USA > Illinois > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 15
USA > Indiana > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 15
USA > Missouri > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 15
USA > Ohio > Pages from the early history of the West and Northwest: embracing reminiscences and incidents of settlement and growth, and sketches of the material and religious progress of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri > Part 15
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to travel east till they came to the white man's wig- wam, that they might know what the book taught concerning the Great Spirit. As General Clarke, of St. Louis, was well known among them, they went to him as the one most likely to give them reliable information. When he learned their errand he gave them a Bible, and explained to them the white man's beliefs of the creation, fall, and restoration through Christ-that we, through him, might, upon the condi- tions of repentance and faith, be fit to enter heaven. Getting what further information they could, they started back to publish the glad news of salvation to their brethren, and what they had learned of the Great Spirit. It was reported that but few of them ever reached their home; most of them fell in the wilderness before they had the happiness of pointing their friends to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.
Their solicitations for missionaries were so urgent that Bangs and Fisk advocated their new claim upon the civilized world, through the columns of the Ad- vocate, with great earnestness and ability, till there came up an enthusiastic response to the call. Jason and Daniel Lee and Cyrus Shepherd were sent out as missionaries to this new field of labor. . Bangs says that this had a most happy effect upon the mis- sionary cause generally. Heretofore the entire fund raised for that purpose had not exceeded eighteen hundred dollars a year. The Macedonian cry was responded to throughout the entire Church by
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doubling the amount raised the year of their depart- ure. The mission formed by these men, Stevens says, has since become the nucleus of Christianity and civilization of the new and important State which has since arisen on the north Pacific coast.
In the Fall of 1838, when our Conference was in session at Alton, in the midst of business, Jason Lee stepped into the Conference room, after seven years of absence. His long exposure to sun and rain, camping out nights, besides afflictions in the loss of his dear companion-a wife and mother-all pressing . and wearing upon him amid his untiring labors, were as so many chapters of untold suffering; and yet, in his countenance, there was a heavenly resignation, and a mute expression which seemed to say, "Not my will, but thine be done." Our astonishment was increased when he introduced as his traveling com- panions two or three of the natives from the tribe of the Flathead Indians. It was very curious to see these Indians, with their heads perfectly flat from the nose upward to the crown, tapering all the way. I suppose that at the present time this practice of wearing a board while quite young in order to bring the head to this peculiar shape is very well known, yet it would, no doubt, surprise us now to see sud- denly coming into a large audience these singular children of the forest. They had made considerable progress in learning, and had beautiful voices for singing, and sang several Methodist hymns in their own language. Some of them professed religion, and
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were members of the Church. Mr. Lee's design in bringing them here was to educate them and send them back as missionaries to Oregon.
The foregoing is the most reliable information that I could get respecting the Oregon mission. I presume the sermon that General Clarke preached to the Flat- heads was the first and the last orthodox sermon he ever preached. He died in St. Louis, on the 1st of September, 1838. He had been Governor from 1813 to 1820, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs till his death. In 1803 he explored the Pacific coast, and through this means the tribe referred to probably became acquainted with him. When our zeal is brought in comparison with that of those ignorant Indians in obtaining a knowledge of the true God, with what force may we take to ourselves the charge of Paul to the brethren: "Some have not the knowl- edge of God. I speak this to your shame."
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CHAPTER XXIX.
