History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., Part 2

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill
Number of Pages: 910

USA > Illinois > Lee County > History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc. > Part 2

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The General Assembly of Virginia, on the 30th of December, 1788, passed an act authorizing the division of the Northwestern Territory into republican states. In recognition of this the con- gress of the United States, on August 7, 1789, passed enactments providing for its government, and in 1791 there were but sixty-five Americans who were capable of bearing arms.

First Civil Government .- In 1788 Arthur St. Clair located at Marietta, Ohio, to exercise official functions as governor of the terri- tory, to which administrative position he had been appointed. Here he organized a territorial government, and in 1790 he proceeded to Kaskaskia on the Mississippi and effected a county organization, which he named St. Clair. It was under this official act that Illi- nois was first placed under civil jurisdiction. The first territorial legislature met at Cincinnati in September 1799, at which time Will- iam Henry Harrison was elected the first delegate to congress.

On the 7th of May, 1800, the territory was divided by an act of congress, into two separate governments. At this time the popu- lation of Illinois, which numbered about three thousand souls, were of French ancestry, and occupied the southern part of the state.

DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY.

Under this governmental provision the territory remained but nine years, when, in 1809, Illinois was set apart to herself under a terri- torial government ; and in 1812 a legislature was convened and a delegate to congress chosen.

The organization of the Illinois state government was authorized by an act of congress passed on the 18th of April 1818 ; and on the 18th day of December following Illinois was admitted into the Union as the twenty-second state.

Military Posts .- At the organization of the Illinois state gov- ernment, the northern region of the state was not opened to settle- ments, in which state it remained until after the Black Hawk war, in 1832; being occupied by the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawato- mies of the Illinois and Milwaukee. The government had, as early as 1804, established a military post at Fort Dearborn, on the present site of the city of Chicago. This fort was garrisoned with a com- pany of infantry, who maintained amicable relations with the natives until after the declaration of war, in 1812, when the Indians became restless and gathered in the vicinity of the fort with evident signs of hostility. Under orders from the war department, Captain Heald negotiated with the Indians that he might withdraw from the fort, leaving for them the "provisions and munitions in the fort." But, true to the Indian character they ambuscaded the command when two miles from the fort. but two or three escaping to record the fate of their comrades. Four years following, in 1816, the fort was rebuilt and garrisoned by two companies of infantry, who gathered the bleaching bones of those who fell in the massacre four years before, and carefully interred them with appropriate ceremonies.

Mineral .- The first discovery of coal ever made on the Amer- ican continent was by Father Hennepin, a Jesuit priest, at Fort Creve-cœur, on the Illinois, in 1879. He not only indicated on his map a " coal-mine," but wrote in his journal that "there are mines of coal, slate, and iron." The next discovery recorded was ninety years later, in 1765, by Col. George Croghan, when as Indian commissioner for the government he visited Illinois. He wrote in his journal, " On the south side of the Onabache (Wabash, probably below Covington) runs a high bank in which are several fine coal- mines. " This precedes the discoveries of the Pennsylvania coal beds, and strange as it seems the honor of the discovery of this fossil product was left to the great prairie state of Illinois.

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

TOPOGRAPHY OF LEE COUNTY.

Geographical Position. - Lee county lies between 41 and 42 de- grees north latitude, and its longitude is 12 degrees and 30 minutes west of Washington. It is in the northern quarter of the State of Illinois in the third tier of counties from the northern boundary of the state ; the eastern border of the county being near the median line north and south between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river, and sixty-two miles west of Chicago. It is divided, north and south, by the third principal meridian, leaving Ranges 1 and 2 east, and Ranges 8, 9, 10 and 11 west of said line.

Lee county embraces 792 square miles, and is bounded on the east by De Kalb; on the south by La Salle and Bureau; on the west by Whiteside, and on the north by Ogle county. The extreme length of the county east and west is thirty six miles, and the ex- treme width north and south is twenty-two on the western boundary line, and eighteen on the eastern line. A variance arises from an angle in the northern boundary line fourteen sections east of the northwest cor er of the township where it turns to the south one mile, thence east on the section line to the northeast corner of the county, throwing the northern tier of sections from the point above mentioned into Ogle county, though it geographically belongs to Lee county. The northern boundary line also makes a deviation to the north and south, following the "grand detoure" of the river, throwing all the land north of the detour into Ogle county.

