History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 7

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 7

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).

Cotton Hill, Springfield,

Curran, Talkington,

Gardner,

Williams,

Illiopolis,

Woodside.

New Berlin has since been formed from part of Island Grove, Wheatfield from part of Illiop-

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

olis, and Capital from part of Springfield, mak- ing a total of twenty-five towns, as follows:

Auburn, embracing all of township 13, north of range 6 west of the third principal meridian, and part of township 13, north of range 5 west.

Ball, all of township 14, north of range 5 west.

Buffalo Hart, all of township 17, north of range 3 west.

Chatham, all of township 14, north of range 6 west, and a small portion of township 14, north of range 5 west.

Cartwright, all of township 16, north of range 7 west, and fractional parts of township 16 and 17, range 8 west.

Clear Lake, all of township 16 north of range 4 west.

Cooper, parts of township 14 and 15, range 3 west.

Cotton Hill, all of township 14 north of range 4 west.

Curran, all of township 15 north of range 6 west.

Gardner, all of township 16 north of range 6 west.

Illiopolis, parts of townships 16 and 17, range 1 and 2 west.

Island Grove, part of township 15, and parts of ranges of 7 and 8 west.

Loami, part of township 14 north, and parts of ranges 7 and 8 west.

Mechanicsburg, all of township 16, north of range 3 west.

Fancy Creek, parts of townships 17 and 18, north of range 5 west

Pawnee, township 13 north, and parts of ranges 4 and 5 west.

Rochester, township 15, north of range 4 west. Salisbury, a part of township 17, north of range 6 west.

Springfield. township 16 north of range 5 west, except the territory comprising the city of the same name, which is made a town under the name of Capital.

Talkington, township 13 north, and parts of ranges 7 and 8 west.

Williams, parts of townships 17 and 18, north of range 4 west.

Woodside, township 15, north of range 5 west.

Wheatfield, parts of townships 15, 16 and 17, north of range 2 west.

New Berlin, townships 14 and 15, and parts of ranges 7 and 8.

Capital, all the territory lying within the city of Springfield.

RIVER AND CREEKS.

Sangamon county is well supplied with streams of living water, the most important of which is the Sangamon river, the north fork of which takes its rise in McLean county, and pur- sning a tortuous course, forms the southern boundary line of Sangamon along Illiopohs and part of Cooper township, entering the county on section 15 of the last named town- ship, passing through it and Rochester into Clear Lake township, where it is joined, on see- tion 27, with the south fork, which heads in Shelby county, entering Sangamon on section 12, Cotton Hill township, and passing through Rochester into Clear Lake. The two forks uniting as stated, pass into and through Spring- field, Gardner and Salisbury townships, from which it enters Menard connty from section 22.

For many years the river retained its old In- dian name of the Sangamo, but it was finally dropped, and the modern name adopted.

NAVIGATION OF THE SANGAMO RIVER.

The boys that play upon the banks of the Sangamo river in this year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and eighty-one little dream that it was ever thought by anyone that the river was a navigable stream, much less that an attempt was ever made to run a steamer on its sluggish waters. But such was the case.

Before the days of the iron horse, when rail- roads were comparatively unknown, many at- tempts were made at the navigation of insig- nificent streams, in order to cheapen transporta- tion. Especially was this true in new countries.

The Sangamo Journal, January 19, 1832, after speaking of the signs of an early spring and the preparation for improvement going on, says: "And last, not least, it is seriously projected by our fellow-citizen, V. A. Bogue, to introduce to the good people of Springfield, within a month or so, by way of the Sangamo river, a steamboat, which will be laden with goods for onr merchants. We have strong confidence that the undertaking will succeed. We will not now undertake to state the results that would benefit to this village and county from the com- plete success of this experiment. It would be worth more to us than a dozen railroads-in the newspapers. Wasn't our inimitable bard pro- phetic when he said :-

" And I will make our Sangamo Outshine in verse, the famous Po?"

