USA > Illinois > Marshall County > Past and present of Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois > Part 11
USA > Illinois > Putnam County > Past and present of Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
They went out to Iowa and other parts of the west, but finally reported in favor of Rutland. The association agreed to the location and twenty- two thousand acres of land were purchased in the vicinity.
The village was laid out in November, 1855, and was named by the settlers New Rutland, after their old home. The "New" has since been dropped and the postoffice and town have since gone by the name of Rutland.
From the settlement at Rutland a few settlers settled in the eastern part of Bennington and a few adventurous ones struck out into the western part about the same time.
It was soon found that the land was not only susceptible of cultivation, but that it was ex- tremely fertile, and the crops raised were much better than those in the timbered land, and it was but a very short time before the land was all taken up and farm houses sprung up in every direction. But a serious problem arose, and that was how to fence the farms. In the timber was plenty of stuff for rails, but the hauling of them eight or ten miles was too much to be undertaken, and to fence with lumber too expensive for the condition of their finances.
About this time the legislature passed an act giving the township the privilege of deciding by a vote whether cattle and hogs should be per- mitted to run at large. At the next spring elec- tion Bennington submitted the question to the people and the vote was nearly an unanimous "No," and that township was the first in this sec- tion of country to try to raise crops without fences, the cattle being either herded or shut up.
We have said that Bennington was the youngest of the townships, for at the time that township organization was adopted by the other townships,
in 1850, Bennington did not have a settler in it, and Saratoga, a similar township, was not much better off. It filled up sooner, however, than Ben- nington, and was granted a town organization in September, 1855, and Bennington did not be- come a town until December, 1856.
Not much more can be said about the early settling of Bennington. After it began to settle, in an incredibly short time the land was all taken up, and as the land could be brought under culti- vation simply by plowing, no fences being needed, no timber to clear off nor stumps to pull, it was very rapidly brought under cultivation, the water soon disappeared from the depressions, the con- necting sloughs dried up and the system of drain- age which has been adopted make it the best farm- ing land in the county. At least it is not excelled by any.
But fine farms are not all that Bennington township can boast of. On the Santa Fe Railroad, which was built through the northern part of the township about fifteen years ago, in the corner of the southeast quarter of section 5, was located a station, and named Toluca. At first it was only a village, with its one or two stores, a blacksmith shop, postoffice, an elevator, lumber yard and the usual concomitants of a farming village, till three years later Charles J. Devlin, who had been the managing head of the opening of the Spring Val- ley coal mines, turned his attention to Toluca, where a former prospecting had developed the fact that there practicable coal mines could be de- veloped.
Mr. Devlin, who was a wonderfully energetic man, began the work of sinking the shaft and putting up the necessary buildings. The work progressed rapidly, and in a few months coal was brought to the surface, and as fast as room could be made for them men were put in to dig it out, and since that the mines have been actively at work and Toluca has grown from a village of one hundred or so inhabitants to a city of between five and six thousand, with the churches, stores, two newspapers and other things that are gen- erally found in cities of the size and style.
The foreign population is largely of the better class of Italians, although there are enough American residents to give tone to the society and to maintain an excellent graded school, with a principal and nine assistants. Besides the Americans and Italians there is a sprinkling of Poles, Lithuanians and other races employed in
61
PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
and around the mines, the number of men em- ployed averaging about 800, the output of the mines in 1905 being 379,974 tons, valued at $450,104, of which 323,469 tons were loaded on cars for shipment. The price for mining-that is, the price paid to men as wages-is about seventy- five cents a ton, which would make in the gross amount of wages paid in a year $275,000, or about $23,000 a month.
Mr. Devlin, who established the Toluca mines, was a remarkable man. Not content with his mines, he first built a railroad from Toluca, con- necting his mines with the Illinois Central rail- road at Rutland. He also became largely inter- ested in coal properties in Kansas, so much so that he took up his residence in Topeka, Kansas, but still kept the superintendency of his Toluca properties, and was largely interested in the Spring Valley mines. He founded banks at To- peka, Toluca and Spring Valley, and, not content with his railroad connecting with the Illinois Central, he built an extension to McNabb, con- necting with the I. I. I. at that place, and named it the Toluca, Marquette and Northern. He also built out a branch from the Toluca, Marquette and Northern from Magnolia to Henry, expecting to cross the Illinois river at that place and later extend the line further west. He had also several other railroad projects in view ; in fact, was con- templating a gigantic scheme of railroad building, but unfortunately, with his plans unfinished, he received a stroke of paralysis. He rallied from the physical effects in a comparatively short time, but his mental powers remained clouded. It was then found that he had kept practically no books, but had carried all the details of his immense business in his head; that no one but himself knew any- thing about the business, and his mind was in such condition that he was unable to give any account of it.
