USA > Illinois > Logan County > History of Logan County, Illinois > Part 18
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fire. Here he begged for assistance, and when the man would have relented and done something for him, his wife prevented him. The man's name was Benjamin Russ, that of the wife is not known, nor do any care to remember either, save in ignominy. Mr. Hil- dreth lay before this fire until four o'clock in the afternoon, when some hog drovers coming took him to another house, where he was properly cared for." The inhuman wretches who refused him aid were compelled to flee to escape the righteons indignation of their neighbors. Mr. Hildreth always expressed his opinion that they imagined he had a large sum of money, and they could secure it in case of his death. Such conduct was very rare among the early settlers, who were always noted for their hospitality to travelers.
CLAIMS AND FIRST IMPROVEMENTS.
Future generations will inquire, not only how this country ap- peared before the hand of civilized man had marred its virgin beauty, but how the first comers managed to live, to protect them- selves from the elements, and to procure the means of subsistence; how they met the varied requirements of civilization to which they had been accustomed, and with what resignation they dispensed with such as could not be had.
If correctly told, it would be a tale of intense interest; but it would require a master-hand to draw a picture that would show the scene in all of its details-personal experience alone could fully unfold the tale. When a new comer arrived, he first selected a location where he could make his future home; and the question naturally arises, Of whom did he get permission to occupy it? The answer might be given in the language usually used when defining political, or civil rights-every one was free to do as he pleased, 80 he did not interfere with his neighbor. When the Government had extinguished the Indian title, the land was subject to settle- ment, either before or after survey. The settler had no paper title, but simply the right of possession, which he got by moving on to and occupying it; this gave him the right to hold it against all others, till some one came with a better title, which better title could only be got by purchasing the fee of the Government, when sur- veyed and brought into market. The right of possession thus ob- tained constituted what was called a claim. These were regarded as valid titles by the settlers, and were often sold, in some instances for large amounts. Pre-emption laws were passed at different times by
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Congress, giving to claimants who had made certain specified im- provements the exclusive right to purchase the premises, at the min- imum price of $1.25 per acre; provided, they would prove their pre- emption, and pay for the same, before they were offered for sale by the Government. The conditions required were possession, or cultivation, and raising a crop, the amount of the crop not being specified. A rail fence, of four lengths, was often seen on the prairie, the ground enclosed, spaded over and sown with wheat.
When two settlers, by mistake, got a pre-emption on the same quarter-section they were entitled to a claim on eighty acres more to be selected by themselves; they received a certificate of such claim, it being called a float, and was frequently laid on improve- ments, doing great injustice.
But there was always an understanding among the settlers that each claimant should be protected in his claim if he had no pre- emption, provided he would attend the sale when advertised, by proclamation of the President, and bid the minimum price, and pay for it. The settlers usually attended the sale in a body, and although any person had a legal right to bid on any claim not pre- empted, and it had to be sold to the highest bidder, it was not considered a very safe thing to bid on a settler's claim, and it was seldom done. When attempted, the bidding speculator usually got roughly handled, and found discretion the better part of valor. Eastern speculators often complained of this, claiming that they were deprived of the legal right to compete in the open market for the purchase of these lands; but the settlers replied that they had left the comforts and luxuries of their Eastern homes, braved the dangers and privations of a new country, and here made their homes, cultivating and reclaiming these wild lands, and preparing the way for advancing civilization, and that they had a sacred right to the improvements, and the right to purchase the fee of the land, as the land and improvements must go together-and they were right.
The fault lay in the Government ever selling the land in any way except by pre-emption, and to actual settlers. The Govern- ment got nothing by offering it at public sale, as the average price obtained, during a long term of years, was only $1.27 per acre, only two cents over the minimum price which would have been paid by actual settlers, not enough to pay the additional cost- and the purchase by speculators enhanced the price and retarded the settlement of the country, forcing the settler to live isolated,
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without society, schools, and churches; and it made the honest emigrant pay from $300 to $1,000 more for each eighty acres than the Government price, and this went to the man who did nothing for the country, but sat in his Eastern home and pocketed the amount.
