USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 10
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76
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
accommodate the sparce settlements along the Ohio river which were made after the Revolutionary war was over.
February 6, 1801, William Henry Harrison, then Governor of the Indiana Territory, of which the territory now known as Vermilion County, Illinois, is a part, issued his proclamation continuing the counties of St. Clair and Randolph as counties of Indiana Territory but changed their boundaries and enlarged their areas. Up to this time the entire territory north and west of the Ohio river belonged to the Northwest Territory, but it now had been divided by the taking of what is now the state of Ohio and making therefrom the territory of Ohio. All the remaining territory was called the Indiana Territory and William Henry Harrison was made Governor of it. In the change of boundary lines of the then existing counties in the western part of the Indiana Territory, Randolph County was bounded on the north by a line drawn from a point on the Mississippi river about nine miles south and one mile west of the present town of Waterloo, east to a line drawn north from the "Great Cave" on the Ohio which can now be located as near the village of Cave-in-Rock, in Hardin County. This line was also the southern boundary of St. Clair County, whose eastern boundary angled to the northeast from this point to the mouth of the "Kenomic river" or as some- times called the "Kalamik" or "Calumet," a small stream flowing into the south- ern bend of Lake Michigan in Lake County, Indiana.
All east of this line was in Knox County. Drawing this line on a map, it is readily seen the territory now Vermilion County, Illinois, by that division lies partly in St. Clair and partly in Knox Counties. The line passes directly through what is now Danville. A later proclamation of Gov. Harrison readjusted the division line between Randolph and St. Clair Counties, but made no change be- tween St. Clair and Knox Counties. This division line remained unchanged until after the organization of the Territory of Illinois in 1809. After the division and organization of the Territory of Illinois in 1809, Nathaniel Pope became secretary and acting governor of the new territory. He at once issued a proclamation con- tinuing St. Clair and Randolph Counties without change of boundaries except that the eastern boundary of each was continued to the eastern boundary of the territory, now the eastern boundary of the state of Illinois.
This gave to Randolph additional territory on the east and to St. Clair, a tri- angular strip along the southern part and took from it a triangular strip from the northern part of its eastern side, and eliminated Knox County from Illinois Terri- tory. By this change of boundaries the territory now Vermilion County was alto- gether in St. Clair County, with its county seat at Cahokia on the west side of the state opposite, and a little lower than St. Louis. To go to the county seat would require a journey of nearly two hundred miles.
Since the settlements in Illinois Territory were altogether in the southern part of what is now the state, the division into counties at this time was of necessity to help the people of that part of the territory. So it was that, when Ninian Ed- wards became governor, he created three new counties in the region bounded on the south and west by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. A line drawn east from the Mississippi river to the Wabash river along the southern boundary of what is now Madison County was about the northern boundary of settlements, and such a line was made the southern boundary of the new county of Madison. Thus it was
77
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
that the territory now Vermilion County became a part of Madison County, with county seat at Palestine, on the Wabash river.
This proclamation of Gov. Edwards was the last in which counties were cre- ated in that way. In this year Illinois was raised to the second grade of terri- torial government, and the creation of new counties and the alterations of county lines devolved, thereafter, upon the territorial legislature. On November 20, 1814, the territorial legislature passed a bill dividing Madison County, and creating Edwards County on the east side thereof. This act made the territory now Ver- milion County within, and subject to, the government of Edwards County, with the county seat yet at Palestine. However, there were none within this terri- tory other than the Kickapoo and Pottowatomie Indians to be affected by the change. The year 1816 saw Edwards County very much restricted, and the ter- ritory lying north of the line dividing towns 3 and 4 north and east of the third principal meridian, became Crawford County, and the now Vermilion County, in- habited as it was yet with the red man, was in the new County of Crawford, with county seat some miles further up the Wabash at Aurora. There was no change for three years or until the treaty of Edwardsville, in 1819, when Crawford County in its turn was restricted and the new County of Clark was made from its northern part. Clark County was created March 22, and extended from the third principal meridian to the Indiana state line and from its present southern county boundary to the Wisconsin state line on the north. The county seat remained at Aurora.
Although in 1821, Clark County was restricted to make room for Fayette, the division did not effect the section which was being settled about the Vermilion Salines.
This division of Clark County was made because Vandalia had been chosen for the future seat of government of Illinois, and it was considered necessary to sur- round it with a suitable county. Clark County at that time comprised the present Counties of Clark, Cumberland, Coles, Douglas, Edgar, Champaign, Vermilion, Iroquois, Ford, a part of Livingston, Grundy, Kendall, Kane and McHenry, with all of Kankakee, Will, DuPage, Cook and Lake.
