History of Logan County, Illinois, Part 15

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co.
Publication date: 1886
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 989

USA > Illinois > Logan County > History of Logan County, Illinois > Part 15

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"Beneath this coal, No. 5, we find by the boring opposite Peoria, by Voris & Co., two seams of coal at the depths of 120 and 230 feet, and respectively four and three feet in thickness, which are most probably the equivalents of Nos. 1 and 3 of the general section referred to. Although we have no positive data as to the existence of these or other beds under the coal No. 5 in . other portions of the district, yet, from their existence at this point, and from our general knowledge of the development of the lower Coal Measures in this portion of the State, it seems quite probable that these seams of coal might be found at the proper depth in other parts of this and adjoining counties. A boring of from 200 to 250 feet below the known horizon of No. 5, or from five to seven or eight hundred feet from the surface in different parts of the dis- trict, would probably penetrate all the Coal Measures, and settle all the questions in regard to the existence and development of the underlying coal seams.

"The upper coal seams are perhaps represented in this district by the bed reached at the Lincoln shaft, and it may be also by the small seam near Wesley City, in Tazewell County, which I have, in the preceding pages, referred with doubt to a higher level than No. 6, though still admitting its possible identity with that bed it- self. There are now three mines being worked in Logan County -two at Lincoln and one at Mt. Pulaski. These are mentioned with some detail in the histories of those towns.

"Building Materials .- This district, as a whole, is within itself

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but scantily supplied with building stone, the greater portion of its . surface being occupied by the Drift deposits, and containing no exposures whatever of the older rocks. Along the Illinois River, however, in Tazewell County, the sandstones of the Coal Measures have been quarried to some extent to supply the local demand, and in some localities appear to afford a stone suitable for foundations, cellar walls, etc. The limestone beds, which also occur in the Coal Measure strata in this region, though generally of inconsiderable thickness, may also furnish a limited supply for the same purposes, as well as for the manufacture of lime. The limestone ledges noticed as occurring on Salt Creek and Lake Fork, in Logan County, also furnish a fair material for the rougher kinds of masonry, and have been considerably quarried for this purpose. Dimension stone, etc., when used in this district, are brought from beyond its limits, in great measure, from the quarries at Joliet.

"Clay and loam suitable for the manufacture of a fair quality of red brick are found in nearly all parts of the district and have been made use of in most of the principal towns within its limits. Sand for building purposes is also sufficiently abundant.

"Mineral Springs .- We may, perhaps, properly mention again, under this head, the artesian well sunk by Messrs. Voris & Co., on the edge of the bottom land, along the Illinois River, opposite Peoria, in which a current of water, holding in solution sulphureted hydrogen, was struck at the depth of 734 feet. When struck it was stated to have had a head of sixty or seventy feet, and the flow is said to be nearly as strong at the present time. This water ap- pears to be derived from the upper portion of the Niagara group, but before the boring had reached its present depth a strong stream of saline water was met with at a distance from the surface of 317 feet.

"Copperas and saline springs occur in various places in this district, and occasionally give names to some of the minor streams. Such names as Salt Creek and Lick Creek occur here, as in other parts of the State. These springs, however, are few in number, and can hardly be considered of any economic value.

"It is, perhaps, superfluous to mention at length the agricultural capabilities of this district, since the capacity of its soils, etc., are so well known, and its territory is so generally taken up by actual settlers and now under cultivation. I may safely say, however, that with the exception of some sandy portions along the principal rivers there are no extensive tracts of what can be called poor land

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in the district. There are, indeed, some tracts of comparatively low bottoms and marshy land which are not at present available for all kinds of agriculture, but these are generally of limited ex- tent, and are rapidly diminishing under an improved system of drainage, which places them at once among the more valuable lands of the district. The numerous railroads now traversing this re- gion, and others projected or in process of construction, by making all portions readily accessible to the centers of trade, will add greatly to its present wealth and guarantee its future prosperity."

THE PRAIRIES.