The claim question had a morality of its own, and while at a distance, and from a certain standpoint, it had the appearance of mob law, and was so stigmatized; here where it could be properly understood and appreciated, it was sustained by the purest and best of men; not only so, but an actual settler was never known to oppose it. If ever an equitable and just right existed, it was that of the claimant pioneer to the land he occupied.
The nomenclature was peculiar, and expressive; when a man made a claim, he was said to squat, and was called a squatter, and from that came the phrase Squatter Sovereignty. When the claimant left his claim, the first occupant could have it. If he left it temporarily to visit his friends, or on business, and another embraced the opportunity to possess it, he was said to jump the claim. Each settlement usually had an association where such dis- putes were settled; and the State enacted laws making claims transferrable, notes given for claims valid, for protecting the claim- ant from the encroachment of others, and ousting jumpers. A claim jumper often found his way a hard road to travel. This nomenclature was often expressively applied to other matters. If a young man paid marked attention to a young lady, he was said to have made a claim; if it was understood they were engaged, be was said to have a pre-emption, and if another cut him out, he was said to have jumped his claim.
When the settler had selected his location, or made his claim, his first attention was directed to procuring a shelter for himself and family. If in the vicinity of others already provided, he was readily welcomed to share their scanty accommodations, two, and frequently three families, together occupying a cabin with one room, perhaps twelve by fourteen, more or less. But if far re- moved from neighbors, he had to occupy his covered wagon in which he came, sleeping in or under it, and cooking and eating in the open air, or some other rude contrivance, frequently a tent 'made of blankets, till a shelter could be provided. This was usu- ally a log cabin, for the raising of which help was needed. When help was not available, his cabin must be built of such logs or poles as, with the aid of his family, could be handled. In raising a log
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cabin considerable skill is required. What were termed corner hands-one at each corner, or where hands were scarce, one for . two corners-should have some experience. The bottom log must be saddled or cut to a sloping edge, or angle, to receive the cross log, which must be notched to fit the saddle-a failure, requiring the log to be removed to be refitted, was sure to bring some pleas- ant railery on the culprit. If well done, a door or window can be cut, and the parts of the logs will remain firm in their place, but if not a perfect fit, when a space is cut for the door the accumu- lated weight from above will bring the logs to a fit at the corner and throw the ends at the cutting wide from their place. When the walls were completed, or about ten feet high, the gables were carried up by laying on logs, each shortened in succession, to give the proper slope for the roof, and held by straight logs, or large poles, placed about three feet from, and parallel with, the plate, rising upward to receive the shingles, resting on and holding the short logs at the gables, and terminating with a ridge pole at the center of the building and top of the roof. On these were placed long shingles or clapboards, four feet long, laid double so the top course broke joints with the first, on which was laid another log or pole, held by a pin at each end; this pole held the shingles in place without nailing, and each succeeding course was laid and fastened in the same way. The floor was made of split logs hewn on the split side, and spotted on to the sleepers on the round side, so as to make a tolerable floor; these were called puncheons.
The chimney was built outside of the building at one end and a hole cut through the logs for a fireplace. It was made of timber, lined with stone or clay for four or five feet, and then with a crib of sticks plastered inside with clay mortar. The spaces between the logs were filled with pieces of split timber, called chinking, and plastered inside and out with clay mortar, making a warm and quite comfortable house; but snow and rain, when falling with a high wind, would get inside through the clapboad roof-and where leisure and means justified, a roof of boards and short shingles was substituted.