In 1823, Clark County was much reduced in area. It included its present ter- ritory and that of Cumberland County, together with about one-half of Coles County. Of its remaining territory the present County of Edgar was created with the same boundaries as it now has. The unorganized territory to the north and west of it was temporarily attached to it for judicial purposes. The early years of settlement on the Vermilion and its tributaries included this period, when this territory was temporarily attached to Edgar County with Paris as county seat. Three years later the population of these settlements had so increased that a new county was created from a part of this "attached" territory and Vermilion County came into being.
By Section I, of the Act of January 18, 1826 (Laws of 1826-7, page 50), it was declared that all that tract of country within the following bounds, to-wit: "Beginning on the state line between Indiana and Illinois, at the northeast corner of Edgar County (the act organizing Edgar County fixes the northern boundary by a line running east and west between townships 16 and 17; thence west with the line dividing townships 16 and 17 to the southwest corner of the township 17 N. of R. 10 east; thence north to the northwest corner of township 22 north;
78
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
thence east to the Indiana state line; thence south with that state line to the place of beginning," should constitute a separate county called Vermilion. This description would hold good for Vermilion County as it is now with the excep- tion that it extends the line on the west ten miles into Champaign County and falls short of its northern boundary by six miles. By the seventh section of the act referred to "all that tract of country lying east of R. 6, east of the 3rd prin- cipal meridian and north of Vermilion County, as far north as the Illinois and Kankakee rivers" is attached to Vermilion County for judicial purposes. This denotes the restriction of the attached territory of Edgar County to that which was located directly on the west that is now all of Douglas County and that por- tion of Coles County which was not included in Clark County.
The territory which adjoined Vermilion County on the west at that time but later became Champaign County, and all the country north of its boundary, was temporarily attached to Vermilion county for judicial purposes. The date of the organization of Vermilion County was January, 1826. This attached territory remained the same until January 15, 1831, when Cook County was formed and took a large part of it off. The much discussed question of whether Chicago was ever under the government of Vermilion County can very easily be settled. It has always been a favorite tradition among the older settlers that at one time Chicago was a part of Vermilion County and many are the tales told in evidence of this be- lief. [This too although one at least of the writers of the history of the county flatly contradicts any such thing.] This idea of Chicago being at any time a part of Vermilion County, comes either from the fact that when Vermilion County was a part of Clark County, all of the territory north of the present southern boundary of that county was a part of it, and Chicago was included in the aforementioned "territory north", or that it is not understood how the northern boundary was changed even before it became attached territory to Edgar County. Clark County, before its limits were restricted, covered all the country from its southern boundary to the Wisconsin state line, but when Edgar County was created the territory north and west of it was attached thereto, but it was bounded on the north by the Illinois and Kankakee rivers. To be yet more exact, the northern limits of this attached territory was a line drawn from about where the city of Kankakee is now located, straight north to a point due east of the southern boundary line of Kane County, and there turned and continued further east to the state line. This line, together with the Illinois river, furnishes the eastern and southern boundary of the territory attached to the new county of Fulton, and restricted, materially, the attached territory of Edgar and later Vermilion Counties. Examining the territory below this line it is evident that Chicago was never within the limits of Vermilion County, and yet, this area does include a part of the present Cook County, and a portion of the southern part of Chicago, and of course was at one time under the government of said county. The taxes Sheriff Reed paid out of his own pocket rather than collect, were doubtless levied on that portion of what is now Cook County, lying south of the line drawn north of Fort Dearborn.
In 1833, Champaign County was created from unorganized territory west of Vermilion County and also, a portion of the same. This reduced Vermilion County on the west ten miles its entire length. The same year Iroquois County
X
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
was created and the act extended the northern boundary of Vermilion County six miles, making it what it is now.
It was while Vermilion County was a part of Clark and the county seat was at Aurora that the first permanent settlement was made at the Salt Springs, on the Vermilion river. Vermilion County was created January, 1826, and its seat of justice was located at the mouth of the North Fork of the Big Vermilion, in January, 1827.
For the purpose of the regulation of official fees and salaries, the counties of Illinois are divided into three classes: Those of not more than 25,000 popu- lation are of the first class, those of more than 25,000 population belong to the second class, and those of more than 100,000 population belong to the third class. Cook County is the only one in this class in the state. Vermilion County had a population, in 1900, of 65,635, and the last census (1910) gives it.
