USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 50
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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 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
No. I
No. II
No. III
No. IV SCENES ALONG THE INDIAN TRAIL
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
was made another postoffice in the state was called Dallas City and Mr. Cul- bertson, the postmaster, was so annoyed that, without knowledge or consent of the citizens, requested the post office department to change the name of Dallas to Indianola. For a long time this name was not accepted by the people, and a confusion of names resulted. For many years Indianola had no railroad fa- cilities and when this means of transportation came it was too late to have the village make use of it other than a means of seeking trade in more favored lo- calities. The village was established in 1836 and its early growth was retarded by the commercial depression of the following year. Those early days have as- sociated with them the names of Mr. Atkinson, Guy Merrill, A. H. O. Bryant, Dr. Baum and Mr. McMillen.
Carroll township has been so cut and divided as to make a history of it and one of other townships of the county the same.
THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PART OF VERMILION COUNTY.
S. Harvey Black, age 83, born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, 1827, came with his parents here and settled in Carroll township within a mile of where he is now standing in 1834. About 20 feet to the right of the tree where Mr. Black is standing is the depression of the old trail which is now in Mr. Black's door yard.
Mr. Black and wife, formerly Miss Hutt, who came from Kentucky with her parents in 1834 and settled near her present home and to her right a few feet was the old trail. Mrs. Black is 82 years old and she and her husband have been married sixty odd years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Black we are indebted for the facts concerning the once famous Indian trail. Then can describe the passing of the last few small bands of Indians over the famous trail.
The numbers are on the reverse sides of the pictures.
Nos. 1 and 2 are the same place, the two pictures being taken at different angles looking up the hill. The hill where these were taken slopes toward the southeast on the north bank of the Little Vermilion river very near the center of Sec. 25, town 17, north range 13, west of the second P. M. In No. 2 a large rock is shown at foot of picture.
No. 8 is near the south bank of the Little Vermilion river sloping north toward the river and is about 30 rods south of Nos. 1 and 2. Just in front of the auto- mobile the depressions are plainly visible. This place is located about 20 rods south of the center of Sec. 25, town 17, north range 13, west of the second P. M.
Nos. I and 2 are went down in going south across the river and No. 8 where they went up the hill after crossing the river.
Nos. 3 and 4 are the same hill. No. 3 is looking up the hill toward the south- west. The white spot in the center of picture is a rock. The man to the left hand is standing in the depression where the road wound around and up the hill, the man to the right in another depression and man in center on the knoll between the depressions of the trail. ,
No. 4 is looking down the same hill toward the northeast, our coats lying in the depression. This hill slopes to the north and lies near the center of the
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
south border of the north 1/2 of the N. E. 14 of Sec. 25, town 17, north range 13 west.
No. 5 shows the depressions to the left of the stack of posts and just to the right of large tree in the center of picture. This view is toward the northeast and on level ground. On the left hand lower corner and to the right of the tree is two plain depressions. From this place the trail led northeast to the present village of Indianola.
This photo locates the trail near the center of the west line of the S. W. 1/4 of the S. W. 14 of Sec. 19, town 17, north range 12 west of the second P. M.
INDIAN TRAIL.
This "Indian Trail" after leaving Indianola wound in a southwesterly di- rection across the northwest corner of Sec. 20, through near the center of Sec. 19, town 17, north range 12, west crossed the river near the center of Sec. 25, then along the north side of Sec. 35 and continued west along the north side of Sec. 34 for one-half mile, then took a southwesterly course across Sec. 33 and intersected the Vermilion and Edgar County lines one-half mile west of the south- east corner of Sec. 33, town 17, north range 13, west of second P. M. After reaching Edgar County the trail continued on southwest three miles to
Major Croghan "of the British army" and his party after leaving the old French fort of Guatonan near the present town of LaFayette, Indiana, came along the above described trail through the present site of Indianola to Sec. 7, town 16, north range 13, west of second P. M., Edgar County, where they met the great 'Indian Chief" July 18, 1765, where a conference was held between Major Croghan and Chief Pontiac which resulted in the formation of a treaty of peace between Pontiac tribes and the British or English speaking people. After this treaty Pontiac accompanied Major Croghan back over this same trail to Ft. Guatonan, Indiana.
