USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 18
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Acres
Bushels 1.325,104
Value
Corn
60.232
Oats
37,600
2,256,000
$ 795,062 924,960
Wheat
2.270
58.572
56.715
Rve
795
15.900
12.243
Barley
650
19,500
15,600
Potatoes.
115
2.330
1,980
Hay (all kinds) .
40,000
50,000 tons
650,000
Pasture.
33,650
168,250
Total
175.312
$2.624.810
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
The value of the crops was determined by the condition of the market at the time the bulletin was issued by the State Board of Agriculture and would have brought the prices indicated had the products been sold on December 1, 1914.
Dedueting the total acreage, as given in the above table, from 180,576, the number of aeres under cultivation, leaves 5,284 acres for "truek patches" and lawns about the homes of the farmers. In addi- tion to the erops given in the table, the farmers of Stark County sold during the year the following miscellaneous products:
Amount
Value
Timothy seed
24 bushels
$ 96.00
Clover seed
21 bushels
210.00
Millet seed
27 bushels
100.00
Wool
16.935 pounds
4,234.00
Butter
15.772 pounds
4,732.00
Honey
988 pounds
119.00
Milk
2,567 gallons
770.00
Poultry
4,098.00
Eggs
1,825.00
Cheese
187.00
Total value
$16.371.00
The number and value of domestic animals on May 1, 1914, as estimated by the State Board of Agriculture, was as follows:
Number
Value
Horses.
7.197
Not given
Hogs
11,888
$133,204
C'attle.
13,977
282,370
Sheep.
3,978
23.486
Total value.
$439,060
Of the eattle enumerated. 1,275 were dairy cows. During the year the number of sheep sold was 875: the number of hogs, 9,867; the number of cattle. 2,921, the value of the entire product being based upon the prices received for those marketed. It will be noticed that the value of horses is not given. If it were ineluded, together with the value of animals not mentioned in the agricultural bulletin, such as mules, goats, ete., the value of the live stock of Stark County in 1914 would easily reach half a million dollars. Vol. 1-12
186
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE
The Illinois State Board of Agriculture was created by the act of April 15, 1872, and during the forty-three years it has been in existence it has wielded a wide influence upon the farming and stock raising interests of the state. The board is composed of one member from each Congressional district, who is a vice president of the board. In 1915 the member from the Sixteenth district was J. P. Code, of Bradford, Stark County. Besides the state fair, which is held under the supervision of the State Board of Agriculture each year, and which is generally recognized as one of the finest agricultural exhibits in the country, the board collects and publishes every year a statistical report of the crops throughout the state. To accomplish this work in a manner that will insure authenticity in the results, a corps of crop correspondents, representing every county in the state, collects and sends in the necessary information. In 1914 the crop correspondents for Stark County were: Duncan Mckenzie, M. B. Downend and A. Leroy Hazen.
FARMERS' INSTITUTES
Along toward the close of the Nineteenth Century the custom of holding farmers' institutes was adopted in most of the states of the Middle West. The Illinois State Farmers' Institute was created by the act of June 24, 1895. The act provided for an ex-officio board of directors to be composed of the superintendent of public instruc- tion, the dean of the College of Agriculture, and the presidents of the State Board of Agriculture, the State Horticultural Society and the State Dairymen's Association. In addition to this there is a board of twenty-five directors, elective by Congressional districts. This state institute undertook the work of directing the county insti- tutes, the state making a small appropriation to such counties as would hold farmers' institutes under certain conditions.
An act of the Legislature, approved on June 5. 1911, authorized the boards of county supervisors in counties having township organiza- tion, or the commissioners in counties without township organization, "to appropriate from the county treasury, for the use of the county farmers' institutes in their efforts to promote the adoption of the latest approved methods of crop production, the conservation of soil fertility, and the improvement of agricultural conditions generally; provided, that in no case shall it be lawful for a county board to appro- priate more than $300 in any one year for the above purposes."
187
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
For a number of years the farmers of Stark County held institutes at some time during the winter months. On a number of these ocea- sions the board of supervisors made appropriations under the above mentioned act to assist in defraying the expenses. Instructors from the State College of Agriculture gave lectures on various subjects in which the farmers are interested; eorn contests were conducted under the auspices of the institute officials and prizes awarded to the winners; boys and young men were taught to judge the "points" of various kinds of live stock; the best methods of preparing ground, selecting seed, and many other subjects of live interest to the farmer were discussed. The attendance was generally good and those who came went away feeling well repaid for their time and trouble.