IN Niles's Register, sixth volume, page 394, may be found the earliest suggestions of a canal from Lake Michigan to the navigable waters of the Illi- nois River that we have found in print. The date is August 6, 1814, in the time of the war, and it is a paragraph from a series of editorial articles on the great importance, in a National point of view, of the States and Territories of this now great central val- ley. We give the extract: "By the Illinois River it is probable that Buffalo may be united with New Orleans by inland navigation through Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, and down that river to the Mississippi. What a route! How stupendous the idea! How dwindles the importance of the artificial canals of Europe compared with this water commu- nication ! If it should ever take place, the Territory of Illinois will become the seat of immense com- merce, and a market for the commodities of all re- gions." Governor Bond, at the first session of the General Assembly, in 1818, brought this subject be- fore that body in his inaugural message. He sug- gested an early application to Congress for a certain per centage from the sales of the public lands, to be appropriated to that object. In his valedictory mes- sage, in December, 1822, he again refers to it, and
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to his first address, and states: "It is believed that the public sentiment has been ascertained in relation to this subject, and that our fellow-citizens are pre- pared to sustain their representatives in the adop- tion of measures subservient to its commencement." His successor, Governor Cole, in his inaugural ad- dress, December 5, 1822, devoted four pages to this subject, and referred to an act of the preceding Con- gress, which gave permission to the State to cut a canal through the public lands connecting the Illi- nois River to Lake Michigan, and granting to it the breadth of the canal, and ninety feet on each side. With this was coupled the onerous condition "that the State should permit all articles belonging to the United States, or to any person in their employ, to pass free forever." The Governor, who was a zealous and liberal advocate for an economical and judicious system of internal improvements, proposed to create a fund from the revenues received, from taxes on the military bounty lands, from fines and forfeitures, and from such other sources as the Legislature in its wisdom might think proper to set apart for that purpose. He further proposed the examination and survey of the river and the canal route in Illinois, and to memorialize Congress for a liberal donation of land in opening the projected lines of communi- cation. An act and memorial to Congress on the subject was passed by the Legislature during the session. This act, which was approved February 14, 1823, provided for a board of commissioners, whose
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duties were to devise and adopt measures to open a communication by canal, etc., also to invite the at- tention of the governors of the States of Indiana and Ohio, and, through them, the Legislatures of those States, to the importance of a canal between the Wabash and Maumee Rivers. Thomas Sloe, jr., Theophilus W. Smith, Emanuel J. West, and Eras- tus Brown were elected commissioners. At that time Sangamon River and Fulton counties were the boundaries of settlements. Only a military and trading post existed at Chicago. A dozen families, chiefly French, were at Peoria. The northern half of Illinois was a continuous wilderness, or, as the impression was, an interminable prairie, and not likely to be inhabited for an age to come. Morgan county, which then included Scott and Cass counties, contained about seventy-five families, and Springfield was a frontier village of a dozen log cabins. Some of the commissioners, with the late Colonel Justice Post, of Missouri, as their engineer, made an explora- tion in the Autumn of 1823-24. Colonel R. Paul, of St. Louis, was also employed as engineer, with the necessary men to assist in making the survey complete. The party was accompanied by one com- missioner. Two companies were organized, and five different routes examined, and the expense estimated on each. The locks and excavations were calculated on the supposition that the construction was to be on the same scale of the Grand Canal, of New York, then in process of making. The probable cost of
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each route was reported by the engineers, the high- est being $716,110, the lowest $639,940. At the next session of the Legislature an act was passed- January 17, 1825-to incorporate the Illinois and Michigan Company. The capital stock was one million of dollars, in ten thousand shares of one hundred dollars each. The stock not being taken, at a subsequent session the Legislature repealed the charter. During these movements within the State, the late Daniel P. Cook, as the Representative in Congress, and the Senator of Illinois, was unceasing in his efforts to obtain lands from the National Government to construct this work. As the result of these efforts, on the 2d of March, 1827, Congress granted to the State of Illinois each alternate sec- tion of land, five miles in width, each side of the projected canal. The finances of the State were so embarrassed as to prevent much being done till Jan- uary, 1829, when the Legislature passed an act to organize a board of commissioners, with power to employ agents, engineers, surveyors, draughtsmen, and other persons to explore, examine, and determ- ine the route of the canal. They were authorized to lay off town sites, sell lots, and apply the funds. They laid off Chicago near the lake, and Ottowa at the junction of Fox River. The Illinois survey and estimate were again made, but the improbability of obtaining a full supply of water on the surface level, and the increase of cost to near double the original estimate by reason of the rock approaching so near
