USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 5
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At one time, prior to 1745, the dividing line ran diagonally across what is now Vermilion County, in Illinois, thus making a part of it in one province and a part of it in the other, with the two capitals as far apart as Montreal and Fort Chartres. This division line began on the Wabash river at the mouth of the Vermilion river. It followed the course of the Vermilion river northwest, thence in the same direction to old Fort St. Louis. The site of this old fort is now known as Starved Rock, near Ottawa, in La Salle County. All south of this dividing line was the Province of Louisiana, while all north of it was the Province of Canada. The seat of government of the Canada Province was Mon- treal, and later, the Post of Detroit, while that of the Louisiana Province was at Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi river.
Two men, living on opposite sides of the Vermilion river (as at Danville and South Danville), at this time, would be obliged to travel many miles, the one to
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
the northeast and the other to the southwest to transact any legal business. This dividing line ran diagonally across Vermilion County as it is now known, cut- ting it into two very nearly equal parts.
Since only Indians and the occasional "Cour de Bois" were to be found in this far away part of New France, such an inconvenience was no hardship.
After the French and Indian war of 1763, New France was ceded to Great Britain, and this section, now known as Vermilion County, Illinois, became a part of the British Domain. For some fifteen years its government was vested in an organization or board, known as the "Lord's Commissioners of the Council of Trade and Plantations," or "Lords of Trade." Kaskaskia, the French town, located near the mouth of the Kaskaskia river, and not far from Fort Chartres, was the seat of this government. The British had been obliged to abandon Fort Chartres, and garrison Fort Gage, at Kaskaskia. British rule ended at the end of a decade and a half. It was during the Revolutionary war that George Rogers Clark, himself a citizen of the colony of Virginia, captured this fort and, when peace was declared between Great Britain and the Colonies, this territory was ceded to Virginia and became, for the time being, the Illinois County of Virginia.
The government which followed was by a representative called a County Lieutenant. The seat of government was retained at Kaskaskia. This did not last long. In 1809 another division was made and Illinois Territory was formed.
Illinois Territory had, as its eastern border, the Wabash river, as far as Vin- cennes, thence north by a straight line to Lake Michigan ; its western border was the Mississippi river which was, at that time, the western border of the United States. The southern border of the Illinois Territory was the Ohio river and its northern border was the British Possession of Canada. Its seat of government was again at Kaskaskia.
This division threw this section into the Illinois Territory, with its seat of government, as it had been before, over on the Mississippi river.
Nine years later the Illinois Territory was admitted into the Union with the same eastern, southern and western boundaries, and 42 degrees, 30 minutes, as its northern boundary. This act made the section in whose government we are interested, a part of that commonwealth.
During all this time, this section was yet the possession of the redman with the exception of a small wedge which is in what is now Love Township. This wedge of land was purchased by the United States government through the efforts of William Henry Harrison the same year as that in which Illinois Terri- tory was established, and it has always been known as the "Harrison Purchase."
The power of the Miami Nation had been broken, Piankeshaw had been devastated, the Kickapoos and Pottowatomies had driven the earlier proprietors away, yet the white man had not yet gained possession. The proud Miamis relinquished their claim to their conquerors late in the 18th Century, but it was not until after Illinois became a state, that the Pottowatomies made a treaty with the United States in which they ceded their land. 'A' description of their land which they ceded at this time reads as follows :- "Beginning at the mouth of the Tippecanoe river and running up the same to a point twenty-five miles in a direct line from the Wabash river; thence on a line as nearly parallel to the general
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
course of the Wabash river as is practicable, to a point on the Vermilion river twenty-five miles from the Wabash river; thence down the Vermilion river to its mouth; thence up the Wabash river to the place of beginning." At the same time the United States agreed to purchase any just claim which the Kickapoos might have to any part of the ceded country below Pine creek.
The next year the Kickapoos, by the treaty at Edwardsville, July 18, 1819, ceded a large section of country between the Illinois and Wabash rivers, includ- ing that ceded by the Pottowatomies.
