Cass County, Illinois - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1882

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read)

ORGANIZATION OF CASS COUNTY - THE CONVENTION AT RUSHVILLE - LEGISLATIVE ACT CREATING THE COUNTY - OTHER ACTS - FIRST ELECTION FOR OFFICERS - THE NUMBER OF VOTERS - AN INCIDENT OF A WOLF-THE COLD DAY OF 1837 - LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT - SCARCITY OF MONEY - THE COUNTY MACHINERY PUT IN MOTION - THE COURTS - TROUBLE FROM HORSE THIEVES - EUGENE HONORIUS - THE CENSUS, ETC.

State, Vandalia or Alton would gain it. The people in the northern portion of the State were willing to sacrifice Peoria, but the people of Central Illinois were divided between Springfield and Jacksonville. There was a growing feeling, however, in favor of Springfield, as being the most available ; and a convention was called by the central and northern counties, to meet at Rushville, on the 7th day of April, 1834, to unite on one point to support for the State capital. Jacksonville was opposed to this, and favored the deferring the removal of the seat of government to some future time, hoping to gain strength by this line of policy. Consequently, Jacksonville refused to take part in the Rushville convention, while the northern part of the county met at Beardstown, decided to take part in the convention, and elected Archibald Job and Thomas Beard to represent them there, which they afterwards did. This occasioned a discussion between the newspaper of Jacksonville, conducted by Josiah Lamborn, and the Chronicle on the part of Beardstown, by Francis Arenz.

" In the ' Chronicle,' No. 35, we published the preamble and resolutions adopted at a public meeting held in Beardstown on the 20th of February last. In one of the resolutions, Archibald Job and Thomas Beard were

ABOUT this time there became a gradually growing feeling of dissatisfaction in this the northern part of Morgan County, with the management of county aiFairs at Jacksonville. It seemed to the people here, that Morgan County was ruled by Jacksonville, and that that village was ruled by a clique, or ring, as it would now be called. This feeling became more conspicuous,as at that time the removal of the State capital was being worked up. It was provided in the Constitution of 1818, while the capital was at Kaskaskia, that the Legislature should locate a newtown, which should be the capital for twenty years. This the Legislature did, and named the place Vandalia. The constitutional limit of that location was fast ap- ])roaching, and anew seat of government was to be selected.

A statute was passed February 5, 1833, providing, that after the expiration of the time prescribed by the constitution for the seat of government remaining at Vandalia, the people should vote for one of the following named places for the permanent seat of government, to- wit: " The geographical centre of the State," Jacksonville, Springfield, Alton, Vandalia, and Peoria, and the point receiving the highest number of votes should forever remain the seat of government. The southern part of the State was at that time most thickly settled, and it soon became evident that, unless the people of Central Illinois united upon a town in their portion of the appointed to attend as delegates at Ruslivllle, on the first Monday of April next, to represent the wishes of the people in the northern part of Morgan County.

" In our last number we published the proceedings of a meeting held in Jacksonville on the 3d inst. One of the resolutions adopted at that meeting, declares, that ' from the neutral position of Morgan County in relation to locality and interest, it is inexpedient, at this time, for citizens of our county to send delegates to the convention proposed to be held on the first Monday of April next.'

"We also published a letter from J. Lamborn, Esq., to the editor of this paper, explanatory of the views and feelings of those attending the Jacksonville meeting towards their fellow citizens of the northern part of Morgan County, who composed the Beardstown meeting; but as this letter was not part of the proceedings at Jacksonville, and the resolutions adopted are contrary and in opposition to the friendly feelings privately expressed by Mr. Lamborn, we have to take the sentiments as expressed by the meeting.

" The meeting at Beardstown was composed of freemen. They acted for themselves, and appointed two delegates to represent their wishes at the proposed convention, leaving four delegates to be chosen in other parts of Morgan County. If our fellow citizens at Jacksonville, and in the southern and western parts of the county, did not choose to send delegates, no objection or dissatisfaction would have been entertained; but a meeting composed of about one hundred and fifty individuals at Jacksonville and vicinity (being acquainted with the sentiments expressed here), have assumed to indicate in their resolution that it is inexpedient^ at this time, for the citizens of our county to send delegates. To this decree the citizens of the north will not submit. We unhesitatingly say, that two delegates will attend and represent their wishes. We believe the time has gone by when a few leaders of Jacksonville controlled the votes of Morgan County; and we would advise those who have influence in and about Jacksonville, to use it with discretion. The people north of Indian Creek, and we doubt not in other parts of the county, understand their own interest, and will act accordingly."

The convention was held at Rushville at the appointed time, and such united action was taken as eventuated in the passage of a statute on the 3d day of February, 1837, which permanently located the seat of government at Springfield, and Archibald Job, of this county, A. G. Henry and Thomas Hunghan were appointed commissioners to superintend the erection of the State House.

At the very same session which removed the capital, on the 3d day of March, 1837, a bill was passed that the people of Morgan County should, on the third Monday of April of that year, vote for and against the division of that county, on the line running through the middle of townships seventeen, north, and in case the vote favored it, all north of that line to constitute a new county, to be called the county of Cass ; that the county seat should be at Beardstown, until the people should permanently locate the county seat by election; and the school fund should be divided according to the number of the townships between the two counties.

We will here insert this, and other statutes concerning the early history of Cass county, for the reason that the books in which they are contained are probably not to be found in Cass county, outside of our library, and are not for sale anywhere, and they will probably never be reprinted, and are very rarely found except in the State libraries. By reprinting them here they will be preserved.

State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That all that tract of country within the following boundaries to wit: Beginning at a point in the centre of the main channel of the Illinois river, where a line running through the centre of townships seventeen north intersects the same, in range thirteen, west of the third principal meridian, thence east with said line to the east side of the county of Morgan, from thence north to the centre of the main channel of the Sangamon river, thence down said river to the centre of the main channel of the Illinois river, thence down said river to the place of beginning, shall constitute a new county to be called the county of Cass.

Sec. 3. The county aforesaid is created upon the following conditions: The people of the county of Morgan as the same is now organized, shall meet at the several places for holding elections for Representatives and Senators in said county, on the third Monday of April next, and proceed to vote in the same manner of voting for Representatives and Senators to the general assembly, whether said county shall be created or not. The judges of elections in said county shall give twenty days' notice of the time and place of holding said elections, by posting notices thereof at six public places in the county, and on said day shall open a poll book at each election precinct, in which they shall rule two columns, in one of which they shall set down the votes given for the creation of said county, and in the other column the votes given against the same, and said judges shall conduct said election, and make returns to the clerk of the county commissioners' court of Morgan County, in the same manner as is now provided by law in the case of elections for Senators and Representatives for the general assembly, and said returns shall be opened and counted in the same manner as in such elections, and if a majority of all the votes given at said election shall be in favor of the creation of said county, a certificate thereof shall be made by the clerk of said county commissioners' court, under the seal of said court, and transmitted by him to the office of the Secretary of State, of the State of Illinois, to be filed in his office as evidence of the existence of said county, and said clerk shall make a like certificate and file the same in his office, which shall be entered of record at the next succeeding term of the said County Commissioners Court, and shall be sufficient to prove the facts therein stated, after which said county shall be one of the counties of the State of Illinois. The Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Morgan County shall cause a notice of said election to be published in all the newspapers published in the County of Morgan.

