USA > Illinois > Randolph County > The history of Randolph county, Illinois, including old Kaskaskia Island > Part 4
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In 1809, when Illinois Territory was organized, Ke.s- kaskia became the seat of Government -- the Governor and secre- tary resided there, and brought all the concomitants of municipal regulations. The first session of the Territorial Legislature convened in Kaskaskia, on the 25th day of Novem- ber, 1812, and continued to hold its sessions there until the capital was located at vandalia. Kaskaskia was, and had been since the year 1795, the county seat of Randolph County; where the courts were held, from the Supreme down to the Justices.
The first newspaper in Illinois was established in 1809, by Mathew Duncan, from Kentucky. He conducted it until 1815, when it was purchased by Robert Blackwell and Daniel P. Cook. During its existence its columns were edited by many persons who have become distinguished lawyers and statesmen -- Judge Breese is one of them.
During the period of ten years, from 1810 to 1820, Kaskaskia was the rendezvous of an immense floating popula- tion, which gave it the air of a bee-hive. Every emigrant to the Territory directed his course to it as the point from which to explore the country and select locations. A census taken then showed the population to be seven thousand and
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some hundreds.
About 1820 other towns began to spring up and claim attention. The confusion, bustle and storm raised by the swarming emigrants in Kaskaskia, began to die away, leav- ing the village to gradually and quietly resume its origi- nal character.
THE CONVENT
In 1832 the Sisters of the Visitation came to Kaskas- kia, and commenced the erection of a Convent. By the as- sistance of Col. Menard the enterprise promised a success and early in 1833 the foundation of the structure was laid. The main building is one hundred and ten feet long, thirty- two feet wide, and four stories high. The wing, two stories high, runs back one hundred and fifty feet. It was com- pleted and opened for the reception of pupils in 1836, and continued a flourishing institution until 1844. The build- ing cost $30,000 and was the largest of its class in the . west, at the time of its erection.
The great flood of 1844 so damaged the building and the prospects of the institution that it was abandoned by the Sisters. Since then it has been yielding to the wear and waste of time, and must soon pass into ruins. It is a state- ly though crumbling monument of the christian enterprise of these pious and holy women. They came from Georgetown, D. C., and during their stay in Kaskaskia two of them died. The others -- four in number -- went to St. Louis, where they have a popular institution.
The flood of 1844 -- the most destructive that has oc- curred since the Mississippi river has been known ยทยท- blighted the prospects of Kaskaskia, as it did those of every place in the river bottom. Its commercial importance was de- stroyed, and all that which gives life and vigor to a place was paralyzed. Many of the houses were twisted and racked upon their foundations. The damage to property was incalcula- ble.
Again, in 1851, the bottom was inundated, and though the water did not reach the higher localities, its effects were damaging in destroying the crops of the vicinity, upon which the trade and life of the town were dependent. And again, in 1857, the waters covered the bottom, visiting de- struction upon the crops and property of the Kaskaskia peo- ple. These floods have left their impress deeply marked upon the once beautiful cottages of the village, and but for a few buildings that have been repaired and improved by the more enterprising citizens, it would seem that the work of decay and ruin had commenced; but it may be a century henco ere another flood shall come, in which time the place may fully recover from the shocks it has received.
But whatever may be the fate which destiny has fixed -- whether it shall rise again to eclipse its former greatness, or whether it shall pass into ruins like Troy and Babylon --
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it will ever claim an important place in the annals of this country. The past, at least, is secure. It can never pass into oblivion while the history of America remains. All that which imparts interest and fascination to historic recollections is found in its records and traditions. With an existence stretching back into the darkness of an unex- plored wilderness, its history blends the wild romance of Indian life with the thrilling adventures of the French pioneers; their life, exploits and gayeties, for neurly one hundred years; the pious labors of the Jesuit missionaries among the untamed savages; the founding of the first parish church in America; the military exploits of the English in 1755; the transfer of the country from France to England; the extraordinary campaign of Col. Clark; and the series of events by which the State Government of Illinois was brought into existence.
In these sketches, a superficial outline is all that has been attempted. The student of history may form some conception of the prolific fountains, whose sources only have been pointed out.