Immediately following this treaty at Edwardsville, another one was con- cluded at Fort Harrison, on August 30, 1819, between the United States and that particular tribe, or band who, in this treaty describe themselves as "The chiefs, warriors and the head men of the tribe of Kickapoos of the Vermilion," to the end that the United States might be enabled to fix a boundary between the claims of other Indians and these Kickapoos. The claim was further described as follows :- "Beginning at the northwest corner of the Vincennes tract, thence westerly to the boundary established by a treaty with the Piankeshaws on the 30th of December, 1805, to the dividing ridge between the waters of the embrass and the Little Wabash; thence by the said ridge to the source of the Vermilion river ; thence by the said ridge to the head of Pine creek; thence by said creek to the Wabash river; thence hy the said river to the mouth of the Vermilion river, and thence by the Vermilion and the boundary heretofore established, to the place of beginning."
Beginning with this year (1818) the section, which is now Vermilion County, became a county of the state of Illinois. This form of government lasted four years; then came the readjustment at the end of the Revolutionary war. Mas- sachusetts, Connecticut and New York all laid claim to parts of the territory saved from the British by Clark, which lay northwest of the Ohio river, and due concessions had to be made by these states as well as by Virginia, before congress could provide for the government of the Northwest Territory. In 1787, an ordi- nance was passed Congress which made this provision. The seat of government of the Northwest Territory was located at Marietta, Ohio.
General Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor of the Northwest Terri- tory. The section now included in Vermilion County remained a part of the Northwestern Territory for fourteen years. At the end of that time the Ohio Territory was formed, which took a part of this Northwest Territory leaving that part which now is known as the states of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, and this was called the Indiana Territory. General William Henry Harrison was appointed governor, and the seat of government was located at Vincennes, and this section had its capital in what is now the state of Indiana.
Since Illinois became a commonwealth that year, Vermilion County, with no longer any power vested in the Indians, although they had not yet left this sec- tion, became a legally bound territory, subject to laws and regulations of the state. The resources were many and varied. The two great commodities so much in demand, salt and furs, were to be found in plenty inside its boundary. The Vermilion Salines were well known and yielded enough salt to supply the region at a fair price. After having had the many and various forms of govern- ment, while as yet this section was not known, as it is now, to be Vermilion
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County, but was yet a small part of Clark County, it was under the control of the laws of the state, and, as such, in 1819, had fixed obligations to the same government that it has now.
After 1790, this section had been a part of, first, Knox County of the North- west Territory, then partly Knox and partly St. Clair County of the Indiana Territory, then St. Clair, Madison, Edwards, and Crawford Counties of the Illinois Territory ; then a part of Clark County during the first two years of state- hood of Illinois, to at last become what it is now, Vermilion County.
CHAPTER V.
EXPLORING THE VERMILION RIVER FOR SALT.
INDIAN TREATIES DETERMINE THE EXPLORATION OF THE VERMILION RIVER FOR SALT-SALT THE DEMAND OF THE EARLY I9TH CENTURY-JOSEPH BARRON'S KNOWLEDGE OF THE SALT SPRINGS ON THE VERMILION- THE NORTH ARM PRAIRIE THE NEAREST INHABITED SPOT-SUPPOSED ROUTE OF THE FIRST EXPLOR- ING PARTY-KNOWN ROUTE OF SECOND EXPLORING PARTY.
The hostile attitude of the Indians toward the white man was a reason that kept the section now known as Vermilion County from being settled until almost a score of years after the beginning of the 19th Century.
Until 1819, when the two important treaties were made which ended the power of the red man in eastern Illinois, this hostility was carried to such lengths that it was impossible for settlement to be made, and indeed no explorations were attempted. This, in spite of the fact that the great demand of the times was salt, and there was every reason to believe that it could be found on the Vermilion river.
This territory was a vast unknown region excepting to the Indian, and through him to the trader and woodsman. One man in particular, had for eighteen years known of the existence of salt in this region, but had made no haste to take advantage of this knowledge without doubt being kept from doing so on account of the hostility of the redman. This was Joseph Barron, the man who was for years the interpreter for Governor, afterward General and at last President Harrison. It has been recorded of Joseph Barron that he could un- derstand and speak all the dialects used by the Indians of the Wabash Valley. He had acquaintance with all those who hunted in or claimed the lands watered by the Wabash river and all its tributaries. He had learned from the Indians of a place on the Vermilion river where there were valuable salt springs, and had even visited the place in company with them, but had let nearly a score of years pass since that visit. His delay of eighteen years in securing these springs tells the condition of the attitude of the Indians to the white man more forcefully than could many words.
