USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Rockford > History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois, from the first settlement in 1834 to the civil war > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
-
CHAPTER II.
GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
TI "HE Geological Survey of Illinois Volume V. furnishes the most complete information concerning the geology and topography of Winnebago county. This work was published by the authority of the legislature of the state. The article devoted to this county was contributed by James Shaw, and many of the facts given in this chapter were taken therefrom.
The geology of Winnebago county is simple in character. There is first the usual quaternary deposits, which consist of sand, clays, gravels, boulders, subsoils and alluvium. Then follow the three well-known divisions of the Trenton limestone, which outcrop along the streams and hills, and show themselves in railroad cuts, wells and quarries in different parts of the county. These divisions are the Galena, Blue and Buff lime- stones of the western geologists. A perpendicular section, as near as could be constructed, exhibited the following strata : Quaternary deposits, average depth about fifteen feet ; Galena limestone, ninety-six-feet ; Blue limestone, thirty-five feet ; Buff limestone, forty-fivefeet. These measurements of the limestones were made at actual worked outcrops. At the time Volume V. of the Geological Survey was published no evidence of the St. Peter's sandstone had been discovered, although it was then believed that it came near the surface at Beloit and Rockton. In 1885, however, when Rockford began boring artesian wells, the St. Peter's sandstone was discovered. Its upper surface was irregular, varying from one hundred and seventy to two hundred feet below the surface of the ground. This strata varies from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet in thick- ness. Mr. Shaw gave it as his opinion that the Trenton limestones were at the time of his survey the only ones that had been exposed or excavated in the county.
The surface geology comprises alluvial deposits, loess, and the drift proper. The usual alluvial bottoms exist along the Rock, Pecatonica and Sugar rivers. These are from one to five miles wide. On the latter two the deposit is deep, black, and
7
LIMESTONES .- ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
rich, and supports in places a heavy growth of timber. The deposit along Rock river is not so rich, and is composed more of sands and clays, with occasional strips of better soil. A number of the bluffs along Rock river are composed in part of loess clays, in which no fluvatile shells were noticed. This formation is of quite limited extent.
The drift proper is very largely developed. It is composed of loose detrital matter, which is often of considerable thick- ness, brought from long distances, and deposited over large areas of the county. This material is thought to have been brought from the metamorphic regions of the north by the action of water. The railroad track from Beloit to Caledonia cuts at intervals through long, undulating swells of land. These . swells are pure, unmodified, unstratified drift. Other railroads exhibit the same beds along their tracks, though in a less marked degree. Every township in the county has thesegravel beds, and their underlying associate deposits of clay and sand.
Two-thirds of Winnebago county is underlaid by the Galena limestone. It is a heavy-bedded, yellowish, dolomitic lime- stone, compact and irregular. There are several notable quarries and outcrops. The first heavy outcrop of the Galena limestone on Rock river in this county is about three miles above Rockford. All the cuts on the Galena division of the Chicago & Northwestern railway, which runs across the south- ern part of the county, show the lead-bearing rocks. One of the heaviest outcrops is east of Harlem station, on the railroad running from Rockford to Caledonia. The strata are massive and solid, and furnish splendid material for railroad masonry.
The Blue limestone succeeds the Galena in the descending order. It is largely developed in the northern and northwest- ern portions of the county. It is a thin-bedded, bluish-gray limestone. The first two cuts east of Shirland, made by the Western Union in its excavations for a track, are perhaps the best exposures of the Blue limestone.
Only a limited portion of the county is underlaid by the Buff limestone. The chief outcrop of this formation is at the village of Rockton, where it is forty-five feet in thickness.
The county is not without resources in economic geology. The three formations of the Trenton rocks, previously noted, furnish building stone of good quality. Age does not affect it, and buildings erected sixty years ago are still well preserved. This is especially true of the Galena limestone. The quarries
8
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
at Argyle, Rockford and at other points north and south of Harlem supply material for railroad masonry. The Buff also furnishes stone of good quality for ordinary mason-work, and is easily quarried and worked. At present there is only one quarry of the Blue limestone in the city.
