USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside County, Illinois, from its earliest settlement to 1908, Vol. I > Part 32
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The bill of fare consisted of six turkeys with dressing, cranberry sauce, escalloped oysters, celery, olives, pickles, jellies, mince pie, chieese, coffee, bread and butter with a dessert of chocolate, cocoanut, fruit cakes, angel food, grapes and oranges. The tables was placed in T shape in the chief sitting room of the house with decorations of purple, yellow and white chrysanthe- mums, and the feast was presided over by the- hostess assisted by her son, Dr. Frank B. Willsey of Chicago, while Mrs. E. W. Mitchell, Mrs. Bert Knox and the help in the house made themselves useful in serving tlie guests promptly at 1 o'clock p. m.
The supervisors 'were brought in carriages and other vehicles from Morrison after adjournment of the regular session. Those accompanied by their wives were: William W. Blean, Albany; H. L. Halsted, Coloma; Thomas Mclaughlin, Fenton; C. C. Snyder, Fulton; Mathias Wolber, Gen- esee; C. Frank Seidel, Hopkins; Henry Brown, Hume; Elmer Mensclı, Jor- dan; Allen E. Parmenter, Lyndon; Oscar Woods, Mt. Pleasant; Theodore Frank, Montmorency; Mrs. John G. Wetzell, Sterling; Frank A. Thomas,' Tampico; Frank Moulton, Union Grove.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Those single men were: Joseph Wood, Clyde; E. Peckham, Erie; John Renner, Hahnaman; James Y. McCall, Newton; Bert Besse, Portland; El- wood Beeman, Prophetstown; H. J. Simpson, Garden Plain; Adam Beien, John S. Landis, Sterling; John J. Entwhistle, Ustick. After the dinner and inspection has been concluded, some of the company was taken to the sta- tion at Round Grove, and the rest returned to Morrison. And thus success- fully ended the ninth annual dinner given by the Willseys at the White- side county poor farm.
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"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind; "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And the days of auld lang syne?"
In order that the reader may have some idea of the operations of a county house, we clip the following statement from a report submitted to the supervisors at their meeting in March, 1908:
RECEIPTS FROM FARM.
Hogs sold
$1,097.60
Corn sold
583.60
Oats sold
48.50
Cattle sold 220.00
1 Calf sold
9.30
Hides sold
5.60
1 Bull sold
32.70
Cash for board and care of Wm. Harmon to Mar. 1, 1908.
96.00
, EXPENDITURES.
$2,093.30
Superintendent's salary
$1,200.00
Clothing, Dry Goods, Boots and Shoes
297.93
Groceries
440.63
Plumbing
92.34
Farm Machinery
113.55
Hardware
98.75
Repairs
80.10
Coal and Wood
424.29
Fresh Meats
196.80
Drugs and Medicine
84.97
Hired Help
1,009.22
Furniture and Undertaking
200.60
Insurance
16.00
Lumber and Material
227.36
Grain and Grass Seed
19.80
Stock Hog
18.00
Telephone
13.00
Total Expenditures
$4,533.34
Less Receipts from Farm
2,093.30
Net Cost to County $2,440.04
281
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
A few rods west of Round Grove on the north side of the railroad has stood for years a large two-story frame dwelling, that by its ragged and worn appearance shows the storms of many a winter. It was built by Simon Fel- low of New Hampshire, who came to Illinois in 1834, settling first in Lee county until he came to Whiteside in 1850. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Deyo of Jordan. Eight children gladdened the hearthstone.
All are scattered now and fled, Some are married, some are dead.
Edward owns the early homestead. Albert was in the 4th Illinois cavalry and died in 1866. Charles was in the 75th Illinois infantry, and lives in Unionville. Mrs. Fellows died in 1890 at 74. The father died in Nov., 1907 at 92. A good Methodist, reading his Bible and praying twice a day.
THE HENNEPIN CANAL.
As Egypt does not on the clouds rely, But to the Nile owes more than to the sky; So what our cartli and what our heaven denies,
Our ever constant friend, the sea, supplies .- Edmund Waller.
Fashions change in dress, and methods change in transportation. First ox carts and wagons. Teamsters used to haul goods in four-horse wagons. from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and emigrants made the toilsome journey across the plains to California in prairie schooners. Then came the era of steamboats on the Ohio and the Mississippi, and people pitied their ancestors in the cramped stage coach, and believed they had reached the luxury of travel. Next the iron tracks running up and down the states and across the continent to meet the demand of commerce for rapid transit. Now, the electric lines piercing every valley, and stopping at every farmer's door.