The fact of the certainty of valuable salt springs on the Vermilion may have been a strong reason for the treaties made with the Pottowatomies, and the Kickapoos, the one in July, 1819, and the other in August, of the same year. However that might have been, the treaty was hardly concluded at Fort Har- rison when Joseph Barron organized an expedition to explore the Vermilion river
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
in search of salt. This expedition was planned quietly, and only a few people were aware of its arrangement. Barron and his friends were at Fort Harrison and that was their starting point. He knew the direction in which these springs were, and the way was neither a long nor a dangerous one.
The Indians had made their treaties and the wild beasts were not so numerous that they would make a well armed man fearful. Barron knew the way, and each man chosen to go with him was fearless and enured to hardships.
There is no record of the route chosen, and there is no certainty that they went by water; but it is reasonable to assume that, being at Fort Harrison, they came in canoes up the Wabash river to the mouth of the Vermilion river, thence up that stream to the Salt Fork, and found the salt springs without trouble.
There arose a necessity sometime later for an affidavit covering the time of this expedition, and the personnel of this party, and the exact date of their arrival at the springs so that there can be no doubt on any of these points. This record is filed in the archives at Springfield. This party consisted of four white men and as many Shawnee Indians. Two of these men were Frenchmen, pos- sibly Indian traders who shared the knowledge of the existence of the salt springs with Barron. Their names were Lambert Bona and Zachariah Shecott, as the justice of the peace spelled it. This spelling doubtless should be Cicott. The other man beside Barron was named Truman Blackman, and was an unfortu- nate choice of Barron's.
Assuming that the route chosen was by water, it is not a difficult thing to form the picture of this exploring expedition into the unknown region in which are now the familiar homes of the dwellers in Vermilion County. These four white men, together with the four Indians, began the ascent of the Wabash river in canoes. The Indians had been hired by Barron to go "with him to show him minerals and salt springs, etc.," but the white men were interested in the ex- ploration to find what they did not already know. They paddled their canoes up the Wabash river to the mouth of the Vermilion river through a country which was more or less familiar to all.
Barron, and probably the Frenchmen, had all passed that way before, and, for that matter, had some knowledge of the Vermilion river, but there is no reason to think that Truman Blackman had any idea of the salt springs or any thing else on the unexplored Vermilion. These canoes paddled up the Wabash river to the mouth of the Vermilion, and the white men found themselves in the country of the redman now shorn of his power. The old Kickapoo village at the mouth of the Vermilion river was forsaken, and the very trees and stones spoke desertion. Passing that, these explorers paddled up the river between densely wooded banks. The now highly valued farm lands and villages were at that time vast stretches of unbroken prairies beyond banks of the stream whose shallow waters they were paddling. All was silence, save the cry of the wild beast or the call of some bird to its mate. On they went, dipping paddles into the placid waters which had seldom reflected the image of a white man. Up the course of the river they continued their way, passing the site of present-day Dan- ville. The old Indian village of Piankeshaw had completely disappeared; the high bluffs to the south were densely covered with trees and wild vines; the call of the quail, the flash of the goldenrod, and purple aster in the distance, the
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hazy sunlight of the Indian summer day, and the dipping of paddles in the water, filled the air, which had echoed the Indian war-whoop, and was to be filled with the sound of the traffic of today.
Wild turkeys were stalking about and wild waterfowl were at the edge of the river; wild beasts were at the bank of the North Fork quenching their thirst; but all these attracted little interest or attention of the men as they paddled past its mouth, bent upon the discovery of the much desired salt springs which they knew were not very far distant. No dust, no smoke, no sound of building suggested the city which a half hundred years later would skirt its banks. This densely wooded tract might have held their interest as a haunt of fur-bearing animals, but for the more to be desired hope of wealth in the Salines beyond.