While Mr. Devlin was the owner of property worth millions, and all of it good paying prop- erties, it was also found he was heavily in debt, and, further, had borrowed heavily from his banks at Topeka, Spring Valley and Toluca; had, in fact, used about all their available assets, in- cluding the deposits, in financing his various ven- tures, and that his debts amounted to about $3,000,000. The first result was the suspension of the three banks and the placing of the prop- erties in the hands of receivers, who have at last straightened things out pretty well so far as the
banks are concerned, but there is, we understand, to be some litigation over the Toluca mines. For several years they have gone under the name of the Devlin Coal Company, but were originally in the name of Charles J. Devlin, and there is no record of the mines ever being transferred from Devlin to the coal company. It may be said here that Mr. Devlin owned nearly all the stock of the company, others holding only enougli so they could act as directors and officers. The legal question is whether a mortgage given by the Dev- lin Coal Company is good when the property has never been transferred to them.
Mr. Devlin, after his partial recovery, took a voyage to Europe to recuperate, but did not ap- pear to improve much. He never fully recovered, and died a short time after his return from the European trip.
While Toluca is the largest of the towns in Marshall county, containing a population more than three times that of any of the others, it is behind them in embellishments and improve- ments. The nature of the population being large- ly miners are more or less shifting all the time and do not take the same interest in their homes and surroundings as do those towns where the in- habitants are more permanently settled.
CHAPTER XXI.
MARSHALL COUNTY AS IT IS.
Marshall county is one of the smallest counties in the state. It contains only twelve townships, and some of these are fractions. Yet it is doubt- ful if there is a fairer one or one that has more natural resources. Its broad prairies, always ready to respond to efforts of the husbandman, unfailing- ly produce large crops of corn, oats, wheat or whatever he wishes to raise in overflowing abun- dance. With an experience here of over sixty years we have never known a crop failure. Besides being unexcelled as farming lands the whole country is underlaid with two or three veins of excellent coal. The hills are not only covered with fine timber, but are full of fine building stone, limestone fit for a good quality of lime, and now that cement has come so much into use there is but little doubt that large quantities of it could be found if properly searched for.
Sand and gravel of the finest quality are found in many places, and nature appears to have taken
62
PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
Marshall county under her wing and showered her with her most precious treasures.
And while nature has done so much man has added to and improved upon it, and it would be very hard to find a piece of land of the same ex- tent of Marshall county where there are so many fine farm residences and improved surroundings. Nor are the cities behind the country. They are not so large as some, it is true, but they are beautiful, not only in the large, palatial resi- dences, with their spacious lawns and well kept grounds, but also the most humble homes have an air of contentment and peace, and over all an air of comfort and home cheer that makes the heart glad, and the same care is shown in keeping up the house and grounds of the smaller homes as in the larger ones. It shows they have a confi- dence and pride in their little cities that you will not find in the large cities. You will travel far and wide before you find prettier or nicer little cities than Marshall county can boast of.
Besides the corn and other crop raising much attention is paid stock raising, and Marshall coun- ty can boast of some of the finest herds of thor- oughbred stock, horses, cattle and hogs there is in the state. In fact, both thoroughbred cattle and horses were introduced into this section by Marshall county farmers in very early days. The county has long been noted for shorthorn cattle, and there is now a herd of them here which have repeatedly taken premiums at the state fairs and at the International Stock Show in Chicago, that is well known throughout the United States and Canada and is famous for its purity and the beauty of its individuals.
Although Marshall county is small, yet every variety of soil and contour that Illinois affords is found here, the level flat prairie, with its deep black soil, the sand prairie with its light fertile soil, the rolling high prairie with its clayey, sticky richness, the bold bluff with its timber and stone and coal boldly cropping out, the swamps with untold richness which is waiting for the drain, and the noble river, bearing on its bosom cargoes of corn, oats and wheat and noble steamers upon which hundreds of passengers daily pass up and down, and whose product of fish is by no means an insignificant item in the prosperity of the county. We think it would be extremely difficult to find a more diversified landscape or where na- ture has bestowed her best gifts with a more lavish hand.
