History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 19

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 19

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" The lands which are now annually overflowed may cer- tainly be estimated at fully 16,000,000 of acres, which, if relieved by any effectual process, would be worth at the government price $20,000,000 ; but converted as they may be into sugar and cotton-fields, would possess a value that it might seem extrava- gant to state, while the annual loss and distress inflicted on the present population by the inundations of the river can scarcely find a parallel in many localities, excepting in the effects of na- tional hostilities." ?

These levees extend on one side or the other about eighteen hundred miles, and represent in first cost and present value twenty million dollars. But even the present system is regarded as entirely inadequate, for the levees, which are constantly breaking or threatening to break, protect but a comparatively small strip along the main stream and its principal tributaries, whereas by protection against overflow and by proper drain- age an enormous expanse of what is now waste swamp land would be brought into cultivation,-a stretch of country beside which the areas reclaimed from the sea in the Netherlands sink into insignificance,-while the work of reclamation, gigantic as it would have to be in relation to its results, in the amount of time and labor required, would be comparatively small beside the work of the industrious Dutch. There would thus be rendered available along the Mississippi not

1 " The area is as large as the States of New Hampshire, Ver- mont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jer- sey combined. Less than eight per cent. of this area is now under cultivation. It is estimated that if protected and im- proved these lands would be worth $2,043,858,251. As their present value is but $107,628,833, the increase would be a sum nearly equal to the national debt. It is therefore claimed that the returns would justify the outlay of the largest sum which the improvement would be likely to cost."

2 Ellet's " Memoir on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers," p. 27.

less than two million five hundred thousand acres of sugar land, about seven million-acres of cotton land, and one million acres of corn land, all of unsur- passed fertility. On the eastern side of the river is the great swamp of Mississippi, fifty miles wide, extend- ing from just below Memphis to Vicksburg, one hun- dred and seventy miles in a direct line, and nearly four hundred miles along the river. On the other side is another vast and fertile region, embracing the lower part of Missouri, all the alluvial front of Arkansas and of Louisiana as far down as the mouth of the Red River. This land is not so favorably situated for reclamation as that on the eastern side, where there is no tributary of the Mississippi until the Yazoo is reached, within a few miles of the Walnut Hills, near Vicksburg. But on the west side are a number of tributary streams, themselves all liable to overflow, while all are subject to back-water from the Mississippi, which would make levees necessary as far as the line of back-water extends. Much fine land, however, has been reclaimed here, although the line of levees is more fragmentary than on the other side. Below the Red River there are no tributaries entering the Mis- sissippi, and on the other hand the waters are de- pleted by numerous outlets to the gulf.

The levee system was begun in Louisiana in the early part of the last century, but the reclamation of swamp lands in Mississippi and Arkansas has origi- nated in recent years. Congress,8 by a general grant of all the inundated lands to the States in which they lie, for the express purpose of making " the necessary levees and drains to reclaim swamp and overflowed lands," offered inducements to the States, and through the States to individual enterprise, to commence a vast system of embankment, with a view to the ultimate exclusion of the water of the Mississippi and its great tributaries from all the inundated lands upon their borders. To this legislation the State of Missouri responded by an appropriation of fifty tliou- sand dollars to begin the work of reclamation at the head of the delta, where many hundreds of square miles of inundated territory might be reclaimed by art, and the land brought under cultivation. The State of Arkansas with equal promptness passed an act granting to all proprietors who may construct front levees the right to enter the donated lands where they may choose to select them, in payment for the cost of the levees which they might construct. The Legislature of Mississippi, even prior to the act of Congress, gave authority to the five northern counties of that State to levy a tax of ten cents per acre on

8 Act approved Sept. 28, 1850.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

all the lands in each of these counties, for the pur- pose of eonstrueting front levees and shutting out the waters of the Mississippi from the great swamps ex- tending back to the Yazoo. The State of Louisiana was not less prompt in this matter than the other States, and by the incorporation of the Louisiana Levee Company has provided both authority and power with appropriate means for restraining the waters within the banks of the river.