Before the railway, the canal was deemed the best method of communica- tion where there was no natural outlet. The Erie canal from that lake to the Hudson was the first great enterprise in this country, and its opening in 1825 was signalized by a grand demonstration, and Gov. De.Witt Clinton, its projector, was carried in a triumphal barge to New York. Similar schemes were soon undertaken, and for twenty years the canal was popular for travel as well as for freight. Slow, but sure and safe. No collision or explosion, and the tourist reached his home without loss of life or limb. Passenger packets made regular trips. The writer as late as 1851 journeyed on the canal from Johnstown to Pittsburgh. No other way, as the Pennsylvania Cen- tral was not completed. An old Mitchell's map of the United States, 1835, has some tables giving the lengths of the railroads and of the canals. The two longest railroads were the Baltimore and Ohio, 250 miles, and the Bos- ton and Albany, 200 miles. The Erie canal was 363 miles, and the Chesa- peake and Ohio, 341 miles. These figures tell their own story. The canal was evidently at a premium.
But the age of enormous railway construction came on, and canals were neglected or abandoned. In some cases, the bed was used for a track.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
The locks rotted away, and grass grew on the towpaths. Conditions, how- ever, have rapidly changed. The increasing traffic of the world needs every avenue of communication by land and by water. Where natural arteries of transit are wanting, they must be created. Why a tedious voyage around Good Hope, when a deep ditch through the desert will convey the hugest steamers of the ocean? So thought De Lesseps, and it must have been a proud day for the French engincer when in 1869 before the crowned heads of Europe the Suez canal was opened from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, shortening the time from London to Bombay twenty-four days, and cutting down the distance from 11,000 miles to about six thousand. The cost of construction was nearly sixty million dollars, and the receipts in 1889 were over thirteen millions. A very profitable investment from every standpoint.
This success led to the Panama Canal in 1879, a dream for centuries. Why navigate the South American coast for ten thousand miles, around the dangerous Horn, when a cut of fifty miles will pass vessels to the mild waters of the Pacific? A company was formed and bonds sold, but after two hundred millions were spent and only twelve miles completed, the con- cern went into bankruptcy in 1889. The good genius of De Lesseps for- sook the gray-haired man. Now Uncle Samuel has secured rights from the Central American states, assumed all obligations, and is digging the much- discussed ditch in good earnest. No failure this time. As John Pierpont sang of the Yankee boy :
And when his hand's upon it, you may know, There's go in it, and he'll make it go.
For a hundred years rivers and harbors have been a standing item in the national appropriation bills. There is a constant demand for the im- provement of our large streams and the great ports of foreign trade. Our waterways, indeed, are a prominent feature, of late, in speeches, messages, and conventions. A direct connection between the Mississippi river and the . Great Lakes has long been felt to be very convenient in time of peace, and vitally important in time of war.
ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL.
Over 200 years ago, Joliet and La Salle, the early French explorers, saw the ease of constructing a passage from Lake Michigan to the Illinois river, and thus forming a continuous channel to the gulf of Mexico. In 1801 Alfred Gallatin recommended the scheme, and in 1816 a survey was made. In 1827 Congress gave to the state 300,000 acres of land for canal purposes, work was begun in 1836, and twelve years later the canal was opened for navigation at a cost of six millions. Since that time almost as- much has been spent for improvement and repairs. This canal extends from Chicago to La Salle, connecting the Chicago and Illinois rivers. It. is 96 miles long, with a depth of six feet, and a width of sixty feet at the water line.
283
HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
CHICAGO SANITARY CANAL,
by which the current of Chicago river is turned into the Illinois river from the metropolis, is the most colossal work ever undertaken for the sewerage of a city. The entire length is thirty-four milcs, and it was completed in eight years, 1892-1900, at the cost of $37,000,000. But it is richly worth the immense outlay in municipal health. The first eight miles from the city, the channel is nearly 200 feet wide, with a depth of twenty-two feet. For fourteen miles its course was blasted through solid rock, forming a decided contrast to the sides of the Suez canal with its banks of shifting sand.
The reader may naturally ask, What have these other two canals to do with the Hennepin? As St. Paul would say, Much every way. With- out them the Hennepin would fail in its purpose. Without the old Michi- gan canal, boats on the Hennepin could not reach Chicago or the lakes, and without the Hennepin, boats from the lakes could not reach the upper Mis -. sissippi without making the circuit of the Illinois river, two hundred miles to the south. In other words, the Hennepin, tapping the Michigan canal near its terminus at La Salle, furnishes a direct communication with the Northern Mississippi and its tributary territory. A glance at the map will show the situation.