Sec. 3. If said county shall be created as aforesaid, the legal voters of said county shall meet on the first Monday of May next, at the several places of holding elections in said new county, and vote for the place where the county seat of said county shall be located, and the place receiving the greatest number of votes shall be the permanent seat of justice of said county, and on the first Monday of August next said county shall proceed to elect all county officers for said county, to be commissioned and qualified as in other cases.

Sec. 4. The owner or owners of the land where said county seat shall be located, shall donate and convey to said county of Cass, at least fifteen acres of land at the place where said seat shall be located, which may be disposed of in the manner the county commissioners' court of said county shall deem proper, the proceeds whereof shall be applied to the erection of the court house and jail, and clerk's offices of said county, but if the county seat aforesaid shall be located at Beardstown in said county, the corporation of said town shall, within one year from the said location, pay into the county treasury of said county, not less than ten thousand dollars to be applied in the erection of said public buildings.

Sec. 5. Said county shall vote with the county of Morgan for Senators and Representatives until the next apportionment, and said county shall make a part of the first judicial circuit, and so soon as said county shall be organized, the clerk of the county commissioners' court of said county shall notify the judge of the said circuit, and it shall be his duty to appoint a clerk and hold a court in said county at such times as said judge shall apjioint. The seat of justice of said county shall be located at Beardstown, until the public buildings are erected. But if the county seat shall be located at Beardstown, and said corporation of Beardstown shall not pay to the treasurer of said county, said ten thousand dollars for the purpose of erecting said public buildings within one year after the location of said county seat, then the county commissioners' court of said county shall locate the county seat at some other point near the center of said county, when the quantity of land mentioned in the fourth section of this act shall be donated as therein provided.

Sec. 6. The school funds belonging to the several townships in said county, and all notes and mortgages pertaining to the same, shall be paid and delivered over to the school commissioners of said county of Cass by the school commissioners of the county of Morgan, so soon as the said county shall be organized, and the commissioners of school lands shall be appointed and qualified according to law, together with all interest arising out of said money, that has not been heretofore expended for schools within that part of Morgan County now proposed to be set off into the county of ,Cass. This act shall take effect according to the conditions thereof, from and after its passage.

Sec. 7. In case said county of Cass shall be created under the provisions of this act, then until the next apportionment of Senators and Representatives to the General Assembly, the said county shall be entitled to one Representative to the General Assembly, and shall at the next election vote with the county of Morgan for one Senator, also at every succeeding election for said Senator, and the county of Morgan shall be entitled to five Representatives and two Senators. Approved, March 3d, 1837.

The election was had; the feeling between the northern and southern sides of the county was such that the election was favorable to division, and the northern townships immediately called an election for officers with which to organize the new county of Cass.

There were then but three voting precincts in this part of Morgan County, which was about being formed into a new county; they were: Beardstown, Virginia and Richmond, and the following are the names of every man that voted at that election, with the names of the precincts they voted in:

Poll Book at an election held at the house of Moses Perkins, in the Beardstown Precinct, in the County of Cass, Ills., August 7, 1837. Thos. Beard, James Arnold, John Scheffer, judges; T. U. Webb, C. W. Clarke, clerks.

The election was held on the first day of August, 1837, and the following named officers were elected: Joshua P. Crow, Amos Bonney, and George F. Miller, County Commissioners; John S. Wilbourne, Probate Justice of the Peace; John W. Pratt, Clerk of County Commissioners' Court; Lemon Plaster, Sheriff. These men were sworn into office by Thomas Pogue, a Beardstown magistrate.

On tlie 1-tth day of August, 1837, the county commissioners met and organized Cass County. At this first meeting of the board, the new county was divided into six precincts, which were named : Beardstown, Monroe, Virginia, Sugar Grove, Richmond and Bowens.

When this county was organized there was not a house, built exclusively for relisrious worship, in it, and not one in all Morgan County outside of Jacksonville. Physicians were scarce, and fever and ague quite common. Game was plenty, some of which was verv disagreeable, particularly wolves, and an occasional panther. The wolves very seldom did violence to human beings; but when the weather was cold and stormy, and the ground frozen, they were so bold and threatening, that nobody cared to risk himself out alone at night. The only instance of violence to a man within our recollection, was the case of Esquire Daniel Troy, living near Bethel who was walking home one night from town, carrying a quarter of beef on his shoulder. He was attacked by a gang of wolves, the beef taken away from him, and he very roughly handled.

There were a few large gray wolves also, that were very much feared. One cold, bright, moonshiny night, we heard an uncommon fuss with our dogs, and opened our cabin door. A favorite little black dog immediately pounced into the house, and t)ie largest gray wolf, we ever saw, which was after him, tried to follow. The door was open, and we had no time to get our rifle. The only weapon at hand was a stick of fire wood, but with this we did good execution, and Mr. Wolf had to beat a retreat. So severely had we beaten him, that he immediately left our premises. We afterward heard a fuss among the dogs at a neighbor's, Armstrong Cooper's house, and then the crack of a rifle, and in a short time we lu>ard the dogs and another rifle at Mr. Lamb's liouse, and then all was still. We found next morning that these shots of Cooper and Lamb had killed him. He was a monster, and measured nine feet and nine inches, from his nose to the end of his tail.

At that time there was very little litigation among the country people, and personal altercations were usually settled by a resort to blows.

It was in the winter of 1836-37, we believe, although we defer our recollection to others, if they think we are mistaken, that we had what we called the " sudden change " in the weather, the most remarkable one we ever saw, heard of, or read of. On Saturday morning there was snow on the ground. The following Sunday was a very warm day, and Monday, until about one o'clock p. m., was still warmer, and on both days there was considerable rain. The snow had melted into slush and water, which was standing in ponds on the level ground, and roaring down declivities. At that hour the weather turned suddenly very cold. In one hour after the change began the slush and water was frozen solid; and in two hours from that time, men were hurriedly crossing the river on the ice. A vast amount of cattle, fowls and game, and many persons, were frozen to death. We heard of one man, who was crossing a prairie, on horseback, who had killed his horse and taken the entrails out of him and then crawled inside of him for protection, was found there frozen to death. We don't know how the thermometer stood, for we had none.