A one-post bedstead was made as follows: Bore a hole in a log four feet from the corner of the room, and insert a rail six feet long; then bore a hole in the log on the other side of the room six feet from the same corner, and insert a piece of a rail four feet long; then insert the opposite ends of these rails where they meet
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in a post, which completes the frame ; then lay slats crosswise . from the side onto the log opposite, or on to a rail pinned on the log at the proper height, and the one-post bedstead is complete, on which the weary pioneer slept as sweetly as on the most costly one. These rough buildings were quite comfortable, and, as most of the old settlers will testify, witnessed much of real enjoyment. Some of our greatest men were born and reared in such a dwelling. A shelter provided, the next thing was to prepare to raise whereon to subsist.
The prairie regions offered advantages for an occupant far supe- rior to a timbered country; in the latter an immense amount of la- bor had been done to remove the timber, and for years after the stumps prevented free cultivation; while on the prairie the sod only had to be turned, and the crop put in. At an early day the sod was turned by an ox team of six to ten yoke, with a plow that cut a furrow from two to three feet wide. The plow beam, which was from eight to twelve feet long, was framed into an axle, on each end of which was a wheel sawed from an oak log; this held the plow upright. It was a heavy, unwieldly looking apparatus, but did good work, and the broad black furrow, as it rolled from the plow, was a sight worth seeing. The nice adjustment and fill- ing of the coulter, and broad share, required a practiced hand, as a slight deviation in the tip of the share, or even filling the coulter, would throw the plow on a twist, and required a strong man to hold it in place, but if nicely done the plow would run a long dis- tance without support.
This was the primitive plow, but Yankee ingenuity soon found that a smaller plow and less team did cheaper and better work. It was found that the best time to break the sod was when the grass was rapidly growing, as it would then decay quickly, and the soil soon be mellow and kind; but if broken too early or too late in the season it would require two or three years to become as mellow as it would be in three months when broken at the right time. Very shallow plowing required less team, and would mellow much sooner than deep breaking.
The first crop was mostly corn, planted by cutting a gash with an ax into the inverted sod, dropping the corn and closing it by an- other blow along side the first. Or it was dropped in every third fur- row and the furrow turned on; if the corn was so placed as to find the space between the furrows it would find daylight, if not it was doubtful. Corn so planted would, as cultivation was impossible.
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produce a partial crop, sometimes a full one. Prairie sod turned in June would be in condition to sow with wheat in September, or to put in with corn or oats the spring following. Vines of all kinds grew well on the fresh-turned sod, melons especially, though the wolves usually took their full share of these. After the first crop the soil was kind, and produced any crop suited to the climate. But when his crops were growing the settler was not relieved from toil. His chickens must have shelter; closed at night to protect them from the owls and wolves; his pigs required equal protection; and although his cows and oxen roamed on the wide prairie in a profusion of the richest pasture, still a yard must be made for his cows at night and his calves by day. The cows were turned in with the calves for a short time at night, and then the calves turned on the prairie to feed during the night; in the morning the calves were turned in and the cows turned out for their day's past- ure; this was necessary to induce the cows to come up at night, for if the calves were weaned the cows would fail to come. And the stock all needed some protection from the fierce wintry blast, though sometimes they got but little. Add to this the fencing of the farm, the out-buildings, hunting the oxen and cows on the lim- itless prairies through the heavy dews of late evening and early morning, going long distances to market and to mill, siding a new-comer to build his cabin, fighting the prairie fires which swept over the country yearly, and with his family encountering that pest of a new country, the fever and ague, and other malarious dis- eases, and the toil and endurance of a settler in a new country may be partially, but not fully, appreciated.
A visitor from the Eastern States has often taunted the toiling pioneer with such remarks as these: "Why do you stack out your hay and grain !" "Why don't you have barns, comfort- able houses, stables for your cattle and other conveniences as we have?" He should have been answered, "You are enjoy- ing the fruits of the labor of generations of your ancestors, while we have to create all we have. We have made necessarily rude and cheap shelters for ourselves and animals, have fenced our farms, dug our wells. have to make our roads, bridge our streams, build our school-houses, churches, court-houses and jails, and when one improvement is complete, another want stares us in the face." All this taxed the energies of the new settler to the ex- tent of human endurance, and many fell by the way, unable to meet the demands upon their energies.