Marshall county is celebrated for the excellence of her schools. Almost the first thing the early settlers did after providing for the comfort of their families was to do something for the educa- tion of their children, and almost as soon as they became settled their first care was to build school houses and provide means to educate the children, and the same disposition pertains to this day, and. no one can hardly travel two miles in any direction but what they will see a very neat, comfortable building which has "school" written all over it. The grounds around it will be well cared for, by far the larger part of them having fine shade trees even when built upon the open prairie. If you go into one you will find it comfortably seated with patent seats and desks, the walls decorated with maps and charts, and all but one of the eighty schools of the county have libraries of greater or less extent, with an encyclopædia and dictionary handy and plenty of blackboard and chalk. There are in the county forty-three hun- dred and twenty-four children of school age, be- tween six and twenty-one. Of these, thirty-four hundred and twenty-eight are upon the rolls of the different schools. To teach these schools one hundred and twenty-six teachers are employed, twenty-one males and one hundred and five fe- males. Of the eighty schools, eight are graded, and each requires several teachers. Some of the male teachers, principals, command a wage of one hundred and twenty dollars and over a month. Some of the females are paid as low as thirty dol- lars, but the average salary for teachers is from forty to fifty dollars. The eight graded schools are found at present in the cities and towns, but the time is not far distant when each township will have its high school, with means provided for scholars living at a distance to ride to the school house. A school of this kind is already estab- lished in the adjoining county, and it will not be long before it is generally adopted.
With the same zcal that they provided for sec- ular instruction for their children did they look out for religious instruction for themselves, and no sooner was the school house built, and some- times before, they began to hold religious services, at times in houses, but they were quite small, and at other times in barns, where a larger number could be accommodated. When the school house was built the services were held there. The pioneer preachers were as a rule rough, uncultured men, often unable even to read, but they were earnest
63
PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
and sincere and often powerful preachers. They would often go many miles to fill an appointment made, it might be, several months ahead, and would brave any weather or other obstacles. The writer has in mind one of these men who lived fifteen miles away, who had a standing appoint- ment to preach at a certain school house every fifth Sunday in the month, having other regular ap- pointments for all the other Sundays. He never missed an appointment if his health permitted him to start.
To the honor of the settlers be it said that when the preacher came to his appointment he found his congregation there to meet him, and they came from far and near, not to show their fine bonnets and new clothes, for they had none, but to listen reverently to the words of the preacher. They may have been rough and uncouth in their exterior, but they were honest and upright in heart, and the good qualities they transmitted to their children have done much to make of the people of Marshall county a moral, law abiding people. It is singularly free from rowdyism and crime.
As more settlers came in and the school houses became too small for the congregations and the settlers a little more forehanded they began to build churches, possibly not so imposing or gaudy as some, but good, substantial buildings, large enough to accommodate all, and dedicated them to the worship of God, and it is to the credit of these men that they made provision for their souls' welfare before they were fully able to care for the body. They looked after the essentials, leaving other matters to care for themselves.
This disposition to build churches and gather together for worship is a distinct trait today of the people of Marshall county, and we doubt if another county of the same size, and even some much larger, can be found that has had more churches built in it than Marshall county, and today they are found everywhere, every township having from one to three or four in the country districts. No village has less than two, and of the cities of two thousand or so, Henry has seven and Lacon and Wenona about as many.
While the people have well looked after their spiritual needs they have not by any means neglect- ed the bodily comforts. The little twelve by four- teen log cabin has been replaced by palatial resi- dences, and the straw-covered stable of poles by a capacious barn and sometimes two or three.
The houses are nicely built and painted, large, roomy and comfortable, and furnished with most of the modern conveniences and comforts. Heated in winter by furnaces or large hard coal burners. they are kept comfortable throughout. A tele- phone connecting with the outer world is found in nearly every house, and every morning their mail is delivered at the gate by the rural mail carrier.
Marshall county is essentially a farming com- munity, located in one of the finest farming scc- tions in the world. There may be other patches of land more prolific at times, but the farmer in Marshall county is always assured of a fair return if he gives it the needed attention. The numer- ous well filled barns and the bursting corn cribs attest the bounteous profusion of nature's gifts to the thrifty husbandman.
While Marshall county is not located exactly in the "fruit belt," strawberries, raspberries and blackberries grow wild in the woods and on the prairies, and when cultivated produce immense crops of excellent quality. Apples, pears, plums and cherries all do well, and in favorable seasons, which are much more common than unfavorable ones, produce large crops of fine fruit. Peaches are somewhat uncertain, a cold winter killing the buds, but after a mild winter like the last, every tree is loaded to its full capacity; in fact, all the fruits of the temperate zone can be raised here with a little care and cultivation.
Another thing which contributes to the pros- perity of the county and has been lavishly supplied by nature is the coal beds. There is but little if any doubt but that the whole of Marshall county, with the exception of the small Henry prairie, about two miles wide and five miles long, is under- laid with several beds of excellent coal. Already Marshall county, small as it is, ranks eighteenth in. the coal producing counties of the state, of which there are forty-two. The output for ship- ping last year (1905) was 503,776 tons, valued at $666,686, from the three mines of Toluca, We- nona and Sparland, while the local banks are credited with seventy-one hundred and ninety-two tons, valued at $10,999, mostly consumed in the county. There are no mines down to the third vein coal west of the river except at Sparland, and there are grand possibilities yet in the large prai- ries that compose the four townships on that side, for the coal lays there in inexhaustible quantities as the Creator laid it ages ago. It might be sup-
64
PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
posed that the farms located in the rich prairies had a great advantage over those whose farms ex- tended into the timber and bluffs, but not so. There is hardly an acre in Marshall county which, if properly cultivated, will not bring a fair crop of corn, wheat, oats or other cereals, but the bluffs make excellent grazing grounds, and those living there have turned their attention to breeding and raising cattle and hogs, and the signs of pros- perity around their homes are fully equal to those of the denizens of the prairie.