A discussion of the wisdom of the levee system is not within the province of this work, the aim of which is only to relate what has taken place, and not to forecast what may result from elosing all the nat- ural and existing outlets by which in former years the flood wave of the Mississippi found a vent.1

But it cannot be denied that the reclamation of the drowned lands in the Mississippi valley will improve the climate of a vast region of country and make it more salubrious, adding vastly to the wealth of those States by giving value to the lands, and greatly in- crease their commercial resources by bringing im- mense regions of these vacant lands under cultivation, while improving the navigation of the river. An objeet of so mueh importance to the health and pros- perity of so many people in so many States cannot be without great influence upon the trade, commerce, and prosperity of the city of St. Louis.

Ferries .- Prior to 1797 there was a ferry between the Missouri and Illinois shores, starting from a point below the town of St. Louis, but in that year a ferry between Cahokia and St. Louis was established, which seems to have been the only one for a considerable period.2

1 In 1874 a national commission recommended an elaborate levec system. As this was regarded as but a temporary expe- dient, the commission appointed under the law of 1879 consid- ered more comprehensive plans. Chief of these are two which are designed to make a subordinate element of the levees, and possibly to make it possible to dispense with them altogether. One of these is called the " outlet system," and is designed to carry off the superfluous waters by making large and adequate outlets, possibly diverting the Red River, so that it shall reach the gulf independently of the Mississippi.

2 In "Annals of the West," page 122, the following reference to the ferry occurs :

" At that time [at the period of the foundation of St. Louis] a skirt of tall timber lined the bank of the river, free from under- growth, which extended back to a line about the range of Eighth Street. In the rear was an extensive prairie. The first cabins were erected near the river and market; no ' Bloody Island' or ' Duncan's Island' then existed. Directly opposite the old Market Square the river was narrow and deep, and until about the commencement of the present century persons could be dis- tinctly heard from the opposite shore. Opposite Duncan's Island and South St. Louis was an island covered with heavy timber and separated from the Illinois shore by a slough. Many persons are now living (1850) who recollect the only ferry from

About 1783, Capt. James S. Piggott established a fort not far from the bluffs in the American Bottom, west of the present town of Columbia, in Monroe County, which was called " Piggott's Fort;" and Gover- nor St. Clair, knowing the character of Capt. Piggott's services during the Revolutionary war, made him pre- siding judge of the court of St. Clair County, the seat of which was at Cahokia. Capt. Piggott was not only a brave soldier, but a shrewd and enterprising man, and set to work at once to develop the resources of the little community. In the winter of 1792-93 he erected two log cabins on the site of East St. Louis, and continued the work of improvement during the winter months (in the summer the workmen would have been in constant danger from the Indians) until 1795. After the successful campaign of Gen. Wayne against the Indians, Capt. Piggott removed his family from the fort to the site of the future Illinoistown. Having completed a road and bridge over Cahokia Creek and established a ferry from the Illinois to the Missouri shore, he petitioned, on the 15th of August, 1797, for the exclusive right to collect ferriage in St. Louis, then under the dominion of the Spanish erown. His petition was in the following words :

"ST. CLAIR CO., TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES, " NORTHWEST OF THE RIVER OHIO.

"To Mr. Zenon Trudeau, Commander at St. Louis :

"SIR,-Though unacquainted, through a certain confidence of your love of justice and equity, I venture to lay before you the following petition, which, from reasons following, I am con- fident you will find just to allow.

" The petition is that Your Honor will grant me the whole benefit of this ferry to and from the town of St. Louis. I do not desire to infringe upon the ferry privileges below the town, which have been long established, but that no person in the town may be allowed to set people across the river for pay (at this place), so long as you shall allow that the benefits of this ferry hath made compensation for my private expenses in open- ing a new road and making it good from this ferry to Cahokia Town, and making and maintaining a bridge over the River Abbe of a hundred and fifty feet in length.

" Your consideration and answer to this is the request of your humble petitioner ; and as an acknowledgment of the favor petitioned for, if granted, I will be under the same regulations with my ferry, respecting crossing passengers or property from your shore as your ferry-men are below the town ; and should your people choose to cross the river in their own crafts, my landing and road shall be free to them.

" And should you wish me to procure you anything that comes to market from the country on this side, I shall always be ready to serve you.

" And should you have need of timber or anything that is the product of my land, it may be had at the lowest rates.