It is at least sixty years ago that the project of a canal along the route of the present Hennepin began to be discussed, and the claim has lately been made that the idea was born in the brain, of Major James M. Allan, of Geneseo, and that L. D. Whiting, of Tiskilwa, an and John H. Bryant gave the plan their hearty support. A canal convention was held in Sawyer's hall, Geneseo, and other conventions were held at Dixon, Sterling, and interested towns in the district. Public attention was aroused, the scheme was presented at Springfield and Washington, in 1871 a preliminary sur- vey was made, and in 1890 Congress made an appropriation of $500,000 to begin the work. Thomas J. Henderson, member from this district, was the champion on the floor in pushing the claims of the new waterway.
The length of the main line of the Hennepin canal from Milan, on Rock river, near its mouth, to the town of Hennepin on the Illinois river, is seventy-five miles. Excavation was begun at Milan in July, 1892, when Capt. L. L. Wheeler, civil engineer, in charge of the work, turned the first sod with a spade which is now in the Historical Society at Davenport. The depth of water is seven fcet, and the width of the cut is 52 feet at the bottom, and eighty at the water line. There are thirty-three locks, measuring thirty- five feet by one hundred and seventy, with lifts varying from six to twelve feet. Two aqueducts carry the canal over Green river, one at the lower end of the feeder, the other at the western end of the canal near Rock river. There are fifty-two culverts that carry small brooks, drainage ditches, and other water courses under the canal.
THE HENNEPIN FEEDER.
In order to keep a suitable stage of water in the canal proper, a feeder is necessary from Rock river. Where shall it tap the crystal current of this
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
stream? It will be a point of travel and traffic for all time to come. Dixon and Sterling both felt its importance, and put in a claim for the terminus of the feeder. C. L. Sheldon and C. C. Johnson, in an interview with Hon. Redfield Proctor, Secretary of War, at Washington, in regard to the matter, were informed that the government in its decision would be guided by the length of route and economy of construction. The necessary funds were subscribed by the citizens of Sterling and Rock Falls, and a survey made by the late Frank E. Andrews. The survey and estimates showed conclu- sively that the route from Rock Falls was not only over eleven miles shorter than that from Dixon, but that numerous items of large expense could be avoided. These figures were decisive, and the feeder was recommended from Rock Falls. It starts east of Rock Falls, runs almost south, joining the main canal in Bureau county, a distance of 29.3 miles. The depth of water is seven feet. When the feeder proposition was first broached, a fear was felt that so much water would be drawn from Rock river as to seriously lessen the main current of the stream, but this has proven unfounded. The' feeder once full, there is little loss by evaporation.
THE FEEDER DAM.
This leaves the Rock Falls shore just below the entrance of the feeder into Rock river and strikes the Sterling or north side between Tenth and Eleventh avenues. The length is over 1,300 feet, and with the flash boards in place will raise the water above its common level eleven and a half feet. Beginning on the south side, besides the abutment, there are eighteen huge piers, each 34 feet long, 17 feet higli, and six feet wide. Each contains 120 yards of concrete in which 135 barrels of cement were used. Between these piers are the ponderous controlling steel gates which are raised or lowered . to regulate the flow of the water. Where these piers end, the center dam, 500 feet long, begins. It consists of lieavy timber cribs, bolted together, and the space inside filled with rubble obtained from blasting the bed of the river. The up-river face of the dam is sheathed with steel platcs one- quarter of an inch thick to protect the wood from ice, and the down-river . slope is faced with three-inch oak plank. It is over this central slope that the river flows, sparkling in a long and wide crystal sheet like the old style dams of our childhood. From the end of the crib section are a series of con- crete piers, similar to those on the south side, extending to the abutment on the north bank. Here will be placed the power house, fifty feet wide and 167 feet long to contain the electric generators attached to the water wheels below. In six flumes, twelve turbine wheels will be installed in pairs, each pair occupying one flume. A tail race excavated in the solid rock eleven feet below the river bed will carry tlie water from the wheels.
The water had been raised nine feet at the dam, and the back water extends to Dixon. The overflow has inundated 1,436 acres of land, which has cost the government $103,787. This inundation extends eight miles above the dam. The estimated cost of the feeder dam was put at $100,000, but Capt. Wheeler thinks it will not exceed $90,000. The cost of the canal and feeder will reach about $7,250,000. The yearly maintenance of the
285
. HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
canal will take about $150,000, to be borne by the government. Consid- ering the national value of the enterprise, these figures seem trifling. New York expended over twenty millions on her Albany capitol, and Philadel- phia a similar sum on her city hall, and they are structures of local con- venience.