The following illustrations of the old Indian trail from Kaskaskia to Detroit which is yet visible in southeastern part of the county tells its own story.
VANCE TOWNSHIP.
Vance township is on the extreme western border of Vermilion County. It has Oakwood as its northern boundary, Catlin as its eastern boundary and Sidell as its southern boundary. The Salt Fork of the Vermilion river runs through its northern part nearly its whole length. This stream was skirted with timber, but it is all gone at this time. The township was one of the first established and it was with one section less than a congressional township. The state road from Danville to Decatur runs through Vance township keeping as nearly as possible one half mile from the banks of Salt Fork. The Wabash railway runs through the center of this township. The village of Fairmount is situated on this railroad about one mile from its eastern border. There is an abundance of building stones along this stream, and ledges of valvaree silicious crop out on the prairie near the center of the town from which the best known material for making roads and an excellent quality of lime for building purposes and dressing for wheat lands. This stone is so hard it will withstand the destructive elements of nature and
No. V
No. VI
No. VII
No. VIII SCENES ALONG THE INDIAN TRAIL
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
yet soft enough to be crushed under the wheels of the passing wagon or even buggy.
The ridge or divide between the Salt Fork and Little Vermilion runs along the southern border of Vance township, and the prairie land all sheds toward the north, being freely supplied with small streams and branches which water the farms and afford fine drainage. The surface is neither flat nor hilly, having suf- ficient undulation to make it capable of tillage all seasons, with here and there small mounds or easily rising hills which add variegated beauty to the scene no less than real value to its worth. Originally about twelve square miles of its ter- ritory was timber land, that being about one-third of its present surface.
This township includes the finest farm lands in this or any other state. The small farm is the rule and in most instances of these small farms they have been in the possession of the original owners and their descendants since they were first entered or bought. The earlier settlements of Vance township were made along the state road, or, as more nearly the facts in the matter, these houses were built along the border of the timber and the state road followed the settlements. Before the road was straightened and made a state road through the efforts and influence of Col. Vance, then in the state legislature, it wound in and out where clearings were made. The railroad was graded through the township in 1836. This grading was done through the influence of Dr. Fithian. He foresaw the im- possibility of the network of international improvements being carried out and secured work on the proposed railroad through Vermilion county while there yet was money to attain this object. John W. Vance was at the time, also, a mem- ber of the legislature, and he opposed the railroad scheme from start to finish. This opposition destroyed whatever chance he might have had for political pro- motion, but his reasons for this stand was that the project for the railroad was so much in advance of the needs of the times as to prove impracticable. It is well that he was honored by the name of the township, for no more noble name was ever held in Vermilion County than that of John W. Vance, the statesman. Vance township contained a part of what is now Oakwood township at the time it was organized and named for this man whose residence was in that part of the township.
As soon as the railroad was located Ellsworthi & Co. entered all the land along the line from Danville to Decatur, that had not previously been taken, and held it for speculation. Owing to the revulsion in trade during the next year this speculation did not result in the vast wealth anticipated.
The first settler in Vance township was Thomas Osborne who made a cabin in section 32, a mile or two northwest of Fairmount, in 1825. He was not a farmer but made his wealth in hunting and fishing. Mr. Osborne staid only long enough to have the trade in fur grow less. Mr. Rowell and Mr. Gazad were "squatters" for a time. These were followed by James Elliott, James French, and Samuel Beaver. These two went further west and William Davis bought their claims. The list of early settlers grows longer and longer, including the names of James Smith, William O'Neal, W. Feidler, W. H. Butle and Francis Daugherty.