The last institute held in the county was in 1913. M. B. Downend was then president; W. W. Wright, secretary; Fred Winans, treas- urer. These three men and their associates spared no effort to make the institute a success and their efforts were rewarded by the largest attendance ever witnessed at an institute in Stark County, about five hundred people being present. Much of the work formerly done through the county institutes is now being done by the public schools. In the township high school at Toulon, and some of the other schools of the county, instruction is given and experimental work done in various branches of agriculture.
With the annual products of the farms, in erops and live stock. running over three millions of dollars: with more than a thousand miles of drain tile in the wet land districts: with a soil unsurpassed in fertility, and with the influence of the College of Agriculture per- meating every nook and corner, the business of farming in Stark County is constantly rising to a higher plane and being conducted upon a more scientifie basis. Other industries may be established and may prosper, but it is quite certain that for years to come "corn is king" in the little County of Stark.
COAL MINING
In the first chapter of this work some account is given of the coal deposits, in their relation to the geology of the county. Probably the first attention to the coal beds of Stark County was attracted through the report of Professor Wilbur, who made some investigations in this part of the state and gave the product the name of "Spoon River" coal. Professor Wilbur predicted a profitable business in mining coal. Says he: "The fortunate position of the Spoon River coal
188
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
field gives us occasion to make a few remarks as regards its future value. It is situated near the Mississippi River, whose coal trade in barges northward will soon equal its Inmber trade southward, dis- tributing these mining products at the depots of 15,000 miles of shore, on either side. It is bounded on the north by the Silliman district, which occupies 17,000 square miles of Northern Illinois, all of Wiseon- sin and Minnesota, and Northern Iowa. This vast area is entirely void of coal, depending solely upon transportation from the nearest coal deposits.
"The limit of workable coal may be safely put at eighty miles northwest and southeast by thirty miles northeast and southwest, giving an area of 2,400 square miles. In this field there are two veins of coal, having a combined thickness of nine feet. To measure the amount in tons we must take one eubie yard for every ton as a measur- ing unit. A stratum of coal three feet thick would therefore give a cubie yard for every square yard of surface. Hence, an aere of three- foot coal would contain 4,840 tons; but in this field we have a thickness of nine feet, and an aere here must therefore contain 14,520 tons. The aggregate of tons contained in the field, whose limit we have assumed as eighty by thirty miles, is 22,302,720,000 tons. Now, if we distribute 1,000 tons per day, it will require 75,000 years to exhaust the supply, allowing 300 working days per year."
These predictions are certainly optimistie enough, but subsequent developments demonstrated that Professor Wilbur was somewhat mistaken in his ealeulations, both as to the area of the field and the thickness of the deposits.
So far as can be learned, the first coal mined in the county was about 1834 or 1855, when a few of the early settlers commeneed taking coal in small quantities from the outerops along Jack Creek and Jug Run. A little later David and William Howard opened a mine in section 23. Toulon Township, about two miles and a half north of Wyoming and not far from the Spoon River. About the same time the Howards opened their mine. John Robinson and Richard Howarth (commonly called "Shanty Diek" by his neighbors) did some mining on seetion 25, about a mile and a half southeast of the Howard mine. A shaft was sunk in this locality some years later and a consid- erable quantity of coal was taken ont. The passenger on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad ean still see the ruins of the abandoned mine from the ear windows.
In 1857 James Fraser came from England and settled in Stark County. He was a practical miner, having previously worked in the
189
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
Newcastle collieries in his native land. He formed a partnership with Thomas Tunsall, another Englishman, and the two leased a part of section 14, Toulon Township, from Elisha Dixon. Their mine was worked systematically, the slack and sulphur being taken from the coal, and the produet of the Fraser & Tunsall mine found a ready sale. In 1858 this firm purchased a part of Section 23, near the Howard mine, opened a mine there and that year sold about one thousand tons.
