Hancock County, Illinois - Chapter 1: Pitysical Features, Geology and Natural Productions, 1880

Chapter 1: Pitysical Features, Geology and Natural Productions

Hancock County is situated about forty miles north of the center of the State, on its west line, and within what is known as the "Military Bounty Land Tract." It is bounded on the south by Adams county, to which it was attached from 1S25 to 1S29, east by McDonough and Schuyler, north by Henderson, and west by the Mississippi river, which separated it from Clarke county, Missouri, and Lee county, Iowa, and constitutes about two-fifths of its whole boundary. It lies between forty degrees and ten minutes and forty degrees and forty minutes north latitude; and between thirteen degrees and thirty-five minutes and fourteen degrees and five minutes west longitude from Washington. It is thirty miles long froni north to south, and on an average of twenty-four miles wide from east to west - its northern line measuring just twelve miles to its intersection with the Mississippi, while its southern measures a little over thirty miles. Its western line, following the meanderings of the river, measures about forty-five miles.

The county includes sixteen whole congressional townships and eight fractional ones (the eight being about equal to five and a quarter whole ones), subdivided into 769 square miles, or sections, containing about 492,160 acres.

The central portion of the county is composed of one grand prairie, bordered on the west by the wooded blufis of the Mississippi, and east and south by the timber lands skirting the margins of Crooked and Bear creeks, and their numerous tributaries.

The Burlington branch of the C, B. &. Q. Railroad passing through the county from Dallas City to the southwest corner of section 35, three north, seven west, cuts it into two nearly equal parts ; while an east and west line, following the T. , W. & W. Railroad to Carthage, thence east through the center of Carthage and Hancock townships, would divide it into nearly equal portions in the other direction. The east half of the county contains the most woodland, being intersected by the many streams tributary to

Of the four subdivisions above named, it would be very hard to tell which is the better portion. Each has some advantages, perhaps lacking in the others. The people of Augusta and St. Mary's have been in the habit of claiming superiority for their townships. The same may be said of La Harpe and Fountain Green. And, while it is true that no better soil and fairer country can be found than is contained in the townships named, we confess to have witnessed about JVauvoo, and in Sonora, Montebello, "Walker and other western townships, country not a whit behind them in fertility and beauty. The eastern tier of townships is better adapted to wheat; but tlie prairie portions will out-do them in the production of corn and hav.

Professor Worthen's " Geology of Illinois," pages 327-349, vol. i. contains an exhaustive report on the geology of Hancock county. Applying to him for leave to make extracts therefrom for use in this history, he very generously forwarded the following, written expressly for our use, for which he has our thanks, and which the reader will find very instructive and interesting:

The geological formations to be found in this county consist ot the usual surface deposits called drift, some sixty feet or more of the lower coal measures, and the St. Louis and Keokuk divisions of the lower carboniferous limestones.

The lowest or fundamental rock outcropping in the country is the Keokuck limestone, which forms the main portion of the river bluffs from the south line ot Henderson county to Warsaw, and appears also in occasional outcrops along the base of the bluffs from Warsaw to the south line of the county. It is also found on the lower courses of most of the small streams in the northwestern poi'- tion of the county, as well as on Crooked creek north and northwest of Plymouth.

The Keokuk limestone may usually be recognized as forming two well marked divisions.- The upper portion, ranging in thickness from thirt}' to forty feet, consists of a bluish gray or ash-colored calcareo-argillaceous shale, passing locally into thin bedded limestone, and contains the globular silicious bodies known nnder the familiar name of geodes, and is hence called the geode bed. Many of these geodes are solid globes of quartz, with an outer crust of chalcedony, the interior being composed of crystalline qnartz. Others are hollow spheres, the outer crust consisting of crystalline quartz and chalcedony, while the internal cavitj' is coated with various crystallized minerals, of which quartz is by far the most common, and more rarely with calcite, dolomite, zinc-blende, iron pyrites, and aragonite, forming veiy beautiful and interesting cabinet specimens of these minerals. In the vicinity of Niota, geodes are occasional!}- found with the internal cavity filled with liquid petrolenm, or hardened asphaltum.

