, the potato as a distinctive Hardin County crop passed away.
Early Hardin County farmers also raised wheat, very fine wheat; but more or less the same story might be told of that commodity. Wheat production began to decline about the turn of the present century. Again a change in climatic conditions might be held responsible in some quarters. "We don't have the old-time winters," some farmers say. In the old days there was excellent pro- 'duction of winter wheat, but with gradual clearing of the forests, which sheltered snow blankets on the wheatland .. the wheat crop too began to fail. Winters, which once, the early settlers say, were long and hard and cold, be- came a series of thaws and freezes with the devastating result that erosion has swept away much of the fine wheat soil from the hills and plateaus of the county. Many a prosperous wheat grower was ruined by the changes which brought about depletion of the wheat-producing areas.
Ledbetter Milling Company
During the heyday of the wheat industry in Hardin County, milling was one of the most successful business enterprises.
Milling operations begun by James A. Ledbetter, a native of Christian County, Kentucky, who came into Hardin County in the early Fifties, continued successfully over a period of nearly sixty years. He established a chain of mills at Elizabethtown, Cave-in-Rock, and Tolu, Kentucky, and handled approximately 100,000 bushels of wheat a year, all of it produced in Hardin County. In
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1879 Mr. Ledbetter placed operation of the three mills in the hands of his three sons, respectively, with George W. Ledbetter assuming management of the Elizabethtown mill; Henry Ledbetter, the Tolu plant; and James A. Led- better, Jr., the mill at Cave-in-Rock. The business op- erated under the firm name of The Ledbetter Mills and represented the largest business organization of its kind in the southern Illinois and western Kentucky region
The Hardin County wheat yield at that time was ex- cellent and resulted in a particularly high grade flour. For many years the mills ground only Hardin County wheat, but, in its latter existence, acquired some of its grain from Posey County, Indiana, and Bayou, Kentucky. When home-grown wheat no longer was available in sufficient quantity for the mill demands, the business be- gan to decline because of increased transportation costs.
In 1890 the company disposed of the Tolu mill, and Henry Ledbetter joined his brother, George, in operation of the Elizabethtown and Cave-in-Rock mills under the firm name of Ledbetter Brothers, which was subsequently changed, in 1907, to the Ledbetter Milling Company. Dur- ing its years of operation the company marketed flour under the trade names of "Silver Floss", "Georgia", "Mora", and "Helora", the last three brands taking their names from the sons and daughters of the Ledbetter family.
The Cave-in-Rock property was sold about 1920 io the Benzon Mining Company, and in 1922 George W. Led- beiter, retiring from business, turned over operation of the Elizabethtown mill to his son, M. D. Ledbetter, who continued the business for six years. The property was finally disposed of in 1930.
Another flour mill operating in Hardin County over a period of a few years was that of Ferrell and Clark, whose plant was situated on the Elizabethtown riverbank. The Ledbetter interests took it over in 1905.
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The Walrab Water Mill
Growing of corn dates back to the very beginning of agriculture in Hardin County, back to a day before it was Hardin County at all, for the Indians of the territory were raising corn when the white settlers came along. The pioneer farmers took it up and added acreage and improved the means of cultivation. The Indians used soft corn for roasting-cars, but after it had matured and hardened, they ground or powdered it into grist on the tops of tree stumps. The early farmers continued the same practice for a time, but afterward fashioned "grit- tles", made by tacking small sheets of zinc or iron, per- forated with nail holes, to boards.
Then they built water-mills. One of the best known 'of these old mills was Browns Mill, which stood for years near Mount Zion church on the Old Ford's Ferry Road, where many a hapless traveler, crossing from Ken- tucky into the Illinois country, met his fate at the hands of the notorious Ford's Ferry band of robbers. Another of these early county water-mills, and one which gained a wide and favorable reputation throughout southern Illi- nois, was Walrab's Mill, situated a mile northeast of the Illinois Iron Furnace. John C. Walrab, a young German settler, purchased the site from a man named Casad. He dug a mill-race half a mile in length in order to gain power for operation of an overshot wheel. The other mills of the region were pulled by undershot wheels. During the iron-mining period in this county the Walrab mill supplied grist for a large portion of the county's pop- ulation.
It was the first mill in the county to engage in day and night operation that it might meet the demands of customers. A familiar sight around the mill was the load upon load of corn in carts drawn by double yokes of oxen.
At a later date Brown and Walrab installed steam- boilers for their grist mills. Today the boiler from the
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old Brown mill is a roadside derelict near Mount Zion church.
After a few years corn became a money crop in the county as well as a stock and a food crop, and large quantities of the grain were shipped by flatboat down the river to Memphis and New Orleans markets along with potatoes and salt pork. Unlike the crops of potatoes and wheat, which have waned with the years, corn is still produced in the county and holds its place as the major farm yield. The creek bottom lands, fed from the rugged Ozark foothills, are particularly well adapted to produc- tion of this golden grain.
Cattle on the Ranges
In an earlier day cattle raising was an extensive industry in Hardin County. Most of the pioneer settlers moving into the region brought with them a few head of stock which were corralled near the cabins as a precau- tionary move against roving wolves and cattle thieves. Soon it was discovered that abundant herbs and grasses, as well as an adequate water supply, provided excellent cattle ranges; and the livestock industry grew apace. Many an early cattle man realized a neat fortune from the ranges of Hardin County hillsides.