The powers of a county as a body politic and corporate are exercised by the county board which in counties under township organization consists of the supervisors from the several townships of the county. Vermilion County voted township organization in 1851.
Vermilion County was so named from the river of that name which in its principal branches flows through the county and takes its peculiar spelling.
CHAPTER XIII.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF VERMILION COUNTY.
TOPOGRAPHY - DRAINAGE - RELIEF - PRAIRIES - RIDGES - VALLEYS - GEOLOGY -- ROCKS SELDOM APPEAR AT SURFACE-COAL-BEDS-MORAINES-VERMILION COUNTY BELONGS TO THE ILLINOIS GLACIAL LOBE-THE CHAMPAIGN MORAINES -OIL WELL DUG AT DANVILLE WATER-WORKS WELL DUG FOR SAME PURPOSE AT DANVILLE JUNCTION-ALTITUDE-EXTREME WEATHER EXPERIENCED.
Vermilion County is located on the eastern border of Illinois about half way between the northern and southern boundary of the state. It is rectangu- lar in shape being 22 miles in width, and 42 miles in length, embracing 880 square miles, or 562,200 acres of land. It lies between the parallels of latitude 40° to 41º north and in longitude 87° to 88° west.
The most of it lies within the so-called "Danville Quadrangle" which ex- tends but one and one half miles beyond the eastern boundary of the county. Vermilion County is drained by tributaries of the Wabash river, which in turn drain into the Ohio river, and thence into the Mississippi river. The Vermilion river drains the entire territory of Vermilion County, with the exception of a small part in the south and east borders. When it is said that the Vermilion river drains the entire county, no account is made of the separate forks, but it is assumed that the Vermilion river includes all the North Fork, the Middle Fork, and the Salt Fork.
The Salt Fork of the Big Vermilion river runs through the center of the county, while the Middle Fork, which runs more to the northwest, joins it and forms the Big Vermilion proper. The North Fork runs from the north and northeast and empties into the main stream at where Danville is located. The. Little Vermilion flows easterly through the southern part of the county. In its. beginning this stream is little more than a prairie drain, but as it flows on down, it grows of more importance. When the early settlers first came they . found from one to three miles of timber lining the bank. Both Middle and. South Forks had much timber along their banks for a dozen miles above their union in the Big Vermilion, but toward their source there were never more than scattering groves. There are high banks and bluffs along the streams after they enter the timber, with bottoms wider where they have cut through the softer beds of rock, and narrower where they have encountered the harder sandstone. The surface of the county is quite diversified.
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81
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
The prairies or level surface of the county is relieved by ridges which rise above the general level and river valleys cut into the plain. Prairies are prom- inent south and west of the Vermilion river, and east as far north as Danville A small area of prairie is to be found in the vicinity of Batestown and Hillery, and to the north and west of there the surface extends into a broad expanse of prairie.
'A' low, broad ridge crosses the prairie from the northeast to the southwest. The elevation is ninety degrees above the prairie in the vicinity of Danville. As seen from the south this ridge is prominent, but from the north it appears nearly on prairie level. The valleys, carved by the Vermilion river and its forks cross both prairie and ridge. These valleys have destroyed valuable farming lands and prove barriers to transportation, but on the other hand have opened excel- lent geological sections in which are shown beds of coal which makes this region important economically. These valleys are generally broad, but as ob- served above, sometimes swell into broad amphitheaters a mile or more in width where they have cut through the softer beds of rock. These valleys vary in depth from 50 ft. to 100 ft. with steep walls sometimes precipitous. The prairies have a black, dense, mucky soil, of variable depth, underlaid in some case by a tough brown-clay subsoil. It is admirably adapted to cultivation and is but little affected by wet weather, or drought. Good supplies of water are obtained at from fifteen to fifty feet. The northwest part of the county is included in the famous artesian region of Eastern Illinois, and wells sunk in this part of Vermilion County yield a never-failing supply of water at a depth of thirty to one hundred feet.
Rocks in the soil seldom appear at the surface. They are generally so deeply covered with clay and sand that their presence is not appreciated. Only drilling will reveal them. South of the latitude of Danville, rocks may be seen in bluffs along streams, in almost perpendicular cliffs of shale or shaly sandstone. These perpendicular cliffs often reveal coal beds. The entire rock series belong to a portion of the geologic column known as Carboniferous system. Beneath the coal bearing rocks are the heavy beds of limestone. The coal bearing rocks oc- cupy a broad, shallow, syncline, the center of which is some distance southwest of Danville. The Rock formation have a very gentle dip southwesterly toward the center of the basin.
