USA > Illinois > Ogle County > The history of Ogle County, Illinois, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics history of the Northwest, history of Illinois etc > Part 51
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Forreston Journal was commenced by Messrs. Saltzman & Mathews April 6, 1867. In June, 1867, Mr. M. M. Mathews retired and the paper was continued by Mr. M. V. Saltzman until 1870, when Mr. C. F. Dore acquired an interest. Mr. Dore sold to Mr. J. W. Clinton in the same year. In the Spring of 1872 Mr. Clinton purchased Mr. Saltzman's interest, and in 1873 sold the paper to G. L. Bennett. In the Fall of 1874, Mr. I. B. Bickford purchased the office and removed it to Byron.
The Forreston Herald succeeded the Journal. It was established in 1875 by a stock company, which purchased a new ontfit, and started with
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY
Mr. F. N. Tice, editor. November 1, 1876, Mr. Charles E. Slocum became the proprietor, who is still successfully managing the paper.
The Farmers' Criterion is a small five-column folio sheet, started in 1878 and published monthly at Forreston, by D. O. Lantz, editor and publisher.
The Monroe Argus. In the Summer of 1877 a paper was published for a while at Monroe called the Monroe Argus, conducted by D. C. Need- ham, who was also publishing the Creston Times. The Argus was printed at Creston, and was probably little else than the Times with change of head.
The Davis Junction Enterprise was the title of a diminutive paper published at Davis Junction, in the Town of Scott, some time in the Summer of 1876, by S. S. Tucker. In typographical appearance it was unique, unlike any thing above or beneath the earth, save that, like all earthly things, it had a beginning and an ending. Of its circulation, political status or its corps of editors, there is no available information. It is entirely safe, how- ever, to presume that its discontinuance was induced by the financial strin- gency of that year, which forced many other enterprises of greater pretensions to the wall.
THE MOUND BUILDERS.
The history of Ogle County would not be complete without some mention of the earliest occupants of this region who have left evidences to testify that they once lived here, a matter that should properly, perhaps, have been mentioned first, and would have been if these "first settlers " had left any records from which their history could have been written, but they have left no traces of their existence save the mysterious and voiceless mounds they built containing their bones, some of their rude implements of war and other utensils, to mark the spot where they once lived a numer- ous and apparently semi-civilized people-the Mound Builders.
The high bluffs on both banks of the Mississippi from its head waters to the low alluvial lands of Louisiana and the banks of nearly all the water-courses in the great Valley of the " Father of Waters," are thickly dotted with these remarkable mounds. They were very numerous in the Rock River Valley and many still remain, but they are gradually disap- pearing, being removed to give place to the cities and villages of modern civilization and leveled by the plow of the farmer. The beautiful plain where now stands the pleasant city of Oregon as well as the surrounding hills or bluffs, was once the favorite dwelling-places of this pre-historic people. Several of the mounds were removed when the streets of the town were graded, and there was one of them reinoved to make way for the present Court House. There is one still to be seen on the top of Liberty Hill. These strange structures have long attracted the attention of anti- quarians who have proposed numerous theories to solve mystery of their origin, plausible, perhaps many of them, but all vague speculation, for there is no voice from these silent monuments of antiquity, the only remaining traces of a pre-historic age, except to testify that they were built by a race who occupied this country and were swept from the face of the earth many centuries-hundreds it may be-ago.
At the 21st session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Dubuque, Iowa, in August, 1872, Prof. H. T. Woodman, of Dubuque, read a very interesting paper on the "Ancient Wonders of
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Dubuque and its Vicinity," in which he made mention of the peculiarities of these enigmatical structures as follows:
Ancient Mounds .- The mounds and other ancient earthworks of North America, are far more abundant than are generally supposed, from the fact that while some are quite large, the greater part of them are small and inconspicuous. Along nearly all our water courses that are large enough to be navigated with a canoe, the mounds are almost invariably found, covering the base points and headlands of the bluffs, which border the narrower valleys, so that when one finds himself in such positions as to command the grandest views for river scenery, he may almost always discover that he is standing upon, or in close prox- imity to, some one or more of these traces of the labors of an ancient people. Some of these mounds can be seen from the streets of our city, but a greater number have become obscured from view by the surrounding growth of forest trees. Hundreds of them are thus hidden along the valleys and bluffs of our great Mississippi River and its tributaries, but the greater may yet be traced by careful observation.
It is not only upon the points and headlands that these mounds are found, but they also exist in great numbers upon the broader upper terraces in the valleys.