About the beginning of the Civil war in 1861, John MeLaughlin was carrying on a successful mining business at what was ealled the Foster coal bank, two and a half miles west of Bradford, near the East Fork of the Spoon River. North of that abont two miles was the S. C. Franeis mine, mentioned by H. A. Green in his geologieal report of the county for 1870, and between the McLoughlin and Franeis mines was the Bradford shaft, in section 21, also mentioned by Green in his report.
Shortly after the close of the Civil war the Lathrop Coal Company began mining on a more extensive scale than had up to that time been attempted in the county. The mines of this company were constructed on the most approved plans known to that period, being provided with steam hoisting apparatus, pumps for keeping the mines clear of water, escape shafts for the miners, side traeks, sereens, chutes, cte., and tenements and boarding houses for the miners. It was operated in the vicinity of Wyoming and the products of its mines were shipped to distant eities, so the loeal miners had no opposition from the big concern. In 1874 the output of the Lathrop mines was about three hundred and fifty tons daily. At the same time the local miners, who were operating on a smaller seale and supplying the local market. were turning out about 7.000 bushels of coal every week.
Among these loeal operators were Fred Charleston, Peter Her- berger, William and Henry Newton and John Cummings, whose mines were situated at different points in Toulon Township. William Newton's mine, known as the "Coe coal bank." was opened about 1866 and at one time employed about fifteen men. Around Modena was also a favorite field for the operator with small capital.
In Elmira Township the outerops along the West Fork of the Spoon River were worked at an early date by some of the settlers, who thus obtained a supply of eoal for their own use. So far as can be learned, the first shaft sunk in this township was that of Thomas Oliver, which was opened late in the year 1885. It was located about a mile north of the village of Elmira and turned out a large block coal equal in quality to any produced in the county.
190
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
When Green made his geological survey of the county in 1869-70, he found a number of workings around Modena, in Osceola Township, along Jack Creek and near Cox's mill in Essex Township. But in recent years many of the mines have become "worked out" and have been abandoned. the great piles of shale and the ramshackle buildings standing as mute monuments to a bygone industry. Some mining is still carried on in the county, the largest single working probably being the "Big Hit" mine, which is situated directly east of the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney Railroad, between Wyoming and Castleton.
MANUFACTURING
Stark has never been a manufacturing county to any considerable extent. The first factories of any kind were grist mills, to supply the pioneers with material for making the "staff, of life," and saw mills, for the purpose of providing them with lumber that they might have shelter for themselves and families. Perhaps the first mill in the county was the one built by Harmon Leek on the Spoon River, not far from where the Wyoming and Toulon road crosses the stream. Mrs. Shallenberger says: "It was built as early as 1833 or 1834, had one run of stone, and there was a saw mill attached to it. The dam was made of brush, hay and gravel, and the whole thing was poorly constructed. In the winter of 1835 or 1836 Minott Silliman rented the entire concern for the coming year for thirty dollars. But the high waters of the opening spring swept dam and mill away, to the dead loss of Mr. Silliman of the thirty dollars paid in advance. and an equal amount of prospective profits."
Sylvanus Moore built a mill at an early date a short distance above Leek's, on the farm afterward known as the "General Thomas Home- stead." and Lemuel S. Dorranee had a mill on the river not far from the present village of Modena. The latter was afterward known as Fuller's mill. Shortly after the Dorrance mill was completed he took Samuel G. Breese into partnership and the Dorrance and Breese mill was one of the landmarks of Stark County for years. One of the buhrs used in this old mill was kept by Mr. Breese as a relic for fully half a century.
In 1837 Enoch Cox came from Ohio, where he had followed the milling business, and built a mill on Indian Creek a short distance from its mouth. It was not long until he found the supply of water insuffi- cient for the purpose of furnishing the power, and removed to the . mouth of Camping Run, about three and a half miles south of
191
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
Wyoming, where he built a larger and better equipped mill, his brother, Thomas Cox, becoming associated with him in the latter enterprise.
Andrew Dray, one of the early settlers, built a mill on Indian Creek, Parker & Bradford had one on Jack Creek, and Amsey New- man's mill was on Cooper's Defeat, near the northern boundary of Penn Township. Newman also had a chair factory, where he made the old-fashioned split bottom chairs and spinning wheels, which found a ready sale among the early families of the county. Asher Smith had a tanyard near Newman's mill and made a good quality of leather. John Prior, of Toulon, also made chairs and a few other artieles of furniture of the primitive type.