"I am, sir, with due respect, your humble servant,

" JAMES PIGGOTT.

" Aug. 15, 1797."

Illinois to St. Louis passed from Cahokia, below this island, and landed on the Missouri shore near the site of the United States arsenal."

1069

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

Although the Spanish commandant was anxious to have the ferry regularly carried on by Piggott, because it was of great use to St. Louis, yet he devised a plan by which it was done without having it said that he had granted the ferry-right to a foreigner, viz., he granted Piggott the ferry landing below Market Street, on which Piggott then erected a small ferry-house, which was occupied mostly by one of his ferry hands, who at any time could transport foot passengers in a canoe ; but when horses, etc., were to be taken across a platform had to be used, which required three men to manage it.

This platform was surrounded by a railing, and floated on Indian " pirogues," made by hollowing out trees. The craft was " poled or paddled with long sweeps handled by Creoles." Not only was Piggott granted the right of establishing a ferry-house at St. Louis, but he was made a citizen of the town by the commandant, and clothed with other powers and privileges. At this time, it is said, the river was so narrow that persons wishing to cross from either side could easily make Capt. Piggott hear " the old-time shout of 'O-ver !'"

The ferry was managed by Capt. or Judge Piggott until the 20th of February, 1799, when he died, leaving his wife the executrix of his will. Mrs. Piggott rented the ferry to Dr. Wallis for the years 1800-2, and then to a Mr. Adams. About this time Mrs. Piggott married Jacob Collard, and removed from Illinois to St. Louis, Mo. Before leaving she leased the ferry to John Campbell for ten years from the 5th day of May, 1805. Campbell, however, procured a license for a ferry in his own name during the time of the lease, and hence for a short time it was called " Campbell's ferry." But after a lawsuit Campbell and confederates were beaten, and the ferry reconveyed to Piggott's heirs, one of whom, assisted by men named Solomon, Blundy, and Porter, operated the ferry until part of the heirs sold out to McKnight & Brady.

For some time the ferry-boats landed at Illinois- town, about the northwest end of Main and Market Streets, near which was the spot where the bridge constructed by Capt. Piggott crossed the River l'Abbe, more commonly known as Cahokia Creek. Although many tenants subsequently occupied the ferry tract of land, none of them had a fee title therein, the property being owned by the heirs of James Piggott or their assigns, who derived their title in part from a grant made by Governor William H. Harrison, of Indiana Territory, March 12, 1803, of a tract of land which afterwards became the site of East St. Louis.

On the 7th of December, 1808, the following an- nouncement was made of the rates of ferriage :

" To TRAVELERS.

" Rates of ferriage, as established by law, from St. Louis to the opposite shore.

For a single person .. $0.25

Horse ....

.50

Neat cattle, each .. .50

Calash

.50

Wagon

.50

Lumber of any kind, per cwt .. .12}"

In 1813 a rival ferry appears, from the subjoined advertisement published May 15, 1813, to have been established :

"We, the subscribers, take the liberty to inform the public that any person or persons who may think proper to cross with us at our ferry to St. Louis, and for which pay us the customary prices established by law, that we will return them back free of ferriage at all times when our boat is on the west side of the Mississippi River at St. Louis. This measure became indis- pensably necessary in consequence of an indirect course of con- duct practiced towards us.

"BYRD & CHARLES LOCKHART, " Lockhart's Ferry, opposite St. Louis."

The following offer to rent Piggott's ferry was made on the 30th of September in the same year :

" Ferry. On the 13th November next I will rent to the highest bidder the ferry opposite St. Louis ; due attendance will be given by me at the houso where John Porter now lives, and other particulars will be made known at the time of leasing. " JOSEPH PIGGOTT."

