USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 16
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
When the first white men came to Stark County the nearest land offices were at Quiney and Galena, and thither they must go to enter their lands. Mrs. Shallenberger describes these journeys to the land offices as being made "with no roads, no bridges, no places of shelter, nothing to direct their course save the sun and wind (which latter would sometimes sadly deceive them by an unnoticed change), and sometimes an Indian trail: these were reliable guides wherever they existed, and were followed with perfeet confidence by the true baek- woodsman."
In the early part of the nineteenth century a few adventurous individuals had clustered around the lead mines at Galena and there was a small settlement where the City of Peoria now stands. The first road to pass through what is now Stark County was that known as "Kellogg's Trail," which ran by a "devious way" from Peoria to the lead mines. It was opened in 1825, but after a lapse of four seore and ten years it is impossible to describe the route it followed, as there was neither bridge, ferry nor white man's habitation along the entire distance.
Where the Indian trails could be widened for the passage of vehieles they were used by the first settlers until better highways could be constructed. The first roads made by civilized man were erude affairs-generally a route marked out at will, the trees blazed through the woodlands, with here and there some of the timber removed to permit the passage of wagons. They nearly always passed from one grove to another, the groves being marked places and serving as land- marks or guides to the strange traveler. Low places were filled with small logs, thrown crosswise of the driveway, thus forming the famous
164
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
old "corduroy" road, which was neither easy on the team nor com- fortable for the driver, but it kept the wagon from "miring down."
PUBLIC HIGHWAYS
Probably the first thoroughfare in Stark County, to be established by official authority, was the state road running from Knoxville to Galena. From Knoxville it followed a generally northeastern direc- tion until it struck the western boundary of what is now Stark County not far from the southwest corner of Goshen Township. Thence it followed a more easterly direction, passing through the grove south of the present City of Toulon, near the dwelling of Elijah McClen- ahan, Sr., and from there to the grove near James Holgate's. From Holgate's it ran to Boyd's Grove. then to Dixon, where it turned northward toward Galena.
In September. 1831. while Stark was a part of Putnam County, the authorities of that county ordered a road to be surveyed and marked from Hennepin to Smith's Ford on the Spoon River. Three years later the commissioners of Putnam County established road districts. The Spoon River settlement was in District No. 17, of which Sylvanus Moore was appointed supervisor, but that was all that was done, as no roads were ever built by Putnam County for the settlement, and Mr. Moore really had nothing to "supervise."
Stark County was organized under the provisions of the act of March 2. 1839, and on the 5th of April following the first board of county commissioners divided the county into nine road districts as follows:
District No. I included the present townships of Elmira and Osceola, of which John Lyle was appointed supervisor.
Distriet No. 2 was described as "beginning at the northeast corner of township 13. range 7; thence west to the northwest corner of sce- tion 3, township 13, range 6: thence south to the southwest corner of section 34: thence east to the southeast corner of township 13. range 7 : thence north to the place of beginning." James Holgate was ap- pointed supervisor of this district, which included all the present Township of Penn and the eastern half of Toulon.
District No. 3 was bounded as follows: "Beginning at the north- east corner of township 12, range 7: thence west to the northwest corner of section 2. township 12. range 6: thence south to the south- west corner of section 35, township 12. range 6: thence east to the southeast corner of township 12, range 7, and thence north to the
ROAD BUILDING IN STARK COUNTY
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA
165
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
place of beginning." This district embraced all of Valley Township and a strip two miles wide across the eastern part of Essex. Whitney Smith was appointed supervisor.
Distriet No. 4 began "at the southeast corner of section 10, town- ship 12, range 6; thence west to the southeast corner of seetion 10, township 12, range 5; thence south to the southeast corner of section 34; thenee east to the southeast corner of section 34, township 12, range 6: thence north to the place of beginning." This district in- eluded sixteen sections in the southwestern part of Essex Township and eight sections in the southeastern part of West Jersey. Jeffer- son Trickle, supervisor.