In the Journal of the 26th of January, 1832, appears a letter from Mr. Bogue in reference to

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

the proposed trip of the steamer np the San- gamo. He says :-

"I am well aware that the undertaking is dan- gerous, difficult and expensive-still I am will- ing to risk my all upon it. All I ask is the cheerful and hearty concurrence of those gen- tlemen who must be more interested in the suc- cess than I am or can be. If I am unfortunate, I will cheerfully bear the loss; if I am success- ful, which, God willing, I have little doubt every individual in that fine section of country must feel the beneficial effects of it. The concur- rence I allude to is to advise me immediately on receipt, and keep me advised of the state of the river-what probable rise may be expected above low-water mark-that I should be met at the mouth of the river by ten or twelve men, having axes with long handles, under the direc- tion of some experienced man, and that one of the men should be one of those who has most often descended the river with flatboats (to show the course of the stream). I shall deliver freight from St. Louis at the landing on Sangamo river, opposite the town of Springfield, for thirty- seven-and-a-half cents per hundred pounds

The Journal was an enthusiastic friend of the project of the navigation of the river, but tem- pers its enthusiasm by saying: "It would be folly, perhaps, ever to anticipate for our village advantages from steamboat navigation equal to those which St. Louis has derived from that source; yet such anticipation cannot be more chimerical than was the project of running steamboats from the month of the Ohio to St. Louis in 1817."

In the Journal of February 16, 1832, appears the following paragraph:

"We find the following advertisement in the Cincinnati Gazette of the 19th ult. We hope such notices will soon cease to be such novelties. We seriously believe that the Sangamo river can be made navigable for steamboats for several months in the year. Here is the advertisement: FOR SANGAMO RIVER, ILLINOIS -The splendid upper- cabin steamer, TALISMAN, J M. POLLOCK, Master, will leave for Portland, Springfield, on the Sangamo river, and all inter- mediate ports and landings, say Beardstown, Naples, St. Louis, Louisville, on Thursday, February 2. For freight or passage apply to Captain Vincent A. Bogue, at the Broadway Hotel, or to Allison Owen.

After the foregoing notices appeared in the Journal, a public meeting of citizens of Spring- field was held February 14, 1832, to take into consideration what measures should be adopted to assist Mr. Bogue in his enterprise. Elijah Iles was elected chairman, and William Porter secretary. On motion of Dr. Todd, the follow- ing preamble and resolution was adopted :

WHEREAS, We have learned with great pleasure that our townsman, Mr. Bogue, is about to navigate the Sangamo river in a steamboat.

Resolved, That a committee of three citizens be appointed to meet him, with a suitable number of hands, and render him all the assistance we are capa- ble of, or on the failure of Mr. Bogue, that assistance be afforded to any other boat wishing to engage in the enterprise.

E. D. Taylor, Washington Iles and T. M. Neale were appointed that committee. T. Moff. ett, G. Jayne, and D. Dickerson were appointed a committee to solicit funds to carry out the foregoing resolution.

According to announcement the Talisman started on its journey from Cincinnati, and after various trials succeeded in accomplishing its object. The Journal of March 8, announces the arrival of the steamer at Meredosia, when its further progress was obstructed by ice. In its issue of March 29th, it says :

"On Saturday last the citizens of this place (Springfield) were gratified by the arrival of the steamboat Talisman, J. W. Pollock, master, of 150 tons burthens, at the Portland landing, opposite this town. ( Portland was at the south side of the Sangamon river, between where the bridges of the Chicago & Alton and the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield railroads now stand). The safe arrival of a boat the size of the Talisman, on a river never before navigated by steam, had created much solicitude, and the shores for miles were crowded by our citizens. Her arrival at her destined port was hailed with loud acclama- tions and full demonstrations of pleasure. When Capt. Bogne located his steam mill on Sanga- mo river, twelve months ago, and asserted his determination to land a steamboat there within a year, the idea was considered chimerical by some, and utterly impracticable by others. The experiment has been made, and the result has been as successful as the most enthusiastic could expect ; and this county owes a deep debt of gratitude to Captain Bogue for getting up the expedition, and his never tiring and unceasing efforts until the end was accomplished. Capt. Pollock, who is naturally warm and enthusiastic, entered fully into the feeling of our citizens, who visited the mouth of the river to render any and every assistance in their power; and much credit is due him for his perseverance and snecess. The boat experienced some difficulty from drifts, and leaning timber on shore, which made her trip somewhat tedious. The result has clearly demonstrated the practicability of navigating the river by steamboats of proper size ; and by the expenditure of $2,000 in remov-