We have glanced at the streams, the valleys, the elevations and general outline of the county, but the great bulk of its territory, the prairie that lies between and fills in the picture from stream to stream, remains to be noticed. It forms all the elevated portions of the county. The streams, of course, are on the lowest ground, and the larger streams, when running over the Coal Measures, are sunk, 100 feet or more, into the regular strata after leaving the Drift, and on the St. Peter's sandstone nearly as much sunk by the erosion of the water, and all showing that the amount of water that did that excavating was much greater than runs now. Whether that occurred when the ocean waters first receded from the surface, and, following all the depressions, scooped ont and formed channels for all the future streams; or whether from the existence of a moist climate and heavy rainfall the same object was gradually accom- plished, may never be known; but it is probable it was a combi- nation of both. At all events, the cause was ample for the effect, and the streams are all placed in deep beds, with far more than ample room for the discharge of their waters in any contingency.

The prairie extends back from the borders of these valleys, and gradually rises to the ridges or highest ground between the streams -in Western parlance called divides, because they separate the water running to different streams. The timber being confined to the borders of the streams, is consequently on the lowest ground, and a person standing on one of these divides can look over the timber to the prairie forming the divide on the opposite side.

These ridges or divides when seen from a distance are easily located, but when a closer inspection is attempted they flee like an ignis fatuus; though some are so abrupt as to be well defined, they are mostly so near level as to be hard to locate.

Immigrants coming from a timbered region, or what in its prim-

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itive state was such, from hilly New England or the mountains of Pennsylvania or New York, could have had no conception of the prairie region. In all these localities the land was covered with timber, except where the hand of man had removed it. They re- garded that condition as the natural and normal state of any coun- try. Add to this the uneven, rocky and broken surface of the land of their nativity, and the first view of the prairie State must have made a deep impression. In fact, the prairie is one of the wonders of the world. The steppes of Asia and the pampas of South America are wonderful in extent, but for richness of soil, beauty of ladscape, and all that is valuable to civilized occupants, neither they nor any other locality on the globe make any ap- proaches to successful competition with the prairie region of the North American continent. The deltas of the Nile, of the Mis- sissippi, and of other great rivers possess a soil as rich and as level, but they are of limited extent, and the sun in its daily circuit does not shine on a country of the same extent, so rich, so grand and beautiful as the prairie before the hand of man had marred and defaced it.

That region with us is now transformed to a populous and culti- vated country, and the future will never witness in its native wildness and beauty the fairest scenery that uncultivated nature ever presented to the view of man.

A timbered region, covered by the dark, primeval forest, is grand and impressive. Its dark and somber shades, and deep and tangled recesses are well calculated to foster a superstitious dread, and to people its unexplored depths with the witches and goblins of the past, or with the whispering ghosts of which Ossian sings so mournfully. But no such goblins haunted the prairie. An imaginative organization might have fancied the fairies sporting in the evening shadows as approaching night shut in the landscape, or departing from their midnight revels among the curling mist as they vanished before the glories of a prairie sunrise. The early occupants of the prairie will remember noticing circles on the prairie from fifteen to twenty or more feet across, distinguishable only by a ranker and heavier growth of grass, but very distinctly marked. What caused them was not known, though some ascribed them to lightning strokes. Similar phenomena exist in the natural meadow and grass land in England, and are there called fairy-rings, or fairy circles, vulgarly supposed to be caused by the fairies in their dances. If Sir Walter Scott had written in the midst of the

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prairie region instead of among the glens and wilds of the Scot- tish Highlands, where witchcraft and demonology have ever found their favorite fastnesses, his genius would not have been so deeply tinged with the supernatural, and warlocks and witches would not have danced so freely over his pages.