Distriet No. 5 commenced "at the southeast corner of seetion 10, township 12, range 5; thence west to the southwest corner of section 7: thence south to the southwest corner of the township; thence east to the southeast corner of section 34, township 12, range 5; thence north to the place of beginning." This was one of the smallest of the nine districts, embracing a traet four miles square in the southwestern part of West Jersey Township. William W. Webster was appointed supervisor.
Distriet No. 6 began "at the southwest corner of section 7, town- ship 12, range 5; thence east to the southeast corner of section 10: thenee north to the northwest corner of seetion 26, township 13, range 5: thence west to the range line between ranges 4 and 5; thenee north to the place of beginning." This district was also four miles square, ineluding eight seetions in the northwestern part of West Jersey Township and the same in the southwest part of Goshen. Joseph Palmer was appointed supervisor of this district.
District No. 7 was deseribed as "beginning at the northwest corner of township 13. range 5; thence east to the northeast corner of section 3: thence south four miles; thence west to the range line, and thence north to the place of beginning." These boundaries include a tract four miles square in the northwestern part of Goshen Township. Peter F. Miner was appointed supervisor.
District No. 8 commenced "at the northwest corner of section 26. township 13. range 5; thence south to the southwest corner of section 11. township 12. range 5; thence east to the southeast corner of sec- tion 10. township 12, range 6; thence north to the southwest corner of section 35, township 13. range 6: thence west to the southeast corner of section 33, township 13, range 6: thence north to the northeast cor- ner of seetion 28; thence west to the place of beginning." No. 8 included a tract of eight seetions in the northwest part of Essex Town-
166
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
ship; four sections in the northeast corner of West Jersey; four sec- tions in the southeast corner of Goshen, and six in the southwest corner of Toulon. S. G. Worley was appointed supervisor.
District No. 9 began "at the southwest corner of section 23. town- ship 13, range 5; thence north to the northwest corner of section 2; thenee east to the northwest corner of section 3, township 13, range 6; thenee sonth to the northwest corner of seetion 27, and thence west to the place of beginning." This distriet included twelve square miles in the northwestern part of Toulon Township and eight square miles in the northeastern part of Goshen. John Miller was appointed supervisor.
The same day that these districts were established it was ordered by the board of commissioners "that each and every able bodied man subjeet to work on the highway shall be required to perform three days' labor on the public roads." But as no roads had as yet been established, it is probable that the "able bodied" men had an easy time in the year 1839, so far as work on the public highways was concerned.
The first mention of a public road in the records of Stark County was on September 2. 1839, when Virgil Pike and thirty-two others presented a petition for the opening of a road "commencing at the east line of the said County of Stark in the direction of Boyd's Grove from Seely's Point; thence at or near the above mentioned point the nearest and best route through the neighborhood of Cooper's Defeat in the direction of L. S. Dorrance's mill. terminating at the state road on the line between L. S. Dorrance and Henry Breese."
John Hester, Joseph D. Lane and Adam Perry were appointed to "view, mark and loeate said road." which was the first highway estab- lished by the county authorities. They reported in favor of the road on December 3. 1839, and the next season the "able bodied" men in that part of the eonnty had something to do in the way of working on the highway.
On September 3, 1839, John Hester and abont thirty other eiti- zens petitioned for a change in the Knoxville and Galena state road "from the east end of Jackson Street in the Town of Lafayette, through township 13, range 5," ete. Myrtle G. Brace. James Buswell and John Lyle were appointed to view the ronte proposed by the petitioners and report. The change was subsequently ordered.
On the same day John Finley and others eame forward with a petition asking for a change in the same road between William Hen- derson's and Massillon. The viewers appointed for this proposed change were William Bowen, Charles II. Miner and Israel Stoddard.
167
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
but their report could not be found by the writer. Other petitions were presented at almost every one of the early sessions of the county commissioners, the people of every neighborhood seemingly being anxious to seeure a highway for their accommodation, whether the other parts of the county received such encouragement or not. Little work was done on these early roads, except such as the settlers them- selves performed under the road law which required them to perform so many days' work each year under the direction of the district supervisor.