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The only wonder is that so much has been accomplished ; that so many comforte, conveniences and luxuries have crowned the ef- forts of our people ; that we have reached a point for which a century of effort might well have been allowed. Political and financial theorists have tauntingly told the farmers of Illinois that they know nothing of finance, except what wiser heads have told them ; that they have made nothing by farming, and would be poor except for the advance in price of their farms.
These Solons should be told that it is the toil of those farmers that has made their farms increase in price ; their toil has clothed them with valuable improvements, planted orchards and fruit gardens, made roads and bridges, converted a wilderness into a land of beauty, and made it the happy abode of intelligent men. All this had to be done to make these farms advance in price, and those who have done this, and raised and educated their families, have done well ; and if the advance in the price of their farms has given them a competence, it is what they anticipated, and nothing but the most persevering industry and frugality would have accom- plished it.
In addition to the labor and multitude of cares that beset the new comer, he had it all to accomplish under disadvantages, and to encounter dangers that of themselves were sufficient to discour- age men not of stern resolve. Traveling unworked roads, and crossing streams without bridges, was often a perilous adventure. Many were the hair-breadth escapes which most of the early settlers can recall, and which, in later years, were never referred to without a thrill of emotion. Up to the time of building the first bridge over the Vermillion, the writer had a record of twenty-five persons drowned in that treacherous stream, within a distance of ten miles each way from that locality-all drowned in attempting to ford the stream. It was a common remark, that when a man left home in the morning, it was very uncertain whether his wife's next dress would be a black one, or of some other color.
Crossing the wide prairie at night, with not even the wind or stars for guides, was a very uncertain adventure, and often the wayfarer traveled till exhausted, and encamped till the morning light should guide him on his way. In warm weather, although an unpleasant exposure, this was not a dangerous one ; and al- though the sensation of being lost is more irksome, and the lonely silence in the middle of a prairie, broken only by the howl of the wolves, is more unpleasant than one inexperienced would imagine,
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and the gnawing of a stomach innocent of supper adds much to the discomfort, it all passes with the night, and a brighter view and happier feelings dawn with the breaking morn. But crossing the trackless prairie when covered with a dreary expanse of snow, with the fierce, unbroken wintry blasts sweeping over its glisten- ing surface, penetrating to the very marrow, was sometimes a fear- ful and dangerous experience. No condition could inspire a more perfect idea of lonely desolation, of entire discomfort, of helpless- ness, and of dismal forebodings, than to find one's self lost on the snow-covered prairie, with no object in sight in any direction but the cold, undulating snow wreaths, and a dark and tempestuous winter night fast closing around his chilled and exhausted frame. His sagacious horse, by spasmodic efforts and continuous neighing, shows that, with his master, he appreciates the danger, and shares his fearful anticipations. With what longing the lost one reflects on the cozy fireside of his warm cabin, surrounded by his loved ones, which he fears he may never see ; and when the dark shadow of night has closed around and shut in the landscape, and chance alone can bring relief, a joyous neigh and powerful spring from his noble horse calls his eye in the direction he has taken, he sees over the bleak expanse a faint light in the distance, toward which his horse is bounding with accelerated speed, equally with his mas- ter cheered and exhilarated by the beacon light, which the hand of affection has placed at the window, to lead the lost one to his home. Nearly every early settler can remember such an experi- ence, while some never reached the home they sought, but, chilled to a painless slumber, they found the sleep that knows no waking.
MIRAGE, AND TRAVELING AT NIGHT.