The quiet and sylvan beauty which clothes the vast, the limitless expanse, impressed and fashioned the imagination to cooler, more genial and happier thoughts-the grand and the peaceful occupied the mind, and left no room for those horrible creations of the fancy which destroyed the judgment and brutalized the occupants of the dark forests of Central Europe, and even found a foothold in the dense and tangled wild woods of rugged New England. A feeling of chastened personal dignity as the occupant of such a heritage, and of reverence for the power that fashioned it, forcibly impressed the mind, as standing upon the vast, illimitable plain which spread in all directions, wave succeeding wave, and undula- tion following undulation, far away, till the earth and sky met and shut in the power of vision, it seemed as if a boundless ocean, set in motion by a powerful storm and then quieted, the bosom of the water smoothly heaving, all in motion, forming the most graceful curves and swells, had been instantly chilled, hardened to solid land-such was the prairie.

Standing on a swell of the prairie on a clear day in early summer, the luxuriant grass waving in the wind, the shadows of the sum- mer clouds fitfully chasing each other on beyond the power of vis- ion, the observer could fancy the ocean restored and the long swells again in motion; or, taking a stand in one of the numerous points of timber which extended either way from the large streams, an open grove, clear of underbrush and covered with a green sward, and the view taking in the alternation of timber and prairie, a scene was presented that for extent, beauty and grandeur art can never expect to imitate, and having once been destroyed can never be restored.

. Whence came the prairie? What peculiar conditions caused this region to grow grass alone, while all others grow timber?

The question seems partially answered by the relative location of the timber and prairie. The timber grows on the alluvial bottoms where partially protected from the prairie fires, or on the thin soil of the bluffs, while the rich prairie soil and the alluvial, where exposed to the fires, grow grass and no timber. When the ocean receded from the rich and deep soil which had been deposited in its appar-

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ent quiet waters, as it was partially a swamp, the sedges and coarse grasses would soon grow with a luxuriance proportioned to the temperature, moisture and richness of the soil. Trees do not readily grow in such a soil, and if they did it would require a large number of years to enable them to withstand even a moder- ate fire; but grass grows in a single season, and, when dry, fur- nishes sufficient fuel to effectually burn up or destroy any young timber sprouts of one or two years' growth that might exist. Thus we might expect no trees, but an annual growth of grass on the richest soil, and where exposed to the annual fires; while a poor soil growing too little grass for fuel to sustain an annual fire, and localities sheltered or protected in any way from the fires, would grow up to timber-and such was found to be the fact. Narrow strips of land between streams or branches of streams were generally timber land. The soil on the top of the bluffs and near the streams was, and is, invariably thin, and not as well adapted to grass as the prairie; this soil is nearly all timber, and has the additional advantage of protection in one direction by the stream. The smooth and level surface would facilitate the prog- ress of the annual fires, while a rough, rocky and uneven surface would check them. The great extent of the region over which these conditions existed would aid the spread of the fire when started, and some part of so extended a region would be likely to take fire, while if divided into small and isolated tracts like the present fields fires would be seldom known. Lightning alone would be a sufficient cause for the annual firing of so large a tract, and this, at an early day, was doubtless the agent that effected it.

It was the opinion of the early settlers that, at that time, the prairie was encroaching upon the timber; in fact, the bluff timber was all old, and a majority of the trees injured by the fire, and there was no young growth; an ox gad or a hoop pole could not be found except in some sheltered nook of the bluff, or on the sheltered alluvial bottoms, but as soon as the barrens, as they were termed, were protected from fire, they rapidly grew up with a thrifty crop of well-set timber, showing that the fire had been the only impedi- ment to that result.

The prairie, although protected from fire, did not rapidly grow to timber, for the reason there were no roots or germs to start from, as there was in the barrens, but the principal reason was, that no tree will grow readily in the unbroken prairie sod, as most of the settlers found by dear experience. But the timber did spread to

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the prairie; first a few hazel bushes-these would hold the leaves at the roots, thus mulching and killing the turf-then a few crab- apples, then oak and hickory.

There was probably a time when, from recurrence of wet sea- sons, a general moist climate, or other cause, the timber had en- croached upon the prairie, else there would have been no timber; but the whole history since the waters retired had evidently been a contest for supremacy between the two.