This was a time when interest in the finding of salt was particularly keen, because of the fact that the Illinois legislature had but recently passed a bill mak- ing a liberal law to encourage the discovery and development of saline water. By the terms of this law, any person who made such a discovery had the exclusive right to manufacture salt within a given time and area. These explorers did not stop until their destination was reached. Passing up the big Vermilion after they had passed the deserted Indian villages at the mouth of the North Fork, the long past Piankeshaw, they proceeded through a less wide channel to the Kicka- poo village once prosperous and active, now destroyed by the hand of the white man, situated at the confluence of the Middle Fork and Salt Fork where they formed the Vermilion.
Here all was desolation. Unlike the old Piankeshaw, this village had been so recently the home of. a living people that evidences of severed ties were yet visi- ble. The once cultivated corn field was yet partially enclosed with a tumbled down fence. Weeds rankled where formerly the Indian squaw had hoed her corn and squashes. All was desolate. All the land marks were found that Bar- ron remembered, and a mile and a half further the springs, themselves, were found as he expected. In his affidavit he locates these springs as situated on the the Big Vermilion river, on the north side, about one and a half miles above the old Kickapoo town, and about fifteen or eighteen miles from the Big Wabash River. This same affidavit gives the 22nd day of September, 1819, as the day he reached these salt springs. Having discovered the source of saline water, these men returned to Fort Harrison.
In reality it was these men who discovered this section of country and it is Joseph Barron to whom the people of this territory are indebted for the discov- ery. It was only through the treachery of one of his companions that Barron was kept from becoming the first settler as well.
Truman Blackman betrayed his leader in this manner: After his return to Fort Harrison, he organized a party without the knowledge or sanction of Barron, and went back to take possession and claim the discovery of these springs. The party thus formed comprised Truman Blackman, his brother, Re- member Blackman, George Beckwith, Seymour Treat, Peter Allen, Francis Whit- comb and probably Dan Beckwith. At least Dan Beckwith was one of the party immediately after, and it is probable that he went with them. The two Beckwiths did not start with the others from Fort Harrison, but joined them on the way at Jonathan Mayo's on the North Arm prairie where they were living.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
There is no question which route this second party took, for they went by land and probably were the first white men, unless perhaps traders, who explored the land route through this country.
Blackman's party crossed the Wabash river at the mouth of Otter Creek and went in a northwest course through the timber and prairies, keeping the direc- tion with a small pocket compass, until they arrived at a stream supposed to be the Big Vermillion, about twenty-five miles, they inferred, from the Wabash river. Here they camped on October 31st, 1819. Captain Blackman pointed out a smooth spot of low grass ground from twenty to thirty rods across where he said there was salt water. Further investigation proved he was correct, and once more the Vermilion Salines were discovered.
CHAPTER VI.
THE VERMILION SALINES.
SALT WAS ANXIOUSLY SOUGHT BY EARLY EXPLORERS-THE SALINES OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS-SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN WORKED BY A PREHISTORIC PEOPLE- JOSEPH BARRON, FOR MANY YEARS GOVERNOR HARRISON'S INTERPRETER, VISITED THE VERMILION SALINES IN 1801-AGAIN AT THE SAME PLACE IN 1819. WITH A PARTY TO EXPLORE IT TO AFTERWARD WORK THE SPRINGS-SECOND EXPEDI- TION TO THE SPRINGS ORGANIZED WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF BARRON-LITTLE EVIDENCE OF ANY PREVIOUS ATTEMPT TO WORK THE SPRINGS TO PROFIT- BLACKMAN TOOK LEASE IN HIS OWN NAME-DIFFERENCES AMONG CONFLICT- ING CLAIMANTS SETTLED IN 1822-JOHN W. VANCE LEASED THE SALINES IN 1824 AND WORKED THEM TO PROFIT-EVIDENCES OF EARLY USE OF SALINES.
The discovery of salt in Southern Illinois was a great factor in attracting im- migration to the territory, in the beginning of the 19th Century. The scarcity of that commodity at this time is evidenced in a book published in 1796, where the statement is made that "there was no salt to be had west of the mountains, excepting at Marietta, and what is for sale here is brought over the mountains, on pack horses, and is sold for sixteen cents a pound."
