History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 12

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

USA > Illinois > Madison County > History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches > Part 12

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HYDROGRAPHY.

The county is well supplied with natural water courses. Along a part of its western boundary roll the waters of tl e Mississippi, whose volume is here augmented by the addition of those of the Missouri. The eastern part of the county is drained by Sugar and Silver creeks together with their tributaries. Sugar Creek rises in Saline township, flows a southierly course, leaving the county at a point less than two miles distant from the south-eastern corner.

Silver Creek, (so named because of a belief by the early French settlers of the territory in the existence of silver along its course) rises in the northern part, and flows a southerly course leaving the county south of the village of Troy. Both of these streams are affluents of the Kaskaskia River.

The west central part of the county is drained by Caho-

kia and its branches. The north-western by Wood river and Piasa Creek, and their tributaries. In addition to these natural means of drainage, tiling has heen resorted to with excellent results. Wet, marshy lands have, through its agency, been reclaimed and made to gladden the hearts of progressive husbandmen by the rich harvests of the cereals they have borne. This tiling, which is fast coming into general use, is made out of a species of fire-clay, of which extensive beds are found in the county. As the benefits of tile draining become more manifest it will be still more ex- tensively used, and millions will be added to the wealth of the county.

Here and there in deep valleys, or along the hillsides which fringe them are perennial springs of clear, pure, cold water.

MOUNDS.

Much speculation has been indulged in, respecting the group of mounds known as the Cahohia in the southwestern part of the county and of which "Monk's Mound " is the chief attraction. This matter is treated elsewhere in the chap'er on antiquities.

Soil .- This county contains nearly all the elemental classes of soil known to agricultural writers. Argillaceous, calcare- ous and silicious soils, vegetable and alluvial loams, are re- presented by turns in the different geological formations which abound, often blended with each other in such minute gradations as to make it a task of some difficulty to classify them without preceding analysis. Part of these soils are characterized by a spontaneous growth of natural grasses and forest trees. Cultivation of the soil has greatly diminished the former, so that where once a luxuriant growth of wild grasses furnished sustenance to herds of cattle and droves of hogs, cultivated fields more than compensate for their extin- guishment. Here we find a stretch of the great sedimentary basin of the Mississippi valley, with its aggregations of cen- turies constituting a soil of inexhaustible fertility, and des- tined yet to be the great market garden whence will be sup- plied the wants of one of our nation's greatest cities. Hard by, frowning down upon this valley, save above Alton where, rock-ribbed in perpendicular walls, it overlooks the bright waters which reflect them back again, are the bluffs, whose heights are crowned with clay loam, or here and there but a thin covering of silicious soil, whose unfruitfulness, by a wise dispensation of nature, is compensated for by the coal meas- ure bencath.

Then again, farther to the cast and north are reached vast prairies with a wondrous wealth of black soil, from one to six feet in depth, and commonly termed vegetable mould, from the fact that for untold ages, extending back to the glacial period, immense accumulations of decayed vegetable matter have been successively adding their treasures, fertiliz- ing these plains, fitting them to become the supply stations for a dense population. Imperceptibly do the different va- rieties of soil blend and intermingle. There is, too, a cold yellowish clay protruding itself to the surface in places on the upland-, but its extent is limited. With proper appli- ances such as drainage, there is but little laud in the county not susceptible of cultivation.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Agriculture .- In none of the arts has such progress been made during the past hundred years as in that of agriculture. The pioneers depended largely upon the chase, the stream, and a bountiful nature for the supply of their wants. Small patches were cultivated, after a fashion, immediately about their door yards, and if one essayed to grow a larger area of corn or wheat recourse was had to the old wooden mould board plow with which to put the ground in condition. The earliest records we have of any agricultural labor within the limits of Madison county was that put forth by Catholic Missionaries in what is now the northwestern part of Na- meoki township on land now occupied and owned by Samuel Squire. Here there were planted pear trees a hundred and forty years ago, here, too, on the then outskirts of civiliza- tiou, was the first production of cereals. It is a remarkable fact that from Green Bay in Wisconsin, to Kaskaskia, the route of these missionaries can be traced by pear trees now old and mostly decayed.

Among early farmers who were devoted to their calling and brought skill to the aid of agricultural art were such men as Col. Samuel Judy, who planted an apple orchard nearly eighty years ago, the first in the county ; the Whitesides, whose especial delight was the improvement of the stock of horses ; the Gillhams, the Pruitts and others whose descendents have contributed largely to Madison's agricultural wealth. On the 9th day of February 1822 a meeting of farmers was held in the Court House in Edwardsville, who organized the first Agricultural Society in the county. Micajah Cox, Esq., was elected to the chair and Geo. Churchill was chosen Sec- retary. Upon perfecting their organization the following resolutions were adopted.