At the date of the white settlements the timber had retired to the banks of the streams, to the thinnest soil and to the low bottoms, and in most cases were still retiring. As proof of this, it was noticed that in many instances the extreme points, the out-posts or picket lines of timber had retired and left roots and stumps burnt to or nnder the surface, yet in reach of the plow, mementoes of its former status. Those trees burnt for several years, and a frequent crash and thud told that the monarchs of the forest, the growth of centuries, were yielding to their conquering foe-a most con- clusive answer to the question, Why is it that timber does not grow on the prairies ? Oaks and hickory are the most hardy and least injured by fire, consequently were the only varieties on the bluffs, and if these were receding before the common enemy it could not be expected that the more tender varieties could exist at all.

On the sheltered bottoms were found all the varieties of timber common to the climate, that is, where the timber had obtained the ascendency, so as to prevent the growth of grass sufficient to sus- tain the fire.

Points of timber occupying a bend or angle of a stream, well out on the verge of the timber point, and on the prairie soil, often consisted of walnut and other varieties of' bottom timber, proving that such a soil was well adapted to the growth of different varie- ties of timber-a truth also proved by the successful cultivation of artificial groves and belts.

After the lapse of more than forty years the old timber has nearly all been removed, and the fires checked and finally effectu- ally stopped by the improvements of the settlers; that which was then timber lands, or barrens, has grown a thrifty crop of young timber, not only of oak and bickory, but where the soil is deep and rich, a sprinkling of walnut, linden and other varieties of what was termed bottom timber, being then confined to such localities. The rapidity with which timber spontaneously starts wherever the germs exist and its rapid and thrifty growth show that our soil

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is inherently a timber soil. and that in the not very distant future our State will be better supplied with good timber than those States originally covered with a heavy growth.

It is a well-known fact that Western New York, Ohio and other heavily wooded regions, when once cleared seldom produce a valu- able new growth, and the reckless waste made by the occupants of those States will be repaid by succeeding generations in high prices and a scarcity of the article.

The low price and abundance of pine lumber and the facilities for transportation have reduced the price of timber-land in Illinois, so that it will hardly bring the prices it did thirty years ago, and many are cutting off the second growth and putting the land under cultivation-all tending to a reckless exhaustion of the timber sup- ply. There can be no question but that the immense demand over all the prairie region for lumber, and the readiness with which that want is supplied, must, within the life of another generation exhaust the supply, and the warnings of thoughtful and sagacious men, to guard against the danger, ought to be heeded. The supply once exhausted can not be restored for generations-the one to two hundred years required to produce a perfect growth of full- sized timber is quite an item in the count of time, and a long period to wait for the production of a crop-and it will be wise to hus- band our resources and save while we can, having at least a thought for the future. The timber growing in Illinois will all be wanted, and at a price that will pay for its culture. The railroads built and to be built, which have to renew their ties every eight or ten years, will consume all the timber the State can produce, and when the lumber region fails, as fail it must, there will be a still greater amount needed for building and fencing purposes.

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CHAPTER III.

FIRST SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY.

NAMES AND DOINGS OF THE FIRST COMERS .- THE DEEP SNOW AND THE SUDDEN CHANGE .- CLAIMS AND FIRST IMPROVEMENTS .- MI RAGE AND TRAVELING AT NIGHT .-- PRAIRIE FIRES.