On Monday, during this sudden change. Dr. Chandler was returning home from a professional trip up the bottom. His overcoat was covered with slush and mud, and in a few minutes after the change began his coat was frijzen stift", and he felt that he was in danger of being frozen. He stopped at the store of Henry T. & Abner Foster, at Richmond, on the land since owned by John P. Dick, where he was warmed up and thawed out. He then mounted his horse and started on a gallop for home, about six miles distant, but soon found himself freezing again. He stopped at another house, and warmed, and started again, with like results. He thus was forced to stop at four different houses, between Foster's store and his house, to prevent freezing to death. When he arrived within sight of his own house his horse fell down, and left him helpless on the ice, and his family dragged him, in a helpless condition, into the house.

Whereas, at an election held in the county of Morgan, according to the provisions of " An act for the formation of the county of Cass," it appeared tiiat a majority of the voters of said county voted for the creation of said county ; and, whereas, at an election for the county seat of said county. Beardstown received the highest number of votes for the county seat, and whereas, some doubts have been expressed as to the legality of the proceedings of said election, now, therefore, to remove all doubts on that subject :

Sec. 1. He it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the county of Cass, as designated and bounded in the " Act for the formation of the county of Cass," approved March 3d, 1837, be, and the same is hereby declared to be, one of the counties of this State.

Sec. 2. The county seat shall be located at the city of Beardstown, in said county ; Provided, however., that the provision of the act above referred to, shall be complied with by the citizens, or a corporation of Boardstc^n, in relation to the raising the sum of ten thousand dollars, to defray the expenses of erecting public buildings for said county.

Sec. 3. The corporation of Beardstown shall be allowed the period of one, two, and three years, for the payment of ten thousand dollars, aforesaid, to be calculated from the passage of the law aforesaid, which sum shall be paid in three equal payments. The County Commissioners' Court of said county shall make their contracts for erecting the pulilic buildings in said county, so as to make their payments thereon when the said installments aforesaid shall become due and payable.

Sec. 5. Returns of the elections for the county officers of said county, to be elected on the first Jlonday of August next, shall be made in Beardstown, to O. M. Long and Thomas Poyne, notaries public in Beardstown, who shall open and examine the poll books of said election in the presence of one or more Justices of the Peace in and for said county ; and said notaries public, after due inspection and examination of the poll books, according to the laws of this State, shall make out certificates of election of those persons who have received the highest number of votes, which certificates shall be such as those required to be made by the Clerks of the County Commissioners' Court, and shall receive and be entitled to the same effect in law.

" Whereas, it was provided, by the act for the formation of the county of Cass, that, in case the county seat of said county should be located at Beardstown, the corporation or inhabit;uits should, within one year after the location, pay into the county treasury tiie sum of ten thousand dollars, to be ajs plied to the erection of public buildings; and whereas, by the act passed 21st of July, 1837, in relation to said county, further time was allowed said corporation to make said payment, the said corporation having failed to pay the said ten thousand dollars, and not having complied with, or agreed to comply with the provisions of the last recited act, the County Commissioners of said county, under the provisions of the first recited act, located the county seat at Virginia, and contracted for the erection of a court house and jail in said county; and doubts being entertained as to the true construction of the act last recited in relation to the rights of said corporation, and the duties of the County Commissioners, therefore:

" Sec. 1. He it enacted by the people of the Slate of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That the county seat of Cass Countv shall be and remain at Virginia, and tlie courts of ^^aid county shall hereafter be held at that place; and the several county officers, who are required to keep their offices at the county seat, are required to remove their respective offices, and all bonds, documents, books and papers pertaining to the same, to Virginia, on or before the first day of May next, and thereafter hold and keep their respective offices at that place; and in case one or more of said officers shall fail, or refuse to comply with the provisions of this act, such officer shall forfeit his office."

In the years 1838 and 1839, wasbuilt, aswe believe, the first railroad west of the Alleghany Mountains, running from Meredosia to Springfield. "We particularly recollect this great enterprise, for two reasons: first, we took a trip in 1838 from Meredosia to Jacksonville, on the first passenger train that ever ran on that road; and second, because it was built by the State, and was a part of that great internal imnrovement policy, which bankrupted and disgraced the State, and spread miserj' among the people. Of all the hard times that the people of Cass County, and indeed of the A^hole State, have ever seen, these were the hardest.

This was caused by a passage of a bill in the Legislature, providing for a general sj'stem of internal improvements by the construction of nearly 1,300 miles of railroad, and the improvement of various rivers. These improvements never paid the interest on the money they cost, and in 1840, after a short but eventful life of three years, fell the most stupendous, extravagant and almost ruinous foil}' of a grand system of internal improvements that any civilized community, perhaps, ever engaged in, leaving a State debt of 81-4,- 23?, 348.00, and a population of less than half a million to pay it. For this the people could not blame the Legislature, or the politicians, for the people themselves had demanded and clamored for it, and the Legislature only obeyed their behest in granting it. At the same time, the State banks suspended, and left us with a depreciated currency. The State Bank of Shawneetown collapsed with a circulation of §1,700,000, and the State Bank with §3,000,000. The people were left destitute of an adequate circulating medium and were not supplied until the ordinary process of their limited commerce brought in gold and silver and bills of solvent banks from the other States, which was very slow. Even immigration was stopped, owing to the general financial embarrassment, high taxes, and disgraceful condition of the State. When money was abundant, credit had been extended to every body. With the vast system of internal improvements, and the large circulation of the banks, this was the condition of our people. They were largely in debt on account of speculations, which proved to be delusions. Contracts matured, but nobody paid. The State had sold and hypothecated her bonds until its credit was exhausted. Then no further effort was made to pay even the interest on the State debt. Then the State bonds went down, down, until they were worth but fourteen cents on the dollar. The people were unable and unwilling to pay higher taxes, and what might almost be called a general bankruptcy ensued. The people owed the merchants; the merchants owed the banks, and for goods purchased abroad; while the banks, having suspended specie payment, owed every one who carried one of their rags in his pocket. None could pay in par funds, for there were none to l)e had. In this dilemma the Legislature tried to come to the relief of the people, but instead of relieving them from their wretched condition by summary legislation, they, as such bodies usually do, in like circumstances, only made matters worse. Among- other statutes passed with this generous object, was one that we have no doubt many citizens of Cass will recollect, which was known among the people as the slay laic, or two-thirds law. It serves to illustrate both the hard times and the inconsiderate and unjust legislation of that day, although done with the intention of affording relief to the debtor class, without ajiparently thinking that it was at the expense of the creditor. This law provided that property levied upon by e.\(>cution should be valued as in "ordinary times;" the valuation to be made by ihree householders summoned by the officer holding the writ of whom the debtor, creditor, and officer should each choose one, thus placing it in the power of the officer to favor either party at his option; the property was not to be sold unless it brought two-thirds of its valuation; no way was provided by which the creditor if two-thirds of its valuation was not bid, could hold his lien; thus forcing him to stay collection or suffer discount of '33j( per cent. This law was made applicable to all judgments rendered and contracts accruing prior to the 1st of Maj', 1841, without reference to the legal obligations of the time when contracts were entered into; beincr in violation of that clause of the constitution of the United States, declaring that "no law shall be passed impairing the obligation of contracts." In the case of McCracK-en v. Howard, 2d Howard, COS, the Supreme Court of the United States subsequently held this law to be unconstitutional. But, in the meantime, the law had performed its mission, and had rendered the collection of debts almost impossible. The condition of our people was truly distressing. There was an utter dearth and stagnation of businesg. Abroad, the name of the State was associated with dishonor. There were no immigrants but those who had nothing to lose; while people here, with rare exceptions, were anxious to sell out and flee a country presenting no alternative other than exorbitant taxation or disgrace. But property would not sell, nor was there any money to buy with. Indeed, money, as a means of exchange, became almost unknown. Payment was taken in trade, store pay, etc. Merchants and other dealers issued warrants or due bills, which passed for so much on the dollar /n trade. Even the county commissioners' court of Cass County came to the relief of the people, and had a plate engraved, and issued vast quantities of county warrants, or orders, in the similitude of one dollar bank bills. But these coimty orders, and others like them, were made invalid by an act of the legislature passed in the interest of the banks; so that even this charitable act on the part of our county commissioners to relieve the local scarcity of money, failed in its office.