The latter came to this section in 1832 and it was he who gave the name to the village of Fairmount. This village was established and named Salina. This name was all right until the matter of a post office at the place was agitated.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
Then it was, the fact became known that there was a post office by that name in Illinois and the name of Fairmount was given to the village. This was not the first time a place in Vance township was called by that name. Some time previous to this the Dougherty farm was the place where the mail for the people of this part of the county was carried. This farm was so located on a pleasing rise of ground that it was called Fairmount, and this elevation was well named, for a fairer place could not be found. When the name of Salina was found im- possible, this old name was chosen and the village of Fairmount became one of the towns of Vermilion county.
Fairmount began its career with the determination to have no liquor sold within its limits. A struggle just at first resulted in the decisive defeat of all opposition to this plan.
There was a drain tile factory located in Fairmount in 1880, and operated for twenty years. This was patronized by the farmers of Vermilion county and large quantities of it shipped south. The location of this plant in Fairmount saved the farmers of the county thousands of dollars in popularizing draining which added to the value of the land in increased productiveness. When the large Fairmount dredge ditch is completed which is now being dug, Vance town- ship will have all the land reclaimed. Large portions of Vance township are un- derlaid with a good strata of coal which is being worked at Bennett station two miles northeast of Fairmount. Another and a valuable industry of Vance town- ship is the Fairmount quarries located two miles south of the village. These quarries produce an almost chemically pure limestone which is used in the manu- facture of steel also cement in large quantities is being produced from this stone. This stone field is of several miles in extent. Of this several hundred acres have been proven and purchased. The company which are operating these quarries now (1910) take four thousand tons out daily of this material and have four hundred seventy-five to five hundred employees on the pay roll.
Vance township is one of the smallest of Vermilion County but has no less than sixteen miles of hard roads and in the near future will have all wagon roads as fine as any city pavement.
Fairmount is the only village in the township and has a thousand inhabitants. It has a graded high school employing six teachers. It has four churches, two elevators, several good stores, lumber yard and the ever indispensable blacksmith shop. Fairmount is one of the best lighted villages in the country; residences and streets lighted with Presto liglit or acetelyne gas.
MIDDLE FORK TOWNSHIP.
The township called Middle Fork, lies in that part of Vermilion County where the three main branches of the Vermillion river unite and form that stream. Middle Fork township is bounded on the north by Butler, east by Ross, south by Blount and Pilot, and west by the county line. At the time of organization this township included not only all of Butler township but all of that part of Ford, running up to the Kankakee river, and was more than 60 miles long. That was in 1851. There was not an inhabitant north of what is now known as Blue Grass Grove, where a few families had collected around Horse Creek.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
These people refused to recognize the authority vested in Danville some 75 miles to the south. When Richard Courtney was elected assessor, in 1852, he deter- mined to enforce the law, and went into this neighborhood to assess the property. He was met with defiance on the part of the people which went to the extent of the women attacking him with brooms and other feminine articles of warfare. A determination to do his duty under the law, however, made him stand firm and after securing the help of a lawyer, who lived there, to make the assessment. Middle Fork township contained, originally, about twelve sections of timber land, which was more in the form of pretty well defined groves, with little of undergrowth, and hazel brush patches which later grew into timber land, than of what is generally called timber. This timber is about all gone at this time, however. The main branch of the Middle Fork passes nearly through the town- ship until its junction with Bean creek, when it turns southwest and passes into Pilot township. Along the Middle Fork, after leaving the main body of timber on the south, were Collisons Point, Colwell timber, Partlows timber, Douglas Moore timber, and Buck Grove. The Blue Grass branch, which comes from the north, joining the main branch near Marysville, had Bob Courtney's grove and Blue Grass Grove on it. Merritt's Point was on Bean creek as were other early homes of the early settlers who were eager to take advantage of the combined shade and shelter and good water for their cattle. Of all the territory of the northern part of Vermilion County, none offered a better opportunity for com- fortable homes than did Middle Fork township. Many of the early settlers made their homes along the creek bottoms seeking at once protection from the imagined terrors of the prairie, and the convenient water. Without exception such fami- lies were subject to sickness, severe and fatal. This fear of the prairies seems hardly to be credited now, yet to the early settler they were of but one use, there was no doubt that the prairies of Illinois would never have other use than to pasture great herds of cattle which would roam over them, as the herds do over the vast pampas of South America. The streams through the pieces of timber were peculiar in one respect. When the first settlers came these streams seemed to have worn no channels for the water courses. Every little rain spread them out into great ponds. Whether it was owing to the peculiar nature of the soil, or whatever may have been the cause, or causes, they did not wear deep chan- nels. Wherever there was an obstruction as a fallen tree, the water poured over and made a deep pond or hole, which remained deep the year around. In these deep places large fish were caught and many and startling are the fish stories. even yet, told of the fish caught in Middle Fork township.