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the surface on the summit level between Chicago and Desplaines, led a subsequent Legislature to au- thorize a reexamination, to ascertain the cost of a railway with a single track for ninety-six miles. It was estimated at one million and fifty thousand dol- lars. It was a great mistake that this railway was not constructed. At a special session of the Legis- lature, 1835-36, an act was passed authorizing a loan of half a million of dollars for the construction of the canal, and the board of commissioners was reor- ganized. On the 4th of July, 1830, the first ground was broken. At the session of 1836-37 the internal improvement system became the absorbing question, and the canal was brought under the same influence. Loans to a vast extent were obtained for both ob- jects, and the most extravagant expectations were raised, never to be realized. As a financial measure, the canal loans were distinguished from internal im- provements and other loans, but all failed, with the credit of the State, before 1842. Contracts were made, and the work, on the scale projected, was pushed till over five millions of dollars had been expended, and the work still unfinished. By this time the credit of the State had sunk so low that no further loans could be obtained. The contractors were obliged to abandon their work, with heavy claims against the State, and, in 1843, a law was passed to liquidate and settle the damages at a sum not exceeding two hundred and thirty thousand dol- lars. At the session of the Legislature of 1842-43
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an act was passed to provide for the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and for the pay- ment of the canal debt. Under this act the bond- holders subscribed six hundred thousand dollars, the estimated amount necessary to complete the canal. In 1845 a board of trustees was organized, three in number, one appointed by the Governor, and two by the subscribers. The canal and its remaining lands and lots were transferred by the State to the board of trustees. Under this board the location of the canal between Chicago and Lockport was changed to a summit level eight or ten feet above the lake level. Work on the canal was resumed in the Sum- mer of 1845, and it was completed and opened for navigation in the Spring or Summer of 1848. . The first sale of lands and town lots under the board of trustees took place in the Fall of the same year.
I am indebted to Colonel Manning for the follow- ing correction to the above:
"At the session of the Legislature of 1842-43 an act was passed of the following title:
"' An Act to provide for the completion of the Illinois and Mich- igan Canal, and for the payment of the Canal Debt.'
"Of which the following is the preamble, to-wit:
"'WHEREAS, it has been represented that certain holders of the bonds of this State are willing to advance the necessary funds for the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal on being secured the payment of their said advance and of their said bonds by a vested lien upon the said canal, lands, and revenues: For the purpose, therefore, of accomplishing an object so desir- able and beneficial to the said bondholders and the State, Be it enacted,' etc.
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"Under the provisions of this act $1,600,000, the estimated cost of completing the canal, was sub- scribed by the said bondholders, and, in 1845, a Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan Canal was organized, three in number, one appointed by the Governor, and two by the subscribers-the canal and its revenues, lands, and lots transferred by the State to the said board in trust.
"Under the said board of trustees the place of the canal between Chicago and Lockport was changed to a summit level eight or ten feet above the lake level, on 'the rough cut.' Work on the canal was resumed in the Summer of 1845, and it was completed and opened for navigation in the Spring or Summer of 1848. The first sale of lands and town lots under the board of canal trustees took place in the Fall of the same year."
It was in the year 1816 the same year of the rebuilding of the fort after its destruction by the Indians-that the land on which Chicago now stands, and a strip twenty miles, wide running to the south- west along a contemplated canal route, was ceded to the United States by the Pottawotamies. They re- mained the peaceful occupants of it for twenty years afterward. It was not till 1836 that they were re- moved by the Government to lands appropriated for their use west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk con- tended for the lands north-west of this contemplated canal route, and a line running through to the mouth of Rock River. It appears that a treaty had been
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made by General Harrison at St. Louis, in Novem- ber, 1804, with the chiefs of the Sac and Fox nations-elsewhere referred to-in which they had ceded to the United States all their lands on Rock River, and considerable more elsewhere. Mr. Peck says in the Western Annals, page 546, that the tract of lands ceded by them in 1804 embraced all the country lying between the Mississippi, Illinois, and Fox River of Illinois, and Wisconsin River, compre- hending fifty millions of acres. It was in the same year-1804-in which General Harrison made the above treaty that the first fort was built in Chicago.