At this time money was so scarce that it was with great difficulty that farmers, owning good farms, could get the money to pay their postage. It was not necessary then to prepay postage. Domestic letters cost from five to twenty-five cents apiece, according to the distance they had come; and foreign letters were still higher.

What was wrorse, they must all be paid for in silver, and it often occurred th.at a letter would lie in the office for weeks before its owner could get the silver to redeem it. If the farmers wished to get goods from the store, they were forced to buy on credit, and pay in grain or other produce, or take butter, eggs, poultry, game, honey, wood, or other articles, to exchange for store goods.

Produce continually fiuctuated in price, even in store pay. We have seen corn sell at six cents often, and have heard farmers remark that ten cents in cash was all that corn ought to and probably ever would bring, and that farmers could get rich at that price. We have sold wheat in Beardstown at thirty-five cents per bushel, and pork often at one and one-quarter cents per pound.

this county, was to arrange for raising a revenue, and they passed an order that the following kinds of property be taxed at the rate of one-half per cent.: Town lots, "indentured or reg-istered negro or mulatto servants" (for this had not ceased to be a slave State at , that time), pleasure carriages, stocks in trade, horses, mules, " and all neat cattle over and under three years old," hogs, sheep, wagons and carts.

A public notice was given to " all persons trading in Cass County " to procure a license according to law. Under this notice, at the September Term, 1837, Spence & Foster, T. & J. T. Wilbourn, and Parrot & Alcott, got a license to sell goods, wares, and merchandise in Beardstown ;'and Beasley & Schafer, a similar license at Monroe ; and all such licenses were fixed at five dollars each. Tavern licenses were granted at seven dollars each. At the same term, a license to keep a ferry-boat, for one year, at B Mrdstown, was granted to Thomas Beard for twenty-two dollars.

The first county order drawn on the treasurer, was for twenty-two dollars and fifty cents, in favor of N. B. Thompson, for the books of the County Commissioners' Court. The second was in favor of N. B. Thompson, for thirty dollars, and was for three county seals, in full, September 6, 1837.

The first term of the Circuit Court of Cass County was held in Beardstown, November 13, 1837, in a one-story frame building standing at the corner of Main and State streets, where Seeger's hall now stands. Present : the Hon. Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., judge of the First Judicial Circuit ; Lemon Plaster, sheriff; and as the Circuit Clerk was not an elective ofBce at that time, N. B. Thompson was appointed clerk by the judge.

The grand jury at that time consisted of Thomas Wilbourn, foreman, Isaac Spence, Augustus Knapp, James H. Blackman, Alexander Huffman, Robert Gaines, Richard

At the May term, 1838, Nathan alias Nathaniel Graves, was indicted for the murder of an eastern man lamed Fowie, which murder took place at what was known as Miller McLane's grocery, kept in a log house which stood on the present site of Philadelphia. Fowle and Alec Beard were sitting down on a log outside the grocery, talking in a friendly manner. There was quite a number of persons around. Graves and Richard McDonald came riding up on horseback from different directions about the same time. Graves dismounted, leading his horse towards Fowle, drew a pistol and shot and killed him. He was so near Fowle that the fire burnt his clothes. The men standing around were so surprised that they stood still while Graves mounted his horse and started to ride away. At this time McDonald cried out, " Men, why don't j'ou arrest him?" and rode alter him. When Graves saw that McDona'd was about to catch him, he drew a knife and turned around. McDonald caught him by the throat and choked him till he surrendered, but was himself badly, almost fatally, wounded in the struggle. Graves took a change of venue to Green County, where, breaking jail, he escaped to Kentucky, where he died a natural death.

Thus matters stood from 1837 to 1843, during which time there grew a feeling of dissatisfaction among the people of the southern half of the townships seventeen and other parts of Morgan County, with Jacksonville; and there was such effort made to dissever their relations, that two statutes were passed by the Legislature in the session of 1843, which provided for the accoraplishmetit of three objects: one of which was that a vote be taken whether Morgan County should be divided into two counties, one of which was to remain by the name of Morgan County, and the other by the name of Benton; second, that the tier of half townships, known as seventeen, or the " three mile strip," on the north side of Morgan County, be added to Cass County; and third, that Cass County should vote for the selection of a permanent county seat. The election on the first proposition was held in Morgan County on the first Monday in August, 1843, and resulted unfavorably to the creation of the county of Benton The proposition to annex the " three-mile strip," was held in the four different precincts in that strip of territory, on the first Monday in May, 1845, and stood as follows:

On the first Monday in September, 1843, there was an election held in Cass County to determine the permanent location of the county seat, at which election the vote stood as follows:

The county seat was removed to Beardstown, and on the eighth day of February, 1845, the town of Beardstown presented the county commissioners' court with lot one, in block thirty-one, in that town, with the court house and jail thereon completed. On the sixth of March, 1846, Reddick Horn sold his farm, consisting of 134 acres, in sections twenty-eight and twenty-nine, in township eighteen, range eleven, to the county of Cass, for a " home for the poor of the county," for $1,500.