The southern boundary beginning with Range 8, between Townships 18 and 19, runs east to the third principal meridian, where it turns three miles north on said line, then east to the south east corner of the county. For convenience in civil purposes it is divided into twenty-two civil townships.

In physical geography Lee is unsurpassed by any other county in the state. It not only presents the quiet beauty of rounded out- lines of the prairie, but the rugged grandeur of river bluffs and rocky fastnesses. There are beautiful landscapes clothed with grassy plains, interspersed with pleasant groves and forests of useful timber, generally of a few hundred acres in extent, breaking the usual monotony of the prairie landscape at very frequent intervals, and affording a supply of fuel and fencing material. The county, how- ever, is principally prairie.

The surface of the land in the county varies from the low swamps of the south to the Rock river bluffs of the north. In the southwest corner of the county we meet with the Winnebago swamp which extends in a belt two and three miles in width across Hamilton township from the southwest to the northeast into the north part of

TOPOGRAPHY OF LEE COUNTY.

East Grove and the south part of Marion township, and sends a branch west through the southern portion of Harmon township. This swamp is fed from the drainage of Inlet swamp, which is situ- ated east of the center of the county embracing a portion of the west of Viola township, the southeast corner of Bradford and the north- east of Lce Center. The drainage of this into the Winnebago is through Inlet creek which flows to the southwest, watering the Inlet grove in Lee Center, passes to the south of the city of Amboy, and spreads its waters into the latter swamp ; it is fringed in its meander- ing course by groves of timber. As we go to the east from the Winnebago swamp the land becomes rolling and of a sandy loam soil of beautiful prairie dotted with groves to the eastern boundary of the county. The Paw Paw grove, south of the village bearing that name in Wyoming township, and Malugin's grove ten or twelve miles east of the city of Amboy, are the largest in that part of the county, each covering from one to two thousand acres. These fur- nish much valuable timber for fuel and fencing purposes.

South of Amboy city we meet with a tract of timber-land embrac- ing eighteen or twenty square miles. Along Rock river in the northwest quarter of the county is found the largest timber supply. Among the most valuable woods found there may be mentioned : oak of different varieties, hickory, sugar maple, ash, poplar, etc., of abundant supply for present demands. Lee county, however, can- not boast the luxuriant growth of timber found in other sections of the country, as on the Ohio and Wabash rivers. Dr. Foster, speaking of the northern part of the state, appropriately adds : " The absence of a forest growth is no detriment to its development, since beneath the surface at accessible depths are stored inexhausti- ble supplies of fossil fuel, and the borders of the upper lakes are fringed with forests of pine affording the best quality of lumber, which can be delivered in the Chicago market at comparatively cheap rates. The soil which sustains these pine forests contains only three or four per cent of organic matter and is unfit for agriculture ; while the prairie soil contains organic matter sufficient for fifty suc- cessive crops." It is, therefore, more to the material interests of the county to draw her supplies of lumber from other sources than to divert her fertile acres from the growing of grain and other products of husbandry.

Origin of the Prairies .- "This is not due," says Foster, " so much to the mechanical texture, or chemical composition of the soil, but to the unequal distribution of moisture. They are the phase in a gradation between the densely wooded belt, where the moisture is equally distributed, and the inhospitable desert, where it is almost

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

wholly withheld. The excess of moisture which is precipitated on the plains during the spring and summer months, and the consequent deficiency which ensues during the fall and winter months, are con- ditions not favorable to the growth of trees. Leaving the thickly wooded crests of the Alleghanies, and traveling westward to the base of the Rocky mountains, the observer will witness the gradual disappearance of those noble forms of arborescent vegetation which are dependent for their growth on an abundant, equable supply of moisture, and their final replacement by other forms, like the cactus and artemisia, which flourish where the moisture is almost wholly withheld."