As early as IS-tO or '4-1, a collection of sjeodes was made in the vicinity of Montebello, by Mr. Catlin of Philadelphia, and shipped to that city to enrich the cabinets of the Eastern States; and since that time hundreds of tons have been collected and shipped from this county, until choice specimens are now comparatively rare, and difficult to obtain.

The lower division of the Keokuk formation consists of gray limestone, rather coarse grained and sub-crystalline, partly in heavy beds ranging from one to three feet in thickness, and partly in thinner shaly beds, with intercalated layers of chert, or impure flint. The latter is the prevailing character of the lower part of this division, and it forms the bed rock of the Mississippi river along the Des Moines rapids from Keokuk to Nauvoo.

The thickness of the lower division of the Keokuk group is from sixty to seventy feet, and the entire thickness of the whole in this county is about one hundred feet. The lower division, to whicli the name Keokuk limestone more properly belongs, affords a very good building-stone for dry walls, and also a fair quality of stone for the lime-kiln, though for the latter purpose the compact fine grained limestone of the overlying St. Louis group is to be preferred. The Mormon temple at Nauvoo was built entirely of this limestone quarried in the vicinity of that cit}^ and the customhouses at Dubuque, Iowa, and Galena, 111., and the postoffice building in Springfield are all built of this limestone quarried in the vicinity of iS'auvoo and Hamilton. All the work in dressed and cut stone for the Morn:on temple, even to the carved oxen on whose backs the baptismal font rested, was furnished from the Nauvoo quarries.

"When this limestone is exposed to the continued action of frost and moisture, it splits into irregular laj'ers along the lines of bedding, and hence is unfit for bridge abutments, culverts, and all similar purposes, where it would be constantly exposed to these adverse influences.

The Keokuk limestone is entirely of marine origin, as is fully proven by the great numbers of marine fossils that it contains, and the solid limestone strata were once beds of calcareous sediment in the bed of the ocean, at a period so remote that we can now form no correct estimate of its probable date. Some of the strata are composed entirely of the remains of organic beings, with barely enough of inorganic matter to cement the mass into a solid rock, and to the paleontologist who desires to know something about the forms of life pertaining to the carboniferous age, it aftbrds an exceedingly varied and interesting fleld.

The fossils that abound in this limestone consist for the most part of crinoids, or lily-like animals, corals, bryozoans, mollusks, and the teeth and spines of fishes. The carboniferous fishes were mostly cartilawinons, like the shark and sturj^eon of the present day, and as flesh never petrifies, and they possessed no bony skeleton, only their teeth and bony spines have been preserved as memorials of their existence. The fish remains, although occasionally to be found throughout the whole extent of the limestone, are far more abundant in certain layers, where they are sometimes found in large numbers within a very limited space. Two of these "fish beds " occur in the vicinity of Warsaw and Hamilton, one just below the geode bed, and the other in the chert}^ limestones below the quarry rock, and in what has been called the division beds, which separate the Keokuk from the Burlington limestone below. The color of these fish remains is usually brown or sometimes nearly black, and the contrast they exhibit with the light gray color of the rock enables the collector to readily detect them without a close examination of their structure, which is also quite distinct from that of any other fossils to be found in this formation.

Inter-stratified with the limestone beds, there are layers of clay or clay shale, varying in thickness from half an inch to two feet or more. These have resulted from the introduction of a muddy sediment into the ocean, which in some cases suddenly entombed the living animals that inhabited its waters, and in these clay partings, the crinoids and delicate bryozoans are found in their most perfect state of preservation. They secreted a calcareous skeleton like the coral, and occasionally these may be found in the soft shale or imprinted on the surfaces of the limestone in such a perfect state of preservation that the original form and structure of the animal can be readily determined.

One of the most common forms of bryozoans in the Keokuk limestone is the screw-shaped fossil known as the Archimedes, and the frequency of its occurrence in this limestone gave it the name of Archimedes limestone, by which it was designated by Dr. D. D. Owen and some others of the earlier geologists. Subsequently it was found that similar forms were found in the Warsaw division of the St. Louis group as well as in the Chester limestones, another division of the lower carboniferous series, and hence the name of Archimedes limestone had to be abandoned, as applicable to any single division of the series.