Resolved. That a piece of plate of the value of five dollars be presented for the most approved essay on the best mode of pickling and preserving pork, and pointing out the cause of the difference in value between New England and Wes- tern pork.

Resolved. That a premium of similar value shall be given to the person who shall make the best speeinen of malt liquor, not less than thirty gallons.

Resolved. That a premium of similar value be presented to the person who shall present the greatest number of wolf sealps, not less than five, taken by himself within the limits of Madison county.

Resolved. That a premium of similar value be presented to the person who shall manufacture the best piece of linsey . woolsey, not less than twenty yards.

Resolved. That a premium of similar value be given to the member who shall raise a year old lamb which shall pro- duce the greatest quantity of wool.

Resolved. That a piece of plate of the value of three dol- lars be awarded to the person who shall make the greatest quantity of proof spirit, not less than thirty gallons, from a given quantity of grain.

This effort was not successful. Whether the premiums, or the matters selected on which to base them were the cause of abandonment does not appear.

In 1831 an agricultural paper, called the Ploughboy, was established in Edwardsville. It is worthy of mention that

choice nursery stock was advertised in its columns. As early as 1820 there appeared in the Edwardsville Spectator accounts of wonderful fields of various cereals, evidently intende 1 to at- tract the attention of immigrants. In 1822 Daniel A. Lauter- man raised five hundred bushels of oats on ten acres of land. Solomon Truitt harvested fifty-two bushels of wheat from a single acre. One hundred and twenty bushels of corn were raised on an acre. Castor beans were quite extensively raised sixty years ago. John Adams commenced the manufacture of castor oil in Edwardsville in 1825, and in 1831 turned out 12,000 gallons.

The first vineyard in the county was near Highland in 1844. In 1847 Mr. Koeffli made the first wine.

Improved varieties of apples were planted by John Collet, E. J. West, Gershom Flagg and D. A. Lauterman as early as 1820. The trees planted by Messrs. Collet & West were procured from New York, those of Flagg from Greenville, Bond county. Among the varieties were Kirkbridge, White, Rambo, Pryor's Red, Pennock, Pennsylvania, Red Streak, Newtown Pippin, Rawle's Janet. The first established nur- sery was that of Collet & Masson Mr. Collet was an Eng- lishmau, and Mr. Masson a French-Swiss. Their stoek of fruit trees was largely of foreign origin. The nursery was on section 22, Tp 5, R 8, from whenee it was moved in 1832 to seetion 8.

In 1829 or 30, Mr. Charles Howard obtained some peach pits from a Mr. Fitchenal, which he planted within the present limits of Alton. Of the trees which grew from them he transplanted one to his farm near Greenwood. From records kept by the Alton Horticultural Society, from which much of the above is gleaned, we learn that a single peach from one of these trees sold in St. Louis for two dollars.

The Agricultural Society formed in Edwardsville on the 3Ist of October, 1854, also the Alton Horticultural So- ciety organized November 12th, 1853, receive elsewhere in this work full attention.

The Madison County Farmers' Club holds monthly meet- ings from house to house Its deliberations have resulted in great good Its contributions to agricultural literature have been of practical value.

To show the progress of agriculture in Madison county the following tables compiled from the Census of 1850 are placed in contrast with those of 1860 and 1870.

Census of 1850: Acres of land in farms; improved 93, 251; unimproved 165,067. Value of farms and implements -farms 82,435 145 ; implements and machinery $142,457.

Live Stock: Horses 6,745; asses and mules 317 ; milch cows 6,414; working oxen 2,056 ; other cattle 12,740 ; sheep 9,085; swine 40,233; value of live stock 8480,668. Value of slaughtered animals $115 680.

PRODUCE DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE IST, 1850.

Wheat bushel, . 88,893

Ryc . 61}

Indian Corn bushel, 1,153,183

Oats bushel, . 202,059

Tobacco pounds, . 100

Wool pounds, . .19,878

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Peas and Beans bushel, . 1.669

Hay tons, . 6,499

Irish Potatoes bushel, .

270,204

Clover bushel,.

. 14

Hops pounds, . 56

Other Grass Seeds, 71

Sweet potatoes bushel, . 6,732

Barley bushel, .