Beginning on the east line of the county, five sections north of the southeast corner and in the vicinity of Paw Paw, we find the be- ginning of a ridge which extends westward two townships, where it bears to the southwest through Sublette township, at which point is the greatest altitude between Mendota and Dixon, sloping off to the Winnebago flats. There is a depression on the face of the land, entering the county on the east and about midway north and south, which runs westward through Willow and Viola townships, then bearing to the south it extends to the southwest corner of the county, where we find the greatest depression. As we advance northward we cross a ridge which passes from the eastern boundary along the northern third of the county westward to the median line north and south where it meets a like ridge extending down from the north, then bearing southwest it becomes less prominent as it reaches the western border of the county, between the low lands of the Winne- bago swamp on the south and the tributaries to Rock river on the north. As we advance to the north in the western third of the county we come to the high lands and bluffs of Rock river, covered with timber and presenting many attractions in connection with the meandering waters of this beautiful and historic stream.

On the banks of Rock river and in the vicinity of Dixon are natural observatories, from which the eye is greeted with such grandeur of scenery as inspired the poetic mind of the honored Bryant, whose visit to this county is recorded in the following pages. Of those most prominent may be mentioned the Clarks bluffs, on the south side of the river and about three miles below the city of Dixon ; and the "Hazlewood " bluffs, on the farm of "Gov." Axa. Charters, which lies west of the river and about two miles north of the city. The forests and rocky fastnesses of the region of Rock river have been so preserved in their rude native character, as not only to be attract- ive to the eyes of men who appreciate the charms of nature, but to the fowls and wild beasts of former days. The hunter's rifle occa-

TOPOGRAPHY OF LEE COUNTY.

sionally brings down the gray wild-cat, and his hounds bay after the retreating wolf which has chanced to wander down from the forests of Wisconsin.

William C. Bryant, the poet, writing a letter after his visit to Rock river, in 1841, described his ride through Lee county as fol- lows : " As we descended into the prairie we were struck with the novelty and beauty of the prospect which lay before us. The ground sank gradually and gently into a low but immense basin, in the midst of which lies the marshy tract called the Winnebago swamp. To the northeast the sight was intercepted by a forest in the midst of the basin but to the northwest the prairies were seen swelling up again in the smoothest slopes to their usual height, and stretching away to a distance so vast that it seemed boldness in the eye to fol- low them. We reached the Winnebago swamps, a tract covered with tall and luxuriant water-grass, which we crossed on a causeway built by a settler who keeps a toll-gate, and at the end of the canse- way we forded a small stream called Winnebago Inlet. Crossing another vast prairie we reached the neighborhood of Dixon, the ap- proach of which was denoted by groves, farm-houses, herds of cattle, and enclosed corn-fields checkering the broad, green prairie."

The general slope of this county is, with that of the most of the state, to the southwest. The greatest depression in the county is, as above given, in the southwest corner, known as the Winnebago lands, which are doubtless the bed of an ancient lake, and ere long will be valuable lands. The greatest altitude in the county is reached on the Rock river heights, in the northwest corner of the county.

The drainage is generally good through many tributaries to Rock river on the north and Inlet creek on the south. The northern third of the county is drained by the smaller streams which flow from the dividing ridge, above referred to, which extends from the northeast to the southwest, emptying their waters into Rock river. These tributaries flow to the northwest, cutting their course through the bluffs to mingle with the latter stream. The central and southern part of the county are drained by creeks and brooks which pour their waters into Inlet swamp and Green river. The largest of these is Willow creek, which rises in De Kalb county on the east, and cross- ing near the middle of the east line of Lee, continues westward until lost amid the grass and rushes of Inlet swamp. A few miles south of this creek, about the village of Paw Paw, in Wyoming township, is an elevated tract of land which becomes the dividing ridge be- tween the headwaters of Green river and Kite creek, which rises in the southeast corner of Lee county, and running sonth through Beau- reau it empties into the Illinois within the borders of Putnam

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

county. The central-west of the township is drained by the Three Mile branch and the Five Mile creek. The former heads in the vicinity of Nachusa, and meandering westward, passing Dixon three miles to the south, as its name indicates, it empties into Rock river near the county line. The Five Mile creek rises near Eldena Sta- tion, west of the center of the county, and flows westward to the county line and pours its waters into the Rock river within the bor- ders of Whitesides county. Its waters are shaded much of its way by the forest timber that fringe its banks. These streams are of much value to the inhabitants through whose fields they flow.