The crinoids were so abundant in the ocean sediments out of which these limestones have been formed, that some of the thickest of the limestone strata are composed almost entirely of their remains, and hence the name crinoidal, or encrinital limestone has been applied to it. The crinoidal layers usually have a crystalline structure, and some of them receive a high polish, and when variegated in color form a handsome and valuable marble.

Overlying the geode bed we find the St. Louis limestone, which, like the Keokuk group, maj^ be separated into two well marked divisions, the lower consisting of magnesian limestone, overlaid by blue shales with thin and irregular beds of coarse gray limestone, the latter capped with a bed of calcareous sandstone, and an upper division composed of fine-grained, compact brecciated limestone. The lower division ranges from 30 to 40 feet in thickness, and the upper from 10 to 3(1. This group forms the upper portion of the river bluffs throughout the county, and is also found on nearlyall the small streams in the central and western portions, and the tributaries, as well as the main course of Crooked creek, in the northeastern part of the county.

The brecciated division forms the base, or fundamental rock, on which the coal measures rest, and hence it forms a well marked horizontal limit, below which coal is never found. Isolated outcrops of coal are found resting upon it, however, in almost all parts of the county, even as far west as the bluffs of the Mississippi river at Kauvoo, on Waggoner's creek near Montebello, and at several other points to the westward of the present boundary of the Illinois coal field, but such outliers are of little or no value for coal-raining purposes.

The magnesian limestone that is found at the base of the lower division of the St. Louis group ranges in thickness in this, county from six to ten feet, and affords the best material for foundation walls, bridge abutments and culverts that can be obtained in this portion of the State. The Sonora quarries furnished the foundation stone for the new capitol building at Springfield, as well as the material for the abutments of the bridge, and the locks on the canal at Keokuk, and the rock has given universal satisfaction where strength and durability were the main qualities demanded. It is not a handsome stone for outside walls, not coloring evenlj' on exposure, and liable to be stained by the oxidation of the iron pyrites with which the rock is more or less impregnated. But it hardens on exposure and docs not split when subjected to the combined action of frost and water. Below "Warsaw the magnesian limestone is from ten to twelve feet thick, and is rather lighter colored and freer from pyrites than at the Sonora quarries.

The blue shales and thin-bedded limestones above the magnesian bed abound in fossils in the vicinity of Warsaw, and hence the name of '' Warsaw beds " has been applied to the lower division of the St. Louis group. The largest species of Archimedes known, the A. Wort^eni, described and figured by Prof. Hall in the first report on the geology of Iowa, belongs to this geological horizon, and is found more abundantin the vicinity of Warsaw thaii elsewhere. Specimens have been found as much as eighteen inches in length, and when living, with its delicate, lace-like expansion extending from six to eight inches on either side of the screw-shaped axis, they must have formed living organisms of rare interest. This, with a half dozen or more of other species of br^'ozoans to be fjund in these shales at Warsaw, has made the locality quite noted with the amateur collectors of fossils, and the locality is now well nigh exhausted. Aljove these fossiliferous beds, there is a bed of calcareous sandstone at Warsaw about six feet in thickness, some of which lies in thin layers suitable for flags, and partly in strata from one foot to eigh-

The upper division of the St. Louis group is a fine-grained brecciated limestone, concretionary in structure and a nearly pure carbonate of lime in its composition, and hence furnishes the best material for the lime-kiln to be found in the county. It is from ten to thirty feet in thickness and forms the bed rock over a large portion of the county, though it was probably at one time covered by the shales and sandstones of the lower coal measures, which were subsequently removed by denuding agencies, leaving the solid limestone as a floor over which the drift clays were subsequently deposited. This limestone is characterized bj' three species of fossil corals, one of which, the Lithostrotion marnillare is usuall}' silicious, and weathers out of the limestone in considerable masses, and is called "petrified honeycomb," or "wasps' nests," by tliose who are unaware of its true character and origin. An excellent material for macadamizing roads as well as limestone for the limekiln is furnished by this division of the St. Louis group wherever its outcrop occurs.