220

Buckwheat bushel, . 839

Wine gallons, . 023

Value Orchard Products, $17 411

Cheese pounds, 14,136

Produce Market Gardens, Value, $2,269

Butter pounds, . 251,824

Value Home Made Manufactures, $28,960

Honey and Beeswax pounds, . 11,006

Census of 1860 : Acres of lands in farms ; improved 128, 988; Value $4,137,910. Value implements and machinery $385,770.

Live Stock : Horses 9,225; asses and mules 1,317; neat cattle 24,269; sheep 4,062; swine 26,085; Value of live stock $736,171.

Census of 1870: Aeres land improved, 183,026; horses 12,417; mules 2,976; sheep 5,275; swine 45,407; wheat bushel, 410,257; corn bushel, 3,191,140. No. of cattle 14,101.

In 1860 there were eight manufacturing establishments divided between agricultural implements, plows and thresh- ers and horse powers which gave employment to sixty-one men ; employed an aggregate capital of 853, 450, and turned out manufactured articles to the value of 863,525.

Census of 1880: Inasmuch as elsewhere in this work will be found complete returns Census of 1880, for the present purpose we insert only statistics of cereals, as follows : Barley 5 acres, 54 bushels ; buckwheat 9 acres, 80 bushels; corn 98, 780 acres, 4,058,153 bushels ; oats 13,905 acres, 351,505 bushels ; rye 161 acres, 2,299 bushels ; wheat 129,861 acres, 2,607,969 bushels.

By comparison with other counties of Illinois, Madison stands first in production of wheat. In orchard products, striking an average of all varieties of fruit she stands second. Several counties produce more peaches, others again more apples or pears as the case may be, but when great variety coupled with production is presented Madison county takes her rank among the foremost of the State.

In production of wheat she stands fourth in the United States. Her product is greater than either of the following States, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, all the New Eng- land States combined, Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas.

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.

In 1805 feeble efforts were put forth by farmers living in the American bottom to ship their produce to market directly upon their own account, thus exhibiting considerable enter- prise. They constructed several rude rafts on Grand Isle, now Chouteau, which they loaded with corn, cattle, legs, chickens, &c., and went down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Some reached their destined port in safety, others were wrecked on the voyage for want of proper skill in the navi- gation of the river. These trips consumed much time, as

they were carried forward by the force of the current and were compelled to return by land. In a few years rumors of successful steamboat navigation of the Hudson reached these pioncers, but they shook their heads and gravely said the current of the Mississippi would never admit of such navigation here Their doubts were however dispelled on the 2d of August 1817 when the " General Pike " command- ed by Capt. James Reed landed at St. Louis.

In 1818 continuing until 1820 boats under charge of Col. James Johnson ( brother to Richard M.) shipped supplies for Fort Osage-far up the Missouri-under contract with the United States Government, from Alton. This was the time of the origin of the expression "St. Louis is a village twenty miles below Alton " And in 1834 when the "Piskilwa," Captain Chambers commanding, commenced making regular daily trips between Alton and St. Louis, letters directed "St. Louis, twenty miles from Alton, III." were not uncommon. At the time Arthur Phillips was contractor for carrying the mail and Bruner was postmaster at Alton.

In 1837 the " Alpha" was put into the trade. She was succeeded by the " Eagle," owned and run by Captains Wil- son, Reed and Clay, of St Louis. In 1843 Captain William P. Lamothe, of Alton, bought her, and the Alton and St. Louis Packet became an Alton institution. From Hair's Gazetteer are gathered the following facts relative to this trade. In January 1844 Lamothe in connection with Starnes and Springer of St Louis, built the Suella. In 1845 Frink and Walker, the old Stage proprietors of Chicago, put the steamer "Geo Briggs," Captain James E. Starr, in opposi- tion to her. This competition was, however, soon checked by the proprietors joining hands and forming a joint stock com- pany. In 1848 Messrs. S. and P. Wise in connection with Captain Thomas C. Starr and other citizens of Alton bought the "Tempest," and started opposition to the old line ; at the time the fare to and from St. Louis was one dollar. In 1849 the old company gave the 'Tempest," a hot opposition ; the "Suella," Captain. George E. Hawley; Jno. A. Bruner, Pilot. Bruner and Hawley had chartered the boat, put the fare to seventy-five cents, then to fifty, then to twenty-five, then to ten and finally carried passengers free, and freight for nearly nothing Both boats carried bands of musie, leav- ing as they did at the same hour; racing was regularly in order and great quantities of rosin and turpentine were used in connection with their wood for fuel. Parenthetically it may be remarked that this was before law restricted engi- neers in amount of steam to be employed. The result of this ruinous policy was a compromise effected in 1849, when con- solidation of interests took effect. The Suella ran in the trade during the spring of 1850, and the Tempest the balance of the year and the whole of 1551. Frink and Walker sold out to Captain Joseph Brown, who in connection with S. and P. Wise, and Gaty, MeCune & Co., of St. Louis, built the " Altona," which commenced running in December 1851, and was the fastest boat on the western waters. She made the run from St. Louis to Alton in one hour and thirty-seven minutes; the fastest time ever made to Alton from that city. In September 1852 the Chicago and Mississippi railroad company bought the Altona, D. C. Adams, Captain.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