The township of Palmyra, in the northwestern part of the county, is traversed by Sugar creek, which crosses the extreme corner of the county, passing through the beautiful Sugar grove, which stands near the center of the above township, and after emerging from Lee county empties into Rock river.

Rivers and Navigation .- The principal stream in Lee county is Rock river, which crosses the northwest corner, separating Palmyra and Dixon townships from the other portion of the county. It first reaches the county from the north, twelve miles east of the western boundary, and flows one mile south, then turning to the west it makes a detour back to the north, and passes west of the first point one-half to three-quarters of a mile. Then making another grand detour to the north and west, returns and enters Lee county nine miles east of the northwest corner. From this point of entrance it bears to the east on its southern course for two or three miles, then sweeps off to the southwest, cutting its way through the rocks and bluffs, making a gentle curve here and there on its way, as if to add to its attractive- ness and beauty, and emerges from the county, crossing the western line nine miles south.

The beauty and attractions of this river are not equaled by any other stream in the state. The Rock River valley has been the theme of the richest prose and the sweetest poetry. It has awakened the poetical genius of a William Cullen Bryant, and a Margaret Fuller Ossoli. The former, when on a visit to Rock river in 1841, feasted his eyes on the grand scenery presented to his view, as he ·stood on Hazlewood looking out on the silvery stream, as it flowed majestically through the forest and plains, and murmured at the base of the rocks and bluffs. On his return home he wrote, on the 21st of June, as follows : "I have just returned from an excursion to Rock river, one of the most beautiful of our western streams. It flows through high prairies and, not like most streams of the west, through an alluvial country. The current is rapid, and the pellucid waters glide over a bottom of sand and pebbles. Its admirers de-

TOPOGRAPHY OF LEE COUNTY.

clare that its shores unite the beauties of the Hudson and of the Connecticut. The banks on either side are high and bold ; some- times they are perpendicular precipices, the bases of which stand in running water; sometimes they are steep, grassy, or rocky bluffs, with a space of alluvial land between them and the stream ; some- times they rise by a gradual and easy ascent to the general level of the region, and sometimes this ascent is interrupted by a broad, natural terrace. Majestic trees grow solitary or in clumps on the grassy acclivities, or scattered in natural parks along the lower lands upon the river, or in thick groves along the edge of the high country. Back of the bluffs extend a fine agricultural region, rich prairies with an undulating surface, interspersed with groves. At the foot of the bluffs break forth copious springs of clear water, which hasten in the little brooks to the river. In a drive which I took up the left bank of the river I saw three of these in the space of as many miles. One of these is the spring which supplies the town of Dixon with water; this spring is now overflowed by the dam across the river ; the next is a beautiful fountain rushing out from the rocks in the midst of a clump of trees, as merrily and in as great a hurry as a boy let out from school ; the third is so remarkable as to have re- ceived a name. It is a little rivulet issuing from a cavern six or seven feet high, and about twenty from the entrance to the further end, at the foot of a perpendicular precipice covered with forest trees and fringed with bushes.

"In the neighborhood of Dixon a class of emigrants have estab- lished themselves (in 1841), more opulent and luxurious in their tastes than most of the settlers of the western country. Some of these have built elegant homes on the left bank of the river, amidst the noble trees which seem to have grown up for that very purpose. Indeed, when I looked at them I could hardly persuade myself that they had not been planted to overshadow older habitations. From the door of one of these dwellings I surveyed a prospect of exceed- ing beauty. The windings of the river allowed us a sight of its waters and its beautifully diversified banks to a great distance each way, and in one direction a high prairie region was seen above the woods that fringed the course of the river of a lighter green than they, and touched with the golden light of the setting sun.