Coal Measures. - In the southeastern portion of the county, embracing au area of three or four townships, and extending north to the vicinity of Plymouth, the sandstone and shales of the coalmeasures are found, embracing a thickness of fifty to sixty feet or more, and include the horizon of the two lower seams of coal. At the base of the coal measures there is usually a coarse sandstone which sometimes encloses pebbles and becomes a true conglomerate. It is variable in thickness, but usually i-anges from five to twenty feet in this portion of the State. Above the conglomerate there is either a few feet of sandy shale, or if this is absent, the fire clay of the lower coal seam, or coal No. 1, reckoning from the bottom of the formation upward. This seam is usually too thin where it has been found in this county, to be of any great value for the production of coal, yielding furthermore an article of inferior quality. In thickness it ranges from six to eighteeninches, but the coal is sometimes replaced entirely with bituminous shale.

Between this lower coal and the one above it, or No. % there is usually from ten to twentj' feet of shale, the lower part of which is bituminous, and forms the roof to the lower seam, while at the top it passes into the dark-colored fire clay of No. 2. This upper seam is about two feet in thickness, but it is not regularly developed, and like the lower seam, is liable to run into bituminous shale. It was worked at an early daj' on Williams creek, in the vicinity of Pulaski, to supply the local demand for coal, but since the completion of the C, B. & Q. railroad through this portion of the count}', the mines have been generally abandoned. Above No. 2 there is a variable thickness of shale and sandstone, probably nowhere exceeding twenty-five or thirty feet, which forms the uppermost beds of the coal formation in this county.

The surface deposits, or "drift," as the loose material that overlies the bed rock of the countr}' is usually called, consists of a yellowish brown clay at the top, forming- the subsoil, then drab and ash-colored clays with gravel and boulders, passing downward into a compact blue clay or " hard pan," the whole ranging iVom forty to sixty feet or more in thickness. Below the "- hard pan." a black peaty soil is frequently met with containing leaves and branches, and sometimes the trunks of trees of considerable size. This has been named " the forest bed," and has been found to extend over a large area in this State, being frequently encountered in sinking wells, or in coal shafts, sometimes at a depth of more than a hundred feet below the surface. It probably represents the surface soil that existed anterior to what is called the "drift" or "glacial" period, and produced the trees whose trunks are so frequently encountered in sinking wells through the drift clays. Below the "forest bed" there is usuallv a few feet in thickness of quick-sand or stratified clay, resting directly upon the bed rock of the country.

The boulders of the drift are mostly of foreign origin, and have come from the metamorphic rocks of the Lake Superior region, the transporting agencies being floating ice, when the present surface of nearly the whole of the Northwestern States was submerged beneath the ocean.

In the vicinity of the river bluffs, the drift deposits have been sifted and changed by the action of water currents, forming what is called " altered or modified " drift. In the cut on Main street in the city of Warsaw, the following section of modified drift may be seen, which will serve to show the general character of the drift deposits after they have been subjected to these modifying influences:

The loess caps the river bluffs throughout the county, and gives character to the soil wherever it is found. The timbered lands skirting the river blufls are underlaid usually by the loess, and the soil is extremely well adapted to the cultivation of fruit, as well as wheat, oats and clover, and under a judicious system of rotation, will yield fair crops of corn.

The soil upon the prairies is usual!}' a black, or chocolate-brown loamy clay, rather retentive of moisture from the cohesive character of the subsoil, but when sufliciently rolling to give a free surface drainage, it is very productive. There is however a considerable area of flat prairie land in the county, that can only be made to produce the best results of cultivation by a systematic course of underdraining, which can be readily accomplished now, under the drainage law, recently enacted by the thirty-first General Assembly.

Below "Warsaw, and extending thence to the Adams county line, there is a belt of bottom land, from one to three miles in width, now being redeemed from the annual overflow of the river, and destined to become, under a proper system of levee improvement, the most productive corn land in the county.