Sands and clays for economic purposes are found almost everywhere along the banks of the rivers, and may be obtained from thickly strewn drift deposits. For some years a fine molding sand was obtained north of School street in Rockford, but this supply is now exhausted. About two miles northeast of the city there is a large surface of molding sand, which has been used by all the foundries in Rockford for the past ten years. There is also a quantity of molding sand in the vicinity of Rockton. Lime of excellent quality is obtained in large quantities in and around Rockford. Near Brown's creek there is a bed of white clay; and good red brick is obtained from the clay in other parts of the county.
There is also a supply of good building sand. Limestone for rubble masonry abounds in almost unlimited quantity about Rockford. Large footing stone is obtained, but nothing for ornamental purposes. There is no available sandstone in the county. There is a general uniformity with the geological for- mation of the Rock river valley. Bog iron exists around many of the springs, but this deposit has no economic value. The ground is impregnated with iron, which is soluble in water, so that it disintegrates lime mortar in the foundations to the extent that it is necessary to use cement in place of lime for foundations. The county possesses very little mineral wealth. The deposits of peat are not of great value. The peat is not available for fuel, and can only be used as a fertilizer. Copper in its pure state has occasionally been found; but there is no deposit of the metal.
The topography of the county may be briefly noted. It is well watered with fine streams. Rock river enters the county about six miles from its northeast corner, at Beloit, runs nearly due south to Rockford, then bends gradually to the west and enters Ogle county. It affords water-power at Beloit, Rockton and Rockford. Pecatonica river enters the county from the west, eight miles from its southwestern corner, and flows in a general easterly and northerly course about twenty miles, and empties its turbid waters into Rock river near the village of Rockton. Sugar river enters the county from the northwest,
9
INDIAN NAMES.
and flows into the Pecatonica near the village of Harrison. Other streams are Kishwaukee river, and Killbuck, Kent's, Keith's, and Kinnikinick creeks.
The Indian names of these streams have their significance. Pecatonica means the "crooked stream," or "muddy water." Sinissippi, the Indian name of Rock river, signifies "the rocky river." Kishwaukee means "clear waters." The name Winne- bago is translated "fish-eater."
A considerable portion of the county was covered with timber of various qualities. There was much scattering timber and brush-land in the northwestern portion along Sugar river and its tributaries, and on portions of the northern bank of the Pecatonica. This area is interspersed with occasional swampy tracts. In the southern portion of the county, along and near the Kishwaukee creeks, the face of the country is rough, hilly, brushy, and was covered with an occasional growth of timber. A few miles below Rockford, along the northern bank of Rock river, and extending north and west from the same, there is a tract of barrens covered with brushwood, and a light growth of white oak and other timber. The other portions of the county are chiefly prairie, interspersed with small and beautiful groves. For agricultural purposes the county is not considered equal to Stephenson on the west, nor "Little Boone," its eastern neighbor.
CHAPTER III.
THE MOUND-BUILDERS AND THE WINNEBAGO INDIANS.
DROF. J. W. FOSTER, in his Pre-historic Races of the United States, says : "The subordinate valleys of the Rock river, the Fox, Kankakee and Illinois, show abundant evidence of former occupancy by the Mound-builders. and whilst the mounds are inconspicuous, they are not destitute of relics, and the human remains are indicative of a race whose skulls are marked by peculiarities which distinguish them from the red man."
Three classes of mounds were found in Winnebago county. There was the common round mound, from ten to thirty feet in diameter, and from two and a half to five feet high. These mounds were quite numerous along the banks of the Rock, Kishwaukee and Pecatonica rivers. The oblong-shaped mound is much less common, but is frequently remarkable for its great length. One was found within the present limits of Rockford which measured one hundred and thirty feet in length, twelve feet wide at the base, and three or four feet high. Mounds of the third class have a fancied resemblance to some form of animal life, and are called "effigies." The most common forms of these are called Bird and Turtle mounds, and are found in many localities in the county. Some fine specimens of this class, as well as the round and oblong mounds, are still carefully preserved on the grounds owned by the Misses Beattie and Mrs. Clara G. Sanford, north of the city water-works, on the west side of the river. The round mounds were frequently constructed for the purpose of sepulture, the elongated for circumvallation or as "game-drives," while the effigies were probably ceremonial.