"I am told that the character of Rock river is, throughout its course, much as has been described in the neighborhood of Dixon ; that its, banks are high and free from marshes, and its water rapid and clear, from its source in Wisconsin to where it enters the Mis- sissippi amidst rocky islands."

Many springs empty their pure, cool waters into this stream,

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.

which give it a purity which but few waters of its size possess. The river being largely fed by inexhaustible fountains, it never falls so low as most streams do in the dry summer season, and the waters that are ever flowing are cool and refreshing, making it the best stock-watering stream in the state.

Adding much to the charming beauty of the Rock river are her numerous islands which divide her waters, and being carpeted with green, tender grass, interspersed with beds of wild flowers, are as beautiful as a cultivated lawn. Some are shaded with forests, while the brows of the precipitous shores are fringed with trees of smaller growths, from which the plain stretches across the valley to the bluffs, presenting a scene most picturesque. There are not less than twenty-five of these islands in the river's course through Lee county. One a short distance above the Dixon bridge is set with forest trees, and were it not for the occasional overflows it could be made a spot of pleasant resort during the hot days of the summer months. At this writing, April 20, it is covered with several feet of water, and presents the view of a beautiful forest set in a crystal lake.

But as attractive as Rock river is in her ordinary mood, she is not always as serene and gentle as poets have written of her, but at times in her fury has challenged the boldness of a Byron rather than the gentleness of the classic poetry of a Bryant, who through his admiration for the beautiful river eulogized her as not subject to high flows as many of her sister streams. She has at times been profligate with property and life.

On March 20, 1847, a rise of water with floating ice carried away the north half of the toll bridge, which had been finished some time during the winter, causing an outlay of $2,000 to make repairs. And in June, 1851, the river overflowed its banks with two feet of water on the public road around the Grand Detour, where on the 18th of that month a stage crossing the flow was precipitated into ten feet of water, drowning all the horses, and with the almost miraculous escape of human life thus imperiled. Referring to this freshet the city papers congratulated the citizens of Dixon on the fortunate escape of the dam from the fate of most of the dams on the river, in the fol- lowing strain : "The dam at this place has thus far successfully withstood the tremendous rush of the high-water current, and we think it will still do so. Other dams of Rock river we learn have been compelled to yield." On February 14, 1857, the water rose to the tops of the bridge-piers which stood below the railroad bridge, and lifting up the solid ice which had formed around the piers car- ried the entire bridge structure up with it from its resting places, but the ice not breaking up it was let down again, but not without dam-

TOPOGRAPHY OF LEE COUNTY.

age, as it had to be rebuilt. About ten days later the toll bridge at the foot of Ottawa street was carried away by the high water and floating ice. And on June 3, the following year (1858), the papers of Dixon made the following announcement: "Rock river at this time is higher than we have ever known it. Both the wagon bridges. at this place have suffered in consequence of the flood. The free bridge, but a small portion of which was carried away, will be re- paired immediately. Steps will be taken by our citzens to build a. new bridge in place of the one swept away at the foot of Galena street." In the following February (1859) the breaking up of the ice by a heavy freshet carried away the dam and the new toll bridge. The editorials of the 20th of the same month said: "The dam be- came so clogged with floating ice that the weight caused it to give way, descending ice and dam together, against the new bridge erected only four months since ; it swept away two bents at one crash, and later two more were taken. The bridge will be repaired imme- diately in order to have it ready for the next descent, but in the meantime the northsiders, by going three miles and paying 25 cents,, can reach town over the free bridge." Two months later, April 23, two factories and a saw-mill at the north end of the bridge were un- der-washed by the rushing waters from the dam, and when the build- ings were slowly moving toward the water, which was twenty feet deep, the machinery was removed, and fire set to the buildings to save the bridge below from the fate of the one that had been swept away so recently.

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History of Lee County, together with biographical matter, statistics, etc., Part 2

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill Number of Pages: 910

Author: Hill, H.H. (Chicago) pbl
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, H.H. Hill
Number of Pages: 910