But an ill wind blew the way of that pioneer industry in the form of a plague, described in old records as the "milk sick plague." Great herds of young stock died iu Illinois and Kentucky and as far south as Tennessee. The loss was tremendous. It also took a heavy toll in human life in the community. Probably the most complete ac- count of the disaster is found in a diary left by Dr. Anna Hobbs Bigsby, a pioneer woman doctor. She came into Hardin County with her parents in a covered wagon from: Philadelphia. Later, her family sent her back to Phile- delphia for medical and nurse's training. Completing her course of study, she returned to the frontier settl .-
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ment and practiced her profession. Her's was an active part in the life of the community as she visited the sick, taught, and participated in church work. Her maiden name was Anna Pierce. She was married twice; first to Issac Hobbs and later to Eson Bigsby.
The Milk Sick Plague
At the time the "milk sick plague" struck the com- munity she plunged immediately into the fight against the malady. Because of her training, she felt the respon- sibility of doing all she could. Days and nights she spent with the sick. She read medical books, and she commu- nicated with eminent doctors back East in an effort to find a clue to the devastating disease. It seemed as though her efforts were futile. Many deaths occurred, even among members of her own family, and the tragedy rested crushingly upon her.
With tears in her eyes this young woman cried, "There is no one to be blamed for this awful scourge un- less it is Anna Hobbs. The people have looked to me to meet and treat such epidemics, but in this I have failed, helplessly failed."
As the number of deaths increased alarmingly and as whole herds of young cattle were destroyed, many people, losing their normal sense of balance, came to believe that it was a deliberate plot on the part of some lawless ele- ment in the community to poison the cattle, and indirect- ly the people. An uprising was threatened with murmurs of taking the law into their own hands and dealing with the suspected persons in the summary manner of frontier justice.
But this thirty-year-old woman intervened success- fully. She continued her investigation and finally reach- ed the conclusion that the poisoning was through the milk supply, reasoning that the milk cows gave off enough poison through the mammary glands to escape death
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themselves in most instances, but that those who drank the milk fell victim of the malady. She spread word of warning far and near to refrain from use of milk until after frost in the autumn. This measure saved many human lives, but did not save the young cattle upon which many settlers were dependent for their livelihood.
According to her carefully kept diary, the source of the milk's poisoning was finally discovered after a strange fashion. She chanced to meet in the woods an old Indian squaw, once a herb doctor or "medicine squaw" of the Shawnees. Dr. Hobbs took the woman into her home and learned from her the cause of the deadly "milk sick plague." "Aunt Shawnee", as the Indian woman became known in the community, went with Dr. Hobbs into the woods and showed her the herb, the poisonous snakeroot, which they believed caused the cattle disease.
For many years after that, according to tradition, every fall the boys and men of the community, armed with hoes and knives, trooped through the forests to de- stroy the root. Its eradication stopped the plague, but not before it had ruined in large measure one of the most promising of the county's pioncer industries.
Since that time the livestock industry has not attained premier rank in the county's agricultural life although, farm leaders say, the section is potentially excellent for cattle raising.
The Old Man River
For a period of roughly thirty years, shipment of pig iron was among Hardin County's early industries. The Illinois Furnace, established in 1837 and continuing in operation until 1874, and the Martha Furnace, operating from 1848 to 1857, shipped their products from the county. Several hundred tons of pig iron were shipped out an- nually. The abandoned remains of the old Illinois fur- nace may be seen today.
Shipment of all products from the county was by
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for many years. It was only in 1919 that a railroad came into the county. The Illinois Central System extended its line into Rosiclare at that time. Those very early settlers watched transportation grow on the river. They watched the procession of barges and flatboats, keel boats, and Kentucky boats moving down river to New Orleans; and they beheld in 1811 the passage of the "New Orleans", the first steamboat ever to navigate the Ohio and Missis- sippi rivers. They watched the growth of that majestic pageant which was to attain its full glory in the "golden age of steamboatin'."
Old Man River served the community well in that long ago day. Potatoes and wheat, corn and hay, salt pork and pig iron, all of them were moved out on flat- boats and aboard the proud packets that pulled into the Elizabethtown levee during those years that rivermen now refer to wistfully as "the good old river days."
There have been changes in the agricultural and in- dustrial picture of Hardin County in the years. No longer are potato barrels rolled on to flatboats, no longer do ox carts pull up to the grist mills; no longer do herds of cattle roam the ranges; no longer do the iron furnaces send forth a glow against the night sky. Neither do Har- din County travelers, gentlemen in frock coats and ladies in crinoline with tiny parasols, trip down the levee to board a gleaming white packet boat that pulled out fromn the shore with a clang of bells; those travelers now step in- to shiny automobiles and flash along paved highways. The years have wrought the change.
Hardin County Acreage
There is an up-to-date agricultural picture in Har- din County. Despite much land that is rugged and un- tillable, there are well-cultivated farms dotting the coun- tryside. Of the total Hardin County acreage of 110,257 acres there are 27,447 acres in cultivation. Timbered
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