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CHAPTER XXX.
A SHORT sketch of Rev. John Hill and his arrival at Peoria Conference is among the matters of inter- est in the settlement of the State and the progress of Methodism. Hill was born in the State of Mas- sachusetts, on the 15th of September, 1768, town of Berry, county of Worcester. His father moved to Hampshire county, in the same State, when John was about four years old, and remained there to the day of his death. His mother belonged to Mr. G. Whitefield's Church, and the boy often heard her in earnest prayer in his behalf. He emigrated to Can- ada in his early manhood, where, at times, he felt a most earnest concern for his soul, sometimes pray- ing, and sometimes almost in despair. In the year 1800 he went to hear Rev. Joseph Jewell preach, near Queenstown, on the Niagara. He says: "His whole sermon seemed directed toward myself, and I seemed such a great sinner that I cried for mercy, for it seemed to me that I was in the depths of de- spair. Happily for me, however, I resolved that, if I went to hell, I would go praying. With this res- olution, I continued praying, till, by faith, I claimed the promise, 'He will have mercy, and our God, he will abundantly pardon.' The change was so great, and the evidence was so clear that I shouted at the
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top of my voice. I was in the depths of a forest, and the thought came to me, It is well you are in the woods, or you would frighten all around you. This did not deter me from continually saying, 'Glory to God,' and in this happy frame of mind I continued, both on meeting in class and attending preaching, till Joseph Jewell gave me the privilege of uniting with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the year 1805 Robert Perry was sent to our cir- cuit, and came in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. He seemed to live in the full en- joyment of perfect love, and preached it to saint and sinner. He gave me to see such a beauty, and such a satisfying portion in this great blessing, that I never rested till I entered into its full enjoyment; and since that time I have had such a love for souls that I have prayed, exhorted, and preached for nearly fifty years, pointing sinners to the Lamb of God, and I trust that my feeble labors have not been in vain in the Lord. To God be all the glory."
Hill emigrated to the State of New York in 1812, and labored with great acceptability and usefulness in the counties of Genesee and Livingston. In the Spring of 1838, April 2d, he came west, and arrived at Princeville, Peoria county, Ill. The population was scarce, and but one Methodist sister in the neighborhood. He found in the "far West" a great ยท opening for ministerial labor, and he commenced to work in good earnest for God and the good of souls. In a short time he had formed a class of nine'
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members, and soon commenced preaching in the neighborhood. In the Fall of 1840 there was a camp meeting about fourteen miles west, at Cutler's Grove. E. Thompson and W. Pitner were preach- ers, and N. Berryman presiding elder. The little class at Princeville concluded to have a tent on the ground, and several of the neighbors, both professors and non-professors, joined with them. A certain Mr. B. had several daughters at the meeting, and he gave orders to the teamster, if his daughters got religion, to hitch up the team and bring them home before the Methodists opened the doors of the Church for the reception of members. He had an- ticipated rightly. His daughters were among the converts. His teamster, according to orders, had up his team, and no entreaties would prevail on him to stay. The daughters were obliged to go home. Soon after this a Christian preacher was sent for, and the daughters were baptized by him, and they joined that body. They did not remain long as members, however, but came back and joined the Methodists, among whom they first found peace. In 1841 W. Pitner was appointed to Peoria circuit, and held a camp meeting at Princeville. I had the privilege of attending this camp meeting. It was increasingly prosperous till Sabbath evening, when W. Pitner was to preach, and I to exhort and call up the mourners. We expected that evening to re- sult in reversing the history of the past few days. The preacher began in his odd way of portraying
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the downward path of the sinner. His apt and un- varnished illustration of a sinner on the way to hell excited laughter all over the house. Every one seemed too merry and trifling to have any good re- sult from such a sermon, and most of us gave up all expectations of inviting in the mourners at its close.