Before we leave the sources of production that nature has bounteously bestowed upon Marshall county we must not omit the Illinois river, which is one of the greatest fish producers in the country. The statistics tell us that the Illinois produces more fish than all the rest of the tributaries of the Mississippi together. Be that as it may, thou- sands of pounds are caught here and shipped to New York, Philadelphia and Boston every year, and between two and three hundred persons in the little city of Henry alone derive the greater part of their living from the fish industry. During the first two weeks in June there was shipped from Henry five carloads, over one hundred thousand pounds. These fish are taken by professional fish- ermen with nets and seines, and consist of the coarser fish, carp and buffalo. No account is taken of the croppie, bass, bullheads and other fish which are taken with hook and line and will number in a season many thousands and furnish a delightful change in the cuisine of hundreds of households. The river also, with its numerous ponds and bayous, gives protection to swarms of ducks and other aquatic birds, which furnish sport to the hunters and many a tidbit for the table.
As yet Marshall county has no factories except the woolen mill at Lacon that was destroyed by fire about four years ago but was rebuilt, larger than before. They are prosperous and compete successfully with the large eastern corporations. They are crowded with orders and are contem- plating doubling the capacity of the plant in the near future, which shows that factories can be successfully conducted here, and there is no ques- tion that it is only a question of time when more will be established in the county, as there are plenty of fine sites and conditions are favorable.
In summing up, what more can we say of Mar- shall county ? We have known it and lived in it over sixty years, and we never knew it to go back on the farmer. We have seen it change from a
few small hamlets and scattered settlers, when it was almost in its primitive state, nearly as wild as when La Salle and Marquette first sailed down the river in their canoes, and have seen the hamlets grow into cities and farms cover the whole face of the country. We have seen the little log cabin of the settler first exchanged for a neat frame house and that in turn replaced by a palace. We have seen the land rise in value from one dollar and a quarter an acre to one hundred and fifty and two hundred dollars an acre. The changes have been great and wonderful.
Sixty years is a long time in the life of a man, but a short time in the history of a country. This great change has come over the county during one life time of a man. A member of the family of the first settler of Marshall county, seven years old at the time the family settled here, died last June at the age of eighty-five years. He found the country a wild wilderness, inhabited only by wild animals and the still wilder Indians, he left it "as a garden, blossoming like the rose."
Of those that came in the earlier days many re- mained, some went away. Of those who went away a few may have bettered their lot, but many did not, but of those who remained, almost with- out exception, they found as old age came on they could retire from the strenuous life and spend the closing years in peaceful ease. Marshall county lias in almost every instance rewarded their days of toil with a bountiful surplus that makes their last days a peaceful rest, free from toil and care.
Of the future of Marshall county who shall say ? Who will have the audacity to place a limit upon its improvement? Who shall say "thus far and no farther"?
Had any one a half century ago undertook to describe it as it really is today; had he had the gift of second sight and really seen it as it is, those to whom he told it would have considered it wild vaporings; they would not have believed it possible that it could be. May not the next half century make changes here even more wonderful than the past onc?
We have seen that her resources are practically inexhaustible and that in fact they are not half developed. The farms under a better and more comprehensive system of cultivation would yield double, possibly treble, what they do at present. Her inexhaustible coal beds have hardly been touched, even. Her gravel, sand, lime and cement beds have hardly been disturbed. Production in
65
PAST AND PRESENT OF MARSHALL AND PUTNAM COUNTIES.
the county is just in its infancy ; it needs develop- ing in other lines and almost as badly now as farming did at the beginning of the past half century.
We have all these things in unlimited quanti- ties, but we have little use for them, and conse- quently they are undeveloped. Others, however, do want them, and when transportation facilities are such that we can move them, then we can es- tablish communication with them and they will be glad to get these things and will remunerate us for them. It is true we now have five great railroads
within our borders, but they are taxed to their utmost to move the grain and coal that is now produced. We are promised other roads, and con- ditions are such that other railroads must come, but it is when the river improvement, now con- templated, when the "great waterway from the lakes to the gulf" is finished, when ships load with the varied productions of Marshall county at her own wharves for all parts of the world, then and not until then will anybody be able to answer in- telligently the question, What shall the future of Marshall county be?
1
٠-
WE. Hawthorne
HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY
BY
W. E. HAWTHORNE
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.