FORT GAGE
During the time of the Chickasaw war, in 1836; a Fort was built upon the high hill on the eastern side of the Kas- kaskia, opposite the town. Of its dimensions and the mater- ials of which it was constructed, nothing is now definitely known. Tradition alone is the authority for the fact of its erection at that period. It was repaired in 1756, and oc- cupied by a French garrison during the "old French war. " From this time the bluff on which it stood has borne the name of "Garrison Hill. " This old structure was destroyed by fire in 1766, and another Fort upon the same spot was soon after- wards erected by the English. This new structure was built of immense square timbers, and was two hundred and ninety feet long and two hundred and fifty-one feet wide. within the main building was a magazine constructed of stone, a commandantis chamber, and some smaller houses. when Fort C hartres was abandoned in 1772, the Governor and the Brit- ish garrison moved to, and occupied "Fort Gage" -- the Fort having received that appellation in honor of General Gage, the then British Commander-in-Chief At the time Col. Clark besieged and took the Fort, in 1778, it was occupied by a garrison of twenty soldiers, under the command of Governor Rocheblave, and strongly guarded by four cannons. It was then the headquarters of the British government in the West, and contained the records of the Territory from the time the English took possession, in 1763. When the governor was taken prisoner in his private chamber in the Fort, his wife, with a solicitude that never deserts a woman in the moment of peril, concealed or destroyed the archives, so that the land -27-
*Note: I think 1836 is a misprint and should be 1736. EPL.
grants and other valuable documents of that period, have been lost.
Col. Clark occupied the Fort while he remained, and after he left the country and the war ceased, it was de- serted, and remained without an occupant until 1801, when Col. Pike's regiment occupied it for a short time. From this date it began to decay, and its walls soon crumbled and fell to the ground. It is now an obscure ruin. The traces of the walls are faintly visible. The outlines of the magazine, and the breastworks thrown up during the time of the Revolution, may yet be seen.
RILEY'S MILL
Some most deeply interesting historical recollections cluster around the place, known in modern days by the name of "Riley's Mill", situated on the eastern side of Kaskaskia. For aught that is now known to the contrary, the first mill that was erected in Illinois may have stood upon this mill site; for the time previous to the building of a mill there has passed from the traditions of Kaskaskia. Certain it is, however, that a mill was standing there one hundred and fifty years ago. According to the title records, now in possession of Mr. Riley, the name of him that owned the mill at that period was Prix Pagi. (This name is somewhat con- founded with that of Paget, and as the French pronounce both names the same, it is probable that it is the same name, though spelled differently. Peck and Reynolds both employ Peget, in reference to this miller, but the name in the deed of Conveyance which Mr. Riley holds, is spelled Pagi. ) He erected a stone building, and manufactured flour for the New Orleans and Mobile markets. How long he continued to run the mill is not know, but he lost his life in one of those tragic scenes common to Indian barbarity. One day while superintending the operations of the mill, the premises were attacked by a band of Kickapoo Indians, and he was murdered in a most shocking manner. When the attack was made upon the mill, a negro escaped by a back way, fled to the town and gave the alarm. The people came and found the body of Pagi upon the floor mangled and cut to pieces. The head was severed from the body, scalped, and thrown into the hopper.
After the death of Pagi, the mill was abandoned, and became a ruin -- the walls only remaining. About the year 1795, General Edgar purchased the tract of land and rebuilt the mill. The mill-pond, situated about three hundred yards dis- tant from the mill, was made by nature, and apparently de- signed for the purpose. It covers an area of about 40 acres, and is surrounded by an irregular range of hills, with an outlet for the water on the side towards the mill, about three hundred feet wide. An embankment, or dam, was made across this outlet, and the water forced to pass through an arched culvert, at the end of which is a gate to regulate the passage of the water. During the interval in which the mill ceased to run, this dam wasalmost destroyed by the wear of
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the floods, but it was repaired by General Edgar, and made more substantial than before. At the time these repairs were made, Mrs. Edgar and "Dice", a negress belonging to the family, planted some little cotton-wood cions in the mellow dirt, which have grown to be stately trees. The regular order in which these trees are standing upon that embankment has prompted many a curious conjecture. Stran- gers visiting the ground are apt to notice this regularity.