The earliest known settlement on the Saline river in Southern Illinois, was made in 1800, or at latest date, in 1802. They found abundant evidence of some one having made salt before their coming, but who, and at what time, was more difficult to determine. Many have been inclined to the theory that salt was man- ufactured in southern Illinois by a people whose history antedates that of the tribes who inhabited this country at the coming of the Europeans. As evidence of this idea, the pottery found by the early settler could be explained in no more satisfactory way than to assume it had been used in this work.
This pottery has the appearance of having been moulded in a basket, or frame work, which has left its impression on the outside of the article. Some are in- clined to the belief however, that the pottery was moulded on the outside of a mold, and that the impressions were made by wrapping coarse cloth around the vessels as they were lifted off the mold. This same pottery, or salt pans, was found in abundance both in and around the salt works of Illinois and Missouri, near St. Genevieve. There is a tradition that the salt springs, wells and licks, on the Saline river in Gallatin county, were operated by the Indians and French for many years previous to the coming of the English about 1800. Certain it is that the French understood the salt making process; and the Indians no doubt, knew
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
where the springs and licks were. An Englishman writing to the Earl of Hills- boro in 1770, in speaking of the region around the mouth of the Wabash and Saline rivers, mentioned the abundance of salt springs in that region. In another description of the region of the Wabash the writer says: "The Wabash abounds with salt springs, and any quantity of salt may be made from them in a manner now done in the Illinois country." This was in 1778, twenty-two years before the coming of the English to these salt works.
The earliest reference in the west to salt making to be found in state papers is in the law of May 18, 1796. In an act of this date it is made the duty of the surveyors, working for the United States and making surveys in the territory northwest of the Ohio river, "to observe closely for mines, salt, salt springs and salt licks and mill seats."
In the winter of 1799 and 1800, Wm. Henry Harrison was the delegate in Congress from the territory of the northwest. In his report Mr. Harrison says : "Upon inquiry we find that salt springs and salt licks are operated by individ- uals, and timber is being wasted. Therefore we recommend that salt springs and salt licks, property of the United States, in the territory northwest of the Ohio, ought to be leased for a term of years." No definite action was taken upon this by Congress. Upon March 3, 1803, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to lease the salt springs and licks for the benefit of the govern- ment. It was in June of this same year that Harrison made the treaty at Fort Wayne, whereby he made the purchase of land, a portion of which is in what is now Vermilion County, known as the "Harrison Purchase." This was two years after Joseph Barron, Harrison's interpreter, visited the Vermilion Salines.
That same summer Governor Harrison leased the Southern Salines to a Captain Bell, of Lexington, Kentucky. By an act of Congress March 26, 1804, all salt springs, wells and licks, with the necessary land adjacent thereto, were reserved from sale as the property of the United States. The Territorial Gov- ernor was authorized to lease these salt wells and springs, to the best advantage of the government. During all this time the salt to be found on the Vermilion was not accessible because of the hostility of the Indians who lived along the banks. The Kickapoos had a large village near where the wells were afterwards dug. The treaty of August, 1819, however, extinguished the Indian titles to these lands, and the search for salt was begun.
That the presence of salt was known at that time is beyond question, because of an affidavit made by Joseph Barron to the effect that he was, himself, at the "Vermilion Salines" as early as the year 1801.
But there is another and even better proof of the fact that the springs were known to be found in a letter written by Shadrach Bond, who was gov- ernor of the state of Illinois at that time. The letter was written to Wm. H. Crawford and reads as follows :
KASKASKIA, April 3, 1819.
To the Hon. Wm. H. Crawford,
SIR :- It is ascertained that there are valuable Salt Springs upon sections 22 and 23 in township 2, N. of R. 7 E. of the 3rd, principal meridian in this state and (since the titles, for all Salt Springs together with land reserved for the use of the same within this state have been granted to the state), I have the honor
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
to request that the usual quantity of land may be reserved for the use of the springs upon the afore mentioned sections and as contiguous thereto as may be. I have the honor, etc.
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