A number of archæologists believe that the builders of these mounds were a race inhabiting this country before the American Indian; and in the absence of any information con- cerning their origin, they are denominated "mound-builders." Other recent authorities incline to the opinion thatthe mounds
11
INDIAN MOUNDS.
were constructed by the ancestors of the Indians. Their earth-works are found in large numbers in Rockford and vicinity ; there are probably not less than five hundred within the limits of Winnebago county. These earliest inhabitants had no beasts of burden, and naturally their travel and traffic were largely by canoe up and down the rivers. Their settle- ments, therefore, and their monumental mounds were uniformly located near or upon the river banks; and in the vicinity of the confluence of streams these united evidences of a dense popula- tion are generally abundant. Near the mouth of Kishwaukee river more than one hundred have been surveyed by Prof. T. H. Lewis, and probably as many existed near Rockton before their demolition during the progress of railroad construction and other improvements. When the cut was made in East Rockford in grading for the Galena & Chicago Union railroad in 1852, many mounds were destroyed ; and gruesome evidence of the sepulchral purpose of some of them was given by the fragments of human skeletons disinterred.
Winnebago county does not figure prominently in Indian history. The Winnebagoes occupied it as a portion of their reservation at one time. The earliest Winnebago traditions relate to their residence at Red Banks, on the eastern shore of Green Bay, in Wisconsin, where they traded with the French. This tribe was first met by the Jesuit fathers near the mouth of Fox river, at the head of Green Bay. Confusion may arise from the fact of two rivers with the same name in the same state. One stream rises in Waukesha county and flows in a general southerly direction and enters the Illinois river at Ottawa. The other rises near the southern boundary of Green Lake county, flows westward to Portage City, thence north- ward until it expands into Lake Pacawa; after a tortuous course it enters Lake Winnebago, issues from the northern end of this lake, flows northeastward and enters Green Bay. These streams are distinguished respectively as Fox river, and Fox river of Green Bay. The latter is always understood whenever the name is mentioned in connection with the history of this tribe.
The Winnebagoes belonged to the Dacota or Sioux nation. During the era of authentic history they wandered to southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and Iowa. In 1812 the Win- nebagoes of Illinois occupied a section, of which this county formed a part. To the south were the Illinois tribes, and the
.
12
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
disputed territory between the two shifted north and south as the fortunes of war favored the one or the other. In time, how- ever, the Winnebagoes were driven well back within the present limits of Wisconsin, and were subsequently regarded as a tribe of that state. The territorial claims of these contestants were not finally settled until 1825. By a treaty negotiated at Prairie du Chien August 19 of that year between the United States, the Winnebagoes, the Sacs and Foxes, the Pottawatomies and other attending tribes, the boundaries of the Winnebago coun- try were finally determined. Thus was peace established after a nearly continuous warfare of almost two centuries.
The records of the interior department at Washington show not less than twelve treaties negotiated between the United States and the Winnebagoes, during the period of fifty-one years from 1816 to 1867. The most important treaty was negotiated at Prairie du Chien, August 1, 1829, by which the Winnebagoes ceded to the United States certain lands in Illinois, of which Winnebago county west of Rock river was a part. The consid- eration was "eighteen thousand dollars in specie, annually, for the period of thirty years; which said sum is to be paid to said Indians at Prairie du Chien and Fort Winnebaygo, in proportion to the numbers residing within the most convenient distance of each place respectively ; and it is also agreed, that the said United States shall deliver immediately to said Indians, as a present, thirty thousand dollars in goods; and it is further agreed, that three thousand pounds of tobacco and fifty barrels of salt, shall be annually delivered to the said Indians by the United States for the period of thirty years."
Caleb Atwater was one of the commissioners on the part of the United States government in negotiating this treaty. In a book in which he gives an account of the proceedings of this council he takes occasion to remark at considerable length on the beauty and force of Indian oratory as displayed on that occasion. He says their persons are the finest forms in the world. As he stands erect, with eyes flaming with ardor, and a mind laboring under an agony of thought, the Indian is a most impressive orator. When he speaks before his assembled nation on some great national subject, he shows most forcibly that he feels an awful responsibility in what he attempts to advocate in behalf of his people. Mr. Atwater relates that he has seen a chief, when he approached the sale of his country in his speech, turn pale, tremble with fear, and sit down perfectly
13
INDIAN ELOQUENCE.