The first roads did not follow the section lines, but took the shortest and most available route between the points it was meant to connect. But as the lands were entered and settled, it became neces- sary to alter a number of the roads, in order to make them conform to the lines of the official survey. On March 9. 1842, the board of commissioners redistricted the county, making eleven road districts, and levied a tax of 10 cents on each $100 worth of property in the county for the purpose of improving the roads. This is the first record of a road tax in Stark County. In 1914 the road and bridge fund amounted to $44,703.80.
Within recent years quite a number of the states have adopted the plan of supervising the construction and improvement of highways. A state highway commission was created in Illinois by an act of the Legislature. approved June 27, 1913. The highway commissioners in 1915 were: A. D. Gash, of Chicago: S. E. Bradt, of De Kalb; and James P. Wilson. of Polo. Under the new system the state is divided into seven districts, each of which is in charge of a highway engineer, to whom all plans for the improvement of roads must be submitted, and there is a chief engineer who has charge of the entire state. Road building in Illinois has not kept paee with that of some of her sister states-chiefly for lack of suitable material for the con- struction of improved highways-but it is hoped that the new system will result in giving to the people a better class of roads.
STATE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
Although Stark County had not been created when the state in- angurated its gigantic scheme for internal improvements, it came into existence in time to assist in paying for the folly. One of the first great works undertaken was the construction of the Illinois & Mich- igan Canal. It is uncertain who first suggested such a canal-to con- nect the waters of Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River-but
168
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
during the War of 1812 it was made manifest that some method of transportation between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley was sorely needed.
On March 30, 1822, Congress, in response to a petition from the Illinois Legislature, granted to the state a strip of ground ninety feet wide on each side of the bed of the canal. The grant was accepted by the next session of the Legislature, which appointed a board of canal commissioners, who reported that the cost of the canal would be about three-quarters of a million dollars. Subsequent events showed that their estimate was far too low, and they have been charged with pur- posely making it so, in order to get the state involved in its con- struction.
After several futile efforts to get Congress to grant more land. the Legislature passed the act of January 17, 1825, incorporating the "Illinois & Michigan Canal Association," with a capital stock of $1,000,000. None of the stock was ever sold or subscribed and on March 3, 1827, Congress passed a bill granting to the State of Illinois alternate seetions of land in a strip five miles wide on each side of the proposed canal. A new canal board was appointed on January 12, 1829, and the new commissioners announced that the canal would cost $4.000.000. The new estimate caused doubts in the minds of many of the people as to the advisability of the state's undertaking the cost of the construction of the canal, and some opposition to the seheme developed. But the friends of artificial waterways argued that such improvements had been made in some of the eastern states, notably the Erie Canal in New York, and that the tolls had not only paid the cost of construction but also yielded a permanent income to the state. These advocates of internal improvements insisted that the people of Illinois must bestir themselves, if they expected to see Illinois occupy a place in the front rank of states.
After about five years of discussion pro and con. the Legislature in 1836 authorized the governor to borrow $500,000 with which to commence the construction of the eanal, giving the canal lands and tolls as security. Other loans followed and by January 1, 1839. nearly two millions of dollars had been expended. Then the Legisla- ture authorized a loan of $4,000,000 all at once. Some of this money was borrowed from the state school fund. Delay after delay followed. but finally, on April 10, 1848, the canal boat "General Fry" passed through the canal from Loekport to Chicago, and on the 23d of the same month the "General Thornton" completed the trip the full length of the canal from Chicago to La Salle. The canal was finished. The
169
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
tolls collected covered the operating expenses until 1879, when the railroads took much of the freighting business away from the canal. Notwithstanding this, the eanal wielded a great influence in the de- velopment of the Upper Illinois Valley and acting as a restraint upon any undue advance in railroad freight rates.