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

ing logs and drifts and standing timber, a steam boat of 80 tons burthen will make a trip in two days from Beardstown to this place. The citi- zens of Beardstown manifested great interest for the success of the enterprise, and some of them accompanied the boat until the result was no longer doubtful. They proposed the cutting of a communication or canal from the bluffs to their landing-about five miles-whereby seventy-five miles of navigation may be saved, and offered one thousand dollars to assist in completing it. It is to be hoped that the next legislature will afford some aid in making the river safe and pleasant in its navigation. Spring- field can no longer be considered an inland town. We have no doubt but within a few months a boat will be constructed for the special purpose of navigating the Sangamo river. The result which must follow the succesful termina- tion of this enterprise to our county, and to those counties lying in its neighborhood, it would be impossible to calculate. Here is now open a most promising field for the exercise of every branch of honest industry. We congratu- late our farmers, our mechanics, our merchants and professional men, for the rich harvest in prospect, and we cordially invite emigrating citi- zens from other states, whether rich or poor, if so be they are industrious and honest, to come hither and partake of the good things of San- gamo."

The poets of the day immortalized the occa- sion in verse, while the ladies gave a grand ball in honor of the occasion. The Journal's poet, in speaking of the appearance of the steamer, says :

Say ye, bold Springfield men, the sight-

Did it not give you vast delight?

And you, fair dames, your comments on it, It almost equalled a new bonnet.

Could anything be so bewitching- Lord, Lord, to think on't sets me itching- That is in rhyme, my pretty dears, As some one says some other wheres. Both town and county went to see What this strange animal could be ; But cautious first, and by degrees, The suckers peeped behind the trees, 'Till more familiar grown, they chase And boldly stare her in the face. One thought it might be Noah's ark- No, no, another did remark, 'Tis only Bogue's, his luck to try, Nor need he here a dove let fly ; He only fears it should be dry! The news to Springfield quickly flew, And all the folks went out to view So strange a sight, to them so new ; Some thought the world was at an end, And Heaven in mercy did this send

To save the chosen people in,

Who never yet committed sin,

Or only now and then got frisky When broached an extra tub of whisky.

In speaking of the general rejoicing and the ball in the evening, the bard continues:

Ileigh, sirs, but I forgot to tell

That great rejoicings here befell,

Such stuffing-all the eggs in town

I do believe were there crammed down,

And the next morn old Ned quite high,

Had risen in price, and none to buy.

There was a ball at night, I guess,

For th' ladie's sakes it couldn't be less-

And twenty bachelors they say,

Were strung on Hymen's noose that day.

Notwithstanding all this general rejoicing the navigation of the Sangamon was a failure. The Talisman, on account of low water, was unable to turn around, and was compelled to back out of the stream. Her first trip was her last. She was burned to the water's edge oppo- site St. Louis, in the latter part of April, 1832.

Even as late as 1853 a small steamer came up the river to Petersburg, which caused Simeon Francis, who felt bound to make the Sangamon river navigable, write as follows, under date of April 25, 1853:

"It has long been a conceded fact by those who have the best knowledge on the subject, that the Sangamon river can be made navigable for a small class of steamers five or six months in the year. Some days ago the steamer Wave, Captain Monroe, arrived at Petersburg. He found no difficulty in navigating the river for want of water. There was a depth of four feet, but there were obstructions from drifts and nar- row turns that could readily be obviated. He supposes the distance by the Sangamon river to the Illinois from Petersburg is about ninety miles, thirty miles of which will need improve- ment. This improvement should be done, if not by the State, by a company, who should be au- thorized to receive tolls for boats. We believe the legislature has authorized a company to improve the Kaskaskia river, and to charge tolls. Captain Moore has navigated the last mentioned river, and he expresses himself decidedly of the opinion that the Sangamon is a better river for navigation than the Kaskaskia.

"We learn that so thoroughly satisfied are the property holders and business men of Petersburg of the feasibility of navigating the Sangamon by steamboats, and the great benefit that would re- sult to that section of country from a steam- boat connection with other navigable streams, that a subscription of some five thousand dollars has already been raised to build and equip a

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

steamboat for the especial navigation of the Sangamon. The attempts made years ago for the same purpose were not made in a way to se- enre success. The company will be able to avoid the obstacles which defeated the project on a former occasion. As one of the means for de- veloping the rich resources of the country on the Sangamon, we most fervently desire that the enterprise may be successful."

This was the last attempt at the navigation of the river, and a look at the stream in

this year, 1881, will convince one that it was wisc.

CREEKS.