The terraces are such as Prof. White refers in the terrace epoch, having doubtless been ancient flood plains of the adjacent streams, but are now far above the reach of their highest floods. Furnishing, as they do the most convenient sites for the valley towns of the white race, we often find that convenience of settlement had induced the mound builders also to choose precisely the same sites for their earthworks. The result is that a large number of mounds in such positions are not only obscured by the growing towns, but are ruthlessly destroyed every year. * * * * * * * *
Around Lake Peosta they are circular in shape. Almost invariably fifteen paces apart, from centre to centre, the smaller ones being from 2 to 212 feet high about 20 teet in diameter, the material of which they are composed is the ordinary alluvial soil of the terrace. What is remarkable about this group is their number and the great regularity of their arrangement, being arranged in straight or slightly curved lines (some of them being parallel,) and the nearly uniform distance apart, namely about fifteen paces.
While the association was in session, the members visited, and caused to be opened, one of these mounds in Jo Daviess County, Ill., in which they found skulls, stone hatchets, rude household utensils, etc., and the thigh bone of a skeleton found on this occasion, indicates a man at least eight feet in height. Dr. Hoyt, of Racine, took the position that the mounds were the sepulchers of Indians, and that they were buried it sitting positions. Dr. Putnam, of Salem, Mass., stated that "on the Wabash, these mounds were supposed to be the remains of towns, instead of burial places. On that river a few of the hillocks had been opened, and at the depth of five or six feet were found, instead of skeletons, a few bones and utensils that indicated that people had been eating there." He concluded that " the mounds were simply habitations."
The following extract from a chapter on " Ancient Mounds," recently published in the history of Jo Daviess County, will be found interesting in this connection.
On the top of the high bluffs that skirt the west bank of the Mississippi, about two and a half miles from Galena, are a number of these silent monuments of a pre-historic age. The spot is one of surpassing beauty. Standing there, the tourist has a view of a portion of three states-Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. A hundred feet below him, at the foot of the perpendicular cliffs, the trains of the Illinois Central Railroad thunder around the curve; the Portage is in full view, and the "Father of Waters," with its numerous bayous and islands, stretches a grand panorama for miles above and below him. Here, probably thous- ands of years ago, a race of men now extinct, and unknown even in the traditions of the Indians who inhabited this region for centuries before the discovery of America by Colum- bus, built these strangely wonderful and enigmatical mounds. At this point these mounds are circular and conical in form. The largest one is at least forty feet in diameter at the base, and at least fifteen feet high now, after it has been beaten by the storms of many cen- turies. On its top stands the large stump of an oak tree that was cut down about fifty years ago, and its annular rings indicate a growth of at least 200 years. Whatever may have been the character of these mounds in other localities, these could not have been the dwell- ing places of their builders.
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
The mounds on the bluff have nearly all been opened within the last two or three years by Louis A. Rowley, Esq., Mr. W. M. Snyder and Mr. John Dowling, assisted by Sidney Hunkins and Dr. W. S. Crawford. These gentlemen have taken much interest in these pre-historic structures, and have very carefully investigated them. In all that have been opened the excavators have found in the centre a pit that was evidently dug about two and a half feet below the original surface of the ground, about six feet long and four feet wide, in the form of a parallelogram. The bottom and sides of this pit are of hard clay. The bones found in this pit indicate a race of gigantic stature, buried in a sitting posture around the sides of the pit, with legs extending towards the centre. In some cases the position of the bones indicate that they were placed back to back in the centre with their feet extending toward the walls of the pit. Over these bones are found layers of anhydrous earth of dark color, hard from pressure, but easily crumbles into fine powder. Above this is a strata of hard-baked clay or cement, on the top of which is found a layer of ashes min- gled with burnt shells and bones, indicating that after the bodies were barely covered with dry earth, a layer of the clayey cement was spread over the earth, and a fire kindled upon it perhaps in the performance of some rite-perhaps to harden the cement, or both. This done, a huge mound of earth was with infinite toil heaped above the pit thus filled and finished, and what is remarkable, the most of it was evidently brought from a distance, as it is unlike the surrounding soil, and there is no evidence of excavations in the vicinity.