By the breaking out of the Mormon war, in 1845, Beardstown again became the rendezvous for the State forces called out to coerce into obedience to our State laws that peculiar people. The troops were under the command of Brigadier- General John J. Hardin, of Jacksonville, Illinois.

From 1850 to 1852, Cass County was infested by horse thieves, who resided in the county, some half dozen of which were arrested in the latter year, and brought before a magistrate lor examination. One of the number was a large, powerful, good-looking young Hungarian, named Eugene Honorius. We were prosecuting the case, and felt satisfied from what we could learn, that he had no heart in that nefarious business, but was induced to stay with the gang out of love for the sister of one of them. Not having sufficient testimony, we pressed him into the service as witness, and by a rigid examination, extorted all the necessary facts from him sufficient to hold the rest of the gang, who were committed to jail.

Before the sitting of the Circuit Court, however, they all broke jail, and fled to Kansas; from whence the girl to whom Honorius was attached, wrote back to a friend the statement: That by an arrangement with the gang, after they had escaped from jail, one Sunday she asked the Hungarian to go to a religious meeting with her, down on Indian Creek. That they started on horseback, but that she decoyed him away down on Hog

Island, where they met the gang, who shot and killed him in revenge for his having on them; and that if the prosecutors wanted to use him for a witness again they could find him at a certain place on Hog Island, and designated it.

Upon being informed of this, John Craig and the writer rode down there, and at the place designated in the girl's letter, we found the bones of a man, evidently about the large size of Honorius, but so much torn to pieces and broken bv animals, that we could find but three whole bones, the two thighs and the jaw bone, which we have yet in our possession. The perpetrators were never re-taken, but the county was not troubled with horsethieves for a long time afterwards.

By virtue of the State Constitution of 18-18, a statute was passed by the legislature of 1849, abolishing the County Commissioners' Court, and the office of Probate Justice of the Peace, and creating instead the County Court, consisting of one judge and two associate justices of the peace.

At the same session an act was passed authorizing counties to adopt township organization, if a majority of the citizens should favor it. An effort was made at that time, and several others by a vote of the people have been made since, to adopt that form of county government in Cass County, but have failed; the people in every instance preferring to remain under the old form of organization.

In the same year, 1849, Beardstown was incorporated as a city, with the same charter as those of Springfield and Quincy. In this year also occurred the third election for location of the county seat, which was decided in favor of Beardstown. Another election was had in 1857, and another in 1868, for the same purpose, but the county seat still remained at Beardstown. Another election was held in 1873, under the Constitution of 1870, and a new general statute governing relocation of countj' seats. The history of this last election and its results is too fresh in the memory to need repeating now. By it the county seat was removed to Virginia, where it now remains.

Chapter River Items, Etc

CASS County, being highly favored with fertile lands, and all which, with industry, goes to make up wealth, has prospered ever since it was formed. In the beginning it had but little developed wealth. A few farms scattered along the edges of the timbered lands or in the river bottom-lands and the little town of Beardstown was about all. But notwithstanding its small territory, it has bounded along and now competes with its most progressive neighbors. Its prairie and bottom lands are now in cultivation, and great farms and substantial farm houses now stand where a few years since were waste places. A few years ago the barren lands, (so-called because a former growth of timber was supposed to have exhausted the soil) were unsettled, and considered almost worthless, but now they are known to be very productive, especially for wheat, and have been all taken up and mostly cultivated. Also the sand-ridges scattered along the river bottoms are found to be profitable for the production of melons, sweet potatoes, beans, etc., and have been turned to account for these purposes. Our cities and towns are in a prosperous condition, having their fair share of manufactories, and commerce and other means of continued prosperity. We have the Illinois river and abundance of railroads for business and pleasure ; the St. Louis & Rock Island, Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville, and Chicago & Alton R. R.'s running north and south, and the Beardstown and Springfield branch of the O. & M., running east and west.

The history of the present generation of the prominent and representative people of Cass County will be found in the biographies and in the description of its cities, towns and business, as set forth in other parts of this work, and which will form a continuation of this history.

Cass County is bounded on the north by Mason County, on the east by Menard County, on the south by Morgan County, and on the west by the centre of the channel of the Illinois river. Its superficial area is about four hundred and sixty square miles. The level of its high prairie lands is about six hundred and thirty feet above that of the ocean, forty-five feet above the level of Lake Michigan, and three hundred and forty feet above low water at Cairo, in the Illinois river.

The surface of the county is, for the most part, gently undulating, becoming hilly and broken only along the courses of the streams. In the western part, along the Illinois river, there is a strip of bottom land, varying in width from three and one-half to five miles. This extends also along the Sangamon river, on the northern border.

The soil of the prairie portion of this county is the same as that in the whole of this portion of the State, a dark-colored loam with a lighter colored clay sub-soil. On the ridges and bluffs which skirt the streams, we find this sub-soil everywhere, except upon the Loess formation, exposed at the suifacj of the ground, and -generally bearing a heavy growth of timber. On the bottom lands the soil is an alluvial arenaceous loam, and, excepting in localities where the sand too greatly predominates, is an excellent and productive soil.

The principal kinds of timber upon the uplands are the common varieties of oak, hickory, elm, sugar maple, black and white walnut, linden, and various species which are rather less frequent. On the bottoms there are the willow, soft maple, ash, sycamore, cottonwood, water oak, etc., in addition to some of the hefore-mentioned species, forming a considerable proportion of the timber. The proportion of prairie to wooded land is probably nearly evenly divided.

The geological formations in this county consist of the Quaternary deposits, the Loess and Drift, and the Coal Measures, which alone of the older formation underlie the surface beds of clay, gravel, etc. The Loess forms the bluffs along the Illinois and Sangamon bottoms. Its general features here are the same as in the other river counties, and it forms the same bold bluffs that are seen in other localities along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The material here is an ash or buif-colored marly sand, containing fossil fresh-water shells of existing species. The thickness of the formation is considerable, some sixty or seventy feet immediately at the bluffs, but it rapidly thins out in the back country, in many places disapjiearing entirely within a very short distance. It appears to extend the farthest inland along the Sangamon River north of Virginia, and several good sections of this deposit may be seen in the cuts on the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad, between that place and Chandlerville.

and blue clays, with boulders, while sand and gravel seams are of frequent occurrence amid the mass. The thickness can hardly be estimated, as experiments have not been made, but will probably range between forty and one hundred feet.