Probably the first steam mill in the county was the one built by Dexter Wall at the old village of Waldron, in the northwestern part of Penn Township. After running the mill there for a while he removed it to Wyoming, where it beeame widely known as the Viola Mills, having three run of buhrs. In 1886 the mill was remodeled and the roller process introduced, after which it was operated for some time by Charles C. Priester. The machinery was then moved away and the building in 1915 was used by Frank S. Foster as a feather sorting and renovating establishment.
The Valley Mills at Wyoming stood about one block west of the Rock Island Railroad station and were conducted for several years by C. S. Payne. This mill had three run of buhrs and did a successful business, a considerable quantity of flour being shipped to Peoria and other markets. The ruins of the old mill ean still be seen. There were a few other mills in the county at various periods of its history, but the ones above mentioned were the best known.
One of the most pretentious manufacturing establishments of early days was the flour and woolen mills of John Culbertson at Toulon. Says Mrs. Shallenberger: "While he never expected to reap great profits himself from this investment, he did hope to make these mills a public benefit and link his name with home enterprises and indus- tries." The mills were operated under his personal supervision and employed a number of people, some of whom were skilled workmen, but after Mr. Culbertson's death in 1869 the industry was allowed to languish and finally went down.
Another pioneer carding mill was located on Walnut Creek, in West Jersey Township, or as it was then known "Massillon Preeinet." It was owned by Charles Yoeum and Washington Triekle and did a thriving business at a time when the good women of the county spun
192
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
their own yarn, wove it into flannel and jeans, and made most of the garments worn by the several members of the family.
In the history of Goshen Township mention is made of William Dunbar, the "Old Hatter" of Lafayette. It is said that he would take a large number of hats fastened together, throw them over his shoulders, mount a horse and start out on a peddling expedition, remaining away until his stock was disposed of, when he would return home and begin the manufacture of another supply. In this way he carried on a successful trade for a number of years, or until the "fac- tory" hats, which sold for lower prices, forced him out of the market.
A cheese manufacturing company was organized at Toulon in December, 1874, with a capital stock of $5,000, and began operations in May, 1875. Its first year's product amounted to 41,800 pounds of cheese. After running for a few years the business was discontinued, and in January, 1885, the old cheese factory was converted into a skating rink. A bulletin of the State Board of Agriculture issued on December 1, 1914, shows that during the preceding year there were 1,244 pounds of cheese manufactured in the county.
Muchmore & Phenix engaged in the manufacture of wagons at Bradford at a comparatively early date. W. White & Company con- ducted a wagon and carriage factory at Toulon, and J. B. Robinson was engaged in the same line of business at Wyoming. John B. Maxfield began making briek near Toulon about the close of the Civil war; James P. Headley operated a brick yard at Toulon along in the '80s; Higbee & Damon were engaged in the manufacture of brick and tile at Wyoming at the same time, and among the other manu- factured products of the county may be mentioned cigars, harness, sorghum molasses and a few other minor articles. In 1915 a large bakery at Wyoming shipped bread to a number of the surrounding towns.
TELEPHONE COMPANIES
Although the telephone company is not an "industry." in the sense that it manufactures or produces any commodity, it is one of the greatest aids to business of all kinds in modern times. Before the in- troduction of the telephone and the free rural delivery of mail, the farmer depended largely upon his weekly newspaper and the informa- tion brought by his neighbors when they "went to town" for his market reports. Now many of the farmers have telephones in their houses and the rural carriers bring the daily papers to nearly every household in Stark County.