It will be seen that thus hermetically sealed from air and moisture, the bones became indestructible and will be preserved until the world ends or they are exposed to the action of the elements. Removing the superincumbent earth, penetrating the shell of baked clay and carefully removing the earth beneath, Mr. Rowley and his associates invariably found several skeletons at the bottom of the pit before described, and in most cases, but not all, mingled with the bones, or lying beside them, were found various implements of stone. Axes, arrow and spear-heads made of a species of flint not found in this region ; a singular and finely finished pear-shaped implement of stone, flat, four or five inches long and sharp at the edges, probably used for skinning animals; large pearls perforated to be strung; very finely wronght copper chisels and wedges; great numbers of the large teeth of some carnivorous animal supposed to be the bear, in some instances with a piece of a jaw attached and carved, and each pierced with holes like the pearls; ornaments made of copper mingled with silver, indicating that the metal came from the Superior region ; cop- per implements somewhat resembling a bodkin, about the size and length of a lead pencil, pointed at one end and chisel-shaped at the other. Lastly, and most important as indicat- ing some civilization and knowledge of arts, a piece of pottery, about twelve inches in height, urn-shaped, round on the bottom, and ornamented. This was made of clay, but when broken the fracture shows in the centre a substance like pounded lead or silver and ground flint.
The skulls found are packed with carth. Some of them testify that the original own- ers were killed, as they are pierced with holes made with some blunt, sometimes sharp, in- strument. Generally they have low, receding foreheads, are long from front to back, nar- row across the top, and indicate a preponderance of back brain ; a patient, plodding people with some little intelligence, and a brain formation unlike the modern Indian.
The mounds in the Rock River Valley are generally hardly as large as those above described; many of them are small, hardly more than ten or twelve feet in diameter, and two feet high above the surrounding surface, sometimes are almost effaced. The plain where now stands the City of Oregon, is one of the "terraces " alluded to by Prof. Woodman. The mounds in this locality were generally small, and several of them are still to be seen within the city limits. One of them, which was opened a year or two since by grading a street near the river bank of the terrace, was found to be a sort of rude tomb, laid up with lime stones, and covered with earth, in which a few bones were found. This was unlike any others and is evi- dently of more modern date.
The mounds in this county are generally built like those described above on the Mississippi bluffs, except that as a rule no pit appears to have been excavated. Dr. W. H. Chappell, of Oregon, who has opened a large number of them and investigated them very carefully and intelligently, states that the bodies were evidently placed npon the surface of the ground as it then existed. After they were covered with earth the mound was covered with a coating of clay or some similar substance, which appears to have been burnt or baked after it was spread, Over this the mound of
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earth was heaped. In opening these mounds, says Dr. Chappell, " we almost invariably strike this layer of cement before reaching the original bottom, but in many of them no bones are found. While the bones, when any are found, are unquestionably upon the original surface of the ground, they are from twelve to eighteen inches below the present surface, and the mounds themselves appear to have been covered to abont the same depth since they were originally built. I have, when opening them frequently found marine shells, often remains of leaves and twigs at a depth of twelve to fifteen inches from the top surface." These facts indicate that since the mounds were built this whole region has been submerged beneath the waters of an ocean.
About two miles southeast of Oregon, on the high bluff's on the east side of Rock River, a short distance below the railroad bridge "Chimney Rock," there is a group of these mounds arranged in the forin of a semi- circle, the ends of the crescent resting on the verge of the bluff nearest the river, where the two largest ones were placed. They are all small, however. and were nearly all of them opened many years ago, when, it is said, many implements and utensils of copper were found. These mounds are circular in form, except one that is perhaps fifty feet long and ten feet wide. This one has been opened in one place, but probably many relics might still be unearthed in it. The lower and largest mound is also somewhat unlike the rest, being oval in form. It is said that when this region was first settled this mound was excavated and walled and covered with trunks of trees, which had evidently been placed there many years before, and which have decayed and fallen in since. But this was not the work of the mound builders. The mound they built had unquestionably been excavated by the Indians and fitted up either as a Winter dwelling place or as a sort of fortress. On one of these mounds in this locality is a large white oak tree that can not be less than 150 years old.
It must be admitted that whatever their uses-whether as dwellings or burial places-these silent monuments were built, and the race who built them had vanished from the face of the earth ages before the Indians occu- pied the land. but their date must probably forever baffle human skill and ingenuity to discover. There seems but little doubt that they are as old as the Pyramids, and indicate that before the days of "Cheops and Cephreres," the American Continent, at least this portion of it, was densely populated by a people perhaps more civilized than these pre-historic relics can now testify, swept from existence, it may be, by some mighty convulsion of nature that submerged their country beneath the waters of an ocean, or driven from their homes by the slow encroachment of the waters upon a sinking continent. At best, however, the origin of these mounds can be but a matter of speculation. Only the "Ancient of Days " can unravel the mystery.
FOSSILS AND PETRIFACTIONS.