The Illinois & Michigan Canal was not really a part of the great system of internal improvements, which had its inception in the wave of publie sentiment in favor of building canals and turnpike roads, which swept over the country in the early '30s. Before anything definite along these lines had been done by Illinois, the railroad began to make its influence felt and public sentiment shifted to the construc- tion of railroads rather than the building of turnpikes. By 1835 several lines of railway had been constructed in the East and were being operated with success. The advocates of an internal improve- ment system for Illinois did not pause to consider the difference in the density of population and the greater demand for common carriers in the East, but. in season and out of season, urged the state to make large appropriations for the improvement of the natural waterways and the encouragement of railroad building. As a result of all this agitation, the Legislature of 1836 inaugurated the state seheme of internal improvements by making the following appropriations:
For River Improvements-
Great Wabash River $100,000
Little Wabash River 50.000
Illinois River 100,000
Rock River 100,000
Kaskaskia River
50,000
Total for river improvement. $400.000
For Railroad Construction-
From Cairo to the Illinois & Michigan Canal $3.300,000
Branch of the above to Terre Haute, Indiana. 650.000
From Alton to Mount Carmel and Shawneetown 1,600,000
Branch of the above to the Cairo line. 600,000
Quincy to the Indiana State line. 1,850,000
Peoria to Warsaw. 700,000
Belleville to Mount Carmel. 150,000
Bloomington to Mackinaw 350,000
Total for railroads.
$9.400,000
Vol. I -11
170
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
In addition to the above there were appropriations of $250,000 for the improvement of the Great Western Mail Route and $200,000 to the counties that received no direet benefit from the proposed public improvements, making a grand total of $10,250,000. Several of the enterprises contemplated by the bill were commenced, but none was ever completed and the money sunk in the state system of internal improvements was lost beyond recovery. The railroad from Cairo to the Illinois & Michigan Canal, at La Salle, was afterward finished by a company and now forms a part of the Illinois Central, and the Quiney & Indiana State Line road was built over another route, after- ward becoming a part of the Toledo, Wabash & Western.
Charles M. Thompson, in an article in one of the Illinois His- torical Collections, says: "Within three years the craze had run its course, leaving the people, as a reminder of their folly, a debt that hung over them for decades. The impossibility of the scheme was not revealed until the time came when the bonds were unsalable."
When Governor Ford was inaugurated in 1842, the state debt was nearly fifteen and a half millions of dollars. Stark County was then about three years old. The only benefit this county received from the internal improvement scheme was under the provision of section 5 of the act of March 2, 1839, that the treasurer of Putnam County should pay to the treasurer of Stark County the sum of $1,645, with interest at 12 per cent, etc. Putnam was one of the counties that received a portion of the appropriation of $200,000 that went to the counties not directly affected by the public improvements, her share amounting to $9,870. When Stark was cut off she was given one- sixth of this sum, with accrued interest. Upon demanding the money from Putnam County, it was learned that Ammon Moon, the treas- urer of that county, had loaned the funds without taking adequate security, though Stark finally received her share of the spoils. It is probable. however, that the people paid back more than that amount in taxes in liquidating the enormous debt incurred through the internal improvement scheme.
THE RAILROAD ERA
The first railroad in the United States to be operated successfully was a line about nine miles in length, running from the City of Mauch Chunk, Pa., to some coal mines. Within a few years men of sagacity and foresight realized that the railroad was destined to become an important factor in the development of the country, and the people of the West began to offer every encouragement to their introduc-
171
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
tion. The proposition was not favored unanimously, however, but met with considerable opposition, some of which merely insisted that financial aid be withheld until the country was in better condition, while other opposition was unquestionably based upon prejudice. About 1830 some young men of Lancaster, Ohio, formed themselves into a debating society and requested the school board to permit them to nse the schoolhouse to discuss the railroad question. To this request the board made the following reply:
"We are willing to allow you the use of the schoolhouse to debate all proper questions in, but sueh subjeets as railroads are rank in- fidelity and not fit to be discussed in a building erected for the purpose of edueating our children. If the Almighty had intended for His creatures to travel across the face of the country at the frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour, he would elearly have foretold it through His holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to hell."