The history of this rock formation is easily read in these bluffs. After the carboniferous rocks were deposited in some body of water, the crust of the earth was raised in the Appalachian region, and this area became dry land. In this condition it was subjected to the varying vicissitudes of a land surface for many geological periods, but there is little to show the changes through which it passes. Before the advent of the great ice sheet this section was reduced to a gently rolling country with a relief of less than 200 ft. with broad valleys and gentle slopes, whose typography resembled that of southern Indiana beyond the limit of glacial ice. That there was not one ice advance but several is proven in the presence of Moraines, or massive ridges of drift built up by the ice at its margin. These ridges recur at frequent intervals as in passing north from ex- treme edge of given sheets of drift, and marks places of halting, and perhaps of readvance which interrupted the melting away of the ice field.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
The Morainic ridges have in some cases been formed in rapid succession and constitute a Morainic system. In Illinois there is a decided tendency to such grouping of Morainic ridges. The sheet of drift formed by each of the ice in- vasions, the soils and weathered zones, formed between the drift sheets and the Moraines, and morainic systems, of each drift sheet, have received geographic names from the locations where they are well displayed, in conformity with the- prevailing custom of naming the indurated rock formation. Vermilion County belongs to the Illinoian drift sheet which extends, apparently to the glacial boundary in western Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois and forms the eastern border of the driftless area in southern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. This area extends but a few miles west of the Mississippi river. In this region it apparently composes the basal portion of the drift. Beside its geological lo- cation in the Illinois glacial lobe, Vermilion County is also known as a part of the Champaign Morianic system. This system includes a series of small drift ridges that are ill defined the nearer they approach the Danville Quadrangle. It is doubtful if the oscillations of the ice front were of great consequence in this region. It is believed that several systems did not have rhythmic develop- ment, the halts seem to have been irregular.
All the rocks at the surface in this region belong to coal measures. Ver- milion County is but a very small port of the famous Indiana and Illinois coal field and it does not, in its entirety, belong to this coal field. It is but the extreme northwest border of the coal field. The coal production of Vermilion County will receive due attention in another chapter of this volume.
In about 1886 a notion became popular that oil could be found in the vicin- ity of Danville, and two attempts were made to discover that source of wealth. Two wells were sunk, and although no oil was discovered these two occasions of deep drilling furnished information upon which to base an idea of the geologic formation of this region. Records were kept, and have been preserved, as follows :
The well drilled at the Water Works records conditions as follows :
Thickness of Depth stratum in ft. in ft.
I. Soil
IO
10
2. Soapstone
285
295
3. Coarse sandstone
10
305
4. Soapstone
IO
315
5. Sandstone
100
415
6. Soapstone
15
430
7. Gray sandstone
IO
4440
8. Blue sandy shale.
80
520
9. Quartz or pebble rock.
IO
530
10. Sandy shale
145
675
II. Hard gray limestone
30
705
12. Sandstone
30
735
13. Blue clay shale
30
765
14. Pebble or flint rock
30
795
BRIDGE ACROSS THE VERMILION RIVER NEAR DANVILLE HIGHEST BRIDGE IN ILLINOIS
88
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
15. Hard blue shale.
90
885
16. Gray sandstone 40
925
Hard blue shale
45
970
17. Light green shale
30
1,000
18. Black slate
75 1,075
19. Limestone
74
1,149
And the well drilled at the Junction makes the following record :
Thickness of Depth stratum in ft. in ft.
I. Glacial drift
175
175
2. Hard slate and coal
6
181
Drab soapstone
20
201
3. Dark blue soapstone
42
243
4. Coarse white sandstone
IO
253
5. Coal
6
259
6. Blue clay or soapstone 75
2
336
8. Dark blue slate
35
371
Brown soapstone
20
391
9 Red clay
II
402
IO. Soft white sandstone
68
470
II. Red clay
20
490
Coarse brown sandstone
27
517
12.
Fine brown sandstone
40
557
Fine white sandstone
30
587
13. Dark blue clay
73
660
14. Hard pebble rock
IO
670
15. Fine white clay
36
706
16. Hard pebble rock
6
712
Dark blue shale
96
808
17. " Soft light blue shale
65
873
Soft dark blue shale
18
891
18. Red shale
62
953
19. Light green shale
57
1,010
20 Hard gray limestone
25
1,035
21. Black slate
90
1,125
Hard gray limestone
51
1,176
Coarse soft limestone
IO
1,186
22.