On the 4th of January, 1815, five-sevenths of Pig- gott's heirs conveyed their interest in the ferry to Mc- Knight & Brady, who had, under special contract, been running it on trial one year previous, and on the 4th of March, 1820, the other two-sevenths of Pig- gott's heirs conveyed their interest in the land and ferry to Samuel Wiggins, who, under special contract with them, had been running a ferry in competition with McKnight & Brady during 1819, and on the 19th of May, 1821, McKnight & Brady conveyed their ferry right to Samuel Wiggins.1

Edwin Draper, writing of his own experience in crossing the Mississippi in 1815, says,-

" The ferry-boat in which we crossed was a small kecl-boat, without upper deck or cabin, and was propelled by four oars by hand. The wagons, then the only means of land travel, were run by hand on to the boat, across which were placed broad planks transversely, resting on the gunwales of the boat, while the tongue of the wagon projected beyond the side of the boat, and as the latter swayed gracefully to the motion of the waves

1 Another account states that " Pigot" (meaning, of course, not Capt. Piggott, but another member of the family ) " operated the ferry in the same old fashion with canoes until 1815 or 1817. It probably passed then into the hands of Day, a squire and tavern-keeper in Illinoistown. In 1819, Day sold to Samuel Wiggins. Day had improved somewhat on the old system, and had run a boat operated by one horse, who, by a treadmill step, had worked stern- or side-wheels."

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

the tongue-chains would dip politely into the water, as if ac- knowledging the power of the mighty monarch they were daring to stride. The horses, wagon, and saddle, family, slaves, and dogs were stowed in the bottom of the boat between the wagons, and thus we triumphantly entered Missouri. Our crossing, with many otber families, was detained several days by high winds and waves preventing the safe crossing of the boat. Whether this boat was merely improvised for the occasion, or was the regular class of boats then in use I do not know, but that was the boat then used. Since that date I have lived in Missouri to see and experience its many changes, and have been more or less familiar with its history. My first crossing of the great water certainly inspired me with some fcar, but I did not know then but it was among the common products or everyday sights in this country. ...

" The statement I make is this, that at the time I first crossed the stream in 1815 it was fully a quarter of a mile wider at St. Louis than it is at the present time. I do not state the exact number of feet and inches it has diminished, but about tbe above distance. How this wonderful change in the width of the river at your great city was brought about it is not my business or purpose to explain."

Another writer thus describes the old ferry a few years later :

"There were at that time two ferry-boats making regular trips, one at the foot of Market Street and one near Morgan Street. In front of the city was a sand-bar, which in 1819 reached from Market to Morgan Streets, and extended two- tbirds of the way across the river.

"The ferries were owned by Mr. Nash and E. M. Van Ansdel. One of the boats crossed above Bloody Island, and the other below. Skiffs and keel- boats were also much used in the trans- fer of freight and passengers. Mr. Day started the first horse ferry-boat about 1824, which was also the first one that had any cover or protection from the weather."

In November, 1816, five persons lost their lives by the upsetting of the ferry-boat. The newspaper ac- count of the disaster at the time of its occurrence is as follows:

" On Tuesday morning last the ferry-boat which is accustomed to ply between this town and the opposite shore of the Mississippi upset in the middle of the stream, by which five persons lost their lives. The ferryman, Mr. Dubay, and his two assistants died on being taken ashore from the wreck ; Ezekiel Woolfort, son of Mr. Woolfort, of this place, and a Mr. Stark, of Bourbon County, Ky., sunk before the boats reached the wreck, and are not found. What adds poignancy to this unusual catastrophe, some of the ferrymen spoke after they were taken up, but dicd from ex- cessive fatigue and cold, without an immediate remedy being applied, and which generally succeeds in cascs of suspended animation.

" Dubay was a useful citizen, and attended to the town ferry with unprecedented attention. He has left a helpless family, whose situation claims the attention of the benevolent.

" Mr. John Jacoby, of St. Louis, has authorized us to offer a reward of fifty dollars for the body of

Mr. Stark, or if it should be taken up too far down the river for conveyance to this place, those to whose lot it may fall to pay the last sad offices to the de- ceased arc informed that every expense will be paid for his decent interment. Mr. Woolfort will no doubt liberally reward those who will find and inter his son as above."

On the 17th of March, 1819, it was announced that application had been made " to the Legislature of Illinois at its present session for the privilege of running a ferry-boat from the town of Illinois to St. Louis by steam- or horse-power, and that Legislature, with a laudable view of encouraging useful improve- ments for public accommodation, have authorized the establishment of such ferry-boat."