Gen. Edgar kept the mill in operation for many years, and the pioneers, as they came to the country and settled in different parts of the county, resorted to it to have their milling done. A few of those relics of early days are still remaining, and they retain vivid recollections of the days when they rode astride a horse, with a sack con- taining two bushels of corn for a saddle, a distance of ten or fifteen miles, to "Edgar's Mill, " and waited and fished ' in the mill-pond until their "turn" was ground. Waiting for "turns" was an interesting epoch for boys whose sociable disposition found but few opportunities for exer- cise in their isolated homes. Many & happy hour has been whiled away around that old mill, by the boys who congre- gated there from the different settlements. "Mill boys" did not require the formalities of an introduction before they joined in a game of marbles or bat.
to go to mill, and the longer they had to wait the better it pleased them. With men it was different. They were always
It was a privilege
in a hurry, and jealous of their rights. If one was ever cheated out of his "turn", which sometimes happened, a fight was the result. But these happy days for the boys, and hours of nervous anxiety for the men, have passed away.
The mill ceased to operate again while yet in the hands of General Edgar, and remained still for several years. In 1832, it was purchased by Messrs. Feaman & Co. It was again repaired and put in good business order. This company con- ducted it for some years, when it again changed hands.
It came into the possession of the present enterpris- ing proprietor, Mr .. Daniel Riley, 1842. Formerly, the water was conveyed to the wheel through hollow logs. Since Mr. Riley has had it, he has constructed a substantial frame work for this conveyance, and has made such other im- provements as prevents the waste of water, and secures a sufficient quantity to keep the mill running, with about fourteen horse power, during nearly the whole season. The wheel is an over-shot, and no more water is allowed to es- cape from the pond than is necessary to drive the machinery.
Such is a history of this ancient mill. All that now remains of the original structure is the northeast corner. This part of the building has stood through all the changes of its eventful existence, and its permanence would indicate that it may defy the corrosive attrition of another century.
A short distance in front of the mill stands a beauti- ful little mound, called "Mound Isabella", named in honor of
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Mrs. Edgar. Some fruit trees, planted by her and naunt Dice", are still growing upon this mound. This negro woman was the house servant of Mrs. Edgar. She died three years ago, having lived one hundred years.
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A spring of pure cool water gushes out of the side of .the bluff, close to the place where Mr. Riley's store- house is now located, whose clear stream has slaked the thirst of those who brought the germ of civilication to the Western world. A former age may claim it, and the associations of antiquity may cluster around it, but its waters are as fresh and pure today as when the first white man drank from its pebbly urn.
Mr. Riley established a store a few years ago. close to his mill, and he has brought around him a very brisk and remunerative trade. In 1855, finding the capacity of the old mill inadequate to the demands of an increased population and the increased growth of wheat, he commenced the erection of a steam-mill which has since gone into op- eration. Both mills may be kept running most of the year by the water of the pond above described.
FORT CHARTRES
Under the patronage of the Company of the west, and boaring a churter from the crown of France, M. Pierre Duquo Balsbriant, the representative of the government, and Marc Antoine de la Boire de Ursina, the principal Secretary of the Company, came to Kaskaukia, in 17)7, with instruc- tions to erect a Fort which should be made the Seat of Gov- ernment for the Illinois country.
The site selected was in the American Bottom, one mile distant from the Mississippi river, and about three miles from the eastern range of bluffs, in the northwest corner of the present limits of Randolph County. The work was commenced in 1717, and the Fort completed in two years. It was called "Fort des Chartres", for the reason that its erection was authorized by a charter from Louis XIV, King of France. It was built of timber, of ample dimensions for the erection within of a building to accommodate the Execu- tive of the Territory, one for the garrison, & magazine, and some others. The Fort was surrounded with a strong palisade, constructed of such immense timbers, and finished so substantially, as to be almost impregnable to the as- saults of any implements of war known to those early days.
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It was designed for the purpose, and became the seat of government for Illinois. It was the headquarters of the French officers while the country remained in possession of France. The celebrated Francois Renault resided here, and directed his extensive mining operations. Baisbriant and Ursins were vested with the power of making grants of land. Some of their records are now in the Recorder's office of this county. For a time, Fort Chartres became the centre of business, fashion, and gayety.