Despite the objections of the Laneaster School Board, and others of that class, railroad building went on. Each year found more people interested and willing to vote aid to seeure a railroad through their respective communities. And the railroad that today could not run its trains at a greater rate of speed than the "frightful fifteen miles an hour" so feared by the Ohio school board, would neither receive nor deserve a large amount of patronage.
WESTERN AIR LINE
The first railroad project to interest the people of Stark County was the Western Air Line Railroad, which was first mentioned in 1850. After about three years of preliminary work, the County Court, on June 6, 1853, took the following action :
"Whereas, it has been represented to this court that it would be for the welfare and advantage of Stark County, and that the citizens thereof are desirous that said county should subseribe to the capital stoek of the 'Western Air Line Railroad Company' to aid in the eon- struetion of said road; it is therefore
"Ordered by the court that an election be held in the several town- ships in said county on the 13th day of August next, at the usual places of holding elections or town meetings in said towns, for the purpose of voting for or against the subseription by the said County of Stark to the capital stoek of the said 'Western Air Line Railroad Company' of the amount of $50,000. Bonds to be issued for said sum
172
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
(in case a majority of the legal voters, as required by law, shall vote for said subscription) running twenty years and bearing 6 per cent interest, by the proper authorities under the laws of, the state.
"And it is further ordered that the clerk give notice as required by law. The bonds to be issued on condition that said road shall run through the central part of the county, as near as practicable."
The result of the election was 534 votes in favor of the stock sub- scription and 141 against it. About a month after the election the old county court was superseded by the board of supervisors and nothing further was done concerning the railroad stock until July 31, 1855. The minutes of the supervisors' meeting for that date show that it was
"Ordered that the chairman of the board of supervisors be, and he is hereby, authorized to subscribe $50,000 to the capital stock of the Western Air Line Railroad, and that the clerk be authorized to issue to said company $50.000 of the bonds of Stark County. payable in twenty years from the date hereof, bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, payable at such place as said company may desig- nate. Said bonds may be in such sums as may be designated by said company, not less than $1,000 each, and shall have coupons attached, which said bonds and coupons shall be signed by the chairman of this board and attested by the clerk, with the seal of the county attached thereto."
Pursuant to this order, fifty bonds of $1,000 cach were issued and turned over to the railroad company by William W. Webster, chair- man of the board of supervisors, and Miles A. Fuller, clerk, who received for the county $50,000 in stock of the company. The gen- eral offices of the company were established at Lacon, the county seat of Marshall County. At the annual meeting of the stockholders in 1856, Mr. Webster cast the vote of Stark County. The next year Isaac Thomas cast the county's vote. The meeting of 1858 was held on the 3d of March. The day before the meeting the board of super- visors appointed Isaac Thomas to cast the vote for the county, and instructed him to vote for Dr. Thomas HIall for director.
Like many of the early railroad enterprises in the West, the Western Air Line never beeame a reality. The bonds issned by Stark County produced more litigation than miles of railroad. In July, 1858, the board of supervisors appointed T. F. Hurd to obtain legal advice as to whether the county was legally bound to pay the bonds, and in September following the board adopted a resolution declaring "that the board deems it advisable to decline paying the interest now due." W. W. Winslow was authorized to tender the certificates of
173
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
stock held by the county to the railroad company and demand in return the bonds issued by the county. The offer was declined and on September 15, 1858, Olaf Johnson filed suit against the county for the amount of interest due. In the Circuit Court the suit was dis- missed, whereupon Johnson carried it to the Supreme Court, where a decision was rendered in April, 1861, ordering Stark County to pay both principal and interest of the bonds.
AMERICAN CENTRAL RAILROAD
Some work was done on the proposed line by the Western Air Line Company. Says Mrs. Shallenberger: "In September, 1855, the 'breaking ground' was celebrated at Toulon by a publie dinner on the square and appropriate speeches. Great enthusiasm prevailed and a good portion of the vast assemblage afterward adjourned to the prairie east of town to see the first shovelful of earth thrown up on the much desired road."
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.