Coal Measures, so far as developed, comprises a thickness of over three hundred feet of the middle and lower portion of the series, and contains two or three seams of coal of workable thickness. The principal exposures, commencing with the lowest, are as follows:

In the southwest part of section 21, township 18, range 11, where the wagon road between Virginia and Beardstown comes down through the bluffs to the bottom lands along the Illinois river, there are several old coal shafts, only one of which (late Mr. Kinney's) is now worked. This is reported to have afforded the following section:

No. 3 of this section crops out along the bluff road, at the edge of the bluffs, and a few rods farther west, in ledges several feet in vertical exposure. It is a soft micaceous sandstone, of a light brown or whitish brown color, and appears slightly crumbling at this locality. Aliout a quarter of a mile further north the coal seam No. 4 is reported to have been reached by digging in at the foot of the bluff and worked by stripping. Still farther to the northward, in the northwest quarter of the same section, in an old quarry on the side of the bluff, a little to the right of the wagon road, is an exposure of about ten feet in thickness, of a heavy bedded sandstone, the same as that which is met with in the shaft, and exposed on the roadside near by. A lit- tie farther northeast, near the eastern line of section 16, the coal seam is said to appear again, and to have been worked to a slight extent in the side of a ravine about half a mile from the road.

Above the north line of section 21, the bluffs, for about two miles, are mostly of Loess, and it is necessary to go up the side ravines in order to see the exposures of rock. About half a mile up the large ravine, which cuts through the bluffs in the southern part of section 10, on the eastern side, there is another exposure of the sandstone (No. 2 of the section), and a little above this, near the northwest corner of section 14, there is about ten feet exposed of the shales No. 4, capped by a single layer of limestone two feet thick (No. 3).

The outcrops of the sandstone continue up this ravine and its branches in the eastern part of section 14 and the western part of section 15, for about three-quarters of a mile above this point, and then disappear entirely. The rock is, in most respects, the same as in the localities before described, a soft, even textured sandstone, varying in color from brownish red to a dirty white, and in some portions having a light bluish tinge and a slightly variegated appearance.

It contains a great abundance of fossil vegetable remains, calamites, etc., but from the nature of the rock very few are found in a good state of preservation.

From the mouth of this ravine, for a short distance to the northeast, along the face of the bluffs, there are no very good exposures of any of the beds. There seems to be here, however, a low anticlinal, the strata having gradually risen until, at this point, the coal seam No. 4 has been worked by drifting into the side of the bluff almost midway between the base and summit. The crown of the arch is very near this point, and the direction of the axis of the fold must be, judging from appearances, about southeast.

The seam of coal is said to be about three feet thick at this point, but at present only the entrances to the old drifts and the debris can be seen, no work having been done here for a number of years.

A short distance further along the bluff road, nearly on the line between sections 10 and 11, another large ravine opens out, and the rock again appears. The coal seam was formerly worked also at this point, at a level some fifteen or twenty feet above the road, though its outcrop is not now visible. Just below the level of the old drift there is an outcrop of what appears to be a nodular argillaceous limestone, which is probably just underlying the fire-clay.

Above the opening of the drift the Shale No. 4 appears, and still higher up the bank the Limestone No. 3 has been slightly quarried, and above all the sandstone No. 2 appears, but at present the debris of the sandstone and shale covers all the lines of junction, and no very reliable measurements of the thickness of the beds can be taken. The sandstone continues to appear in the sides of the ravine, and in the bed of the small stream which occupies it for upwards of half a mile. Its total thickness, although in no place so fully exposed as to afford an opportunity for accurate measurement, can hardly be less than fifty or sixtj' feet.

East of the mouth of this ravine, through the northern half of section 11, this sandstone appears in ledges in the bluffs, at an elevation of fifty feet or more above the road, and has been quarried in some of the small ravines. In one of these ravines, in the Northeast quarter of section 11, there was a single outcrop of the coal seam, the exposed thickness I of which is about three feet. This is on the

Northeastern slope of the anticlinal, and only a little fui'tlier on the Loess and Alluvium come down to the road, and the exposures of rock cease to appear for the distance of several miles.

Leaving the last mentioned localities, and continuinof eastward alongr the base of the bluffs, the next prominent exposure is met with near the center of the western part of section ten, township eighteen, range ten, on the left bank of Job's creek, just above the ])oint where it comes out of the bluffs and enters the bottoms. Here the Sandstone No. two lias been quarried in the hillside, some thirty feet or more above the water, presenting precisely the same appearance as at the other localities already mentioned. The lower beds of limestone and shale, and the coal seams, if, indeed, they occur above the bottom of the ravine at all, are completely hidden by the fragments and debris from above. The sandstone appears again at one or two points further east, within the distance of one mile, in the northeast quarter of section ten, and almost on the line between sections ten and eleven.

The only remaining locality in Gass County, where the older rocks appear at the surface, or are artificially exposed, is on Panther creek, near Chandlerville, in sections five and six, township eighteen, range nine. A shallow coal shaft in the southeast quarter of section six, afforded the following section :

The shale and slate appear in the bank of the creek for upwards of half a mile above the coal diggings, seldom rising more than two or three feet above the water's edge. No fossils were discovered. It seems quite probable that this seam of coal is the same as that in the exposures further west, although from the lack of continuity in the exposures, and other sufficient evidence, it may, perhaps, be best to refer to it only provisionally.

Coal. - All parts of Cass County appear to be underlaid by the coil measures, which here include the horizon of four or five different seams of coal. It seems highly probable, indeed, that there is no portion of the county, excepting the bottom lands along the Illinois and Sangamon rivers, that is not underlaid by at least one coal bed of workable thickness. The lowest of these seams, which is exposed or worked anywhere in this region is probably the coal No. 1 of the general section of the State, identical with the Exeter coal of Soott County, although it is possible that it may prove to be No. 2 of the general section, or the same as the Neeleyville coal in Morgan County.

The ab.sence of black slate in the roof and the great thickness of the sandstone above, are facts which seem to slightly favor this view, but are, however, not conclusive.

The absence of exposures in the southwestern portion of Cass County is to be regretted, as not affording the means of positively determining this question.

This seam of coal is now actively worked at only one or tvro points in Cass County, although it was formerly much more extensively mined along its out-crop on the side of the bluffs of the Illinois and Sangamon rivers. The seam will average three feet in thickness, and is of fair quality. The discontinuance of the most of the mining operations was mainly due to the small local demmd and the competition of other mines in the adjoining counties on the Illinois rivej.

this purpose. It is usually of a reddish-brown color, though in some places it approaches a dirty white, or has a bluish tinge, is very soft and easily dressed when first quarried out, but is said to harden on exposure. At the junction of this rock and the underlying shales there is generally from one to three feet in thickness of limestone, which has been also quarried to some extent at a few points. The quantity of this sandstone is such that it is practically inexhaustible; it is probable, however, that all parts of it will not be found to answer equally well as a building stone.