Sangamon county is well watered by many living streams, after the Sangamon river the most important being Sugar creek, Lick creek, Horse creek, Brush creek, Clear creek, Fancy creek, Cantrall creek, Prairie creek, Richland creek, Wolf creek, and Spring creek, an account of each being found in the township history of the townships through which the flow.

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

CHAPTER II.

GEOLOGY .- BY A. H. WORTHEN.

The Sangamon river traverses the entire ex- tent of the county from east to west, and with its tributaries furnishes a reasonable supply of water in ordinary seasons.

This stream, as well as its main affluents, are skirted with belts of excellent timber, which make this one of the best timbered counties in the central portion of the State. About one- third of the county was originally covered with timber, but much of the timbered land has been cleared up and brought under cultivation.

The principal varieties of timber observed in this county are the following; and it will be seen that the list embraces nearly every variety of forest tree that is to be found in the central portion of the State: sugar and white maple, buckeye, shellbark hickory, swamp hickory, mocher nut and thick shellbark hickory, horn- beam, serviceberry, backberry, red bud, dog- wood, red thorn, black thorn, persimmon, waahoo, white, blue and black ash, coffee nut, white and black walnut, mulberry, sycamore, cottonwood, wild plum, wild cherry, crab apple, white oak, scarlet oak, chestnut oak, laurel oak, red oak, pin oak, swamp white oak, bur oak, sumac, elder, sassafras, linden, willow, Ameri- can elm, slippery elm, prickly ash, pawpaw, red birch, hazel, spiceberry, and honey locust.

The superficial deposits in this county com- prise the three principal divisions of the Quat- truary: alluvium, leoss and drift. Narrow belts of alluvial bottom skirt the Sangamon through a large part of its course in this county, but they are subject to be annually overflowed by the river floods, and are most valuable for the heavy growth of timber they sustain.

The leoss covers a large part of the uplands to the depth of from six to twenty feet, and is composed of the usual marly beds of buff and gray sands and sandy clays. Underneath the 7-

surface soil at Springfield we usually meet the following successions of beds :-

No. 1, soil,. 1 to 2 feet No. 2, buff colored silicious clay, 2₺ to 3 feet

No. 3, very fine gray marly sand, 3 to 4 feet No. 4, brown drift clays, usually extending down to the bed rock, 30 feet

Nos. 2 and 3 of the above section may prop- erly be referred to the leoss, and at several points, in the vicinity of the city, it has been found to contain the characteristic shells usually found in it.

We are indebted to Mr. Joseph Mitchell, who has dug many wells in the northwest part of Sangamon county and in the adjoining portions of Menard, for the following sections of the beds usually passed through by him:

No. 1, soil, 1 to 23 feet

No. 2, yellow clay,. 3 feet

No. 3, whitish (gray) jointed clay with shells, . 5 to 8 feet No. 4, black muck, with frag- ments of wood, . 3 to 8 feet

No. 5, bluish colored boulder clay, .. 8 to 10 feet

No. 6, gray hard-pan'(very hard), 2 feet

No. 7, soft blue clay, without boulders, . 20 to 40 feet

No. 3 of this section is undoubtedly leoss, and he affirms that this order of succession was invariably observed| at many different localities in that portion of the county, the black mucky soil always appearing immediately below the leoss, and varying from three to eight feet in thickness, and always overlaying the true drift or boulder clay. This old soil is probably the equivalent of a chocolate-colored band a foot or more in thickness, which lies at the base of the leoss in the bluffs at Quincy.

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

In my report on Adams county, published in Vol. IV, page 45, I suggested that the layers of chocolate colored soil at the base of the leoss might be the equivalent of the old post ter- tiary soil penetrated in the shaft at Coatsburg, and in consequence of the absence of true drift deposits at Qniney, it was difficult to fix the relation which this chocolate-colored soil might hold to the boulder clays, but the occurrence of a similar deposit at so many different localities in this county, and at the base of the leoss and always above the boulder clays seem to indicate pretty conclusively that the stratum of Quincy also belongs above the true drift and to a more recent period than that penetrated at Coatsburg.

These two ancient soils, the one at the base of the leoss, and the other below the bonlder clay, belong to distinct and widely separated periods and indicates two distinct emergencies of the surfaces during the Quarternary period and the prevalence of conditions suitable for the growth of an arboreal vegetation.