exhausted in body from the effect. In council on such occasions, on either side of the speaker, sit all the chiefs and warriors of his nation ; behind him, within sound of his voice, sit the women and children. His subject then becomes of the highest conceiv- able importance to himself and his entire nation. In such a position the character of his eloquence is easily conceived. It abounds with figures drawn from every object which nature presents to his eye. He thanks the Great Spirit that he has given them a day for holding their council without clouds or with few, as the case may be; that the several paths between their homes and the council fire have been unattended with danger; and hopes that during bis absence the beasts may not destroy his corn, nor any bad bird be suffered to fly about the council with false stories. Thus far the speaker may have pro- ceeded without enthusiasm ; but should he touch upon the sale of his country, his whole soul is in every word, look and gesture. His eye flashes fire, he raises himself upon his feet, his body is thrown in every attitude, every muscle and nerve is strained to its utmost tension. His voice is clear, loud, distinct and com- manding. He becomes, to use his own expressive phrase, a. man. Then he recalls, with deep pathos and genuine eloquence, the time when his ancestors inhabited the entire continent, and how they have been driven by the white man from river to river, and from mountain to mountain, until they now have no home in which they may live in peace.
Article V. of the treaty at Prairie du Chien granted sections of land to certain Indian descendants of mixed blood who did not wish to migrate with their tribe. Thirty-six of these descendants were given one section of land each ; two received two sections each ; and three received two sections jointly. The total grant was forty-two sections, divided among forty-one grantees. These grants were unlocated or "floating" lands. From this fact came the word "float," by which these sections were popularly known. The grantees were allowed to select a section, and their choice was to be approved by the Indian commissioner and by the president of the United States. There were several of these "floats" in Rockford township. The east half of section fourteen and all of section thirteen west of Rock river, containing six hundred and thirty-seven acres, were located for Catharine Myott. Further reference to this tract will be madein a subsequent chapter. Section twenty-one was located for Therese Leciier, child of Mauh-nah. tee-see: section twenty-
14
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
two was selected for James Leciier; and section twenty-seven for Simon Leciier. These sections now comprise the most populous and wealthy portions of West Rockford, with its thousands of beautiful homes. There were other "floats" located in this immediate vicinity, some of which may be noted. Section eleven in Rockford township was claimed by Domitille, child of Jolin Baptiste Pacquette. Besides the section above mentioned, Catharine Myott was given another section, of which the west half of section ten forms a part. One section in Winnebago county was given to Brigitte, the child of Hee-no-kau. Theselands could not besold without the consent of the president of the United States. The Indians were the wards of the nation, and the approval of the president was required by the treaty for their protection from dishonest speculators; but this precaution was not always successful. There is no evidence of local record that the transfer of Brigitte's claim by the original grantee has ever been approved by the president. Afulllist of these "floats" located in this county may be obtained from the Tract Book in the office of the circuit clerk.
Upon the close of the Black Hawk war, by the terms of the treaty negotiated by General Scott, September 15, 1832, the Winnebagoes ceded their lands lying east of the Mississippi, in Wisconsin, and accepted a reservation in Iowa, designated as the Neutral Ground. The Winnebagoes were loth to emigrate, and their removal was finally effected by the goverment in 1837. By another treaty, concluded November 1, 1837, they finally ceded all of their lands lying east of the Mississippi river. By the terms of this treaty they were to remove west of this river within eight months thereafter. Their reservation was subsequently changed several times, until in 1865 they were permanently located on their Omaha reservation in Nebraska. In 1890 there were twelve hundred and fifteen Winnebagoes on this reservation ; and nearly an equal number were scattered over Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, where they now live chiefly by agriculture, with a strong predilection for hunting.
The Winnebagoes were men of good stature and dignified bearing, with the characteristic black hair, black, glistening eyes, and red skins of the Indian race. They maintained the position of a tribe of independent feelings and national pride. The claim made for them of considerable mental capacity is
15
WINNEBAGO NAMES.
sustained by the cranial measurements made some years ago at the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia. In these examinations their crania were shown to have an average internal capacity of eighty-nine cubic inches, and a facial angle of seventy-nine degrees.
The so-called "Winnebago war" occurred in 1827, in the vicinity of Galena. It was more of a scare than a war, and has no local interest.
For many years after the Winnebagoes had removed from this section, small companies would occasionally return to visit their former hunting-ground. As Israel could not sing the songs of Zion in a strange land, so these red men of the forest could not forget their early home. The love of country and kindred is the same in subject or in king. It is a universal passion that makes the wide world kin. The Creator hath made of one blood all nations of men.