This was done to give the road connection with St. Louis, and was in accord with the old internal improvement scheme of politicians of the day, who desired to concentrate every- thing within state boundaries as far as possible, and recog- nized Alton as the future great metropolis. They also bought the steamer "Cornelia," commauded by Captain Lamothe, thesame year, for the passenger busine-s, making two trips per day. The Cornelia sank in December 1853, when in charge of Captain Jno. A. Bruner, and the Altona January 1st, 1854. The "St. Paul," commanded by Captain Lamothe then did all the business until March, when the " Winchester" was bought by Samuel J. Owens for the company, simulta- neously with the purchase of the "Reindeer " by Captain, Adams. These boats not proving to be profitable invest- ments were sold. Jno. J. and Wm. H. Mitchell aud Joseph Brown were the purchasers, they contracting to do the rail- road business between the two points. There were some changes in ownership to 1857, when the company had three boats, the "Reindeer," "Baltimore," and "York State." On November 10, the Reindeer sank. There were several different boats chartered to do the work until the company built the famous "City of Alton," commanded by Captain George E. Hawley, which came out in the fall of 1860. She ran in the trade until the war broke out, when on ac- count of the railroad company sending their passengers through by rail over the Terre Haute and Alton railroad to St. Louis, she was withdrawn from the Alton trade, and ran from St. Louis south, in command of Captain Wm. Barnes. In June, 1862, the company bought the steamer "B. M. Runyan," Captain, Jas. S. Bellas. She ran in the trade until 1864, when she was sent south, and sunk July 21st, proving a total loss. The company then ran the "Tatum" in the Alton trade, until the Chicago and St. Louis company extended their road to St. Louis, taking all the railroad freight from the boat in the winter of 1864. The company ran the Tatum during January and February 1865, but not paying expenses she was withdrawn and sent elsewhere, thos abandoning the trade to the through packets. There was no packet for a month when Captain John A. Bruner in con- nection with Tunstal and Holmes and others of St. Louis, put in the steamer " May A. Bruner." She was withdrawn and the "South-Wester" took her place, the May A. Bru- ner being put on the Arkansas trade to ply between St. Louis and Little Rock. The South-Wester ran in the trade until 1868, and was succeeded by the Comet. In May 1869 the Belle of Alton came out and ran in the trade until 1871, when she was sent south. She was completely destroyed by fire at New Orleans, March 28th, 1871. In September same year the Schuyler took her place. In 1874 a rivalry was insti- tuted between the Illinois, the successor of the Schuyler, owned by the Illinois River Packet Company, and the De Smet, purchased by Messrs. Bruner and Labarge. After two months and a half the Illinois was withdrawn. Soon after the Spread Eagle owned by the Eagle Packet Company entered into competition with the De Smet. This generous rivalry ended in consolidation of interests in 1874.

The Eagle Co. was the outgrowth of the Eagle, a small boat put into the trade between Keokuk, Alexandria and

Warsaw, many years ago by Hamilton Branum. Branum had the contract for carrying the U. S. Mail between these points, which he did for a time in a skiff, which was laid aside for the Eagle. Branum has been knowu to take a horse across the river at Keokuk in his skiff.

The Eagle Packet Company is officered as follows:

J. R. Williams, of Warsaw, President.

G. W. Hill, of Alton, Secretary and Treasurer.

Henry Leyhe, Superintendent.

William Leyhe, Ass't. Supt.

The Spread Eagle is one of the best and fastest boats on tlie upper Mississippi. The company also own the Imperial and the Little Eagle.