The boulder clays, or true drift, consists for the most part of brown, gravelly clay with small bouklers. Occasionally a boulder, two feet or more in diameter, is met with in the beds of the ravines, but they are not common. In the vicin- ity of Springfield, this division of the quarter- nary ranges from twenty to forty feet in thick- ness, and this is probably not far from its average thickness throughout the county; but at some localities there is a blue clay or hard pan below the brown clays, which attains about the same thickness as the former, making the aggregate thickness of the drift where fully developed from fifty to eighty feet. No fossils have as yet been obtained from the drift in this county, so far as I am aware, though the tooth of a mammoth was found some years ago in the bluffs of the Sanga- mon, and near the surface, and probably came from beds not older than leoss.

The discovery of the Niantic mastodon, some three years since, between Illiopolis and Nian- tic, and just over the Macon county line, excited considerable interest when the discovery was first announced, and I visited the locality, and was present when a part of the bones were taken ont. The discovery was made on the farm of William F. Correll, in sinking a stock well in a wet, spongy piece of ground, located in a swale or depression of the surface that had evidently once been a pond of water, and had been filled up by the wash from the surrounding highland, until it formed a morass or quagmire in dry weather.

The bones were about four feet below the surface and partly imbedded in a light, gray quicksand filled with fresh water shells, Pluss- orbis, Cyclus, Physa, etc. Above this quicksand there was four feet of black, peaty soil, so soft that a common fence rail could be easily pushed down through it. The quicksand had evidently once formed the bottom of a fresh water pond, fed probably by springs and was the resort of the animals whose bones were found here. The first bone met with in sinking the well was one of the tusks, and supposing it to be a small tree it waseut in twowith an axe before its true char- acter was suspected. The other tusk was taken ont whole, and measured nine feet in length around the curve, and about two feet in circum- ference where it was inserted in the skull. The lower jaw, with the teeth in place, and the teeth of the upper jaw and some of the smaller bones were also found in a good state of preser- vation.

A fine pair of antlers of the elk, with some other bones of the same animal, and bones of the buffalo and deer were found in the position as the bones of the mastodon, but the bones of the smaller animals, although imbedded at the same depth, were lighter colored, less decayed, and appeared to have been buried at a more re- cent period.

The depth of the quicksand was not fully as- certained, but it was probed to the depth of two feet or more without reaching a solid bottom.

STRATIFIED ROCKS.

The stratified rocks, ontcropping at the sur- face in this county, all belong to the upper coal measures, and overline all the main coal seams worked in the State. The lowest beds exposed in the county, are found on the Sangamon river, near the Menard line, and on Richland creek, one of the southern affluents of the Sangamon, in the western part of the county.

They consist mainly of sandstones and shales, including the horizon of the Rock creek lime- stone, although we have not, as yet, seen any ont-crop of this limestone in Sangamon county.

A vertical section of all the beds exposed on the Sangamon and its tributaries, in the central and western portions of the county, would show the following relative position and thickness of strata :-

No. 1, sandy shales and soft sand- stone, . 15₺ feet

No. 2, hard gray limestone, part- ly bleached, 10 to 12 feet

No. 3, black, slaty shale, . 2 to 3 feet

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY.

No. 4, clay shale, ..

to 6 feet

No. 5, brown, calcareous sand- stone, passing into ferrugin- ous limestone, . .

to 5 feet

No. 6, clay shales, partly bitu- minous, .

to 6 feet

No. 7, hard gray limestone (Car- linville limestone), .

to 8 feet

No. 8, sandy shales and soft sand- stone, .

to 40

feet

No. 9, argillaceons limestone and calcareous shales, .

2 to 3 feet

1 foot

No 10, bituminous shales, No. 11, coal No. 8, ..

to 2 feet

No. 12, fire clay,.

to 3 feet

No. 13, impure limestone, . 2

to 3 feet

No. 14, sandy shale and soft sand- stones, with local bands of ar-

gillaceous and bituminous shale, 50 to 60 feet

No. 15, hard gray limestone, ... 2

to 6 feet

No. 16, shales-sandy, argillace-

ous and bituminous, with thin seam of coal, 30 to 60 feet

The beds numbered from one to seven, inclus- ive, of the above section, are well exposed on Sugar creek, two miles north of Virden, and thence down the creek to the crossing of the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago Railroad, between which points all the beds included in these num- bers outerop in succession, the eastward dip of the strata being somewhat less than the fall of the stream.

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History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 7

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Interstate publishing co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Inter-state publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084