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The Company of the West was dissolved in 1730, and D'Artaguette was appointed Governor. In 1736, when the Chickasaw war commenced, Governor Bienville, of Louisville, called upon the Governor of Illinois for all the troops he he could raise. Exerting his influence with the chiefs of the Indian tribes west of Lake Michigan, he collected about one thousand warriors at Fort Chartres. The gallant Vin- cennes, of the Wabash country, united his forces with D'Artaguette. All the French soldiers that could be raised were rendezvoused at the Fort. Preparations for the expedi- tion to meet Bienville in the South, were hastily made, and the whole army departed. from Fort Chartres down the Missis- sippi.
The unfortunate fate of the brave and chivalrous D'Artaguette and Vincennes has veun related. La Buissoniere succeeded to the Governorship of Illinois. In 1739, a fur- ther requisition was made upon him for troops. He collected about two hundred French soldiers, and three hundred Indian warriors and sailed from Fort Chartres down the Mississippi to join the Southern army.
In 1751, the Chevalier Mccarty became Governor of Illinois, and arrived at Fort Chartres in August, with troops to reinforce the Fort. As war at that time was rag- ing between France and England, and threatening to disturb the Western country, it was decided to rebuild and improve the Fort. This time it was built of durable limestone, quarried in the bluff three miles distant, boated across an intervening lake, und carted to the Fort. The plan of the new structure was different from the old one, and much larger. It was an irregular square, or quadrangle. The ex- terior sides were four hundred and ninety-feet, and, there- fore, the main building covered an area of five acres and a fraction. The walls were two feet two inches thick, and pierced with loop-holes at regular distances, and two port- hcles in the faces, and two in the flanks of each bastion for cannon. A banquette around the interior side of the wall was raised three feet high for the soldiers to stand upon when they fired from behind the parapets. Within the square of the main building were erected a Commandantis and Commissary's house; a magazine for stores, and two barracks. In the gorges of the bastions were the powder-magazine, a bakehouse and a prison. On the lower floor of the prison were four dungeons.
The commandant's house was ninety-six feet long and thirty feet wide. It contained a parlor, dining-room, bed- chamber, kitchen, one small room, five closets for servants, and a cellar. The commissary's house was precisely similar to the one just described. Opposite these was the store- house, ninetyfeet long and twenty-four wide. It contained two large store-rooms, a parlor, chapel, an officers' guard room, a closet for the storekeeper, and bedchamber. Beneath the storehouse was a vaulted cellar. The barracks were each twenty feet square, and each contained two rooms for officeis and three for soldiers. Over each building spacious lofts
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extended from end to end, and were used for storing regi- mental stores and entrenching tools. Capt. Pitman, an engineer belonging to the British army, visited Fort Chartres about the year 1768, and gave it as his opinion that it was the strongest and most conveniently arranged fortification on the North American Continent.
When the English took possession of the country in 1765, (the cession was made in 1763), Fort Chartres was made the Seat of Government, and a small garrison stationed there. Capt.Stirling formally took possession of the coun- try on arriving at Fort Chartres, by issuing a proclamation in the name of WHis Britanic Majesty, " signed by Thomas Gage, then Commander-in-Chief of the British army in the Colonies. Capt. Stirling died in six months after his ar- rival. He was succeeded first by Major Frazier, then by Col. Reed, then by Col. Wilkins, each of whom made their residence at the Fort.
When the Fort was first built, in 1718-19, it stood about one mile distant from the river. In 1724., a great freshet overflowed the river bottom, and washed away some of the bank in front of the Fort. The margin of the Missis- sippi, made by alluvial soil, is ever changing. In 1756, the river bank was half a mile from the Fort. A short time before Capt. Pitman's visit in 1768, a sand bar was formed in the river, and directed the current against the bank near- est the Fort, which wore it away rapidly. Two years after- wards the river had approached so near as to alarm the offi -. cers about to the safety of their magnificent Fortress. In 1772, another freshet inundated the river bottom, and under- mined the western wall of the Fort. The balance of the struc- ture was greatly injured. It was abandoned, and the seat of Government established at Fort Gage, upon the summit of Gar- rison Hill, far above the reach of floods.