The Valley of Rock River furnishes a field of surpassing interest to the geologist and student of natural history, for here are to be scen indubit- able proofs of the repeated submergence and upheaval of all this region. The limestone formations are full of fossil shells, many of them of extinct species; petrified coral is often found on the pebbly shore of this beautiful river; remains of the Mastodon Giganteum and other strange animals that
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
roamed over these prairies, or inhabited the ancient ocean that covered them, have been found in Ogle County.
In the Spring of 1858, just after an unusually high freshet, Mr. Phineas Chaney found one of the teeth of a very large Mastodon lying on the bank of a litte creek, a branch of Stillman's Creek, in the Township of Marion, where it had been washed and left by the subsiding waters. This tooth, which is in a perfect state of preservation, was from the under jaw of the animal, and is now in the cabinet of Dr. Chappell, at Oregon. It weighs about 73 pounds, and measures six inches across; eight inches lengthwise of the jaw, and is seven inches deep from the beautifully enameled points to the ends of the roots, that were once embedded in the massive jaw of the stupendous monster, which must have weighed many thousand pounds, and able to crush, like pipe-stems, the trunks of the largest trees now found in this locality. Doubtless the entire skeleton lies embedded in the ravine farther np.
On the east side of Rock River, about half a mile from it, and about one and one half miles above the bridge at Oregon is an old quarry, where the stone for building the dam was obtained. It is now called the " fossil quarry " from the immense deposits of fossil shells contained in some of the strata, and it is a locality of absorbing interest to the geologist. Here are to be seen the footprints of the Creator-made millions of years ago it maybe-with unmistakable and startling distinctness. Here are to be found the evidences'of the stupendous changes to which this little wonder- ful globe we inhabit has been subjected, evidences, too, that never lie. Imbedded in the rock, and composing a large part of it, are myriads of shells of many curious and now unknown varieties intermingled with coral and the debris of an ancient ocean. One of the authors of this volume visited this intensely interesting locality with Dr. W. H. Chappell, of Oregon, on the 24th day of March, 1878. Portions of the different strata had been laid bare by the labors of the workmen, and here we found some very fine specimens of fossil shells. At one point a bluish white limestone or marble is exposed, evidently largely composed of marine shells. A few years ago the attempt was made to burn lime from this rock, but it failed, but it is probable that, as marble, it might become valuable. If it is susceptible of being polished it would be very beautiful for mantels and marble ornaments. During this visit Dr. Chappell discovered one of the finest specimens of the Orthocera ever found. It was probably at least twenty inches in length, but it was broken in several pieces in removing it from the bed where it had laid for so many thousand years. But it was entirely crystallized, and hollow; the cavity in the centre was lined with beautiful crystals of carbinate of lime, and one piece about six inches long shows the entire formation, the shape and form of this wonderful animal, or fish, or whatever it may have been, with the cavity through it filled with and the very substance of the creature changed to crystalline limestone, a substance bearing close resemblance to quartz. One of the pieces when broken discovered a small shell that had evidently been swallowed by the animal while it was living. These valuable and beautiful specimens may be seen at Dr. Chappell's office in Oregon, and they constitute a very inter- esting addition to his already valuable cabinet. He is an enthusiast in this department of natural science, and omits no opportunity for close and critical investigation.
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
With the evidences here presented the careful observer must be con- vinced not only that this region has at some former period in the world's history been at the bottom of an ocean, but that it has been repeatedly sub- merged and uplifted. At this point the different strata, some of them very thin, indicate comparatively brief periods of submergence and exposure, and the mysterious forces of nature are yet in operation.
COUNTY OFFICERS
Who have served since the time of the organization of the county up to the present time:
Circuit Judges *- D. Stone, 1837-'38; Thomas Ford, 1839-'42; J. D. Caton, 1843-'48; HI. Anderson and T. Lyle Dickey, 1849; B. R. Sheldon, 1850; J. O. Wilkinson, 1851-'55; J. W. Drury, 1856; J. V. Eustace, 1857- '61; W. W. Heaton, 1862-'76; Wm. Brown, 1877; J. M. Bailey and J. V. Eustace, 1878.
County Clerks .- S. Galbraith, 1837-'39; D. H. T. Moss, 1840-'43; H. A. Mix, 1844-'47; R. Chaney, 1848-'49; J. M. Hinkle, 1850-'53; J. Sears, 1854-'57; E. K. Light, 1858-'61; A. Woodcock, 1862-'77; Geo. W. Hormell, 1878.
Circuit Clerks and Recorders.+-B. T. Phelps, 1837-'42; H. Roberts, 1843-48: R. B. Light, 1849-'56; M. W. Smith, 1857-'60; F. G. Petrie, 1861-'72; H. P. Lason, 1873-'76; E. K. Light, 1877-'78.