White and dark limestone
160
1,346
Soft white limestone
12
1,358
- Light and dark limestone
342
1,700
23. · White limestone
35
1,735
24. Clay shale
IIO
1,845
Some years ago the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History at Cham- paign, Illinois, issued a bulletin giving a list of altitudes in the state. From this
334
7. Hard flinty rock
84
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
publication a correct idea of almost every point in Vermilion County can be obtained. This result of a complete and careful survey of Vermilion County can be had as follows :
Town Location
Elevation above
by R. R.
the sea by ft.
Allerton, C. & E. I. R. R.
710
Alvin, C. & E. I. R. R. 662
Archie, C. & O. R. R. R. 665
Armstrong, I. C. R. R. 708
Bismarck, C. & E. I. R. R.
667
Brewer, C. & E. I. R. R.
647
Catlin, Wabash R. R. 668
Chaneyville, L. E. & W. R. R 722
Comfort, C. & E. I. R. R. 692
597
Danville Junction, C. & E. I. R. R. 611
Diamond Mines, C. C. C. & St. L
640
East Lynn, L. E. & W. R. R.
693
Fairmount, Wabash R. R.
655
Fishers, C. & E. I. R. R.
670
Fithian, C. C. C. & St. L ..
663
Georgetown, C. C. C. & St. L.
672
Grape Creek, C. & E. I. R. R. 538
Henning, I. C. R. R. 695
Hillery, C. C. C. & St. L .. 631
Hoopeston, C. & E. I. R. R. 716
645
Indianola, C. & E. I. R. R.
674
Locetts, C. & E. I. R. R.
688
Mission Mines, C. C. C. & St. L
635
Muncie, C. C. C. & St. L.
642
Oakwood, C. C. C. & St. L.
646
Potomac, I. C. R. R.
682
Rankin, L. E. & W. R. R.
716
Rayville, I. C. R. R.
689
Ridge Farm, C. C. C. & St. L.
685
Rossville, C. & E. I. R. R.
702
Sandusky, C. & E. I. R. R.
721
Sidell, C. & E. I. R. R.
680
Thomas, I. C. R. R. 702
Tilton, C. C. C. & St. L. 649
Vermilion Grove, C. C. C. & St. L 661
West Newell, C. & E. I. R. R. 687
Westville, C. & E. I. R. R. 669
Bixby, at elevation of 730, Blount at one of 75, Blue Grass at 703, Charity at 760, Glenburn at 600, Henrietta at 690, Higginsville at 630, Hope at 740. Mis-
Humrick, T. St. L. & K. Cy.
Danville, C. & E. I. R. R.
85
HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
sion Fields at 607, Pilot at 730, Snider at 680, and Vernal at 670, were all ob- served by I. J. Stoddard, the other observations made by him were as follows :
Sec. 32, T. 23 N., R. 13 W. 770
Sec. 32, T. 23 N., R. 12 W. 750
Sec. 25, T. 23 N., R. II W. 670
Sec. 33, T. 18 N., R. 13 W 680
Sec. 34, T. 18 N., R. 14 W 690
Sec. 13, T. 18 N., R. 11 W. 650
By the above record it is seen that the highest point in Vermilion County is at Sec. 32, T. 23N., R. 13W., and the lowest is at Grape Creek, where it is but 538 feet above the level of the sea while at Danville it is but 59 feet higher. At Charity the elevation but 10 feet lower than at the highest point and at Hope it is not much less since it is 740 feet.
Vermilion County is not subject to extremes of weather as is found in some sections. There are some instances on record, however, of extremes which bear notice. One of these is the deep snow of the winter of 1830-31,, which gave this season the reputation of being one of great severity, and occasioned much suf- fering. This snow, however, did not all fall at once but was the accumulation of many falling the one on top of the preceding one. These were repeated over and over again without any melting of the snow until the ground was so com- pletely hidden that there was great suffering in consequence. The cattle could not receive the care needed and hundreds died in consequence. This was the winter in which the elder Partlow died and his sons became so discouraged that they went back to Kentucky. The deer were driven away to seek food or were starved in such great numbers that they were never so plenty in this region. Another extreme of weather is recorded in the "cold Tuesday" of December 16, 1836. Enoch Kingsbury wrote a letter, sometime in the fifties, telling his re- membrance of that day which has been preserved and is hereby given entire.
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