One of the singular things about the grass found on the prairie when the first settlers came, was the fact that it was without seed or any means of propagation. When it was once killed by any means, or circumscribed in any way, it could not by any process spread. It was impossible to spread it. It was the more strange because Nature has never given another case of the actual absence of the quality of propagation. When this native grass was destroyed, Nature furnished another covering. Several thousand acres of Kentucky blue grass which lay around and through the Blue Grass Grove in Middle Fork township, was found by the earliest settlers and seemed unaccountable. Many accounted for its pres- ence by thinking the Indians had brought the seed. This belief was cherished
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
until after the nature of grasses was more generally known. Blue grass is as much a native product as is the prairie grass. The Pottawatomie and Kickapoo Indians had this grove as a habitat. They had cultivated in their own way, a small patch of corn which had destroyed the prairie grass and blue grass ran "in" as is said. The actual spot where the corn was planted was but a small portion of the space where the native grass was destroyed, for the entire place where the Indians lived and kept their horses, made the same conditions for the spread of the other native grass supplied by Nature, and the vast space was covered with blue grass. This is the simple cause for the presence of the vast blue grass pas- ture found in Middle Fork township. The first settlers found corn growing here so recently had it been the home of another race. No plow was known to Indian farming. The corn was planted in hills a little closer than it is now, and was hoed by the women and hilled up very much in the way potatoes are cultivated in small gardens. The following year the corn was planted in hills between those the first year and the soil which had been hoed up around the the last year's planting was hilled around the new. The only variety of corn they planted was the spotted ears, red and white. When the corn was harvested it was put into a cave dug in the dry knolls. Here it was buried until it was wanted.
The first settlement was made in Middle Fork in 1828 by Mr. Partlow, and his grown family from Kentucky. Michael Cook, William Bridges, Mr. Gray, and John Smith (plain) were among the earliest settlers of this section. This particular John Smith was a singular man and always signed his name in this inanner. There was a John Smith in the county who always signed his name John Smith ( Eng.) and this other man of the same name made his signature in this way. After Gurdon Hubbard went to Chicago there was a strong drawing of Vermilion County people toward the north of that direction, and many of the citizens of Middle Fork township went to Milwaukee and Galena. Few of these bettered themselves, however. Charles Bennett settled at Collisons Point in 1828.
The first school taught in the township was by Rev. Ryman, being in a house four miles west of Myersville, about 1842. In 1835 a county road was estab- lished through Rossville and Blue Grass from the state line, west. A few years after, this was known as the Attica road. Thomas Owens bought a farm and moved a house on section 16, and commenced keeping a tavern. A store and postoffice soon followed, and a blacksmith shop was started. Blue Grass, as the little burg was called, was a busy and promising place until the era of railroads, where neighboring villages secured the new means of transportation and out- stripped it in the race for distinction.