The Alton packets commenced the extension of their run to Grafton in 1869. The " Jack Robinson," a propeller owned by Capt. Jno A. Bruner, made a trial trip up to that point, carrying many merchants and business men of Alton. Citizens of Grafton promised their trade, and from the start the trade proved lucrative. In 18:1 a daily line was com- menced between Grafton and St. Louis, which arrangement has since been maintained.

In addition to the regular packet of the Northern Line Company, the "Diamond Joe," the Illinois River and Clarksville packet-, make regular trips, stopping at Alton, and competing with the local packets for a share of her trade.

RAILROADS.

Railroading is comparatively a new industry. Six thous- and years have added their contributions to science, yet during fifty years only have railroads been known. Scien- tists of all ages have grappled with problems of govern- ment, social life, and questions of demand and supply, and left the records of their efforts for our instruction. The accumulated wisdom of centuries furnish store-houses from whence we can draw such instruction ; but railroads are things of to-day Our fathers died after welcoming their birth, and yet, brief as the span of time since their concep- tion, what mighty levers they have become in the advance- ment of the world's material industries ! Archimedes said "Give me whereon to stand, and I will move the world." Railroads have found the standing-space, reached forth their iron arms, and moved the world. All this, too, within the memory of living men. The locomotive steam engine was invented by George Stephenson, of England, and was first successfully used September 27, 1825, on a short road built from Stockton to Darlington. In 1830 there were only twenty-three miles of railroad in the United States. The road between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, 11} miles in length, was the first regularly opened for pas- senger traffic, which was in July of that year. The train was termed a " Brigade of Cars." It was the first road to present a time-card. The "Brigade of Cars " was drawn by horses or mules. It had not then been demonstrated that locomotives could attain a speed of over six miles an hour, nor was it until later in the same season, when George Stephenson's " Rocket " attained the then remarkable speed of fifteen miles an hour. In the Baltimore LImerican of July, 1830, was the advertisement of this road, stating that

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

a sufficient number of cars had been provided to accommo- date the travelling public, and that a brigade would leave the depot on Pratt Street at 6 and 10 o'clock, A.M., and at 3 and 4 o'clock, P.M; returning, would leave the depot at Ellicott's Mills at 6 and 8} o'clock, A.M., and 123 and 6 o'clock, P.M. This time-card was accompanied with posi- tive orders prohibiting any passengers from entering the cars without tickets, also with a provision for engaging cars by the day, where parties were so disposed.

In 1837 the internal improvement scheme was in its hey- day. Railroads were projected everywhere. The first road located in Madison county was the Alton and Mt. Carmel, via. Edwardsville, Carlyle, Salem, Fairfield and Albion to Mt. Carmel. Not only was the road located but contracts were entered into by the state for the grading and bridging of the road, and considerable work was done between Alton and Highland. About the same time branch roads were in con- templation from this " trunk " line as follows : one diverg- ing from Edwardsville to Shawneetown, passing through Lebanon, Nashville, Pinckneyville, Frankfort and Equal- ity : one from Lebanon to Bellville, for which $1,750,000 was appropriated. A railroad from Alton via Upper Alton, Hillsboro, Shelbyville, Charleston, Paris, and from thence to the state line in the direction of Terre Haute, Indiana, where it was to connect with the railroad and canal commu- nications through that state both in an eastern and southern direction. For this road there was appropriated $1,250,000. Also a survey was made and stock taken for one from Altou to Springfield, seventy-five miles, which was designed to open an importantline of communication with the interior, and eventually became connected with the great line of the Atlantic cities.

In November of 1837 the financial crash swept over the whole country. General bankruptcy followed, and all these railroad schemes yielded to the inevitable. The laurels of being first in the field with a railroad were wrested from Madison county in favor of her sister upon the south, St. Clair, where the Illinois and St. Louis railroad, the first in the Mississippi valley, was built. It was built independent of state aid by Governor Reynolds, Samuel B. Chandler, George Walker and Daniel Pierce.

CHICAGO AND ALTON RAILROAD .*

This is one of the most important roads of the great system of railroads in the Mississippi Valley. The length of line within the limits of Madison county, including the " cut off" from near Alton Junction to a point above God- frey, including switches and side tracks, is 48 miles, 2265 feet. The air-line between St. Louis and Chicago, the two most prominent cities of the Great West, and the most pro- nounced commercial rivals, occupies a prominent position among the Trans-Mississippi railroads. This may be attri- buted partly to the persistent manner in which the manage- ment has fostered and developed the local business along the line of the road, and partly to the fact that since its rcor-

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 12

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698