OrnicE Building Materials.^ - -Limestones suitable for the manufacture of a fine article of quicklime are found wherever limestone can be obtained for building stone. Some selection, however, has to be made among the beds at some points for a material which will afford an article of lime suitable to supply the local needs.

Clay and sand for brick making are found in abundance in all parts of the county, and will probably become one of the chief sources of building material in those parts distant from available stone quarries.

The general surface configuration and soils of the county have been noticed in this sketch, and but little more need lie said on that branch of the subject. The soil of the upland prairies takes rank with the best in Central Illinois in general agricultural value. The soil of the timbered portions is also productive when properly cultivated.

Along the Illinois and Sangamon rivers, in the bottom lands, there are occasinnal sandy tracts or ridges, generally covered, before being put into cultivation, with a dense growth of stunted oak and black-jack, and frequently with prickly pears, which are, of course, inferior in richness of soil, but which are of late years being successfully used in the cultivation of melons, sweet-potatoes, beans, grapes, etc.; but, as a general thing, the soil of these bottoms is a deep rich arenaceous loam, which, when sufficiently elevated, or properly drained, or guarded with dykes to prevent overflows of water from the rivers, is one of the most productive soils in the State.

One of the greatest difficulties which a large portion of the farmers of Cass County will have to encounter in the future, is the washing of hilly uplands by heavy rams, and the consequent covering and ruin of rich bottom lands by sand and poor clay silt. Already much damage and many lawsuits have grown out of it, and unless some concerted and united action is had by the parties interested, the future will bring much greater damage and increased litigation. Another important matter that should be taken into consideration, is the frequent and destructive overflow of the creeks. This could be remedied in most instances by straightening the creeks by cutting channels across the bends, and removing the drift wood from the bed, by a combination of neighborhoods, all those interested working together for the common good ; or a remedy could be had under the drainage law.

But the above remarks are sufficient for a general description of the county and its wealth-producing qualities. For the geological facts herein contained I have mostly drawn on the " Economical Geology of Illinois," a work of undoubted authority.

County Assessors And Treasurers

*NOTE. - Thomas Wilbourne iv as elected Treasurer, Aug- 7, 1837, and afterward resigned, anrl Isaac W Overall was elected Deccmb;r 16, 18 !7, to fill the vacancy, and took possession of the office and entered upon its duties, but his election was contested by William W. Babb, and Babb was declared the rightfnl incumbent.

JIartin F. Higgius was re-elected Assessor and Trea.surer. November 8, 1.8.5."!, but died shortly afterward, and Phineasr T Underwood was elected to fill the vacancy, and re-elected in 185.5.

John L. Cire died during his last term of office, and John Rahn was appointed by the County Commissioners to fill the vacancy, and he was elected by the people November 1881, to fill a constitutional interim of one year.

1640. - Twenty years after the settlement of Plymouth Colony, the Illinois river was first navigated by white men in pirogues and birch canoes, and Illinois was colnoized by Frenchmen, and added to the French DorainioM.

1673. - Marquette and Joliet with five followers, crossed Wisconsin in canoes to the Mississippi river, down that stream and up the Illinois to Lake Michigan, the point of their departure, the entire route being at that time, and for a hundred years later, navigable for pirogues and canoes, the route being via Green Bay, and the Wisconsin, Mississippi, Illinois, Kankakee and St. Joseph rivers. There was another navigable connection, during the whole of that period, between the Illinois and Lake Michigan, by means of the DesPlaines and Chicago rivers, which men now alive h:ive traveled in pirogues, all the way.

1682. - La Salle and party navigated the waters from Lake Michigan, across Wisconsin, down the Mississippi, up the Illinois, Kankakee and St. Joseph, to the lake. At that time Beardstown was upon an island, the water surrounding it the year round, permanently.

1687, Sept. - The Illinois, Kankakee and St. Joseph route navigated by seven Frenchmen, mutineers and nmrderers of La Salle, on their way from Arkansas to Lake Michigan. 1693. - Gravier and his followers settled at Kaskaskia, Cohokia and Peoria, and from this time for fifty years the Illinois was continually navigated by canoes, pirogues, and other s^mall boats.

1750 - Vivier says that forty vessels from the Illinois River landed at New Orleans, laden with lumber, brick, beef, tallow, cotton, myrtle, wax, leather, tobacco, lead, iron, copper, wild game, tar, skins, furs, pork, bears' oil, flour, and other articles of produce.

1763 - LaClode founded St. Louis, which gave a new impetus to commerce in the Illinois River, it being a nearer market. At this time the Illinois country was ceded by France to Great Britain, which closed the French war.

1772 - Second great flood. 1778 - Illinois was conquered and taken from Great Britain by Virginia, and was added to that State, and named Illinois County.

1786 - Another great flood. The Ohio rose fifty-nine feet above low water mark. The stage of water in the Illinois River is not recorded that I can find, but known to be very high.

1811 - On the 16th day of December began the most remarkable phenomena that ever occurred in North America : an earthquake, the continued shocks of which lasted for the space of three months, a longer period than ever before known ; the effects of which were felt in Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas, the focus of which seemed to be about the mouth of the Ohio. It made great commotion in the rivers, the banks of which caved in by whole acres at a time. Large islands disappeared under the waters. The town of New Madrid, Missouri, was destroyed, and the river now runs over part of its former site. The balance of it is lower by twenty-five feet than it was before. The bed of the river just below the mouth of the Ohio raised up like a bow and turned up stream, until its pent-up waters with accumulated force swept over the barrier and poured into the craters and fissures of the ground, when they were again thrown out in huge streams higher than the trees.

The river was navigated at that time by many flat-boats from the Illinois, Uj)per Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, some of which were swallowed up in the great chasms of the river. There was much loss of life and property. Fortunately at that time the country was sparsely settled; for no building could have withstood its fury.

This calamity checked the commerce of the Illinois River, as indeed also the general prosperity of the Western States. All immigration stopped, and the impression became general in the Eastern and Middle States that Illinois and Missouri were so subject to earthqialces, as to be forever unsafe as a place of hibitation. But in a few years this impression with its attendant fears wore away, and iimnigration a^ain was resumed.

There have been but two earthquakes in Illinois since that time, one in 1840 and the other in 1862; both slight shocks; the one in 1840, however, doing some little damage to brick buildings and chiitineys.

1815 - The steamer "Enterprise " iniilt, and run from New Orleans to Louisville, the first steamboat which ever run up stream in the AVestern rivers. The "Orleans" was able only to run down stream, and had to be cordelled back. From 1815, steamboats multiplied very fast, and the pirates, who in large numbers had infested the western rivers, began to disappear, and finally ceased their depredations altogether.

1826, June 2. - The Illinois and Mississippi were higher than before known for forty years. The river was up to Main street, in St. Louis, which caused great destruction of property.