The postoffice at Blue Grass was established in 1843 and John Carter ap- pointed postmaster. This was the only postoffice in the northwestern part of the county and it was no uncommon thing to see a hundred people standing there when the mail came in. In 1850, John Carter and George Small laid out and platted a town which consisted of two blocks, one on each side of the county road. The La Fayette Oil Mill Co. built a flax warehouse there and for some years Mr. Hartwell run that and did a thriving business. Hartwell, Scott & Mc- Daniels, Groves & Butler, Henderson & Lee, and Davis & Hall, successively, sold goods in Blue Grass. During and after the close of the civil war trade was good, these firms selling as much as $25,000 per year.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
The Havana, Rantoul & Eastern R. R. (narrow gauge) runs through the township from east to west, a mile south of its center. Mr. Gifford, the president of the company, lived in Rantoul. He went to Blue Grass in 1874 and asked for a stock subscription of $2,000 per mile. The citizens had heard a lot of rail- road talk before and had not muchi confidence in this, but subscribed some $16,- 000. The road was completed to Alvan by Christmas, 1876, and from Alvan to Lebanon in 1878, and from Rantoul, west to LeRoy in 1879. Marysville was built upon the prairie, but at the time of its being built, was pretty nearly sur- rounded with timber. John Smith (plain) was the first man here, but Isaac Meneley, Mr. Morelead and Robert Marshall, who were living on the other side of the creek, soon came to help him make a town here. When the village was a certainty, and a name was sought, it was found that both Mr. Smith and Mr. Meneley had wives whose given names were Mary, and it was decided to call the new village for these two women and Marysville was the name it has ever since borne. When it became a postoffice this name liad to be changed to Potomac. At the February term of the county court, in 1876, a petition was presented by Rigden Potter and thirty-seven others, asking for the organization of Marysville under the act for the incorporation of villages, with the following bounds: com- mencing at the southeast corner of section 3, town 21, range 13; thence north to the northeast corner of the section; thence west to the northwest corner of the east one-half corner of the northeast one-fourth of said section; thence south to the north of the right of way of the railroad; thence west along said right of way, 40 rods ; thence south 40 rods to the center of Main street ; thence east along the center of Main street, 27 rods; thence south to south line of said section ; thence east to place of beinging. The petition set forth that there were within said proposed bounds 323 inhabitants. An election was called for April 2, when fifty-seven votes were cast, forty-six of them being for incorporation.
Marysville has lately been lost in the name of Potomac, and the artesian wells of the section has made it famous.
Armstrong is another of the villages of Middlefork township. It is located on the H. R. & E. R. R., four miles west of Marysville. It was platted in 1877 on land belonging to Thomas and Henry Armstrong.
PILOT TOWNSHIP.
No section of the country in this part of Illinois presents a more attractive view than that occupied by Pilot township. Pilot is one of the original town- ships reported by the committee appointed to divide the county into townships, in December, 1850. It has the name then given. The committee's report, sub- mitted on the 27th of February, 1851, bounded the township as follows: Begin- ning at the southeast corner of section 34, in town 20, range 12, go north to the east corner of section 3 in said town; thence to the southeast corner of section 33, town 21, range 12; thence north to the northeast corner of section 21 in said town 21 ; thence west on the section line to the northwest corner of section 22, in town 21, range 14; thence south on the county line to the southwest corner of sec- tion 34, town 20, range 14; thence east on the south line of town 20, to the place of beginning. Since that time the township has undergone some changes in bound-
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
ary. the principal one being the two-mile slice from the south side upon the forma- tion of Oakwood township in 1868. At present it is bounded as follows : Begin- ning at the southeast corner of section 20, town 20, range 12, go north one-half mile ; thence west one-fourth mile; thence north one and one-half miles; thence west to the northwest corner of section 17 in said town; thence north two miles; thence west to the southeast corner of section 35, town 21, range 13; thence north two miles; thence west one-half mile; thence north one mile; thence west to the county line ; thence south on the county line to the southwest corner of section 22, town 20, range 14; thence east to the point of starting. From these boundary lines it will be seen that Pilot now contains sixty-five and one-eighth square miles ; that it is ten miles from east to west in its longest portion; that it is seven miles wide, and that it lies mostly in ranges 13 and 14, only a small portion being in range 12. Pilot is bounded on the north by Middle Fork township, on the east by Blount, on the south by Oakwood, and on the west by Champaign County. It occupies the middle of the western side of Vermilion County.
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