I felt that I could not exhort after that sermon, and told the elder so, when, all of a sudden, he changed to one of the most terrific descriptions of the finally impenitent, and the wailings of the damned, till it seemed as if the sound of those wailings reached our ears, and we could almost feel the darkness of despair brooding over the sinner, and see his tearless eyeballs rolling in their burning sockets, and his poor unsheltered soul cry out, "Lost, lost, lost !" All eyes seemed as if turned toward the yawning pit, and the deep sighs heaved from a thousand breasts-Lord, save; Lord, save the sin- ner! And then he pointed to the Savior as the sinner's only refuge, telling how, through him, there was yet hope, that all might come and receive par- don, and that the joys of heaven were freely offered, without money and without price. I have never witnessed another such a scene. It was as if they realized that the judgment was near at hand. Some fell, and lay all night and cried for mercy; others screamed as if hell was moving from beneath to meet them at their coming. And then how beauti- fully he cleared up the way and invited the sinners to the altar! Such as had strength came rushing
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and fairly tumbling along, some, with uplifted voices, crying, "Thou Son of David, have mercy on us!" In the midst of all this the preacher's mellowing tones, and his invitation to come to Jesus, beggar all de- scription. The cries for mercy, the bursting forth of praise, and the preacher's voice sounding out over all with its melting tones of pardon produced a scene, I imagine, like that of God's ancient people when lay- ing the foundation of the second temple, "when the old men wept with a loud shout, so that they could not discern the noise of the shouts of joy from the voice of the weeping people." This camp meeting ended with glorious results, which may be seen to this day. That class suffered a great loss when Rev. John Hill left and settled near Plainfield. His labors were greatly blessed during his short stay of eight- een months with us, from which place he returned again to Princeville, and labored on faithfully till he entered upon his great reward. . His son Benjamin, who was, in his father's lifetime, a faithful co-laborer with him, is yet among us, and a firm Methodist, battling for the Lord. Many of Rev. J. Hill's grand- children are living in and around Princeville, pillars of the Methodist Episcopal Church. May God's blessing rest upon them till they all meet in heaven !
John Hill received his license to preach from Nathan Bangs. A short time before his death he seemed to have a presentiment that his life was near its close, and one Sabbath, at the close of a sermon, he told his congregation that on the next Sabbath
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he should preach his farewell sermon. On the next Sabbath a large concourse of people met, filling the house. It may be easily imagined with what zeal and pathos he delivered his last words-a dying man to a dying congregation. His last sermon will not soon be forgotten, and eternity alone will reveal its results. In a few days after this, when a brother had called to see him, he requested that he would once more unite with him in prayer, and while he was commending his soul to God his happy spirit took its flight, and entered that rest which remains for his people. He died in the eighty-second year of his age, and fiftieth year of his ministry.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
THE following circumstance, relating to Bishops Roberts and Soule, was given me by Dr. P. Akers. They were on their way to Conference, and jour- neyed on pleasantly till they came to Columbus, on the Tombigbee River, Alabama. They left this place early in the morning, in the hope of being able to reach a house among the Choctaw people in time to avoid lying out among wild beasts and hostile In- dians. About noon they stopped to let their horses graze, turning them loose with their saddles off and their bridles tied up. Before long a company of Indians approached, and Bishop Soule's horse, a high-spirited animal, took fright and started off at full pace through the woods, followed by the rest. The Indians, seeing what they had done, made signs that they would pursue the horses and bring them back, and started off rapidly.
The Bishops remained there till the next day, en- tirely without provisions, and at last concluded that they would walk around and see if they could see their horses, or some human being to relieve their hunger. They soon saw a smoke in the distance. Hastening to the spot, they found an old squaw cook- ing some kind of meat. Making signs of hunger, and of a wish to enjoy her hospitality, she soon
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placed the food before them. Bishop Roberts sat upon the ground, taking the platter in his lap, and seemed to relish his food. The other two, however, after taking a mouthful or two, seeing the filthy manner in which it was dressed and cooked, were not only compelled to refrain from eating more, but lost what they had already eaten. But the Bishop kept on eating, and laughing as heartily as he ate at/ the daintiness of his companions. Before they left they found that they had been served to skunk's meat.
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