The Winnebago has given a name to a lake, afort, a village and a county in Wisconsin, and to a village, a township and a county in Illinois. The Wisconsin Indian village is the pres- ent city of Beloit. Fort Winnebago is a historicspot. Its site is within two miles from the present city of Portage, Wisconsin. The fort was built in 1818-29, at the solicitation of John Jacob Astor, of the American Fur Company, to protect his tradefrom the Winnebagoes. Jefferson Davis was one of the first lieuten- ants in the original garrison.
CHAPTER IV.
THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
T THE Sauk or Black Hawk war directed the attention of east- ern settlers to the Rock river valley. The history of this outbreak also has a local interest from the fact that this famous Indian warrior, in his flight from Rock Island, followed the general course of Rock river through this county, into Wiscon- sin territory, where he was defeated and captured.
Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or Black Hawk, was a chief of the allied tribes of the Sacs and Foxes. He was born at the Sac village, on the site of Rock Island, in 1767. About 1833 a book was published at Rock Island, which purported to be an autobiography of Black Hawk. Subsequent editions of this work have been published. Governor Ford, however, in his History of Illinois, places little value upon this work. He says it was dictated by Colonel Davenport, an old Indian trader, and Antoine Le Clair, a United States interpreter for the Sacs and Foxes, and edited and published by J. B. Patterson. Governor Ford believed that Black Hawk knew comparatively little of this alleged autobiography, although it has been recognized as authority by reliable writers upon this subject.
The Sacs, according to an Indian tradition, were first placed by the Great Spirit in the vicinity of Montreal. Their enemies conspired to drive them from their home to Mackinac and other points, until they built a village near Green Bay, on what is now Sac river, a name derived from this circumstance.
The Foxes were first found on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. From there they were driven to Detroit, thence to Mackinac, and from there to the river which bears their name, at a point near its entrance into Green Bay. The Foxes sub- sequently abandoned their village, and formed a treaty of alliance with the Sacs. Neither tribe was sufficiently strong to successfully meet its enemies. Hence they became one nation, and the bond of friendship was never broken. This allied tribe belonged to the Algonquin nation.
-----
Boundary
Established
by
lAmended
BIN
18:8
CISCOTT'S ARMY
4
LITTLE FORT 1700
١٠١
FICHE
....
WAUKE
HENRY
h
E
1.364
INCHENRY 1336
FREEPORT
11834 7
BELVIDERE ¥1835.
and
-
.
CAFT. WRIGHT INIE
=
Black Hawk's Camp ;.
THRADWILL + 1-24
-
130
.C
1.
1.
ELGIN
:11835
OREGON
:: 33
-
DI.
1.
1:
1
DESET
FU
WHEATCS
"ATATTA *1:33
-
F
*
1:34 ATRORA
Y J.
M.
:!* * 1/1833
M ..
PLANTFIELD
-
MENDOTA 1452
......
4 . 4JOLIET 1933
.... ...
7
/
1:
10:1
1536
2
1073
1670-
RUNDY
HENNEFTS
1-11
31
1.
1:
-
KANKAKEE
1
16.3
1
1:
1.
...
ON 1-20
---
37.1
1
I
1
1
1
PLATO
PONTIAC
1:36
...... ....
CIN SCOTT 'S
ROCEFORD
WOODSTOCK 1636
-
1830
1
ne 1673
iet =- &.'//
ATIEL
CHICAGOA
1₺
1073
٥٢٣٠
Boundary of :
COT
1×41
ROCK ISLAND 1 -
11
1.
PE TU
.
J .- LA Salle
1451
La Salle 1879
MAP OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS .- Published by permission from R. A. Blanchard's History of Illinois.
arquette
- -
17
TREATIES WITH THE SAC CHIEFS.
The Sacs and Foxes remained for some time in the vicinity of Green Bay. But as early as 1718 they had obtained a firm footing on Rock river. A party of young men descended the Rock to its mouth, and upon their return they presented a favorable report of the country. The entire tribe then migrated to the southwest, drove the Kaskaskias from the country, and founded a village on the point of land at the confluence of Rock and Mississippi rivers. At the beginning of this century the Sacs and Foxes occupied lands in northwestern Illinois lying between the Winnebagoes and the Mississippi river.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.