" The soil upon the prairie land is usually a deep black loam, with a brown clay subsoil. On the ridges that skirt the streams the soil is usually a chocolate- brown, loamy claj', becoming locally light brown or yellow, on the slopes of the hills, from the predominant character of the subsoil. The timber on these ridges consists for the most part of black and white oak and hickory, with an undergrowth of red-bud, sassafras and hazel. On the more level portions of the timbered uplands we find, in addition to these, elm, linden, wnld cherry and honey locust. The soil on the lands where the last named varieties of timber are found is fully equal, in its productive capacity, to that of the prairies, while that on the oak ridges is comparatively thin. In the southwest portion of the county there is a wide belt of alluvial bottom skirting the Mississippi river, commencing at the city of AVarsaw and extending to the south line of the county, with an average width of about three miles. A part of this bottom is prairie, and a part is covered with a heav}' growth of timber, consisting of Cottonwood, sycamore, red and slippery elm, black and white walnut, ash, hackberry, honey locust, pecan, persimmon, pawpaw, coffee-nut, white maple, red birch, linden and mulberry, and the common varieties of oak, and shell-bark and pig-nut hickory. The greater portion of this bottom is susceptible of cultivation, and possesses a sand^' soil that is not surpassed, in its productive capacities, by any other portion of the county. It is subject to overflow, liowever, during seasons of extraordinary high water, and those who cultivate these lands must calculate on a partial, if not a total, loss of their crops once in about seven years.

" Springs are not abundant in this county, but are occasionally found at the base of the i-iver blufl's and in the valleys of the small streams. Some of these are chalybeate, and contain, in addition to the iron, both sulphur and magnesia. Good wells are usually obtained on the uplands at depths varying from twenty to forty feet. The surface deposits of this county comprise the usual subdivisions of the quaternary system, and attain an aggregate thickness of about seventy-five feet. All the uplands are covered by accumulations of drift, varying in thickness from twenty to sixty feet or more. This usually consists of a bed of blue clay or hard pan at the bottom of variable thickness,which is overlaid by brown clays, with gravel and boulders of waterworn rock of various sizes. Sometimes there are thin beds of sand in the brown clays, that present a stratified appearance, and serve as channels to the underground streams of water."

And in regard to these " boulders," such objects of curiosity and speculation all over the county, scattered not only along the bluffs and river shore, but standing isolated and alone, away in the prairies, the Report has the following wonderful statement:

" A large portion of the material composing the drift deposits has been transported from a distance, and many of the boulders are derived from the metamorphic strata of Lake Superior, several hundred miles from the spot where they are found. Many of these boulders are of great size and many tons weiglit, and must have required a mighty force to transport them to their present position. One of these may be seen at the foot of the blufi^s between Nauvoo and Appanoose, composed of the metamorphic rock of the Northwest, which is nearly twenty feet in diameter. The power required to wrench such a mass of rock from its native bed and transport it, for hundreds of miles, with a force sufficient to obliterate all its angles, is inconceivably great; but hero is the boulder of granite, nearly five hundred miles, as the crow flies, from the nearest known ontcrop of this kind of rock, giving unmistakable evidence that such a result has been accomplished. Several specimens of native copper ha\'e been found in the drift deposits of this county, which, from their appearance, leave no doubt that they have been transported from the copper region of Lake Superior."

^'Huildinff Stone. - Hancock county is well supplied with good building stone, and there is, perhaps, no natural resource of this portion of the State that is so lightly appreciated at the present time in proportion to its intrinsic value as this. * * * The middle division of the Keokuk group will afford the greatest amount, as well as the finest quality, of building stone, and where this is easily accessible, no better material need be looked for. It is generally even textured, dresses well, and is well adapted for all the ordinary uses to which a building stone is applied. It is also tolerably even bedded, and affords strata thick enougii for all the ordinary requirements of architecture. Some of the beds are susceptible of a fine polish, and may be used as an ornamental stone. It outcrops on all the small streams in the western part of the county, as well as in the river bluffs throughout the county, except in the vicinitj' of "Warsaw, and for a distance of five miles below, where, b}' an undulation of the dip, it is carried below the surface with the exception of a few feet of the upper layers. It appears again, however, on Kocky run, six miles below Warsaw, forming bluffs on that creek tw«nty feet or more in height., In the eastern part of the county it outcrops on Brunce's creek, north of Plymouth, and Crooked creek, in the vicinity of St. Mary's.