Besides managing the ferry, Mr. Wiggins appears also to have kept a tavern in Illinoistown, and was evidently a thrifty and progressive citizen.1

In 1820, Mr. Wiggins procured a boat which was worked by onc-horse power, but still employed French Creoles from Cahokia to ferry passengers and horses over by means of canocs lashed together. The new boat was crushed in the ice in the winter of 1824-25, near the foot of Morgan (then Oak) Street. Mr. Wiggins then built a larger and better boat, which he christened the " Sea Serpent," of one-horse power, and from this until 1828 all the ferriage was performed by boats of this class. So largely did the business increase that he was compelled to enlarge his fleet, and two other boats, also of one-horse power,

1 " After the establishment of the Piggott ferry successive at- tempts were made to establish towns, which bore various names. Some of these were laid out immediately on the shore of the river, and as there were no paved levecs to protect the banks, the river kept constantly encroaching upon the land, and the towns were wasbed away. The first was named Washington. It was situated on the Illinois sbore, eastward and opposite to the St. Louis grain clevator. It consisted of a tavern, owned by Mr. Samuel Wiggins, and four or five dwelling-houses. A gentleman now living near Belleville, once clerk of St. Clair County, relates an incident that occurred to him during the time when Washington was gradually wasbing away. Hle

states that he had been to St. Louis with produce from his father's farm, fifteen miles eastward. He says, 'One night I slept in Wiggins' tavern. It was pretty close to the shore. A big sycamore-tree stood eigbt feet from the bouse on the bank. Along about midnight I heard water. It seemed from the sound to be under the house. I thought it must be the river. I partly dressed as quickly as I could, and ran out shoreward. Wiggins and everybody else that was in it ran out too, expecting the house to go. The big sycamore was gone. It had taken with it a piece of ground from under the house, and the river was running under the outer wall. But it stood till morning. I got breakfast there, when they moved it back farther from the river.'. Subsequently all the town of Washington was wasbed away."-Hist. East St. Louis, by Robert A. Tyson, pp. 19 and 20.

A Christy

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LLINOIS.

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THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

named the " Rhinoceros" and " Antelope," were added to the number, making three in all. In 1828 a new boat, with steam-power, named the "St. Clair," was added, and made two landings each day, calling at tlie foot of Market Street, then at Morgan, and thence across to the Illinois shore. In 1830 the business had increased to such an extent as to demand another boat, and the " Ibex" was added. In 1832, Samuel Wiggins sold his ferry franchises to Bernard Pratte, father of Gen. Bernard Pratte, John O'Fallon, John H. Gay, Charles Mulliken, Andrew Christy, Samuel C. Christy, Adam L. Mills, and William C. Wiggins. In 1838, John H. Gay bought the interest of John O'Fallon. Shortly after this Andrew Christy pur- chased the remaining interest of Col. O'Fallon, and afterwards the entire interest of Mr. Gay. At this time Mr. Christy and his sister-in-law, Mrs. McLane Christy, owned ten shares, over one-half of the stock.

Andrew Christy was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1799, and when quite young removed with his parents to Lawrence County, Ill., where they located on a farın near Sumner, the county-seat of that . county. In his youth Andrew engaged for a time in teaching school near Ridge Prairie, St. Clair Co., in the sanie State.

In 1826, in company with Francis and Vital, sons of Nicholas Jarrot, of Cahokia, lie engaged in lead- mining at Galena, Ill., which business he pursued during several years. He then removed to St. Clair County, opposite St. Louis, and entered into business with his brother, Samuel C. Christy.

In 1832, as stated above, he and his brother, with Bernard Pratte and others, purchased from Samuel Wiggins the ferry franchise and boats belonging to the Wiggins Ferry Company, and continued a member of this company until his death. From 1835 to 1840 he was engaged in the grocery and commission busi- ness in St. Louis with Samuel B. Wiggins, in Chou- teau's Row, on the street then between Market and Walnut Streets and Main Street and the Levce.

He represented St. Louis in the Legislature of Missouri in 1851.

Mr. Christy was a public-spirited man, and among the important enterprises which he was active in pro- moting were operations for the preservation of the harbor of St. Louis by turning the current of the river toward the Missouri shore, and thus preventing the shoaling of the water on that side. He was also identificd with early efforts for the establishment of railroads leading to St. Louis. In short, he was a promoter of every enterprise that promised to advance the prosperity of the city.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 19

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358