At the entrance of the feeder to the river there is a guard lock to pro- tect the canal from high water in the river. This is very important. As much of the canal passes through a flat country, and at places, above its level, a freshet in the river, would soon rise above the banks of the canal, and flood the lowlands, producing wide-spread destruction. This lock is 250 feet long, and 35 feet wide between the walls. As an additional pro- tection, there are collapsible needle dams provided at each end of the lock. A neat iron bridge over the top of the guard lock offers a passage to the east from Second Avenue, Rock Falls.
The canal is spanned by seventy highway bridges and eight railway bridges. These all have concrete abutments, and the highway bridges being at a considerable elevation above the water, require a long and gradual ap- proach. As the bridges over the feeder are not high enough to permit the passage of barges and tugs over twelve feet high, both Mr. Wheeler and Major Riche believe that to allow unrestricted traffic, these structures must be raised to the level first established by the engineers. The construction of the locks and canal walls near Milan, the western terminus, is the first case in the United States where cement was substituted for cut stone, which costs nearly twice as much as concrete. Its successful use here has resulted in its adoption by the government, railways, and great corporations everywhere for similar work. It is said the total amount of concrete material in the canal is sufficient to make a four foot cement sidewalk to Boston.
A short distance from the guard lock, fronting Second avenue, Rock Falls, and commanding a fine view of the dam from shore to shore, is the government building, a spacious square structure, very substantial with its concrete walls and red tile roof. The east half, first and second story, is devoted to public offices in connection with the business of the canal, the west section to household rooms for the use of the janitor. The large area sur- rounding the edifice, will, doubtless, in time become a miniature park where amid trees and shrubbery and flower beds the visitor can enjoy the waterfall and its massive handiwork.
It is too early to estimate the benefits that will accrue to Sterling, Rock Falls, Dixon, indeed, the whole adjoining valley, from this magnificent im- provement. Electric power enough can be generated at the dam to run end- less mills and factories on either bank, and make the combined cities the Pittsburgh of Illinois. The feeder and canal will create for this section direct communication with central Illinois, securing for us cheaper coal, and open- ing a market for grain and other produce. In fact, at every point along the route, warehouses will furnish a home market for farmers to send freight or receive it. Already a company has been formed to operate boats and barges for the transfer of freight and passengers between this point and Peoria, and other places on the Illinois river.
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Aside from the direet commercial advantage of the waterway, is the prospect of local travel. Navigation on Rock river is no longer a tradition, it is a coming reality. Small excursion steamers will make frequent trips. between Sterling and Dixon, giving people an opportunity of admiring the picturesque scenery of our noble stream, or down the feeder through the fertile plains of our southern border, or into the Illinois with its stir of traffic or legends of La Salle. The dam formed by the government has really given the citizens of the two cities a lovely little lake, where boats and launches may safely glide as on a summer sea. A home harbor of delight.
My soul today is far away Sailing the Vesuvian bay.
HOLIDAY OPENING OF THE HENNEPIN.
Rise, lass, and mak a clean fireside, Put on the muckle pot ; Gie little Kate her cotton gown, And Jock his Sunday coat, And mak their shoon as black as slaes, Their hose as white as snow; It's a' to please my ain gudeman, For he's been long awa' .- W. J. Mickle.
As the feeder and the dam, the last stage in the national undertaking, approached completion, it was decided to mark the event with a suitable dem- onstration. Preparations began months ahead, invitations were sent far and wide, and nothing was left undone to arouse the enthusiasm of the popular heart. October 24, 1907, was the date selected, and it proved ideal. The weather was superb. The clear sky, the grass still green, temperature mild, and the foliage slightly turned to gold and erimson, bathed in the mellow sunlight, made the landscape glorious, and the occasion inspiring. Both Sterling and Rock Falls were in gala attire. Stores and publie buildings were profusely and elaborately decorated, and the stars and stripes waved over the streets and floated from every flag staff. The people began to arrive from the country for miles in every direction at an early hour, while the regular and special trains eame loaded with eager passengers. By ten in the morning the sidewalks on Third street were a moving mass of men, women and children, dressed in their best bib and tueker, patiently waiting for the promised show. No similar crowd ever gathered in the streets since the fair of 1880 when the lamented generals, Grant and Logan, were the heroic attractions. Some estimates place the multitude at 25,000. The pagcant began in the morning with a parade, Abram Caughey, marshal of the day. The first section consisted of the mounted police, the Sixth Regiment band with Major Lowrie, and Cos. I, G and E of the Sixth Regiment. The second and larger section was industrial, representing the mercantile and manufac- turing interests of the two eities. Every separate establishment had its float, and many of them were elegant and ingenious. It was the longest and most ambitious procession ever attempted by the cities. It was headed by the Banda
V
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
Verde. The parade was about two and a half miles in length, and required one hour to pass.