" The arenaceous and magnesian beds of the St. Louis group will also furnish a building stone but little inferior in quality, and quite equal in durability, to that afforded by the Keokuk limestone. * * * IS orth of Warsaw, its out crop is generally high up in the bluffis, or on the small streams that intersect them, and in the in-

" Fotter's Clay. - The under-claj's of the coal seams are almost the only clays in the State used for the manufacture of potter's ware, and are the only ones from which a good article of firebrick has been made. The nnder-clay below the lower coal seam on William's creek, in the southeastern part of the county, is about thiee feet thick, and appears to be of good quality, suitable either for potter's ware or fire-brick. There are probably many localities in tlie eastern part of the county where this clay may be found equal in quantity and quality to that of the locality above named. Beds of soft material like this are seldom well exposed by natural causes, and are best seen by artificial cuts through the strata with which they are associated. The coal seams will always serve as a guide to those in search of these clays."

Coal.-^Tlie supply of bituminous coal in this county is quite limited. And the Report concludes, that our people will mainly have to rely upon more favored districts.

Hancock Mounds

There are numerous mounds throughout Hancock county, as in many other sections of the State and the whole Mississippi valley. They are found chiefly on the blufl's bordering the river and the smaller streams. In some instances they are in the open prairie, but most of them are in the timbered lands, and often covered with large trees. They are mostly small, of various sizes and elevations, from a few feet in height up to 15 or 20, and fi'om 10 to 40 or 50 feet in diameter. It is var}' rarely that one is found in this county to exceed these measurements.

We know of but two exceptions. One of these is the Gittings Mound in the north part of the county, and though possessing all the characteristics of the smaller ones, covers nearly a section of land, and is perhaps fifty or more feet high. Mr. Gittings' farm lies on it, and it is without doubt a mere natural elevation of the prairie. The other is what is known as the " Big Mound " in Appanoose township. This mound is situated about seven miles east of Nauvoo, and in the open prairie. On the east, south and west of it, the prairie is quite level for several miles, but on the north it is approached by the broken timbered lands skirting the river bluffs. We are not aware that any accurate measurement of this mound has ever been made; but from the best observation we could make, by standing on its top, and also on the prairie at its base, we judge it to be not less than 40 to 50 feet high, while it is about one-fourth of a mile in diameter. It belongs to the estate of the late Amos Davis, and he chose it for the site of his fine residence, which occupies its summit. The barn, stables and other out-buildings, besides two or three fine orchards, are also located on the mound.

Excavations have been made into numbers of these mounds, and in most instances human skeletons have been found, togetlier with various art utensils, such as knives, tomahawks, stone axes, beads, pottery articles, etc. This fact has led to the conclusion that these mound formations have been selected as places for the burial of their dead, by some people occupying the country before us. Who were those people? We think the answer is plain. We hear much talk and read much newspaper comment about the " Mound- Builders." This term we believe to be a misnomer. Because a people have chosen these places as receptacles for their dead, it does not follow that they built them for that purpose, or that they built them at all. The Indian tribes who have just preceded us are doubtless the people who have so used these mounds. Indeed we know that they have done so. The writer of this has himself seen them in several instances thus depositing their dead. But who ever saw or heard of these aborigines building mounds? The}' find them already built, by the same Almighty hand that built the mountains and the hills and prairies. Besides, North America has been known to civilization for nearly 400 years, and the people first discovered here were as incapable of erecting these mounds as those just now passing away. And who supposes that human bones will remain at a depth of a few feet from the surtkce, for so long a period, without undergoing decom])osition i If the remains of Powhattan and King Philip can be found intact at this date, then it will do to (/we^-s- that the bones found in these mounds have been deposited there by a race of men anterior to the people known as North American Indians. We are sustained in this view of the subject by many high authorities. Rev. John M. Peck, a writer of sound judgment and extensive observation, in his "Gazetteer of Illinois," after referring to some of the large mounds in the Mississippi valley, says:

*' These large mounds are of the same shape and proportions as the smaller ones. Who supposes these to be the works of human art? Who will place these among the antiquities of a country? If any one will account for the formation of these stupendous works of nature, in a country of unquestionabl}' diluvial formation, there are men who make no pretensions to the rank of western antiquarians, who will account for the smaller ones, of a few feet elevation, without the aid of an extinguished race of men. Until further evidence of their being the work of men's hands, I shall class them among the natural curiosities of the country."

This opinion of the origin of these mounds is also maintained by Prof. Worthen, in his report on Madison county. - [See Geol. Sur. of 111., vol. i. p. 314.]

We should not omit to mention that, in digging the well for Mr. Davis on the summit of the Appanoose mound, a piece of timber, said to be a species of cedar, was found at a depth of 30 feet from the surface. Many similar discoveries have, however, been made in other places where no mounds exist.

Bat there is indisputable evidence that this country lias at one time, how remote it is impossible to tell, been inhabited by a race of people far superior to the Indians found here by the European discoverers. There are remains, both within and without these mounds, that go to prove this fact; remains that could not have been left by these savage tribes, but must have belonged to a cultivated and enlightened people. That this is so, none of these writers will gainsay; yet we do not see that its admission has any bearing on the question of the origin, of these mounds.

Natural Pkoductions

Under this head we group together the productions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Of the animal, the butfalo, once so common all over the western prairies, has entirely disappeared. Indeed, it is doubtful if one of the species has been seen in the county by any of its pioneers. The same may be said of the elk. Bears, though not common, have occasionally been seen and taken; but have now forsaken us. Wild-cats were quite plenty in the early days, and almost all the old pioneers have wild -cat stories to tell. Wolves, the black and gray, formerly abounded, and the bounty on scalps still draws money from the county treasury. They find retreats among the fastnesses of Bear and Ci'ooked creeks. The little prairie wolves, - so numerous 40 years ago, and whcse laugh-like bark awoke the echoes of the night, around the farm houses, and even in the village streets, like the still smaller prairie dogs - have fled before the tramp of civilization. Panthers have been seen, and killed, and to-day one of these animals, or something else, produces an occasional scare in the neighborhood. That " same old coon," the opossum, the mink, and the skunk still abound, as many settlers can testily; an occasional fox is seen; but the beaver, badger and otter have disappeared. AVood-chucks and musk-rats still find holes, and a variety of squirrels tempt the sportsman's shot. Deer, so numerous -10 years ago, are now very scarce, and many a pioneer longs for the "saddle of venison " he once procured so cheaply, and so richly enjoyed.

Hawks abound, and crows, and owls; -but the turkey-buzzard has taken himself ofi". Wild turkeys are sometimes seen, but are wilder than " the law allows," and are seldom taken. Grouse, or prairie chickens, and quails are not near so numerous as formerly. Wild geese, brant and several species of ducks frequent the rivers and sloughs. Numerous varieties of fish frequent the streams. Rattle-snakes still are found now and then; also the black snake, and a few others; and turtles, toads and bullfrogs creep, hop and croak upon the land and in the ponds.

The principal forest growths of the county, are the several species of oak, hickory, walnut, butternut, ash, maple, elm, mulberry, Cottonwood, black-jack, pawpaw, sassafras, willow, hazel, blackberry, raspberry, and numerous other plants and trees. ^ . ._,

The prairie g^rass, with its thousand and one gorgeous and beautiful flower?, which waved their tall stems to the breeze or nestled in little tufts upon the sod, -

These, all these, have gone - given place to the fields of waving grain, the rustling corn and the timothy and clover meadow. lu recurring to those early days of prairie green and bloom, one can almost wish them back again; they were such a glory and a joy; such a boundless, magnificent, waving, rolling sea of beauty. This in bright summer; but ah! let winter's storms and snows come - and right here we close the picture and the chapter.