Early in the autumn of 1818 James Chapman, with his wife Betsey, a danghter of James Latham, and her brother Richard, came from Union County, Ky., to the Sangamon River, above the present city of Springfield, and there made a claim. Not long after they were joined by James Latham, who designed settling on the same river. A January thaw occurring, the land was over- flowed, and Mr. Latham concluded to find a more elevated portion of country. He, Richard and a relative named Ebenezer Briggs started for this purpose, and in the course of their search came to the Elkhart Grove. Here they found a beautiful location near a spring of water, and determined to locate. The spring was not far from where Mrs. Frank Thompson now lives. They at once built a small cabin, and on the opening of spring planted a crop, in the meantime having brought farming tools from Mr. Chapman's. After the crop was cultivated they built a large double log cabin in the edge of the grove. This house was one of the best cabins erected in pioneer days. It was roomy, had a covered porch between the two parts, and was the house and home for many emigrants coming to this part of the country. As soon as it was completed Mr. Latham returned to Kentucky for his family. He brought them and his household goods in several large wagons, arriving at his Western home in September. Mr. Chapman remained in Sangamon County until the spring of 1820, when he came to the mouth of Lake Fork, built a cabin and made an improvement. Two years after he sold the place to Jerry Birks and removed fur- ther down Salt Creek near Rocky Ford, where he remained a few years. He next went to Tazewell County and resided some time, but again returned to Logan where he died.

The grove where Mr. Latham settled received its name from the

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Indians. who fancied it resem bled the heart of an elk. The proper spelling is E-l-k-b-e-a-r-t. The word Itasca, the name of the lake from which the Mississippi rises, is the feminine of the same word and was by them applied to that beautiful sheet of water. Says Schoolcraft, its discoverer : "The beauty and poetry of the name so struck me, I determined it should be preserved."

During the spring of 1820 James Turley located on the east side of Lake Fork timber. He was the first settler there. He was a prominent man in the pioneer days of the county, and left a large family. In the summer Aquilla Davis settled near the grove. John Stephenson came in the autumn, and probably a few others. The settlements now began to embrace other localities, following the stream so as to get within the timber for warmth and fuel.

Mr. Latham being the first in the county deserves;more than passing notice. His house was always open to the traveler, and his hospitality unlimited. He was a native of Virginia, and was very well situated when he came to Illinois. In 1824 he was made Indian Agent by President Adams, and removed with his family at once to Fort Clark (Peoria). Two years after he died there, and the family returned to Elkhart Grove to the old home. Mr. Latham was buried here. His family was always well known, and all became useful members of society. Richard Latham was better known in the county than his father. He was a young man on his arrival, married soon after and became one of the most prominent citizens of early days. He built the Kentucky House, so well known in those days, and where all travelers delighted to pass their evenings. It was almost always the stopping place for travelers, especially lawyers, many of whom have since become noted in the Nation, when attending court in Postville. The old house was burned about 1875. Richard Latham remained in this county un- til 1852, when he removed to Springfield where he died.

On the 22d of October, shortly after the arrival of James Latham and his family, Robert Musick with his family arrived from Gib- son County, Ind., and settled on Sugar Creek. He came out the autumn before, prospecting, and the next spring returned and put in a crop. He brought the family in the autumn. His family consisted of himself, his wife, two daughters and one son. Mr. Musick remained on the farm until his death in 1846. John Hamlin, who afterward became one of Peoria's best and most influential citizens, came on a prospecting tour through this part of the West, and arriving in the vicinity of Elkhart Grove in the autumn of

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1819, remained with Mr. Latham all winter. The next spring he made an improvement near; but not long after abandoned it and went to Peoria, then a small place, whose inhabitants were chiefly French and American traders, and Indians. The individuals enu- merated were in all probability all the white people living in the bounds of the county during the winter of 1819 and '20.

It is thought John Porter came in the fall of 1819. This would make him contemporary with the earliest settlers. It is probable, however, he did not locate until a year after. Richard Latham made an improvement in the spring of 1820 at the grove. Charles Turley moved here in the year 1820 or '21; the exact date can not now be determined. The persons mentioned were about all the settlers within the limits of the present county by the close of the season of 1820. A few others may have been here, but their names are now lost, and they have passed away. They were probably persons in search of a home, and only stopped to see the country, afterward locating elsewhere.

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History of Logan County, Illinois, Part 15

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co. Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Number of Pages: 989

Author: Inter-State Publishing Co.
Publication date: 1886
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 989