1836. - The Illinois and Mississippi again flooded. The water at St. Louis was fiftyfour feet above low water mark, being nine feet ten inches higher than in 1810.

1844. - This was the greatest flood on record in this or any other country, since the days of Noah. Every river west of the Alleghanies and north of the gulf of Mexico, rose simultaneously, and the channel of the Mississippi was unable to pass out the vast amount of water which came into it. Four hundred human beings, and a great number of horses cattle and other stock lost their lives.

became an island, with ten feet depth of water between it and the bluffs. The water rose to a level with the second story windows on Front Street, St. Louis. A great many towns were inundated and houses washed away.

ISiS - " Planter" exploded and burned at Jones' Ferry on the Illinois River. Five persons were killed and many scalded, some of whom afterward died. The captain escaped harm, but was shortly afterward killed by the explosion of the " Saluda," on the Missouri River.

184:9- -Another flood this year. The water was on a level with Main Street, in Beardstown, and again it became an island. The people on the lower Mississippi suffered more than in 184-1, on account of crevasses, their losses amounting to $30,030,000. The water was ten feet deep in some of ths streets of New Orleans. At this time, and for several years afterward, steamboating on the Illinois River arrived at the zenith of its glory and prosperity. During these years it boasted the finest vessels which ever flouted on its waters ; among vphich were the Die Vernon, Prairie State, Cataract, Garden City, Ocean Wave, Belle Gould, Polar Star, and many others ; they were truly floating palaces, and the travel was upon the river and canal exclusively, there being no railroad convenient for that class of travelers. Oa May 17th of this y-ear, occurred the great confligratiou in St. Louis, by which several whole blocks of buildings and twenty-three steamboats were burned, among which were the Prairie State and Acadii, Illinois River packets.

Vernon and Archer collided three miles above the mouth of the Illinois River; the Archer sank immediately; tvventy-three persons were drowned, whose names were known, also quite a number on deck, whose names were unknown. In this year there were two floods, the two continuing so long as to cause more damage than any former one. The water was highest on the 11th of June, when it was four feet nine inches lower than the high water mark of 1844.

1852 - Prairie State No. 2 exploded April 25th, at Pekin; twenty lives lost. In April, the Illinois was very high, but no unusual damage was done. The Ohio rose as high as in 1832, doing an immense injury to property.

185G - Illinois River on a level with Main street, running over at one place, Lafayette Street. March 22, Tropic and Challenge first boats up. Ocean Spray burned. December 14, river closed.

1857 - February 18, Brazil first boat up. River moderate. November 19, river closed. December 1, opened and remained navigable until Fe'iruary 19, when it closed.

1858 - March 11, river opened; Adriatic first boat up. River did not close again. Prairie State collapsed a flue; one man killed. This spring the river was very high, being nearly as high as in 1844. The water crossed over Main Street, and all the lower parts covered. The city again an island, and a firstclass steamer, loaded with passengers, went around it.

1859. - January 21, River closed for the first time. Open to St. Louis on the 28th. February 3, closed again. February 16, F. X. Aubry first boat up. December 15, closed.

river closed. December 7, Sam Young came up. December 13, river closed. January 1, deep snow ; very cold ; railroads generally blocked up ; mails stopped ; and traveling suspended two weeks.

1861. - February 16, Polar Star first boat up. Still very cold ; some ice running. February 22, Minnesota Belle came up. December 36, river closed.

1862.- March 12, Minnesota Belle first boat up. December 6, river over the Schuyler bottom lands, and closed. December 12, river open. La Salle first boat up.

1864. - February 2, Schuyler first boat up. February 16, river closed. February 22, river opeu. From September 1 until October 13, only two feet of water in channel, and navigation suspended. December 9, river closed

1865. - February 30, City of Pekin first boat up. December 13, river closed. December 21, thermoneter 14° below 0, Fahrenheit. December 33, 14° below.

1866. - January 31, six o'clock p. .m., tlier. mometor 4° above, with heavy rain, freezing as it fell, and heavy thunder and lightning mercury falling rapidly meantime, until nine o'clock P. M. it stood 8° below, where it stood until morning. Thunder and lightning listed one hour, say until seven o'clock p. Jt. It will require a skillful meteorologist to explain these phenomena. February loth, thermoineter 36° below at Beardstovvii, which was the coldest day ever known in this county. In the northern counties of this State it ranged from 30 to 40° belovF. February 16, thermometer 16° below. March 1, Schuyler first boat up; river over bottom lands. Steamer Farragut collided with the Meredosia bridge, whereby the canal boat Ajax, with entire cargo was lost, and .John Quigg drowned. The Ajax was in tow of the Farragut. March

17, thermometer 7° above, but river remained open. Fall quite warm and pleasant until December 11; turned cold, mercury 8° above. December 13, 4° above, and ice running thin. Illinois run down in the morning, cutting her way through. Same day river got clear of ice and B'arragut went down. December 15, snowed six inches; weather moderate; 36° above, but ice running; 17th, 3° below; 19th, river opened and boats run until Christmas; 25th, ice running; and 26th, river closed, 2 above.

1867. - February 9th and 10th, thermometer 10° below. March 8, river clear of ice; Farragut and Gem started down. Boats run all the week. March 13, weather turned suddenly cold, 6° below, ice running; and March 14, river closed. March 30, river open; water all over the low lands and within three feet of the surface of Main street, Beardstown. June 14, Peoria City's last trip down; low water began. July 20, Illinois' last trip down. August 8, City of Pekin's last trip down. Gem collapsed a flue; two men killed. September 18, Lancaster's last trip down. December 1, Lakin's last trip down. December 5, Beardstown's last trip up. River closed.

1868. - March 4th, river open ; Schuyler first boat up. March 5, City of Pekin up. Miircli 9, Beardstown up. March 10, Illinois up. July 7, Low water began; Schuyler's last trip down. July 13, Illinois' last trip down. November 15, river in good stage; Illinois began regular trips. December 4, snow six inches; thermometer 33° above. Belle Pike burst a cylinder; one life lost, one wounded. December 9, 4° below; river closed. Illinois last boat up. December 12, Mercury 10° below. The second week in this month was the coldest week ever experienced in this State, the mercurj' 26' below, Fahrenheit.

6, river opened; Pekin up. April 2, river moderately high, and ferry-boat ran to Frederick. River continued gradually to rise until August 3, when it reached its highest, being on State street, in Beardstovsrn, within one foot of the level of Main street. The rainiest season ever known. River open to navigation until January 7, 1870.

1873. - January 38, coldest night ever known in this State. Early in the morning the thermometer stood 40° degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. Mercury congealed. Snow 16 inches deep.