Treasurers .- O. W. Kellogg, 1837-'38; E. S. Leland, 1839-'42; I. S. Wooley, 1843-'46; R. J. Sample, 1847-'50; I. S. Wooley, 1851-'54; P. R. Bennet, 1855; A. Woodcock, 1856-'61; H. J. Smith, 1862-'63; M. L. Ettinger, 1864-'67; J. T. Gantz, 1868-75; E. E. Read, 1876-'78.
Sheriff's .- W. W. Mudd, 1837; H. Wales, 1838-'40; W. T. Ward, 1841-'44; C. B. Artz, 1845-'46; E. W. Dutcher, 1847-'50; A. Helm, 1851-'52; E. Baker, 1853-'4; C. Newcomer, 1855-'56; E. R. Tyler, 1857-'58; P. G. Petrie, 1859-60; J. A. Hughes, 1861; B. F. Sheets, 1862; C. R. Potter, 1863-'64; J. O'Kane, 1865-'66; W. W. O'Kane, 1867-'68; B. R. Wagner, 1869-'70; J. R. Petrie, 1871-'74; H. C. Peek, 1875-'78.
. County Judges .- S. C. McClure, 1837-'38; W. J. Mix, 1839-'42; P. R. Bennett, 1843-'46; J. B. Cheney, 1847-'52; S. Ruggles, 1853-'54; E. Wood, 1855-'56; V. A. Bogue, 1857-'65; J. M. Webb, 1866-'69; A. Barnum, 1870, died 1872; F. G. Petrie, appointed for 1873 and elected for 1874-'77; A. Woodcock, 1878.
Superintendent Schools .- S. St. John Mix, 1843-'46; N. W. Wads- worth 1847-'50; D. J. Pinkney, 1851-'54; J. W. Frisbee, 1855-'56; A. E. Hurd, 1857-'58; E. W. Little, 1859-'62; J. M. Sanford, 1863-'64; E. L. Wells, 1865-'77; J. T. Ray, 1878.
*Ogle County was in the the Ninth Judicial Circuit from Feb. 23, 1839, to Nov. 5, 1849; in the Sixth Circuit from Nov. 5, 1849, to Feb. 5, 1857; in the Twenty-second Circuit from Feb. 5, 1857, to March 28, 1873; in the Third Circuit from March 28, 1873, to July 1, 1877; and in the Thirteenth Circuit since the last named date. Previous to July 1, 1877, one judge presided in each judicial circuit, but since the present re-apportionment, provis- ion has been made for three judges in each circuit. William W. Heaton, William Brown and Joseph M. Bailey were the first judges of the present circuit.
+Previous to February 12, 1849, a county recorder was elected in each county. James V. Gale, Dec. 24, 1836, was elected recorder, which office he held eleven years, and was succeeded by John M. Hinkle, who held the office at the time,it was consolidated with the circuit clerkship.
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HISTORY OF OGLE COUNTY.
Surveyors .- Jos. Crawford, 1837-'38; L. Parsons, 1839-'42; J. Rice, 1843-'45; H. Wheelock, 1846; R. B. Light, 1847-'50; C. W. Joiner, 1851-'54; F. Chase, 1855-'56; A. Q. Allen, 1857-'58; S. Y. Pierce, 1859-'60; A. Q. Allen, 1861-'76; J. B. Bertolet, 1877-'78.
Coroner .- Ira Hill, 1837-'39; J. S. Lord, 1840-'45; J. M. Hinkle, 1846-'47; W. J. Keyes, 1848-'56; W. Jackson, 1857-'59; C. C. Royce, 1860-'63; J. H. Stevens, 1864-'67; W. J. Keyes, 1868-'69; H. A. York, 1870-'72; S. Hamaker, 1873-'74; W. J. Keyes, 1875-'78.
County Commissioners .- H. V. Bogue, S. St. John Mix and C. Chamberlain, 1837-'38; M. Reynolds, M. Williams and J. Parry, 1839; D. Brown, M. Williams and J. Parry, 1840; D. Brown, S. Ruggles and J. Parry, 1841; D. Brown, S. Ruggles and H. Farwell, 1842; D. Brown, H. Heistand and H. Farwell, 1843-'44; S. S. Crowell, H. Heistand and L. Reed, 1845-'46; S. W. Caffman, W. P. Flagg and L. Reed, 1847; S. W. Coffman, W. P. Flagg and Wm. Wamsley, 1848-'49; J. White, S. Ruggles and W. C. Salsbury, 1850.
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