Now let us sing, Long live the king, And Gilpin, Long live he! And when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see.
Another pageant in the afternoon. This time aquatic. Boats and launches from Sterling, Rock Falls, and Dixon, assembled on the river near the Water works, under command of Commodore Ben Eick, and after some evolutions, moved through the gates into the fecder, sailed down far as the Dixon avenue bridge, and then returning gave another parade on the river. There were fifty boats, all beautifully decorated, in line, and the display ex- ceeded every expectation. It was the privilege of Miss Grace Wheeler, young- est daughter of Captain and Mrs. Wheeler, to swing back the big gates, and as the band discoursed a lively air, permit the young fleet to float on the smooth waters of the feeder.
Never in the annals of Whiteside were so many prominent visitors assembled. No star actor like Senator Douglas in 1855, or Abraham Lincoln in 1856, but a long array of men of distinction in every department of public life, governors, congressmen, engineers, legislators, mayors, editors, organizers. Among the worthies of the occasion may be mentioned :
Governor Charles S. Deneen of Springfield; ex-Governor Samuel R. Van Sant of Minnesota whose home is now at Minneapolis; Frank O. Lowden of Oregon, Ill., our congressman, and his secretary, James R. Cowley ; Congress- man Joseph V. Graff of Peoria; Congressman Ben H. Caldwell of Spring- field ; ex-Congressman Thomas J. Henderson of Princeton, Ill .; Colonel Clark E. Carr of Galesburg, excongressman from that district; Senator James W. Templeton of Princeton; representative Frank Covey of Belvidere; Edmund Jackson of Fulton, member state board of equalization; C. C. Duffy of Ottawa, clerk of the appellate court for the thirteenth district; Fred E. Sterl- ing, editor of the Rockford Register-Gazette and candidate for nomination for secretary of state; Judge Emory C. Graves of Henry county and Judge Farrand of Dixon.
Among the government engineers and waterway people present were Major C. S. Riche of Rock Island, J. W. McGee of the inland waterway com- mission, one of President Roosevelt's advisors concerning waterway projects. Hon. Thomas Wilkinson of Burlington, who is president of the Upper Mis- sissippi Improvement association; Hon. T. A. Murphy of Davenport, a son of the late Hon. Jerry Murphy of that city, who was one of the fathers of the Hennepin project.
Chicago was represented by John M. Glenn, secretary of the Illinois manufacturers association; Guy Guernsey, clerk of the Cook county probate court and proprietor of Kent law college; W. H. Manns, industrial commis- sioner of the Chicago Association of Commerce; Clayton E. Crafts, formerly speaker of the house of representatives; Malcolm McDowell of the Central Trust company ; Walter H. Moore of E. B. Moore & Co .; George Bonnell of
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY
the Northwestern railway; H. D. Judson and E. R. Puffer of the Burling- ton road.
Nearly every county official of Whiteside and Lee counties was present, .as well as the editors of various journals throughout the valley.
O, as a bee upon the flower, I hang Upon the honey of thy eloquent tongue.
After dinner the oratorical part of the program was to take place. Early in the afternoon the crowd began to gather, and the animated movements of the people on the shore, and the evolutions of the gay launches on the water, made a very pretty picture. The exercises were held on the Rock Falls side. 'The platform stood near the mouth of the feeder, the muffled roar of the raging current in the river furnishing a bass acompaniment to the words of the Websters. The seats on the stand were occupied by the honored guests of the occasion. John S. Stager, secretary of the Sterling Industrial Association, called the meeting to order, and introduced Governor Charles S. Deneen who spoke on the value of the work in every point of view. Illinois has long ranked high in agriculture, but she has coal and other resources for un- limited development in manufacture, and needs the improvement of her waterways to send her products over the vast tributary territory in which she occupies so advantageous a position. He believed the people of the state would authorize the expenditure of twenty million dollars to make the chan- nel of the Illinois river a great avenue of traffic.
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