Mirage, or looming, in peculiar states of the atmosphere, is, or was, very common on the prairie, as is usual in any country with & flat or nearly level surface. A grove or improvement, which is ordinarily hid by an intervening ridge of high land, will occasion- ally be apparently elevated, so it can be seen as fully and perfectly as if the observer were standing on the highest point of the inter- vening ridge. The writer was traveling in a partially cloudy dav, from Peru to Palestine Grove, in Lee County, and when on the level prairie, two or three miles south of the ridge which consti- tutes the divide separating the waters of Bureau Creek from those that flow to the Illinois, he suddenly beheld the country lying north of the divide rise into sight, with every feature as distinctly
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marked as if seen from a position directly over it. Perkins, Knox, and Palestine groves, with Bureau Creek, and the scattering timber that skirts its banks, and the farm houses, were all distinctly recognized, as they had many times been seen from different points of the ridge, south and east of the Bureau. The view is a fine one, and could not be mistaken. Gradually, in ten or fifteen minutes, the vision faded from sight, and when, half an hour later, the same view was seen from the dividing ridge, without a change in appearance, it was evident it must have been elevated several hun- . dred feet to have met the view. Mirage is more common in a still, slightly hazy atmosphere, and no doubt has bewildered and led many a traveler astray. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, speaks of the same appearance as frequently occurring in the mountainous districts of that State.
Crossing the uncultivated prairie in a cloudy night, or in a snowy or foggy day, was very liable to have an uncertain come out. In a clear night, the stars were a very reliable guide, and like the East- ern magi on the plains of Syria, the settlers came to have a close acquaintance with the constellations. A steady wind was a very reliable guide ; the traveler would get his bearing, then notice how the wind struck his nose, right or left ear, etc., and then keep that same sensation, regardless of any other guide, and he would gen- erally come out right. But if the wind changed, of course he went with it. Without these guides, it was a mere accident if a person succeeded in a still atmosphere, in a cloudy night, or snowy or foggy day, in crossing a prairie of any extent. There is always a tendency to go in a circle; the world moves in a circle; planets and suns, comets and meteors, all move in circles. Blindfold a person, place him in a large hall, let him be a novice, uncautioned, and in a majority of cases he will go several times around the hall before he hits the side. The writer, with an ox team, in a dark evening started to go about three-fourths of a mile to strike a point of tim- ber, but failing to do so, kept traveling till late in the evening, when accidentally the timber was found, and followed to the de- sired point; the next morning developed the fact that the ox team had traveled three times around about a quarter-section, following very nearly the same track each time.
PRAIRIE FIRES.
The yearly burning of the heavy annual growth of grass on the prairie, which had occurred from time immemorial, either from
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natural causes or from being set by human hands, was continued after the white settlers came in, and was a source of much annoy- ance, apprehension, and frequently of severe loss. From the time the grass would burn, which was soon after the first frost, usually about the first of October, till the surrounding prairie was all burnt over, or if not all burnt, till the green grass in the spring had grown sufficiently to prevent the rapid progress of the fire, the early settlers were continually on the watch, and as they usually expressed the idea, " slept with one eye open." When the ground was covered with snow, or during rainy weather, the apprehension was quieted, and both eyes could be safely closed.
A statute law forbade setting the prairie on fire, and one doing so was subject to a penalty, and liable in an action of trespass for the damage accruing. But convictions were seldom effected, as the proof was difficult, though the fire was often set.
Fires set on the leeward side of an improvement, while very dangerous to the improvements to the leeward, were not so to the windward, as fire progressing against the wind is easily extin- guished.
Imagine the feelings of the man who, alone in a strange land, has made a comfortable home for his family; has raised and stored his corn, wheat and oats, and fodder for stock, and has his premises surrounded by a sea of standing grass, dry as tinder, stretching away for miles in every direction, over which the wild prairie wind howls a dismal requiem, and knowing that a spark or match ap- plied in all that distance will send a sea of fire wherever the wind may waft it ; and conscious of the fact that there are men who would embrace the first opportunity to send the fire from outside their own fields, regardless as to whom it might consume, only so it protected their own.
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