On March 1, 1902, the Toulon Mutual Telephone Company was
193
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
granted right of way for their lines along certain highways in the county by the board of supervisors, and soon afterward the work of construction was commenced. Just a month later ( April 1, 1902) the Castleton Telephone Company, which was organized by A. B. Hoff and A. L. Johnson, was granted right of way over some of the roads in the eastern part of the county. About five years later the interests of these two companies were consolidated in the Stark County Telephone Company, which was duly incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois, with a capital stock of $20,000. In October, 1915, the company was operating exchanges at Toulon, Wyoming, Castleton, Camp Grove, Duncan and Ehnira, with about two thousand telephones connected with its lines. The building at Toulon, in which are the exchange and general offices of the company, was erected expressly for the purpose in 1914, and the exchange building at Camp Grove is also owned by the company, the other exchanges occupying leased quarters. The officers of the company in 1915 were: W. F. Price, president and general manager; A. B. Hoff, manager of the eastern division; W. R. Sandham, secretary: C. P. Dewey, treasurer. The board of directors was composed of the above officers, J. W. Walters. Arthur Walters, James T. Rogers, Jehiel Fuller, William Jackson and J. H. Duncan.
On June 2, 1900, the Osceola-Neponset Telephone Company and the Buda-Bradford Telephone Company were both granted the privi- lege of setting poles and running wires along highways mentioned in their respective petitions. Of the former company Frank W. Bates was then president and A. E. Stetson, secretary; and of the latter company Frank Kopp was president and Hollis Blauvelt, secretary.
The Lafayette Telephone Company- C. A. Buffum, president : F. W. Eltzroth, secretary-was granted a right of way on April 17, 1901. The Milo-Bradford Telephone Company, of which Festus Bently was president and Cyrus Bocock, secretary, was granted simi- lar concessions on March 11. 1902: the Duncan Telephone Company, through its secretary, J. W. MeNay, filed a petition with the board of supervisors on April 15, 1902. which was granted the same day: and on June 10, 1902, right of way was granted to the West Jersey Telephone Company, of which Watson Egbert was president, and Thomas J. Dryden, secretary.
By an arrangement with the Stark County Telephone Company, all the lines of these loeal companies are connected through the exchanges of the former, giving long distance service to all parts of the county. The advantages resulting from this service can hardly be estimated.
CHAPTER XII EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
CHARACTER OF THE EARLY SCHOOLS-SCHOOLHOUSE AND FURNITURE- TEXT-BOOKS-SPELLING SCHOOLS-THE THREE R'S-PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM -- STARK COUNTY SCHOOLS-PIONEER TEACHERS-EDUCA- TIONAL PROGRESS BY TOWNSHIPS-THE SEMINARY- TOULON PUBLIC SCHOOLS-TOULON ACADEMY-WYOMING PUBLIC SCHOOLS-SCHOOL OFFICERS-TEACHERS' INSTITUTE-TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION-THE PRESS-BRIEF HISTORIES OF THE VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS-EXTINCT NEWSPAPERS-PUBLIC LIBRARIES-WYOMING - TOULON - LAFAY- ETTE -BRADFORD -ELMIRA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION-SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
The young people who enjoy the excellent educational facilities offered by the Stark County public schools in this year 1916 can hardly be expected to realize the difficulties encountered by their fath- ers and grandfathers in the acquisition of an education three-quarters of a century ago, when the first white people in what is now Stark County established their homes. Then there were no public funds with which to build schoolhouses and pay the salaries of teachers. When a sufficient number of settlers had located in a neighborhood to support a school they would join together in the erection of a school- house at some central point, where it would be most convenient for the children. These early schoolhouses were invariably of logs, with elapboard roof and puncheon floor, sometimes, in fact, having no floor except "mother earth." If money enough could be raised in the frontier settlement, and it was not too far to some trading post, a real window of sash and glass would be placed in each side of the building, but in many instances the only light came through oiled paper fastened to a framework of slender strips over the aperture formed by leaving out a section of one of the logs. Stoves were a luxury and the school room was imperfectly heated by a great fire- place at one end. On cold days those sitting near the fire would become too warm, while those farther away would be suffering with
194
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
eold. One ean imagine the confusion in the school caused by pupils constantly changing their seats to "get warm."
The furniture of the school room was of the most primitive charac- ter. Seats were made by splitting in halves a tree of some eight or ten inches in diameter, driving pins into holes bored in the half-round sides for legs, and then smoothing the upper surface with a draw- knife. The legs stood at an angle that would insure stability to the "bench." Under the window was the writing desk, which was made by boring holes in the wall at a slight angle and driving stout pins into the holes to support a wide board, the top of which would be dressed smooth to serve as a table, at which the pupils would take their turns at writing.
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