Fort Chartres was thought to be the Gibralter of Amer- ica, but the turbulent current of the Mississippi, more powerful than armies and navies, worked its downfal. . It . crumbled and wasted rapidly. It was deserted, and the de- molishing elements played familiar with its crumbling walls. In 1820 the southeast angle was still remaining. The traces of the front wall were completely gone, and the northeast sections were in ruins. 'From this period the process of demolition and dilapidation was rapid. Much of the stone was taken away, and used for building material in other places. It was soon a heap of mouldering ruins, and the fate of Palmyra, Persepolis and Balbec, is suggested to the visi- tor, as he beholds its remaining vestiges, slumbering in the midst of a forest. Trees of stately growth and clinging vines are growing upon its foundations. The river had re- treated, and is a mile distant from the ruins. Upon the inter- vening land, which is in the very place where the mighty vol- ume of the Mississippi's sullen waters swept along eighty years ago, there is a heavy dense growth of timber .*
#Fort Chartres is now a State Park. The foundations of the buildings and the fortress wall have been rebuilt to show the original plan of the Fort. E. P.L.
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PRAIRIE DU ROCHER
The town of Prairie du Rocher was founded about the year 1722 -- one hundred and thirty-seven years ago. About that time a few French families gathered together and formed the nucleus for the town. Others coming to the country, cast their lot with them, and a flourishing little village was started. The strongest inducements it could hold out to emi- grants, was its secluded situation and romantic scenery. It stood at the foot of the Mississippi bluffs -- whose picturesque grandeur is unsurpassed by any range along that great river -- fourteen miles from Kaskaskia, and three miles from Fort Chartres. Though it never attained that degree of importance which marked the prosperity of its cotemporaneous rivals, yet it acquired, in an early day, all the concomitants of a heal- thy, vigorous town. The evidences of water-mills in its vicinity, erected there in a very early period of its exist- ence, may yet be seen, and the vestiges of stone buildings in the town, evidently the work of wealth and enterprise, are yet visible.
In the vicinity of the town were many natural objects of curiosity, to attract the attention of those who had a taste for the wonderful, and probably from this cause many wore induced to locate in that place. The natural mill site situated in a ravine which abruptly breaks the range of rocky bluffs that overlooks the town, was something to at- tract wonder and admiration, as well as to furnish to some enterprising capitalist the advantages of a saw mill more than half constructed. The range of bluffs on one side of this break, following the course of the ravine, describes an arc, and a natural ridge starting from a point of the bluff on the opposite side of the ravine, marks the diameter of the circle, and reaches within two hundred feet of the bluff on the other side. This ridge was finished out by artificial means in the days of the Jesuits, and gave a fall of near twenty feet to the water where it dammed the ravine. The area of the mill-pond is about two hundred acres, and the stream of water coming through the bluffs is fed by never-failing springs.
There is a spring situated at the foot of the bluffs, one mile above the town, which gushes out at the base of a perpendicular rock, towering up two hundred feet high, and sends forth an immense volume. Formerly the aperture through which the water rose was about six feet in diameter, and its depth could not be fathomed. Latterly, it has been nearly filled with sticks and stones by wanton hands. The crystal purity of this spring would suggest that it might have been the fountain so eagerly sought by the Spanish explorers of this Continent, which they supposed to possess properties that would give immortality to youthful vigor.
A cave in the side of the bluff not far distant from the spring, is another object of curious interest. The entrance to the cavern is about sixty feet high from the base of the
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rock; is almost round, and about six feet in diameter. Its interior chambers have been explored somewhat, but nothing is known of their dimensions. There is a legend which relates that at one time the Spaniards hid valuable treasures in the cave. Many an avaricious spirit has searched and shoveled in vain for the possession of those treasures, and the same inducement to search remains.
The common Field, and Commons of Prairie du Rocher were granted to the village in the year 1730, by Jean Baptiste St. Therse, nephew of Baisbriant, Governor of Louisiana, who obtained the title from the Royal Company of the Indies. The church property was obtained from the same source, and the church was erected in the year 1734. The same build- ing is still standing, and forms one of the most interesting relics of former years to be found about the village. It
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